Chapter 166: New Group Functions

As activity accumulated rapidly, the chat group unexpectedly popped up a message.

"Detected that the phased goal has been achieved; opening new group functions..."

The group members all showed expressions of expectation, guessing the next group function about to be unlocked.

But strangely, even after the mission panel updated to the next phase, they still received no new prompt.

"What is going on?"

The group members looked at each other, faces full of confusion.

Only Lin Yu had a strange expression, staring fixedly at the message only he could see.

"Group function 【Invite New Members】 unlocked; welcome all administrators to try it out!"

Does this mean the function unlocked this time is exclusive to administrators?

Just as Lin Yu was thinking this, the other group members also gradually noticed his expression and turned their gazes toward him.

"Big Brother, what is going on?"

"..."

Lin Yu raised his head and said softly, "I received a prompt; this time the unlocked function is the invite function, usable only by group members of administrator level or above."

"Invite function?"

The group members all showed surprise and couldn't help but ask, "Does this mean we won't have to wait for the chat group to pull people in anymore and can invite them ourselves?"

Lin Yu pondered, "I haven't studied it yet, but that should be the meaning."

Having spoken, he shifted his mind and clicked the plus sign behind the group member list.

In an instant, a familiar panel appeared in his mind.

【Invite New Progress: 29/30】

【Preliminary Qualifications: 2】

【View Preliminary Group Member List】

Lin Yu clicked the Preliminary Group Member List again, but this time, no new names appeared in the list; instead, there was an extra option, an option named 【Search for New Group Members】!

Sure enough, it's here!

Lin Yu's eyes lit up; after a moment of thought, he told the group members about the matter of the preliminary list.

After hearing this, the group members had varying expressions and varying reactions.

Lin Lie, deep in thought, said, "So, before I joined the group, Big Brother you already knew?"

Lin Yu nodded and said, "Correct."

He Jing frowned and said, "Judging by what Big Brother said, this function was updated before I joined the group; now, less than two months later, it has upgraded again. This progress... isn't it a bit fast?"

"..."

Lin Yu glanced at the mission panel on the Group File Realm interface and nodded, saying, "Indeed, it is a bit fast."

At this moment, his phased mission panel was as follows:

【Activity: 7100 (40384/80000)】

【Contribution Points: 76753 (97421/40000)】

Although Lin Yu's personal contribution points displayed as seventy-six thousand, in reality, the remaining twenty-plus thousand points were also largely directly or indirectly influenced by him.

With a little calculation, among the nearly one hundred thousand contribution points now, at least ninety percent or more were related to Lin Yu.

If this portion of influence were removed, the group members' contribution points should be in the range of 5000-10000, which is just the level of completing the first phased mission.

Thinking of this, the group members looked at each other.

Yun Ye couldn't help but speculate, "If Big Brother hadn't joined the group, we should have been stuck in the second phase for a long time; the new people joining the group each month would most likely come from worlds of the level of Yu Nian World and One Under the Heavens, not Lin Lie's Marvel Universe."

Su Su Haoming whispered, "Looking at it this way, doesn't that mean quite a few unlucky folks failed to join the group?"

Fan Xian sighed, "Timing and fate; missing an opportunity means they have to rely on their own luck!"

Lin Yu said softly, "In any case, let me study it first!"

The group members all nodded and could only hastily end this gathering that started strong but ended weak.

Afterwards, Lin Yu and the three group members who arrived via the portal returned to the Body Universe, while He Jing and Lin Lie stayed at the Fan Manor; adhering to the thought of "since we're already here," they decided to stay in the Yu Nian World for a full three days to avoid wasting Fan Xian's invitation letter and contribution points.

Back in the Body Universe, Lin Yu made preparations and clicked 【Search for New Group Members】.

In an instant, the Preliminary Group Member List began to spin, displaying the words 【Searching】.

At the same time, a mysterious power imperceptible to ordinary people spread out, radiating from the center of Lin Yu's Body Universe toward the endless void in all directions.

Sensing this extremely lofty power, Lin Yu's heart stirred; he immediately mobilized his original consciousness and followed the trail.

The space-time rules of the endless void differ from those of the material world; here, the concepts of distance and direction do not exist, and every point in space-time is constantly in chaos and change.

Back then, when Lin Yu dragged his Body Universe through the void, he suffered greatly from the torment of the Void Labyrinth.

He had always wanted to find a way to crack the Void Labyrinth, but he never had the slightest clue.

Only after entering the worlds of the group members did he reverse cause and effect, locating positions by obtaining world coordinates and working backward.

But the chat group clearly wasn't like that; that mysterious power spreading out from the Body Universe darted around the Void Labyrinth in an extremely chaotic manner.

To give an example, it was as if a person took half a step forward, then suddenly turned right, took three steps, then walked left, returned to the starting point, and then turned backward...

