The Divine Throne Of Infinity

Splash!

The two of them smashed harshly onto the surface of the sea.

The parachute, originally meant for one person, bore the weight of two, which was understandably a strain.

In that instant, Yi Lin felt as though he had crash-landed onto concrete from a height of tens of meters. As he hit the water, his limbs and bones felt like they were coming apart, and Yi Lin spurted a mouthful of frothy blood.

The broken ribs seemed to be driven deeper by the impact.

His Life Value plummeted to the bottom, leaving only 5% remaining!

If he hadn't consumed that bottle of expired coconut juice...

The consequences need not be mentioned.

In the icy sea water, Yi Lin, enduring the intense pain all over his body, took off the wing suit and, with the help of the life jacket's buoyancy, resurfaced.

Right in front of Yi Lin, the corporate-dressed beauty was struggling and fluttering on the surface of the water.

Blub, blub...

Yi Lin looked at the woman in front of him, thoroughly wet and frantically fluttering, his expression calm.

Suddenly, Yi Lin smiled slightly, "Have you ever wondered why, after you grabbed a genuinely safe parachute and jumped out of the plane, you didn't receive a completed mission notification?"

Blub, blub...

The woman seemed to have heard Yi Lin's words.

But somehow, she swallowed another mouthful of seawater.

She was clearly an expert swimmer...

But there was something not quite right with this water.

"Have you also considered why, out of the five boxes, three contained life jackets?"

"Actually, that was the most thoughtful hint..."

"The life jacket is an essential item for survival!"

"No matter the posture or angle of the parachute jump, one would ultimately land in the sea!"

Yi Lin took a deep breath, feeling pain in his lungs.

"Perhaps because you're a beauty in reality too, you didn't realize that in this trial, we were 'role-playing', living out the roles of strangers..."

"You seem not to have noticed, all the windows on this plane don't reflect our faces..."

"From my years of experience, tasks that adopt a 'role-playing' mode must have a compelling reason to do so..."

"Such as adding a little harmless negative attribute to these 'characters'..."

"Like... acrophobia?"

Yi Lin coughed a few times, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth again.

The woman finally stopped fluttering and, filled with despair, slowly sank to the bottom of the sea.

"Or perhaps... Weak Water?"

Blub, blub...

A few small bubbles emerged from the sea surface not far from Yi Lin.

"Even if you're normally an excellent swimmer, it's useless here."

A few minutes later.

Yi Lin floated on the cold sea surface.

Until no more bubbles appeared before him.

…

[Apostle Candidate 997, Death]

[Apostle Candidate 1010, Main Mission Accomplished: Escape to Safety!]

In that second, the world before Yi Lin came to a complete standstill.

As if time itself were frozen still.

Looking down, Yi Lin noticed he was standing above the sea surface, those surging waves, the fire and thick smoke from the distant plane explosion, the sky, the stars, as well as the despairing and terrified expression on the sinking woman's face...

All was still, creating a staggeringly beautiful scene.

At this moment, Yi Lin felt as if he were detached from this world, observing this small universe from the perspective of a spectator.

Only now did Yi Lin completely relax, and he slowly exhaled.

"It's finally over."

[Evaluating Performance…]

[Grade: S]

"!"

[Total Attribute Value Bonus +0.8!]

[Allocating rewards based on Apostle Candidate 1010's trial performance…]

[Strength +0.2, Agility +0.3, Spirit +0.4, Will +0.1, Luck -0.1, Charm -0.1…]

Yi Lin: "???"

Charm and luck attributes actually... decreased instead of increased?

What's going on?

Yi Lin had never encountered such a strange situation before!

Generally speaking for everyone, luck and charm are attributes that are almost impossible to change.

Procedures like plastic surgery might slightly alter one's charm value.

Of course, charm value is not entirely related to one's face.

Nevertheless, in most cases, these two inherent attributes are hard to change.

So, Yi Lin was quite surprised.

...

