True Apocalypse Game

Faced with this giant tower formed from tens of millions of zombies, their so-called immense power was utterly insignificant.

"That's... What is that!? I saw the endless Cosmos!" the Hannibal Symbiote murmured.

"The Truth... Is this the Truth of everything!?" the Red Symbiote shrieked, its Consciousness Field even beginning to collapse. It had clearly been profoundly shaken.

The other Symbiotes were also screaming madly.

Just moments ago, their consciousnesses had also experienced that surreal scene, witnessing the endless Cosmos and feeling their own insignificance, like motes of dust.

"I can't die... I must find the answers to all of this!" the Hannibal Symbiote roared.

At the same time, in Mexico City, the ordinary zombies that had been wandering about in a stupor all let out frenzied roars and began to converge.

Through the Transfer Tower, Shen Feng could feel massive Symbiote consciousnesses beginning to form among the zombies.

Apparently, the information they had just perceived had acted as a catalyst, causing them to develop a collective consciousness!

"Haha, good! New Symbiotes will emerge! Together, we will resist the enslavement of the Divine Messengers and control our own destinies! Come, Symbiotes! Free will shall never yield!" Red's lower body had already been sucked into the Transfer Tower, yet he laughed wildly.

Just two blocks away from him, thousands of zombies were converging as a powerful Symbiote consciousness gradually coalesced.

And it wasn't just this one. Within Mexico City, hundreds of new Symbiote consciousnesses were being forged, each as powerful as the Hannibal Symbiote.

It wasn't just Mexico City. All across the world, driven by instinct, zombies began to merge their consciousnesses. Powerful Symbiotes were gestating, like butterflies about to emerge from their cocoons.

The information about the Truth of the Cosmos, which Shen Feng's consciousness had guided into the zombies, seemed to act as a catalyst. It awakened the last vestiges of consciousness within them, which then began to fuse and become symbiotic!

If nothing went wrong, this zombie apocalypse, caused by the Evil Spirit Virus, would see the birth of tens or even hundreds of thousands of zombie Symbiotes. They would possess formidable intelligence and create an entirely new Symbiote civilization.

Soon, dozens of new Symbiotes had appeared in Mexico City and begun to charge toward the Transfer Tower.

This was their instinct, the most important task in their new consciousness.

The five Symbiotes being devoured by the Transfer Tower cheered joyfully, hailing this glorious moment together.

But just as the new Symbiotes were born, the Transfer Tower suddenly let out a strange roar. In the next instant, a signal from a distant source shot into the Transfer Tower and was then relayed to the nascent Symbiotes.

VMMMMMM—

Shen Feng then realized it was a signal—a command!

It was followed by an immense, unparalleled Consciousness Field, one that seemed to have just woken up—awakening from within every Transfer Tower!

The Consciousness Field was familiar yet alien to Shen Feng, but he recognized its identity in an instant.

The charging Symbiotes immediately disintegrated, reverting to mindless, ordinary zombies that began to wander aimlessly. Some of their heads even burst apart, an apparent result of signal overload.

The Hannibal Symbiote's form sagged in defeat. It spoke with utter misery:

"It's over... It's all completely over..."

The moment that terrifying Consciousness Field appeared, the Red Symbiote also gave up its resistance, murmuring:

"Is it... Is it him? Has the Divine Apostle awakened?"

That terrifying Consciousness Field, that power they were utterly unable to resist... there was only one possibility: the Divine Apostle had fully awakened!

In an instant, all their efforts had been for nothing, rendered futile.

Shen Feng also understood. The reason this powerful, newly-appeared Consciousness Field felt so familiar yet alien was because it belonged to this world's version of him!

He could even "see" through the stream of information. In East Asia Sea City, inside a colossal, ten-thousand-meter-tall Transfer Tower—the mother tower of the global network—a pale, gaunt youth was waking from a deep slumber, his eyes opening.

The youth's four limbs had all taken the shape of tentacles, fused into the mother tower itself.

His gaze was filled with murderous coldness and apathy, yet also held a hint of confusion and cathartic release.

The depths of his eyes seethed with hatred!

It was this world's Destructive Shen Feng!

The Destructive's will instantly detected the source of the disturbance, arriving at the Transfer Tower in Mexico City!

The moment his consciousness descended, the five struggling Symbiotes, including the Hannibal Symbiote, began to melt simultaneously. Before they could even scream, their mountain-like bodies had completely dissolved into their respective Transfer Towers.

The Destructive was the Transfer Tower, the horde, the world!

Beyond doubt, beyond debate, beyond resistance!

Sensing that arrogant, cruel presence, Shen Feng couldn't help but snark internally:

'So damn melodramatic...'

He had finally "met" this world's version of himself through his consciousness, and he was more or less what he had imagined.

Just from the sensations transmitted through the Transfer Tower, Shen Feng could feel his other self's madness.

...and the terrifying power within his consciousness!

A consciousness of this intensity was comparable even to the Master of the Void that Shen Feng had once encountered. He just wondered how it would stack up against that entity—the one that was 'One as Billions, and Billions as One'—or the Whisperer.

He took a deep breath, gently sliced open the Transfer Tower's outer wall with his dagger again, and quietly slipped out.

His investigation of the Transfer Tower was basically complete, and he now had little interest in how his counterpart in this world had ended up in such a sorry state.

'After all, even though they called it his Parallel World self, he was basically a completely different person.'

'At best, they were like brothers who grew up in similar environments.'

After experiencing the profound terror of the endless Cosmos and the madness of the newly awakened Destructive, Shen Feng had more or less given up on the idea of saving this world.

'This world couldn't be saved. All he could do was complete his investigation and escape as soon as possible.'

'Otherwise, if this world's crazy, cynical, melodramatic Shen Feng found him, the only outcome would be getting killed.'

'Besides, Shen Feng had to ask himself: if he were the one who was crazy, cynical, and dark inside, and he suddenly saw a sane, optimistic, and cheerful version of himself, his first instinct would absolutely be to strangle the guy.'

'What right do you have to be so happy!?'

'Putting himself in the other's shoes, it was far more important to beat a hasty retreat.'

'Of course, he had to log the information in his wristband first.'

Shen Feng slipped out of the Transfer Tower and moved away stealthily, trying not to make a sound.

'As long as I'm careful enough,' he thought, 'Destructive Shen Feng, who's on the other side of the Earth, shouldn't be able to find me...'

Just then, a deep, resonant voice, like the tolling of a great bell, boomed from behind him:

"Who are you? Are you... me?"

Though the voice was somewhat muffled, it was undeniably Shen Feng's own.

'Crap!'

Shen Feng knew he'd been discovered!

He didn't even turn his head. He just bolted, sprinting as fast as he could toward a motorcycle parked at the side of the street.

He'd noticed the bike earlier; the key was still in the ignition. The tires were a bit flat, but it should still start.

VMMMM— The engine roared to life, backfiring from the old gasoline, but thankfully the wheels spun, and it shot forward, carrying Shen Feng with it!

Only then did he see it in his rearview mirror: a pale, gaunt face had materialized on the surface of the Transfer Tower behind him. It looked exactly like him—it was clearly this world's Destructive Shen Feng.

His counterpart hadn't expected Shen Feng to flee outright and seemed to freeze for a moment. But in the next instant, Shen Feng felt the ground tremble as thick, fleshy tentacles erupted from beneath the pavement, whipping toward him!

The face on the Transfer Tower spoke, its voice grim. "Don't go. Let's chat!"

Shen Feng yelled back without looking:

"Left the stove on at home, in a real hurry! We'll talk next time! Definitely next time!"