Chapter 263: Tyrant's Shadow, Xie Yan's Scheme

Emperor Tomb Mountain Range.

Abyss Domain Node.

Within the consciousness screen of the Earth-Nian Evil Spirit.

A burly figure, drenched in blood, knelt over a hundred meters in front of the Gao Ta platform.

The Gao Ta was right before its eyes, but the burly figure had completely exhausted its strength, no longer possessing the drive to continue breaking out.

It laboriously raised its head, gaze turning toward the Gao Ta, a wretchedness surfacing in its eyes.

"This is not your hometown small world, and you are no longer the protagonist. The vigorous fighting spirit born of desperate circumstances will no longer grant you the possibility of turning the tables against the wind. Your Monster World journey ends here."

The cold voice of the Earth-Nian Evil Spirit rang in the burly man's ears.

When the words fell, surging black tide energy wrapped around the burly figure, rapidly devouring it, turning it into nourishment for the black tide's growth.

Finishing the battle, the Earth-Nian Evil Spirit's consciousness turned its head toward an Evil Spirit warrior nearby whose expression was full of surprise, and grinned:

"Fight's over, calling it a day."

When the words fell, the Earth-Nian Evil Spirit, having finished the proxy battle, projected its consciousness back into its main body.

It raised its head to look at the waning moon hanging high in the sky.

It saw the surface of the waning moon rippling with a dark-red glow, spreading outward in rings.

Just then, a pitch-black pillar of light descended vertically from the moon's surface.

The instant it made contact with Xie Yan Gao Ta, it was rapidly absorbed and stored, the entire process lasting several seconds.

【Ding! Proxy battle mission complete. The mission gains are as follows: Black Tide Energy: 2939.293 erosion units, bonus: one little fanboy, friendliness +1000 points.】

"Who taught you to give reminders like that."

Earth-Nian glared viciously at the Xie Yan floating beside it.

"I learned it from the Player faction. They love playing these random memes, and every time they do this they look pretty happy, so I wanted to try it on you, but it seems you aren't happy."

"Next time, just stuff the stats directly into my brain. Don't overcomplicate it, don't imitate the players."

"Understood."

As a flood of information poured into its mind, along with the screen recordings of this proxy battle, the Earth-Nian Evil Spirit's mood instantly brightened.

The gloom brought by the waning moon had been swept away considerably.

This proxy battle model, carried out through roundabout investment, had suddenly become incomparably smooth.

Even Black Tide Evil Spirits encounter bottlenecks they cannot break through in the short term during their development in Monster World, requiring external resources to assist.

Under the name of investment, it gained the chance to make contact, and proxy battles could then proceed with perfect justification.

At the current stage, three Evil Spirit warriors had established contact with it, and all were willing to cooperate with it long-term.

A resource-sharing network had already taken shape.

It planned to deepen its ties with these three Evil Spirits in the near future, establishing a relationship akin to an offensive-defensive alliance.

First, provide help; then, when it could no longer withstand the pressure of the waning moon phase, it could justifiably seek their assistance.

Next, it had considered strengthening its offensive capabilities.

Defensive tactics were already extremely proficient—war-fighting abilities honed through grinding against the Player faction and the Insect race.

But in the offensive domain, during these three proxy battles it had discovered that its command ability could still be optimized.

Just as the Earth-Nian Evil Spirit was reviewing the recorded footage and entering deep-learning mode, Xie Yan's voice rang in its mind:

"Earth-Nian, old friends are here."

"Those beasts are back again?!" The old friends in the Xie Yan's mouth numbered only two.

One was the combat Insect race from the Phantom Swamp region, north of the Gao Ta.

The other was the Player faction, which had descended through the spatial barrier to the south.

The ones attacking this time were, most likely, the Player faction again.

Consciousness jumped to the exterior of the Gao Ta shrouded in black fog, extending southward, where the perception screen revealed swarms of Player faction figures charging in.

Feeling helpless, the Earth-Nian Evil Spirit ground its teeth in hatred.

"Damn it! Damn it!"

But the necessary defensive measures still had to be taken.

