Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

“You really aren’t the Margot Lloyd I knew.” Zheng Zha’s lips curled into an expression that was hard to categorize as a smile. “Same soul, same power, but completely different thought patterns. If it were the real Margot Lloyd, she should have known before saying that I was already used to her daily surprise attacks and shocking statements—ah, yes, I am very concerned, extremely concerned. But I also know that no matter how anxious I act, it’s pointless, because you will definitely tell me the answer, and no matter what the answer is, we have to stay here for thirty days.”

"Of course, using a resurrection item to commit suicide and escape might be a strategy. But that's pointless, because when returning to the God Space from the story world, no matter how much time has passed, the God will forcibly adjust it to a one-second interval. So rather than acting impatient and throwing a tantrum, I'd rather stay here and wait for you to tell me the specific details of what's happening and the solution you're sure to have."

He leaned back slightly, his tall frame relaxed against the back of the chair, and although there was still a hint of impatience in his eyes, at least his expression showed a relaxed demeanor.

"After all, you are Margot Lloyd. Whether you've gone insane from conducting experiments, lost control of your inner demons leading to a drastic personality change, or deliberately pretended to have multiple personalities to play pranks, you're the kind of Margot Lloyd who never fights a battle you're not confident in. Personally, I'm more inclined to the third point, or a fourth possibility that I can't guess, because if something really happened to you, then before that, Norrell would have turned the world upside down, and Chu Xuan would have made a bunch of arrangements that I completely don't understand but would definitely have an effect—and since none of these things have happened, then naturally I don't need to worry too much."

Luo Ye slightly opened her mouth, a rare look of surprise appearing on her usually calm face. Her smooth black hair instantly turned golden, and her eel-like figure subtly gained curves. Her unremarkable features became more refined and captivating, but the appearance she ultimately manifested was not Alice's, but rather the adult form of Alexia Ashford, the final boss of the Resident Evil series game 'Code Name Veronica,' the holder of the Queen Ant virus.

"Amazing." She gently covered her mouth, her expression shifting from indifference to the dramatic exaggeration often used by Western-style ladies. She casually removed her black-rimmed glasses and tossed them aside, her changed pupils revealing a surprise that was likely largely deliberate. "Should I be proud? You're much more reliable now than when we first met, much more so than a few story worlds ago. Shouldn't I have some credit for that?"

“I suggest you stop acting crazy for a bit, or I’ll punch you in the face. You’re some kind of Margot from Alexia, I don’t know whether to call you a Loye or an Alexian.” Zheng Zha rolled his eyes, annoyed. “I’m getting bored of being constantly schemed against by you—or do you think I’m going to ask you why you became like this? Let me make it clear, I can’t be bothered to ask. Tell me if you want, or don’t. If you’re not going to keep me in suspense, then please finish in fifteen seconds with a hundred words, or steer the conversation in the direction I want.”

"It's really become so uninteresting." Luo Ye rested her chin on her hand and sighed softly.

"Alright, then I won't waste each other's time. I'll just tell you straight—someone got to your real world before me, or before Xiao Honglu. Then they resurrected your Lori from the abyss of death in that world and took her away from it—the reason I'm sure someone took her away and that she didn't suddenly undergo some kind of mutation and come back to life is because the soul search ritual I gave to Xiao Honglu has the function of exploring history. After confirming that I couldn't find this soul named Lori, my program searched your world and found your little girlfriend's messages from before she died without any hindrance."

“There were no accidents, no conspiracies. Your Lori was born a normal person, died a normal person, and her cancer was a purely identifiable event. Her death had no hidden cause.” A faint smile played on Luo Ye's lips. “So you should understand the seriousness of the situation?”

"..." Zheng Zha closed his eyes.

The absence of any anomalies implies that this change involves a dark secret that neither Xiao Honglu, who was involved in the actual operation, nor Alice, who was orchestrating it behind the scenes, could uncover. This suggests a mastermind at least at the fourth level of life form, possessing the power of spiritual light—not the main god, since Xiao Honglu successfully resurrected those he valued without any hindrance. And this mastermind may have a connection with Zheng himself that even he is unaware of.

He opened his eyes.

“Margot Lloyd, I remember you once said that your clone left a message for you in your world. Could this person be my clone? Just like Xiao Honglu wanted to resurrect the people he valued, did your clone help my clone accomplish the same thing?”

