Life Dungeon Game

“But…” Luo Luo glanced at He Ao, “The information I received says that gods do not exist in this world…”

"It depends on how you define it. In a sense, 'god' is a powerful, extraordinary life form, but they are indescribable and incomprehensible, and have transcended the scope of ordinary mortals' understanding. So there is nothing wrong with considering them as 'gods'."

He Ao didn't look up; he was carefully tracing a section of the wiring inside the car, and he vaguely felt that these lines could overlap with the lines in the red bead he had obtained from Jin Ya.

However, the two magic arrays do not completely overlap, and he is trying to analyze the meaning behind this overlap.

Luo Luo nodded thoughtfully. According to the research institute's data, no extraordinary life forms that are beyond human comprehension have been found so far, but the absence of such life forms does not mean that they do not exist.

One of the institute's core principles is to "always maintain awe for the unknown."

However, at this moment she became extremely curious about He Ao's identity.

He Ao seemed to know a lot about the mystical that even the research institute didn't know.

knowledge.

"So, is this ritual a descent ritual of some powerful 'god'?"

Lin Chichi glanced worriedly at the terrifying blood-red patterns around them. "Can we even survive?"

Since He Ao used that tone to describe 'gods,' it proves that gods may really be very strong, so strong that they are beyond comprehension and even He Ao cannot deal with them.

If this is truly a trap set by the gods, then perhaps all we can do is lie down and wait to die.

"uncertain."

He Ao shook his head. He had vaguely separated the overlapping part of the two magic arrays and was analyzing the remaining magic arrays.

What still puzzled He Ao about this descent array was that it was far too complex.

As a "friend of the gods" who has interacted with many friends, He Ao has some understanding of the rituals of the gods.

All the ritual formations of evil gods are a mixture of simplicity and complexity.

Simplicity lies in the fact that the emblems pointing to the gods are very simple, basically consisting of simple compositions, such as the seven-pointed star of the god of knowledge, the heart shape of the witch of desire, and the Eye of Truth of the god of death.

The complexity lies in the fact that these emblems have strict requirements for engraving. The more precise the engraving, the more perfect the ritual, and the more it can please the gods.

For example, a good friend particularly likes the magic array set up by He Ao.

Patterns are the language of mysticism; the simpler the emblem, the more unique the great being.

Just like a person's title.

In ancient China, the emperor was supreme. When people talked about the emperor, they knew that it referred to a specific person.

There are many "kings" below the emperor, so when describing a "king", his fiefdom name or title must be added, such as the King of Nanjun or the King of Beijun.

The more precise the embellishment required, the more it proves that there are many people of the same rank as this person, and he has to embellish himself to distinguish himself from others.

Of course, there are many subtle variations in the actual character title customization.

However, in a mystical sense, the more complex the pattern, the lower its status.

The magic circle in front of He Ao was pointing to the descending high-dimensional being. The pattern was too complex and did not seem to point to a god.

If it is a being whose status is lower than that of a god, then it can be explained.

If someone can use a Class B extraordinary item as the vessel for their descent ritual, then their rank is likely higher than Class B, and He Ao doesn't have any knowledge in his memory about Class B individuals being able to use descent rituals.

Category B is still within the human category.

Those that involve 'descendance' are all beings with a certain mythological nature.

The result is then quite obvious.

"If it's not a god, then what is it?"

Luo Luo was a little confused by He Ao's "not necessarily".

He Ao looked up at her and Lin Chichi, and said calmly, "You should know that knowledge itself carries pollution. The more hidden knowledge you know, the more likely you are to attract the attention of those in higher positions. Are you sure you want to listen?"

"I have no problem!"

Luo Luo nodded emphatically, then looked at Lin Chichi, "But..."

Before she could continue speaking, Lin Chichi quickly said, "Brother Hao Yi, I've already come into contact with these things. I've already established a connection with that high-ranking being, so knowing more won't make much difference."

I can take responsibility for myself.

"Um,"

He Ao slowly stood up, glanced at Luo Luo, and continued,

"Between humans and gods, there exists another mythical creature, 'angels,' some of whom are servants of the gods, while others possess their own consciousness."

"The dividing line between angels and humans is Class A. In ancient times, Class A was also known as angels."

"The process of ascending to angelhood is extremely dangerous. It is easy to become an indescribable and incomprehensible mad mythical creature, bringing unimaginable disasters."

These points are a summary of the knowledge Heo saw in the underground library of Ilya'an, along with his own partial understanding.

Luo Luo didn't quite understand what she was hearing, but she still carefully wrote it down.

"So this 'descent ritual' belongs to an angel?"

Lin Chichi reacted quickly.

"Um,"

He Ao nodded slightly. He didn't know if there were any higher ranks than A among the angels, but judging from the dense complexity of the pointing pattern, this descent ritual most likely belonged to a relatively weak angel.

However weak it may be, it is still at least Grade A.

He Ao stepped back to the wall at the entrance and continued, "Whether it's a descent ritual or a communication ritual, all rituals targeting high beings must meet the three elements of a ritual: an altar, offerings, and a presiding officiant."

