Chapter 156 Another World Side Story - Lament of the Gods

As the world changed time and again, the worlds I traveled to later lacked the grand scenes of the earlier ones and gradually became more ordinary.

For example, they met an ordinary Verne who had not joined the joint research institute. In that world, Verne was still an ordinary geology PhD, obsessed with studying minerals.

Another example is Defoe, who escaped from an island. Although he successfully escaped, Defoe, unable to suppress his adventurous spirit, still wandered around the world. When the UN encountered him, he was being chased by a bear in a ravine.

There's also a rather unique one—in one world, Vladimir was captured and killed by Russia, and the UN was then teleported to his grave.

Looking at her own tombstone in this other world, Vladimir could only marvel at how good her escape skills were, and when no one was paying attention (mainly Barry wasn't paying attention), she used her supernatural ability on the coffin.

Vladimir didn't know if her abilities would still be effective after she left this world. But she felt that she would rather sleep with "Lolita".

She didn't know what the world was thinking, but she just made the decision on her own.

Vladimir is the kind of person who talks to himself, and there's absolutely no problem with that.

On another occasion, they witnessed another UN that had failed to retreat after misappropriating the Book of Changes, and Dante who had established a large-scale military operation within China. They also learned about the power of "The Great Learning," one of the Four Books of Chinese literature, in this world.

On the verge of death, a person is introduced into a world created by a university, where people do not die.

Then, the "university" can bring back the people in it, whose thinking and abilities are no different from when they were alive.

Moreover, even if the summoned person dies, they will simply return to the university.

Then the UNs watched helplessly as the UN of this world was smashed to pieces by thousands of superpowered individuals, while a dozen or so people whose aura was no less imposing than the two guardians of the nation were drinking and chatting with Li Bai and Wu Cheng'en on the sidelines.

Realizing how outrageous this ancient country with over 5,000 years of history was, the UN immediately fled without looking back.

Time travel is not infinite; the time UN can stay in each world is decreasing drastically, and it will probably end when time reaches zero.

Moreover, given that there were no deaths or disappearances in the legends of the Dead Sea Scrolls, it is highly likely that they returned to their original world.

As the scene before him changed once again, Verne pressed the timer: "It's been twenty-eight minutes. If the calculated glide path is correct, this should be the last time."

Snapping out of her reverie, Christie calmly pushed aside the draft in front of her. As if she weren't the one who had just mentally calculated a bunch of problems that left others bewildered, she nonchalantly continued drinking her tea—because of the mental strain from the calculations, Christie was now enjoying a snack with a clear conscience.

Romain Rolland, one of the few reliable people in the entire UN, was observing the outside environment through the window, and then unfortunately discovered that this might be another "big scene".

Outside the window lay a desolate landscape, the ground not of natural soil, but of huge, exposed rocky ravines.

These chasms overlapped one after another, each chasm causing the ground to sink more than ten meters deep. The layers stacked together formed a rugged canyon.

Romain Rolland looked away: "Well, it seems Dante's turn this time."

It's unclear what the Dead Sea Scrolls are all about, but when they arrive in parallel worlds, they always end up near UN members from another world.

The scene of destruction outside looks very familiar—it's like Dante in his full form walking across the ground, as if the ground he walked on had been polished.

However, the polishing technique was quite poor, leaving it pitted and uneven, even worse than before.

Barry scratched his head, realizing who had left this scene before him, and suggested, "Should we call Dante out?"

The proposal was vehemently rejected—Jules Verne refused to allow Dante to appear in his submarine in his true form, citing his supernatural abilities.

Barry didn't react much after being rejected, since it was just a casual remark.

If their calculations are correct, they only need to stay in this world for about ten minutes, and there's no need to call Dante out to check on things.

This small world wasn't enough to support a full-scale expedition, so everyone temporarily stopped.

Just as the UN members were discussing, Exupéry's voice suddenly came from the other side: "Ah, it's Dante."

Perhaps it was Exupéry's overly calm voice that misled everyone, for the UN members turned their heads quite calmly, unaware of what they were about to see.

It turns out that Exupéry's composure is a constant state and will not change due to changes in other things.

For the time being, the UN did not realize this.

Then, the UN members almost all burst out laughing.

Not far away, a colossal entity, composed of two perfectly proportioned super-giant cones stacked together, was slowly moving forward.

Everything on the ground that came into contact with it shattered into a cloud of ashes in an instant, and was then swept up by the ever-rotating giant tower, becoming a new part of this enormous object.

Compared to its main body, the beam of light that is constantly being sprayed on top of this conical tower is nothing.

—Although the ominous, high-temperature light distortion around the beam of light proved that it was not a harmless ordinary light, but a high-temperature object similar to a laser.

Vladimir stared in disbelief: "What is that thing?!"

