Chapter 344: What If I Get Stuck in a Bug?

"Here it comes, here it comes, logging in now."

Hearing her teammate's call, the white-haired girl reached out, pressed the switch on the desk, and turned off the computer screen.

She then activated "Gale Step" to return to her room, quickly changed into a game outfit, and climbed into the game pod.

As the lid slowly pressed down, the smile on the girl's face was submerged in the nutrient fluid.

"Click."

The cage reserved for the Bad Cat opened at this moment, and the orange cat, possessed by Ming Hou, walked out slowly.

It came to the center of the room, looked up in confusion at the white-haired girl inside the game pod.

Now, it had confirmed that this small world was the "Debt World" it had been seeking.

But there were still many doubts in its heart that could not be answered.

At this moment, Ming Hou swept the room with its gaze, projected its spirit outside its body, and wove a spiritual barrier that covered the entire room.

It then detached from the orange cat, transforming into its true form, a figure surrounded by black evil winds.

It gently stomped the bone staff on the ground; instantly, black evil energy gathered before it, forming an ancient contract table. A scroll, seemingly made of parchment, silently unfurled, followed by the appearance of the Scales of Fate.

The vortex on the silver mist mask spun rapidly.

It released the bone staff, letting it float above the contract table.

At this moment, Ming Hou issued a call; its voice sounded like multiple layers layers overlapping, as if thousands of voices were speaking the same words simultaneously.

Instantly, the parchment scroll on the contract table moved without wind, revealing dense spells.

Before long, a voice descended:

"Ming Hou, state your gambling requirement."

Hearing the voice of the Great Fate Lord (Clan Leader) sound in its ear, Ming Hou placed its hand on the left pan of the scale.

This time, as a "participant," it needed to state its requirement and provide equivalent collateral.

Its thought instantly transformed into an information flow injected into the scale: I want all the information and secrets of this world.

Instantly, the right pan of the scale shot up immediately.

Crack!

Just as Ming Hou was preparing to place collateral on the left pan, a crisp sound of shattering rang out.

Huh?!

The right pan suddenly crashed to the ground.

The entire scale tilted violently, unable to find any existence equivalent to it to initiate the gamble.

Ming Hou's pupils suddenly contracted.

There was only one possibility for such a situation to occur.

Even with all the resources of the Fate Clan plus the Rules of Fate as collateral, this equivalent gamble could not be initiated.

In other words, the collateral exceeded the limit of an equivalent gamble.

Even when facing the gods of the Reverse Tide Legion, the Scales of Fate could operate normally.

This was the first time it had encountered such a situation.

This world was indeed, as it had suspected, far from as simple as imagined.

Terrifying secrets lurked behind it; indeed, the secrets of this world surpassed the gamble between the Reverse Tide God and the Great Fate Lord back then.

"Ming Hou, give up."

The voice of the Great Fate Lord rang in its mind.

Ming Hou fell silent for a moment; the expression on its silver mist mask constantly shifted.

If it did not continue the investigation, it meant the backlash of Fate would continue indefinitely; when it would stop was completely unknown.

Its own life might also march toward extinction amidst the backlash of Fate.

Therefore, it still wanted to struggle a bit more.

Clarifying its thought, it said in a deep voice:

"Great Fate Lord, I will change my approach."

Having spoken, it pressed its hand on the left pan again; this time, the injected information was modified: Master all languages and scripts of this realm.

The right pan of the scale healed at this moment, trembled slightly, then slowly rose, revealing a blurry ball of golden light inside.

For an equivalent gamble to open, only when the collateral provided by it matched the requirement could it begin.

Ming Hou chose to directly read the value information of this portion of collateral.

The answer obtained made it unable to help but pause in surprise.

It had originally prepared for a massive loss.

But it never expected that mastering the languages and scripts of this small world was actually very cheap.

Ming Hou took out a blood-red crystal from a spatial item and placed it on the pan; instantly, the crystal was automatically cut, and the excess part was returned.

After the scale swayed slightly, it finally achieved balance.

Instantly, the star engravings on the beam lit up one by one.

"Equivalence achieved, gamble initiated." The voice of the Great Fate Lord echoed in its mind.

A beam of flowing light shot from each of the left and right pans of the scale, entering the Wheel of Fate, where they collided, intertwined, and merged.

Amidst the chaotic flow of disordered energy, the gaze of Fate descended.

Finally, the rotation of the wheel gradually slowed, and the two energy flows achieved balance under some unalterable rule.

The right pan of the scale rose, while the left side sank.

【Gamble Failed; your collateral has been seized by Fate.】

Ming Hou instantly felt a sense of suffocation; as the Rules of Fate took the collateral, they also took away a portion of its life energy.

As a Messenger of Fate, this was the price it had to pay for personally participating in the game.

But the stakes in this round of the game were not high, so it felt no psychological burden and immediately initiated another game.

