Chapter 269: Real World, Stop Short of the Limit

He scanned the energy clusters floating within the Coffin Space.

Ji Chen's breathing grew heavy, and his pupils contracted violently.

Regarding the series of problems encountered earlier, although doubts lingered in his heart, he could use imagination to close the logical gaps.

For instance, when he discovered that real-world abilities could be replicated within the game.

He had fabricated a reasonable answer for that problem in his mind.

It could be understood that the game "Monster World" had constructed a perfect physical manifestation system.

From fundamental aspects like neural signal transmission and wind resistance to complex world structures involving space and elements, everything was perfectly replicated.

Therefore, a perfectly simulated scene could theoretically replicate everything from reality, including various weapons and techniques.

Naturally, this included the Telekinetic Brand he possessed.

To put it plainly, "Monster World" did not simply design content to be displayed as fixed animations.

Instead, it truly calculated the interaction feedback between players and the virtual environment, including the contraction strength of every muscle and the rotation angle of every joint on the physical level, then combined these with the virtual body's strength parameters to feedback a perfect performance.

This was the reasonable conjecture he had fabricated at the time.

But the problem discovered now could no longer be explained by any answer fabricated in his mind.

The Coffin Space was created by the Dragon-Blooded in another world; it had once been the warehouse where their resistance warriors stored resources.

But the current situation was this:

He had entered the virtual game "Monster World" through a game pod, then generated an ability brand within the virtual game to connect to the Coffin Space, only to discover upon opening it that it connected to the spatial warehouse the Dragon-Blooded had built years ago in another world.

A virtual game had connected to a warehouse in another world.

More accurately, he, within a created virtual world, had successfully connected to the real world.

This simply could not be explained by normal logic.

When all reasonable possibilities are eliminated, the seemingly absurd conjecture is often the closest to the truth.

Even if that answer was too outrageous.

So... "Monster World" was not a game at all, but a completely real world.

This explained why the Telekinetic Brand could be easily generated within his body, and also explained why abilities existing in reality could be used in combination with Soul Soul characteristics.

By changing the positioning of the virtual world to a real world, all problems could be answered.

There was no so-called simulated environment; this was inherently a real world.

The questions that had puzzled him just now were answered at this moment.

Why, during the process of generating the Coffin Space, was the final stroke never able to be completed, and why did the Coffin Brand devour Coffin energy endlessly like an abyss?

Because the Coffin Brand he generated was connecting to a warehouse in another world.

Dialing across space, the connection process was like an invisible cable extending from the "Monster World" end toward the other world.

For every portion of spiritual material resources he invested, the cable extended a certain distance.

Ultimately, it cost 25,000 points of Sacrificial Power to successfully connect; all resources were consumed in the cross-space connection.

Compared to a connection within the same space in another world, this naturally required much greater expenditure.

Taking a deep breath, the deduced answer was too shocking.

Ji Chen's heart pounded "thump-thump" at this moment.

He suddenly realized something.

If "Monster World" was a completely real world, then... the Soul Soul characteristics used by players must also truly exist.

Hiss~!

Thinking of this, Ji Chen was completely dumbfounded.

He did not know much about Rules and had never truly contacted them, yet he knew a little.

The Dragon-Blooded had once said that Rules were the authority of Truth.

Theoretically, any race that could master even one Rule power would possess infinite growth potential.

Although the White Demon could be king within a minor world, in reality, it was merely an ant trapped in a cage.

It did not deserve to be called a strong entity; before a powerful race that mastered Rules, its combat power was not even as good as the weakest soldier within their own clan.

Those words at the time made Ji Chen realize that the outside world was vast and boundless, with mountains ever higher than mountains.

They also gave him a preliminary understanding of Rule power.

He felt this was a supreme treasure that only top-tier powers were qualified to wield.

Every kind of Rule represented a kind of "absolute order," operating as a self-contained logical system unaffected by external forces.

Thinking of this, a passage the Dragon-Blooded had once spoken floated into Ji Chen's mind.

Matter decays, life withers, fire burns... these are the basic Rules constituting the operation of the world; ordinary living beings reproduce in accordance with the world's Rules, but in reality, all living beings are bound by these Rules from the moment of birth.

