Chapter 347: Abyss Game

What is it that the person destroying the Pillars of the Present World wants to do?

Wu Chang had been pondering this question, but even with the answer laid out before him, he felt somewhat uncertain.

Yet, whether it was Christine’s guidance or the intelligence he had gathered, everything at this moment pointed to the final result.

"They want to make the Wilderness Realm and the Reason Realm connect?"

He spoke very conservatively; in truth, at this moment, his real speculation was that the Wilderness Realm, the Reason Realm, and reality were all to be linked together.

At present, reality and the Abyss Game are not truly connected; it is just that the chosen Abyss Game players can move freely between the two sides.

But following Christine’s line of thought, he extended his field of vision further, not just from a single plane to the perspective of a temporary administrator, but further to the perspective of the entire Abyss Game and reality.

He saw that the beginning of the crisis involving the Pillars of the Present World was the attack on the spatial territories of the four major organizations.

After the four major organizations were attacked, apart from the Pillars of the Present World, the most obvious change in the Wilderness Realm was the beginning of an overflow of extraordinary abilities in reality.

Whether it was the increase in wild extraordinary individuals or the loosening of information blockades regarding extraordinary existences, it made people start to believe that extraordinary power truly existed in the world.

Although he had not investigated deeply, he wondered if the decision to push for the disclosure of extraordinary information was driven by the Evolution Faction or the Order Faction.

But he did not believe that such an important choice coinciding with the timing of the Pillars of the Present World was a coincidence.

The crisis of the Pillars of the Present World, the overflow of extraordinary power in the real world, plus the fact that all parties tacitly agreed that the upcoming world dungeon would change the landscape of reality and the Abyss Game.

Wu Chang shifted his gaze away from single events and stood at a high vantage point to overlook the clues; his intuition told him that reality was the true target of the Light Society.

If reality and the Abyss Game were to be opened up, dragging reality into the Abyss, then everything would change.

That situation—just thinking about it made his intuition cause a stinging pain in his brain.

By then, it would no longer be a question of good or bad, but a question of how bad and how desperate it would be.

This move was too insane; even though he thought the Light Society’s actions were already excessive enough, he still dared not be certain that they would really do this.

Christine said:

"The current you actually already has the answer in your heart, and you don't need me to answer it."

Wu Chang shook his head, switched his train of thought, and stopped letting his intuition guide his judgment, attempting instead to analyze it with his brain.

He said: "Wait, if that’s the case, many things cannot be explained."

Christine used energy to condense a chair, sat down slowly, and said:

"I happen to have some time today, so I can answer your questions."

Wu Chang organized his thoughts and said:

"Your Excellency Christine, you compare the Pillars of the Present World to the pillars supporting a house, but can the two really be compared?"

"At their most numerous, there were only thirty-six Pillars of the Present World; can they really support the weight of dividing the entire Abyss Wilderness Realm and Reason Realm?"

"Even if they could, before the Pillars of the Present World appeared, was the Abyss a monolithic whole, without layers?"

Christine chuckled and said:

"You have a major misunderstanding about the Abyss. What do you think the Abyss is?"

Wu Chang was stunned; this question was like someone suddenly asking him what the world is.

Faced with such a question, the vast majority of people would subconsciously answer that the world is the space they exist in, which needs no explanation.

He did not understand Christine’s question and asked in confusion:

"What is the Abyss?"

Christine said: "The Abyss is one of the connection points of infinite planes; it not only connects infinite planes, but planes are also constantly being born within it."

"Its appearance predates the birth of all planes, and it connects to the most fundamental part of the universe."

She reached out and beckoned, taking a rose placed near the altar, and said:

"In your world, there is a saying I like very much: 'A flower is a world, a leaf is a Bodhi.'"

She plucked a rose petal and said: "If every petal is a world, then the existence of the Abyss is a boundless garden."

"Would you think that the existence of a few petals could determine the entire garden?"

Wu Chang frowned and said: "Of course not."

"That is why I don’t understand why the Pillars of the Present World can support the layering of the Abyss."

