Hei Xuan's speculation left Feng Qi feeling somewhat uneasy.
A virtual world?
Even though Feng Qi had previously entertained similar speculations, he still couldn't fully imagine that the world they were in was entirely fabricated.
It seemed that Hei Xuan had noticed the surprise on Feng Qi and Mist Lord's faces, as he smiled and spoke.
"Don't worry, based on the information we've gathered from the Psionic Tribe, the likelihood that the world we're in is a virtual one is extremely low. I was just momentarily confused. At least for now, I firmly believe we are in a real world."
"Perhaps all life follows a predetermined fate, but I always believe it can be changed, and it has nothing to do with higher-dimensional beings manipulating it."
As he spoke, Hei Xuan turned to Mist Lord and extended another invitation.
"Mist Lord, pledging allegiance to my tribe will be a shortcut on your path of growth. Perhaps this is the only chance you might have to break free from the impending catastrophe and rise as a true god in the new world."
Upon hearing this, Mist Lord couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"Do you have any confidence in escaping the impending catastrophe?"
"No," Hei Xuan replied honestly, shaking his head.
"Then why do you have such confidence in me?"
"I'm just expressing a possibility. Perhaps, by seizing this opportunity, you might break free from the coming catastrophe and become a true god in the new world."
At these words, Mist Lord gave a somewhat helpless expression before continuing.
"By the way, how much do you know about the impending catastrophe?"
"Our information is limited. We only speculate that the Pillar Gods, who once achieved self-transcendence and mastered the power of the rules, might have fallen because of this impending catastrophe."
"Pillar Gods fell because of the impending catastrophe? You mean the catastrophe has occurred before?"
"This is just a guess. After all, has anyone ever witnessed the Pillar Gods, those who possessed infinite power?"
Looking at Mist Lord, who seemed to be deep in thought, Hei Xuan continued.
"Our understanding of the Pillar Gods is limited to the traces they left behind, such as those miraculous items and their bones and blood... These remnants, despite being so ancient, still possess unimaginable power. But, at least with the information our tribe has, no one has ever truly seen the Pillar Gods in person."
"Also, since the Pillar Gods in the myths were so powerful, why did so many of them fall?"
"Of course, this is just a hypothesis based on the limited information our tribe has gathered. Perhaps the Pillar Gods were never meant to be an existence that we could truly peer into. The massive fall of the Pillar Gods might have nothing to do with the impending catastrophe. It could be due to factional divides among the Pillar Gods, leading to the War of the Gods in ancient times, which marked the end of one era and the beginning of the new one."
"This world hides too many secrets. We spend our entire lives searching for answers, yet we can never fully grasp the truth. Sometimes, when I think about it, does it really matter if this world is real or not?"
"To use human terms, does it affect my instant noodles that cost five yuan a bowl?"
Looking at Hei Xuan, who seemed to be full of nostalgia, Mist Lord shook his head.
"I won't comment on your explanation of the Pillar Gods, but I don't agree with your views on the unknown."
Hearing this, Hei Xuan smiled.
"I understand your point. I've read in your tribe's history books about something you once said: you said that a race's growth never stops, and everything from the outside pushes a race forward. There are only two endpoints: either extinction, or transcending and becoming an existence above all life."
"You seem to know me very well," Mist Lord said in surprise.
"Of course. Setting aside race and tribe, I have always admired how you led the declining Mist Tribe back to power through each battle. Back then, you seemed like the chosen one, always able to turn the impossible into possible."
Hearing Hei Xuan's praise, Mist Lord appeared composed.
"But our tribal positions can never be changed. What you say still doesn't move me."
Noticing Mist Lord's firm stance, Hei Xuan couldn't help but ask curiously.
"I'm curious. Are you trying to get me to increase the conditions, or have you never planned on cooperating with me at all? Don't you realize this is my domain? What do you think will happen if you refuse?"
Mist Lord calmly replied.
"Death might not be as deadly to me as you think."
Hearing this, Feng Qi, who had been listening in silence, was taken aback, his mind racing with a million thoughts.
At this moment, he suspected that Mist Lord might be pretending to be indifferent. The calmness was likely just a tactic to increase the bargaining chips from the Psionic Tribe.
As for Mist Lord not fearing death, Feng Qi didn't buy it for a second.
He clearly remembered how strong Mist Lord's desire for life was.
It was precisely because of Mist Lord's intense will to survive that he managed to come back to life after being severely injured by Mu Qing.
If Mist Lord had truly accepted death in his heart, the Miracle Will wouldn't have been activated, and today, perhaps, his grave would be half a meter high with grass.