Otherwise, the Player faction would really dare to storm Xie Yan Gao Ta and wipe out its base.

In the blink of a thought, the black tide energy gathered near the Gao Ta surged, transforming into a tide that pushed toward the direction the Player faction was attacking from.

Soon, a Calamity Wall was constructed.

But unlike the previous aggressive tactics, under the waning moon state it had contracted its defensive line, avoiding the contact area of a direct engagement with the Player faction's front-line warriors.

The familiar war pattern began once more.

But during this engagement, Earth-Nian suddenly felt a stabbing pain in its brain.

The offensive of the controlled evil creatures abruptly stalled.

It could clearly sense that some extreme emotional force, using the evil creature it was controlling as a relay, was seeping into its consciousness layer—the sensation was like countless red-hot iron needles traveling along its nerves.

But this was not physical pain; it was more like karmic fire directly burning the consciousness.

"Damn it, what kind of sinister thing have they come up with now."

Earth-Nian forced its body to stay suspended in the air, veins bulging on the side of its neck like writhing earthworms, glaring viciously toward the battlefield.

Xie Yan's reaction was also extremely swift, instantly transferring the emotional agony acting on the Earth-Nian Evil Spirit onto itself.

"Earth-Nian, this is an emotional attack, with partial spiritual damage attached. It's being transmitted to you through the evil creature docked to you."

When the words fell, the Xie Yan instantly locked onto a Calamity-series evil creature currently entangled by the Touch of Pain.

The Earth-Nian Evil Spirit did not answer. In the blink of a thought, the locked Calamity-series troop types retreated one after another, instantly dispersing and merging into the black tide.

The burning pain in its consciousness vanished at once.

Without waiting for its counterattack, the perspective provided by the Evil Eye instantly jumped to a nearby Disaster-type Evil.

The Earth-Will Evil Spirit, understanding the intent, decomposed and merged this Disaster-type unit into the Black Tide a second before the Touch of Pain made contact.

"Which beast did this!"

"These two." The Evil Eye manipulated the perception perspective to jump onto Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng.

In the image, Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng pressed their palms together, activating the Gargoyle trait.

Their bodies were coated in a layer of pitch black, while blood-red Touches of Pain danced endlessly behind them.

Realizing that these two fellows' abilities could directly inflict damage upon it through the Evil, the Earth-Will decisively marked them as the first targets to eliminate.

In the blink of an eye, the Black Tide surging near Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng rapidly condensed into twelve Frenzy-type Assassin units.

At this moment, the God King, having activated the Eagle-Head Demon's perception and sensed something amiss, decisively spoke out, ordering nearby Tank-type players to protect the Pain Brothers.

The Tank group immediately launched into action; after approaching the Pain Brothers, they activated the Blood Wall defense, forming an unbreakable shield wall.

Seizing the opportunity at this moment, the Pain Brothers struck simultaneously, their tentacles lashing out toward an encroaching Frenzy-type Assassin unit.

But a second before the tentacles made contact, the Frenzy-type unit suddenly dissolved into Black Tide energy.

Immediately after, Frenzy-type units on the other side accelerated their approach, their sharp bone spikes smashing heavily against the Blood Wall, yet failing to break through.

Having failed in one strike, the Assassin-type units quickly retreated.

However, the Tank-type players seized the moment to throw out Blood Soul Tether Chains, wrapping them around the Assassin unit's waist and abdomen, forcibly dragging it back to the front of the Blood Wall.

The Touch of Pain struck out again, entangling this Assassin unit.

A second after the pain was conducted, the Evil Eye activated immediately, absorbing all the extreme pain emotions.

But this process was not easy on the Evil Eye either.

Although its body suffered no damage, the burning at the consciousness level also affected the efficiency of the data assistance it provided to the Earth-Will Evil Spirit.

Facing the well-protected Jiang Cheng and Xia Sheng, the Earth-Will Evil Spirit switched to a decapitation method, manipulating the Black Tide to generate Void-type units.

In the ensuing exchanges, facing the Earth-Will Tyrant whose strength far surpassed their own, the Pain Brothers could not save their lives and were forcibly dragged into Gao Ta by the Void-type units.

