[Current Status: System Merging]
[Merging Progress: 50%...80%...99%]
[New Entity Definition: The One]
...
The collapse of the Cloud Palace was a silent, magnificent fireworks display.
The white jade pillars and glazed tiles, composed of data, instantly transformed into a shower of silver light dust the moment they lost the support of core computing power.
It was like a snow that had fallen for three thousand years, finally melting at this turbulent moment.
Seventeen floated in the center of the ruins.
The giant abyss-mouth manifestation behind him had gradually faded, replaced by a massive, constantly rotating Tai Chi totem.
One half was the pitch-black abyss demonic energy, his origin, representing madness, obsession, and lust.
The other half was the silver-white data of the Heavenly Dao, Bai Ze's legacy, representing absolute rationality, rules, and indifference.
Buzz—
Two completely different forces clashed and tore at each other within his body, yet under the guidance of Shen Qingqiu's "Red Bean Virus," they were forced to merge.
"Ugh..."
Seventeen painfully tilted his head back, his long neck taut, veins bulging.
This merging was not just a superposition of data, but a torment of the soul.
In his mind, the memories of ninety-nine lifetimes of tragic deaths (emotions) and ninety-nine lifetimes of cold observation (reason) were overlapping.
"Save her!" The young man struggling in the sea of fire was shouting.
"Give up, it's not cost-effective." The white-robed deity high in the clouds spoke coldly.
Two voices, two selves.
Finally, they converged into Shen Qingqiu's kiss on the stargazing platform.
[This object... is the most poignant.]
Boom!
The Tai Chi totem stopped rotating.
Black and white were no longer distinct, but blended together, transforming into a deeper, more chaotic gray.
Seventeen slowly opened his eyes.
At that moment, heaven and earth lost their color. His left eye remained that bewitching purplish-red, an inextinguishable crimson lotus flame burning in its depths—that was the demon.
His right eye, however, had transformed into an ultimate silvery-white, with intricate stellar trajectories flowing within its pupil—that was the god.
The left eye governed emotion, the right eye governed law.
One eye a chasm, the other the heavens.
…
"Hmph…"
Seventeen exhaled a breath of turbid air, which transformed into a white rainbow, instantly piercing through the thick clouds.
He lowered his head, looking at the woman standing at the end of the red carpet amidst the ruins.
Her wedding dress was tattered, but the light in her eyes was brighter than the entire starry river above.
Swish.
Seventeen descended from mid-air.
No longer the violent landing from before, but an elegant descent that defied the laws of physics.
Like a feather, yet carrying the overwhelming pressure of Mount Tai.
He stood before Shen Qingqiu.
Only a step separated them.
"Seventeen?"
Shen Qingqiu tentatively called out his name.
She looked at his heterochromatic eyes, her heart tightening slightly.
At this moment, his aura was terrifying. It contained both Seventeen's fervor and Bai Ze's detachment. She wasn't sure if the foolish man who loved her was still there.
Seventeen didn't speak.
He simply extended his hands.
His left hand (the demon's hand) was burning hot, his fingertips trembling slightly—an uncontrollable longing.
His right hand (the god's hand) was cool as jade, its movements precise and steady—the composure of one who controlled everything.
With these two hands, he simultaneously cupped Shen Qingqiu's face.
"It's me."
His voice had changed.
It had both Seventeen's deep, magnetic tone and Bai Ze's cool, ethereal quality.
The two voices overlapped, creating a strange, divine resonance.
"And also… him."
Seventeen's right eye (the silver eye) shifted slightly, flashing with countless streams of data.
[Physiological scan complete. Heart rate 120, dopamine secretion index: high.]
[Conclusion: You are afraid of me.]
But the crimson lotus in his left eye (the purple eye) suddenly flickered. "What are you afraid of?"
A wicked smile played on his lips, a familiar mischievous smile that Shen Qingqiu recognized.
"Are you afraid that I'll become this strange, sarcastic person and then deny everything?"
Shen Qingqiu was startled for a moment, then her eyes reddened, and she burst into laughter.
"Strange and sarcastic… who talks about themselves like that?"
She reached out, her fingertips gently touching his cold right eye.
"Does it hurt?"
She was asking about the fusion process.
"It hurts."
Seventeen admitted frankly.
He buried his face in her palm, like a giant beast finally returning to its lair, seeking comfort.
"The memories of these ninety-nine lifetimes are too heavy."
"Bai Ze hid them at the bottom of the database. When I swallowed them… it was like swallowing ten thousand needles."
Each needle represented his regret at watching her suffer without being able to do anything.
"But only by swallowing them…"
Seventeen raised his head, his heterochromatic eyes locked onto her.
"Am I complete."
"The old me only had a sword, no sheath. So I could only die for you."
"The current me…"
He slowly raised his right hand.
The collapsing ruins of the Heavenly Palace, the falling boulders and broken pillars, all froze in mid-air the moment he raised his hand.
[Rebuild.]
Buzz—
Countless silver data streams surged from his palm.
The ruins didn't return to their original state.
