Chapter 1 The Headquarters

Li Ang ignored the curious or awed gazes of passersby and walked into the headquarters of the Demon Scientist Alliance.

It was a spaceship shaped like a semicircle, its surface covered with sinister thorns made of black metal.

Everywhere you looked, there were bizarrely shaped cannons, incomprehensible cables resembling blood vessels, and ominous, eye-like light strips.

"Pretty stylish," Li Ang commented, his sense of aesthetics somewhat skewed. He walked through the door and immediately saw two "female" receptionists behind the counter.

One had pale red skin, black horns on her head, a perfect oval face, mesmerizing eyes, a tear mole at the corner of her eye, a revealing dress, gloves, and a harpoon-shaped tail.

A succubus, as the legends said.

The other had a halo above her head, wore a Greek robe, and had wings on her back. She was an equally beautiful angel.

The appearances of these two receptionists were extremely high-level, even in the arena game where plastic surgery technology was rampant.

However, however,

Even the most amorous, accepting, and promiscuous players wouldn't have any ideas about them.

The Demon Scientist Alliance's moral bottom line had no minimum; it only went lower.

The beautiful receptionists who looked like succubi and angels might have been something strange before.

Maybe they weren't women, maybe they weren't human, maybe they weren't even living carbon-based organisms...

If you hooked up with them, you could wait for the tragic fate of being collected or even never being freed for eternity.

Li Ang had also heard many bizarre rumors about the Demon Scientist Alliance, such as they could turn goblins with festering sores and never taking showers into beautiful elven girls,

and they could flay ferocious demons summoned from the abyss and refine them into servants without self-awareness.

This group of people had superb scientific and technological skills spanning countless fields, and a moral integrity that was so cheap it could be sold publicly.

However, they were all rational and cautious.

They never did anything too taboo in the real world, so they were not publicly shouted and killed by official organizations such as the Global Supernatural Alliance.

(A few members who messed around would be actively liquidated by themselves. In a sense, they were even more disciplined than many organizations. They wandered between lawful evil and chaotic evil, depending on the individual members.)

"Mr. Li,"

A name is like the shadow of a tree. The succubus receptionist on the left immediately stood up and said politely, "What do you need? Would you like me to inform the president and vice president?"

"No, I'm just here to buy some information about souls."

Li Ang waved his hand and was about to ask where the Demon Scientist Alliance's external shop was when he saw a figure in a deep yellow robe slowly appearing in the air not far away, his face hidden in the shadows of his hood.

It was the founder of the Demon Scientist Alliance, the Truth Seeker.

"I'll take care of it."

The Truth Seeker floated over, glanced at the two receptionists, and turned to Li Ang, saying in a hoarse voice, "Long time no see, Mr. Li. Your psionic skills have improved a lot since the Lost World."

"Likewise,"

Li Ang nodded. The Truth Seeker was also a psionic, majoring in the mind creation series. His psionic level was unfathomable—even Li Ang could vaguely feel the sea-like mental energy surrounding him.

"I have deposited some books and materials about souls in the guild library, which is open to senior members of this guild. Mr. Li can sit down and read the materials. If you need it, you can also borrow photocopies of those books for free."

The Truth Seeker said in advance as if he knew what Li Ang wanted to say, "This is the Demon Scientist Alliance's respect and goodwill to the strong.

If you don't like this form, you can also pay a small reward."

"Reward?"

Li Ang raised an eyebrow. "For example?"

"For example, answer some of my questions and confusions about psionic skills."

The Truth Seeker said, "The six major schools of psychic abilities are vastly different from each other.

I want to get some basic information about the Mind Enchantment School to expand my knowledge."

"Okay."

Li Ang agreed after a brief thought. In the entire arena game, there were not many or few players who practiced psychic abilities.

However, there were no more than fifty high-level psychics.

It was better to have someone who could exchange experiences and information than to explore alone.

"Then it's settled."

The Truth Seeker smiled slightly and sent Li Ang a friend request link. After Li Ang agreed,

the two passed through the hall and came to the library on the east side.

The library of the Demon Scientist Alliance looked relatively normal.

Several well-dressed gentlemen and ladies sat behind long tables at a distance from each other, silently reading books by the light of desk lamps.

But if you looked closely, you would find that the books in their hands were all black magic books made of leather and printed with demon patterns.

And the library staff who walked through the three-meter-high bookshelves and organized the books were all demons.

The Truth Seeker snapped his fingers, and dozens of books of different thicknesses flew down from the bookshelf and were neatly placed on the long table. Li Ang was not polite, sat down and quickly flipped through them, occasionally taking the time to discuss his psionic insights with the Truth Seeker.

The Demon Scientist Alliance's understanding of the soul was indeed deeper than that of Li Ang and even all organizations.

They believed that the soul could be divided into two concepts: soul energy and soul "shape."

