Chapter 355: System Limitation

Outside the window, in the palace at midnight, one could occasionally see palace maids weaving through.

They kept their heads lowered, their steps light and slow.

The patrolling soldiers marched in step, passing by in formation.

After the power plant was taken over, diehard elements destroyed part of the electricity, causing the formerly brilliant palace to grow somewhat dim.

The room was silent, without sound.

A very simple speculation.

Under the dual effect of talent and Equipment, Lin An can reap human emotions, regardless of life or death.

From the moment he entered the instance world, he realized this problem.

After Lin Ruolan obtained the jerky, she did not provide herself with emotion to boost her strength.

At first, I thought it was because humans in this world lacked spiritual energy, so the power converted from emotion was too low for me to notice.

But after thorough experimentation, Lin An began to realize the seriousness of the problem.

Unable to absorb human emotions...

Isn't the simplest reason that whether it's the negative emotions produced when humans in this instance world die, or the positive emotions produced when they live, the producers... aren't human!?

In the unlit room, Huang Shaohua's face flickered with astonishment, and he instinctively looked toward the window.

Under Bolaka's formerly harsh regulations, the personnel inside the palace tried as much as possible to remain silent.

Clearly there were many people, yet for no reason it made him feel a chill run through his body.

These.

They... aren't human!?

He subconsciously took a deep breath, wanting to reject this speculation:

"Lord Lin An, are you sure you haven't absorbed any emotion?"

"Could it be that your talent has some hidden condition, such as needing to absorb spiritual energy at the same time?"

"Or could there be some hidden condition to absorbing emotion?"

Huang Shaohua couldn't help but verify.

He had never even heard of such an ability to absorb emotion.

If Lin An's speculation is correct, then all humans in this world are not human.

Then what are they?

Ghosts? Or Zombie?

Lin An didn't say much, just casually nodded.

"The Death God Crystal can absorb negative emotions; even if my talent has a problem, the Equipment couldn't possibly fail, right?"

After hearing that, Huang Shaohua lowered his head, and the body constructed by his spiritual power flickered.

Yeah, even if there are hidden conditions, it's impossible for both absorption methods to lose effectiveness.

Muttering to himself, he couldn't believe it.

"Could it really be ghosts? Or... could they be some kind of Undead Body!?"

Huang Shaohua's heart was filled with shock.

The whole world being ghosts is just too terrifying, right?

So...

Now everything is normal—could it be because the trigger condition hasn't been met?

Once triggered...

Is this the reason a three Fourth Rank peak existence can't escape the instance?

Mo Ling, who had been listening to the two's conversation, suddenly spoke:

"Not ghosts, or undead."

"I haven't sensed any such aura; they are still flesh and blood."

The two paused, only then recalling that Mo Ling, as an Undead Body, has an extremely keen perception of ghosts and undead.

Huang Shaohua secretly let out a breath of relief.

After a moment's hesitation, as if he had thought of something, he uncertainly voiced his speculation:

"Lord Lin An, could it be that the system has limited your ability?"

"You said this instance grants you three privileges: 1) language mastery, 2) emotional intensification, 3) tech weapons that don't lose damage."

"Privileges like that..."

"I've only heard that they exist in small‑reward instances; usually the system corrects the instance's difficulty, giving players some help to reduce mission difficulty."

"The instance we're in, the Amoeba Worm, is a punishment instance..."

"Could it be that the system has encountered some problem?"

"Combining your ability with emotional intensification, if you can absorb emotional power, you can gain an extremely strong combat boost, right?"

Lin An nodded; emotional intensification equals magnifying the ability to absorb emotion.

The first and third privileges are actually useless, and I don't know why the system specially noted them.

Seeing Lin An nod, Huang Shaohua's eyes flickered:

"Then that would explain it."

"Think about it: if you could still normally absorb the amplified emotion, your combat power would surge."

"For you, this punishment instance would have its difficulty greatly reduced, so it wouldn't really be a punishment."

"So I guess the system judged that you have the ability to absorb emotion, and simply locked that effect."

"This kind of situation has happened before."

Huang Shaohua paused for a moment, then continued speaking.

"I once knew an instance called 【Zombie Kingdom】."

"That instance is very difficult, but someone has completed the mission and come out."

"According to the one who completed it."

"The reward after completing the mission is generous, and the instance is similar to a regular apocalypse-world instance, all zombies."

"The monsters in that instance have no mutants; the difficulty lies in the entire team having to fight a large number of zombies without any external aid."

"They must hold out for 72 hours, resisting a siege attack of over a million zombies."

"So, what do you think?"

Huang Shaohua feigned suspense and threw the question back.

Lin An ignored Huang Shaohua's deliberate suspense, simply extending his mental power to intimidate.

In that moment, Huang Shaohua saw he would suffer another stab, and hastily said grudgingly:

"Alright."

"Among the players who went in later, someone is a high-level official of the Military Region."

"Simply."

"He directly had a team member carry a nuclear bomb in!"

"Hehe."

"They originally thought this loophole approach could easily complete the instance mission, but they didn't expect to be dumbfounded upon entering the instance."

"【Zombie Kingdom】 instance originally had no power limit on technological weapons, but as soon as they entered, they found technological weapons were directly greatly weakened!"

"Tsk tsk, that team ended up with only one person surviving. That person's spirit was almost on the verge of collapse."

"Mission failed, punishment was severe. Not long after, he also died."

"Since then, no one has dared to exploit that loophole."

"Of course, later some teams were not resigned, with some even bringing enriched uranium, sulfuric acid, and electronic detonators in batches to hand-assemble crude nuclear bombs in the instance world."

"Unexpectedly, the crude nuclear bombs they manufactured actually succeeded, and they did not receive system punishment."

"So..."

"When Huang Shaohua spoke of these things, he couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion."

"The system's judgment is truly unfathomable; sometimes it considers you a violation, or that you exploited a loophole."

"But sometimes it also leaves you a crack..."

"After listening, Lin An fell into thought."

"It must be said, Huang Shaohua's speculation is the most likely."

"Although this speculation also has loopholes."

"That is, the power after absorbing emotions, logically speaking, no matter how strong, cannot exceed the peak of the Third Fourth Rank."

"What is the matter with the previously deceased Third Fourth Rank Peak?"

"Even without sealing one's own abilities, the instance's difficulty is still incomprehensibly high."

"Of course, perhaps I underestimated the terror of the celestial-human form."

"The positive emotions of tens of millions of people, after forced brainwashing and emotional agitation, perhaps there is a slight chance to let myself break through the Third Fourth Rank!"

"But deep down, Lin An always felt he had grasped some clue."

"The hidden clues flickered by, just like the special feeling in the ghost infant incident."

"I."

"What exactly did I overlook?"