Chapter 155: The Grand Finale

That very night, the mysterious city descended to the ground.

An invisible ripple swept across a radius of two thousand kilometers. Every human surviving within this region received news regarding the mysterious city.

"The legends are true! It is the mysterious city! We can finally go back!"

As the indigenous inhabitants of this place, a race that had survived here for half a century, their feelings upon hearing this news were intensely emotional.

As for the races that had just arrived and did not yet understand the significance of the mysterious city, the text provided made it clear that this mysterious city was their only means of leaving this place.

As for its location, it had already been marked for them. Those with maps saw the mark on their maps; those without maps had the mark imprinted directly in their minds.

These people frantically rushed toward the location of the mysterious city.

Previously, the population within a two-thousand-kilometer radius would have been at most thirty to forty thousand people. However, due to Lin Mu's series of operations, the number of people this time surged close to two hundred thousand.

High up in the void, two figures looked down at the situation below in silence.

"It seems... different from what we anticipated."

"Indeed. We forgot about the impending descent of the mysterious city. What do we do now?"

"What else can we do? Not many people are dying anyway, just over two hundred thousand," the dark shadow said indifferently.

"But... I'm worried this person might tear down all the nearby cities."

The dark shadow twitched the corner of his mouth. What could he possibly do about that?

Things unfolded exactly as the two of them had expected—a one-sided slaughter.

Although Lin Mu didn't have many people under his command—only about thirty to forty thousand—he didn't even need to show his face when dealing with those two hundred thousand people. They were all wiped out by his fleet of over ten thousand laser cannons.

In the end, Kolodny and the others merely went out to clean the battlefield, not even getting a chance to exchange blows with anyone.

Yet, they were very happy with this kind of life. At least they didn't have to worry about death.

"Everyone, get ready! Tear down every single city within a two-thousand-kilometer radius, and dismantle the protective arrays as well, bring them all back!"

Did they think everything would be fine just because they died? He would uproot their very lairs.

The guards stationed in the cities had no idea what was happening at the time. By the time they realized, they no longer had any chance to escape.

In three days, across a radius of two thousand kilometers, not a single city remained intact.

Aside from that, Lucia left behind a special brand of the undead.

The two figures floating in the void sighed softly.

Just let them leave quickly.

"Should I go apply to the higher-ups to have this batch of people sent out entirely?"

"Go ahead. But I reckon they'll probably end up staying the full ten years."

Some things could be changed, but others were completely untouchable.

...

In the blink of an eye, Lin Mu had been a city lord for over nine years.

During these nine years, the mysterious city had descended a total of six times. And every single one of those six times, he had returned fully loaded with spoils.

In the center of the city, a towering seven-story building stood proudly—a structure built explicitly at Lin Mu's command. Each floor inside was stacked with countless supplies—supplies that Lin Mu had simply been too lazy to pack away properly.

"Lord City Lord, the lower regions are in complete chaos because of the undead."

Perhaps due to the nature of Lucia's magic attributes, a few hundred anomalies had emerged among the hundreds of millions of undead. Their bones were extraordinarily hard, their combat prowess was immense, and they were exceptionally skilled in battle. While they might not be able to defeat large cities, ordinary towns were no match for them whatsoever.

"Ignore them. They're all our people anyway. As long as it doesn't affect my collection of supplies, anything goes."

At this point, Lin Mu simply treated gathering supplies as a game.

"With less than three months left until the ten years are up, do you all have any thoughts about the future?"

Over thirty people sat below him.

Shu Yi and Jiang Han were among the earliest followers, Kolodny and his group were forced into joining him under coercion, and the rest were powerful individuals he had discovered along the way. However, these powerful individuals had also been fitted with restraining collars.

"Actually... I think not going back might be fine too," Shu Xin said softly.

"Speak your mind."

"Look, when we first arrived here, there were a full six billion of us. And the remaining two billion are either the elderly or children. Even if young people like us go back, it's not going to be of much use, and we'd still have to worry about putting food on the table. Since that's the case, why don't we just stay?"

Hearing Shu Xin's words, the crowd fell into deep contemplation.

It did seem to make sense. They practically felt invincible by now.

Over the past ten years, not a single one of them had died, and none of the races down below were a match for them.

This...

They exchanged glances. It actually seemed feasible.

Lin Mu rubbed his chin. In truth, he had been harboring the exact same thought.

He didn't have a home on Blue Star anyway, so whether he went back or not didn't matter. As for modern entertainment, his interest in it was minimal. Staying here to become some sort of local tyrant didn't sound like a bad idea at all.

...

The ten-year term had arrived.

A pop-up window appeared before Lin Mu's eyes.

[The time has come. Do you wish to return?]

Without a second thought, Lin Mu clicked "No."

[The next inquiry will be in five years.]

The corners of Lin Mu's lips curled upward. Forget five years—he wouldn't go back even if it were fifty years.

He was going to stay here and be a bandit... no, an emperor!

The two figures in the void fell into silence once again.

"I knew it! He's practically invincible here; of course he wouldn't want to leave!" the white shadow said, exasperated to the point of fury.

Because of this man, this planet had been thrown into absolute chaos. They had tried their best to bring in more powerful individuals, but it still hadn't worked.

"Didn't you submit a report? Why is there still no news?"

The dark shadow paused for a moment. "Maybe... the boss is sleeping. You know how he is; he sleeps for decades at a stretch. In the past, if he fell asleep, he wouldn't wake up for a few hundred years."

The white shadow's mouth twitched. "Then what do we do with him?"

"Let's wait a bit longer. If all else fails, we'll just relocate everyone else to another planet. He'll leave on his own eventually."

Things proceeded without any ripples.

Lin Mu's fleet shuttled between various cities, destroying nearly half of the cities every single year. Once they recovered, he would head out and destroy them all over again.

Five years later, the prompt appeared once more.

And naturally, Lin Mu chose "No" again.

However, this time, no matter what he did, he couldn't click "No."

It was as if the word "No" was actively dodging his cursor, while the word "Yes" stayed firmly locked in place.

Lin Mu's mouth twitched. Was this forcing him to choose "Yes"?

He gathered everyone together once more and told them about the situation.

The others hadn't expected the system to enforce a mandatory choice like this.

At that moment, the chubby young man suddenly asked, "What do you think would happen if we just didn't choose at all?"

The crowd froze. Not choose?

Would that even work?

Lin Mu decided to give it a try. It wouldn't have any negative consequences anyway.

A week passed, and the interface remained frozen on that exact option.

It actually worked.

However, it didn't stay that way for long.

"It's done," the dark shadow said with a smile.

"How did you fix it?"

"A one-day countdown. Like it or not, he has to leave now. Hahahaha~~~~"

They had finally managed to chase this guy away.

That very night, Lin Mu casually checked his interface and was dumbfounded to see a ten-hour countdown staring back at him.

"What on earth is going on?!"

No matter how much he complained, the countdown was there. What else could he do?

"Is it finally time to be sent back?"

Sigh...

Lin Mu looked at the pile of stacked boxes inside his vehicle—boxes nested within boxes, all filled with materials.

He probably wouldn't be able to take these with him.

After thinking it over, he detached the vehicle's core and hung it around his wrist. Then, he cleared out one of his inventory slots and placed the boxes inside.

He hoped he could take them with him when he returned, though he suspected it might be a bit difficult.

Looking at the glass bead, which was only a centimeter in diameter, he made a bold decision.

He uninstalled the vehicle core entirely and swallowed it in one gulp.

"If this doesn't work, then there's truly no other way."

Half an hour later, he called everyone together.

"In another nine hours, we'll all be returning to our respective worlds."

Everyone's emotions were complex.

Back when they were struggling to survive, they had yearned to return every single moment. But now that they didn't want to go back, they were being forced to leave. This was...

"Thank you all for your hard work over the years. An hour from now, your collars will automatically unlock. Everyone, go on back."

Lin Mu hurriedly returned to his vehicle.

Unlocking them on the spot was out of the question. With Kolodny and the others possessing such immense personal strength, how could he dare to unlock them immediately? Heaven knew if they would retaliate against him.

An hour later, everyone's collars were unlocked.

Yet, none of them made a move to leave, nor did anyone show any intention of retaliating against Lin Mu. After all, without him, they might not have lived this long.

Lin Mu looked at 001. "Can you be stored inside the core?"

"Yes."

Lin Mu's eyelids twitched. It seemed he had to swallow another one.

"Shu Yi, bring me a core."

Soon, Shu Yi brought over a core. The collar around her neck was already gone.

