In the vast Dark Universe, a blood-red triangular spaceship, several hundred meters long, streaked by at a constant speed of 30 times the speed of light, continuously advancing towards the Virtual Universe Corporation's pan-universe headquarters.
Inside the spaceship, a short-haired young man in black sat cross-legged.
The young man's name was Gǔ Fēi.
A few months ago, when Gǔ Fēi regained consciousness, a sharp voice suddenly rang in his ears, "Virtual Universe Corporation!"
A bewildered Gǔ Fēi instinctively turned his head to look, only to see a young man in the crowd, over six meters tall, entirely golden, with a single black horn on his head, his face ferocious, his eyes filled with madness, shouting sharply:
"I had a hundred percent certainty of making it into the top 100 of the Genius Battle, even the top 20!
Why, why was I directly excluded by the Virtual Universe System?
Why was I directly thrown into the worst Doomsday Secret Realm? I refuse to accept this! I refuse to accept this!!!"
"Virtual Universe Corporation? Genius Battle? Doomsday Secret Realm?"
The familiar terms seemed to trigger some reaction; Gǔ Fēi felt a sharp pain, and countless memory fragments appeared in his mind.
It turned out that he had just bought a jade pendant at an antique market on Earth, but when he walked out of the market, he accidentally dropped the jade pendant on the ground. When he picked it up, he found that the jade pendant had a crack in the middle. As soon as he got it, he felt a dizzying sensation, and his entire being instantly turned to ashes, a wisp of true spirit carried by a purple light, transformed from the jade pendant, tearing through space and time.
The jade pendant carried him for an unknown duration, its crack deepening. Finally, it seemed to give out, breaking completely into two halves. Gǔ Fēi also split apart, his true spirit divided into two parts: one part, with half of the jade pendant, fell into a vast world, and the other part, with the remaining half of the jade pendant, dropped into a small sphere surrounding that vast world.
The original owner of the body he transmigrated into was also named Gǔ Fēi, a Universe Rank human genius from the Yuanchen Universe Country, currently participating in the "Humanity's Peak Genius Battle" hosted by the Virtual Universe Corporation in the Virtual Universe.
He stood out in the Cosmos Country selection battle, ranking 237th in the trials of the peak finals.
And just now, he had won three consecutive matches in the arena elimination battles, earning the qualification to enter the core layer of the Virtual Universe Corporation.
However, the Virtual Universe System judged him not to be among the top hundred talents out of the 900 determined in the three rounds of elimination battles. He didn't even qualify for the final arena battle and was directly assigned to the Doomsday Secret Realm, the worst of the four secret realms.
It was while he was feeling indignant that Gǔ Fēi, who came from Earth, was brought here by the jade pendant through transmigration.
The information in his memories converged with the scene before his eyes, causing a monstrous surge in Gǔ Fēi's heart.
Isn't this—
Isn't this the world of "Swallowed Star"?
Gǔ Fēi was an old bookworm before; he had read the novel "Swallowed Star" many times because he liked it. But he never expected that he would be brought to this world by a jade pendant through transmigration. In this world, there are Immortals with endless lifespans and eternal life; there are Universe Venerables who govern a Cosmos Country and command countless star systems; there are Universe Masters who can reverse time and space, bringing the dead back to life; and there are even great existences known as Universe Strongest, who can make laws with their words and are the supreme beings in the universe.
However, these things currently had nothing to do with him. Gǔ Fēi smiled bitterly. The famous Peak Genius Battle, by the time he transmigrated here, the outcome was already decided, a foregone conclusion; he could only obey the arrangement and enter the Doomsday Secret Realm. Among the four secret realms in the Virtual Universe Corporation's core layer, the Doomsday Secret Realm belonged to the outermost layer. Doomsday Secret Realm core members, upon seeing members of the first three secret realms, if the other party is below immortal, must address them as Your Highness.
Actually, the names of the four secret realms are easy to understand: assuming the evolution of a world, it first starts as a "Primordial" unified whole, then gradually forms and enters the "Primal" stage, eventually forming a vast "Heaven and Earth," and when it is about to decline and be destroyed, it is naturally the "Doomsday." Primordial, Primal, Heaven and Earth, Doomsday—these represent the evolutionary process of a world, and also reflect the hierarchy of status within the Virtual Universe Corporation.
Fortunately, Doomsday Secret Realm members are still part of the core layer and can also enter the Primal Universe for enlightenment, so they might still achieve greater accomplishments in the future.
They are currently only Stellar Rank geniuses; the path of a strong practitioner has just begun, and being a step ahead does not mean being ahead every step of the way.
But no matter what, Gǔ Fēi's Genius Battle journey ended here.
Although there were still arena battles to contend for qualifications in the Primordial, Primal, and Heaven and Earth Secret Realms, he didn't even have a chance to participate and could only be a spectator. His Peak Genius Battle had already concluded.
At the same time, Gǔ Fēi could confirm from the information in his memory that this Genius Battle was not the one the original protagonist Luo Feng participated in.
Because the first place in this Genius Battle's trial was not Bolan, but an Ape-Man genius named Gugu.
However, Gǔ Fēi could not yet determine whether the current timeline was before or after Luo Feng's generation.
"Hoo," Gǔ Fēi took a deep breath. It didn't matter. Whether the current timeline was before or after Luo Feng, as long as he walked far enough on the path of a strong practitioner, he would eventually meet Luo Feng at a higher level.
Some geniuses were still protesting, shouting about unfairness, seemingly thinking that their protests and demands as a group of peerless geniuses would make the Virtual Universe Corporation compromise. But Gǔ Fēi, having read the original work, knew that this was merely wishful thinking on the part of those geniuses.
The Virtual Universe Corporation, as one of the five major powers of the Primitive Universe Human Race, never lacked geniuses.
It should be known that the Virtual Universe Corporation holds a Genius Battle for "Stellar Rank" every ten thousand years across the entire universe, and also holds a Strong Practitioner Battle for "Universe Rank." Over so many years, it has absorbed countless favored children of heaven and top geniuses; it can be said that there are innumerable geniuses and strong practitioners like clouds.
Under such circumstances, for some young ones who have not yet grown up and whose talent is only enough to enter the outermost layer of the core, to want the Virtual Universe Corporation to change the rules of the final battle can only be described as self-important and delusional.
At this moment, it seemed that the dissatisfied geniuses were making too much noise. Many of the 1008 powerful Immortals in the distance let out angry shouts, and at the same time, that terrifying conscious pressure permeated, directly pressing down on the 800 people who had lost their qualification for the final battle, causing the young geniuses of various races, including Gǔ Fēi, to turn pale, their entire bodies trembling slightly, and their legs constantly shaking.
"Damn it, I just transmigrated and encountered a show of force!"
Gǔ Fēi clenched his fists, his veins bulging and twisting like earthworms, desperately resisting the terrifying conscious pressure of the Immortals, roaring silently in his heart.
Just as Gǔ Fēi was struggling to resist the conscious pressure, the half-jade pendant in his sea of consciousness suddenly glowed.
"That's right, this jade pendant brought me here. The jade pendant must be an extraordinary treasure. Could this be my golden finger?"
As the jade pendant's light grew brighter, a strange, chaotic world appeared in Gǔ Fēi's consciousness.
"Hmm? I seem to be... in an egg?"