PDLP Chapter 119 [The Gods' Bill]
Chapter 119 [The Gods' Bill]
Two o'clock in the morning.
[World Event: Scarlet Plague (Weakened Version) Settlement in progress...]
Number of participating players: 128.
[Number of indigenous people involved: 456.]
[Frequency of deaths: 3892 times.]
Total Fear Value Extraction: 8.9E.
Total Hope Value extracted: 2.1E.
[Epic Interference Level Rating: B+]
The Heavenly Dao's backend database of the Nine Realms scrolled through the pages, finally settling on a heart-pounding settlement interface.
The primordial spores on Xu Ye's body resonated and pumped, an invisible but perceptible warm current flowing through his blood vessels, into his heart, and then into that dangerous soul eroded by gray spots.
Xu closed his eyes and could hear the countdown hourglass hanging above his head flipping.
[Current remaining lifespan: 127 days 04 hours] -> [Calculate earnings] -> [130 days 08 hours].
The numbers stopped changing, and Xu opened his eyes, staring at the result.
"Hmm? Three days... the returns are disproportionate." He slumped back in his chair, deeply impressed. Spore was even more ruthless than the old man.
"What a shrewd deal." They orchestrated a disaster that nearly destroyed a newbie village.
More than a hundred fourth natural disasters were introduced as "leeks" (victims), and nearly four thousand deaths were repeatedly harvested.
The natives were terrified and fled in panic, giving the savior a moment of celebration.
In the end, all I got was three days.
"This exchange rate can't even keep up with inflation."
While the players were fighting to the death, Xu also entered data into the Heavenly Dao System. The computer was still not as convenient as something he had evolved himself.
"Heavenly Dao, open the second sand table file." As soon as the words were spoken, the Heavenly Dao system projected the data into the mind.
A gray-black icon marked "High Risk/Archived" appeared; that was his first attempt.
It was also a complete failure.
[Second Sand Table: Sanctuary of Civilization - Anthill]
In that world, there is no magic, no gods.
Only the bio-engineered technology that went astray, and the wise king Kars who once attempted to kill God.
"Asem's intensity isn't enough." Xu also stood up and walked to the corner of the room.
There was a huge glass tank covered with a thick black cloth.
The cloth was covered in dust. Xu Ye ripped off the black cloth, and as the dust flew up, the scene inside was revealed.
It was a dead world, where enormous nests stood silently, and the earth was covered with the skeletons of monsters and solidified purple biomass.
This is the tomb of the Kaz civilization.
"If this kind of small-scale farming can't save lives..." Xu Ye looked at the dead microscopic world, "then we need to take drastic measures."
The stories generated by simple human-animal conflict are too cheap for Epic Spore, which says that it doesn't satisfy it.
Only through the clash of civilizations and the battle of ideas can we extract a higher concentration of nutrients.
"What is the most distinctive feature of the Fourth Calamity?" Xu asked himself, answering his own question.
"They're not afraid of death."
"It's against the rules."
"It's greed."
"Asem is too 'gentle' for them right now."
Xu Ye turned and went to the tool room. After searching for a while, he came out carrying a roll of transparent high-strength hose, a glass cutter, and a tube of strong industrial glue.
"Connect the pipe." Xu Ye squatted down and moved quickly.
The existing sand table structure consists of one main structure and eight secondary structures.
The main celestial tank sits high above.
Eight mortal realm jars surrounded the area.
The cylinder where Ashem is located is in the lower right corner.
The [Anthill] that seals the Kaz civilization is a huge, abandoned cylinder that has never been connected to the Heavenly Dao system.
Xu was also unable to directly break through the glass wall between Ashem and Anthill.
That would disrupt the pressure balance between the two worlds and wipe out all the creatures inside.
"Since we can't go through the main entrance, let's go through the sewers." Xu Ye looked at the bottom of the Heavenly Realm's main vat.
There grows the mycelial network of the Heavenly Dao, and these fungi possess extremely powerful connection and material transport capabilities.
"Heavenly Way, guide your mycelium to grow downwards," Xu Ye commanded.
[Command confirmed: Guide growth direction -> Ashem subsurface rock layers.]
With extreme care, a glass cutter made a small, fingernail-sized hole on the bottom side of the Assam sand table.
"It has to be accurate." Xu Ye's hand was very steady. He opened the round hole, inserted one end of the hose, and sealed it with industrial glue.
"This becomes the entrance to the 'underground passage'." Then, he connected the other end of the hose to the opening at the top of the [Anthill] sand table.
A bizarre structure has formed, in which the two worlds are physically connected by a flexible tube.
But from the perspective of the sand table...
Deep beneath Ashem lies a bottomless abyss.
Jump into the abyss and pass through the long, dark tunnel (the hose).
They will arrive at another underground place, which is actually another different world.
"This is what we call the 'underworld'." Xu Ye looked at his masterpiece and clapped his hands in satisfaction.
Players will think they are still in Ashem, and they will believe they have discovered a new map called "Dungeon".
Little did they know, it was a true otherworld.
It is an "ancient relic" whose technological level and civilization completely overwhelm the existing world.