The former was like common energies such as spiritual power, ether, and elements, widely distributed in the bodies of living things in nature.

The amount of soul energy in various living bodies varied.

Species with small bodies such as ants had less.

Higher mammals such as humans, cattle, and sheep had relatively more soul energy.

And because the latter had higher intelligence and could produce memories and emotions, its soul energy would naturally condense into shape not long after birth, possessing the so-called "shape," which was the soul individual in the popular concept.

It could inherit the appearance of its lifetime—for example, the soul of a sheep was the shape of a sheep, and the soul of Sadako was the shape of Sadako.

After the soul produced a fixed "shape," it could inherit a part of its memory, emotion, and personality, and truly become an inseparable part.

The so-called reincarnation in the mythologies of various regions was actually the same thing—after all the dead died, the soul shape collapsed and transformed into unconscious soul energy.

There was an underlying rule in the real world that would automatically circulate soul energy,

and re-invest the wandering soul into the naturally conceived embryo.

"The essence of the soul is not that mysterious. To put it high, the soul is the lubricant that drives all living things in the world. It is the inherent right of all living beings, and it is also the 'tax' that all living beings must return to the world from the beginning of their birth.

And to put it low..."

The Truth Seeker gently swept his palm across the table and took out a few gold coins and red crystals printed with terrified human faces.

Li Ang could see at a glance that this was a solidified soul.

"In ancient Egyptian mythology, Ma'at, the daughter of the sun god Ra, was responsible for the underworld trial. She would use ostrich feathers to measure the good and evil of the deceased during his lifetime. Only those who did good deeds could obtain the afterlife.

In Greek mythology, Charon, the ferryman of the underworld, would ask all the dead for a gold coin as a ferry fee to cross the Styx."

The Truth Seeker put away the gold coins and crystals and said lightly, "According to some recent noisy theories, the gods in many myths in the real world are just transcendents who are slightly stronger than us.

For the strong, the soul is currency, which can be bought, sold, distorted, sold, and traded at will.

All the ancient underworlds, yellow springs, and underworlds,

are actually just powerful transcendents,

using the world's source to automatically circulate the fixed mechanism of soul energy,

to seek benefits for themselves.

Like fighting for territory in Monopoly,

those so-called gods built the so-called underworld near the soul well of the world and determined their beliefs.

They crowned themselves as the masters of the farmland and managed and cultivated the farmland.

But even without them, plants can still grow in the farmland.

Just like the current real world, all the gods are dead and sleeping, and it does not affect the continuation of reincarnation.

As for why those gods do this,

the reason, in my opinion, is threefold.

First, the total number of wandering soul energy in the world is limited.

Second, the soul can provide the power of faith, and it can also be converted into other forms of energy.

Third, if ancient transcendents wanted to survive and continue under the oppression of the arena game, they had to use the power of faith of intelligent creatures and embark on the road of becoming a god."

"Wait,"

Li Ang thought for a while and interrupted, "The total amount of soul energy is limited?"

"Yes."

The Truth Seeker nodded and chuckled, "Are you trying to say, it's not quite right?

In ancient times, the number of primitive people was only a few million, and now it has expanded to more than seven billion."

Li Ang nodded.

The Truth Seeker said, "You can understand soul energy as the water resources on a planet, with limited weight and various forms of existence.

Today, the earth has more than seven billion people, which is indeed a lot, but it is not enough compared to animals—there are 200 billion to 400 billion birds,

Mammals, including mice and bats, have one trillion.

Reptiles and amphibians have even reached hundreds of trillions in number, and the total amount has not changed much."

"Similar to water resources, it can be recycled indefinitely, right."

Li Ang thought for a while and asked again, "I can also understand the second point, but how do you explain the third point?

Ancient gods established the underworld in order to continue themselves, and incidentally intercepted some soul energy for their own use.

If they really have this kind of technology, the best way should be to carry out large-scale brainwashing directly,

Or encourage reproduction to expand the total number of intelligent creatures."

"That's right."

The Truth Seeker nodded, "This is also the fourth point I want to say.

All along, ordinary people, low-level players, and even the officialdom of various countries, have been wondering one thing.

Since there were players in the past, why didn't they have a far-reaching impact on the real world?

If it is said that in modern times, it can still be explained by the theory that the intensity of the arena game is low, the overall scale of players is small, and the strength is weak, and it cannot affect the world situation.

So what about those gods in ancient times who could establish divine kingdoms?

Their strength can completely change the course of the world."

Li Ang paused when he heard this. This was also a question he had been thinking about since he embarked on the road to becoming a god.

"My opinion is that on the one hand, they have no reason to do so, and on the other hand, their previous attempts have been erased by the arena game."

The Truth Seeker slowly said, "For transcendents who choose the path of gods, the number of believers is extremely important, but the quality of believers is equally critical.