"The altar is where the ritual array is drawn, responsible for establishing the passage and anchoring the coordinates. The offerings are responsible for providing energy or pleasing the higher beings, while the host is the one who presides over the entire ritual, and is often the initiator of the ritual, the linchpin of the entire ritual."

“So the pool of blood in that carriage was the sacrifice? And this is the altar,” Lin Chichi quickly summarized He Ao’s words, “but… it seems there’s no host.”

“No, there is,” He Ao said, leaning against the wall, “we are the ‘hosts’.”

Lin Chichi: "Huh?"

"To be precise, the 'players' who are constantly engaging in the killing game in the back carriages are the 'hosts' of this ceremony."

He Ao slowly explained, "As the emcee, the host is the linchpin of the entire ceremony and determines its success or failure. If the host becomes self-aware and abandons the ceremony for some reason, the ceremony will fail."

"The person who arranged this ceremony may have done so to control the risks, or perhaps because there was no suitable candidate, so he devised a clever design."

"Set up a 'trap' that constantly lures people in, and then use a killing game to trick those who have entered the trap into killing each other."

"This game is actually a special 'ritual'. In such killing, everyone in the game will develop a twisted obsession with killing as the main theme."

"This obsession led these murderous souls to become the 'hosts' of this descent ritual."

"As long as the game continues and the passengers continue their endless killing, this obsession will persist, carrying the souls of the unjustly killed, becoming a conceptual 'host' without self-reason, who only drives the ritual forward."

"And the corpses and souls of the passengers after they die will become 'offerings' for the ritual, killing two birds with one stone."

"But we were lucky; at that moment, this car..."

The offerings we've accumulated aren't enough to sustain the ritual, so we don't need to face an angel for now.

Lin Chichi felt a chill run down her spine as she listened, finding the world somewhat terrifying, yet also relieved that she didn't have to face that 'angel' who sounded so frightening. She didn't even know whether to say she was lucky or unlucky.

However, meeting He Ao was still a good thing, a great stroke of luck amidst misfortune.

She pondered for a moment, then calmed herself and asked softly, "So what is the purpose of this person behind the scenes arranging this ceremony?"

He Ao calmly looked at the control panel, "To come into this world."

The pattern beneath his feet was largely similar to the pattern on the control panel, both pointing towards the unknown angel.

Even after returning from the ceremony, He Ao was already pondering a question.

The strange beasts or extraordinary beings in the ruins are not lacking in intelligence. For example, the monster that pulled him into the illusion and impersonated Liu Nan showed a cunning far beyond that of ordinary people.

Did these extraordinary beings not discover the 'ordinary people' who periodically descend upon the ruins?

The humans in the ruins have long since become extinct; the sight of living, breathing humans is itself a rare spectacle.

Now he knew that the powerful supernatural beings in the ruins had long ago discovered the existence of the 'explorers' who went to the ruins, and were trying to find the main world and descend upon it.

The Verola gained the ability to travel through space for some reason, so it was captured by an 'angel' in some ruins and a ritual was set up for its arrival.

Then, taking advantage of the fact that the ruins and the main world were somewhat close, the angel managed to send the Verola into the main world.

It's unclear whether this angel is insane or not, but judging from the way he directly uses the lives of living people as ritual materials, he is most likely insane.

If it were to actually descend, given that the highest level in the main world is currently only B-rank, the entire world would likely become a hellish inferno.

As expected, the enemy never gives us time to develop properly.

He stared at the patterns on the wall; there was still one last part of the ritual he hadn't deciphered.

The parties currently engaged in the struggle outside—the Research Institute, the World Tree, Moonlight, and even Dawn—are probably unaware of the layout inside this vehicle.

These parties, including the angels who deployed the Verola, each had their own plans and strategies. The weakest among them could muster B-level combat power, while the strongest involved an angel.

Several forces intertwined, forming a dense network.

He Ao needs to find the perfect breakthrough point in this vast network to sever the entire structure in one fell swoop.

His gaze returned to the last part of the ritual array, which was the most difficult to understand. He had lost all reference points and could only rely on the limited occult knowledge in his mind to try to comprehend it.

"Brother Hao Yi, may I ask you a question?"

Just as He Ao was deep in thought, a small questioning voice suddenly came from beside him.

"Ok?"

He Ao turned his head and glanced at Lin Chichi.

"Just now, when I was talking to Sister Luo Luo about what happened before, I heard you refer to Jin Ya as the Ninth Player,"

Lin Chichi asked cautiously, "But we only have eight players in total, six passengers and two staff members."

The killer's group consists of a flight attendant, passenger number five, Ruoti, and the cook—only four people in total. The good guys are the three of us, and the third party is Jin Ya—making a total of eight people.

“No, there’s one more,” He Ao shook his head, “it’s a flight attendant.”

Then, under Lin Chichi's questioning gaze, he explained,

"After the killer died, he left behind the killer's, the cook's, and Roti's props. But don't forget, the flight attendant also has props. The flight attendant's prop is the key to open the door to room number seven. Of course, he is also responsible for distributing all the key cards."

"Everyone only has one prop, including the chef and the flight attendants, while the killer was given a chance to kill someone before the game started at the very beginning."