Just as swimming fish cannot survive without water and mortals will eventually turn to dust, these are predetermined outcomes within the framework of Rules.

The basic Rules of the world are like invisible shackles, binding the fate trajectories of billions of living beings, while those who control Rules have, to some extent, achieved partial transcendence; the parts of them bolstered by Rules are not defined by the world, but instead define the world.

They can make fire burn in the deep sea, cause rivers to flow backward toward the sky, and bring the dead back to life... Every kind of Rule can rewrite the setting logic within its covered scope as a self-contained logical system.

When explaining Rule power, the Dragon-Blooded also told a story to illustrate its strength.

It stated that its own Dragon-Breath Clan had once been a powerful race spanning multiple worlds; wherever their wings pointed, ten thousand races bowed their heads.

But their ancestors knew deeply that a truly powerful race is always climbing higher peaks.

Thus, the Dragon-Breath Clan launched an expedition of the entire race, marching toward the legendary world.

However, this expedition caused the Dragon-Breath Clan to pay a painful price; their efforts, driven by lofty ambitions, were fragile before truly top-tier powerful races.

In that legendary world, they encountered a powerful faction called the "Bone-Burying Clan."

Death, this most basic universal Rule of the world, was a reversible game to that race.

Their dragon flames could incinerate stars, yet could not burn away the skeleton armies crawling out of graves; their sharp claws could tear through space, yet could not shred the soul fires that dispersed and regrouped.

Every victory meant starting over again.

In that war, the Dragon-Breath Clan lost ninety-five percent of their clansmen; the surviving Dragon-Breath warriors fought to the death to open a tunnel for return, escaping by a narrow margin.

The Bone-Burying Clan did not even bother to pursue.

Perhaps to them, the war where the Dragon-Breath warriors gave their all was merely a boring pastime.

Yet even the Bone-Burying Clan could not be considered a super-power standing at the very peak of the food chain in that legendary world.

True top-tier powerful races generally mastered multiple Rule powers.

Some could even generate a space with custom Rules, rewriting the operational framework of the world within that space.

Therefore, those who controlled Rules equated to possessing the authority to hold the pen and rewrite the world.

Finally, the Dragon-Blooded stated that although the past expedition failed, the Dragon-Breath Clan had never given up on going to the legendary world again.

They had challenged it three times to date, but each time they returned defeated.

The fourth challenge would be initiated by the current generation of the Dragon-Blooded.

They would launch a new round of expedition actions toward the legendary world once again.

At that time, he had curiously asked a question.

Since that world was so terrifying, why did the Dragon-Breath Clan still tirelessly launch expedition challenges?

The Dragon-Blooded's answer was:

"In that world, we are like frogs at the bottom of a well seeing the sky, realizing that what we thought was soaring was merely spinning in the mud."

"Through three expeditions, we lost much, but we gained even more resources unreachable in minor worlds, and saw peak after peak of power that required us to look up and climb; of course, we could settle in a corner and be eternal kings in a minor world, but what difference would there be between such a Dragon-Breath Clan and the ants we conquered?"

"Expedition is not just for victory, but also to let our descendants truly stand at the peak, rather than indulging in false strength; we must even rewrite history to reshape our pride, erasing that failed expedition."

"The Old Ancestor believes that the Dragon-Breath Clan should Iron Face weakness directly, making every failure a whetstone to temper our muscles and bones; only thus can the climbing spirit of the Dragon-Breath Clan remain forever vibrant, and through constant challenges, forge an unending pride."

Ji Chen's understanding of those words at the time was that the Dragon-Breath Clan wanted to maintain their pride.

But there were only two ways to maintain pride.

The first: rewrite history, erase failure, and reshape pride.

The second: fight the legendary world again, using countless victories to reshape pride.

The Old Ancestor of the Dragon-Breath Clan chose the second path.

This corresponded exactly to the theory of warriors versus beasts spoken by the Dragon-Blooded when they first met.

The destiny of the Dragon-Breath Clan was never to barely survive, but to Iron Face challenges directly, tearing out a path to the heavens while climbing.

They used the relay struggle of several generations of clansmen to rebuild the ladder of power leading to the legendary world.

