Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

The voice vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed in the first place. With this realization in mind, Riku fell into deep thought.

They said they couldn't reveal information, but in reality, they've already revealed a lot. The very demand for fairness and impartiality is the biggest leak of information. Because by combining it with the previous conflicts, a fact becomes clear.

Three different races, a murderous ending, a fair game... It's obvious that the battle outside has already been decided. It wasn't a three-way stalemate, but rather two weaker forces against a powerful individual. The stronger one held the power to decide the outcome, but the weaker ones... certainly had their own means of resistance.

[It's unlikely to be a secret weapon used for blackmail... I even suspect that intelligence exchange in this area has been completely cut off. After all, this is an era of war, and there's never been any news of an alliance between the Mech Race and the Skywing Race. Given the Skywing Race's behavior, it's highly probable that they're using this conflict to push for a full-scale war between the two races. Therefore, the Skywing Race and the Mech Race are the defeated side, while that unknown race is the victor.]

[A fantasy species, a divine species, or perhaps...] Riku lowered his eyes, suppressing the unrealistic conjecture in his mind. For a fleeting moment, he even suspected that this unknown race was actually a divine species with some connection to mortals, or even possibly another kind of human that appeared with the Dragon's Demise! But such thoughts were only fleeting, because he himself knew that such speculation was too absurd.

Moreover, unfounded hope is a deadly poison in this era.

In short, it's almost certain that the three of them are in this kind of relationship. There must be some unknown force controlling them, preventing them from directly determining a winner or loser and instead forcing them to use these indirect methods... Could it be this 'golden apple'? Is their struggle for it all for this 'golden apple'?

The boy's eyelids suddenly twitched slightly.

【……wrong.】

The machine-armored race calls it a 'fruit,' while the winged race emphasizes 'victory.' Only that unknown entity used the term 'golden apple'... Yes, that's not what they're fighting for. This is merely a token, a symbol. What they're truly fighting for is something else entirely...

[Is it something from within these ruins? It took ten days to be found after it fell to the ground... That's a bit too strange... Wait, if we consider this battle a coincidence, and the Skywing and Mech races were unaware of the true nature of the conflict, then everything makes sense!]

Liku's eyes lit up, and a conjecture spontaneously formed in his mind.

First, there is a treasure nearby. We don't know exactly what the treasure is, but the life form of that unknown race must have discovered it and started exploring in this direction.

Mechs usually move in groups, but the presence of only one here indicates that communication has been cut off... It is very likely that this lone Mech was carrying out a covert mission in the vicinity, but was startled by the communication disruption or other reasons, and took the initiative to attack the unknown individual.

The Skywing race was probably the last to arrive, or perhaps they came with the Mech race. Given their warlike nature, it's not uncommon for them to interfere in other wars... but this Skywing race is also traveling alone... Could there really be some hidden treasure nearby, so much so that both of these powerful races have dispatched secret investigators?

...No, they're not investigating the same thing. Otherwise, they should be eliminating witnesses and covering their tracks right now, not resolving the conflict through a game. The Winged Race and the Mech Race probably don't know the contents of the treasure, but they've determined its approximate location. So they must have used some uncontrollable, large-scale destruction as leverage to force the victorious unknown race to concede and start this game.

[And so... things become clear. A coalition of the weak forces the strong to the negotiating table. But a one-third chance of winning isn't fair... Yes, this 'golden apple' is probably just a token. Even if the side on the same side wins, the one who obtains the token will have to pay a price... This is truly a unique kind of fairness.]

No wonder, as the true victor, the unknown life form only offered a trivial and unappealing proposal. It simply didn't care about losing; this gamble was a life-or-death struggle between the Mech Race and the Winged Race. And if that's the case, then…

The inference has been overturned once again. If this possibility holds true, then choosing either the Mech or the Winged race will ultimately lead to a bad end. And if one chooses the unknown race…

[I'll probably die, because the secrets here likely need to be protected. Ivan and Arell will also likely die, but they'll die without realizing it, while the people in the settlement have a slight chance of survival... No, the machine-armored and winged races will definitely investigate this place. By then, everyone in the settlement...]

The final conclusion was pieced together, and its name was Despair. Three options, each leading to certain death. He would die, his companions would die, his settlement would be destroyed, and everyone he knew would perish. It didn't matter which he chose; the only difference was sooner or later.

The lock within trembled, writhing and grinding as if about to unleash a roar of hatred and fury. What sins had mortals committed to deserve such an undeserved calamity, a path of utter destruction no matter what they chose?

Liku's fingers trembled slightly, exactly twenty seconds after he began to think. The three questioners waited silently for his answer. And despite this terrible situation, his inner turmoil subsided, replaced by a sense of calm.

A dead end has become a reality, but reality is not beyond human intervention and guidance. In the previous conversation, although there seemed to be no chance of survival from either perspective—whether it was inference one or inference two that took effect—a glimmer of hope remained hidden beneath the surface.

That is—'Who made this suggestion, putting themselves, a mere mortal, to be the judge?'

If the one making this suggestion was a Skywing—unlikely a Skywing species—but a Mech species, then it might mean that we mortals have some value in their eyes. Because, in this extremely unfavorable situation, they chose to drag us mortals into it, at least objectively turning us, dust on the outside of the chessboard, into pawns on it. At least until our usefulness is exhausted, we won't be easily eliminated.

If this reasoning holds true, then what I need to determine is the true meaning of this golden apple used as proof. Will the person who accepts this golden apple suffer misfortune or survive? As long as I ensure that the machine-armored one survives, then there will be much more room for maneuver in the future.

However, if the premise of the inference is wrong, and the unknown life form proposed this bet, then everything comes to an end.

Half and half, half and half again. If you choose to give the apple to the machine race, there is a theoretical one in four chance of survival.

So, shall we take the gamble?

The boy's mind raced, deducing and analyzing every word uttered and every action taken by the three powerful beings since their appearance. Then, at the end of the thirtieth second after he obtained the golden apple, he arrived at a conclusion.

Gambling, of course, is fine. But since we've already started, let's gamble bigger and more recklessly. The chance of survival is only theoretically 25%, and in reality, it's even lower. So rather than closing our eyes and leaving the future to the past, it's better to let our choices determine our destiny.

"I've made up my mind." The boy held the golden apple and looked at the three 'goddesses' floating in three different directions. "You just told me that as long as I judge by my own standards, I can choose whichever I like, right?"

"That's exactly right," a voice rang out.

“Then, my criteria for judgment are—” The boy took a deep breath. “I am the leader of the settlement, and there are 3,317 people in my settlement. And I have always respected the opinions of the group, so I have decided to ask each of these 3,317 people for their opinions one by one. Then I will summarize their opinions to arrive at the final result.”

“This process might take a long time, because I have to ask each of you one by one to get the fairest answer. I just don’t know if the three of you…” His eyebrows twitched. “...have the patience to stay with me until we get the results.”

Chapter Twenty-One: The White-Winged Messenger

At the edge of the upper mantle, in some unknown large cavity—

Actually, not much time has passed. Although a lot has happened to the members of each squad, only about an hour has passed from the time of arrival until now.

One hour.

What can the reincarnators who remain in the void do in an hour?

For Patchouli, an hour was enough to accomplish a great deal. At least enough for her to expand the Great Library, which had lost its core, and activate backup computing resources to guide the nano-grey tides in constructing the underground base needed by the Reincarnators. She was familiar with the entire process, and the nearby resources were plentiful. Utilizing the highly concentrated geothermal energy outside the cavity and the numerous associated minerals near the mantle, a vast base was quickly erected.

Residential areas, factories, energy furnaces, mineral extraction stations, and almost ubiquitous metal pipes—the entire vast void, centered on Patchouli and extending for a hundred kilometers, was as intricate and complex as a perfect save file for a perfectionist construction gamer. After the one-hour construction period, the temporary base was fully functional and operational, mass-producing construction robots to continue its outward expansion.

[Currently, it can accommodate approximately ten million people. After the next phase of the project is completed, the capacity will increase to six hundred million... Based on current information, there shouldn't be any need to worry about the living conditions for the population in the short term. Rather, the number of mortals in this world is rather small, to the point that I have to use some special methods to increase the population.]

Patchouli pondered, knowing that from the center of the base, she could receive the message "The sixth replicant factory has been completed" with a mere thought. From Alice, she learned about the Humanitarian Flood and understood that artificially synthesized humans did not seem to be recognized by the human destiny unless these synthesized humans spontaneously developed self-awareness and their bodies were not mixed with too many non-human elements during their construction.