Right in front of them were two violent punches from the Earth-Will Tyrant, instantly dissolving into black mist.

As for leaving them behind for imprisonment and interrogation, or conducting detailed physical examinations, it held no meaning in the eyes of the Earth-Will Evil Spirit.

After all, this was not the first contact with the Player Race.

Various methods had been tried, but none produced any effect.

With no more worries about the Pain Brothers, the Earth-Will Evil Spirit decisively switched its perspective back to the battlefield and opened fire at full capacity.

During this period, various brilliant taunting quotes frequently appeared.

Having collected many player quotes, the Earth-Will Evil Spirit had already understood the specific meanings of certain words within player quotes and learned to draw inferences from one instance.

It began to compose and innovate its own taunting quotes, using them for uninterrupted high-frequency output during war mode.

As for whether the self-composed innovative taunting quotes were effective, it was easy to judge.

Verification could be conducted based on a series of manifestations such as the player's heartbeat, blood qi fluctuations, and changes in expression.

It would also score the self-composed innovative taunting quotes based on the strength of the player's reaction, then archive the effective quotes and discard the ineffective parts.

Through this method, it continuously optimized the lethality of the taunting tactics.

Three hours later.

The great battle ended, yet the Earth-Will Tyrant's face grew solemn.

The appearance of the Pain Brothers this time made it realize that the Player Race had mastered a new ability.

Moreover, this ability was extremely formidable, capable of conducting through the Evil's connection with it to strike directly.

It could already be classified as a decapitation ability.

"Earth-Will, apart from the conduction, the most terrifying aspect of this ability is also the emotional damage."

Hearing these words, the Earth-Will nodded:

"Is there any relevant data recorded in the Node Information Database?"

"Yes. The judgment of emotional damage in the information database is higher than that of mental-type damage. Mental shock-type damage can still be offset by mental system defenses, but emotional damage is different; it directly conveys the purest emotions to you, causing you to generate negative emotions such as fear, pain, and despair. It is a consciousness erosion that cannot be dispelled by normal means."

"Is there any method to counter it?"

"Theoretically, damage at the emotional level can cause unoffsettable effects on any creature with emotions, unless you are like the Battle Insect Race, possessing no emotional fluctuations whatsoever, but this is obviously impossible."

Hearing the Evil Eye's answer, the Earth-Will Evil Spirit was stunned.

"So, apart from prioritizing the kill, there is no means of defense?"

The Evil Eye did not answer, but input a series of images into the Earth-Will Evil Spirit's mind.

The content of the images was very familiar to it.

A figure surrounded by burning blood qi flames flew rapidly from outside the Evil Moon Domain.

Facing the Evil army surging like a tide, the approaching figure transformed into a blood-red lightning, weaving through the Evil tide, while countless red tentacles rose from behind this figure, sweeping up a large number of nearby Evils.

Accompanied by a hearty laugh, endless pain, using the Evils as a medium, rapidly transmitted to the Evil Spirit Warriors on Gao Ta.

This single strike instantly killed the Evil Spirit Commander of the Blue-Skinned Evil Eye.

"It is his power!"

After viewing the content of the images, the Earth-Will Evil Spirit instantly realized.

The power used by the players just now was exactly the same as that used by the figure who once killed the Evil Spirit Warriors in a single strike.

It was precisely this strike that allowed it to survive the Waning Moon stage.

By stealing the Black Tide energy from the proxy node, it gained a considerable amount of Black Tide energy.

"The energy manifestation forms of the two are completely identical, but the intensity is not on the same level; the difference is not just a little bit."

The Evil Eye's answer made the Earth-Will Evil Spirit realize the severity of the problem.

If the players mastered this ability, it meant that future clashes with the Player Race would become very tricky.

Unpredictable emotional damage may strike at any time, disrupting its command ability and even inflicting severe conduction damage upon it.

In more severe cases, it might even be killed in a single blow by conduction emotional damage, just like the predecessor.

It could, however, be countered by preemptive locking, preemptive backlash, or even decapitation tactics.

But such defensive measures treat the symptoms, not the root cause.

To maintain its advantage in the confrontation with the Player Race, it must find a way to deal with emotional damage.

"Di Nian, no need to worry; I have a method to counter this kind of ability."

Hearing the Evil Eye's reply, the Di Nian Evil Spirit immediately perked up.

The Evil Eye continued at this moment:

"The most dangerous aspect of emotional damage lies in the instant of a surprise attack; if the conduction emotional damage is too intense, it will cause severe injury or even death to you, but as long as you prepare in advance, the lethality of this ability is not as strong as imagined."

Having spoken, the Evil Eye pieced together an image within the Di Nian Evil Spirit's mind.

In the image, the Di Nian Evil Spirit and the Evil Eye merged, releasing a network woven from countless threads that followed their consciousness to cover the area.

Every single thread was connected to an Evil Creature unit.

"Di Nian, regarding your connection with the Evil Creature units: you are the starting point, the Evil Creatures are the endpoints, and the conduction of emotional damage starts from the Evil Creatures, with you as the force-receiving endpoint."

Having spoken, a red path appeared on an Evil Creature in the image, conducting from the Evil Creature to its body, finally exploding with red light.

"But in this process, the Player Race member releasing the emotional damage cannot determine where the endpoint of the conduction is; after release, it automatically follows the connection between the Evil Creature and you to conduct to the terminal, which gives us room for operation."

As it spoke, an energy tentacle extended from the top of the Di Nian Evil Spirit's head in the simulation image created by the Evil Eye.

Immediately, when the red light representing emotional damage conducted again starting from the Evil Creature, it ultimately passed through the Di Nian Evil Spirit's body and continued conducting outward along this extra tentacle.

"This kind of damage is very effective against single closed targets, but we need not worry about this problem; we can absolutely set up defenses in advance to guide the direction of the emotional damage."

"Theoretically, emotional damage can even be used as our weapon; aim this tentacle at whoever, and that person becomes the terminal bearing the emotional damage."

After hearing the Evil Eye's analysis, the Di Nian Evil Spirit grinned:

"So, I can even use emotional damage to counter Player Race members."

"Exactly. In future battles against the Player Race, I will weave a network for emotional conduction for you to prevent similar surprise attacks from occurring."

Gazing at the counter-method just constructed by the Evil Eye, the gloom in the Di Nian Evil Spirit's heart, eroded by emotional attacks, vanished completely.

Another entry was added to the Player Guidebook.

This Player Race guide, compiled by its own hand, now recorded 218 types of Player abilities and methods.

But the Player Race could always bring new abilities after a period of time, creating trouble for it.

This was also the problem that troubled it the most.

Every time a new ability appeared, it had to search for a method to counter and balance it.

It seemed that the power it mastered was far stronger than that of the Player Race.

But every time the Players took the initiative to provoke and attack, leaving it exhausted in response, its mental state remained in a constant state of tension.

Its fingertip swept across the Player Guide in the database; billions of data streams reflected in its pupils, transforming into a thick image recording book.

Between the pages appeared densely packed tactical deductions, ability analyses, Player models, and other content.

Organizing the content into a timeline, every Player death, every Player growth, every tactic that overturned common sense... were all clearly visible.

The birth of this guide completely shattered his pride and also taught him to grow.

"Di Nian, I can sense that you are troubled."

"Nonsense; encountering these bastards, who wouldn't be troubled?"

"Perhaps, this is not a bad thing."

Hearing these words, the Di Nian Evil Spirit looked at the Evil Eye with some disbelief.

The Evil Eye also blinked at this moment and continued:

"Predators without natural enemies will eventually degenerate; perhaps viewing the Players as whetstones to sharpen our own abilities is not necessarily an incorrect path... We should be grateful to have encountered the Player Race during the early stages of our descent. If we had encountered a Player Race rising in sync only after we had grown to consider ourselves strong enough, launching a confrontation without fully understanding them, we would inevitably have to pay a painful price."

Having spoken, the Evil Eye quickly wove the images recorded in the Player Guide.