Christine let go, and the petal drifted out, landing on the ground in front of Wu Chang.

After the petal hit the ground, it withered rapidly; the fibers on the petal became ferocious and ugly, expanding and growing at high speed.

They were like woody tentacles, or perhaps some kind of special shrub, expanding wantonly in all directions, filling the entire space in the blink of an eye.

Wu Chang looked at these shrubs and discovered that his gaze was actually being sucked into them; he followed the shrubs all the way down, his gaze entering the underground.

In the part below the ground, he saw thick cylindrical columns; following the columns further down, the columns gradually became thinner and grew branches.

Following his intuition to choose a branch and continuing forward, green leaves appeared on the branch.

At this moment, Wu Chang realized that what he saw in the room was not a tentacle-like shrub, but an inverted giant tree.

The shrubs before him were the tree’s root system, the cylindrical columns buried in the soil were the trunk, and the thin parts were the tree’s branches.

Understanding everything, his gaze followed the branches into the leaves, passed through the veins of the leaves, and at the end of a leaf, he saw a plump fruit.

"Do you understand now?"

Christine’s voice sounded behind him, making his vision spin.

His perspective rotated 180 degrees; when he came to his senses, his gaze had returned to the room, the tree root system that had previously been exposed on the ground was buried underground, and the trunk, branches, and leaves that had originally existed underground appeared on the ground.

Christine had arrived behind him at some point and said:

"I think this appearance is more convenient for your understanding."

"The Abyss you can perceive is only a separately divided part of the Abyss, just like a tree in a forest; this tree belongs to the forest, but it is not the forest."

"From the beginning, I never said that everything you do affects the entire Abyss. All you can affect is the tree you are currently in."

"You seem to call it the Crimson Courtyard."

Wu Chang had a flash of realization and said:

"The four layers of the Abyss actually represent different parts of this tree?"

Christine said: "You can understand it that way."

Wu Chang looked at the giant tree that had appeared before him and said:

"But there is one thing that still hasn't been explained clearly; even if the Abyss we can affect is only a small part, like the tree in front of us."

"Then what is the role of the Pillars of the Present World in the tree? Before the Pillars of the Present World existed, did this tree not have divided regions?"

A look of appreciation appeared in Christine’s eyes as she looked at Wu Chang; the content she spoke was not difficult to understand, but in reality, it was extremely dangerous.

Because whether it was the structure of the Abyss Game or the essence of the Abyss, it involved the secrets of the world.

For example, the fruit tree she condensed in front of Wu Chang was just an ordinary projection, hiding no malice.

But when she equated this projection with the Abyss Game, and Wu Chang agreed with this point of view, the existence of the projection would resonate with the Abyss, changing from a projection of a fruit tree into a projection of the true Abyss.

Although the Abyss projection before them was limited to the scope they were discussing, the danger within it could still not be underestimated, especially for extraordinary individuals like Abyss Game players.

If one’s will and intuition were not firm enough, in the process of following the root system to see the leaves, one might very well encounter things that should not be seen.

That kind of existence was no less than seeing the true form of a god; a slight carelessness would lead to a mental breakdown.

That Wu Chang could see everything through without any change in his spirit meant that the strength of his current life was enough to know the truth he craved.

Since that was the case, Christine did not mind saying more.

She pointed to the giant tree in front of them and asked:

"In the tree you see in reality, between the roots and the trunk, is there an intermediate layer to separate the two regions, making the division between different regions distinct?"

Wu Chang shook his head; precisely because there wasn't, he found it difficult to understand.

Christine said:

"You are right that there isn't; just as there is no obvious boundary in natural trees, the true Abyss has its four layers connected together from the start, without distinction."

"And the reason why the four layers of the Abyss are distinct in the region where you are is because this place was carefully designed by a certain existence."

Hearing this, Wu Chang suddenly remembered that the place they entered was called the Abyss Game.

The word "game" explained from the very beginning that everything they were experiencing was the creation of some powerful existence, not natural.