[Death Point Reward Calculation in Progress…]

[Difficulty Bonus: None]

[Assessment Bonus: 30%]

[Death Points Gained: 1300!]

[Now Drawing Random Reward!]

...

Right now, Yi Lin's mind was full of question marks.

But Yi Lin swallowed his questions for the time being, focusing intently on the result of the reward draw.

[You have obtained the "Ordinary Life-Saving Hammer"!]

[You have acquired the skill "Mental Shock"!]

[You have earned the "First Stage Apostle" qualification!]

Suddenly, a piercing pain shot through Yi Lin's chest.

It was as if an invisible, red-hot branding iron was searing his chest, causing cold sweat to flow down in torrents as Yi Lin bit down hard, preventing himself from letting out a painful howl.

A few seconds later, the acute pain came swiftly and left just as quickly.

Yi Lin lifted his shirt and looked at his chest expressionlessly.

There was a gray brand there, like a tattoo.

It was a ferocious skull.

Lifelike.

[Unlocked "Storage Space"!]

[Unlocked "Communication Function"!]

[Level Ascending…]

[Congratulations to the First Stage Apostle on reaching the fourth floor of the Tower of Death.]

[Current Level: LV4]

[Return!]

...

Yi Lin's vision blurred, and the static scenery completely vanished from his sight.

Before leaving, Yi Lin glanced down at the professional woman lying still under the sea, her eyes wide with terror.

Out of the five prospective angels, only Yi Lin left this mission world alive.

The trial for prospective apostles, "Newbie's Grave," truly lived up to its name.

...

When Yi Lin came to his senses again, he was once more engulfed in darkness.

A faint scent of blood drifted into Yi Lin's nostrils.

It was the smell of Siao Yang's blood.

Yi Lin's gaze fell on the clock on the wall of Siao Yang's house.

Time…

Neither more nor less.

It was exactly one minute.

No matter how long the experience lasted in the Inside World, in the real world, it was only a brief minute.

Yi Lin rubbed his chest, feeling no discomfort.

But he always felt as though the spot where the brand had scorched him was still in pain.

As if it had been burned onto his soul.

"It seems like... my ribs have been repaired," Yi Lin murmured to himself, sensing the changes in his body, "This must be one of the perks of the newbie mission… In the future, it won't be so easy."

While saying this, Yi Lin checked his surroundings three times, making sure he hadn't left any oversights, then he left the scene without making a sound. Out of concern for the butterfly effect, Yi Lin had been cautious for the past three years not to interact with others in a way that was inconsistent with his life before his rebirth, nor had he dared to make more thorough preparations. After all, compared to other matters, how he could become an apostle ahead of time by taking the qualification was of paramount importance.

In the darkness, Siao Yang's cold corpse was the only thing left. But from now on, Yi Lin would no longer need to worry about the effects of the butterfly effect, for without a doubt, Siao Yang's death would forever alter the "future."

No one knew that the person who died here was the terrifying figure who would become the nightmare of countless people four years later.

What was left to deal with now was the troublesome aftermath.

By the time Yi Lin got back home, it was the middle of the night.

Clearing up the remaining traces took quite a bit of time.

In this era, there were many ways to dispose of a body. For example, chopping it up and flushing it down the drain, but sooner or later, it would be discovered—it was just a matter of time.

Yi Lin had no illusions that he could keep this secret forever, but as long as he could buy enough time, once a certain period had passed, the subsequent impact of Siao Yang's death would no longer be an issue.

Yi Lin took a comfortable hot shower and then lay down in bed.

Yi Lin began to recall the whole process over and over again.

From here to Siao Yang's house, he had avoided all the cameras as much as possible, a route he had set a year in advance.

The heavy rain could wash away more than 90% of the traces.

With a tight windbreaker, mask, and gloves, fingerprints, hair, and footprints would likely not be left behind.

After confirming there were no slip-ups in the entire process, Yi Lin began to organize the gains from the trial.

The first was...

"Apostle Panel."

...