The images showed its repeated clashes with the Player Legion.

From initially losing two Domain Nodes to the Player Race commanders, to gradually turning the tables, to the current absolute suppression.

Throughout the entire process, it countered every move; whenever the Players had a new tactic, it would also formulate new counter-tactics based on Player abilities.

"Di Nian, the pressure brought by the long war with the Player Race has allowed us to break through mental stereotypes; from relying on brute force combat when you first descended, to now learning to apply tactical deductions, completing the transformation from warrior to commander... I can confirm that the current you are the most outstanding new-generation Evil Spirit warrior in the Pale Continent region. Your growth comes from pressure, and your pressure comes from the Player Race."

Speaking to this point, the Evil Eye paused its tone and said with a hint of expectation:

"Perhaps you should face this never-repeating war game with an attitude of enjoyment, treating every confrontation with the Player Race as a feast of thought, enjoying the tension and excitement within, and then growing and transforming under pressure. At that time, you will discover that perhaps the appearance of the Player Race is the broad, smooth road leading us to the peak."

The Di Nian Evil Spirit was slightly stunned; the battle gloom that had long shrouded its heart quietly dissipated, and a thoughtful glimmer appeared in its eyes.

Images of the Player Army charging and attacking again and again floated in its mind.

A ferocious smile appeared on its face:

"Evil Eye, you are right. In this growth competition, I am the ultimate winner... They are evolving, so I will evolve faster than them!"

"Di Nian, I am very happy that you have such thoughts," the Evil Eye nodded with immense gratification.

Just at this moment, the Di Nian Evil Spirit changed the subject:

"Everything you say is right, and I understand the logic, but you ask me to confront the Player Race with an attitude of enjoyment, yet I simply cannot figure out how to enjoy it. Every time we clash, I wish I could fly out of Gao Ta myself, charge into the Player Army, smash one with a single punch, and blow up the dog heads of those Player Race beasts one by one."

"It would be good enough if I wasn't angered to death, yet you ask me to enjoy it. Tell me, what point in every war allows me to enjoy it?"

Recalling the Players' various disgusting behaviors, the Di Nian Evil Spirit, growing angrier the more it thought, clenched its fists:

"F*** your mother, you beast Players! I really want to spawn a Catastrophe-type unit to dig up your ancestors' graves!"

Evil Eye:...

The Evil Eye, which still wanted to continue persuading, suddenly found itself unable to speak.

After a moment of silence, the Evil Eye, having read the Player quote information, decided to change its method of persuasion.

If soft methods fail, try hard ones; perhaps that will snap the Earth Will out of its deep obsession:

"Earth Will, can you stop acting like a foul-mouthed abyssal maw? All day long you're either cursing your mother or digging up ancestors' graves. What's the point of arguing with those low-life players? Stop spewing your damn spiral bullshit, pull yourself together, and learn to grow under pressure."

Earth Will Evil Spirit:...

As his blood pressure soared, it looked at the Evil Eye in disbelief, unable to believe those words had actually come from the Evil Eye.

At this moment, the Evil Eye continued:

"Can't you have some backbone!"

The Earth Will Evil Spirit glared viciously at the Evil Eye, killing intent surging, so the Evil Eye, which had been ready to keep ranting, decisively stopped.

"Evil Eye, I have a question: what is the punishment for an Evil Spirit Warrior killing an Auxiliary Eye?"

"I was wrong."

"Too late."

"I'm sorry. My intention was just to get you to pull yourself together; I simply tried a different method to test the effect."

Facing the Evil Eye's plea for mercy, the Earth Will Evil Spirit, who had never intended to strike in the first place, mimicked a player's tone and continued viciously:

"Kowtow and admit your mistake."

Hearing this, the floating Evil Eye decisively landed on the platform, facing the Earth Will Evil Spirit.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Earth Will:...

Regarding the Evil Eye, he always felt a sense of powerlessness.

Tell it to kowtow, and it will actually kowtow.

This was no longer a display of knowing when to yield and when to stand firm; the concept of "face" simply did not exist in the Evil Eye's heart.