Christine continued:

"Perhaps to protect you, the person who made this tree created special partitions between the various layers of the Abyss, separating you."

"This ensures that when you are weak, you will not accidentally wander into the depths of the Abyss, and it also ensures that for existences in the depths of the Abyss to influence you, they must cross many obstacles."

In her description, the giant tree, where all parts had originally connected naturally, had half-meter-high transition segments extended at each connection point.

To let Wu Chang see clearly, the transition areas also lit up with a faint glow.

These glowing areas were the intermediate layers in the Abyss Game.

Wu Chang understood now; the so-called intermediate layers and plane barriers were all the handiwork of the Abyss Game’s creator.

Previously, he had felt that everything in the Abyss had too much of a sense of design, such as the Wilderness Realm having a level cap of 30, encountering Wilderness Realm restrictions when attributes exceeded 200 points, and after that, for every 100 points higher, there was an additional layer of restriction.

If everything was artificially set, then it made sense.

Christine continued:

"The tree you are in, because it was artificially designed, did not need any support at the beginning to maintain its layering."

"But as the number of outsiders who call themselves players increases, Abyss erosion is brought into the intermediate layers, and the eroded intermediate layers become unable to support the boundary between the Wilderness Realm and the Reason Realm."

Following Christine’s explanation, the intermediate layer parts began to decay, and huge pits appeared.

Some huge tree holes pierced directly through the tree body, and one could see the other side of the tree along the holes.

The riddled giant tree became shaky.

Wu Chang saw something vaguely wriggling in the tree holes; he leaned forward, prostrated on the ground, and looked at the hole in the intermediate layer between the tree roots and the trunk.

He saw the surface of the tree roots begin to wriggle, and roots grew upward, entering the intermediate layer, wanting to connect with the trunk.

The part that entered the intermediate layer, under the blessing of a special power, changed from wood into steel bars.

Steel bars pierced through the middle layer and drilled into the tree trunk; with the support of the steel bars, the originally teetering tree stabilized once more.

Christine said:

"When the middle layer is severely eroded and can no longer independently support the boundary of the abyss, it requires Pillars of the Present World, imbued with temporary management authority, to assist in propping up the existence of the middle layer."

Wu Chang clicked his tongue after hearing this; he climbed up from the ground and said:

"Your Excellency Christine, judging by what you say, our existence sounds like woodworms in a tree."

"You could interpret it that way." Christine did not deny Wu Chang's statement.

"The already eroded middle layer is long since powerless to support the division between the Wilderness Realm and the Rational Realm; if these Pillars of the Present World were removed at this moment, the middle layer would vanish instantly."

No sooner had the words fallen than the middle layer between the roots and the trunk disappeared, the entire tree descended, and the trunk merged with the roots.

Now, the tree before him became indistinguishable from a tree in the natural world.

Wu Chang looked at the tree that had lost its middle layer and fell into a brief silence.

After a while, he asked:

"If the initial goal of the Light Society was to eliminate the middle layer and let the Wilderness Realm and the Rational Realm merge into one, why didn't they act sooner and destroy all the Pillars of the Present World?"

Christine replied:

"Because they were not certain whether this path was correct."

The tree before Wu Chang seemed to have been hit with a reverse-play button, its state rapidly backtracking to before the middle layer collapsed.

He saw a small tree stump with a diameter one-third that of the trunk slowly rising in the center of the trunk on the side of the roots.

It transformed into a massive metal pillar, connecting the roots and the trunk, and the entire tree stabilized as well.

With the central metal pillar as the core and the surrounding steel-bar-like Pillars of the Present World as support, the tree's stability was even greater than when the middle layer was intact.

Christine's voice rang in Wu Chang's ears.

"If they can control a World Instance and turn it into a massive Pillar of the Present World under their command, it would become like this."

"A massive Pillar of the Present World with temporary authority can withstand far more pressure than the original middle layer and is more stable, perfectly capable of allowing existences from the second layer of the abyss to pass through freely."

"Moreover, this passage is entirely under their control; they can choose to open or close it as they please."

