Chapter 62: Did I Just Get Zero-Dollar Robbed?

Faced with the three new version options floating before him, Lu Yan’s mouth twitched. For the first time, he felt the malice of the version update system.

There was no doubt—none of these worlds were friendly.

The first, the Main God Version, paired with that infamous line—“Do you want to understand the meaning of life? Do you want to truly… live?”—left Lu Yan one hundred percent certain this was a Main God Space variant.

In terms of potential benefits, the Main God Version was undoubtedly the most rewarding of the three.

Its vast and varied cultivation systems, the encyclopedic exchange list inside the space, and the wealth of world dungeons—each element represented unimaginable opportunities.

Normally, even if Lu Yan traveled across multiple versions, he would still need to painstakingly cultivate from the Qi Refining stage upward. Becoming powerful overnight was next to impossible.

But inside the Main God Space, everything was possible.

However…

“This place is a death trap!” Lu Yan muttered.

There were countless iterations of the Main God Version—origin-style infinite flow, multiverse God Space flow, slaughter games, player-created dungeon flows… Each more overwhelming than the last.

Worse still, no matter which flavor of Main God Space it was, the presence of a “Main God” behind it all meant an unfathomable pit of danger.

As an Immutable, Lu Yan would likely attract direct attention from the Main God.

If the Main God was just a rule-bound artificial intelligence sphere, it might be manageable. But if it possessed true sentience, Lu Yan’s hidden nature, cultivation origin, and Immutable trait would most likely trigger its curiosity—and scrutiny.

And if that happened, the Main God could simply issue a kill-on-sight mission.

There’d be no escaping that fate.

“No way. Main God Version is a hard no.”

Lu Yan turned his gaze to the second option.

On the surface, the Ghost Horror Version seemed tailor-made for him.

He controlled a Hundred Souls Banner with eight hundred malicious spirits sealed inside. In a world ruled by ghosts, wouldn’t he be unstoppable?

With the banner, he could suppress and collect all the malicious spirits he encountered. Who knows—he might even upgrade it to a Thousand Souls Banner, reaching the level of a true artifact!

That was Lu Yan’s first instinct, too.

But when he read the tagline behind the Ghost Horror Version, his thoughts evaporated.

“My name is Lu Yan. If you’re reading this… I’m already dead.”

If he wasn’t mistaken, this phrase likely came from a cursed parchment.

Its presence suggested that the ghosts in this version weren’t the traditional kind at all.

Typical ghosts—even powerful ones with Gold Core or Nascent Soul strength—still fell within the realm of comprehension. They were still creatures, after all.

But the entities in the Ghost Horror Version were more akin to twisted rules that happened to take ghostly forms in the human world.

They couldn’t be killed.

They wielded powers on a conceptual level—rule domains, touch-of-death abilities, time reversal, wish-granting mechanics… anything was possible.

Without a matching rule-level countermeasure, nothing could defeat them.

Lu Yan wasn’t even in the Foundation Establishment stage yet. Even a Nascent Soul expert would likely die upon encountering a rules-class ghost.

The version that looked the most promising… concealed the deepest pit.

Lu Yan glanced at the Hundred Souls Banner in his storage bag, stroked his chin, and murmured,
“Too bad the banner’s tier is still too low. If I could somehow empower it in another version to gain a conceptual trait like ‘subjugate all ghosts,’ I might actually stand a chance in the Ghost Horror Version.”

“Rules-class or not… they’re still ghosts. If I could raise a few of those things in my banner, I’d walk sideways even in the Immortal Cultivation world!”

But that was just a dream for now.

With two absolutely unpickable traps eliminated, Lu Yan was left with only one option.

This was the second time he’d seen the Cyberpunk Version as an available world. The first had been back when he returned to the Urban Version.

But to his surprise, the tagline this time was different.

The first time, it spoke of a world where megastructures had blocked out the sun, turning sunlight into a luxury.

Now, it said that the mega-corporation had pre-collected spirit energy tax 300 years into the future.

Even the version prompt itself was condemning their tyranny. It reminded Lu Yan of a certain place named Goose City…

“This mega-corp is even nastier than Lord Huang,” he muttered.

If he had a choice, Lu Yan would never have picked the Cyberpunk Version.

It clashed heavily with his cultivation system. He doubted he’d get anything of value there.

Moreover, the changing flavor text implied that the entire version was under the grip of a mega-corporation, enforcing harsh and extreme rule.

With spiritual energy present and the cyberpunk backdrop, it was clear the version combined supernatural powers and high-end technology far beyond the modern world.

Even with some power, Lu Yan wasn’t confident he’d survive long in such a place.

But he had no other option.

“Choose: Cyberpunk Version!”

In an instant, the version updated!

The desolate forested mountains around Lu Yan vanished, wiped clean as though by an invisible hand. In its place rose structures of steel and concrete.

The ground beneath his feet turned to paved cement. Neon-lit graffiti adorned the surrounding walls, piles of trash lay scattered in corners, and pools of black water reeked of decay.

Lu Yan had been transplanted from the wild to a dim, cluttered urban alleyway.

But when he looked up at the distant horizon—what greeted him was a city of skyscrapers glowing with dazzling colors, rising high into the clouds.

Transit rails crisscrossed the skyline. Floating cars zipped through the sky.

A full-blown future metropolis lay before his eyes.

Lu Yan frowned, muttering to himself,
“So this is the Cyberpunk Version…”

Then he turned toward the far end of the alley—the very spot where he had earlier placed his experimental items.

The spirit stone, a few basic cultivation manuals, and a worn-out low-grade artifact… were gone.

In their place sat a blue battery the length of a finger and a USB stick.

Nothing else.

“…I actually got something out of it?”

Lu Yan blinked in mild surprise and stepped forward to pick up the battery and USB.

But at that exact moment, a figure burst from around the corner—a man in a sports jersey who darted forward, grabbed both the battery and USB in one swipe, then took off running.

His racial talent—agility and speed—activated in full.

Lu Yan stared blankly at the dark-skinned man with dreadlocks sprinting away at full tilt.

His mind short-circuited for a second.

“…Did I just get zero-dollar robbed?”

(End of Chapter)