And the current generation of the Dragon-Blooded would also build a ladder for future generations to climb toward the peak of the legendary world.

These words left a deep impression on Ji Chen.

Although he had followed the Dragon-Blooded for several years at that time, he still could not understand such a choice.

As humans, they had long engraved seeking benefits and avoiding harm into their genes; the instincts left from ancient times when humans hid from fierce beasts still dominated their thoughts.

Facing unknown risks, they always calculated gains and losses first.

For example, building houses to resist danger, developing vaccines to combat diseases, enacting laws to constrain violence... all wisdom was used on how to extend the clan more safely and stably.

Even today, with highly developed technology, they still used dome defense systems to isolate potential invasion dangers.

This presented a nearly absurd contrast compared to the survival philosophy of the Dragon-Breath Clan, who knew there were tigers in the mountain yet headed toward the tiger mountain.

Other races were forced to evolve for survival, while the Dragon-Breath Clan survived for the sake of evolution.

At that time, he had also asked the Dragon-Blooded what the meaning of this was.

The Dragon-Blooded's answer was:

"Weak races pursue survival; strong races pursue transcendence. The comfort in our eyes will blunt our claws, and fear will corrode our dragon scales; only between life and death can we temper the strength we desire."

From the Dragon-Blooded, he had learned much knowledge.

From this knowledge, he also learned just how powerful a force "Rules" truly were.

Coming back to his senses, Ji Chen opened and closed his mouth.

With trembling hands, he summoned the Star Vein interface and tapped open the Soul Library.

His gaze swept over the listed Soul traits within the library; the shock in his heart was indescribable, leaving his throat parched.

The seeds symbolizing the potential of powerful clans, as spoken of by the Dragon-Blooded, numbered sixty-three in his possession, ready for his selection like goods on a supermarket shelf.

Even more absurd was that he could embed multiple Souls simultaneously.

The "Rule Seeds" that the Dragon-Breath Clan pursued at the risk of extinction their entire lives existed here in an entire warehouse, available for casual embedding and use as long as he had Sacrificial Power.

Those supreme treasures for which the Dragon-Breath Clan risked annihilation to seize were merely basic configurations within the player faction.

One could even possess one for free immediately upon entering the game.

Furthermore, the options within the Soul Shop were not the entirety of it.

Emperor Tomb Village also possessed Domain Node Rules, and even Rule powers that had never been displayed.

For instance, the latent Rules spoken of by players that could purify and cleanse emotions, or the ability to grow by hunting monsters, and so on.

He had thought he was using cheats within the game, but only now did he realize this was actually a real cheat.

At this moment, he truly wanted to video call the Dragon-Blooded.

Pointing at the Soul Library, he would shout:

"Buddy, take a look at this, a Rule buffet!"

The excitement in his heart could not calm down for a long time; Ji Chen gasped heavily, taking a long while to recover his senses.

His gaze turned toward the other players still studying within the library.

These players clearly had no awareness of how terrifying their player bodies were; they had long grown accustomed to using Soul traits.

What extravagance!

Ji Chen decided to log off immediately; there was one more matter he needed to verify.

Although it was already confirmed that the Monster World was a completely real world, there remained one question that could not be explained.

Data City.

At 6 PM, the barrier shrouding the city shifted colors.

Night fell like spilled ink, spreading through the city, while illuminated neon lights flowed between glass curtain walls, soaking the entire metropolis in a colorful splendor.

Inside a skyscraper in the southern district of the city.

The game pod lid slowly opened, and the nutrient fluid drained out through holes in the inner wall.

Ji Chen, wearing his game suit, bent forward and rose at this moment.

"Cough, cough..."

Inhaling the foul air unexpectedly into his lungs made him unable to suppress a violent coughing fit.

A familiar fishy-sweet taste surged up his throat.

Exiting the game, switching to Earth's harsh environment and his body riddled with hidden ailments, brought intense discomfort.

During his week in the Monster World, he had breathed in the essence of heaven and earth; the spiritual energy entering his body with his food qi washed him like a clear spring, and even his breath carried the scattered fragrance of spiritual plants.

But now, every breath felt like inhaling coarse gravel, and his body felt so exhausted it was as if filled with lead.

