Chapter 70: Safe House

Runes.

They formed the crux of a spell.

Every spell possessed its own rune model, synthesized from numerous runes, thereby unleashing bizarre and unfathomable magical effects.

Naturally, the number of runes varied from spell to spell.

The most rudimentary cantrips, such as Mage Hand, comprised a full 1,088 runes collectively weaving together to form that tiny trick.

"Runes..."

Qian Gu let out a soft sigh, his heart a tangle of complex emotions.

Of course, constructing spells was not the entirety of runes' profound mystery.

Within the "Infinite" multiverse, the most fundamental significance of runes represented a Great Avenue on par with the gene lock, and its name was—

Cultivation!

Yes.

The core of cultivation lay precisely in runes.

The True Essence Force used to drive cultivation artifacts—an energy even higher-grade than the dragon force Qian Gu currently possessed—was fundamentally a minuscule, miniaturized rune structure.

At the heart of these runes lay the Eight Trigrams, the eight most fundamental runes.

Only...

"Orthodox cultivation... I'd better watch out for getting my network cable unplugged."

The Eight Trigrams runes were high-tier, defying the heavens.

Yet!

As a classic trope of the "Infinite" multiverse, a pitfall of systems one simply had to appreciate, the flaw of orthodox cultivation was the high probability of having one's network cable pulled, reducing practitioners to ordinary humans stripped of supercomputer augmentation.

And that network cable was none other than the highest authority of the Eight Trigrams runes...

As well as the current highest authority of the Main God Space.

"So be it! After all, from the moment I chose this path, I had already prepared myself. Cowering and shrinking back is hardly a virtue."

Qian Gu's gaze narrowed slightly.

Besides...

There was a ninety-nine percent probability that his ideology would not conflict with that individual's, for he was walking an entirely different path.

"It's time to prepare for what comes next."

Folding his dragon wings, Qian Gu cast one final glance at the surroundings and turned to leave.

"Qian Gu, how is it?"

Zheng Zha stepped forward and asked, "Just now, I..."

"I've already gotten a preliminary briefing from Zhan Lan," Qian Gu interrupted Zheng Zha. "The attack from Team East was within my expectations. It's not a big deal; what comes next is the most critical part."

"Speak."

"I am preparing to initiate the Safe House Protocol."

"A safe house?"

As these three words dropped, the others looked bewildered, though Chu Xuan merely pushed his glasses up. "Are you certain?"

"What we are fighting is not a god named 'Death,' but the world itself," Qian Gu briefly explained what he knew, combining it with the information he had just extracted from the mortician. "...Therefore, the disasters will only escalate in magnitude."

"The Yellowstone Supervolcano?"

Zhan Lan touched her forehead, looking as though she was on the verge of cracking.

"The Dinosaur Killer?"

Zheng Zha slapped his palm. "I know this one, it was a meteorite... Wait! Are you saying a meteorite is going to smash into us?"

Qian Gu nodded.

"What the hell! Does the damn Main God have any human decency left? This is utterly insane!"

Zheng Zha immediately launched into a tirade of curses.

The Dinosaur Killer!

The ultimate culprit that annihilated the age of dinosaurs.

A meteorite plunging from the heavens had completely altered the Earth's environmental structure, rendering the dinosaurs helpless against the drastic climatic shifts, ultimately driving them to extinction. Only a tiny fraction evolved to adapt, eventually reaching the modern era, yet forever stripped of their position as overlords.

That magnitude of might was something thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of Tsar Bombas combined could never even hope to rival!

Zhang Jie's palms trembled slightly as he fished a cigarette from its pack, taking a deep drag. As if resolving himself to something, he lifted his head.

"I—"

"That is why we must fight this world!"

Qian Gu's words abruptly cut off whatever Zhang Jie intended to say, choking the words back so not a single syllable could escape.

The current leader of Team China wore a look bordering on madness, yet it was laced with utter confidence and even a wild, unbridled arrogance. "It's merely a world. Must we simply surrender on the off chance?"

"So, you intend to push forward with your so-called Safe House Protocol?"

Zhan Lan asked, "Are you truly so certain your plan is foolproof?"

"Where in this world is there a ten-percent foolproof plan?"

Qian Gu chuckled. "I recall telling you back during Resident Evil: in my playbook, there are only three possibilities, and every single plan always carries a mere fifty-percent probability of success!"

"Indeed..."

Zhao Yingkong voiced what Zhan Lan had left unsaid: "A gambler."

"When has life ever not been a gamble?"

Qian Gu flicked his wrist. Three hemp ropes were bound to it, each emitting a shimmering aura of magic.

The moment she laid eyes on the rope, Zhan Lan understood instantly.

"This is your safe house protocol?"

"Correct!"

Qian Gu nodded. "At least for now, things haven't reached the point of spatial shattering, which makes this safe house more than foolproof enough."

The so-called safe house was supposed to be a space that was sufficiently secure and insured.

Yet, in the world of *Final Destination*, where on Earth could one find such a sanctuary?

The Yellowstone Supervolcano, and even meteorites from outer space, were now opponents facing Team China. Could any safe house upon the Earth still be trusted?

There was only one answer: absolutely not.

However!

If a safe house upon the Earth could not be trusted, one simply needed to forge a space that *could* be trusted.

Space!

Right in Qian Gu's hands happened to be precisely such a space!

Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound—err, Rope Trick!

By touching a piece of rope no more than 60 feet in length, an invisible entrance came into existence at one end of the rope, leading to an extradimensional space that persisted for the duration of the spell.

The extradimensional space could be reached from the rope's end and could hold up to eight medium or smaller creatures. The rope could be pulled into the space, after which the rope could no longer be seen from outside the extradimensional space.

Attacks and spells could not cross the boundary into or out of the extradimensional space, but creatures inside could view the outside world through the entrance as though peering through a peephole located at the rope's position.

All of the above constituted the complete magical effects of Rope Trick.

Up until now, Qian Gu had primarily utilized this spell as a storage space, keeping the permanently sustained rope coiled around his right arm, storing scrolls, potions, firearms, and the like within it.

Yet!

That did not mean Qian Gu had forgotten the spell's most fundamental utility: housing living beings.

Had he forgotten, he would not have chosen to hurl all the newcomers into the other two fabricated rope spaces to prevent the point deductions caused by their deaths.

"I will craft two more ropes."

Qian Gu rapidly outlined his plan. "Once you enter the rope spaces, I will place nothing else inside those dimensions. As long as incoming attacks do not possess spatial-shattering properties, you will remain safe and sound.

"Once the mission time limit expires, we will return to the Main God Space."