After losing three times in a row, in the fourth equal-value game, the left tray of the balance finally rose.

In an instant, countless pieces of information surged into Brother Ming Hou's mind like a tidal wave.

The evolution of this world's writing, its linguistic structure, even every internet-era abbreviation and meme, all transformed into comprehensible symbols.

It looked up at the text scattered throughout the room.

The warning labels on the side of the game pod, the system prompts on the computer screen, even the ingredient lists on snack bags—all text became vividly alive.

It could now fully understand every word the girl had spoken, including her complaints laced with gaming jargon.

In the first scene, the girl's complaints were expressing: leave a path open for the demonic warriors of this region, fatten them up before slaughtering them.

Raising demonic warriors?

Upon receiving this answer, Brother Ming Hou was instantly startled.

Even the weakest demonic warrior was still part of the Black Tide Legion.

Every demonic warrior possessed growth potential far more terrifying than many Zu Ban Shen Jing cultivators.

Letting them grow unchecked would bring endless future troubles.

This information alone proved that the lifeforms of this world were far from as simple as imagined.

Having gained comprehension of language and writing, Brother Ming Hou turned its gaze toward the monitor beside the game pod.

Just as it prepared to act, the distinctive hum of a drone's propellers approached from outside the window.

It swiftly made its judgment.

Must not be exposed!

With a wave of its hand, the mental barrier enveloping the room withdrew like a receding tide.

A black stormwind swept through, and the contract table and balance instantly shattered into tiny specks of light.

Brother Ming Hou's slender figure twisted and contracted in midair, reattaching itself to the petrified orange cat.

"Meow!"

Having mastered the use of this body, Brother Ming Hou leapt lightly onto the computer desk.

The drone now hovered outside the window, scanning inward—it saw only a house cat lazily sprawled on the keyboard, while its owner lay quietly inside the game pod, the indicator light on the lid blinking steadily red.

Everything normal.

Yet the drone did not cease its inspection; its beam projected upward toward the ceiling-mounted surveillance camera.

The surveillance had briefly malfunctioned earlier—that was precisely why the drone had arrived.

After the green beam contacted the camera for several seconds, the red light on the drone turned green.

Then it circled the balcony twice, confirmed no anomalies, and slowly flew away with a hum.

Once the drone had vanished completely, Brother Ming Hou turned its head toward the surveillance camera in the corner of the ceiling.

Realizing this device had triggered the drone's arrival, it no longer used its mental network to exclude it; instead, it released mental energy to weave a fixed scenario, ensuring the camera continued operating normally.

It looked again at the girl inside the game pod, its inner turmoil still uncalmed.

This seemingly weak world was raising the most dangerous war weapons of the Monster World like pets.

And from the girl's tone, they were deliberately controlling the timing of kills, ensuring the demonic warrior had an optimal environment for growth.

Yet even now, it could not determine whether this was a game—or the real Monster World.

The orange cat extended its claws and mimicked the girl's motion to press the monitor's power switch.

The screen instantly lit up.

Brother Ming Hou manipulated the mouse with mental energy, opening a website in the girl's manner.

The website's homepage displayed four large characters: Monster World.

Above it were ten category options:

World Map (Explored), Monster Codex, Painful Painful Minghun Codex, Spirit Plant Codex, Spirit Mine Codex, Domain Nodes, Chronicle of Glory, Player Forum, Evolution Shop (Currently Unlocked), Qualification Application (Currently Unlocked).

Brother Ming Hou first clicked on the World Map.

At a glance, it was clearly a portion of the Pale Continent of the Monster World.

But when zoomed in, it could also see small-scale scenes of oceans and land regions beyond the Pale Continent.

Closing the page, Brother Ming Hou continued browsing the website's information.

Until it clicked open the Player Forum.

The first topic that met its eyes made the orange cat it inhabited involuntarily bristle all over.

【The Liver Emperor Squad is about to graduate, but whether the Reverse Tide Legion is friend or foe remains speculation—if the Reverse Tide Legion becomes an enemy in the future, should we act to eradicate it? My thoughts.】

Screen-shattering blow.

The strength of the Reverse Tide Legion—being a member of the Fate Clan, it naturally knew.

These weak lifeforms of this world were discussing whether to strike against the Reverse Tide. How audacious.

It immediately continued scrolling.

The following content grew more shocking with every line.

Combat Insect Tribes, Terrifying Black Tides… these factions were all topics of discussion among forum players.

One faction it recognized well was mentioned: the Mist Veil Clan.

General Ye Ming was no stranger to it; at the time, it had not yet ascended to the Twelve Fate Lords, and its entire clan remained sealed underground as agreed.

During that period, General Ye Ming came, initiating an equal-value game using Mist Veil Rules as stakes.

It and its clan members jointly participated in the equal-value game with General Ye Ming.

