Girl, There's Something Wrong With You - Chapter 27

“Have others chosen to meet your master before?” Wang Wanrou asked.
“Yes, but very few,” the Eternal Ancient replied. “Most who arrive here retreat in front of the Ultimate Gate.”
“Of course, if you are willing to meet my master, I will open the gate for you.”

“What benefits would come from meeting your master?” Cheng Jinyang probed.
“Knowledge,” the Eternal Ancient answered. “Those who pass through the gate gain the opportunity to follow my master, obtaining all the knowledge and truths of the universe.”

“If I understand correctly,” Wang Wanrou frowned, “this so-called ‘following’ likely means transforming oneself from a physical body into information. And since you’ve mentioned that your essence is a collection of all information, wouldn’t this so-called ‘meeting’ essentially amount to being devoured by it?”

“What you call being ‘devoured’ or ‘assimilated’ is, in essence, an undeniable elevation of your existence,” the Eternal Ancient replied. “You short-lived beings are pitifully low in rank, unable to survive in the universe for even a moderate amount of time physically, nor comprehend slightly more complex truths mentally.”
“My master pities you and thus grants you the chance to ascend. If you cling to the meaningless and insignificant existence of the self, you may choose to retreat at the Ultimate Gate—just like the majority of the foolish individuals who came here before you.”

“Wanrou!” Cheng Jinyang quickly grabbed her arm, signaling her not to provoke the other side further.

Up to this point, the Eternal Ancient’s words had been devoid of subjective emotion, yet now they carried an air of disdainful superiority, making everyone tense up. However, after saying this, the Ancient fell silent again, easing their nerves slightly.

As for the silver Ultimate Gate across from them, no one dared to approach it. After all, following some deity only to be assimilated… somehow, it just felt unsettling.

“What did the predecessors who arrived here before us gain from you?” Su Lili asked earnestly.
“If you choose not to pass through the Ultimate Gate, you may select one projection of a star to take away,” the Eternal Ancient said. “But you can only take what your physical body can contain.”

Huh? Everyone’s spirits lifted.

So, does this mean they could get a free Starfire?

“What exactly is the essence of these starfires?” Wang Wanrou asked again.
“Trash,” the Eternal Ancient said. “So, in a way, you’re helping clean up the garbage.”

Everyone: …

Only Wang Wanrou remained silent for a moment before asking,
“Redundancies in the laws of the universe?”

The Eternal Ancient turned, the surface of its semi-transparent robe rippling slightly.
“If you choose to pass through the Ultimate Gate, you might receive additional blessings from my master. Among your small species, you are one of the most efficient individuals in processing information.”

“Thank you for the praise,” Wang Wanrou said, uncharacteristically humble, before falling silent again.

“Hey,” Cheng Jinyang hurriedly grabbed her hand, causing Su Lili and the princess to turn pale. “Wanrou, you’re not seriously considering going through, are you?”
“Why not?” Wang Wanrou sneered. “On the other side lies the existence of infinite truths. Don’t you think becoming a deity and gaining immortality is fascinating?”
“I don’t think so at all!” Cheng Jinyang exclaimed in alarm. “If you’re assimilated by a deity, then there will no longer be an individual named ‘Wang Wanrou’ in this world!”

Wang Wanrou stared blankly at him.

This was probably the first time Cheng Jinyang had seen confusion on her face. Normally, Miss Wang either looked indifferent and bored or exuded extreme disdain and confidence—but never had she seemed so lost and disoriented.

“Indeed,” she murmured. “Even the most perfect Wang Wanrou is, in the end, still just a mortal.”
“Exactly!” Cheng Jinyang said, heart pounding, terrified that her next words might be, ‘So Jinyang, I no longer want to be human!’

“But being mortal is the wealth we most often overlook,” the princess said beside her, her words carrying a profound meaning.
“Obviously,” Wang Wanrou turned her head. “Thank you for your reminder earlier, Jinyang.”

Cheng Jinyang: ?
Wait, so I convinced her?

However, Wang Wanrou had already turned away, leaving Cheng Jinyang unable to read her expression.

“I have another question,” Su Lili asked seriously. “Those demons who were guided by the Celestial Emperor’s fire and came to this island, what did they gain from you?”
“They wanted to elevate their rank,” the Eternal Ancient replied.

Rank.

It was a term the entity had mentioned repeatedly. It sounded like a classification of bloodline hierarchy, but Cheng Jinyang instinctively felt it was more complex than that.

In any case, since demonesses at the Celestial Emperor’s level had already ascended to the highest rank, it seemed that further elevation could not be achieved simply by “increasing bloodline purity tenfold.” Thus, they had no choice but to come here and seek guidance from this avatar of divinity.

“So, how exactly can one ascend?” Su Lili asked softly. “Can you tell me?”
“As a branch of the human race, your physical vessels have inherent limits,” the Eternal Ancient answered. “To further enhance your capacity, you must continue to mutate yourselves and become a starbeast.”

“Become a starbeast?” Su Lili, Ye Ru, and Murong Shu were all struck speechless with shock.

“Beneath your feet, this place you call ‘Yingzhou,’ is the corpse of a starbeast,” the Eternal Ancient continued. “By consuming its flesh and blood, you can gradually transform yourselves into starbeasts.”

“But starbeasts are…” Ye Ru stammered.

Unlike demons and humans—who, despite differences in appearance and behavior, were clearly branches of the same species—the gap between demons and starbeasts was immense, akin to the difference between ants and whales.

Becoming a whale was far beyond the limits of an ant’s imagination.

“In terms of complexity of physical structure, you are very low in rank even among short-lived species,” the Eternal Ancient said. “Fortunately, this planet is influenced by the corpse of a starbeast, granting you the rare opportunity to transform into starbeasts and thus rapidly leap in rank.”

“But if we become starbeasts, wouldn’t that mean…” Cheng Jinyang began to say, only to realize mid-sentence that his question was redundant.

The starbeast corpse beneath their feet—this so-called “Yingzhou”—spanned over 4,000 square kilometers. Such a colossal creature could hardly lead a human life, let alone consume human food.

Moreover, Ye Ru had once mentioned that starbeasts fed on the stellar energy radiating from stars, rather than anything remotely resembling human sustenance.

Wait, I remember she also said that stellar energy is essentially the dissipation of cosmic laws. And didn’t the Eternal Ancient say that starbeasts process waste?

In other words, the stellar energy consumed by starbeasts is essentially waste—redundancies produced during the operation of universal laws.

As for us ability users, being humans assimilated by the blood of starbeasts, the essence of our abilities must be the residual fragments of those processed laws.

In short, the so-called “abilities” we possess are nothing but scraps—what the Eternal Ancient calls “trash.”

To transition from an ability user to a starbeast is, essentially, to go from being a trash collector to becoming something that eats trash…