Simply put, a pure soul must reside in a healthy body to be considered human, and only then, after acquiring the self-awareness of a mortal, can it be accepted by the tide of humanity. Furthermore, since the Central Continent Team's goal is to participate in the war for gods on their homeland, it is naturally impossible for them to completely adopt the technology and materials of another world.

[We must wait until the first batch of native mortals arrives, then have them voluntarily contribute their somatic cells, which will be randomly replicated to expand the gene pool. This will allow us to use the materials of this world to create a sufficient number of mortal bodies. As for souls, they will be summoned directly through rituals—many mortals have died in this world, and although most souls are directly destroyed by exposure to the spirit corpse environment, we can still gather a few million from the ley lines.]

For other races in this world, a million people might already be a considerable number. After all, they are not like mortals, physically weak and with low perception, and they don't occupy many resources just to live—in this world, apart from the orcs, almost all are high-energy species that are born with the ability to interfere with energy. And the increasingly barren planetary environment on 'Disbod' is a cage that restricts their expansion.

The saying "two tigers cannot share one mountain" doesn't mean tigers are inherently averse to stronger members of their own kind. Rather, it means that the resources of a single mountain can only support a single tiger at most. And it's obvious that on this 'Disbode,' even the weakest, most healthy beastman could probably easily crush a dozen ferocious Siberian tigers. And this planet is roughly the same size as Earth!

We're relatively lucky; the Dragon Break occurred only a few decades ago. Those powerful races had only recently begun to focus on space. Their development and expansion of extraterrestrial life were barely in their infancy. If the Supreme God had cast us a thousand years after the Dragon Break, perhaps all we could do would be watch from the stands as part of a superhuman interstellar war.

Patchouli lowered her eyes, and dozens of engineering prompts appeared on the light screen before her, which she then processed. In reality, this meant that within the 100-kilometer-diameter underground base, a complex of buildings spanning approximately 30 cubic kilometers rapidly assembled, deformed, and extended with pipes and pathways to form new areas.

—The illusion generator is now complete.

—The Neural Learning Center has been completed.

One million people aren't enough; the goal is to fill the population with six hundred million in the shortest possible time. And to acquire a certain number of highly skilled personnel—even without sages, at least several million qualified soldiers and engineers. Referring to the Matrix-like approach in Star Wars, as long as a sufficiently large time scale is constructed, I can completely blend the mortals brought in from the outside into a population hundreds or even thousands of times larger of androids, and push the timeline forward by a thousand years.

[Anyway, the technology is up to par, so I don't need them to make any major innovations. As long as the average combat strength per person is raised to the level of the orc race after Dragon Break, then we can naturally use sheer numbers to build up the concept. Even if the activated divine essence can't compare to the Lord of War in terms of quality, at least the quantity will overwhelm it.]

Patchouli pondered, pushing the project forward. She had a strange feeling, as if she had handled this project sometime in the past. As a result, many of the key difficulties and challenges that should have been encountered during construction were easily skipped. What was originally a project that was uncertain in its duration and might even stall at some point had inexplicably been pushed directly to near completion!

She tried to retrieve her memories, but ultimately only found some vague fragments deep within her mind. In the end, she could only attribute this to some kind of talent or a qualitative change brought about by the accumulation of knowledge, a kind of intuitive understanding. Then she buried this unusual situation deep in her heart.

As a result, she pushed more engineering projects into progress. In the short time she took a break to think, the base complex, covering a circular area with a diameter of one hundred kilometers, expanded further outward. More resource extraction points and refining centers were built, and various buildings with different functions were constructed using the massive computing power she provided.

"Miss Patchouli, all six exploration sites you assigned me have been inspected. Two are rich mineral deposits, one is empty, and the remaining ones are in areas with complex information pollution. The relevant data has been edited using the instruments you gave me. Did you receive it?"—A communication channel opened, followed by Logandao's voice and a half-body image with a somewhat poor signal. After everyone else had been assigned tasks, Patchouli had tasked him with piloting a giant robot to explore several coordinates that the nano-gray tides couldn't precisely detect. He completed the task faster than Patchouli had anticipated.

Chu Xuan seemed to have some special arrangements for Logandao, but this did not conflict with Patchouli's request. As Logandao's communication was established, a massive amount of data surged into the data ocean where Patchouli was located along the somewhat unstable communication channel.

“Well done.” Patchouli glanced at the briefing, and several key data points immediately came to mind. She nodded to Logandao and gave him a gentle smile. “Thank you for your hard work, Logandao.”