After a long while, the Evil Eye floated back into the air, blinked at the helpless-looking Earth Will, and said:

"Earth Will, are you feeling better now?"

Facing the question, the Earth Will did not answer.

Sometimes, facing the Evil Eye made it feel even more powerless than facing players.

"Earth Will, I suddenly had a thought and came up with an idea."

"What do you want to say?" the Earth Will Evil Spirit said coldly.

"Based on an analysis of players' past characteristics, their curiosity is extremely strong. They possess an incomprehensible desire to explore the unknown, regardless of whether that unknown thing might bring danger."

As it spoke, the Evil Eye organized past relevant scenes and projected them into the Earth Will Evil Spirit's mind.

Most of them were content showing players active in the Di Zha Mountain Range region during their early days.

From these scenes, it was indeed clear that players had an extremely strong death-wish; whenever they encountered something new, they always liked to step forward and investigate.

But what it was curious about was the significance of the Evil Eye providing these scenes.

At this moment, the Evil Eye continued to explain:

"Right now, you are trying to build a resource mutual-aid network among Evil Spirit Warriors, but often the development of Evil Spirit Warriors is incredibly smooth, not requiring your substitute-battle services. So I think if there is no demand, we can find a way to create demand."

Hearing this, the Earth Will Evil Spirit suddenly understood what the Evil Eye wanted to express.

"You mean, try to guide players from the Di Zha Mountain Range region to other Black Tide nodes, let them clash with players, and then I collect substitute-battle service fees from the middle."

"Exactly. You and I both understand how strong the Player Clan is, but the other Black Tide nodes have never even learned what the Player Clan is."

"Facing an attack from the Player Clan, they will inevitably suffer unprecedented blows, and the first thing they will think of is seeking help from you, the Evil Spirit Commander who specializes in dealing with players. See, the demand is right there."

After hearing the Evil Eye's analysis, the Earth Will Evil Spirit instantly became excited.

"So you want to use the players' curiosity about unknown things to build a teleportation zone in the Di Zha Mountain Range region. Given the players' personality, they will definitely teleport over to see what's there, diverting the disaster to other Evil Spirit Warriors. No demand? Create demand. Earn resource fees for substitute battles this way."

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm thinking." The Evil Eye nodded, then continued:

"But doing this requires solving three problems in advance. First, the construction of the space teleportation array must absolutely not be built using Black Tide energy; otherwise, Evil Spirit Warriors who discover the array will immediately suspect you are secretly sabotaging them. Although there is nearly absolute trust among Evil Spirit Warriors, we must still avoid raising suspicion, as this would be detrimental to you establishing trust with other Evil Spirit Warriors and affect your construction of the resource-interconnected network."

Hearing this, the Earth Will Evil Spirit immediately thought of the abilities the Evil Eye possessed.

How to build a space teleportation array outside the Black Tide system? Putting aside the lack of resources in this area, the Evil Eye simply did not have the technical know-how in this regard.

After all, within the Black Tide system, building a space teleportation array was too convenient.

One only needed to use Black Tide energy to outline a teleportation array; Black Tide energy was the basic material.

But the techniques for building a space teleportation array using other materials? They had truly never encountered those.

It felt like being accustomed to space-warp technology, yet now being forced to cross the ocean with sails and oars; it was an experience unlike any before.

Thinking of this, Earth Will had an idea:

"Evil Eye, this problem isn't hard to solve. Just capture a group of alien creatures, force them to help build it, and reward them by granting them a quick death."

The Evil Eye heard this and shook its head:

"No need to make it so complicated. Once captured, let me read their memories, and then I will assist you in building this space teleportation array. As for materials, the Monster World lacks nothing when it comes to spiritual materials."

"Almost forgot, you can read memories." Earth Will nodded.

After explaining the first problem, the Evil Eye continued:

"Secondly, the placement of the space teleportation array is very important. It cannot be built near the Gao Ta where we are located. You can easily manipulate the Black Tide to reach any location, so Evil Spirit Warriors at other nodes will also wonder why you didn't act to destroy the teleportation array. It is best to choose a location to the south, near the world barrier where the Player Clan descends."

