Chapter 421

The target valley was dead silent.

The steep rock walls were devoid of vegetation, with only large swaths of dark gray mineral veins, as if condensed from ash, exposed, shining with a cold, hard metallic luster in the dim sky light.

This was the typical landscape of "Ash Crystal Ore."

Jie Ming precisely located the specific area where collection had been carried out in the previous round according to the coordinates in the recording crystal.

It was in the middle section of a nearly vertical rock wall.

"It's here." Jie Ming raised his hand, and a faint light of alchemy lit up at his fingertip.

Relying on his fine manipulation ability, he guided the earth and stone elements to "fade away" from the rock wall like flowing water.

The hard rock seemed to turn into loose sand in front of him, stripped away layer by layer by an invisible hand.

As the excavation deepened, an extremely abrupt scene appeared before the three.

The dark gray mineral vein that should have extended continuously and evenly appeared here with a huge cavity with an unusually regular and smooth edge.

The shape of the cavity was roughly an irregular rectangular parallelepiped, about ten meters long, five meters wide, and over eight meters deep.

Its inner wall was smooth as a mirror, as if cut instantly by some kind of absolutely sharp tool, forming a sharp contrast with the rough natural mineral vein cross-section around it.

The volume of the cavity exactly matched the volume of the raw ore collected in Jie Ming's records.

Jie Ming took out the batch of Ash Crystal Ore from his internal cave heaven and suspended it in mid-air.

The pile of grayish ore and the smooth gap on the rock wall formed a bizarre echo in vision.

Without precise measurement, just by sweeping with spiritual sense, one could confirm that the volume and morphological characteristics of the two were highly matched.

"Look here." Vivian pointed to the connection between the edge of the gap and the normal mineral vein. "There are no traces of squeezing or stretching at this fault, nor are there signs of energy erosion or high-temperature melting. Normally, if such a large cavity were formed naturally, there would at least be various special traces."

Roland squatted down, his fingers brushing over the smooth inner wall of the gap, releasing a micro-material structure analysis spell:

"The composition is exactly the same as the surrounding mineral vein, and the crystal growth texture is not naturally truncated at the edge of the gap... It is indeed a sudden 'absence,' rather than a 'cavity appearing for some reason'."

Jie Ming nodded and put the ore back into the cave heaven.

The result was already obvious.

Non-living native plane matter, after being moved into an independent space-time as a whole, would not manifest as "never having existed here" in the timeline of the current Samsara like biological bodies.

The gap on the rock wall was proof; this mineral vein did not appear as a "primitive state" of a cavity due to some coincidence, but was a real, abrupt absence.

This was fundamentally different from the phenomenon where the existence of Sickle-Skull tribe individuals was completely erased after being stored as a whole.

And like those instruments, extracted matter would not be immediately erased by the paradox.

"Then, is the key to the difference really 'life' versus 'non-life'?" Vivian pondered. "Or is it whether it possesses an 'independent soul,' 'complex causal lines,' and 'collective social memory'?"

Roland proposed another possibility: "It could also be a difference in time scale. Although the existence time of the Sickle-Skull tribe is long, it definitely cannot compare to the existence time of the mineral vein. So the judgment method produced by the time paradox is very likely differentiated according to whether things were before or after the appearance of this special ability of time reversal."

Jie Ming listened to the analysis of his companions, and the puzzle in his mind was further perfected.

"Current evidence at least supports part of our conjecture: the reason why the Sickle-Skull tribe triggers a paradox and even related memories are corrected is very likely because they are living bodies and a highly socialized civilization." Jie Ming summarized.

"As life, they possess individual and collective memory networks. As a civilization, their history, social relationships, and even the 'civilization will' that might exist are all woven into a huge causal web. When a certain individual is deleted from the timeline as a whole, in order to maintain the logical self-consistency of the entire 'story,' this web will automatically 'patch' related memory nodes, making the 'absence' reasonable."

"And instruments and ores," he continued, "have no soul, no social memory. Their 'existence' is closer to simple material records. After being deleted, what remains is the most direct physical vacancy."

Vivian's eyes became sharp: "If this inference holds, it means... the 'ruling will' that might exist behind the Sickle-Skull tribe—whether it is some kind of super individual, collective consciousness, or the Samsara device itself—its control over the entire civilization is deep into the causal and memory levels!"

"It not only resets time, but can also 'revise' the history and memory of the entire civilization during the reset process to ensure the 'coherence' of the story!"

Just then, the magic net terminals carried by the three vibrated simultaneously, projecting scarlet runes representing the highest emergency level.

It was a mass battle situation notification from the main camp command, personally signed by Frost.

The information was very brief, but the content was heavy:

【Attention all reconnaissance units: Large-scale abnormal gathering and high-speed maneuvering of the Sickle-Skull tribe main force have been monitored in multiple directions, and their movement trajectories present a clear centripetal encirclement posture.】

【Estimated target: our main camp and surrounding major forward bases. The scale of troops far exceeds any previous full-scale attack estimate.】

【Comprehensive judgment: The Sickle-Skull tribe has launched the final stage combat plan in advance, and total war will break out within 24 to 48 standard hours. All dispatched units must immediately abort missions and gather at the main camp or the nearest fortress at the fastest speed. Repeat, abort immediately, return at full speed!】

"Advanced... so fast!" Roland's face sank.

"It seems our investigation, and the previous few large-scale cleanups, might have really poked their pain point." Vivian analyzed rapidly. "They no longer give the time for 'boiling a frog in warm water'."

Jie Ming put away the terminal, took one last look at the smooth mineral gap on the rock wall, and seemed to see through it to the deeper shadow that might exist, manipulating memory and time.

"Let's go." He turned around, his voice calm but carrying determination. "Variable experiments need more rounds to be perfected, but now, we have more urgent matters to face."

"Take our findings and conjectures back. Exactly, to verify the conjectures, we also need to enter the next round quickly."

Three figures no longer concealed their tracks, turning into streams of light and soaring into the sky, tearing through the air at the fastest speed, galloping toward the direction of the main camp.

(End of chapter)