Chapter 395: Confusing and Puzzling

John didn't even know when he died; the God of Darkness is a master of sneak attacks!

Lin Bai cast a glance from the corner of his eye toward the position of the Heavenly King of Lightning.

That place was already empty, yet within the range of his vision, dozens of Thunder Spirits had appeared, in every color imaginable.

Those Thunder Spirits looked exactly the same, standing in different positions in the shape of an Eight Trigrams formation.

Lightning of various colors jumped from one Thunder Spirit to another, forming a giant web made of lightning that looked beautiful and dangerous.

The electric web sliced the dark night into separate little pieces, leaving only the spot where he and John were standing untouched...

F*ck!

Is this an attitude of cooperation?

I let you protect my two clones, and this is how you protect them?!

Lin Bai was speechless for a moment.

Since you were the one to strike first, don't blame me for not playing fair.

The War God Body quickly adjusted its emotions, placing itself in a state of fury.

Wrath of Gods and Men.

When you are angry, the people around you will be angry with you.

The God of Darkness can weaken a person's attributes and influence others through Negative Emotion, but if one's Mental Power is strong enough, one can resist these negative emotions without affecting one's thinking.

Lin Bai had already verified in previous battles that the anger stirred up by Wrath of Gods and Men could affect a person's rationality...

Since he had been screwed over, why should he let those two guys keep fighting rationally?

If he lets them stay rational, what will he rely on to pick up the scraps?

"God of Darkness, this entire space is your body, right! Watch how I tear your body to shreds? From the moment you revealed your health bar, you became my meal on a platter."

The Heavenly King of Lightning was the first to be affected.

Dozens of Thunder Spirits laughed wildly and spoke in unison, but the first sentence he spoke stunned Lin Bai, even making him forget his subsequent actions.

Holy sh*t!

What is going on?

The information revealed in this sentence is too much.

Health bar?

Under normal circumstances, only players would say that...

So, was the Heavenly King of Lightning originally a player?

Is the Immortal World also a game arena?

Do the seemingly perfunctory realm settings of Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Star Diamond, etc., suddenly have a reasonable explanation?

But if the Immortal World is a game, why can't the Celestials resurrect?

No.

Celestials are not players, and the Mother Body is not a Resurrection Point, but an NPC production center; all Celestials are born from there.

Therefore, they have no distinction of gender.

Because they don't exist in reality, but are produced by the Mother Body for the players' amusement—they are tool-people!

That is why the Heavenly King of Lightning doesn't care about the lives of Celestials, but is more concerned with the unfamiliar Shenmo Dalu.

Because in his view, Shenmo Dalu is an undeveloped new map, and he had long grown tired of the Immortal World full of NPCs, yearning for new game features; that is why he couldn't wait to run over through the Magpie Bridge...

The reason he didn't deal with him was probably because he regarded him as a special NPC, fearing that if he killed him, the Magpie Bridge would break and the new map would close again!

No wonder these guys didn't believe in the New Mother Body or the Tenth Heavenly King he fabricated, or rather, they believed it, but treated him as a new plot!

No wonder he wasn't surprised at all by the appearance of players...

No wonder he had an indifferent attitude toward everything he said...

No wonder he was so arrogant, wanting to challenge the strongest as soon as he entered Shenmo Dalu...

If they were players themselves, everything would make sense!

A world of nine players?

Damn it!

The so-called King Challenge Tournament must be a scam too!

Lin Bai felt he had fallen into a chain of traps.

The Game Company distributed Game Capsules in the Real World, letting them enter the real Xianxia World and Shenmo Dalu, but it turned out that the upper realm of the Xianxia World was a different version of the game, which also had players who might have come from another world, and they had clearly upgraded to the top level, controlling the entire game world...

Were there only nine top-tier players left, and the others had quit, leaving only these nine nostalgic guys who reached the summit?

Or is the Xianxia World a private server?

The so-called Law Sacred Artifacts in their hands must be Divine Artifacts in the game, similar to those that can slash through the entire server!

If they are players, it means they can resurrect, and their lives are endless...

In that case, to handle them, does it mean killing them back to level zero?

The enemies are actually nine top-tier players?

What the f*ck!

For a moment.

Lin Bai's mind actually stalled; he felt he had guessed the truth of the matter, even though this truth was somewhat hard for him to accept. He had forcefully controlled the rhythm of the game and arranged the fate of the players sent in by the Game Company, thinking he had been successful enough.

He didn't expect that the Game Company would arrange such a big gift for him in the Immortal World.

Entering one game from another!

Therefore.

He is the clown struggling bitterly within the Game Company, isn't he!

For a moment, Lin Bai even thought that the system on his own body was also planted by the Game Company.