At this moment, Hei Xuan fell silent, seemingly weighing the interests in his heart.
After a long while, he looked up at Mist Lord and said:
"There are some things I cannot decide on my own. I will need some time before I can give you a response."
"Alright, I'll wait for you," Mist Lord nodded immediately.
"I'll send you both back now. I will come to find you later, but I can't guarantee that I'll be able to provide you with entirely satisfactory terms... But I must remind you, do not even think about running away. You won't be able to escape."
"I won't run."
Hei Xuan nodded, then waved his hand.
Immediately, a golden barrier appeared once again, surrounding them.
Feng Qi saw the golden leaf mark on Hei Xuan's forehead begin to glow, and a semi-transparent golden tentacle extended from it.
When the tip of the golden translucent tentacle pierced the void, Hei Xuan spoke in a low voice:
"Send them back."
"Hei Xuan, please wait a moment."
A voice appeared from an unknown source, and the space around where Feng Qi stood began to twist.
A small black dot appeared before him, gradually swallowing up his sight...
More than ten minutes later, Feng Qi and Mist Lord reappeared on the school field.
By now, the night had deepened, but the field was still brightly lit, with many figures walking and exercising.
The sudden appearance of Feng Qi and Mist Lord attracted the attention of a nearby student.
He carefully observed Feng Qi and Mist Lord, who had appeared from the dark corner of the field, and his expression showed great surprise. But soon, he shook his head, mumbling to himself, clearly thinking that his eyes were playing tricks on him.
Returning to the old academy, Feng Qi and Mist Lord were still immersed in their recent encounter.
Feng Qi turned to Mist Lord and asked:
"Old Mist, what are your thoughts now?"
Faced with the question, Mist Lord shook his head with a bitter smile:
"I have thoughts, but they don't matter now. We're completely under surveillance by the Psionic Tribe. We only have two choices: either death, or compromise. What do you think I should choose?"
Hearing this, Feng Qi felt a surge of joy inside.
Selling himself for survival was nothing to be ashamed of.
Then, a question popped into his mind:
"The Psionic Tribe obviously knows you only have two paths to choose from. Why didn't they try to pressure you a little more? If you truly don't want to submit, they could simply increase the terms to pull you back in. Why would they compromise with you right from the start?"
"It's simple. What the Psionic Tribe wants is a strong individual with independent thoughts, not just a puppet they can manipulate. Increasing the benefits they offer me wouldn't disrupt their plans; in fact, it might even benefit their mysterious scheme."
"It's like an investment. They invest more resources in me, helping me grow faster. Perhaps the returns they'll get from me in the future will be even greater."
Upon hearing Mist Lord's explanation, Feng Qi immediately understood.
The Psionic Tribe wasn't unwilling to refuse, but they felt that increasing the benefits they gave to Mist Lord wouldn't affect their plans. Moreover, Mist Lord was worth the investment.
At this point, Mist Lord let out a sigh:
"Now our fate is no longer in our hands. Breaking free from the control of the Psionic Tribe will be our primary goal for the future."
"Aren't you worried that someone might be listening?" Feng Qi asked in surprise.
"Don't worry, even if I don't say it, Hei Xuan and the others are fully aware that I will try to escape their control. This isn't a secret. We all know it. Even if someone hears us, so what?"
As he spoke, Mist Lord began walking toward the dormitory.
"Qi-ge, go back and rest. Tomorrow, come with me. I just received a bonus, and it's time to buy some blood food."
Looking at Mist Lord's retreating figure, Feng Qi followed right behind.
He knew that although Mist Lord appeared calm on the outside, he was actually thinking about a lot of things in his mind.
From what Feng Qi knew about Mist Lord, the thing he hated the most was when his future development was out of his control. It gave him a sense of strong insecurity.
...
Back in the dormitory, after Feng Qi showered, he sat in front of the desk in his pajamas.
As he reflected on the conversation between Hei Xuan and Mist Lord, his thoughts were in turmoil.
A virtual game?
Hei Xuan's speculation was something he had once considered as well.
The shadow who controlled the Institute of Technological Research had once said that the Psionic Tribe referred to the Blue-Skinned Tribe as test subjects.
This was clearly an intelligence that Hei Xuan had not mentioned.
Countless pieces of information churned and connected in his mind, and suddenly, a hypothesis surfaced.
"What if this world is a virtual world, or a game world? What could provide strong evidence for that?"
Following this line of thought, he suddenly felt that there were many aspects of this world that aligned with game settings.
The Blue-Skinned Tribe is just one of the examples.
