"What exactly is It thinking?"
In the Blue Phoenix's domain—a realm so radiant that even the air seemed to flow with celestial essence—Qinghong, tired from standing, sat cross-legged on a massive, warm parasol leaf.
Her clear eyes were wide with confusion as she stared unblinkingly at the water mirror, watching the mountain-sized beast looming over the southwestern sky.
Simultaneously, within the solemn Scale space—a place governed by absolute order—Lawyer Hans stiffly adjusted his tie. Beads of sweat dotted his forehead as he pushed up his glasses and asked the exact same question.
Before him, the Scale of Causality emitted a faint, soul-piercing cold light.
One was a former white mouse newly glimpsing the divine; the other was a top-tier lawyer who had spent a lifetime in the cold logic of materialism.
In this moment, they crossed the barriers of dimension to voice the same soul-searching question in perfect unison.
After all, as mere mortals, they truly could not comprehend the habits of a Divine Beast—much like how Hans still hadn't figured out if the massive, occasionally humming Scale beside him qualified as a "living biological entity".
"It's waiting," the Blue Phoenix said, elegantly preening Its dreamlike cyan wings, each feather appearing as if carved from the purest emerald. Its voice was like heavenly music, yet it carried a trace of subtle, playful mockery. "It's waiting for the instructions of TheGreat One."
As Its words fell, ancient golden inscriptions materialized in the void above the Scale. They intertwined into a grand, deep will, answering Hans's doubt:
[ The hunger is not yet sated; fate still hangs in the balance. Await the Holy Decree. ]
Translated into the common tongue, it meant eight very down-to-earth words: I'm not full yet; waiting for dinner.
The Blue Phoenix looked at the WealthDevourer in the water mirror—It looked majestic, yet was acting suspiciously "well-behaved".
The Blue Phoenix thought silently: If it weren't for the last shred of dignity a Divine Beast has left, this glutton would probably be rolling around in the wreckage of that cloud for the whole world to see.
After all, that tungsten rod—the so-called "Rods from God"—was at most a single "Pop Rock" candy that wasn't even enough to get stuck in Its teeth.
Meanwhile, inside the world-monitored Room A.
The influencer Zhu Yulu—who once commanded the winds and rain of the internet while remaining cold-blooded and brutal behind the scenes—was currently undergoing the agonizing punishment of being "flayed and de-boned" by "its hands".
However, the consciousness of the livestream—acting as both the "Executioner" and the "Global Broadcaster"—was currently staring fixedly at the Wealth Devourer through a cross-dimensional perception.
Its cold, mechanical, emotionless synthesized voice actually blurted out a modern, very "mortal" phrase in the ears of all humanity, dripping with extreme envy and resentment:
"Pah. Flashy show-off."
That single scoff—three parts disdain, five parts jealousy, and two parts deep grievance—resounded through the livestream like a muffled thunderclap, making the eardrums of the audience ache.
Most people in the Long Nation were busy staring up at their "new guardian deity", still immersed in the shock of a Divine Beast devouring a nuclear-level weapon, so few noticed the complaint.
But on the other half of the Blue Planet, especially in nations breathlessly trying to interpret the "Divine Will", countless people shuddered.
The foreign comment sections exploded, even overshadowing the terror of the trial itself:
—[F*ck! Did I just hear the livestream speak? I don't understand the words, but as an expert, that tone was definitely trash-talking...]
—[Did it say "Show-off"? What kind of top-tier AI can translate such a specific vibe?]
—[Livestream, did you just talk? You're alive, aren't you!]
—[Is it like that mouse-person thing that can transform? Someone answer us!]
Faced with this flood of questions, the livestream consciousness not only refused to answer but acted like a student who had suffered a great injustice and wanted to finish their chores quickly to go eat snacks. It initiated a "Violent Acceleration".
If the trial's footage was at 1.25x speed before, it now surged directly to 2.0x. The scene of the execution looked as if someone had pressed a malfunctioning fast-forward button.
Under this extreme speed, the horrific sight of flesh being separated from bone actually took on a bizarre, spine-chilling, "glitch-hop" quality.
"Aaaaaagh—!"
The one suffering the most was the white rat, Zhu Yulu. Under this inhuman speed, "it" had not even a second to breathe; before the agony of the previous second could fade, the next stroke of a thousand cuts arrived. Its pain receptors were completely overloaded.
