Chapter 347: A Swamp World? No, A Road to the Heavens

After receiving the Star Web's assurance,

the Earth Alliance's registration team arrived at Fate City the next morning.

Three silver-gray aircraft landed in the central plaza, and as their cabin doors slid open, eighteen staff members in uniform filed out in formation.

They carried collection equipment whose appearance struck the Fate Clan as bizarre, and set up a temporary workstation in the middle of the plaza.

"Please cooperate in completing the biological information collection."

The lead registration representative announced through a translator to the gathered Fate Clan members, stating that this was a necessary step to obtain formal identity.

At this, the Fate Clan members merely scoffed.

They cared nothing for the Earth Alliance's identity, and even felt the whole thing was utterly meaningless.

But this was the Fate Lord's demand, so they could only comply.

As a long queue formed outside the temporary workstation, the staff member in charge of registration held a palm-sized scanner and swept it in turn over each Fate Clan member's pupil.

Each time the scanner passed, the Fate Clan member's iris pattern became one of their identity markers.

Happening simultaneously was genetic sampling—the staff took out slender collection swabs, intending to extract genetic samples from the Fate Clan members.

But this step gave the Moon Eclipse Clan's staff trouble.

Under normal circumstances, a sharply tipped collection swab could easily draw a blood sample from the target.

But the swab could not pierce the Fate Clan's bodily defenses.

At this, the Fate Clan members could barely conceal the contempt in their eyes.

Facing this problem, Brother Ming Hou immediately ordered his clansmen to cooperate with the process and draw their own blood to submit.

Though the clansmen were unhappy in their hearts, none dared show the slightest defiance toward Brother Ming Hou's decision.

Once this step was complete, a unique identity code was generated on the spot.

At a record-breaking pace, the Fate Clan formally joined the Earth Alliance within three days of arriving on Earth, with every clansman registered as an Earth Alliance resident.

Although the Fate Clan members following Brother Ming Hou all cooperated in completing the identity registration,

receiving the Star Web code issued that day, along with the chip ID card representing formal Earth Alliance residency,

they still found Brother Ming Hou's series of actions incomprehensible.

Compared to this barren small world, they considered themselves higher-civilization lifeforms.

Yet now they had to remain humble toward a race with a backward lifeform, and even upon initial contact voluntarily offer up precious resources—this was hard for many clansmen to accept.

In private discussions, the doubting voices kept spreading:

Why expend resources to come to this meaningless small world?

If this small world held hidden wealth, why not go explore and search for it, instead of choosing to stay put on this tiny plot of land and build a new clan territory?

Why must the Fate Lord restrict them, stipulating they may only move within designated zones and strictly forbidding them from going outside?

And harshly demanding the clansmen not use any abilities in this world.

This near self-castration development model stood in stark contrast to the Fate Clan's past history of civilizational expansion.

By convention, faced with such a low-grade small world, they should have taken the key resources and left.

Many of the clansmen following Brother Ming Hou were born in Monster World, raised on the law of the jungle from childhood, and Brother Ming Hou's series of actions ran counter to their ideas.

It even made them feel the Fate Lord was drawing a line around himself and self-imprisoning.

It even gave the Fate Clan members who had followed him an idea.

Perhaps the Fate Lord, due to backlash from the rules of fate, had developed a series of inexplicable mental problems.

Otherwise there was simply no explaining his current bewildering behavior—exiling himself and his following clansmen to a "junkyard," while he himself groveled before lower-civilization lifeforms.

At this moment, Brother Ming Hou stood before the observation array of the Fate Logic Tower, the surrounding environment mapped in his mind.

His next step, he decided, was to optimize and transform this land.

To make the days his clansmen would settle here in the future more comfortable.

As for his clansmen's suspicions, he was naturally aware.

But he could not explain.

Not yet, at least.

The Star Web's promise was only the beginning; the true test had only just arrived.

The drawing of player qualifications had not yet begun, and the Fate Clan had to maintain absolute restraint during this period.

Any extreme action could cause the higher-dimensional deities to reassess their value.

He had to eliminate every potential risk.

Just then, a low voice came from behind him:

"Fate Lord."

Brother Ming Hou did not turn around, only tilted his head slightly.

The one who came was the Fate Clan's adjudicator "Ming Yun," also one of the core members who had followed him down to Earth.

He sensed that Ming Yun's current psychic fluctuation carried a suppressed fury.

"The clansmen need an explanation." Ming Yun's voice seemed squeezed through clenched teeth, clearly restrained to the breaking point:

"We did not come here to be prisoners."

