Stuck in a Chinese novel

"Argh!!!" Wei Jun grunted in pain as he stood up.

[Still hurts?]

'Nah, I'm doing this for fun.' Wei Jun replied before he took a deep breath after standing up. Once he was stable, he stood up straight, with another grunt of course, before he stretched his muscles.

He was still in pain and no matter how much he tried, that pain wouldn't just go away.

[Sorry host but that pain is with you for life]

[Divine energy has deeply ingrained itself in your system]

[It'll be very painful for you]

'All the time?!' Wei Jun asked.

[Nah, I'm just pulling your leg]

[Sooner or later it'd run out]

[The Death Qi inside you will make sure of that]

[But it'll be painful until then]

Wei Jun remained silent to that. No matter how much he wanted to curse the system, he was too tired and too much in pain to do that. He simply remained silent and kept stretching. Once he got used to the pain a little, he began to walk in the direction of the core.

According to the system, the core should be where he found the zombie in the beginning.

'Tell me, what would happen if I were to use Death Qi while that divine energy is inside me?' Wei Jun asked.

[That's a very good question, host]

[Right now, the Death Qi inside you is dominant but if you use a lot of it at once and it becomes lesser than the divine energy]

[Well, the clash would be all the more severe then]

[Maybe it'll kill you]

'Thanks?' Wei Jun didn't know how to react to that.

[Don't worry]

[Death won't let you die so easily]

'Tell me one thing.' Wei Jun said before he asked, 'Why do you use Death and Death Qi separately?'

[Because they are separate]

[Death cannot come to this world in droves so it changed to what it could]

[Qi]n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

[Or in your case]

[Death Qi]

'But what is Death?' Wei Jun asked.

[What do you mean by 'What is Death?']

[Death is Death]

[The end]

[Just like how Life is the beginning]

[Death is the end]

'I know that. What I mean to ask is what does me being Death means?'

[Oh, you're not Death]

[You're a part of it]

'What do you mean?'

[You're the literal spawn of Death, host]

'Pardon?'

[You really don't know anything about your bloodline, do you?]

[Anything about the Smiths?]

'I only know I'm one. And although a little dysfunctional, we've been a pretty normal family.' Wei Jun replied,

[The Smith family]

[Or at least the one that started from your father]

[Is anything but normal]

[You just don't know anything]

'How will I if you keep going around it in a cryptic sense?' Wei Jun asked.

[Well]

[All I can tell you is that your mother is human and your father is…]

'Also human?' Wei Jun said but he felt like there was something more to it.

[Close]

[He's half-human]

'What is he the other half of it?' Wei Jun asked.

[I think we both know the answer to that question]

Find adventures on empire

'Death.'

[Ding-Dong]

[And here I thought you're more of a jock]

'How do you know all of that?' Wei Jun asked.

[I serve your family, after all]

[Well, your brother, to be more precise]

'Serve?' Wei Jun asked.

[Everyone does]

[Everyone in the fragments]

[Especially your brother]

[He's a menace]

'I doubt that.' Wei Jun didn't really believe that his brother could be a menace. Sure, he was a little crazy and sometimes killed some people over little things but that didn't mean he was crazy or a menace. Everything he did had a purpose.

[Exactly]

[Your father is the jock type]

[Like you]

[You both think with your fists]

[Your brother doesn't]

[He thinks with his brain]

[Millions of fragments, or to be more accurate, worlds]

[Have been reduced to nothingness under his watch]

'Didn't you say you serve him? You're really badmouthing him.' Wei Jun argued once again.

[Badmouthing?]

[This is called admiration, host]

[While your father can be the greatest and most terrifying being]

[Your brother is more]

[After all]

[In this entire wide universe]

[In all of creation]

[The only human who can ever stand against your father is your brother]

Wei Jun didn't know what all of that meant. What he did understand was that there were many secrets hidden deep about his family.

'Is this world under my brother's watch?' Wei Jun asked.

[Nope]

'But you just said…'

[That I serve your brother so this world is technically his?]

