Simulation

"You’re right. There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world."

Hearing Wang Bert’s words, Death fell silent for a moment, then shook her head. "Blood God, I admit defeat this time. However, I won’t stop carrying out my duty. We’ll continue our game next time."

It was perfectly normal for Death to choose to give up. To her, this defeat was no big deal. There was no need to take risks over a momentary fit of pride.

Throughout the entire war, Death had suffered no losses apart from Hela, a Sub-God.

"I think you could try a little harder."

Wang Bert persuaded her, "Once I fuse with Galactus, you’ll never be my match again."

"Why does it feel like the roles in our scripts got switched?"

Death complained. "Once you fuse with Galactus, I indeed won’t be able to defeat you. But that’s not a big problem, because you still have to abide by the rules of the Creator Gods. No matter how strong you are, you can’t be stronger than all the Creator Gods combined.

"Of course, once you fuse with Galactus, carrying out my duty will become more difficult. But more difficult doesn’t mean impossible. I have plenty of time. I can play with you slowly."

"The problem is, I don’t want to keep playing with you."

Wang Bert’s expression turned cold. "Death, you must promise me today that you won’t keep causing trouble in the future."

"First, I have to cause trouble. It’s my duty. If I don’t fulfill it, I’ll perish."

Death said flatly, "Second, if I don’t fulfill my duty, the universe will be destroyed. Third, if I refuse, what can you do to me?"

As she spoke, Death’s body gradually faded. She was preparing to leave. Wang Bert smiled faintly and snapped his fingers. A yellow flash passed through the air, and Death’s body solidified again.

"Blood God, what do you mean?"

Death asked in confusion, "You should know that if you stop me like this, the rules allow me to attack you."

"Actually, I don’t mind playing games with you forever, but I do mind so many people in the universe dying."

Wang Bert said, "Today, this matter must be resolved completely. If it isn’t, don’t even think about leaving Mind Space."

"You really are merciful."

Death snorted. "The question is, how do you plan to deal with me? Seal my consciousness? Sorry, you can’t do that, because you’re dealing with Galactus. If we truly fight, we’ll only end up mutually destroyed."

"I’m a civilized man. I won’t use violence."

Wang Bert smiled. "I only plan to persuade you. Of course, sleeping with you until you submit works too. I don’t mind making a little sacrifice."

"Unlike you, I am a god of rules. Even if you sleep with me until I submit, I’ll still have to carry out my duty."

Death shook her head. "If you want me to stop, you can only persuade me. But that’s almost impossible. Like I said, I must fulfill my duty."

"Let’s watch a movie first. Avengers: Endgame, a Future Time-Space documentary."

With a wave of Wang Bert’s hand, a massive screen appeared before them. Avengers: Endgame officially began.

"A Future Time-Space documentary?"

Death did not refuse. The two stood shoulder to shoulder and watched the movie together.

"How stubborn."

Watching the Avengers travel through time in search of the Infinity Stones, Death was extremely displeased. "Thanos never should have left Earth behind."

"It’s not just Earth that’s stubborn. Those aliens are also trying to save their loved ones."

Wang Bert said, "No one would accept such a future. A universe that has lost half its life won’t achieve prosperity or balance. It will only become distorted."

"Then kill all the stubborn people. Once the next generation comes along, everything will recover."

Death said coldly. Wang Bert shook his head without saying more and continued watching the movie.

Soon, the movie reached the final battle. Thanos said, "Thank you… I know what I must do. I will reduce this universe to atoms and dust, then use the Infinity Stones to create a new universe. A grateful universe."

Death’s expression darkened slightly. If the universe was destroyed, she would perish completely—the Death of the new universe would have nothing to do with her.

Though Death was a god of rules, she did not want to die either, because she possessed a sense of self. In fact, she could even fall in love with someone.

Wang Bert waved his hand, dispersing the screen. "Death, the universe needs balance, but your method is wrong. Mass slaughter won’t bring balance. It will only bring destruction."

Death was silent for a moment, then stubbornly said, "The Infinity Stones method being wrong doesn’t mean every other method is wrong."

Wang Bert said, "Since you’re so stubborn, let’s simulate what result your method would bring."

"How will we simulate it?"

Death said, "Just talking about it isn’t convincing."

Wang Bert said, "Create a Little Universe and simulate reality."

Death shook her head. "That would be convincing, but even if the two of us team up, we can’t do it."