He initially wanted to activate telekinesis to levitate his body, but the awkwardness and faint stinging pain transmitting from his consciousness layer made him decisively give up.

Accustomed to using telekinesis smoothly in the Monster World, he had nearly forgotten that using this thing always brought pain.

"Cough, cough... truly ironic." He twitched the corner of his mouth, his voice hoarse, then supported himself on the game pod to stand up.

Sweeping his gaze around the room, even his vision had become abnormally dim.

It was as if a layer of gauze covered his eyes, making everything appear blurry and unclear.

Ji Chen subconsciously raised his hand to rub his dry eyeballs.

This was clearly an aftereffect of habitually activating the Eagle-Demon Perception trait.

Even the neon signs outside the window now seemed washed of color, the light viscous and difficult to dissipate.

It felt like switching from a high-resolution world to a low-resolution one.

The visual experience in the Monster World, where every detail was distinct and colors were saturated to the point of nearly glowing, made the imagery of the real world appear extremely fake.

In comparison, the real world seemed more like a virtual world.

This sudden disparity caused Ji Chen's brain to subconsciously keep running.

It attempted to render the scene before him, trying to make it appear more real.

But like an old graphics card struggling to run a game, there was only stuttering and lag; ultimately, what presented itself to his eyes was an image that could not be rendered clearly.

He closed his eyes, taking deep breaths repeatedly to adjust.

Before long, he opened his eyes again and went straight to sit at his desk.

Tapping lightly on the virtual screen of his wristband, he lit up the darkened monitor.

Next, he was going to verify his hypothesis.

Grasping the latest model mouse, he began reviewing historical data.

Time passed as he flipped through the records.

Early internet information occasionally popped up on the screen interface.

[The Moon-Eclipse Clan today released the newest Dream Weaver 3.0, equipped with the latest translation software, easily enabling cross-racial communication and providing convenience for exchanges among all races of the Earth Alliance.]

In the news accompanying image, a silver-gray necklace hovered above a display stand, fluorescent veins flowing across its surface, as a representative of the Moon-Eclipse Clan demonstrated and explained how to use the real-time translation function.

[The human representative of the Earth Alliance announced the joint construction of an orbital elevator with the Moon-Eclipse Clan, scheduled to break ground this year, providing rapid service to the moon.]

In the information footage, a holographic projection displayed a concept map of a massive space elevator; cables made of some unknown material pierced the clouds, while the emblems of the human race and the Moon-Eclipse Clan converged above them.

[The 23rd generation city brain, "Deep Blue Consciousness," has passed testing and will soon go on sale to major cities of the Earth Alliance.]

[The virtual game "Conquest: Land of Sin" officially launches; this epoch-making neural connection immersion system will bring players an unprecedented realistic experience.]

[The first batch of military aid equipment from the Moon-Eclipse Clan has arrived at the war front; victory is no longer far away!]

Ji Chen reviewed the data with full concentration.

The descent of alien races, the establishment of lunar bases, the founding of the Earth Alliance, the mechanical wars... through these early records, Ji Chen gradually gained a preliminary understanding of Earth's developmental history.

What could be confirmed was that the Moon-Eclipse Clan was a modern historical phenomenon and an irreplaceable leader within the Earth Alliance.

The Earth Alliance itself was also founded by the Moon-Eclipse Clan joining hands with other races.

In terms of technical strength, the Moon-Eclipse Clan stood at the pinnacle of the Earth Alliance's pyramid.

They appeared during the late stage of humanity's Fourth Industrial Revolution and integrated the global energy network in merely ten years.

And that was not all.

At that time, the various races of the Earth Alliance faced difficulties in communication and issues with isolated information networks.

The Moon-Eclipse Clan believed this self-isolated development model was detrimental to the future of the Earth Alliance, so they proposed a plan to construct the Star Net network to the other races.

Once this plan was proposed, it stirred up a huge storm within the Earth Alliance.

The early internet worlds were not interconnected; it could be understood that each race had its own intranet used by its members.

The human internet, the Greenwood Clan's Nature Resonance Network, the Strike-Breaker Clan's Neural Link... each network technology had its own characteristics, yet they could never truly interconnect.