[Yeah, no]

[All the fragments belong to the universal cosmic powers]

[Your father simply controls them because he has an interest]

[A hobby, one could say]

[But your brother thinks more like a businessman]

[He believes controlling the fragments is necessary]

[But he doesn't have the authority to]

[So, he negotiates with the residents]

'The world's laws?' Wei Jun speculated

[Exactly]

[When the said residents don't listen]

[He weakens the world and destroys it]

[Then the world is reconstructed under a new watch]

'His…'

[Exactly once again]

[This time]

[He set his eyes on this one]

[And the one he chose to destroy it was you]

'And what if I don't want this world to be destroyed?' Wei Jun asked.

[Complete destruction isn't required]

[Just enough that the hold of the world's destiny on this world doesn't remain any longer]

'I don't get that.' Wei Jun replied.

[Push a company to the brink that it faces bankruptcy]

[What do you think will happen then?]

'In most conditions, the employees remain the same and the leadership changes.'

[See?]

'So this a business deal?' Wei Jun asked.

[Yep]

'And what does that make me?' Wei Jun asked.

[What do you think it does?]

'The hitman.' Wei Jun replied.

[Does that make you angry?]

'…' Wei Jun remained silent. Did he mind? Of course, he didn't. Why would he? Ever since he came to this world, things had been hectic, painful, and a massive headache, but…

[It was never boring, wasn't it, Damien?]

'It sure as hell wasn't.' Wei Jun replied with a terrifying grin on his face.

[There you have it then]

[And look that]

[You've arrived]

Wei Jun didn't know how long he had walked. He was too consumed by the talk he was having with the system that his body was on autopilot.

[There should be the core of the dungeon]

[But…]

'But…?'

[There isn't one]

'What's that supposed to mean?' Wei Jun asked.

[It means there isn't one]

[Which is not possible]

[A dungeon needs a focal point]

[Without it, it'd collapse on itself]

'Then what if the focal point is not inside the dungeon?' Wei Jun asked.

[What do you mean?]

The system, for the first time, asked Wei Jun the question.

'If you grow watermelons in a field, they have seeds, but if you don't, they don't have any.'

[What does that mean?]

'Is it possible for there to be an artificial dungeon?' Wei Jun asked.

[I don't think it is]

[I mean; I've never heard of such a thing in all my time]

'So there is a possibility?' Wei Jun asked.

[I doubt it]

[This isn't a watermelon, after all]

[But an independent space]

'But what if the anchor, or in this case, the core, isn't this but earth? The space outside it?' Wei Jun argued.

[…]

[Be honest with me]

[You're a nerd, aren't you?]

'My brother is.' Wei Jun replied.

[So now that we've established this is a fake]

[Or as you put it]

[An artificial dungeon]

[What's holding it together?]

'I have a pretty good guess,' Wei Jun replied.

From the beginning, there were many points Wei Jun couldn't comprehend. The biggest of them was the boss's stats. According to the system, the world went by a certain set of laws and the laws clearly state that a certain being couldn't be more or less than it.

In this case, the zombie was very weak in its rank. The case was for the zombie king, though. The rest were in accordance with the rank.

[So someone put them here and let them eat each other up]

'Leaving the strongest scorpion in the pot.'

Wei Jun thought back to how the military had a dungeon prepared and how they knew exactly what he was heading into.

They prepared this to bind Wei Jun. They knew Wei Jun wouldn't be able to clear this dungeon and would only be able to run. They'd sweep in at the right moment and save him, making him indebted to them.

But something didn't make any sense to him.

'Why in the hell would they do that?'

There were many other ways to make him indebted. This trick didn't make any sense.

[Unless they were also testing something]

'What exactly?' Wei Jun asked.

[Stability]

'What?'

[The most important part of a dungeon is its sustenance]

[It is constructed in such a way that it doesn't need an external power source to make it stable]

[Like a car engine]

[The battery runs the car and the generator charges the battery]

[It's a near-endless cycle]

[The same goes for a dungeon]

[And this one isn't falling apart]

'The power source is outside.'

[And it's also a test to see how much power is required]

At the system's reply, Wei Jun couldn't help but think back to the time when used soul power from people to power up a certain magic.

[Host]

[Someone out there]

[Knows ancient witchcraft]