"The last problem is more tricky. You also understand the situation with players: although they are full of curiosity, they are also filled with destructive and greedy desires. Facing the space teleportation array we build, besides traveling to the other side of the space to investigate, players might also dismantle your space teleportation array into resources, such as extracting the energy gems on the array, rendering the teleportation array useless."

"We cannot rebuild one every time a player dismantles one; the expenditure is too great to bear."

"Given the players' personality, knowing you will rebuild the teleportation array, they might even camp nearby waiting for you to rebuild, then immediately dismantle it."

Of the three problems mentioned by the Evil Eye, the Earth Will considered the first two easy to solve.

Only the third problem posed a difficulty: how to build a space teleportation array that is not easily destroyed.

While pondering, the Earth Will Evil Spirit suddenly had a spark of inspiration:

"Evil Eye, can we build a space teleportation array in the form of a projection? Keep the main body of the teleportation array in the Gao Ta, just like how we project ourselves to other nodes. What players can access is merely an operable image composed of light and shadow, while the key components responsible for actual space teleportation, and the switches, remain in our hands. Whether to teleport or not will be up to us."

"This way, players can't dismantle the core of the teleportation array at all. Even if they try to sabotage it, at most they'd only interfere with the energy transmission efficiency of the projection, but that has no real impact on the actual teleportation array inside Gao Ta."

After hearing the Earth Evil Spirit's concept, Evil Eye fell silent for several seconds to analyze:

"Earth, if the teleportation array is constructed from Black Tide energy, I can indeed easily exist in projection form, then maintain the array's continuous activation by projecting Black Tide energy. But this array's structure and materials must be built using a non-Black Tide system. How to put it in projection form is a field I haven't ventured into."

"Second, the projection method makes it easy for other Evil Spirits to trace the source, which brings up the second problem: the location of the spatial teleportation array must not be discovered to be connected to us."

"If these two problems can't be solved, the method of building a spatial teleportation array in energy projection form simply doesn't hold."

After hearing Evil Eye's analysis, the Evil Spirit of Earth couldn't help but sigh.

It seemed the demand-creation boosting model could only remain a concept, unable to become reality.

"Earth, you've misunderstood what I meant. Right now I indeed find it hard to do, but I can study and research in the direction you want, then turn the impossible into possible. That is precisely the meaning of my existence."

"Including the Black Tide system we master, it too was gradually formed through exploration and research. Every difficulty encountered is an opportunity for progress and improvement."

"Not having ventured into it before doesn't mean I can't conquer it in the future. Next, I will thoroughly study the mysteries of the spatial system and energy conversion, trying to find a new projection method that both lets a non-Black Tide system teleportation array exist in projection form and cleverly conceals its source from other Evil Spirit warriors."

After hearing Evil Eye's account, the flame extinguished in the Evil Spirit of Earth's heart reignited. It raised its head to look at Evil Eye:

"Evil Eye, have you noticed you're different from other Evil Eyes?"

Facing the question, Evil Eye tilted its body 30 degrees, looking at the Evil Spirit of Earth with great confusion:

"Have I?"

"Yes. I find your behavior utterly treasonous — you actually have the nerve to propose schemes that harm your fellow Evil Spirits. Don't forget you're an Evil Eye; your core duty is to serve the development of the Black Tide Legion. Look at the plan you're conceiving now — is this something a normal Evil Eye would come up with?!"

Evil Eye fell silent for several seconds, then nodded:

"You're right. There seems to be a problem with the way my thought logic operates."

"Recommend destruction," Earth nodded and chimed in.

"Alright, I'll report to the Sovereign right now and request destruction processing for myself, which has developed unknown variables."

"No, you'd better stay."

Knowing Evil Eye wasn't joking, the Earth Evil Spirit decisively spoke up to stop it.

Given Evil Eye's personality, it really would do something this stupid.

"So, should this treasonous plan be canceled?"

"Research well. Use whatever resources you need. Although I'm unwilling to do this, I've decided to support your idea."

Evil Eye: …

(End of this chapter)