Wang Bert spoke toward the void. "Then everyone can team up. Living Tribunal, all Creator Gods, lend me a hand."

"Alright."

Along with that voice, four phantoms appeared in Mind Space.

The first phantom was a massive golden humanoid entity. He had three faces, representing justice, necessity, and vengeance. Meanwhile, the back of his head was completely blank. This figure was the Living Tribunal.

The second phantom was a figure resembling the starry cosmos itself. He was Eternity, a Creator God and the embodiment of all things in the universe.

The third phantom was an extremely abstract woman, as if she were made of infinite space. She was Infinity, a Creator God and the concrete manifestation of the totality of all space in the universe.

The final figure wore a purple cloak and appeared equally abstract. He was Oblivion, a Creator God and the concrete manifestation of the universe’s nonexistence, emptiness, and unknowability.

The Living Tribunal and the Five Creator Gods had gathered here at the same time.

Death was deeply shocked. "Why are all of you here?"

"Because we also want to know what consequences your plan will bring."

The Living Tribunal said, "Although the universe’s destruction is inevitable, none of us wants it to come too early. This universe is still very young."

"Exactly."

The other three Creator Gods nodded together. Put simply, there was only one meaning—they did not want to die.

"With the power of the six of us, we can create a mental Little Universe close to reality."

Wang Bert said, "Death, any objections?"

"Of course not."

Death said impatiently, "No time to waste. Let’s begin immediately."

The gods nodded. Then, everyone stacked their hands together. When they moved them apart, a Little Universe appeared in the void.

This Little Universe contained countless planets and lifeforms, almost no different from the real universe. However, there was no Blood God or Creator God within it. The strongest beings were only Ancient Gods.

At this moment, time within the Little Universe was frozen. Everyone stood motionless and silent. In addition, the Timeline was set before Hela launched her final offensive.

Wang Bert said, "Begin the simulation."

"Alright."

The gods nodded. The next moment, time in the Little Universe returned to normal. Hela led the Arthrosians and split her forces into two groups, attacking the Insect Extermination Alliance and native planets.

The insect race was overwhelmingly powerful, and with the Demon God Projection helping them, the Insect Extermination Alliance could not resist at all. Left with no choice, Skye could only dispatch the Super Heroes to provide aid.

Hela took the opportunity to trap the Super Heroes on a planet. Then, she led Annihilus, the Ancient God Knull, and the Demon God Projection to attack the Frontlines, launching a godly war.

Without Wang Bert’s help, Skye and the others suffered a crushing defeat. Several Super Heroes even died in battle. In the end, with Strange’s help, everyone fled in miserable condition.

After this battle, the Insect Extermination Alliance disbanded. Fortunately, the Shi’ar Empire and Skrull Empire did not retreat. They joined forces with Earth and continued fighting the insect race.

The problem was that the insect race was too powerful. The allied forces were no match for them and were driven back again and again. Every day, planets were slaughtered by the insect race.

To make up for their lack of combat power, Tony Stark deliberated repeatedly before deciding to use Crushing Bombs containing alien viruses.

The Crushing Bombs were tremendously powerful. A single one could reduce hundreds of thousands of insect creatures to ashes, making them even more terrifying than nuclear weapons. With them joining the war, the allied forces’ situation immediately improved.

Seeing how effective the Crushing Bombs were, the Shi’ar Empire and Skrull Empire both supported Tony’s continued research. With the help of scientists from the two empires, Tony developed numerous variants. Some could even affect god-level lifeforms.

Tony and the other scientists were intoxicated by victory and frantically enhanced the alien virus’s power. As a result, the most terrifying thing happened—the alien virus developed self-awareness.

In other words, the alien virus mutated into a true lifeform: a collective lifeform. It had no individual consciousnesses; the entire species shared one mind.

After gaining consciousness, the alien virus did not reveal itself. It secretly used the scientists to increase its strength. Then, one day, it suddenly erupted and destroyed the main forces of both the Insect Extermination Alliance and the Arthrosians.

Three years later, only one kind of life remained in the universe: virus lifeforms. Even the Ancient Gods had been wiped out by the virus.

The Creator Gods were dumbfounded. Wang Bert asked, "Can you stop the alien virus?"

The Living Tribunal was silent for a while, then said, "We can, but the virus will continue mutating. No one knows what it will eventually become."

Death said unwillingly, "Again. This was just an accident."

"Then let’s do it again."

Wang Bert glanced at Death and rewound the Timeline. Everything began anew.

