I'm sorry, but this is where the story ends.

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First of all, I must apologize.

I began this journey with grand ambitions, determined to rise above, but in the end, it was nothing more than wishful thinking.

I won’t deceive anyone—I spent a very long time conceiving this novel. The effort I poured into the outline easily surpassed what I devoted to writing the main text.

Every character introduced with even the slightest bit of description carries hidden future storylines, each connected to some major chapter ahead and capable of influencing the main thread of the novel.

All sixty-four abilities that appear in the book were fully conceptualized before I started. The unfolding of the plot was meticulously planned.

To put it bluntly, in these forty-some chapters, every seemingly trivial line might be a foreshadowing.

For example, the communications tower that appears in the main text is destined to become a pivotal battleground in a later major chapter.

The Dawn Alliance, briefly mentioned, will be the protagonist’s allies in the future—and they have already appeared.

The first chapter hints at how the final boss will die—death by soul depletion.

The gun crafted by Old Zhao will become the protagonist’s weapon, and its completion will coincide with Old Zhao’s death, after he’s been corrupted into a half-mechanical being.

The Seventh Princess, who invested in the Charity Orphanage, is the princess the protagonist will later seize. The orphanage’s funding crisis hides deeper narrative significance.

Another important clue is the newspaper: aside from the emperor’s poem, every line is a setup for future events!

There are too many such foreshadowings to list them all.

...

As for the protagonist, he is not a transmigrator; he is Liang Zhi. He cleansed his own memory and implanted false memories, which is why he cannot recall the technical details of his previous life.

This world has a great boss—who can only be defeated by such means. All abilities originate from this boss.

The "True Calendar" of the Da Dong Dynasty began when this boss "died"; before that, the world followed the Divine Calendar.

Over three thousand years ago, the boss saved Earth, but was ultimately betrayed by humanity using the knowledge and technology he provided, leading to his death. From then on, knowledge and technology in this world have been cursed.

The boss’s abilities were scattered across the world, giving rise to the ability users who inhabit it.

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...

As for the antagonists, the novel features three main factions.

The Blasphemy Cult—the pinnacle of this cult is one of the eight Completes, specifically the Complete of the Chaos faction. The cult comprises ability users from the Chaos faction, such as those who manipulate corpses, create evil spirits, seduce minds, or practice puppet mastery.

The Da Dong Dynasty—the dynasty is powerful but internally complex, eventually collapsing from within. Emperor Wu Long of Da Dong, seeking to maintain his rule, trades with the Mechanical Sanctuary and tacitly allows the Peach Blossom Spring organization to traffic people within Da Dong, in exchange for technological support from the Sanctuary.

The largest building in the industrial district is a factory for creating Mechanical Angels. These angels possess formidable power. In the five-member Eradication Division, the one who never shows his face is a Mechanical Angel. Moreover, aside from this Mechanical Angel, every member of the division is an undercover agent.

The Mechanical Sanctuary—this organization traces its origin to the two combat robots the great boss brought with him when he arrived on Earth over three thousand years ago.

The slimmer robot that wields an energy blade is called the Mechanical Dao Master—more powerful than most Completes.

The other, larger robot equipped with various firearms, is known as the Mechanical Buddha, likewise stronger than most Completes.

They collect humans, extract superhuman traits, and use them to create new mechanical beings.

Later enemies will include many mechanical monks and mechanical Taoists.

...

Regarding abilities and main plotlines:

The Extremes and Balance factions of the Martial Arts sequence represent the boss’s physical strength and skill.

The Chaos and Order factions of the Secret Arts sequence symbolize the boss’s soul and will—Order representing virtue, Chaos representing power.

The Element and Energy factions of the Sorcery sequence embody the boss’s mastery over nature and mysterious energies beyond nature.

The Connection and Transformation factions of the Trick Arts sequence represent the boss’s essential bodily functions—such as aging, decay, cellular connectivity, human growth, energy transformation from eating, tool creation...

Furthermore, the boss’s "Good Deeds," "Evil Deeds," "Desire for Knowledge," and "Faith" have become four books: The Book of Good, The Book of Evil, The Book of Truth, and The Book of Faith.

Completing each book grants a wish.

In truth, the protagonist’s "bucket list" is none other than the Book of Evil; its listed demands are actually the requirements of the Book of Evil.

In the originally planned upcoming chapters, Xie Zhitou would return to the Charity Orphanage, defeat the master-level ability user from Peach Blossom Spring with a single move, and retrieve from the basement another book, opposite in color to the bucket list—the Book of Good.

Xie Zhitou was once the world’s foremost villain, with a punk style, but to fulfill his wish, he accepted the Book of Good gifted by the protagonist.

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When all four books are completed and the eight Completes come into being, the ultimate boss will be resurrected. The Completes and the four books will gather, becoming parts of the boss’s body.

This is inevitable; nothing can stop it. So, in his previous life, the protagonist devised a solution.

He decided to have good people complete the Book of Evil, and bad people complete the Book of Good. That way, when the time comes, the good remain good, and the evil remain evil. They can remain conscious within the boss’s body, waiting for a chance to truly destroy him.

However, as Xie Zhitou performed good deeds, he was gradually transformed into a genuinely good person. Thus, upon being absorbed into the boss’s body, he lost consciousness.

Liang Zhi, due to his peculiar method of fulfilling the bucket list, remained himself. In the end, he remembered the line from the first chapter—the original owner died of soul depletion.

So, within the boss’s body, he began frantically connecting to another world, peering into its scenes. This method consumed soul strength.

Before being completely assimilated by the boss, the protagonist repeatedly connected, draining the boss’s soul. Unable to maintain bodily integrity, the eight Completes and four books separated.

Thus, the novel comes to an end.

There are many more elements that exist only in the outline, but I won’t list them all here.

..................................

Because the groundwork for later chapters required so much effort, writing this book progressed slowly, often forcing me to write until three or four in the morning. You can check the recent update times.

Looking back, it all seems a bit foolish—an exhausting endeavor that brought little reward.

As an author, I believe everyone should write at least one meaningful novel in their career—one that pushes them out of their comfort zone, satisfies their own standards, is logically sound, a true story from start to finish, with interconnected plotlines, so that readers, upon revisiting a scene, can experience that epiphany: "Oh, so that's what it meant..."

But reality taught me otherwise. Since I chose to lay the groundwork and build slowly, I was inevitably outpaced by others in the early stages. This novel can only remain a trial run.

When I received the news today, I was stunned for a moment, but I have to accept reality.

With such results, even if the book were published, I wouldn’t be able to support myself. The novel demands too much energy, and enduring so much pain without earning anything in return—I have no choice but to abandon it.

I am truly sorry to all my readers.

Everyone who has rewarded this book, please join the reader group, 733347273. I will refund your contributions in full. Please come and claim them. I am truly sorry.