Wu Chang followed up by saying:

"By doing this, even if the plan fails, they can destroy the Pillars of the Present World they have already mastered and revert to the state where the Wilderness Realm and the Rational Realm are merged."

Christine nodded and said:

"Precisely."

Wu Chang fell into silence once again, because he remembered something.

He had previously asked the All-Knowing Crystal what he could do to stop or mitigate the abyss's erosion of the real world.

The All-Knowing Crystal's answer was:

"Obtain three Pillars of the Present World and the temporary management authority of the Wilderness Realm within them, acquire the power of faith from no fewer than three planes, and unite with the existing Earthly Divine Kingdoms in reality to construct a large-scale hidden Divine Kingdom; this may win a glimmer of a turning point for everything."

At the time, he could not determine the connection between the two things, thinking that a large-scale Divine Kingdom possessed some special ability to purify or absorb the abyssal erosion.

Looking back at the All-Knowing Crystal's answer now, three Pillars of the Present World, and a large-scale Divine Kingdom with supporting power.

This strategy was not meant to deal with the abyssal erosion; it was clearly aimed at the Light Society's plan.

In other words, the abyssal erosion in the real world was indeed the work of the Light Society; their target had been the real world from the very beginning.

Continuing to look back, he discovered that the catalyst for the real world suffering severe abyssal erosion came from the Revelation Slate in the Painter's erosion instance.

He did not believe this was a coincidence; the Painter and the Light Society had long-standing grievances, and the conflict between the two sides was deeper than the one between him and the Light Society.

Later, when he met Lu Langfeng, the other party even asked him what he had seen on the Language Slate.

It was evident that the Painter must have seen through the Light Society's conspiracy long ago and was giving him hints through the erosion instance.

Tsk, damn riddle-mongers.

Look at Her Excellency Christine; she says whatever intelligence she has directly, never hiding or holding back. Those who are evasive when sharing information deserve an elbow to the ribs.

Now that he had basically seen through the Light Society's true plan, what he needed to do next was figure out how to stop their schemes regarding the World Instance.

As long as he could disrupt their arrangements in the World Instance, when they tried to destroy the controlled Pillars of the Present World to achieve the goal of merging the Wilderness Realm and the Rational Realm, they would discover that in just one month, five or six new Pillars of the Present World had suddenly appeared in the Wilderness Realm.

By then, finding their retreat cut off, he wondered what kind of expressions those fellows in the Light Society who fancied themselves gods would have.

Christine's intelligence had helped him a great deal, and his gaze carried gratitude.

Since she was helping, she might as well go all the way; since she had already said so much, a little more information wouldn't hurt.

He cleared his throat and asked:

"Your Excellency Christine, regarding the Light Society's arrangements in the World Instance, if no one on the Rational Realm side can interfere with them, can their plan succeed?"

Christine confirmed:

"It can. When it comes to how to invade the lower realms, few are more skilled than Laiman. With him and another troublemaker involved, it would be hard for those little fellows not to succeed."

Wu Chang rubbed his hands together and said somewhat embarrassedly:

"Your Excellency Christine, regarding how to destroy their arrangements, you..."

This time, Christine could not answer his question.

"I only know the purpose of those fellows and their general plan; as for the more detailed implementation process, I cannot answer you."

"They were worried I would cause trouble, so from the very beginning, they didn't contact the Apocalypse."

Wu Chang shrugged; well, although he didn't want to say it, he thought the Light Society's choice not to contact the Apocalypse was very wise.

Christine smiled smugly and said:

"But even if they didn't call me, I can still have my people investigate and find clues."

"I cannot give you more detailed intelligence, but I can give you a piece of advice."

Wu Chang said obediently: "Please, go ahead."

Christine uttered four words: "Beware of the mole."

"Thanks for the reminder." Wu Chang nodded after hearing this.

Christine said:

"I have already told you the information you wanted to know, and I even gifted you a lot of extra news."

"Next, it is your turn to complete my commission."

(End of chapter)