“Call me Luo Ye,” the girl with the Alexiac face complained softly. “I’ve considered this possibility, but it introduces new problems. Because you can put yourself in her shoes: if it were you, under what circumstances would you revive a loli in the real world?”

“I will do it from the very beginning…”

"Don't deceive yourself, tell the truth," Luo Ye said earnestly, staring into his eyes.

"I'm just telling the truth."

"Then why didn't you make such a request to me until you came into this world? When I returned from the Transformers world, you should have known that I had the ability to resurrect ordinary people in the real world. Even if you didn't realize it then, you should have realized it after the Final Destination world ended. Why didn't you make that request to me then?"

"I..." Zheng Zha was speechless. After a few seconds, he managed to squeeze out an answer. "I didn't think of that back then..."

"Still deceiving yourself." Luo Ye shook his head in disappointment. "Since you don't want to say it, then I'll say it for you—the Luo Li in the real world is just your first love in your memory, nothing more than a dream, a memory."

"Shut up." Zheng Zha closed his eyes and squeezed out the two words through his teeth.

"But the one you truly love is actually this creation God made for you. As for the original, you've never cared about her life or death; no, you don't even remember her—"

"Shut up, Margot Lloyd!"

The next moment, half of the Umbrella base behind Luo Ye evaporated and vanished in an instant. A blood-red blade of light, capable of tearing apart the very fabric of space and creating spatial turbulence, grazed her cheek. Approximately seventy kilometers of ice field vaporized completely under this attack, the rising water vapor surging into the sky and then turning into falling rain and snow clouds under the intense heat.

It rained heavily.

“I told you, call me Luo Ye.” Luo Ye flicked her fingers, and the falling rain clouds were shattered into pieces in mid-air by the passing crosswind. “It seems I have to take back all my previous assessment of you. You’re still the same Zheng Zha as before, and even after I’ve schemed against you so many times, you haven’t fundamentally changed.” She lightly tapped her forehead. “Not aiming for the head is a slight plus, but that’s about it.”

“Margot Lloyd, your current way of thinking is really annoying. You're never usually this uncomfortable.” Zheng Zha breathed heavily, hot steam rising from his nostrils and mouth. He gradually quieted down, frustration and sadness appearing in his eyes and on his face. “—But you're right. I… I really haven't thought about Lori in reality. Even though I've returned to reality once, it's the same…”

It was as if an invisible hammer had struck him, causing his straight spine to bend slightly.

"I...love the current Lori."

“I already told you to call me Luo Ye… Fine, whatever. Margot Lloyd it is.” Alice sighed melancholy, her pale blue eyes filled with helplessness. “So, getting back to the point, there’s no difference in soul or thought patterns between the clone and the original. Obviously, your clone probably has similar thoughts to you. You fell in love with the Lolita here with the Supreme God, so he should have too. Under this premise, his exploration of the Lolita in the real world only means one possibility.”

"His Lori died in the Main God Space." Zheng Zha answered before she could. "It couldn't be in the story world, because if Lori was lost in the story world, then you from the Demon Team would definitely revive her. So it could only be in the Main God Space... and it's because your clone hasn't arrived in the Demon Team's Main God Space yet, Margot Lloyd."

“That’s right.” Alice nodded.

“And in the Main God Space, the only possibility that could lead to Lori’s death…” Zheng Zha took a deep breath. “It seems that when my clone arrived at the Demon Team, a breeding team was waiting for him.”

“Perhaps it’s also possible that your creation didn’t actually replicate the past?” Alice tilted her head slightly. “He arrived at the Demon Team alone, thus embarking on a completely different path of growth from yours here. And when he became strong enough, he used some means to return to the real world, resurrected Lori, and took her away?”

"You've changed back..." Zheng Zha looked Alice up and down. "It's much more comfortable dealing with you in this state—but I don't need you to help me save face. Because you just said that your search program didn't detect anything unusual in the real world. So it's obvious that someone could erase those traces."

He sighed softly.

"In this way, even I can see through things. No matter what happened to my clone in the Demon Team, whether or not he took Loli from the real world, it doesn't affect the fact that Loli from the real world was resurrected and taken away, and that this was kept a secret. If it wasn't my clone who did this, then it means that there is at least a fourth-tier being... considering the main god, it might even be a fifth-tier being who has their eyes on me, Zheng Zha. And if it was my clone who did this, then it also means that a powerful being that the Demon Team can't afford to offend has its eyes on me and Loli."