Instead, their material structure was forcibly altered.
Stone turned into diamonds, wood into jade.
In the blink of an eye.
A more magnificent, more dreamlike new temple, entirely woven from black gold and crystal, rose from the ground beneath their feet.
"The current me is the rule itself."
Seventeen looked at her, the domineering aura in his eyes enough to make all things submit.
"I can not only die for you."
"I can also… dictate life and death for you."
…
"My god… is that a god?"
"No, that's a devil!"
On the ground, eight billion humans watched this scene through screens.
Watching the man with heterochromatic eyes, changing the world with a wave of his hand.
They were afraid, they trembled. The old gods are dead, and the new gods... seem even more uncontrollable.
[Warning! Illegal regime change detected!]
[High-dimensional interference mechanism · Activated!]
Just then.
A huge crack suddenly opened in the void above the Heavenly Palace.
That wasn't an ordinary spatial rift.
That was the firewall of the ninth dimension being breached.
"Delete."
A cold, emotionless electronic voice came from the crack.
Immediately afterward.
A gigantic hand, composed of pure black pixel blocks, stretched out from the crack.
That hand was larger than the entire Heavenly Palace.
It carried the highest command of "formatting," slowly pressing down towards Seventeen and Shen Qingqiu.
This was the true **Administrator** taking action.
They would not allow the existence of a "complete being" with self-awareness and uncontrollability.
"Hmph."
Seventeen raised his head, looking at the black hand that blotted out the sky.
If it were before, he might only be able to sacrifice his life.
But now...
"Qingqiu, close your eyes."
Seventeen said softly.
He released one hand and covered Shen Qingqiu's eyes.
"There are some dirty things, don't look."
Shen Qingqiu obediently closed her eyes, leaning against him.
She could feel that the nuclear-powered heart in Seventeen's chest was accelerating wildly.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
"Get lost."
Seventeen only said one word.
He didn't draw his sword.
He simply widened his silver right eye.
[Permission Override.]
[Command: Backlash.]
Zzz—!!!
A silver beam of light shot out from his right eye.
The beam was as thin as a hair, but the moment it touched the black giant hand, it spread wildly like a virus.
Crack, crack.
The black giant hand, representing the will of the higher dimension, actually froze.
Then, it began to change color.
From black, it turned into... pink.
That was the "Red Bean Virus" that Shen Qingqiu had implanted. Seventeen was now a super-host of the virus, and he transmitted this "love" back to the higher-dimensional system along the attack path.
"Ah—!!!"
From the depths of the rift, a terrified electronic screech echoed.
It was the scream of the higher-dimensional operator.
He couldn't comprehend this data called "love," and his system was crashing, overheating, and burning out.
Boom!
The giant hand, now turned pink, exploded in the air.
It transformed into countless pink data petals, scattering and falling onto the newly formed temple.
This scene was absurd, yet incredibly romantic.
...
"Alright, open your eyes."
Seventeen moved his hand away.
Shen Qingqiu opened her eyes.
She saw a shower of petals.
She saw the man standing in the rain of petals, his heterochromatic eyes flashing, like a god and a demon.
"Is it resolved?"
She asked.
"We've temporarily hurt one of their hands."
Seventeen said calmly.
"But they won't give up. The real war... has only just begun."
He turned around, facing the vast void, facing the real world hidden beyond the dimensions.
"Are you afraid?"
Seventeen asked.
Shen Qingqiu smiled.
She lifted her tattered skirt and walked to his side.
She reached out and intertwined her fingers with his.
"I'm not even afraid of death, why would I be afraid of war?"
She raised her head, looking into his captivating, heterochromatic eyes.
"Seventeen."
"You look so handsome now."
Seventeen was startled for a moment.
Then, his silver right eye curved slightly, tinged with a hint of the gentleness of his left eye.
"The wedding isn't over yet."
Seventeen suddenly said.
He opened his right hand.
In his palm, the **[Cube of Truth]** stripped from Bai Ze's body was slowly rotating.
Seventeen clenched his five fingers.
Crack.
The cube of supreme power was crushed.
Countless crystalline fragments recombined at his fingertips.
Finally, it transformed into... a ring.
It was a pair of rings woven from data streams (silver) and red lotus fire (red). The inside of the ring was engraved with a line of tiny, indecipherable code.
Translated, it read: [Glitch & Lover].
Seventeen knelt on one knee.
Above the nine heavens, in the center of this newly pacified battlefield,
He held up the ring.
"Shen Qingqiu."
"Will you marry a monster... who is both a madman and a machine, both a god and a demon?"
Shen Qingqiu looked at him.
Tears welled up in her eyes again.
This time, it was tears of joy.
She extended her ring finger.
"I do."
"Even if the world resets, even if the dimensions collapse,"
"I... do."
Ding.
The ring slipped onto her finger.
At that moment,
The data stream of the entire world stopped flowing.
It was as if all things in heaven and earth were bearing witness to the marriage of these lovers who defied fate.
Devouring the divine body, evolving yin and yang.
The god had fallen.
But a new era was born... in this kiss.