Volume One: The Nature of the Devil Does Not Change
Arc: The Great Gang War
Scarlet King descended to the third floor of the underground laboratory.
The place was unnaturally silent.
The walls were forged from dark metal,
and the air was saturated with a strange energy that made the skin crawl for no clear reason.
At the center of the hall
stood the System Scientist.
His head was an old television screen,
displaying constantly shifting black-and-white static,
while his body was of average height,
clad in a pristine white suit.
Beside him stood the other Television Scientist.
At their sides were the Yin and Yang Guards—
the first male, the second female.
They wore identical black outfits:
shirts, pants, boots, gloves, and caps,
with black cloth completely wrapped around their heads.
Scarlet King's emotions were calm,
though he still felt lingering dizziness from the visions earlier.
He spoke coldly:
"Gather the slaves and everything of value.
Board the spaceship
and leave Earth."
He said nothing more.
He turned around,
returned to the elevator,
entered it,
and rode it back up to floor zero, where the stairs were.
He exited the elevator,
sat across from Steven Gill,
and said with decisive calm:
"I accept the deal.
Now… give me the manuscript."
One of Steven Gill's guards stepped forward,
holding a black case.
He opened it with a slight bow,
revealing the manuscript.
It was ancient,
written in coagulated blood,
in a strange language—
yet Scarlet King understood it instantly:
> *"From the Lord of the Western Dragons, Intarais,
to the Great Emperor Tie Xue Huang
and the Great Empress Fa Hui Ling.
I have discovered two gifted disciples
and propose that you accept them into your sect.
The first is named Thomas Andre,
the second is named Christopher Reed."*
Scarlet King took the manuscript…
and burned it with searing blue flames.
The guard staggered backward from the intense heat.
Scarlet King said with absolute coldness:
"The deal is canceled."
Steven Gill leapt to his feet,
slammed his fist onto the table,
and shouted:
"What?!
Didn't we agree?!"
All the guards drew their weapons
and aimed them at Scarlet King.
Scarlet King spoke calmly
as he removed the mask from one of his eyes:
"You are far too weak.
You possess no talent…
and no roots.
So what use are you?"
Steven Gill screamed:
"Guards!
Open fire!"
A storm of bullets poured toward Scarlet King.
After a few seconds…
The guards lowered their weapons.
Steven Gill slumped back into his chair,
pulled out a cigarette,
and laughed mockingly:
"Hah…
he deserved that."
The smoke cleared.
The smell of gunpowder filled the air…
And Scarlet King stood there,
without a single scratch.
All the bullets lay shattered on the ground,
having broken apart
the instant they struck his body.
He said indifferently:
"That's it?
I expected more."
The cigarette slipped from Steven Gill's hand in shock.
The guards raised their weapons again—
but in a single instant…
All their heads were severed.
Blood sprayed outward
like a smashed beehive.
Scarlet King stood upright
and snapped his finger.
A devastating wave of energy erupted,
ripping through the ground
and causing it to explode.
From afar…
Liu Zai Hang watched the scene,
laughed, and said:
"Hah… what a kid—
wait… what's that?
A black hole?!"
The spaceship launched at faster-than-light speed
and left the galaxy.
At Earth's former location…
a small black hole appeared.
It began devouring everything.
It swallowed the planet,
then expanded at a terrifying rate.
It grew…
and grew…
until it consumed the galaxy,
then half the universe,
then the entire universe.
A massive accretion disk formed,
and the expansion continued,
devouring thousands of universes at once.
The remaining universes
began orbiting the black hole
like insects circling an eternal flame.
Scarlet King burst forward at an absurd speed,
stood before the spaceship,
and thought inwardly:
(Because of this black hole,
this place will become dense with pure qi.
Its gravity absorbs corrupted qi
and draws in distant qi,
forcing it to concentrate here.
A perfect place for cultivation.)
Liu Zai Hang thought the same,
then laughed and said:
"This kid is strong…
but still far weaker than Long Wei.
Long Wei can destroy entire cosmic domains with a single strike,
while Scarlet King…
only destroyed a cluster of universes
and created a black hole."