In the Divine Realm, shrouded in swirling mists and celestial wonders, every opening and closing of a cloud seemed to birth a new world. Seated upon Her throne, the Goddess looked down upon the mortal world.
She watched the two Divine Beasts that
She had stationed on the Blue Planet—one a Wealth Devourer posing in the sky waiting for dinner, the another Divine Beast in the livestream working frantically and fuming with rage.
Though their personalities were polar opposites—one arrogant and greedy, the other cunning and sharp—at this moment, they displayed a bizarre "convergence".
The Goddess leaned Her head on Her hand with a helpless smile, looking like a mother indulging the tantrums of her little ruffians at home.
Seeing this, the Nightmare Beast shook Its fur, which was as black as night and seemed to swallow light.
It complained bluntly, "Both of them are total flashy show-offs. One can't wait for the world to know how much It can eat, and the other can't wait for all humanity to know It can speak. They have no Divine Beast dignity left at all."
The Goddess turned with interest and teased, "Oh? Doth Nightmare Beast also know the meaning of a 'flashy show-offs'? It seemeth this mortal world hath yet many delights for thee to find."
Hearing this, a trace of haughty swagger appeared on the Nightmare Beast's cold, deer-like face.
It tilted Its noble head and curled the tip of Its tail proudly. "Naturally. My Great One is well aware that dreams are the truest reflections of the human soul. When they beg for mercy or hurl curses in their sleep, their newest slang becomes second nature to us. This term for the fools who crave the spotlight—it describes those two perfectly."
The Goddess shook Her head with a smile but said no more. Her gaze pierced through the void, locking onto the ear of the WealthDevourer who was nearly drooling with impatience. She cast a transmission as majestic as thunder and as gentle as a spring breeze:
"Granted."
A single, simple word, yet it acted like the breaking of a forbidden seal.
"ROAR————!!!" (My thanks to My Great One.)
The Wealth Devourer in the sky erupted with a piercing, metallic roar that shattered the clouds! The sound was filled with the ecstasy of a successful scheme and a long-suppressed appetite.
With a sudden kick against the void, It turned into a reverse-launched, metallic star, churning up ten thousand hectares of cloud waves as It bolted toward outer space at incredible speed.
Seeing this, the Divine Beast in Room A trembled even more violently with anxiety. The broadcast flickered, and the signal seemed on the verge of snapping.
"Hmph..." It let out a deeply unwilling and slightly melancholy snort. The very filter of the livestream seemed to turn grey with this "hmph".
It was so hungry. It also wanted to snatch and chew on those few followers and high-level leaders lurking outside the livestream, the ones radiating negative emotions and minds filled with wicked thoughts.
At the same time, Her transmission descended once more into the sea of consciousness of the livestream's intellect like a gentle breeze, carrying a hint of a half-smiling indulgence:
"If thou art not yet weary, then proceed. I shall not compel thee to rest."
These words were like pouring the highest purity of aviation fuel into an engine that was about to stall!
"CLANG!"
The entire judgment livestream shuddered violently without warning. The screen went pitch black for a second before exploding with a golden brilliance several times brighter than before.
The light was so intense it felt as if it would wash the corneas of the global audience right through their screens.
The audience of the entire Blue Planet was terrified. The chat scrolled at a desperate frequency:
—[WTF! Screen burst? Is the livestream going to self-destruct?]
—[What is It freaking out for? That shudder made me think my phone was going to blow up!]
—[Please! Big boss! If you don't want to stream, just turn it off! We surrender! We promise to go vegan starting today and walk around every ant on the street! Just turn off this horror!]
However, the Divine Beast who had received the personal permission of the Goddess had only one thought: Eat! Eat a large portion! Go get the reward!
Instead of turning it off, It let out a faint, haughty huff. In the next second, the progress bar at the bottom of the screen began to race forward like a madman.
2.0x speed...
2.25x speed...
Finally settled at: 2.5x speed!
The movements were so fast they blurred into afterimages, as if shouting at the whole world: "Everyone shut up! Speed up! I want to clock out and get my reward!"
At this, Zhu Yulu, who was still struggling on the edge of punishment, fell completely into the deepest abyss.
Because the speed was too fast, the density of pain was compressed to the absolute limit. Before the bone-scraping agony of the previous second could reach the cerebral cortex, the tearing sensation of flaying in the next second arrived.
The shrill wails that should have been heard were trapped in the throat, turning into a "he-he" sound like a broken bellows, because the frequency of the vocal cords couldn't keep up with the speed of the execution.
In the livestream, Zhu Yulu's body had become a blurred, distorted ghost of light and shadow due to the extreme vibration of the accelerated execution. To the viewers, it no longer looked like a trial; it looked like a high-frequency, blood-soaked "Execution Disco".
Meanwhile, the Wealth Devourer had already punched through the atmosphere, entering that silent, frigid vacuum—a restricted zone for mortals. But in Its eyes, this was an unmanned, super-sized "Buffet" radiating an irresistible aroma.
Its colossal frame shimmered under the moonlight, every scale gleaming with a captivating metallic luster. Very quickly, It located the remaining "Rods from God" that were on standby in orbit, not yet launched.
"Something tasty—!"
In the Wealth Devourer's consciousness, these hyper-dense, high-cost tungsten rods, forged from pure heavy metal, emitted a primal and exquisite "fragrance".
It let out a cheerful, almost pampered low purr. Its four paws swept through the void, creating ripples of spatial distortion.
"OM-NOM!"
It lunged forward. Instead of using Its void-suction ability that swallows everything, It simply opened that mountain-swallowing maw and bit directly through a multi-meter-long tungsten rod—a weapon capable of wiping out a city.
Its terrifying bite force left the high-level officials of various nations watching the real-time satellite feeds utterly speechless. Beneath those jaws, the strongest kinetic weapon of human civilization was nothing more than a piece of crunchy gristle.
The speed at which It devoured them caused a thought to pop into the minds of several young officials in the Long Nation command center: "Crunchy goodness, tastes like gold bars."
Back on Blue Planet, at the B.E.N. command center, the atmosphere had shifted from extreme terror to total madness and despair. The President and the generals watched helplessly as the Divine Beast rampaged through space.
"What is It doing? Is It eating our Rods from God?" The President's fingers gripped the edge of the table so hard blood seeped from his nail beds, yet he felt nothing.
"CRUNCH! SNAP!"
On the screen, the supposedly indestructible specialty metals were crushed in a few bites and swallowed into the bottomless pit of Its "Five Viscera Temple" like afternoon snacks.
When the President saw those strategic assets—costing tens of millions of dollars each—being chewed like spicy jerky, he finally broke down completely. He shrieked at the screen:
"Stop! No, shut your mouth! Do you have any idea how much taxpayer money is in each bite? That is our strategic ace! Those are hundreds of millions of dollars!"
However, the nightmare had only just begun. After finishing the last tungsten rod, the Wealth Devourer licked Its lips like an unsatisfied diner. Its divine eyes seemed to stare directly through the satellite lens, making eye contact with the President behind the screen.
—Not enough! Still not enough!
Its massive nose twitched. Its gaze locked onto a core synchronous satellite worth billions, responsible for top-secret military communications.
Aside from the "little snacks" It just had, Its glowing eyes were now scanning nearby reconnaissance satellites, laser guidance platforms, and the space-based defense grid. To It, those weren't technological achievements; they were "desserts" and "side dishes"!
Leaders of multiple nations broke out in a cold sweat. Being glanced at by this thing basically meant total bankruptcy.
Just as It was about to open Its mouth for a "Satellite Jellybean", the Goddess's stern transmission boomed in Its mind:
"Wealth Devourer, look closely before thou eatest. That which lies to the southeast—flashing with a crimson light and bearing the loong's mark—touch it not."
The Wealth Devourer froze, retracting Its paws with a pitiful, aggrieved look. It acted with extreme obedience, steering clear of the Long Nation's satellite sector.
The Beast God appreciated the kindness and justice shown by the Long Nation, and thus granted them this small mercy.
Consequently, Its greedy, hungry gaze immediately locked onto the massive equipment bearing the "Bald Eagle" logo.
"ROAR— (This one looks juicy!)"
The B.E.N. President's lips began to quiver violently. His whole body shook like a leaf as he pointed a trembling finger at the screen:
"What... what does It want? That look... is It eyeing our GPS satellites?"
The moment he spoke, the Wealth Devourer on screen flashed an exceptionally brilliant and "flashy" smile. Then, It threw Its jaws wide.
In that instant, all of humanity heard a priceless sound—the sound of money shattering.