"The channel is ready, now it's time for packaging." Xu sat back down at the computer and tapped his fingers on the keyboard.
[Version Update Announcement: 1.1 Expansion Preview]
[New Map Unlocked: Underground Abyss - The Lost Golden Land]
[Background Information: Deep within Ashem lies an ancient civilization that once attempted to challenge the gods...]
"Golden Land." Xu Ye scoffed. Every word he typed was a trap.
There is no gold there, only the killing weapons left over from the Kaz civilization, and those genetic monsters that even Death cannot harvest.
But that doesn't stop him from using the word "gold" to lure greedy players.
And... to mislead that "goddess" who was starting to get a little restless.
Thea, the goddess of wisdom and magic, has been making a lot of moves lately.
"Since you want to know the truth about the world..." Xu also uploaded the update package.
"Then I'll give you the truth."
"When you're deep underground and discover the corpse of an ancient civilization far more advanced and powerful than yours, a civilization even capable of killing gods..."
What would you think?
"You will be afraid."
"You'll have suspicions."
"You will evolve desperately, just so you don't become the next corpse."
This is the chain of suspicion.
Xu Ye watched as the progress bar on the screen filled up.
Update complete.
He looked into the sand table.
It's still late at night in the world of Ashem.
Some players were AFK sleeping, while others were still enthusiastically examining their newly acquired loot.
……
The world of Ashem.
Dwarven Fortress, Blackrock Depths.
The subterranean fires here burn year-round.
Although the new god Lynch has ascended to heaven, the forging techniques he left behind have made this place the technological center of the entire continent.
Three thousand meters underground.
A player team called "Earth Core Explorers" is currently working on a project. The team leader is a miner player named "Drill Breaks the Sky".
He brandished the adamantite pickaxe he had acquired from the guild at great expense.
"Dig another twenty meters!" the captain shouted. "The guides on the forum say there must be a mithril vein down there!"
"Boss, something's not right with the rock formations here." A team member next to him stopped what he was doing and touched the rock wall in front of him.
It felt slippery and cold to the touch, like the skin of some kind of creature?
"Stop being so paranoid, this is a special mineral layer!" The captain said impatiently, slamming his pickaxe down.
"Clang!" Sparks flew everywhere, but the rock layer did not break.
Instead, it emitted a dull, metallic, hollow echo.
"Thump—" The sound traveled far, echoing in the confined underground space.
Everyone stopped what they were doing.
"Did you hear that?" the team member asked his companion, somewhat frightened.
"What did you hear?"
"The sound of the wind..."
"There is the sound of wind beneath our feet."
The captain frowned and pressed his ear to the ground.
woo-
woo-
How can there be wind at this depth underground?
"Keep digging!" The captain's greed overwhelmed his reason. "This means there's a huge cavity down there! It could very well be a relic!"
"If it's an ancient ruin, we're rich!" The players raised their pickaxes again.
Ten minutes later, a crisp cracking sound was heard.
The ground collapsed, creating a hole that was half a meter wide.
An extremely ancient, worn-out stream of air, mixed with the smells of engine oil and mold, gushed out from the cave entrance.
[Server-wide announcement: Congratulations to the "Drill Breaks Through the Sky" team for discovering a hidden map entrance!]
[New area unlocked: Anthill (Abyss Layer)]
[Warning: Danger level assessment for this area: ???]
"We...we're on TV?" The captain looked at the golden announcement that popped up in his field of vision, not even having time to cheer.
A mechanical camera flashing red light was attached to the opening.
It scanned the uninvited guests in the darkness, separated only by that thin layer of rock.
"Buzz—" A red light flashed, and the camera retracted.
Immediately afterwards, thousands of identical small red dots lit up in the darkness below the cave entrance.
Like stars that have been asleep for billions of years, suddenly awakening.
"Run!!!" The captain only managed to shout that one word.
Countless metallic mechanical tentacles filled the entire mine tunnel; this was the automatic defense system of the [Sanctuary of Civilization].
Code name: The Cleaner.
The massacre began.
……
In the heavens, Thea, who was deducing a magical model on her throne, noticed something amiss.
She sensed that the bottom of the world had been breached, and an aura that did not belong to the three major systems of Asem was leaking out from that gap.
"What is that..." Thea stood up, her divine power surging, intending to use the Heavenly Dao Network to analyze that power.
But the feedback that came back was only four words.
[Unrecognized]
A huge blind spot has emerged in her field.
An unknown fear gripped the heart of this new god.
This world... indeed still holds secrets.
There's also the back side, which even she, a god, doesn't know about.
"Creator..." Thea looked up at the empty sky, "Is this yet another trial of yours?"
……
The real world.
Xu Ye watched the monitor screen as the player squad was instantly shredded by the mechanical tentacles, and as Thea frantically mobilized the Divine Guard.
"This is the reality you've always wanted." He picked up the pen on the table and drew a heavy circle on the last line of the bill.
[Cost: One flexible tube.]
[Expected Returns: Unlimited.]
The bill has been sent.
Please check the package on time; returns are not accepted.