Chapter 1581: with translation of chapter title

A deathly silence.

The whole dungeon sky seemed to become deathly still and oppressive because of Lin An's silence.

Suddenly his thoughts became chaotic, and in an instant a palpable pressure weighed down on everyone.

Hai En, gripped to death in his palm, didn't even dare to breathe.

Facing the silent void, Lin An, whose emotions were visibly fluctuating violently, felt both fear and an indescribable contempt.

Indeed, no matter how strong this monster is, it still doesn't know these things.

Before these people who truly relied on themselves to reach this high-level fourth stage, Lin An was nothing more than a 'nouveau riche', a foolish worm at best.

Not even knowing this basic rule, he's truly a brute with only strength!

Burying his fury deep down, Hai En also feared...

He feared that Lin An, in a fit of rage, might crush him to death!

But Hai En didn't realize that, after he said all this, what truly triggered Lin An's emotional fluctuation was what?

"We are one... Why does this phrase keep appearing..."

"Is it because those who know the essence of the fifth stage, and even higher levels, already knew this?"

"Or... Chu An?"

Recalling the Second Will, recalling the researcher, Lin An's eyes couldn't help but flash with confusion and doubt.

Regarding the former, he could understand that the Second Will merely said this by coincidence, after all, he and the Second Will, and Faction: Long An itself, are indeed one.

This sentence is merely a plain statement, with no other meaning.

Lin An was certain that the Second Will could not possibly know fifth-stage information, otherwise it wouldn't have died helplessly in the Alien Species world.

In the memory scenes he saw, the Second Will had no way to turn things around at that time, and the information it possessed was no different from his own!

"As for the latter..."

"Wasn't it that the researcher who went mad and died, in my initial guess, had seen the origin of the Zombie? Hadn't he seen some kind of mad truth?"

"That place... does it hide something else?"

"Is it an experiment? Or what?"

Too little information; even in his silence Lin An couldn't determine what this actually was.

The only thing he could be certain of was: "We are one"—this phrase must have touched upon some essence of the world, at least the key to the fifth stage and beyond.

"And Chu An..."

"He couldn't be a coincidence."

"Whether it's the arrangement of the amoeba worms, or the ongoing research into 'remodeling' humanity, Chu An undoubtedly is paving the way for the fifth stage!"

Lin An learned from Xiong Hanzi that it was Chu An who forcibly kept the Alien Species Emperor on Earth to buy him time!

Although he didn't know what method Chu An used, just this fact alone shows Chu An couldn't be merely the strength he appears to have!

(Believe me.. Lin An...)

He slowly exhaled a breath.

In Lin An's mind, it seemed as if Chu An's repeatedly spoken phrase surfaced.

Is Chu An at the fifth stage?

Is he an existence of an advanced civilization?

Is he someone like Clein?

Or is he merely someone who early on contacted those traitors among the fugitives and thus learned this information in advance?

Or perhaps there are even more secrets?

Is it related to the first Ascetic Practitioner?

Everything is like layers of mist; Lin An, in his silence, discovers that often after he tries to see the truth clearly, a new layer of mist again shrouds the truth.

If it weren't for Chu An's coma, if it weren't for his need to deal with the fugitives...

In Lin An's heart, he had long wanted to immediately go find that guy and ask all the questions burning in his mind.

Suppressing the complex emotions in his heart, Lin An took a deep breath, and could only focus on the present for now.

"If I want to achieve the fifth stage through Term: Faith Power, then the only viable path seems to be injecting all of the amoeba worm's original fluid into human bodies?"

"By remodeling our own kind, letting humans possess the traits of the amoeba worm, thereby meeting the condition?"

"Same kind + emotional sharing? This road really seems workable... and it's what Chu An has been doing all along..."

"Relying solely on the fanatics of the amoeba instance won't work, after all they aren't my kin..."

"But..."

Lin An's brows knit tightly.

But there is still a problem.

First, not mentioning whether Chu An has improved the amoeba worm's original fluid.

According to Hai En, even if a race is naturally similar to the amoeba worm, it may not be able to condense the fifth stage using this method.

Ultimately, what he needs is pure faith.

Will AnXia have faith in herself? Will Mo Ling? Will Gao Tian, Jing Tian, Zhang Tie, and they?

Lin An believes that these people, the most important in his life, might unconditionally believe in him, trust him, but that is merely the feeling between companions and kin.

He also cannot force everyone to 'have faith' in him.

"Turning everyone into puppets... is doing this really right?"

He gave a wry smile for no reason.

Lin An is quite clear: at his core he is still human. He is not a god.

He can, to some extent, use his own strength to become a protective shield for the weak, becoming a god to the weak. But that does not mean he can truly make himself a real god.

He couldn't be that pure.

He had his own selfish thoughts, and feelings he wanted to keep.

"God... Fifth Stage..."

He opened his eyes; Lin An's gaze was bewildered and doubtful.

Does reaching the Fifth Stage through faith really require becoming such a pure god-like lifeform?

He always felt something was off.

Or maybe the effect of the amoeba worm's original liquid is far better than he imagined.

Could he just 'raise' a group of people, inject them, and have them provide him with Term: Faith Power?

Do Hai En's refugees think they must all have faith, which is essentially just based on their own situation?

Just like the believers among the refugees, each person can only provide 1 point of faith.

The Fifth Stage requires 100 points.

If their whole clan were purified to achieve absolute faith, could they barely manage to reach 100?

It has nothing to do with quantity.

But the believers cultivated by the refugees themselves are problematic.

The more numerous they are, the more impurities there are; to avoid being affected by impurities, one needs even greater numbers...

But those altered by the amoeba worm are different.

Perhaps each person equals 10 points, making it easy to reach the total.

As Lin An pondered, Hai En, who had been in fear, couldn't help but speak again:

"Lin Shen... the path of Term: Faith Power is indeed difficult; as far as I know, most races treat this path as a supplementary means."

"Are you strengthening the Body System?"

"Actually, if you continue on this path, or take the path of rules, it might be better. This is the best way to become Fifth Stage under the Apocalypse!"

"The path of faith... is too hard, too perverse..."

While speaking, Hai En nervously looked at Lin An.

As if to change the subject, he didn't want Lin An to dwell on this any further!

There's no other reason.

He just suddenly realized that wanting to dispel Lin An's thought of killing them all, and not coming to steal his Term: Faith Power, was also essentially courting death.

Yes, after he said that, Lin An would indeed consider him worthless.

But for someone worthless, Lin An might just pinch him to death!

In an effort to prove his worth, Hai En spoke quickly and hurriedly.

"Lin Shen! You probably don't know the power dynamics after the Fourth Stage!"

"You want to become Fifth Stage, right?"

"Spare my life! I know how to take the other path!"