Communication between races generally adopted offline docking.

Not only was efficiency low, but due to a lack of understanding of other races, cultural misunderstandings frequently occurred, sparking conflicts.

The Star Net Plan was born to solve this problem.

It allowed all races to achieve true interconnectivity, enabling ordinary citizens of all races to communicate on the network.

This plan was like a great melting pot; as the era developed, mutual influence would gradually shape a common set of values for all races.

Simply put, the Star Net Plan was like a civilization assimilation engine.

Through the efficient circulation of information on the network and deep collisions at the cultural level, all races would eventually converge in their thinking patterns, values, and even sense of humor.

The fact was, the Moon-Eclipse Clan had already achieved this.

On the modern internet, when humans posted a meme, other races could all understand its meaning.

When the Cheek-Fish Clan posted an internet meme, other races, including human players, could understand the story behind the meme and even play along with it.

This was the ultimate weapon, beyond efficient communication, that the Star Net Network used to truly unite the Earth Alliance, breaking down the information barriers that kept all races independent.

However, at that time, the implementation of this plan did not go smoothly.

It encountered fierce resistance from conservative forces among all races.

The obstacle did not stem from the Star Net technology itself, but mainly from the fear various races felt regarding the uncertainties behind cultural fusion.

The foremost concern was security.

The highest authority over the Star Net Network lay in the hands of the Moon-Eclipse Clan; connecting to the Star Net meant the Moon-Eclipse Clan would truly stand above all other races.

As integration deepened, if one day in the future the Moon-Eclipse Clan betrayed their former oaths, they could shut down the Star Net Network at any time, plunging the cities of all races into paralysis within seconds.

Secondly, the Moon-Eclipse Clan, possessing the highest authority, could access confidential information of other races at any time.

Theoretically, all races would no longer have any secrets from the Star Net.

Next was the loss of cultural sovereignty.

After achieving complete interconnectivity, the high command of all races believed that the values of other races would influence the logical thinking of their own new generations through network dissemination.

Some clans worried that as their own clan culture continuously collided and merged with other racial cultures, their original cultural characteristics would gradually disappear, replaced by a universal, homogenized culture.

This subtle mutual cultural infiltration, in the eyes of the high command of some clans, could even shake the authority of the ruling class.

This point has already been verified in modern times.

For instance, the Night Demon Clan modified its nearly hereditary chieftain system into a council management system.

The torrent of information brought by massive amounts of entertainment products like films, novels, and games was unstoppable.

The new generation of the Night Demon Clan even completely overturned the cultural habits of the older generation; from initially wearing no clothing at all, they began donning various novel garments.

At that time, all races reasonably suspected that if the Moon Eclipse Clan wished to subvert a race, they could even secretly support rebellious voices through network algorithms.

For example, whether a series of inappropriate remarks made by a certain influencer of the Green Wood Clan would be boosted by traffic from the Moon Eclipse Clan and precisely pushed to every member of that race for invisible public opinion manipulation.

Thereby conducting internal sabotage similar to a "color revolution."

A series of potential problems made all races utterly unwilling to connect to the Star Net.

Including the human race at the time, where there were also many voices opposing connection to the Star Net network.

They believed doing so would cause the human race to lose its future and that the future should not be pinned on the oaths of the Moon Eclipse Clan.

Even though the Moon Eclipse Clan stated that the Star Net AI was the eternal guide of the Moon Eclipse Clan, and its decisions would not change with the replacement of the Moon Eclipse Clan's ruling management layer.

But in the eyes of the human high command, no one could guarantee everything would develop according to the established plan.

The Star Net Interconnection Plan was difficult to advance at this stage; all voices emanating from within the various races were critical.

From the management layer down to the ordinary populace, public opinion within the races was in opposition.

Facing the surging waves of opposition from all races, the Moon Eclipse Clan of that time displayed astonishing political wisdom; they did not continue insisting on persuasion.

Instead, starting with the weaker races, they opened technical demonstration zones through methods of resource support.

First was aid construction for the cityscape, then free provision of network communication base stations covering the entire city, followed by gift after gift of virtual equipment.

This was not the end.