Creating an NPC like him was just to provide the game with fresher entertainment...

"Husband, what is wrong?" Xu Longyun reached out and pushed Lin Bai, waking him from his deep thoughts.

Her face was full of worry.

Ever since Xu Longyun had known Lin Bai, even when he was weak, he had been very alert and had never been lost in thought for so long; he had actually only woken up after she pushed him.

"It is nothing, I discovered some secrets of the Immortal World, we may need to change some strategies." Lin Bai shook his head, trying hard to rouse his Spirit.

He was not too dejected.

Lin Bai had never been a person who resigned himself to fate.

Facts proved that the Skills rewarded by the system could also affect the Thunder Heavenly King, so he still had a chance to turn the tables; if a BOSS reveals their health bar, players can kill them, and the reverse is also true—as long as a player dares to reveal their level, he dares to kill that player back to level zero.

Whether it is a game or the Real World, he wants to be the king within it...

"What secret?" Xu Longyun asked.

"The Nine Great Heavenly Kings are very likely players too," Lin Bai said; there was nothing to hide from Xu Longyun, and he did not intend to hide it.

It might be because the "Human and God's Wrath" had stirred up the anger of the Thunder Heavenly King and the Dark God.

The two of them were fighting in the darkness using their own methods, temporarily ignoring Lin Bai's War God Body.

Since that was the case, there was no need for the War God Body to leave.

If he could obtain more and more effective intelligence, it would be worth it even if the War God Body died!

"Players?" Xu Longyun was stunned and asked in astonishment, "Is that true?"

"Nine times out of ten." Lin Bai glanced at her and said, "And they are the top-tier kind of players."

These days.

Xu Longyun had been studying the Real World, so naturally, she knew what top-tier players meant.

Ever since they learned of the characteristics of the Heavenly Descended, what everyone did was to suppress the increase of their levels; once players were allowed to raise their levels, combined with their lawless personalities, any world would be played into collapse by them.

But now.

The rulers of the Immortal World were actually nine top-tier players, and furthermore, they held the Tianren of the entire Immortal World in their hands.

Xu Longyun swallowed lightly, suddenly understanding why Lin Bai had been lost in thought just now.

There could be no disaster more terrifying than this!

"Master, what should we do?" Xu Longyun was somewhat flustered and actually changed her form of address back.

"Do not panic, this matter has both advantages and disadvantages for us." Lin Bai looked at Xu Longyun and comforted her, "All this time, the Tianren of the Immortal World did not know that the Heavenly Kings who have always ruled them are players. Therefore, I intend to expose this matter. Whether the Tianren are NPCs or natives, they all have their own thoughts. As long as a portion of them believes this, it is our success, and we can split them off to become our helpers."

"The Immortal World has existed for tens of thousands of years, and the Tianren have their own lives; such alienation is likely not very easy." Xu Longyun's delicate brows furrowed slightly.

"I know, even if no one believes it, we must plant the seeds of doubt among the Tianren," Lin Bai said. "The most critical thing is that we also have players on our side; letting them know that the Nine Great Heavenly Kings of the Immortal World are players from another world can stimulate their competitive spirit.

They will be loyal to NPCs, but they will absolutely not be loyal to players from another world; therefore, they will try every possible means to verify the authenticity of this matter, will go and PK them head-on, and prove to the world that what other-world players can do, they can do too. In that way, the Nine Great Heavenly Kings will invisibly share the firepower for me."

"Will they believe it?" Xu Longyun asked.

"They will," Lin Bai said. "All this time, although I have done absurd things, I have established a persona of being a man of his word. Therefore, even if they doubt the things I say, they will treat them as true first.

Besides, you have also studied players; the Nine Great Heavenly Kings are already their enemies, aren't they?

My publicizing it this way is merely adding a more reasonable target for them; isn't it more fun to add an attribute of uncovering the truth to the game?"

"Shocking! The Nine Great Heavenly Kings are actually players from another world"

Half an hour later, *Justice Weekly* urgently issued a special edition, announcing the identities of the Nine Great Heavenly Kings. This article detailed the composition of the Immortal World from various aspects, such as the level divisions of the Immortal World, the characteristics of the Tianren, and the characteristics of the Mother Body.

Then.

It deduced a conclusion: the Nine Great Heavenly Kings are players, and the Tianren of the Immortal World are NPCs created by the system.

At the end of the article, it even specifically asked a question that was like a knife to the heart of the Tianren: Has the King Challenge Tournament ever really been successful? Are you sure that challenging the Star Brilliance Realm of the Heavenly Kings is not a self-directed conspiracy?

Along with the release of the *Justice Weekly* special edition, there was also a short video released by Lin Bai—it was the very sentence the Thunder Heavenly King said when he fought the Dark God!