"The conclusion is the same, so the process is irrelevant." Zheng Zha replied, his expression growing increasingly dejected. "You went to all this trouble to tell me this, just to let me know that my time is running out, and I simply don't have the spare time to help the others in the team... let alone stand still and wait for them to improve... is that right?"

"Although there were some issues with the process, that's the result." Alice nodded slightly. "However... that's true, just as you said, the process isn't important. After all, the result is the same."

“And Margot, you must have a solution.” Zheng Zha’s expression grew increasingly grim. “A solution that can handle the team’s current predicament and resolve my unstoppable crisis. It’s just… a radical solution that I, in my normal circumstances, cannot accept, right?”

Alice smiled faintly. "Zheng Zha, do you know... the principles of civilization?"

..............................

Although I didn't mention it in the main text, the cloned trash did indeed regain the loli through this method... his corruption progress down 100%.

Section Twelve: On How to Foole a Chimpanzee

“The principles of civilization…” Zheng Zha sat back down in his seat. Now that things had come to this point, the so-called competition was just a joke. He waved his hand, and several rune structures he had learned from Luo Yinglong appeared one by one. The falling rain and snow and the raging cold wind were blocked by the suddenly appearing ice layer outside the base, and then the small hall where they were talking returned to silence.

"You speak, I'm listening." — He was quite self-aware enough not to make wild guesses.

“Actually, the so-called principles of civilization are not complicated. You can think of it as a mechanism, a means of self-preservation for a giant system. Just like the immune system inside the human body, the so-called principles of civilization can be seen, to some extent, as the immune system of a story world,” Alice explained. She hesitated for a moment, then added, “Of course, this is only a part of it.”

“…You could go into more detail, Margot Lloyd.” Zheng Zha pursed his lips. “You’re basically just reading a passage from an encyclopedia, and not even a very complete one. I think you can stop keeping me in suspense, unless you think that’s all I need to know.”

“…I never said I was finished.” Alice glared at him. “Since you want to know more, then I’ll tell you in a little more detail—but before that, first of all, Zheng Zha, what are your thoughts on all these cycles of reincarnation we are currently experiencing?”

"I don't have any particular opinion. It's just doing things that don't conform to the original descriptions in a plot based on a movie or game." Zheng Zha shrugged. "And often, because of you, Margot, Norrell, Chu Xuan, and perhaps Xiao Honglu, all these worlds end up in a mess, and the original content is completely lost. Fortunately, the main god is still somewhat reliable and won't make us carry out plot missions that have been changed because of your schemes."

"Do you know where these story missions come from?" Alice asked. "Aren't you curious why, when we arrive in these worlds, they often unfold according to the novels or movies we've read before?"

"I remember you seemed to have explained this phenomenon before." Zheng Zha scratched his head, looking puzzled. "Back then, you said that the main god was actually a supercomputer lacking intelligence, whose function was to search large planes... In the infinitely diverse worlds, there are always one or two worlds that are roughly similar to the content of a novel or movie. And then the main god just sent us to this place."

“Very well, so why did the Supreme God have us complete these main quests?” Alice continued to ask. “To search for a world and then release reincarnators. The resources required for this are enormous—or do you think the Supreme God selects and releases reincarnators to cultivate warriors? But if that’s the case, then the fact that the Supreme God can manually create fourth-tier powerhouses, and that those who reach the fifth-tier gene lock are banished by the Supreme God, is enough evidence to disprove this viewpoint.”

"...Perhaps it's because the warriors the main god needs can't be too strong? What it actually wants are only reincarnators between the middle and high levels of the fourth tier?" Zheng Zha answered casually. Having spent so much time together, he knew very well that Alice must already have a systematic conclusion waiting for her—and since she was interested in playing this kind of question-and-answer game, he might as well play along.

—Anyway, I'm already used to being scammed.

His seemingly 'cooperative' non-cooperation made Alice raise an eyebrow slightly, pondering that gorilla intelligence could indeed be developed later in life, and she secretly made a small note of it—she coughed lightly, setting aside the subsequent long-winded explanation and extracting the essence.

“…I did some research beforehand, and I can roughly rule out the possibility that the main god wants to create warriors.” Alice glossed over the research process. “And since it’s not about creating warriors, then there are roughly two possibilities that are most likely… First, the main god’s target is us reincarnators. Our own growth is of the greatest significance to it.”