This time, the alien virus did not mutate into a true lifeform. The reason was simple: it never got the chance to appear.

After the army was defeated, Dr. Richards attempted to salvage the situation by using a knockoff Bifrost to open a gate to another universe. As a result, a zombie lunged out and bit him.

Then, Earth became a zombie Earth, and the universe became a Zombie Universe. Whether they were cosmic lifeforms, insect creatures, or even gods, all became food for the zombies.

That was not the end. With nothing left to eat, the zombies found Dr. Richards’s device and prepared to travel to other universes. Then, then they were slapped to death by Death.

"This one doesn’t count. You put the zombies in there."

Death said unhappily—the Little Universe had no parallel universes, so the zombies had appeared only because Wang Bert had tampered with things.

"I possess the ability to travel between universes."

Wang Bert said, "In one of those universes, Dr. Richards did something similar. Then, the zombies appeared."

The gods fell silent. Death said, "Again."

"As many times as you want."

Wang Bert said. Time restarted once more. This time, the one causing trouble was Ivan.

In desperation, Ivan detonated his armor and blasted open a massive black hole. Immediately afterward, God Abominations poured endlessly out from the depths of the black hole.

Since the birth of the universe, countless God Abominations had appeared. They had all been suppressed in the filthiest place in the universe, suffering endless torment. Therefore, they were filled with boundless resentment.

After breaking free, the army of God Abominations killed every lifeform within their field of vision. Then, driven by hatred, they slaughtered their way through the universe and killed all life.

One year later, only God Abominations remained in the universe.

Wang Bert frowned slightly and asked, "If the God Abominations escape, can you stop them?"

The Living Tribunal shook his head. "There are too many God Abominations. Even we might not be able to stop them. After all, God Abominations are very troublesome."

"Might not be able to stop them?"

Wang Bert was greatly shocked. "Then why suppress them? Wouldn’t it be better to destroy them directly?"

God Abominations were difficult to eliminate, that was true. But claiming that the Five Creator Gods could not destroy them was laughable.

"Because they have a duty: the duty to destroy the universe."

The Living Tribunal answered simply. Wang Bert wanted to ask more, but Death unwillingly shouted again, "Again."

"Then again."

Wang Bert rewound the Timeline once more. This time, after Hela defeated the Insect Extermination Alliance, she directly attacked Earth, wanting to completely eliminate those hateful Super Heroes.

Wang Bert glanced at Death. This woman could not accept losing and had secretly influenced Hela’s decision.

The Super Heroes led humanity in fierce resistance, but unfortunately, the insect race was far too powerful. They were no match at all. Not only was their fleet completely wiped out, but even New York was leveled.

Dr. Banner’s wife, Betty, died as a result. Hulk’s rage reached its limit, and he transformed into the mindless Green Scar, madly destroying everything.

Even more terrifyingly, Hulk knew how to absorb anger. With the help of anger from across the Entire Universe, his strength soared all the way until he even broke through to the Ancient God level.

This was not good news, because Green Scar had no reason. After wiping out the insect race, he began destroying Earth, destroying everything he saw.

In the end, the universe became ruins.

"Green Scar is terrifying. You should not have taught him how to absorb anger."

The Living Tribunal said. A Green Scar who did not know how to absorb anger could at most reach Half-Step Ancient God level. But a Green Scar who knew how to absorb anger could potentially rival even a Creator God.

"Under normal circumstances, he can control himself."

Wang Bert said, "Also, without the Backdoor I gave him, he can only absorb anger in his surroundings."

The Living Tribunal nodded. "That’s good."

Wang Bert asked Death, "Do you still want to continue?"

"Of course, but Earth must be removed. Earthlings collectively have cheats. There’s no point using them as a reference."

Hela said through gritted teeth. Wang Bert shrugged, erased Earth, and restarted the simulation.

Without Earth interfering, Hela successfully fulfilled her destiny—erasing half the universe’s population and restoring universal balance.

But that was not the end. It was only the beginning. Scientists on every planet researched frantically, seeking revenge. In the end, they succeeded.

The Skrull Empire and Shi’ar Empire jointly created the Mechanical Life World Shaper. They brought this mechanical lifeform, along with the rage of all beings in the universe, and charged into Asgard.

Although Hela led her people in desperate resistance, the World Shaper was simply too powerful. In the end, Hela was killed, and Asgard was destroyed, utterly wiped out.