Once this article was published, the Real World and the Tianzhe Jie instantly exploded.

On the forums.

The popularity of "The Heavenly Kings are players" quickly suppressed the posts of the Anti-Lin Bai Alliance; whether they were players or the public in the Real World, everyone was heatedly discussing this matter:

"Is it true? There are actually players from another world besides us; this is simply outrageous."

"There is nothing impossible; from the beginning, I felt the level divisions of the Immortal World were a bit sloppy. At the time, I even thought it was specially set up by the Game Company!"

"There is no telling how many civilizations there are in the universe. If the Game Company can drop Game Capsules into our world, they can naturally drop Game Capsules into other worlds. Aren't *Xianxia World* and *Shenmo Dalu* existing at the same time? If it weren't for Lin Bai's Magpie Bridge, wouldn't we be facing the players of the Western Continent when the Game Company connects *Xianxia World* and *Shenmo Dalu* in the future?"

"We didn't end up facing the players of the Western Continent, but instead ended up facing players from another world."

"The final BOSS is actually a player; damn, I'm shocked for a whole year..."

"Speaking of which, if it weren't for Lin Bai meddling and letting us discover the truth ourselves, this would definitely be a super deluxe version of a game!"

"PK-ing with players from another space-time, just thinking about it makes my whole body tremble; we cannot lose this cross-universe war."

"They are the Heavenly Kings ruling the Immortal World; what are you going to use to PK them? Are you kidding! I am more inclined to believe this is a conspiracy by Lin Bai to alienate the Tianren."

"It's not just alienating the Tianren, it's also shifting our focus and even splitting the Anti-Lin Bai Alliance. A game with only nine top-tier players, do you believe that?"

"Why wouldn't I believe it? Can't it be a single-player game? A local area network game? A private server?"

"To hell with a private server! How high is the drop rate on a private server? Why don't you say they are GMs who can just set themselves to be invincible?"

"Nine players is indeed possible; I've been in a ghost server during prime time, and there were only three players in it..."

"..."

"It was originally just a game, but you bunch of high-IQ guys have turned it into a place full of conspiracy theories. I feel like my brain isn't enough for this; damn it, what is the truth anyway!"

"Still talking about conspiracies! The video has already been released; over there, the Heavenly King of Thunder and Lightning is already clamoring for the God of Darkness to show his health bar."

"That video was released by Lin Bai. With his abilities and technology, if he wanted to fake it, we wouldn't be able to tell at all, okay? If he's so capable, let him do a live stream!"

"I feel like the Game Company is playing a very big game..."

General Chen rubbed his temples and asked, "Little Cheng, what do you think? Is it Lin Bai's conspiracy, or is it really happening?"

Cheng Xunyun said, "I'm afraid it's true. Lin Bai's target is the Game Company; he wouldn't go so far as to fabricate something like this."

"It's precisely because I fear it's true!" General Chen sighed dejectedly, looking as if he had aged more than ten years. "The Game Company can send players into the Xianxia World, into the Shenmo Dalu, and even into the Immortal World... Tell me, is it possible that one day, a group of Undying and Indestructible players will suddenly appear in our world?"

"..." Cheng Xunyun was stunned.

Thunder King Palace.

A group of leisurely Star Brilliance Realm cultivators were flipping through the latest issue of Justice Weekly and joked, "This Lin Bai is truly using every means possible, actually framing the Heavenly King as a player and saying we are NPCs created by the Mother Body for people's amusement. I'm almost impressed by his imagination."

On the main seat.

Manager Meng, dressed in a red robe, raised his eyebrows and straightened his body, pulling himself out of his lazy state. With a reach of his hand, the Justice Weekly landed in his grasp. A moment later, he lay back down in his chair and covered his face with the Justice Weekly: "Players? Heh!"

"Exactly, how could the Heavenly King be a player? We witnessed with our own eyes the Heavenly King defeating the old Heavenly King and seizing the Law Sacred Artifact to become the new Heavenly King," a Celestial of the Star Brilliance Realm laughed.

"Didn't Lin Bai say that one can freely pass through the Magpie Bridge to the Shenmo Dalu?" Manager Meng's lazy voice came from beneath the Justice Weekly. "If you all have nothing better to do, why not go over to the Shenmo Dalu and take a look around!"

Shenmo Dalu.

The Gold King in a blue robe wandered the streets, admiring the scenery of the other world. He tilted his head, Listening to the Western Continent players' discussions about the Heavenly King, and let out a scoff. His eyes brightened slightly as he muttered, "This guy, his reaction is indeed sharp enough! We are players, but what about you? What kind of existence are you?"

(End of this chapter)