Expanding this completely irregular movement pattern to every angle of three hundred and sixty degrees, multiplied by complexity a few million times over, was roughly Lin Yu's feeling at this moment!

To be honest, even someone as powerful as Lin Yu completely failed to understand the principle behind this.

He could only grit his teeth and pursue the trail; he didn't know how much time passed before he finally saw a point of silver light in the dark void.

"... Really found it?!"

Lin Yu widened his eyes, showing shock and excitement for the first time in a long while.

But even so, he still did not act rashly; instead, he forcibly suppressed his excitement and obediently followed behind that power.

As a powerful existence that once wandered the void, Lin Yu knew very well that here, a foot's distance could be the horizon, and the horizon could be a foot's distance.

If one saw a new world and recklessly charged over, there would be only one outcome—chasing a mountain until the horse dies!

Soon, Lin Yu followed that mysterious power in a circle, and after an unknown duration far from that silver orb, he suddenly flashed into existence before the orb.

"Found it!"

Lin Yu's eyes lit up; finally, he hesitated no more and rushed into the world ahead of the chat group's search power.

In an instant, the entire world began to tremble; a mighty force originating from the world itself surged forth, resisting his invasion in an extremely crude manner, seemingly without any consciousness.

Perceiving this, Lin Yu felt somewhat troubled.

This world was not like the Frieren world; it possessed no existence such as a goddess, so in resisting him, it was utterly unreserved, caring nothing for what impact this resistance might have, and certainly not choosing to yield before Lin Yu.

Damn it, compared to powerful beings like a goddess, brats are indeed more difficult to deal with!

Lin Yu's attempts proved fruitless, so he could only helplessly cease his invasion.

At this moment, he was merely a wisp of consciousness; without the support of his original universe, he truly could not contend with the world itself.

Fortunately, he had long since changed from what he once was; even without relying on the status of his original body, he possessed various knowledges from different worlds.

Especially the dimensional magic and occult knowledge of the Marvel World, which were extremely adept at handling such situations.

After a brief consideration, Lin Yu thought of several methods to bypass the world's power.

However, most of these methods carried the drawback of Marvel magic, namely the law of "gaining something while also paying a price."

In other words, they carried certain side effects and could not preserve his full strength like the World-Breaking Talisman or the Invitation Letter.

But there was no way; matters had come to this; he did not want to give up this opportunity, so he could only grit his teeth and try.

As Lin Yu cautiously probed, he soon seeped into this world and, relying on the investigation and perception of Mi Fa, found the life form with the highest fate weight in this world—

namely, the destined protagonist of this world!

The destined protagonist's fate weight was extremely high; all people and things related to the protagonist would be greatly affected because of this.

Based on this principle, he could conceal himself beneath the protagonist's immense influence and use this method to sneak in, avoiding expulsion by the world's power.

Of course, for worlds where this method of sneaking in could be used, the world consciousness could not generate a personality.

If the world consciousness generated a concrete personality, or if the world itself possessed an existence like God or a Creator, then this method would lose its effect and might even make it easier for the world to discover him.

Through the confrontation just now, Lin Yu had already confirmed that this world had not generated a personality.

He could safely sneak in, hiding beneath the fate shadow of the destined protagonist...

In an instant, a deep mountain forest shrouded in thick mist appeared before Lin Yu's eyes.

Moonlight pierced through the canopy, refracting an eerie dim light on the slime-covered spiderwebs.

Beneath the canopy, several human corpses hung suspended from the treetops by spider silk; the air was filled everywhere with the scent of blood and rot, as if this were not a lush, green forest but a hell of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

"Clang!"

Just then, the fierce sound of swords clashing rang out from the forest.

A red-haired youth wearing a dark green checkered coat, carrying an iron-rimmed wooden box, and wielding a black Nichirin blade emerged from the woods, somewhat clumsily fending off the attacks from behind.

Such a conspicuous outfit naturally made Lin Yu realize his identity immediately.

"Kamado Tanjiro?"

Lin Yu said thoughtfully, "So, this is the Blade World..."

This was a Japanese anime world where demons existed; the protagonist was a charcoal-selling youth named Kamado Tanjiro.

He had originally lived a simple yet happy life until one day, his family was attacked by evil demons; his mother and four younger siblings were all brutally killed, and his only surviving sister, Nezuko, had thereby turned into a raving evil demon.

But for some unknown reason, his sister Nezuko had not completely lost her sanity and even recognized him as her older brother.

This gave the despairing Tanjiro hope once again.

To slay the evil demons that killed his family and to turn his sister Nezuko back into a human, Tanjiro, under the recommendation of the current Water Hashira, Giyu Tomioka, took Rengoku as his master; through arduous swordsmanship training and life-or-death trials, he finally successfully joined the Demon Slayer Corps, became a demon slayer, and thus embarked on his own journey.

As for the forest Lin Yu saw at this moment, it should be the Mount Natagumo Arc from the second half of the first season!

(End of this chapter)