Brother Ming Hou was silent for a moment, then finally spoke:

"Don't rush—the answer will come soon."

"How soon is soon?" Ming Yun stepped forward:

"Three days? Three months? Or three years? We even have to apply to you to leave this barren land—what difference is that from self-imprisonment?"

The light of the observation array fell on Brother Ming Hou's face, making his expression seem indistinct in the gloom.

"Ming Yun, you chose to follow me because you trust my decisions. The time is not yet ripe—why not keep on believing and waiting… What I can tell you clearly is this: we are not prisoners, we are gamblers."

Ming Hou frowned:

"What do you mean?"

"This arrival is the greatest gamble of my life; the stake is a brand-new future."

Speaking, Brother Ming Hou released his finger from the matrix, turned, and looked straight into Ming Hou's eyes:

"And in this gamble, we have already won; from now on, we only need to continue waiting to receive the supreme gift."

Ming Hou frowned, looking at Brother Ming Hou's serious expression, opened his mouth to say something, but ultimately chose to shake his head.

He thought of the recent suspicions among his clansmen, among which were voices suggesting that the Fate Lord might have suffered a backlash from the rules of fate, resulting in mental confusion.

But Brother Ming Hou was the Fate Lord of their Long Que lineage; no matter what thoughts arose, they should still obey any decision made by the Fate Lord.

"I understand."

Ming Hou nodded at this moment, unable to hide the disappointment in his eyes, then turned and left.

Watching Ming Hou's departing back, Brother Ming Hou couldn't help but shake his head.

He could fully understand the suppression and confusion in the hearts of Ming Hou and the other clansmen.

If he, knowing nothing, had experienced events similar to theirs, he would have felt similar emotions.

But now, the formal identity registration of the Earth Alliance has been completed.

The truth is not far from being revealed; the clansmen will understand everything when that time comes.

The next day, dawn

The morning mist shrouding the city had not yet fully dispersed when a blinding blue light suddenly flashed in the sky.

Brother Ming Hou stood atop Gao Ta, waved his hand to disperse the invisible energy barrier shrouding Fate City, and the silver-white long robe on his body was lifted by the airflow rushing down from the heights.

Raising his head slightly, he saw a beam of blue light tear through the clouds in his line of sight, like a sharp sword descending from the heavens, piercing straight down.

As the view drew closer, this was a supply ship of the Moon Eclipse Clan.

The hull was slender like a shuttle, its surface flowing with a luster like liquid metal; a few seconds later, it landed on the open ground of Fate City.

After the cabin door slid open, members of the Moon Eclipse Clan's engineering team stepped out.

They wore tight-fitting gray uniforms, with a badge of star tracks encircling a symbol embroidered on their chests.

The envoy at the head raised his gaze toward Gao Ta, met Brother Ming Hou's eyes across the distance, and nodded slightly.

Brother Ming Hou nodded in return, his figure drifting down from Gao Ta, and landed before the captain leading the Moon Eclipse Clan's engineering team.

Using Earthling etiquette, he raised his hand to shake hands; then the engineering captain pointed to the robots unloading cargo:

"According to the agreement, these are the first batch of equipment."

Upon finishing his words, the metal box pointed to by him had its locks on the surface disintegrate layer by layer.

A pitch-black game pod slowly rose from within.

The pod cover became transparent like liquid; inside was a groove conforming to the body type of the Fate Clan, where one could see the inner walls densely covered with silver threads for neural connection, shimmering with fine starlight in the morning sun.

"The signal tower will complete debugging before noon; by then you will be able to log into the Star Network. However, the quantity of the latest-model game pods is limited, so only one hundred can be distributed to you; subsequent ones can be obtained through purchase or by continuing to apply for support... As for port equipment, it can be fully satisfied; I will complete this aspect as soon as possible. I hope you will cooperate with the upcoming renovation work."

"Thank you." Gazing at the game pod, Brother Ming Hou could not hide his excitement in his eyes.

Even the most brilliant gamble of his life did not compare to the excitement of this moment.

These devices crafted from inferior materials are a key link in becoming players.

Brother Ming Hou came to stand before the game pod, his fingertips gently stroking the surface of the game pod; the cold metallic touch made all the blood in his body boil.

Since his birth, he had felt for the first time that fate was under his control.

Before parting, he removed the "Fate is Unpredictable" mask.

This also seemed to foreshadow that the "unpredictability" in his fate had vanished, and the future held only the heavenly road slowly unfolding beneath his feet.

This inferior metal shell, in Brother Ming Hou's eyes, held dormant infinite possibilities more precious than any rule.

