Pain Immunity: Worried the Villains Aren’t Twisted Enough

Chapter 272: Perfect Clear! Newly Generated Sequence Artifact

Xie Antong was spacing out when the voice by her ear suddenly jolted her awake. In that brief moment of lost rationality, she instinctively reached out with a fierce grab—only to clutch empty air.

"Tch, ran away so fast," Xie Antong muttered helplessly.

But since he said "next time"... that meant there would be a next time, right?

The Cutter and others nearby watched as Blank made that grasping motion at thin air, their eyelids twitching slightly but otherwise maintaining straight faces without comment.

This game session had concluded in such an inexplicable manner that their presence now felt awkward. Truth be told, even now some players didn't fully understand what this game dungeon had been about. They'd probably have to review recordings after returning.

......

[Game Over!]

[Congratulations player, Perfect Clear achieved! Accomplishment recorded, initiating physical restoration.]

Hearing the familiar announcement, Lu Ce finally relaxed—he'd achieved another Perfect Clear without major issues. He'd actually been somewhat worried about his rating since he'd spent most of this session operating covertly.

Moreover, given the game's recent track record, he couldn't fully trust it not to arbitrarily deny him the Perfect Clear rating for no reason."What exactly is the relationship between this game and the gods..." Lu Ce murmured to himself when he suddenly realized something felt wrong.

The usual warm, comforting sensation was completely absent this time. Instead, he felt like a weightless object being tossed about violently, with overwhelming nausea building—as if he'd ingested some emetic substance.

"Damn it! What's happening?!"

"Can they just retaliate directly here like this?!"

His voice echoed into empty space as if broadcast into the void, but surprisingly, the game actually responded.

[Scanning body, removing abnormal status.]

[Detecting abnormal divine contamination, initiating purification.]

The disorienting sensation continued as Lu Ce tumbled helplessly like a hamster in a washing machine. Only after what felt like an eternity did the familiar warmth finally return, signaling the true start of his restoration process.

[Life] hadn't exaggerated—this was indeed the consequence of "a snake trying to swallow an elephant." Attempting to usurp divine authority far beyond his current capabilities was probably unprecedented even for the game...

Once restoration completed, the standard post-game summary finally appeared in his consciousness:

[Total participants: 5,126,843]

[Survivors: 1,965,841]

[Perfect Clears: 2,568!]

[Your Clear Rating: SSS, Perfect Clear! Current Perfect Clear streak: 7!]

[Calculating rewards...]

[Points awarded: 6,000!]

[Items awarded: High-grade Recovery Potion×5, Exit Coin×1, Loading...]

[Perfect Clear Bonus: For outstanding performance, awarded one additional Interdimensional Backpack slot.]

With this latest addition, Lu Ce's Interdimensional Backpack now had four slots—allowing him to freely transport crucial, high-powered items between worlds with much greater flexibility. Xie Antong had been right—as time passed, top players' influence on the world's balance would become increasingly significant.

"But... what does this 'loading' mean?"

After assessing his current destructive potential in the real world, Lu Ce turned his attention to the floating text with a thoughtful expression. Why were only basic rewards displayed this time? Where were the rest?

[Detecting concentrated divine essence contamination, new Sequence Artifact can be synthesized.]

[Consume 20,000 points to synthesize?]

"Can you make it cheaper?"

[...]

Lu Ce's reflexive haggling actually made the game pause, manifesting an ellipsis in midair. After brief consideration, Lu Ce reasoned that a newly synthesized Sequence Artifact should prove valuable regardless.

"Proceed with synthesis."

[Divine essence condensed. Sequence Rank F-2068—Sin's Notebook.]

The artifact was actually named directly after Lu Ce himself! Moments later, a notebook glowing fluorescent green materialized before him.

Flipping it open from the front, the first three pages were titled [Torment], [Ecstasy], and [Life], each containing brief descriptions—like how Life's power had created various potions. Reading from back to front revealed classified information, including records of what Know-it-All had previously told him.

After examining it thoroughly, Lu Ce couldn't help thinking—wasn't this completely useless? Most contents were things he already knew, and for anything else, couldn't the game just tell him directly? Did he really spend 20,000 points on a notebook?

[Sequence Artifacts are direct manifestations of divine power and carry contamination.]

[This artifact was created through your own power.]

[It may exhibit special effects under certain circumstances.]

The game unusually added supplementary explanations before finally displaying the remaining rewards.

[Perfect Clear Bonus Supplement: Decree of Life.]

[Decree of Life, Type: Unknown]

[Grade: Unknown]

[Effects: Unknown]

[Description: ???]

Lu Ce: ......

Looking at this, Lu Ce could only offer a weak smile. How... humorous.

This had been the most challenging game session yet. And his two main rewards were this Decree of Life and... a notebook?

He couldn't tell whether he'd reached a level where rewards became incomprehensible, or if he was being deliberately trolled. Neither item's purpose was apparent. Comparing them side by side, the Decree resembled his previous Decree of Ecstasy—just gray instead of fluorescent green.

Emmmm......

He pulled out the giant needle from his heart region. Honestly, even this seemed more useful... Whatever, as long as there weren't any nasty side effects.

[Sequence Artifact: A-007 Mask of Original Sin, Envy Mode. Contamination detected. Purify contamination?]

"If purified, will the power remain?"

[No. Both power and side effects will be removed.]

"Then don't purify!"

Lu Ce made this decision almost instantly. Life... having finally met her, he ought to keep something as memento.

......

Within the game, after all players departed, the prison dissolved into ashes. Everything turned to nothingness as the world seemed poised for reconstruction—a new realm about to be born.

Know-it-All sat amidst the void, staring blankly at the Exit Coin resting in his palm—the one Lu Ce had given him.

......