According to the known information, Mo was once held captive in the Psionic Tribe's Infinite Laboratory.
The contract scroll was clearly obtained from Mo while he was imprisoned, and importantly, Mo referred to the contract scroll as a "task system."
This is the second point.
Following this train of thought, when comparing game functions to reality, more matching factors begin to appear.
The Blue-Skinned Tribe's ability for infinite resurrection—could it be the player's respawn system?
If this hypothesis holds, then the Blue-Skinned Tribe's ability to ignore distance and pinpoint their location with a mysterious device—could it be the automatic pathfinding function from a game?
Also, could the Psionic Tribe's Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault be equivalent to the game's database, used to store data and generate information in the game?
At this thought, Feng Qi suddenly envisioned another miracle item that fit even closer to the functionality of a game.
In his last future dreamscape, he had encountered a very powerful individual.
He was the lord of Shadow City, who possessed an independent spatial city.
Everything inside Shadow City was influenced by the Eye of Truth, which was embedded in his right eye. All information could be expressed through a textual interface.
This was a perfect match for the game's interpretation system.
When Feng Qi was younger, he had dabbled in online games.
In those games, players could check the equipment in their inventory and see a description of the item—its level, origin, strength, and other details.
From this perspective, the Eye of Truth could function as the information interpretation system in the game, allowing players to view equipment attributes or other items' detailed properties.
Continuing with this line of thought, Feng Qi compared this to other miracle items he had learned about.
The Miracle Bloodstone, which Mist Lord had once obtained, could infinitely generate small bloodstones—could this be like the safety zone spring in the game, used for automatic health regeneration?
The more he thought about it, the more startled Feng Qi became.
Many of the miraculous items' incredible functions seemed to match elements found in games.
At this point, Feng Qi frowned.
The information he had gathered was clearly not comparable to the Psionic Tribe's intelligence network.
Since Hei Xuan had said that this world was real, it was obvious that he held more beneficial evidence than Feng Qi.
Moreover, the few miracle items he analyzed could not explain that the world was virtual.
There were still many miracle items whose functions had no relation to games at all.
For instance, the Crimson Rune Crystal, the Evolution Token (three-tailed), the Miracle Will, the Prophecy Ability from the Qin Time space, the Psionic Tribe's sensory blocking ability, and so on.
Only a few of the miracle items shared similar functions with those in games, which did not prove anything.
After a moment of thinking, Feng Qi decided not to dwell on this issue any longer.
After all, this was too grand a question. He hadn't even resolved the internal dangers within the human race, so there was no need to reach beyond and chase the truth of the world.
Aside from whether the world was virtual or not, there was another question in the information Hei Xuan had shared that he could not understand.
Who exactly was Mo?
According to Hei Xuan's description, Mo had been searching for potential life forms to sign contracts with—what was the purpose of this?
In the previous War Line, when he chased the Shadow to the secret research lab of the Institute of Technological Research, he had a brief conversation with Mo.
At that time, Mo had said he wasn't yet qualified to receive investment and then left.
The "investment" Mo mentioned seemed to clearly refer to signing a task contract with him, in exchange for his support.
Countless bits of information tangled in Feng Qi's mind, and he increasingly felt that there were many secrets surrounding the mysterious Mo.
The most important of which was that Mo was the key factor in the birth of Little Black.
After thinking for a long while, unable to find an answer, Feng Qi couldn't help but shake his head and stop dwelling on it.
The information he had on Mo was extremely limited, and he couldn't extract anything useful from it.
As for the sacrificial line, he wouldn't have any interactions with Mo.
Looking at the timeline of historical progression, Mo had already escaped the Infinite Laboratory by this time, and was hiding inside the Institute of Technological Research, creating Little Black.
At this point, Feng Qi suddenly had an idea.
Should he try to expose the Shadow's coordinates and let the Psionic Tribe attack and destroy the Institute of Technological Research?
He didn't care about the Shadow's life or death; what was important was that if the Psionic Tribe attacked the Institute of Technological Research, it might kill Little Black's birth.
If this plan succeeded, he would roam free in 1500 years.
As long as he didn't run into some terrifyingly powerful super-life form, with his suction cup protection, he could remain invincible.
No more chasing by Little Black.
Then he could keep killing and evolve his bloodline to the max, evolving into the ultimate human... then extract tens of thousands of talent abilities...
At that point, he could break down half and keep the other half, all to his delight.
And then in the next timeline, he would face Little Black head-on, punching its dog head into oblivion...
"Damn, I need to sleep."
Realizing that his thoughts were drifting far from reality, Feng Qi cursed and stood up, heading for the bed.