Her thoughts drifted back to the information gleaned from the prediction records. These records indicated that Zheng Zha would ultimately become the reincarnation of Pangu, while Chu Xuan would be the reincarnation of Hongjun—both were, without exception, inner universe saints whose life levels far surpassed ordinary beings who had unlocked the fifth stage of their genetic locks. They were the protagonists, the very essence of the situation. As long as they remained within this multiverse and, unlike Shen Qi, came from the outside, the main god's purpose would inevitably be related to them.

This possibility is indeed very high, but there are still some issues to be resolved...

Her thoughts were racing, while Zheng Zha, sitting opposite her, unusually showed a look of disdain.

"That's impossible. Let's get straight to the second possibility," Zheng Zha waved his hand. "The cold, ruthless sphere of light that is the Supreme God would never care about the lives of reincarnators. If your first guess is true, then our team wouldn't have lost so many people before—and even if your first guess is correct, I intend to consider it wrong. You have to understand that we are now in a reincarnation world. It's one thing in a normal story world, but team battles can't be taken lightly. If our team members believe this, then we might suffer casualties because of it at any time!"

"Let's get to the second one!"

Alice nodded, agreeing with Zheng Zha's assessment. While at her level, even if she courted death, she generally wouldn't die, and even if she did, she could escape using resurrection items—who knew what unexpected situations might arise? The Demon Team possessed methods to prevent the East American Team from resurrecting the dead—although this might be due to Sirin and Zhao Zhuikong being too slow to react, but…

"Okay, let's move on to the second hypothesis."

"I believe that the reason why the main god sends the reincarnators to these story worlds is to increase the variables in these worlds."

"variable?"

“Hmm, variables.” Alice stretched out her finger and used a block of air to draw out the shape of a book. “Each story world is like a book that has already been written. What has happened will not change, but the future that has not yet happened is already determined. And the reason why the Supreme God sent us, the reincarnators, to these worlds is to change them.”

She tilted her head slightly. "After all, we reincarnators possess different power systems of different specifications from different worlds. Some are enhanced by the main god, and some come from gains obtained from other worlds. If 'variables' can be measured, then the changes that a reincarnator can bring are definitely several times or even dozens of times greater than those of a transmigrator or reborn person of the same power specification."

“But what’s the use of changing the world?” Zheng Zha asked. “Because of that so-called Civilization Principle you mentioned? But you just said that the essence of this Civilization Principle is the immune system—it seems that the Supreme God doesn’t want us to destroy the world. You said before that the Supreme God’s stance is biased towards humanity.”

"It's biased towards humanity, but not towards the world," Alice corrected. "The Supreme God never objected to us destroying the world—of course, we didn't do it intentionally, but the fact that the Supreme God didn't punish us speaks volumes about the Supreme God's attitude." She naturally ignored the events in the worlds of Ju-on and Final Destination—those were accidents, and accidental cases can be disregarded!

"The Supreme God encourages us to make changes, as evidenced by the fact that side quests often offer significantly more rewards than regular main quests. Since it desires change, there must be a reason behind it—I had previously made a rough guess and estimated what changes to the plot might affect things that were not yet accurately observable at the time. As time went on, and with further development and application of information capabilities, I was finally able to roughly confirm the existence of the 'Principles of Civilization' and apply it to the reasons behind the Supreme God's current behavior."

"The so-called principles of civilization are actually the rules written into the most basic level of a planet... well, that's not accurate. It should be said that it's the rules written into the most basic level of a world after it was created. It determines the underlying structure of this world, whether it is flat and square or a vast universe, and whether the matter is composed of particles, elements, or gas. The development of civilization in this world will also affect it, eventually converging into something similar to the will of the world."

"After listening to you ramble on for so long, you're finally speaking like a human being." Zheng Zha rubbed his now-messy hair. "It's just a Star Soul, isn't it? It's just an Innate Demon God, isn't it? It's just Gaia and Alaya, isn't it? Why make it so complicated... The time you spent rambling on about all this is enough for me to take a nap, have a meal, and take a shower!"

“Unfortunately, that’s precisely why I’m bringing this up.” Alice wasn’t angry; she simply explained calmly. “I examined all the worlds we’ve experienced, and I regret to discover that in these worlds, there is no Gaia, only Alaya. There is no Heavenly Way, only the Human Way.”

She didn't intend to explain why there was no Heavenly Dao, after all, the source of the information was unknown—she couldn't possibly tell Zheng Zha that a guy named Shen Qi came from the outer multiverse in order to resurrect Gaia, who died in this multiverse—whether Zheng Zha believed it or not, lightning might immediately strike him on the head!