"Oh, not at all, this mission is a little complicated, but it's no problem for me, hahaha... Things like geomagnetic storms and underground high-energy pulses can't break my defenses at all!" Luo Gandao on the other end of the communication line looked embarrassed, but his lips were curled into a wide smile. In the Central Continent Team, a formidable squad of reincarnation experts, he was usually the one who got beaten down and lost all his spirits. Being praised like this was a rare treat, and he naturally felt a surge of joy.

"Is there anything else I can do? Like the task we just did, I could easily do ten or eight more!"

“Personally, I think you could go back to base to rest, but if you insist, there are still nine slightly more distant coordinates that need to be manually explored.” Patchouli smiled and shook her head, then remotely transmitted another set of data. She also arranged for a mechanical engineering team to go to the point that had already been confirmed as a mineral belt by Logan Road. That would be a key step in the base’s next expansion.

“Understood, leave it to me.” On the screen, Logan patted his chest, and the communication channel was immediately shut down. As his presence completely disappeared, Patchouli’s smile also quietly faded.

The laughter was genuine, but the depth of emotion it conveyed remained unknown. After resolving this unexpected news, Patchouli continued processing the numerous intelligence reports at her disposal. Under her direction, the overall construction and expansion of the base underwent a slight shift.

In the past, she probably wouldn't have paid much attention to Logandau. He had many flaws, but only a few strengths. Alice might have devoted some attention to Logandau because of the potential he showed in his prediction records. But for Patchouli, she could never tolerate anything other than Alice.

She only had eyes for Alice, and only allowed Alice to exist. In her view, everything else, including herself, was merely an object or tool to be used or consumed. This idea had been deeply rooted in her heart for many years and had never changed in the slightest.

But after she came into this world, everything seemed to change. Her thoughts and perceptions remained the same. Yet, deep within her, an invisible barrier seemed to have been quietly dispelled. She discovered that she could actually look away from Alice. And even when she did, she didn't feel that her heart had changed.

In terms of computational ability alone, I should be considered at the extraordinary level now, perhaps even stronger than someone like Zheng Zha who has achieved a genetic lock advancement. But computational ability alone is not enough. Body, soul, mind, and power—computational ability can probably be considered a combination of power and soul. If I wanted, activating all my body cells to forcibly enter the fourth stage might not be impossible, but according to calculations in the previous world, my current mind seems insufficient to suppress the will of my cells and become truly extraordinary.

But why do I now feel that as long as I make up my mind, I can unlock the fourth stage of the genetic lock at any time?

An unbelievable thought echoed in her mind. The idea seemed absurd no matter how she looked at it, yet her deepest self-awareness immediately judged it to be correct. Faced with this situation, Patchouli felt as if she had awakened from a state of not knowing whether she was dead or alive in some place that couldn't even be named hundreds of years ago. She felt like she was living in a dream.

No, it wasn't even a dream, because controlling her own dreams was already an instinctive operation for her. To be lost to this extent, it could only be within the dreams of other beings, and these beings would be at least two levels higher than her.

[Obviously, that's impossible. So I guess I'm just being impatient. Did seeing Alice successfully break through to the fourth level make me have the same thought? That's possible, but it doesn't feel right. If I really thought that way, my actions would be more hasty and extreme, not like what I'm doing now…]

[...he seemed completely confident.]

[But if I'm so confident, why don't I know exactly how this 'bamboo' will grow?]

Her thoughts grew increasingly confused. Her intuition told her she could break through to the fourth level at any moment. But the reins of reason firmly bound her actions, preventing her from taking unnecessary risks. However, reason has its limits; she knew she wouldn't be able to endure it for long before attempting it, and therefore she needed to make the necessary preparations and safeguards beforehand.

The six hundred million mortals about to be born were one of the insurance policies she had taken for herself. Through completely controlling the evolution of a civilization, sociological experiments using hundreds of millions of living beings as material were enough for her to master the skills and strategies to suppress these chaotic, powerful wills when activating all cells and awakening their pan-consciousness. She had essentially completed all the preparations; the only thing lacking was the native inhabitants who should be transported here soon.

According to the plan, the first group should have arrived by now. Chu Xuan and the other two teams are one thing, but Zhao Yingkong, who possesses spatial teleportation abilities, should at least have reached the destination and be transporting people back.

She pondered, waited, filled with anticipation while suppressing a slight restlessness within. Just as a hint of annoyance began to surface, a spatial shift, beyond her comprehension, suddenly occurred beside her!