The result: they lost, forfeiting a rule-level resource.

But the rule energy generated by the game is also extremely considerable.

(PS: Chapter 311 mentions that General Ye Ming gained the leverage to turn the tide against the wind through this game, and after defeating the Death-Word Clan, laid out a plan for the resurrection of the entire clan in the future.)

In the information mentioned by the forum players, the Mingwu Clan was like a clown played with in the palm of a hand.

Various teasing memes emerged one after another.

Just as Brother Ming Hou was preparing to continue flipping through other information, the cat's paw suddenly froze in mid-air.

In the spiritual perception, the flow frequency of the liquid in the game pod slowed down, and the consciousness of the white-haired girl was gradually awakening.

Brother Ming Hou decisively swiped his paw, instantly closing the page on the screen, followed by the monitor shutting down.

After doing all this, it lightly leaped off the desk and returned to the cage before the girl woke up.

The game pod opened at this moment; the white-haired girl, wearing the game suit, sat up wet, with droplets of pale blue nutrient solution still dripping from her hair tips.

She saw her irritably scratching her hair, her expression frantic:

"What a broken dungeon, got killed by the mechanics again. Is the Blue Lantern Clan sick? Designing such a difficult challenge dungeon, it makes me so angry."

From this sentence, the Brother Ming Hou clan extracted a piece of information.

The Blue Lantern Clan.

This faction is one of the top-tier powerful clans in the Monster World in the eyes of Brother Ming Hou.

The Pale Continent is just one of the regions where a small portion of the Blue Lantern Clan's members operate.

They are also rule-derived life forms more pure than the Fate Clan.

At this moment, it could basically confirm its guess.

The creatures of this small world descend into the Monster World in the form of consciousness projections through some method.

Although their original bodies in the small world are weak, even if all the creatures of the entire world were projected into the Monster World together, they would most likely not survive a day.

But this race possesses immense war potential in the Monster World.

They possess a pure body there that can grow infinitely and also grow through killing.

The Painful Painful Minghun library on the Monster World official website, if its guess is correct, should be the Rule Library.

Every Painful Painful Minghun inside is an independent rule.

And these weak life forms, in the Monster World, through some method, wove a combined rule system in the Monster World, creating a terrifying framework where rule effects mutually stack.

What made it feel incredible was that under this system framework, all the rules lacked independent rule-derived logic.

Under normal circumstances, different rules have different energy derivation logics.

The Fate Clan it belongs to, mastering the Fate Rule, must produce rule energy through the method of equivalent gaming.

The Retrograde Tide Legion must obtain rule-derived energy through the method of war.

The Soul Return Clan must nurture rule-derived energy through the method of usurping and parasitizing bodies, and so on.

But the factions calling themselves the Player Clan, the rule-level abilities they master, all unify the method of producing rule energy.

That is hunting and killing.

This point is very similar to the Black Tide.

The Black Tide has numerous rules, and the most explicit one is: Devouring.

It can also obtain rule-derived energy: Black Tide Energy, through the methods of killing and devouring.

Just then, the white-haired girl, having changed clothes, stepped barefoot onto the floor, holding a tube of pet nutrient paste, and came to its front:

"Haven't eaten in several days, right? Eat, rebellious ghost."

Brother Ming Hou looked at her coldly as she squeezed out a lump of smelly pink paste, shoved it to the front of the cage, with an expectant expression.

The nutrient paste emitted a pungent, synthetic smell of inferior substances.

Facing this scene, Brother Ming Hou instantly lost its temper.

But it still forcibly suppressed the thought of slapping it to death with one palm.

This world is far more terrifying than imagined.

It still wanted to recover the restricted leverage through negotiation; before completely investigating the truth of this world, it temporarily could not reveal its identity.

For the future, Brother Ming Hou endured the nausea, lowered its head, and lightly licked a mouthful.

Instantly, emotions twisted violently deep within the consciousness.

This taste was simply more nauseating than the filthiest rotting swamp in the Monster World.

What? Went out messing around for a few days, and now you've learned to be picky?

Speaking thus, the white-haired girl raised an eyebrow:

"Eat quickly; you're not allowed to come out until you finish."

The whiskers of the orange cat possessed by Brother Ming Hou twitched, but it still forced itself to swallow mouthful by mouthful.

Every swallow felt like undergoing torture.

This thing was simply a polluted toxin; since birth, it had never eaten something so terrible.

It was like licking a dirty rotting swamp pool.

At this moment, the girl leaned close to the cage, her arm passing through the cage bars, her fingertips gently brushing its back:

"Good~"

This touch made Brother Ming Hou's fur stand on end completely.

What humiliation!

But after the emotional fluctuations passed, it still chose to endure.

Finally, the torture ended, and the white-haired girl returned to the computer desk.

One hour later.

The girl cheered in her mouth: