I Don't Agree to the Terms
Chapter 431 - 241: The Puppet Show Named Hero Fights the Demon King_2

Chapter 431: Chapter 241: The Puppet Show Named Hero Fights the Demon King_2

Gu Shanhai’s healing technique had now gained the ability to hasten aging. Roughly speaking, a single application of the healing technique could instantly age any animal or plant by about ten years.

It developed a forceful effect that reduced vitality, causing the afflicted to age drastically and become enfeebled. The effect existed before, but it was never as potent as it was now.

As the healing technique’s effects multiplied, Gu Shanhai found its primary healing competency somewhat out of place. He even contemplated stripping the healing prowess from the technique since he rarely used its healing capabilities anyway.

Yet upon further reflection, he realized that without even the ability to heal, his skills would be like hanging a sheep’s head to sell dog meat — fraudulent. Even if his healing ability was outmatched by the others, at least it justified the technique’s name.

"Let’s try the initiation procedure first," Gu Shanhai began, following the Holy Kingdom Royal Family’s ritual to activate the Goddess statue.

The procedure was much like a key; once entered, it could be utilized.

Soon, a panel materialized before Gu Shanhai’s eyes.

This panel was his Hero Panel, although it now showed some garbled text, likely due to the Demonic Qi within him from the Demon King, which resulted in his occupation changing from Hero to Hero/Demon King.

Gu Shanhai felt a bit anxious, fearing that the Goddess statue might not recognize him because of this.

Fortunately, after the progress bar completed, recognition was successful.

Two new options appeared on the Hero Panel.

[Return]

[Stay]

The first option was naturally to return to the main world, but it required the abandonment of all Heroic powers. Gu Shanhai sensed that a Hero inherently had no power of their own. Their ability to become stronger through defeating monsters was entirely reliant on blessings from the Hero Panel.

Essentially, it was not the Hero who possessed power, but the blessing-given Hero Panel.

Without hesitation, Gu Shanhai had no intention to choose the first option. If he did, with his frail body, he would virtually be no different from dead.

The second option was also quite special. Heroes could stay in the Hero Continent and would not have their powers retracted. However, there were obligations attached; should the Demon King reemerge, it would be his duty to defeat him once more — a true working-class hero.

However, no Hero had ever lived to reach this process; they were probably all discarded after use.

Heroes indeed had it hard.

Seizing the opportunity, Gu Shanhai continuously analyzed the Goddess statue, attempting to alter this portal.

The option he was modifying was not ’Stay,’ but ’Return.’

’Return’ was essentially a special transportation portal. If Gu Shanhai changed the transportation coordinates on a whim and set them to another Hero Continent, then he could utilize the ’Return’ option to travel to a different Hero Continent.

As he analyzed, the panel started to show disturbances and garbled code.

[Warning! Please halt this action. You are about to breach the law, and continued behavior will result in associated criminal liabilities.]

"???" Gu Shanhai felt perplexed — there was actually artificial intelligence monitoring the system.

He had just started and was already caught by the other party.

"Can you hear me?" Gu Shanhai asked.

[Yes, esteemed Hero. Please choose to Return or Stay or simply ignore this message. If ignored, it will be presumed you wish to stay in the Hero Continent.]

"Well, what about this — I want to go to another Hero Continent, what do you think?" Gu Shanhai asked directly, clearly because he had triggered this by hacking into the Goddess statue. Otherwise, a typical Hero only had two options and would not prompt an artificial intelligence response.

[Request denied. Esteemed Hero, your actions have led to human extinction and caused irreparable damage to the entire Hero Continent. Based on your behavioral model, you pose an extreme hazard.]

"This has nothing to do with me, I’m just putting forward my own demands, and you’re not even looking at how many heroes the Holy Kingdom has harmed. What, only they are human? We came from afar to help save the world, only to end up dead?"

"You could look up the data, see how many heroes were sent here, how many times the Demon King has been defeated, and how many heroes have returned?"

Gu Shanhai had also come to realize something, that nobody really cared about the heroes. Even if they had contributed, in the eyes of the higher-ups in the main world, they were nothing more than janitors. As long as the trash was swept clean, it didn’t matter if they were dead or alive, since their fates were already in the hands of others.

It was under such neglect that the Holy Kingdom dared to lay hands on the savior. Even if the heroes had once saved them, as soon as interests and power were involved, it didn’t matter that they had been saved; they were all disposable since more reincarnated heroes could be summoned in the future.

[Please note, the failure of heroes to return is due to their own lack of ability.]

So there you have it, a single excuse about ’lack of ability’ to deny all merit. It really comes down to ’your failure is your own fault’.

But Gu Shanhai wasn’t angry; instead, he was pondering something. The other party seemed quite arrogant, and he quickly caught on through the portal’s connections.

The world’s negative energy transmission channel.

The main world used a plethora of subordinate worlds as a dumpster, and in this process, there had to be a transmission.

"Hmph, if that’s the case, then I’ll just stay here and rule, directly take over the entire world," Gu Shanhai feigned a cold snort and chose to take that option.

[Very well, please enjoy your life, Hero, goodbye.]

The artificial intelligence didn’t care at all about Gu Shanhai, nor did it care about such a subordinate world. As long as the Demon King didn’t destroy the Hero Continent, it didn’t matter what Gu Shanhai did.

Afterward, the Hero Panel also returned to normal, as if nothing had ever been discovered.

’It seems that the artificial intelligence’s detection technology can’t penetrate into the subordinate worlds, it can only use the Goddess statue as a relay.’

’They couldn’t possibly be wary of me or the subordinate world itself, so it can be confirmed that what they’re afraid of is the Demonic Qi.’

The Demonic Qi, as the world’s negativity, has an extremely powerful force in the main world of Hero World, and could even threaten the existence of the entire civilization.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have made such a fuss.

Even the people of the main world could have serious problems upon contact with the Demonic Qi.

But the life in the subordinate worlds is different; they are very likely to have undergone certain modifications, which is why they can resist the Demonic Qi to a certain extent.

Taking the Demon Clan and demons as an example, they are very likely to be failed products.

After completing the test subjects, they used some technology to fix the Demonic Qi into the Demon King and endowed it with a relative personality for control, summoning heroes as janitors to initiate the spectacle of heroes fighting the Demon King.

In the eyes of the higher-ups in the main world of Hero World, sacrificing a few people was perfectly normal; one could tell just by looking at how the Holy Kingdom could easily kill heroes that they weren’t valuable.

’Found it, the Demonic Qi transmission route. I owe this artificial intelligence warning a lot, otherwise, I might have never been able to follow the traces to find the clue.’ Gu Shanhai scoffed internally, other heroes might be powerless, but he was no ordinary hero.

’Next is to experiment if I can bypass detection and locate the end of the channel.’

’Also, I need to deal with this Hero Panel on me; it’s useless in this part of the Hero Continent, but if I switch to another Hero Continent, it could become a homing beacon.’

Even though the Hero Panel was just a shell for Gu Shanhai, it was still bothersome to look at.

’Lastly, this artificial intelligence that came out of nowhere is too arrogant. It must be taught a lesson.’ Gu Shanhai felt he couldn’t swallow his pride; he had to give them a harsh blow before leaving to ease his anger.

As for this subordinate world, Gu Shanhai couldn’t care less. After all, he had what he wanted, and these people could do whatever they pleased.

’But then again, now that I’m practically the Demon King, if I were to sneak into other worlds, what changes would occur in this world? Would another Demon King be forged from the Demonic Qi or would it follow me to another subordinate world?’