Chapter 3: The Path to the Extraordinary

Su Bingyao felt as if he were dreaming.

He could no longer sense his body—an utterly bizarre experience. Even as everything around him dissolved into nothingness, his consciousness lingered on.

In a haze, he caught glimpses of:

The entire universe cradled atop a turtle shell, layer stacked upon layer, stretching on without end.

Another realm, perfectly round like a cosmic egg, tumbling and surging through pitch-black void.

A colossal chessboard sprawled out beneath a domed vault, adorned with gleaming sun and moon amid stars like scattered grains of sand.

The ouroboros devoured its own tail, twisting into an endless ring, cycling perpetually.

Towering Jianmu pierced the heavens and earth, spanning the void, originating from infinity and vanishing into infinity.

A human-headed, snake-bodied being coiled in one domain, its slender white limbs waving to scatter flecks of starlight.

…

“Hm!”

Su Bingyao’s eyes snapped open. He found himself standing in the doorway, on the verge of heading down the stairs.

Beside him stood the familiar Assistant Little Liang.

Assistant Liang’s words hung midway in the air.

“…or should I get the car door? It’s my job anyway—”

“It’s my job anyway.” Su Bingyao picked up the thread seamlessly.

“It’s my job anyway.” Assistant Liang finished out of habit, then whipped his head around in surprise to stare at Su Bingyao.

How on earth did the young master know what I was about to say? Assistant Liang wondered, baffled.

“It’s nothing,” Su Bingyao said.

He realized he had somehow rewound to ten minutes earlier—the moment he had gone to greet Su Shang. His immediate thought was that the whole episode had been a hallucination.

But… was it really?

Those infinite turtle shells. The scaleless ouroboros. The perfectly rounded cosmos. Even a fleeting glimpse filled him with the profound shock of having pierced the universe’s deepest secrets.

Could something like that spring from his own imagination?

Had hearing Su Shang’s anomaly—which led to the world’s destruction—been a hallucination too?

Deep down, Su Bingyao sensed it was no illusion. It felt utterly real.

…He would deal with it later. First things first: he needed to meet Su Shang. Su Bingyao shoved the thought aside.

Before they set off, he gave an order. “Little Liang, get in touch with my assistant Xiao Mo. Book me a psychiatry appointment for next Wednesday at eight in the morning.”

Assistant Liang was the family’s life assistant assigned to Su Shang. Su Bingyao had his own separate one.

“Yes… Shouldn’t we start with a psychologist?”

Liang Minghua nodded and tapped away on the tablet he always carried.

Straight to psychiatry, skipping the psychologist? Rich folks sure carry a heavy mental load… Liang Minghua mused, letting out a sympathetic sigh. At least he made less money but didn’t need to see a shrink.

“No need,” Su Bingyao said. He rubbed his temple and peered down the staircase.