"It looks like Dante, but a 'giant' version exclusive to this other world!" Romain Rolland snapped out of his surprise and quickly turned towards Verne: "Verne, run as fast as you can, get away from it!"

Verne, who also realized how terrifying Dante's supernatural power was, cursed under his breath and once again steered the Nautilus to the side.

A very common sense principle—when there's something rushing forward behind you (whether it's a mudslide, a tsunami, or a herd of red-eyed cattle), instead of running straight ahead and trying to outrun them, it's better to run to the left or right and disappear from their path.

Mudslides, tsunamis, and cattle herds won't deliberately turn to chase you.

There's also good news—Dante won't either.

As the massive conical tower passed in front of them, almost everyone in the UN was filled with astonishment.

The Black Fog City is inactive, Eden is vast but filled with a heavy aura of death, the Breadfruit Tree cannot be directly observed with the naked eye, and even the "University," no matter how powerful, lacks a sense of reality.

The sight of a living, terrifyingly destructive entity, someone they once knew, passing by was a tremendous shock to everyone in the UN.

Just look at the ground that was peeled away after Dante passed by; the terrifying destructive power is enough to leave anyone speechless.

However, there was something else that the UN found even more problematic: they were aware of Dante's special abilities.

“Apart from secondary supernatural products, anything ignited by the ‘Divine Comedy’ will be converted into pure heat…” Pu Songling murmured to himself, reflecting on the true effects of the “Divine Comedy” ability, “How much has Dante reduced the mass of this planet?”

Cervantes subconsciously glanced at the ditch on the ground: "Anyway, it's not beyond the danger line."

“If this continues, it will eventually exceed the limit. After all, Dante’s size will keep expanding while maintaining this state.” Romain Rolland’s expression was grim. “What are these supernatural ability organizations doing? They won’t even have a way to remedy the situation when the mass is insufficient!”

"If this continues, the Earth's orbit may have to change."

As the Earth revolves around the Sun, if the Earth's mass gradually decreases, even the simplest mechanical formulas would show that the radius of the Earth's orbit around the Sun would gradually increase.

The farther away Earth is from the sun, the less heat it can obtain from the sun. Changes in Earth's orbit could have a devastating impact on the biosphere.

“A piece of good news.” Christie also came to the window: “If the mass decreases by this much, then the Earth’s crust will completely disappear before the orbit changes. After all, the Earth’s crust, on which humans depend for survival, only accounts for a pitiful 0.42% of the entire Earth’s mass.”

"The unfortunate news is that humans are currently unable to survive on the mantle."

Barry and Shelley exchanged glances. As members of the younger group, they couldn't understand the seriousness of the others (Exupéry didn't care, and Vladimir was essentially an adult). Finally, Barry scratched his face and said, "If it gets to that point, someone will definitely stop him, right?"

Romain Rolland expressed the sentiments of everyone: "Let's hope so."

But the reason why Dante has been allowed to wander around for so many years—judging from the marks on the ground, it has been a long time since Dante last came here, and his size is not even comparable—cannot be because "there is no danger anyway."

After all, they couldn't be the only ones who could have imagined the disastrous consequences of Dante's actions.

So other people are actually more inclined to think... there's no one in this world who can stop Dante.

He doesn't even need to deliberately target human society. As long as he continues to target the poor Earth, one day human society will perish because of the changes on this planet.

This is no longer the ridiculous topic of some people wanting to destroy the world.

That was a complete, planetary-level "natural disaster".

No matter how powerful humanity is, it appears so weak when faced with nature, planets, and the universe.

In this silent atmosphere, UN's figure disappeared from this world, and when they opened their eyes again, they had returned to their own world.

—And they continue to be hunted down by the Vatican.

Those sentimental feelings quickly vanished during the chase, and UN once again continued his adventure.

——

“I have asked Dante more than once what he was trying to achieve.”

"Because Dante's eyes were always very confused. When he looked at this society, at the people, and at the current rulers, Dante always showed that confused look."

"Sometimes, I would see him staring blankly at the embers in his hand, as if he was thinking about something."

"One day, I couldn't help but ask him what he was thinking."

"Perhaps he had been lost for too long. When I asked him, Dante told me a lot about his doubts, his thoughts, and his anger towards society."

"Finally, he concluded: We are all in hell, Beatrix."

"Dante said to me: 'I only want to know if, with this power that burns hell, I can find the way to heaven.'"

“I sensed such deep sorrow in his words, but I didn’t know how to comfort him.”

“In Dante’s heart, I am his guide and mentor. But I know that this time I can’t help him.”

"Perhaps he really can find it, that path from hell to heaven."

—From Beatrix's diary during the Renaissance

"I am burning this world, and I yearn to use this power to forge a stairway to the ninth heaven."

"This heat has turned into light. Can it illuminate the world? Can it reach the heavens?"

—The whispers Dante heard in his dream, as recounted by UN after returning to his original world.