In the later stages, the Moon Eclipse Clan also opened portions of their cutting-edge technical database, allowing racial forces that agreed to connect to the Star Net to browse and view at any time, conducting their own research and study.

They also gifted all races "City AIs" capable of managing their internal Star Nets, granting them the authority to handle network events within their own races.

The supported weak races experienced leapfrog technological improvements within a short period.

This change was visible to all races; facts proved that races receiving aid from the Moon Eclipse Clan developed rapidly.

Secondly, the Moon Eclipse Clan completely opened Moon Eclipse City on the moon.

Providing medical services, technical consulting, and a series of other service projects for all races.

Under this combination of moves, some races began to waver, and one after another connected to the Star Net.

As more and more racial forces connected to the Star Net, the races still holding out realized that connecting to the Star Net might be the major trend for the future development of all Earth races.

Choosing to refuse meant resting on one's laurels and gradually becoming a marginal force.

The human high command at the time engaged in fierce debate over this, splitting internally into two factions.

One faction supported reform and opening up, aligning with the trends of the times to connect to the Star Net.

One faction supported conservative development, believing the human race ought to possess autonomous authority regarding network issues and should not overly rely on the technology of the Moon Eclipse Clan.

At the final voting meeting, someone among the high command of the human Federation of that time uttered a sentence recorded in history:

"May I ask the city administrators and federal senators present: given the technological level of the Moon Eclipse Clan, if they truly had designs on humanity, what is the probability of our successful resistance?"

This sentence plunged the protesters at the meeting into silence.

The fact was, if the Moon Eclipse Clan wanted to crush the human race, humanity would have no power to resist.

In the years since contacting the Moon Eclipse Clan, they had never shown any hostility toward the human race, even actively providing various forms of technical support.

Ultimately, the meeting vote decided that the human Federation would connect to the Star Net and request developmental assistance from the Moon Eclipse Clan.

And the Moon Eclipse Clan did not disappoint human expectations.

Every year thereafter, they provided large quantities of new technology and also helped the human race handle and purify many polluted regions.

As the first partner upon the establishment of the Earth Alliance, the human race, besides possessing a City AI, additionally obtained mainframe authority provided by the Moon Eclipse Clan.

Thus, the human race ushered in an era of rapid development.

Looking back from today's era, Ji Chen felt the human race's decision at the time was undoubtedly correct, but the future remained unknown.

Furthermore, the human race's connection caused many strong alliance races that were still holding out to compromise one after another.

Consequently, the connection barriers between all races were completely shattered, truly ushering in the era of interconnection.

Cultural fusion, shared technology, linked economies... the Earth Coin was also born during this phase.

Today the human race could travel to Break City, tomorrow to Moon Eclipse City, the day after to the Sky Feather Clan's Floating City... the boundaries between races gradually weakened in this process.

Many new-generation members of descended forces did not even consider themselves to be invading descended forces.

There had once been a popular meme on the network.

A new-generation member of the Break Clan, while trading insults with a new-generation member of another alien race that had descended in recent years, cursed the other as: "foreign scum."

This behavior seemed absurd, but in reality, it proved that many new-generation members of various races already viewed themselves as part of Earth.

After several hours of browsing, Ji Chen's impression of the Moon Eclipse Clan changed.

But the doubts in his heart deepened.

According to network data, the original intention behind the Moon Eclipse Clan creating the virtual game was for development, specifically to prepare for possible war crises.

There was nothing wrong with this idea.

But comparing the development history of the virtual game, there were many suspicious points.

Taking the viewpoint that the Monster World is the real world as a starting point and reverse-engineering the Moon Eclipse Clan's virtual game development technology, one would be surprised to find the speed of technological progress too absurd.

Virtual games before the birth of the Monster World, although excellent in technology, simply could not reach the state of fully simulating reality.

Until the birth of the Monster World.

This process was like suddenly leaping from a Stone Age civilization to an interstellar civilization.

The technological gap was too large.

Other races could imagine an explanation, thinking that the Monster World launched this time was produced by integrating cutting-edge technology the Moon Eclipse Clan had not previously released.

But he knew that in essence, this was not a game, but a completely real world.