As long as one can become a player, it means breaking through the shackles of life and mastering the Law Fate Treasury.

Thinking of this, his breath unconsciously became rapid.

His silver hair danced without wind; suddenly, he let out a low laugh.

The Fate Clan members witnessing this scene, however, couldn't help but shake their heads.

The Fate Lord has started again.

Showing excited emotions in the face of these inferior metal creations.

The Fate Clan members watching from afar exchanged worried glances.

They could not understand why their leader would display an obsessed expression toward a creation of a lower civilization, even becoming so excited that he could not control his emotions; this made them feel more uneasy than the previous "Fate Backlash Incident."

On the other side, the arriving engineering personnel had already deployed the nanomachine swarm; a silver-gray tide was moving through the city.

Signal tower debugging, construction of basic network equipment (computers, ports), laying network cables... the entire process was advancing in an orderly manner.

Although the members of the Fate Clan were dissatisfied with outsiders entering their territory and even freely renovating their territory.

But this time they still chose to follow the Fate Lord's arrangement, suppressing their emotions in their hearts.

At noon, among the silver-white buildings, the last batch of nanomachines withdrew like a receding tide.

The newly completed signal tower stood in the center of the city, less than a hundred meters away from Gao Ta.

After the Moon Eclipse Clan's engineering team withdrew.

Brother Ming Hou stood on the high platform in the city center, summoning the thirty thousand Fate Clan members who followed him to gather there.

"I know you have many questions: why we came to this Ji De Shi Jie, why we imprisoned ourselves, and why I am interested in the equipment of this desolate world."

Hearing these words, the crowd grew restless.

All the clansmen raised their heads, eager to know the truth.

"Now, the truth is in the rooms where you live; every room is equipped with a computer. This is one of the devices connecting to the Star Network, and it contains the answers you seek. As for how to use it, I will publish the instructions in the mental network."

"As for the language and script barriers, I have already contacted the Star Web to transmit our clan's linguistic data. It should have installed real-time translation functions in the computer. If not, we will acquire proficiency in Earth's language and script through mutual trial and error..."

After Brother Ming Hou finished speaking and announced the dispersal,

the eager clan members rushed back to their rooms, only to immediately discover a monitor and some equipment crafted from inferior materials had appeared.

"The craftsmanship of this equipment is so crude." A young warrior who entered the room disdainfully poked the monitor's frame with his fingertip.

Scanning with his senses, he found that the device lacked even a proper energy transmission structure inside.

Similar complaints arose in every room.

Upon their initial contact with the computer, the Fate Clan found it incomprehensible.

Why did the Fate Lord ask them to seek answers within this device?

With doubts in their hearts, they connected to the mental network to check the usage guide shared by Brother Ming Hou.

They then hurried to sit before the computer desks and pressed the circular buttons glowing faintly on the desktops.

With a hum, the screens in the different rooms lit up with blue light.

Once the light stabilized, the screens displayed text they could not understand at all.

However, after the startup finished and the interface jumped to the desktop, the fonts automatically switched to their own clan's script, which they could read.

Following the steps in the guide, they manipulated the mouse to open a webpage.

The homepage was the official website of the Monster World.

Upon seeing the four large characters "Monster World," the expressions of all Fate Clan members appeared somewhat surprised.

They had not expected that the equipment in this world would store information about the Monster World.

This also made them realize that perhaps the Fate Lord's decision was not as simple as they had imagined.

Continuing to browse, just as Brother Ming Hou had done, they opened the "World Map."

They discovered that most areas on the map were shrouded in mist, and the regions where the mist had been dispelled were mostly in the Pale Continent, the primary area of activity for their Fate Clan.

Many speculations sprouted in the minds of the Fate Clan.

The first thing they thought of was that the beings of this small world must have also ventured into the Monster World to explore.

The mapped areas should be the regions they had previously explored.

Such a weak clan could actually explore such vast lands in the Monster World; this was truly incredible.

After their initial contact and understanding, they could fully regard Earth in their eyes as the "Ni Zhao Shi Jie."

The so-called Ni Zhao Shi Jie refers to worlds that cannot naturally generate spiritual resources.

The common characteristic of such worlds is that they universally use materials without spirituality, and technological development is entirely limited by the upper limit of material quality.

The beings living here are like those trapped in a swamp; no matter how they struggle, it is of no avail.

They are fundamentally unable to break through the current world barrier.

After all, even the most basic space-type materials do not exist; the limit of their development is nothing more than flying within the limits the materials can withstand, or exploring extraterrestrial worlds.

They are still far from reaching the level of crossing space.