Ah, Seven Chains, you have three more chains than Four Chains.

Chen Sheng desperately wanted to stop this agonizing development, but Cthul—wagging his head full of tentacle-like appendages—informed him that the little female ghost had already been born and was simply waiting for him to awaken her...

Because this was inherently a bundled part of Chen Sheng's own resurrection.

After all, the little female ghost was the very embodiment and successor of all the ideologies and philosophies of that end-of-the-century grand rebel.

Had Chen Sheng possessed those philosophies himself, the little female ghost would not have needed to be resurrected. Since Chen Sheng lacked them, however, fulfilling the demand made by Mo Yanluo, the demigod emperor of the ancient civilization capital, meant an additional resurrection was strictly required.

Fortunately, with Chen Sheng already brought back to life, reviving the little female ghost was an exceedingly simple task.

That was why Cthul had appeared so generous.

Speaking of generosity, Chen Sheng could not help casting a glance at the octopus-man. Just moments before, this very same octopus-man had tried to use this exact situation to trick him into working for free.

Not even the most ruthless capitalist dogs could match this level of freeloading!

Yet, even under Chen Sheng's unwavering stare, Cthul remained completely expressionless—though given his head full of tentacles, reading any expression on him was impossible anyway.

Still, seeing the entity act as though his previous proposal of unpaid labor had never left his mouth, Chen Sheng decided to drop the matter.

After all, this octopus-man was a seventh-chain demigod, three chains higher than himself.

Until he figured out his own true combat capabilities, Chen Sheng resolved to avoid any situation that might spark a conflict with other demigods.

Thus, Chen Sheng changed the subject. "Is that stone city the place where those demigods and intelligent beings from the cosmic civilization chains stayed while watching and participating?"

"Do you find it crude? There is no need to make such things elaborate. No matter how well you build them, someone will always find fault, so it is best to just keep up appearances. Besides, even for demigods, crossing the starry expanse is far too dangerous. Countless demigods have perished in the void, and every demigod who dies out there adds a new hazard to this universe."

"Therefore, whether they are demigods or the intelligent beings of those civilization chains, they usually cross the starry expanse and project themselves here through specialized equipment. As long as a designated label is left within that stone city so they know their coordinates and do not project themselves blindly into random locations, that is quite enough."

Cthul's explanation left Chen Sheng in a somewhat dazed state; he had not yet transitioned psychologically from being a mortal to existing as a demigod.

At that moment, Cthul turned and began walking back, prompting Chen Sheng to follow.

He deliberately walked side by side with Cthul, denying the entity any opportunity to walk behind him.

Having hurried out initially, Chen Sheng had not carefully observed his surroundings. Taking a closer look now, he realized just how thoroughly crude and dilapidated this place truly was.

It was messy and cluttered, with discarded waste strewn everywhere. The only clean area he could spot happened to be right around the sealed pipeline where he had previously been kept.

This gave Chen Sheng a rather sobering understanding of his current situation.

Had he not ascended to demigodhood, his circumstances right now would likely have been reduced to the absolute extreme of wretchedness.

Just then, Chen Sheng sensed a faint trace of life.

Although this aura of life was resilient rather than fragile, viewed from a demigod's perspective, beings below the demigod rank were truly fragile to the point of utter insignificance.

"With her being so weak, can she adapt to the environment here?" Chen Sheng could not help asking. He had already spotted the little female ghost. She looked exactly as she had in that illusory world, yet with a few distinct differences—her complexion was no longer gray-white, but instead resembled that of a normal human child.

"Of course she won't be left to survive here. I plan to send her to a civilized world that my clan is preparing to invade. That world has refused to join the cosmic civilization chains, and thus it lacks the protection of the grand cosmic will, leaving it open to our invasion at will. This may be regarded as the price that civilized world pays for its freedom. As long as they manage to survive my clan's invasion, they will be exempt from the invasions of cosmic civilization chain races for an entire epoch."

Hearing Cthul explain in such meticulous detail—even mentioning things he did not strictly need to—Chen Sheng instantly grasped the entity's underlying intent.

"Are you expecting me to go over there as well?" Chen Sheng asked directly.

"You have nowhere else to go anyway. Since that is the case, you can go in my place and hold the fort. You won't need to do anything complex—just ensure no major disasters occur. Should any major disaster actually happen, members of my clan will provide you with a standard workflow checklist, and you simply need to follow the procedures. As compensation, how about I help you craft a travel vehicle exclusively tailored for a demigod? It will be designed strictly according to human aesthetic standards!"

Chen Sheng glanced at Cthul, making sure the entity was addressing him face-to-face, and then nodded.

"Deal!" Cthul's head full of tentacles writhed in synchronization, seemingly excited by Chen Sheng's acceptance. "Guarding an invasion site is the most boring task imaginable. Furthermore, that civilized world happens to bear some resemblance to you Earth humans; I don't even have the slightest desire to study a civilization like that, yet somehow my rotation came up! As a seventh-chain demigod, I simply cannot bring myself to stoop to such tasks."

Chen Sheng nodded, then signaled with his eyes: "I just need to wake her up, right?"

Cthul nodded in return.

Chen Sheng walked over to a sealed pipeline—one several times smaller than the one he had previously occupied—and called out to the little girl inside, whose eyes were tightly shut: "Wake up!"

At that exact instant, Chen Sheng distinctly felt a ripple of his own divine power.

It was exceedingly faint.

Just as he was wondering why his divine power was so feeble, the little girl inside the sealed pipeline opened her eyes, locking her pitch-black, sparkling pupils with Chen Sheng's gaze.

In a split second, Chen Sheng felt a profound sense of shared bloodline, which only intensified the agonizing feeling deep within his heart.

That octopus-man definitely had something severely wrong with his brain!

Could he not have used a single strand of his own hair instead?

If hair wouldn't do, even a random tissue sample from anywhere on his body would have served as a source! With the octopus-man's capabilities, achieving that transformation would have been effortlessly simple.

Chen Sheng muttered complaints inwardly, but the little female ghost refused to give him any further chance for mental venting.

Upon opening her eyes and catching sight of Chen Sheng, the little girl excitedly waved her tiny hand and cheered, "Master—*gargle*! Hehe—*gargle*!"

With every sound she uttered, she swallowed a mouthful of liquid. Fortunately, although this liquid wasn't the primordial source of life, it was rather special; thus, even though she was thoroughly bloated with water, she remained beaming with an incomparably bright smile.

Chen Sheng's mood instantly soured a bit.

This daughter of his did not seem particularly intelligent...

Glaring at the foolish-looking little female ghost, Chen Sheng made an instant decision—this agonizing father-daughter bond would be severed right here and now!

He absolutely refused to admit she was his daughter!

With a dark expression, Chen Sheng fished the little female ghost out of the tube. Reluctant as he was, since she was his sole kindred spirit in the universe, Chen Sheng was still willing to keep her by his side.

Besides, for any entity below the demigod level, surviving in this cosmic void was far too difficult.

If Chen Sheng didn't take her with him, she would likely end up inside the belly of some unknown creature within the blink of an eye.

The moment Chen Sheng agreed, Cthul had hurried off to handle other matters. Chen Sheng watched as the entity engaged in a flurry of communication, projecting a series of light screens from his tentacle-like appendages. Within those screens were other octopus-men, each similarly adorned with a head full of tentacles.

These octopus-men communicated in an obscure, hard-to-understand language. The little female ghost remained utterly bewildered throughout, comprehending none of it. Chen Sheng, however, used the opportunity to discover the formidable nature of demigods: even though it was his first time hearing their language and he initially could not understand it, within moments he could comprehend it completely.

Consequently, Chen Sheng hurried over to stand opposite Cthul, watching him converse.

This caused Cthul to visibly freeze for a moment, as though mentally formulating a string of curses, though he ultimately said nothing.

Cthul's communication with his peers was not one-on-one, but one-to-many. To be precise, those octopus-men were all engaged in simultaneous multi-threaded conversations; the words issuing from their mouths could be split into several distinct sentences, each carrying an entirely different meaning, yet they could respond accurately to every single thread concurrently.

Chen Sheng initially thought this was a unique racial trait of Cthul's, but he soon realized he was capable of it himself.

"It seems that if demigods ever fall in love, they must worry endlessly about their partners cheating..."

They could chat with one person face-to-face while simultaneously conversing with another behind their backs, and if they were feeling extra ambitious, they could manage two more on the side—every single one of them was a master player in the sea of romance.

Chen Sheng grumbled inwardly, yet he refused to stop watching Cthul. Even when the little female ghost curiously asked one question after another, he ignored her completely, right up until he and the little female ghost stepped through a shimmering gateway of light that opened in mid-air. Crossing through the portal, they were transported to an alternate-dimensional civilized world, at which point he finally looked down at the little girl and said, "Alright, you can ask now. What do you want to know?"

"Where are we now? And is that octopus-man your friend, Master? He looks so ugly—Master, you shouldn't make friends with such ugly people, it'll make you stupid..."

"Hold on right there!" Chen Sheng interrupted the little female ghost's torrential flood of questions. "Let me explain things from the beginning first, and you need to steel yourself mentally."

"Don't you worry, Master! My mental endurance is top-notch! Back in that place called Mo, my territory was wiped out three times in a row, and I managed to rebuild and fight my way back up purely through my own hard work!" The little female ghost puffed out her chest and patted it reassuringly with her tiny hand.

The hard work you speak of—was it your effort to summon me?

Chen Sheng desperately wanted to ask that exact question, but he managed to hold it back. After all, those were all illusory worlds; whatever had happened was now buried in the mists of the past, with no need to dwell on it, nor any meaning in doing so.

Surveying the vast starry expanse right now, the only two humans left were himself and the little female ghost.

And so, Chen Sheng began explaining everything to the little female ghost from the very beginning: how the illusory world had existed solely to help re-gather his consciousness, and how she was actually the reincarnation and successor of all the core ideologies of that former end-of-the-century grand rebel. Chen Sheng explained it in exhaustive detail, since there was nothing else to do at the moment, and nothing was more important than making sure the little female ghost understood these truths.

When she finished listening, the little female ghost fell into a daze.

Thinking she had been deeply stimulated, Chen Sheng patiently gave her time to digest the information, taking care not to shatter the golden protective light sphere that surrounded—or rather, shielded—the little female ghost and himself.

This golden light sphere was an ancillary feature of the light gate, designed to keep Chen Sheng and the little female ghost invisible and intangible to the creatures of this realm.

Chen Sheng seized the opportunity to survey this alternate-dimensional civilized world, and at a single glance, he froze.

For he saw human beings everywhere.

All around him were towering skyscrapers that looked intensely familiar, and rushing past on the streets were vehicles he recognized just as well. Though the brand names were completely foreign, he could never mistake the classic design of a metal shell resting on four wheels!

Weren't Earth humans supposed to have completely gone extinct?

What on earth was going on with all these people here?

Or had he somehow been tossed into yet another illusory world?

Just as Chen Sheng was gripped by uncertainty and doubt, a light screen materialized before him, displaying the figure of an octopus-man.

This octopus-man looked remarkably similar to Cthul, though he was somewhat smaller, and the tentacle-like appendages on his head radiated a youthful, pinkish hue. Despite numerous minor differences, he was undoubtedly of the same clan as Cthul.

Moreover, the styling of his appearance clearly screamed "evil deity"—something no ordinary impostor could ever replicate!

"Respected Earth human demigod, and friend of my father Cthul, thank you very much for taking my father's place in guarding this post." The octopus-man's opening remarks were exceptionally polite, yet stiffly mechanical, carrying a strictly professional detachment that contrasted sharply with Cthul's endless chatter.

"May I ask you a question?" Chen Sheng cut straight to the point.

"Respected Earth human demigod, of course you may. Once you assume command of this post, you are granted full clearance to all information belonging to our clan," Cthul's son replied respectfully after a brief pause.

"Why are there humans here as well?"

"Is it not completely normal for there to be humans here?" Cthul's son asked in return, looking genuinely puzzled.

"Didn't Earth humans already go extinct?"

"That is why this is not Earth," Cthul's son stated.

"Are you saying that aside from Earth, humans exist in other places as well?"

"You guessed correctly. Traces of human existence can be found in many places, not just on Earth. Earth humans can only be considered a minor branch within the broader classification of humanity."

"How is that possible?" Chen Sheng felt a lingering sense of strangeness upon learning that humans existed in so many corners of the universe.

"Respected Demigod, surely you did not believe that the humans on Earth originated spontaneously from the planet itself? While Earth's environment is not entirely hostile to human survival—having bacteria and viruses present—human digestive systems are far more fragile than those of Earth's native animals, easily falling ill from improper food. When the cold seasons arrive, humans lack natural fur to keep warm and must strip it from other creatures. This is because Earth humans were originally intelligent beings who invaded and occupied Earth, which is precisely why those conditions exist."

It was the first time Cthul's son had spoken at such length, though he maintained his grave, strictly professional tone throughout.