She turned her head abruptly.

And the next moment—

"Coo coo, coo coo—" A messenger, like a pigeon, appeared at the coordinate point where space shifted. Meeting her gaze, which suddenly shifted from expectation to silence, it let out an innocent and weak coo.

"Coo coo coo, coo coo coo—"

Section Twenty-Two: Not Invited

The pigeon appeared beside Zhan Lan with the message and then silently departed. When her companions arrived upon hearing the news, they all put down their tasks and came to her side. She then informed the others of the rather unpleasant and sudden news.

"Miss Patchouli just sent a message saying that there's been a problem with Sakura, so the strategy of having Sakura build the portal herself is no longer viable. We must find another way to bring these mortals back."

The news came suddenly, but the reincarnators of the Central Continent Team clearly possessed the resilience to handle unexpected events. They quickly adjusted their state and responded immediately.

"What is the new plan that Sister Patchouli gave us?" Xiao Honglu asked first. "What are we supposed to do, and what happened to Sister Yingkong?"

“The specifics are unclear, but it seems that Yingkong encountered another mortal leader, Riku, whom Liu Yu mentioned, and discovered something interesting about him. For some reason, Yingkong decided to travel with this mortal leader for the time being. Therefore, we will not receive support from the spatial passage for the time being,” Zhan Lan replied. With a flick of her mental scanning skill, the orcs approaching their area on the ground came into view. The fierce and elite force made her raise an eyebrow slightly.

As originally planned, by the time these orcs arrived, the relocation of the entire mortal tribe should have been completed or nearly completed. All that would be left for these creatures was an empty, abandoned lair and a massive natural disaster that would soon engulf everything. Ultimately, nothing would remain, and the traces left by the reincarnators would be completely erased.

But that was an estimate, and that estimated plan has now clearly gone wrong.

"Miss Patchouli has arranged another evacuation plan for us. With Sakura Sora not around, long-distance space jumps must be avoided. We must stay here and wait for the alternative plan that Miss Patchouli has provided—a swarm of nanobots that is traveling along the upper mantle and will accelerate to around 600 kilometers per hour after entering the asthenosphere. According to Miss Patchouli, it will reach our area within twelve hours and transform into an underground shuttle large enough to carry the entire mortal settlement. Then we will return to the base area after about seven days."

"Twelve hours... seven days, huh?" Xiao Honglu pondered the number. "It won't take those orcs more than half an hour to find us here. Looks like we'll have to have a good fight with them here... How's the situation with the other teams? What about Brother Zhang Jie and Brother Chu Xuan?"

"Zhang Jie's situation is the same as ours, and they have six hours more to go. As for Chu Xuan's situation—Miss Patchouli didn't say much. I suppose we don't need to worry about that too much."

"Tsk, so mysterious." The twelve-year-old boy plucked a short hair from his forehead, pondered for a moment, and clearly sorted out the current situation in his mind. He quickly realized that although this battle was somewhat sudden and not in the original plan, its occurrence was not necessarily a bad thing.

Ultimately, we are reincarnators. While it's necessary for reincarnators to think, the hardness of our fists is the essential condition for survival in this world. While the gap between us and the top tier isn't too large yet, using a few high-intensity, fast-paced battles to unleash our potential isn't a bad idea. I even suspect that Chu Xuan had already planned for us to participate in individual battles when dividing the teams. Otherwise, if we were just acting as guides and porters, why would we need several people to form a combat team capable of both offense and defense at close and long range!

[And this is just one benefit; establishing some authority among these native mortals through this battle is also a natural outcome. Although I don't understand exactly how Patchouli plans to manage these native mortals, it's likely related to information magic or the covenant between humans and gods. It's better to show kindness now than to establish authority later.]

[Furthermore, our battle here should also provide cover for the other side. Although Brother Zheng Zha and Sister Alice are already causing trouble on the outside to draw fire, we don't need to worry too much about Chu Xuan's side. However, Sister Ying Kong must have encountered an extraordinary situation to change her plans. A special mortal might not be worth her doing this, but if this special mortal is involved with other powerful races, that's a different story.]

He plucked out a second hair, then a third, then a fourth… Although his physical constitution had long since improved to the point where he could ignore the slight itching caused by thinking, a habit is a habit, and harmless little quirks are always hard to change, or something he doesn't want to change.