Su Changxing thought it might be because the shoes were too dirty, so he took them off, revealing feet covered in filthy blood and rot. The flesh on the little toe of his left foot had completely fallen off, leaving only bare white bone.

Putting his feet in the water, he felt a warmth.

Yet, he still left a series of black footprints behind him, floating on the water’s surface.

"The feet are dirty too."

Like a man possessed, he continually rubbed his feet with his hands, seemingly wanting to scrub all the filth away. But the more he scrubbed, the more the flesh fell off.

At a certain moment, he stopped, realizing it wasn’t he who was dirty, but his thoughts and mindset.

How could human thoughts remain untainted, as pure as the water’s surface?

That would be a fantasy.

"Maybe only a Divine Spirit can achieve that?"

He pondered aloud.

The reason those people in front didn’t leave footprints was simply because they were in a completely unconscious state. With nothingness equating to a blank slate, there was no concept of clean or dirty.

Thinking of this, Su Changxing no longer cared. He was inherently a tainted person, soaked in blood. How could he demand cleanliness from himself?

There were many messages on the phone, all newly popped up.

[Player BA09120001 is prohibited from executing attacks in the safety zone, or will otherwise face punishment]

[Player BA09120001 is prohibited from executing attacks in the safety zone, or will otherwise face punishment]

[Player BA09120001 is prohibited from executing attacks in the safety zone, or will otherwise face punishment]

...

[Player BA09120001 is prohibited from killing other players in the safety zone, or will otherwise face obliteration]

[Player BA09120001 is prohibited from killing other players in the safety zone, or will otherwise face obliteration]

[Player BA09120001 is prohibited from killing other players in the safety zone, or will otherwise face obliteration]

...

"Wasn’t this unintentional on my part?"

Su Changxing felt very innocent, as if this had little to do with him,

akin to someone standing there looking at another person, doing nothing, yet that person died, and the court sentences them to death.

Su Changxing stepped forward along the black footprints, awaiting the so-called punishment and obliteration. In this place, he couldn’t escape; even if truly facing death, he could only face it helplessly.

There was nothing, absolutely nothing.

He followed that group of people in front for a long time, yet nothing happened, only the repeated notifications on the phone.

He pondered briefly and understood: "It was just a scare tactic."

Walking leisurely in such a place, one’s soul got washed and became cleaner.

Su Changxing noticed that during this process, his Spiritual Power was steadily increasing to a subtle degree.

Previously, his Spiritual Power couldn’t be enhanced further, even with special fortification.

He had thought he had reached the pinnacle of his potential Spiritual Power, but now it was climbing again.

Indeed, humans are always superficial, easily blinded by what lies before them.

During this prolonged process, Su Changxing contemplated many things, clear in thought yet scattered and divergent.

He seemed not to have been this relaxed for a long time, having always been tense and strained.

Looking back, he noticed those black footprints had faded significantly but still existed.

Not knowing how long they’d walked, they arrived beneath that gigantic stone gate.

The gate was so large that Su Changxing was astonished; a single recessed pattern on it was larger than his entire self.

He couldn’t imagine what kind of being would build such a gate.

At least, it must be of equivalent size.

He thought thus as he watched the people in front enter one after another, vanishing without a trace, likely having gone to another place.

That was where they truly intended to go.

This place was akin to a transit station, and perhaps these people never realized they had been here.

Su Changxing walked over, also preparing to enter the Celestial Gate, tentatively reaching forward, only to find something was blocking him.

?

Pushing forward with force, it remained unfazed as if an invisible air wall hindered him, preventing entry.

"Oh no."

He realized something was amiss; he seemed to have encountered a bug here because of some reason, waking in the middle of transport and inadvertently killing someone.

Consequently, this gate no longer recognized him.

Su Changxing found it baffling, "Surely, I won’t be stuck here forever."

He thought, feeling increasingly that it was possible, given how boundless this space seemed, he might very well be trapped to death.

Subsequently, he took a few steps back, ran toward the Celestial Gate, and felt an equal reactive force.

He flew back, landing on the water’s surface and leaving a humanoid black imprint.

"I really can’t get out?"

Su Changxing widened his eyes, feeling that he had been somewhat unlucky lately, continuously encountering improbable events.

Those improbable events were highly probable occurrences for him.

He pulled out a revolver from his waist and pulled the trigger toward the Celestial Gate.

There was no thunderous noise as imagined, nor the expected fire, only the sound of jammed ammunition clicks.

Jammed.

Alright.

He tried attacking the Celestial Gate in other ways, but none were effective. For him, at least, this gate was an invincible existence.

After numerous unsuccessful attempts, he simply sat dazed before the great gate.

This place was desolate and quiet, devoid of temporal and lighting changes; everything remained as it was.

Su Changxing didn’t know how long he had been in a daze. When he looked up again, he saw another group of people coming, heads lowered.

Yet, this group was peculiar. At a glance, it was apparent they weren’t pure humans or were distinct kinds of humans.

Their bodies were clearly taller, possessing pale yellow hair, slender ears, and skin glowing with silver light.

Both men and women alike.

This was a humanoid species, Elves.

Su Changxing wasn’t too surprised seeing them. Humans weren’t the only ones; certainly, players weren’t exclusively humans.

It was just that these players seemed to be transported in batches, classified by species—humans with humans, Elves with Elves.

Yet Su Changxing only saw humanoid creatures, not finding other life forms like Blood Species.

Some aspects here were worth contemplating.

At least he could guess that the creator of the Doomsday Game might be a humanoid creature; otherwise, such restrictions wouldn’t be established.

When his thoughts were nearing exhaustion, he finally stood up again, realizing he couldn’t wait any longer and needed a way out.

Su Changxing turned to walk to the side, thinking if he couldn’t enter through the gate, perhaps he could bypass it.

He walked for a long time, as the gate was extraordinarily large.

During this journey, some unlucky ones collided with him head-on and died from the plague, allowing him to collect their Points and Black Coins.

He swore it wasn’t intentional, but in this world, he couldn’t walk faster, only maintaining a steady pace, unable to avoid all people in crowded situations.

The message on his phone about Doomsday Game intending to punish and obliterate him had already reached over a thousand entries.

He realized this wasn’t merely intimidation but a glitch.

The Doomsday Game should have a half-managed approach here, able to monitor occurrences but unable to intervene.

He kept walking, not knowing how long it had been, before finally reaching the edge of the Celestial Gate.

Here, thinking became odd; no matter the length of travel, time didn’t seem long.

Even if it were only a second, it felt lengthy.

This was an expansive space, where a mass of white spire structures hovered in the distant sky, densely covering half the sky, seemingly with people moving within.

Before Su Changxing lay a waterfall, stretching infinitely below.

At the Celestial Gate’s edge stood a massive pillar, which he cautiously climbed, inching along the edge.

He initially thought this way wouldn’t work. How could such a place have such a laughable loophole?

But miraculously, he made it along the steps beside the pillar.