On the way back to the Administration Bureau, 037 saw that Ruan Qing'an's face was extremely ugly and he didn't dare to speak for a moment, stammering for a long time.

Just then, Ruan Qingan suddenly spoke, his voice almost devoid of any emotion: "Are you trying to ask what I saw?"

037 asked worriedly, "Ancestor, what's wrong? Why do you look so pale?"

After another long silence, just as they were about to reach the management bureau, she finally spoke, enunciating each word clearly—

"That was a piece of backup data for the system, and that system was—x09."

[Yes, it's the system ID from back then?!]

After 037 screamed in terror and couldn't control himself, they were back inside the Administration Bureau amidst a jolt.

At this moment, the Administration Bureau looked as if it had been ravaged by a storm. The once well-arranged and highly technological decorations had become dilapidated, with broken walls and ruins scattered all over the place.

Not only within the Administration Bureau, but even at its very center—the most important communication center with other small worlds—the connection to all the small worlds has been severed.

As for the man who was initially suppressed at the bottom of the Administration Bureau, using his own power to stabilize and fill the loopholes in the small world, he has long since disappeared...

The sound of 'tap, tap, tap' echoed in the dilapidated and empty corridor of the Administration Bureau.

The only sound of footsteps came from Ruan Qing'an, while the sound of collisions and friction came from the little ball of light 037 that was constantly jumping around beside Ruan Qing'an.

It was just a small, insignificant world, but the Administration Bureau seemed to have completely abandoned it. There was no longer any human presence, no more mission takers or systems coming and going, nothing at all...

Ruan Qingan never imagined that the Administration Bureau, which had always been at the center of the Three Thousand Worlds, would one day face such an end, with everything turning into desolation.

037's voice trembled with tears: "[Ancestor, what...what happened? Why...why did it turn out like this...]"

[Clearly, clearly before the last world, didn't the Supreme God tell us what to do? As long as we could find the virus carrier, we could find a solution. How could this be...]

In the deathly silence, listening to 037's trembling voice, Ruan Qing'an closed his eyes: "Perhaps... there was never a way out in the first place, perhaps... he already knew it was a dead end?"

But—but he is the supreme god, he—

"Yes, so what—"

As Ruan Qing'an was speaking, she suddenly paused, as if she had just remembered something.

After realizing what had happened, Ruan Qing'an instinctively ran quickly towards the end of the corridor of the Administration Bureau—where Xie Huainan had first sealed her away.

037 A small ball of light hopped and skipped after it, but when it realized it couldn't catch up, it simply lay down on the ground. The ball rolled on the ground and was bounced up by the rubble.

[Waaaaah, my ancestor, wait for me! Wait for me!!!]

...

But when Ruan Qingan arrived, he found that the place had been completely blocked off and turned into a wall with large, dark green characters on it—x09.

At this moment, 037 finally rolled over here, the little ball of light covered in dust and looked rather dirty.

Ruan Qing'an picked it up without any disgust, wiped the dust off 037, and looked up at the wall in front of him with "x09" written on it.

037 couldn't help but ask, "Ancestor, what have you been thinking about? Why did you come here?"

The atmosphere was silent, as if a sensitive string had been touched, and everything would become precarious, with the truth hidden beneath the ruins and desolation faintly revealing itself in the cracks.

Finally, the woman standing there closed her eyes and whispered, "Because he is Xie Huainan. I panicked. Little system, it's my fault."

“We should have deep trust in each other, and we should believe that the other cannot hide anything from him, just as he told me the truth immediately after breaking the restrictions.”

Ruan Qing'an took a deep breath, her voice trembling unconsciously: "I should believe him, that he won't abandon me, and that I should choose my own ending."

"If sending me to find the so-called virus vector was to distract me and to let me discover the truth, then... all of this must have been meaningful."

"Perhaps he wants to do something dangerous behind my back, perhaps he doesn't want me involved, or perhaps he needs me to assist him from outside the Bureau."

As they spoke, Ruan Qingan took a half-step forward, took out the USB drive he had initially received from Lucas, and pressed it against the wall marked "x09." Then—

The next moment, the light shone brightly!

Dense, encrypted text appeared on the wall, like a secret telegram. After glancing at it a few times, Ruan Qing'an's pupils suddenly contracted.

037 didn't understand the secret between the two of them, and only after noticing the change in Ruan Qing'an's expression could she cautiously ask, "Ancestor, what exactly does this mean?"

"...Just as I guessed when I saw the contents of the USB drive.

"The former chief god's method of taking revenge on Xie Huainan was to find his backup data as the system and use that backup data to influence Xie Huainan's original body."

In other words...

Ruan Qing'an paused, her hands clenching uncontrollably: "So, that virus is... Xie Huainan himself."

No wonder, no wonder Xie Huainan searched for so long but still couldn't find out where the virus was hiding.

No wonder that after the former chief god left, as soon as Xie Huainan took over the position of chief god, the virus of negative power spread wildly.

No wonder the Administration ended up in this predicament; it was rotten from the very core of the system, the God.

The former chief god was unwilling to accept his defeat and hated Ruan Qing'an and Xie Huainan, who killed him, but he hated the new chief god who had taken his place the most.

They would rather let the new supreme god become a virus, rather destroy everything, than not take revenge on them. After all, it is already dead, so why should they care about the deluge after their own death?

Upon hearing Ruan Qingan's words, 037 was completely dumbfounded: [Then, so what you mean by "killing the virus" is—]

Kill, death, lord, god.

037 didn't even dare to say those words in front of Ruan Qing'an; it was an excruciating pain.

But Ruan Qing'an looked up again at the dense inscriptions on the wall and suddenly said, "He wouldn't do that. He's a madman. How could he let the former chief god have his way?"

037 subconsciously asked: "What other message did the Supreme God leave behind?"