Therefore, the essence of the game was actually the Moon Eclipse Clan guiding members of all races from the real world to the Monster World in the capacity of players.

But this viewpoint also had aspects that could not be explained.

Could the Moon Eclipse Clan really achieve this?

First, the original intention behind the birth of the virtual game was a simulated world created by the Moon Eclipse Clan to cope with war.

But the various rule powers the Moon Eclipse Clan mastered within the Monster World were sufficient to prove that the Moon Eclipse Clan's latent power feared no challenge, with no need to worry about any challenge arriving at all.

Secondly, he saw a news release issued by the Moon Eclipse Clan.

A representative of the Moon Eclipse Clan mentioned at the press conference that the Monster World was fully managed by the Star Net, all racial players had the same growth starting point, the Star Net would not give any preferential treatment to Moon Eclipse Clan players, including the fact that even the Moon Eclipse Clan's high command had no right to interfere with the operation of the Monster World.

At first glance, this explanation had no problems.

But in Ji Chen's view, there existed logic that could not be explained.

After all, in his era, many game companies would also declare externally that there were no shills in the game and that development within the game would be led by the players' will, yet in reality, many pay-to-win games had the presence of shills.

Game officials also never took player experience as the core goal, but prioritized profit.

They would even drain the pond to catch all the fish in the late stages of game development, squeezing out the last shred of value from players.

In contrast, for the Moon Eclipse Clan to expend countless resources creating a game that offered no preferential treatment to their own race was illogical from the start.

What was even more excessive was that the quota for players from the Moon Eclipse Clan's own race was very small.

The Moon Eclipse Clan's external explanation was that there were Version A and Version B of the Monster World.

Many clansmen of the Moon Eclipse Clan operated in Version A of the Monster World, and later the Version A servers would be gradually shut down, moving all players to the Version B servers.

But viewing this from the perspective that the Monster World is the real world, this explanation seemed more like a cover for the truth that the Moon Eclipse Clan could not obtain game qualifications.

There were many other unreasonable places.

For instance, the Moon Eclipse Clan's behavior of purchasing sacrificial power.

Or, the Moon Eclipse Clan cooperating with other small races, exchanging support construction projects for sacrificial power resources within the game.

All explanations fit logically.

But as long as one added the viewpoint that "the Monster World is the real world," all explanations seemed more like covers.

And the strength of the Moon Eclipse Clan remained a mystery.

The Moon Eclipse Clan had never truly participated in anti-invasion wars, nor had they ever displayed their true strength.

In previous invasion wars, they adopted methods of resource and weapon equipment support, helping the Earth Alliance cope with invasion crises.

But the Moon Eclipse Clan was essentially a force that fled to Earth to escape a calamity of racial extinction.

How could such a force possibly master countless rule powers regarded by the Dragon Kin as "seeds of strong races"?

Continuing to deduce further along this viewpoint.

The answer was about to emerge.

The Moon Eclipse Clan was merely a decoy pushed to the forefront; behind them actually existed an even more powerful existence.

Such power, calling it a god would not be an exaggeration.

Guiding players, infinite resurrection, soul seeds, hunting growth, negative purification... every kind of power was unimaginably powerful.

The Dragon Kin, whom he once viewed as powerhouses, might not even count as ants before this unknown existence.

He was the behind-the-scenes controller who mastered countless rule powers, allowing members of all races to go to the Monster World as players.

The series of actions by the Moon Eclipse Clan were all cooperating with this supreme existence to cover up the truth.

Thinking of this, the vast majority of problems were solved effortlessly.

The series of actions by the Moon Eclipse Clan all had reasonable explanations.

But the question was, why cover up the truth?

The Moon Eclipse Clan possessed the power to destroy all races of the Earth Alliance; if they wanted to do something, no racial force had the ability to stop them.

The even more powerful behind-the-scenes controller could easily accomplish this; what was the significance of Him doing so?

Various clues wove together in Ji Chen's mind, yet no matter how hard he tried, he could not devise a reasonable explanation for this problem.

Just as Ji Chen prepared to continue flipping through the historical records in search of an answer,

a familiar voice suddenly rang out in his mind:

"Kid, know when to stop; if you continue like this, I will have to seal your account."

(End of Chapter)