Take our Demon Scientist Alliance as an example,

We can use the soul as an energy source like oil, a currency like gold coins,

Twist, modify, control, drive the soul at will, and even tamper with the 'shape' and memory of the soul itself.

As long as I want, I can shape the souls of thousands of people into an appearance that is absolutely obedient to me, providing me with a continuous stream of the power of faith."

The Truth Seeker paused and said slowly, "But this is not realistic.

Soul energy and the shape of the soul,

are essentially the relationship between water and ice.

Soul energy itself has no attributes,

Only a real soul that has formed a shape and has rich emotions and memories can generate the power of faith.

The efficiency of the power of faith produced by a falsely shaped soul is extremely low and has no value at all—in other words, only a soul that has truly lived has the value of being used as currency.

This is also why the ancient gods, and so many god-like creatures we have seen in script missions,

have unanimously adopted the traditional method of establishing sects to accumulate the power of faith for themselves.

As for why they don't encourage reproduction, the reason is very simple,

After an arena game is over, or after a failure,

Most of the transcendents die, and a few gods and demigods survive by relying on the faith of becoming a god.

At this time, the arena itself will use the most direct method to erase most of the influence caused by the previous transcendents.

For example, destroying the divine kingdom that no longer has gods,

Abandoning the cave that no longer has an immortal master,

Even directly modifying the memory of mortals on a large scale, making them forget the transcendent phenomena they have seen."

Li Ang frowned and subconsciously asked, "What's the evidence?"

"..."

The Truth Seeker was silent for a moment, and slowly took out a two-handed giant sword made of unknown metal from the void and placed it gently on the wooden table in the library.

"When I was at Lv10, I experienced a script mission and a Nordic barbarian killed a half-human, half-demon cannibal monster at the king's banquet.

Later, I killed the mother of the monster who came to attack us after hearing the news with that barbarian."

The Truth Seeker said calmly, "That barbarian and I became very good friends. I thought that after that script mission, we would never have the chance to meet again.

But I didn't expect that when I was Lv18, I received another script mission and saw that barbarian in the mission world.

Fifty years had passed since I last saw him. He had long been supported as king and was getting old, but I was still young.

We sighed about the past after we met, but his kingdom was attacked by a fire-breathing dragon that coveted the kingdom's wealth.

Villages and towns all over the kingdom were burned by dragon flames, and the people suffered heavy casualties.

So he put on his armor again with his aging body, took his sword, and led eleven lord knights from the kingdom, and sincerely invited me to go to the dragon's lair together.

In the dragon's lair, we were fiercely attacked by the dragon descendants.

His lord knights all abandoned him and fled.

In the end, only he and I stood in front of the dragon."

The Truth Seeker paused and said slowly, "The strength of that dragon was close to that of an incomplete Wild Lion. At that time, it was difficult for me to compete with it.

The barbarian and I worked hard to kill it, but my friend was also bitten by the dragon and poisoned by the dragon.

I took out all the precious equipment and props on my body, but in the end I couldn't stop his death.

At the end of his life, he begged me to protect his relatives and descendants to inherit the kingdom.

I agreed, took the dragon's head and left the dragon's lair,

Returned to the kingdom, killed all the fleeing lord knights, and helped his relatives to the throne.

And before leaving the script mission, I buried his giant sword in the hills of the dragon's lair."

The Truth Seeker slowly exhaled a turbid breath and said quietly, "My friend, that Nordic barbarian, was named Beowulf.

And this sword is his Giant's Sword, which he used to defeat the Sea Monster King and slay the dragon.

I clearly remember burying the Giant's Sword under the hills of the script world,

But I dug it out again in the real world in Scandinavia after leaving the script mission, and saw on the sword the runes I had personally engraved to commemorate him.

In the era of Beowulf, his kingdom was vast and people built towering statues and temples for him.

But these things that really existed in the script world, or in the historical real world,

In the timeline we are in a thousand years later, they are just myths and legends.

The statues and temples have all disappeared, and there are no ruins left.

Only this Giant's Sword proves that I have really been there and that there is really a friend named Beowulf."

The Truth Seeker took a deep breath, looked at the silent Li Ang, and said, "The script missions that players experience are not only different worlds, but some are even the real Earth on the timeline of reality.

But those legendary experiences have been turned into legends under the irresistible effect of the arena game.

In other words, the reality we know is just the reality that the arena game wants us to know.

We are also in a cage."

"..."

Li Ang was silent for a long time. In fact, he had also experienced similar script missions.

For example, the Lonely Cold Temple where he met Chai Chai,

The half-body skeleton left by that mountain spirit appeared in the Yin City Temple more than a thousand years later.

Instead, it became the cause and effect, and became the medium for Li Ang to trigger the Lonely Cold Temple script mission.

Perhaps after their generation of transcendents passes away, they will also become the bizarre stories spread by the next generation of humans...