After Saving The Universe A Thousand Times: Chapter 22

Chapter 22: All Gods’ Descent 22

“Dear passengers, we have arrived at the Entertainment Star. Please disembark from the spaceship in an orderly manner within fifteen minutes.  

Special reminder: As Entertainment Star was designated a special war-preparation planet three days ago, those without an invitation from the Cosmic Will are prohibited from entering the spaceship field during the Divine Selection period.  

Any passengers who enter the planet without permission will bear the consequences themselves.”  

Having spent twenty years alone in prison, Dong Jin, accustomed to solitude, had no interest in unnecessary social interactions.  

Yet the upcoming instance was multiplayer. This meant that among the top 1,000 trial-takers on Entertainment Star, there could be his future temporary teammates or competitors.  

Thus, after receiving the Cosmic Will’s invitation, Dong Jin finally arrived at the planet on the third night’s deadline.  

The moment he set foot on Entertainment Star, before the spaceship’s dutiful announcement had ended, he received another message from the Cosmic Will. At that moment, Dong Jin genuinely feared that it was up to some mischief again.  

However, when he frowned and opened the message, its content left him slightly stunned.  

This time, the usually troublesome Cosmic Will said nothing. The entire message contained only a planetary transfer document, and the planet being gifted was none other than the one beneath his feet—Entertainment Star.  

Oh? Such a generous move?  

As expected, the Cosmic Will is most charming when it keeps quiet and only gives money.  

Walking alone through the deserted spaceship field, Dong Jin casually signed his name on the screen. The moment he finished signing, a planetary renaming option immediately popped up on the virtual screen.  

Without any hesitation, Dong Jin wrote three characters.  

When he finally left the spaceship field and approached an automated hovercar, he saw a young woman standing with her back to him, facing the dynamically changing planetary signboard. She read the updated name aloud with uncertainty:  

“…Calamity Star?”  

Hearing Dong Jin’s footsteps, which he had not deliberately concealed, she instinctively turned around.  

Upon seeing Dong Jin’s face, the brown-haired, brown-eyed, bright-looking woman flashed a cheerful smile and greeted him naturally and warmly:  

“Welcome, our one-thousandth warrior. And congratulations, our sole MVP.”  

“My name is Fei Lin ¹. There’s nothing particularly special about me, just a bit of talent in gathering intelligence. I arrived early, so if there’s anything you’d like to know, feel free to ask. I’ll tell you everything I can.”  

Dong Jin knew of Fei Lin.  

Despite her modest words, she was an information broker even someone like him, long confined to prison, had heard of.  

At this moment, his “Eye of Truth” confirmed it:  

[Fei Lin: Female, adult human.]  

[A high-EQ, highly reputable information broker.]  

[However, her methods of gathering intelligence seem to have a few issues.]  

[Hmm… for those with too many secrets, these may not be mere “small” issues.] 

As Dong Jin pondered the last two sentences of the message, the ever-sociable Fei Lin continued with a smile:  

“Speaking of which, the reason I came so early was to witness your brilliance in person. After waiting for so long, now that I’ve finally met you, I find myself at a loss for words.”  

“Because your charm far surpasses the MVP highlights on the big screen—completely exceeding the limits of my humble vocabulary.”  

Her emotional intelligence was indeed high. Dong Jin, equally skilled in wordplay, instantly picked up on the subtle hint in her praise—she had waited outside the spaceship field for three days.  

With such goodwill, it wouldn’t be surprising if she managed to extract information from him.  

But Dong Jin was always on guard, so instead of following her lead, he casually asked, “You said I’m the last warrior. Does that mean I’m the last to arrive?”  

For such an easy question, Fei Lin answered directly, “Yes. Arriving fashionably late, making a grand entrance.”  

As she spoke, she gestured to a luxurious hovercar parked nearby. “The celebration banquet is being held in the villa district. It’s a bit far from here—may I have the honor of giving you a ride?”  

Dong Jin couldn’t quite grasp Fei Lin’s intentions, but since he had come to observe the trial-takers, it was impossible to avoid all social interactions. So, in the end, he nodded.  

On the way to the villa district, Fei Lin, skilled at maintaining conversation, kept the atmosphere lively without a single awkward pause:  

“I think the Cosmic Will gathering the top 1,000 trial-takers isn’t just for us to recognize each other. It’s also a form of protection. Don’t be fooled by the current calm—there’s an undercurrent of turmoil.”  

“The Divine Selection allows those with poor talent to enhance it and those without talent to awaken it. Sounds great, right? But some of those people, once they gain power, think they’re invincible and start causing chaos everywhere.”  

“Sometimes I wonder if they traded their brains for power. Because of them, most of the top 1,000 trial-takers have decided to stay here until the Divine Selection ends. After all, those brainless ones can’t get in.”  

After freely offering this information, Fei Lin didn’t push Dong Jin for a response. Instead, she smoothly changed the subject: “Enough about such unpleasant things—I wanted to ask you something.”  

“Did you notice the planetary name suddenly change on the sign outside the spaceship field when you arrived?”  

“The night sky was so dark that I wonder if I misread it. Otherwise, why would the Cosmic Will rename Entertainment Star to ‘Calamity’? That’s way too ominous.”  

“Or is it mocking those guys of the Supreme Universe, implying they’re like a calamity? No way, right? Our universe is performing so well—of the seven MVP slots, we’ve already taken two. If we keep it up, our Cosmic Will be the one to achieve civilization upgrade…”  

[The Cosmic Will, so focused on upgrading, certainly wouldn’t rename the planet. That’s the name I changed.]

While Fei Lin was chattering on, Dong Jin subconsciously responded in his heart.  

He wasn’t mocking the gods and demons of the Supreme Universe; he was simply using this planet to silently declare to the world:  

[—I am the calamity.]  

In the fleeting silence, Dong Jin keenly noticed that Fei Lin’s hand paused for an extra second while steering the hovercar, as if her attention had suddenly been diverted.  

Recalling the faint sense of being watched when he mentally answered the renaming question and combining that with the last two lines of information from “Eye of Truth,” Dong Jin began to speculate about Fei Lin’s abilities.  

Could the talent this information broker awakened be something like sensing others’ emotions? Or perhaps something more—mind reading?  

There wasn’t any solid evidence, just Dong Jin’s intuition. But a support ability this unique was worth probing further.  

Given that he had only sensed her probing once since they met, it seemed this woman was naturally cautious. To make her slip up, he needed to dangle an irresistible piece of information to lure her into taking the bait.  

Lost in their respective thoughts, they arrived at the villa district.  

As soon as they entered, Dong Jin’s eyes were momentarily blinded by the nightclub-like, shifting lights in the villa’s main hall.  

Fortunately, he was wearing the pure black contact lenses he had received as an instance reward; otherwise, he might have exposed himself on the spot.  

As Dong Jin discreetly observed the elite trial-takers standing at the pinnacle of this universe under the colorful lights, Fei Lin suddenly clapped her hands, drawing their attention. She then announced:  

“Surely, no one here doesn’t know who this is, right?”  

“So now, let’s welcome the MVP of the Seven Universes—Mr. Dong Jin!”  

At that moment, Dong Jin wasn’t sure if Fei Lin felt awkward, but he certainly did. Yet when he noticed the faces of the trial-takers scattered around, some of whom were clapping halfheartedly, his embarrassment transformed into a subtle sense of amusement.  

In this seemingly ordinary living room, at least a quarter of the thousand trial-takers had been wanted across the universe, and a few had even been his prison mates. As for the remaining three-quarters, there weren’t many genuinely decent people among them.  

After all, hadn’t he himself just been released from prison not long ago?  

In short, this wasn’t a celebration banquet—this was a chaotic dance of devils.  

He couldn’t help but wonder: if the Cosmic Will saw this scene, would it panic?  

It was one thing that this group of fugitives dominated the top 1,000, but the fact that the universe’s top-ranked individual was also quite a peculiar figure was even more intriguing.  

Thinking this, Dong Jin directed his gaze to a black-haired man who had silently walked over to the light switch and carefully adjusted the lighting to a normal level.  

[Serge: Male, adult human.]  

[Ranked first in this universe’s overall strength leaderboard.]  

[Despite his towering height and muscular build, this top-tier combatant is, without a doubt, this universe’s number one Holy Father.]

Logically, since Serge was the strongest in the universe, Dong Jin should have fully activated “Eye of Truth” to observe him.  

But Dong Jin had no intention of wasting even a shred of energy on him. After all, this guy’s talent, along with his grand ambition to save the entire universe, was already so famous that everyone in the universe knew about it.  

Serge’s talent was called “All Sentient Beings Suffer,” and its specific ability was to gain power from pain.  

As the name implied, the more pain he experienced, the stronger he became.  

The problem was that Serge was a Holy Father with maxed-out empathy.  

With just one look at someone, it seemed he could sense the pain they had endured and feel it deeply himself. Then, disregarding identity or anything else, all he wanted was to do everything in his power to rescue them from their suffering.  

But how could the human heart be so easily saved?  

Thus, through countless rescues and attempts to save, Serge, as the rescuer, became increasingly burdened with pain—and consequently, increasingly powerful.  

Now, his combat power was the highest in this universe.  

Considering the immense suffering accumulated behind that strength, Dong Jin found it a miracle that Serge hadn’t gone insane.  

Seriously, why did this broken universe produce such unconventional characters?  

No matter how strong Serge was, Dong Jin would never dare have him as a teammate—because when fighting against other universes, he couldn’t even be sure whom Serge would end up helping.  

Perhaps it was because Dong Jin had finally arrived, or maybe because the lighting had returned to normal, but the previously unruly trial-takers began to show a bit of interest in participating in the celebration banquet.  

After enjoying the specialty dishes brought in from various planets, Fei Lin, full and satisfied, projected a massive light screen in the middle of the living room. The screen displayed the now-familiar MVP highlights that every trial-taker had seen multiple times.  

As the trial-takers chatting in small groups turned their attention to the screen, Fei Lin, unfazed by any pressure, warmed up the crowd:  

“Since this is a celebration banquet, what fun is there in just chatting? Of course, we have to admire the heroic feats of our universe’s two MVPs together.”  

With that, she began playing the widely broadcast MVP highlights from the past few days.  

Unlike the versions shown on the large screens outside, this specially edited highlight reel played in reverse order, starting from the seventh place and counting down to the first. Some segments even included added subtitle analysis.  

Having spent days at home studying the clearance experiences of the other MVPs, Dong Jin patiently watched it all again.  

There wasn’t much to say about the seventh MVP—they were steady and meticulous, handling every detail perfectly, a textbook example of a conventional clearance.  

But from the sixth place onward, things started to get wild.  

On the screen, the sixth MVP appeared—none other than Serge, sitting diagonally across from Dong Jin.  

True to his Holy Father reputation, Serge earnestly and diligently tried to reform the villains in the hotel from the very beginning.

The villains in the instance really did fall for it—thieves willingly handed over stolen phones, scammers were moved to provide funds, and thugs helped hide his identity and cover his tracks. In the end, the villains split into two factions, working with him from the inside to launch a counterattack against the Supernatural beings.  

Seeing this scene again, Dong Jin couldn’t help but glance at Serge.  

But the moment their eyes met, Serge’s face was instantly covered in tears.  

—Unbelievable.  

Realizing that Serge’s saintly compassion was about to be directed at him, Dong Jin immediately looked away.  

He didn’t think his past was painful in the slightest, nor did he want to become another of Serge’s “physical redemption” projects.  

So, he pretended he hadn’t seen anything.  

By this time, the screen had moved on to the fifth MVP.  

This fifth-ranked MVP was no ordinary figure either.  

Although his specific talent was unclear, it seemed to be something related to mysticism.  

As soon as he entered the instance, he started flipping a coin, then followed its guidance straight out of the hotel. Outside, he encountered a series of key figures—thieves, scammers, and the like—smoothly triggering the main storyline.  

Even more absurdly, this guy didn’t spend a single night in the hotel. Instead, he found a random cheap inn and managed to save an investigator from the Supernatural Beings Investigation Bureau caught in a bomb explosion, thereby seamlessly opening the investigation route.  

From climbing to the rooftop with the rescued investigator to discovering a camera and then finding the “Door,” every step flowed perfectly.  

Even Dong Jin had to exclaim: Cosmic Will, do something—this is actual cheating!  

The fourth-ranked MVP was a remarkably charismatic woman, and her approach was even more outrageous.  