Just then, the Su family’s driver, Master Wu, pulled the car through the main gate and drove toward them.

~~~

[How did you just destroy the world?!] the System shrieked inside Luo Shang’s mind.

[You actually wiped out the world over something that trivial!!]

[Don’t make such a big deal out of it,] Luo Shang shot back. [Didn’t I put it back together in the end?]

[And then you act like nothing happened.]

[What do you mean ‘act’? Nothing did happen,] Luo Shang corrected it.

He hadn’t even run into his big brother yet. What could possibly go wrong?

The System fell silent.

The car glided to a smooth stop. The door swung open from outside, revealing two familiar faces.

Thanks to the previous mishap, Luo Shang now knew exactly who was who this time.

[This time, I can make a good impression,] he thought, pleased with his strategy.

You’ve already terrified me. Su Bingyao bristled at Luo Shang’s heart voice but didn’t dare voice his complaint.

Luo Shang stepped out of the car. He watched as the man who had opened the door closed it behind him, then called out politely.

“Hello, Big Bro.”

Su Bingyao nodded with a straight face, acknowledging the greeting.

[This time I got it right!] Luo Shang crowed inwardly to the System.

[You’re not exactly a fool…] the System replied with tactful sarcasm.

Luo Shang: [Plus, I rebuilt the Anti-Self-Talk Barrier. It should hold up now even in low-spiritual-energy environments.]

System: [That’s wonderful.]

Not even close. Su Bingyao kept his expression blank as he thought it.

I can still hear you.

Why the hell can I still hear you!!

If he had a choice, he’d rather be deaf to it all—able to face Su Shang in blissful ignorance.

Not like this: stone-faced on the outside, while panic, unease, and shock churned within.

Su Shang and the System’s private exchange flowed into his ears, word for word. And with it, Su Bingyao confirmed one thing:

First, he had no idea why he could hear Su Shang’s heart voice.

Second, his little brother Su Shang possessed the power to casually annihilate the world.

Third, and most crucially, the world had indeed just been destroyed—those impressions of his weren’t hallucinations at all.

Su Bingyao had no clue how to deal with this fantastical reality. In his twenty-seven years of life, no moment had ever been as electrifying as this one. The sheer overload of shock left him in a dazed, numb haze, his face locked in a single, blank expression.

“Let’s go.”

Su Bingyao still remembered not to give away his anomaly. He shoved down his inner turmoil and drew in a deep breath.

He reassured himself that as long as he didn’t let on that he knew Su Shang’s secret, the world would stay intact. With that, he forced himself to act normal and started up the stairs.

“Okay.” Luo Shang nodded obediently.

He looked every bit the proper young man—handsome to an almost cute degree—showing no trace of the ruthless figure who’d just wiped out the world on a whim.

[No matter how you slice it, that was way overkill. I only overheard your muttering; did you really have to smash the world to bits over it?]

The system was conversing with Luo Shang, and the voice filtered into Su Bingyao’s ears.

Su Bingyao silently agreed with this thing called the system.

Yeah, what if I’d just pegged you for some chuunibyou phase? Why not hang back and give me a second to process before jumping straight to world-ending? Talk about decisive!

[Are you telling me how to do my job?] Luo Shang shot back.

[…You should’ve had options besides blowing up the world.]

Picking up on Luo Shang’s irritation, the system’s tone softened considerably.

[All things considered, destroying the world was the simplest approach.] Luo Shang stated flatly.

Why was destroying the world the simplest method? How was that simple at all? Su Bingyao fumed to himself as he listened.

But he didn’t dare voice the question. The whole thing just struck him as utterly mad and bizarre.

[It’s not like the Path of Entropy I control has much overlap with mental powers.] Luo Shang griped right back.

[Order and Contracts, Heat and Chaos… See? None of that touches on mental stuff!]

[Even so, with your base mental stats, a basic Cognitive Disruption Spell should’ve been a breeze.] The system stressed “base” and “basic.”

[I’m not that skilled.] A hint of frustration colored Luo Shang’s tone.

[Human brains are 99.999% alike in structure, but some folks ace advanced calculus while others can’t touch it. You think mental stats alone let you cast spells? You’re giving us way too much credit!]

[I just can’t do it.]

I think you’re doing just fine—you wiped out the world, for crying out loud. What can’t you handle? Su Bingyao kept up his silent rant.

[On top of that, spiritual energy levels here are super low, so spells come out at half strength or worse. Even a mental specialist couldn’t squeeze out more than 0.5% of a spell’s full power, let alone me when I’m already rusty. If I tried it on my bro, the best outcome would probably be turning him into a vegetable.]

[Sure, that’d keep the anomaly under wraps, but he’s my big bro, after all.]

Thanks for still seeing me as your big bro! Su Bingyao, leading the way, felt his back go rigid.

The fact that Su Shang acknowledged him as big bro deep down nearly brought tears to his eyes.

He could casually nuke the world, but he still calls me big bro!

[Destroying the world and rebuilding it was easier.] Luo Shang said.

Luo Shang’s abilities revolved around “entropy.”

Entropy was the measure of disorder in the universe.

Picture the universe as a scoop of unmelted ice cream: entropy gauged how much it had melted. Over time, the ice cream would naturally melt further with every passing second, growing messier than the last.

The universe was in a constant state of entropy increase, disordered chaos mounting without end.

By mastering the cosmic laws of entropy, Luo Shang could dictate the universe’s disorder at will—melting that ice cream to slush or freezing it solid again.

[Just hit it with Entropy Reduction first: dial back the disorder, collapse the universe to its pre-birth state. Then ramp up Entropy Increase in sequence until it’s back to ten minutes before my bro overheard me. Easy, right?]

Luo Shang explained.

No, that wasn’t easy at all. Terrifying was more like it. Su Bingyao grumbled inwardly.

The breezy nonchalance in Luo Shang’s words hit Su Bingyao like a gut punch.

If the universe could be erased that effortlessly, what was the point of struggling? All his hard work… it was nothing but smoke and mirrors.

He suddenly felt as though everything had lost all meaning.

[This method is not only simple, but also safe. It guarantees Big Bro won’t be turned into an idiot.]

Hearing Luo Shang repeatedly emphasize that he wouldn’t turn himself into an idiot, Su Bingyao snapped out of Sage Mode and returned to reality.

Should I thank you? My dear little brother, you deliberately destroyed the entire world and then reshaped it, all just to keep your Big Bro—me—from becoming an idiot…

This whole “destroy the world at the drop of a hat” stunt seemed utterly insane. Su Bingyao silently wiped the sweat from his brow.