**Volume 4: Phoenix Crying in the Ninth Heaven
**Section 1: The "God's" Trap and System Silence**
The "Pacifier Gold Bank" peace bonds were selling like hotcakes across the four kingdoms. Su Qi's "Strawberry Seal of Peace and Joy" soothed the wounded souls of those wounded after the war. Even the dry recitation of the Northern Di King, Ashina Jinlang, seemed to take on a touch of the sincerity of a "will to survive." Just when Su Li thought she could take a breather and figure out how to redeem merit points for new toys for her four cubs (like a diamond-studded pacifier for Erbao? A full dragon horn maintenance set for Sanbao?), the sky... cracked.
It's not a metaphor, it's really cracked.
It was a bright afternoon, the sun shining brightly and the breeze gentle. Third Treasure Su Yu was using his dragon horn to purify the water in the central fountain of the newly constructed "Peace Plaza" (complete with a colorful rainbow effect). Second Treasure Su Heng sat on a custom-made president's throne, dozing off while cradling his golden abacus (an avatar), his saliva soaking the subscription form for the latest "Peace Bonds." First Treasure Su Chen sat cross-legged by the fountain, eyes closed, sensing the increasing flow of faint golden threads (positive merit points) fed back by the karma abacus. His face was a picture of peace. Fourth Treasure Su Qi giggled as she chased after a few sparrows whose courage had noticeably grown after she had painted them with strawberry marks.
Sudden!
Without warning, the sky above the square, like a giant, fragile piece of blue glass, cracked with a serpentine, pitch-black crack! There was no thunder, no howling wind; only a heart-wrenching, absolute silence that instantly enveloped the earth. The crack wasn't nothingness; instead, it flowed with a thick, seemingly solidified stardust and a strange, shattered light.
"Wow!" Erbao Su Heng was startled awake, and the golden abacus fell to the ground. He pointed at the crack in the sky, his mouth opening into an O shape, "Hole! It's black! Scary!"
Sanbao Su Yu's dragon horn instantly shone brightly, and the colorful rainbow suddenly went out. His face tensed, "Mom! The sky... is leaking! There's... the smell of something bad! It smells worse than Dad's hidden socks!" (The innocent father sneezed loudly in the commander's tent.)
Dabao Su Chen suddenly opened his eyes, his clear pupils reflecting the cracks in the sky, revealing a rare solemnity: "The barrier of heaven... was forcibly torn open? This is beyond the power of the creatures in this world! Is it... a 'god' from outside the domain?"
Fourth Treasure Su Qi also stopped chasing the sparrows. The strawberry birthmark on her cheek became red and hot. She tugged at the corner of Su Li's clothes anxiously, "Mom... there's... there's a big monster behind the cave looking at Qi Qi... it looks so fierce... like... like the bad uncle who stole Qi Qi's candied haws!"
Su Li's scalp tingled, and she instantly forgot about the Merit Point Mall. She immediately gathered her four children behind her, while frantically calling out in her mind, "System! System! Get to work! What the hell is this? Is the sky falling, or did some god come down and walk through the wrong door?"
**Silence.**
The normally raucous, venomous system, now frozen, unresponsive. Deep within Su Li's consciousness, the light ball representing the system was... trembling? Curled into a ball?
[…(faint electrical noise)…Host…run…run…] Finally, a sound, smaller than a mosquito's hum, could be heard intermittently, filled with unprecedented fear and weakness. [It's…it's the 'Rule Inspector'…codenamed 'Eye of Nirvana'…He…He's here…to check the accounts…it's over…Barbie Q…]
"Check the accounts?!" Su Li almost thought she had misheard, "What accounts do you want to check? Our 'Pacifier Gold Shop' has just opened, and the accounts are very clear! Dabao does the risk control himself! Sanbao has dragon horns for anti-counterfeiting! Erbao has a pacifier stamp! Sibao has a strawberry blessing print! Who dares to say there's something wrong with our accounts?!" She thought they were referring to the financial accounts.
[Ding… (a short, weak beep)… It's not the gold and silver ledger… It's… It's the 'cause and effect karma balance ledger'!] The system's voice was tearful (if a system could cry), [We… That 'debt-to-equity swap' and 'merit point loan' we've been doing… has… ruined the original clear 'Heavenly Process' of blood debts being paid with blood and karma being punished by heaven! We've even created a 'Pacifier Gold Bank' to issue 'peace bonds'… This… In the eyes of the 'Eye of Nirvana'… is… a serious crime of financial innovation disrupting the order of Heaven! This… is exploiting loopholes in the laws of the universe! This… is blasphemy against divine authority! Woo woo woo… Host… We're dead… He loves to banish violators to the turbulent flow of time and space to be eternal cleaners… the kind who sweep toilets every day…]
Su Li: "..." So, is Tian Dao still an old-fashioned accountant? He can't stand new financial models?
As the system wept and Su Li internally complained furiously, a gigantic, cold, and merciless "eye" slowly emerged from the pitch-black crack. It wasn't a living eye, but more like a "conceptual eye" composed of solidified dark stars and shattered geometric prisms. It lacked pupils, only an endless coldness and scrutiny, as if it could see through the cause and effect of all things in the world, their souls, and even existence itself.
The gaze of the Eye of Annihilation, like a physical ice probe, instantly locked onto Su Li and the four children in the square! An indescribable, terrifying pressure, originating from the absolute crushing of life levels, descended upon them!
Plop! Plop! Plop!
All the soldiers, civilians, and even birds and insects around the square crawled uncontrollably to the ground, their souls trembling. Even the eldest child, Su Chen, turned pale and trembled slightly, forcing himself to hold on. The second child, Su Heng, was so frightened that he burst into tears and dropped his golden pacifier to the ground. The light of the dragon horn of the third child, Su Yu, was suppressed to the point of being almost extinguished, and his little fists were clenched tightly. The fourth child, Su Qi, clung to Su Li's legs tightly, his little body shaking like a leaf in the wind, and his strawberry birthmark was terribly hot.
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