While everyone else was playing a battle royale, she was playing a new kind of romance simulator.  

In just a few moves, she captivated every criminal and Supernatural being she encountered. With the help of her bewitched double agents, she easily survived the seven days, gathering all the necessary data and clues without missing a single piece.  

Dong Jin speculated that this woman likely had a talent related to charm, one that was developed to the point where her charisma had become an integral part of her strength.  

The third and second places were cleared through brute force and intellect, respectively.  

The third MVP’s assassination skills were ridiculously high—within seven days, no one in the hotel was left alive.  

Even the revised combat rules of the Supreme Universe seemed to be aimed at restricting this man.  

The second MVP, on the other hand, deduced everything the moment he encountered the thief, efficiently retrieving his phone in mere seconds.  

His subsequent actions—contacting the investigation bureau, obtaining partial data on the Supernatural beings and criminals, and teaming up with the scammer to counter-scam Wuli—were smooth and precise, exemplifying peak intellect with every move.  

Because Dong Jin had seen their performances and understood their extraordinary abilities, he couldn’t shake the idea of deceiving the Supreme Universe’s gods and demons.  

With such godly players, how could he possibly play against them without stocking up on a few more items?  

“Did any of you notice that in all the highlights, the Kale in Dong Jin’s instance seems a bit different?”  

After the group finished watching the edited clips, a trial-taker suddenly voiced their doubt.

Just as he said, aside from Dong Jin’s instance, Kale in the other six instances was essentially a background character. Though his combat power was at the peak of those instances, he was nowhere near as strong as the one in Dong Jin’s instance.  

Otherwise, the second-ranked MVP’s plan wouldn’t have gone so smoothly, and the third-ranked wouldn’t have been able to assassinate all the Supernatural beings so easily.  

In the fourth instance, Kale only appeared once from beginning to end, completely unaffected by charm.  

“Wasn’t it said that a god once tried to descend into Kale? Could it be that the power of that god influenced Kale?”  

“Speaking of which, let me ask directly—Dong Jin, when you destroyed the door at the end of the instance, a mark appeared on your forehead that matched the one belonging to the god trying to descend. Have you been chosen by that god?”  

Although many present were keen observers, they had no way of communicating with higher-dimensional universes and thus couldn’t know that Kale was a manifestation of Kai. So, their guesses deviated from the truth.  

Dong Jin, though fully aware of the facts, had no intention of answering.  

Nor was he obligated to.  

Just as he was about to get up and find a room to sleep, he noticed Fei Lin quietly glancing his way.  

His intention to leave subsided a bit.  

Fine. Matters concerning gods were undoubtedly among Fei Lin’s most coveted intel. Since the timing was perfect, he might as well use this opportunity to test her abilities.  

After all, he couldn’t constantly control every thought in his mind.  

Rather than accidentally revealing the dual divine selection between him and Lei Ming later, it was better to prevent that danger from the start.  

With that in mind, as the familiar sense of being probed resurfaced, Dong Jin thought to himself, seemingly unintentionally:  

The strength of Kale across the seven instances was, of course, different.

Because Kale is the incarnation of a god who sealed his memories. I just happened to be unlucky enough to trigger his buried nature, causing him to gradually awaken and recall part of his battle instincts as a god.

As soon as this thought ended, Fei Lin’s expression briefly flickered with understanding, further confirming Dong Jin’s suspicion.  

He then continued inwardly:  

I have indeed been chosen by a god.  

Who would’ve thought that both the god who descended into Kale and the one who chose me were none other than the God of Revelry from the opening ceremony?  

At that moment, Fei Lin’s brown pupils suddenly contracted.  

As the probing sensation slowly withdrew, Dong Jin stood and left, a faint smile playing on his lips.  

—Excellent.  

—This information broker is 99% certain to have mind-reading abilities.  

As for the remaining 1%? That’s just modesty.

TN:

As soon as Dong Jin saw Serge with flowing tears my mind immediately conjured the Stone Hashira’s image. Serge is HIM! Saintly, tall & strong, empathetic! 

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Translator Notes

1. I wasn’t sure if this name, 菲琳, was a transliteration for something like Phylin/Filene/Farin or something to that effect so I just left it in Chinese[↩]