"I remember there was a Gaia in the Final Destination world."

"I sculpted that."

"The Lord of the Rings world..."

"I helped him up there."

Zheng Zha remained silent, giving him a look that seemed to invite him to continue his performance.

"Without the Way of Heaven, there is only the Way of Man, which ultimately leads to an unstable world." Alice continued, "If my judgment is correct, without the intervention of the Reincarnators, these worlds where the balance between man and nature is disrupted will ultimately face extinction. It is precisely for this reason that the Supreme God has sent us Reincarnators into these worlds to extend their lifespan."

“It’s like putting a catfish into a still bucket of fish. The damage caused by the reincarnators might have some impact on that world, but it will definitely benefit its future development,” Alice concluded. “Of course, these are all just conjectures, lacking definitive evidence. So, we’re in this world to verify this idea. Once we can confirm the conjecture, we can use this experiment to catch up with those members of the team who are lagging behind.”

"After all, in addition to one's own talent and hard work, external opportunities are an even more important factor in a person's growth. In this boundless and diverse world, there are many unlucky people who have no shortage of ability and hard work, but are destined to waste their lives just because they lack an opportunity. And in this infinite cycle of reincarnation... I think there is probably no opportunity more important than that of the Supreme God."

Zheng Zha closed his eyes—he knew that Alice's long speech was meant to make him decide to do things he wouldn't normally do or wouldn't want to do. Even if he ultimately couldn't overcome his inner hurdle, he should at least choose to stand by and watch others take action.

Honestly... is this a test of my magnanimity? Given the right to say no to most external interference, would I be willing to dirty my hands, even my heart, for the sake of my former companions?

Ah, if Margot Lloyd had just said this from the beginning, without the preceding setup, without telling me about Lori, about the clones, without explaining in detail the principles, origins, flaws, and benefits of utilizing the Civilization Principles… I could have simply said 'no' now.

What a pity... what a pity.

He slowly opened his eyes—"What should I do?"

“We’ve already arranged the basic layout.” Alice’s fingers gently touched together. “As I just mentioned, the changes in civilization will affect the underlying principles of civilization. And according to our tests, at least in this biohazard-ridden world, the element of ‘zombies’ has become the underlying rule—in other words, zombies will appear in this world no matter what, and we will be plagued by these undead creatures no matter what. What we need to do is change all of this through human intervention.”

"We intend to remove the element of 'zombies' from the underlying rules, or the principles of civilization, of this world through real-world intervention. In its place, we will replace it with other elements that are beneficial to us."

“For example…” Alice tilted her head slightly. “The revival of magic, the advancement of civilization.”

Section Thirteen: Social Experiments

“…Magic revival.” Zheng Zha felt his head throbbing even more. “Alright, I think I roughly know what you’re planning. Putting the others aside, Margot Lloyd, are you planning to pass on your magic system to this world? I remember you’ve done this several times already… Haven’t you given up yet?”

“If this were two worlds ago, or even just one, I’d give you a good whack with a magic cannon to teach you that talking nonsense gets you a beating, Captain Zheng Zha. What do you mean, ‘haven’t given up yet’? It’s like I’m begging these idiots to learn magic.” Alice replied irritably. “Alright, I know you’re not really interested in this stuff, and maybe you’re not in the mood to participate in our specific plans, but my purpose isn’t to get you involved. I just want to let you know that when we start our big operation, you shouldn’t cause trouble.”

“As long as you don’t go too far,” Zheng Zha replied, crossing his legs and pouring himself a cup of hot tea he had hastily made, bringing it to his lips. “Although I still don’t quite understand all that you just rambled on, I’ve at least figured out one thing—you, or rather every member of the Central Continent Team except me, are harboring evil intentions. From the very beginning, you’ve set your sights on this world, intending to use it as an experimental ground—”

“Not all,” Alice interrupted. “Zhang Heng and Ming Yanwei are currently traveling and sightseeing in Australia, a thousand kilometers apart. Luo Gandao has found an empty space, or rather, an empty sea, in Bermuda to tinker with his newly modified Knight mech. Cheng Xiao is in South Africa, probably having a bit of an interest in the mercenary lifestyle. And Xilin… she’s probably having a great time in Raccoon City right now.”

"So, in other words, nobody took my proposal for this competition seriously from the very beginning, right?" Zheng Zha couldn't help but pout, looking aggrieved. "I clearly put in so much effort..."