Looking at Shu Yi, he asked, "You don't hold a grudge against me, do you?"

Shu Yi shook her head. "If it weren't for you, I would have died countless times over."

Die?

Lin Mu rubbed his chin. If he died, would he cross time and space and return to this world once more?

"That's good, then."

...

Watching the final ten seconds tick down, Lin Mu completely relaxed.

A massive pillar of light enveloped the entire mysterious city. Lin Mu and everyone else vanished instantly, leaving behind only countless vehicles scattered across the ground.

Two figures appeared, inspecting the leftover vehicles.

"Recycle all of these and release them back out again."

"Wait..."

The dark shadow stood by Lin Mu's driver's seat, feeling as though something was amiss.

"What is it?"

"I have a feeling something is missing here."

The white shadow looked around. "Where is the core of this vehicle?!"

"Could he have taken it with him?"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Things from here cannot be taken out. Even if you put them in your clothes, they get left behind."

"Then what if it was inside his body..."

After all, some people's bodies had been modified using materials from this realm, so those enhancements wouldn't be stripped away. It was considered a perk for those individuals.

Therefore, swallowing a vehicle core wouldn't cause any technical errors. The main issue was that no one had ever done such a thing before! They simply hadn't anticipated it.

The white shadow's eyelids twitched violently. "Doesn't that mean he took his abilities with him?"

...

In a rental apartment on Blue Star, Lin Mu slowly opened his eyes.

"I'm back."

He raised his hand. The watch on his wrist was gone.

Did it really not work?

"Panel."

A transparent light screen appeared before him.

Lin Mu's eyes widened. That core was actually still there!

[Please select a vehicle to bind!]

He abruptly stood up. It really was still there!

He looked toward his bicycle and quickly got to his feet.

Wait, the thing was still inside his stomach!

A day later...

Lin Mu flushed his toilet—and a glass ball emerged.

"Phew, the second one is finally out. 001, go make some food."

"Understood, Master."

Lin Mu picked up the glass ball and washed it thoroughly with water again. Although it was somewhat disgusting, everything inside it remained intact.

He then retrieved a substitute-death doll from the core and placed it on the bed. Besides that, he still had a resurrection card in his inventory.

"001, is there anyone outside?"

"Yes, but very few. Mostly children and the elderly."

Lin Mu nodded. Just as he had thought, those people could never come back.

As for Jiang Han and the others, they must have all returned by now, though he had no idea where they were.

Lin Mu took a deep breath and glanced at the time on the wall.

After finishing lunch, Lin Mu stored 001 away. He picked up the handgun from the table, hoping his theory was correct.

Bang!

After a dizzying spin of the world, Lin Mu found himself inside a small town, right beside his battered junk car.

At that moment, Lin Mu felt an urge to roar with laughter toward the sky!

He opened the vehicle door; the interior was identical to the way he had left it.

The first thing he did was hang the vehicle core from the rearview mirror, and then he summoned 001.

The effect of the resurrection card was just as he had imagined: when triggered outside, it allowed for random teleportation.

It was absolute perfection.

The moment he died earlier, an option had automatically appeared in his mind: he could use the substitute-death doll, he could use the resurrection card, and he could choose between Blue Star or this realm.

Naturally, he chose to come back. Blue Star held no meaning for him anymore.

He opened the convoy rankings:

[Handsome Fleet (1/10000)] Rank 1, Score: 8.83 Billion!

[Handsome Fleet (2/10000)] Rank 1, Score: 8.83 Billion!

[Handsome Fleet (4/10000)] Rank 1, Score: 8.83 Billion!

...

"Captain! We're here!"

"This time, let's not go to the mysterious city. No large cities either."

"Yeah, Brother Mu, this time let's just live in a medium-sized town."

Jiang Han, Shu Xin, Shu Yi, Jiang Ying, Zhao Jin...

They had all returned.

As expected, they were a bunch of lunatics.

"Alright, send me your coordinates. I'm coming to find you right now!"

......

"Why do I have such an ominous premonition?" The white shadow had just finished dispatching a planet when, for some reason, his heart suddenly tightened.

"You're overthinking it. Didn't they send that guy away..."

He glanced at the Blue Star data feed. Lin Mu's name had once again appeared in the number-one spot.

"I'm exhausted, just destroy everything!!"