Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

The school she was staying at was located to the side of this small building. The name of the school didn't matter; it was likely a well-known university in this Eastern country. And extending her gaze from the balcony where she had just been, she could see an ordinary residence within a multi-family residential complex.

There was a man living there.

A disabled man, a veteran who lost both legs in a devastating flood that swept across much of the country years ago. He's been staying there for some time now. And his name is—

—Zhang Jie.

Ah, that's right. Like her, it's his real name, not some other name. And in the half-month since Alice arrived in this area, he's appeared to her as no different from an ordinary mortal.

Yes, there is no difference.

He was just an ordinary veteran. Having lost both legs, orphaned, weak, and with limited mobility, all he could do each day was some simple handicrafts. Beyond that, he spent most of his nights smoking, using alcohol and tobacco to lament everything he had lost.

A tormented man, his despair is just around the corner. There are no signs or traces of his past life's corruption on him, but he is indeed in trouble at this moment.

Alice came here to bring her idiotic teammate back to the real world.

So, how do I bring it back?

She stretched out her finger and used her fingertip to write words on the coffee table in the living room that were completely different from what she had in mind.

Two possibilities.

First, Zhang Jie's past life was either successful or on the verge of success. His current state is either a disguise or a trap… no, it's not on the verge of success. If his past life truly replaced this one, then it's entirely possible he could ascend to sainthood in one step, overcoming old obstacles… so at most, he's only on the verge of success. Therefore, what I need to do is analyze his path, his philosophy, and then dismantle it. This will bring Zhang Jie back to reality.

Secondly, Zhang Jie's past life abandoned him. There were reasons for this: Zhang Jie wasn't truly a representative of No. 4 High School. His ideals were flawed, and the light of his soul was imperfect. He ultimately failed to reach the pinnacle of No. 4 High School, remaining only at the very beginning. Therefore, he lacked the necessary conditions to become a vessel for resurrection.

Alice lowered her eyes.

[Just like Luo Mi...and Luo Ye didn't install the same measure on Zhang Jie?]

Far away, another incarnation of Alice posed a question to Luo Ye. She immediately received a non-negative answer.

Luo Ye's interference did not extend to all members of the Zhongzhou team. However, she did manage to place a suitable arrangement on Zhang Jie, as he met the criteria, but her arrangement was not triggered. This means that the probability of the second possibility becoming a reality has slightly increased.

Luo Mi was drawn into the trap because she genuinely coveted Ming Yanwei, the reincarnation of the original. The premise for her being forcibly awakened as the person from the past life was that her will was indeed projected onto Ming Yanwei.

This also means that if one is not interested in, does not want to, and has no intention of using this body from the future to be reborn, then Luo Ye's trap will naturally not be triggered. Because her prey did not even cast a glance in the direction covered by the trap.

She stopped writing.

[Therefore, the second possibility is highly probable... that his past life abandoned him from the very beginning of this life. So, his current situation is...]

[Inner demons... huh.]

The girl shook her head.

This is quite interesting. Everyone else is engaged in this battlefield where past and present lives fight each other. Yet, Zhang Jie's style is completely unique. Not only did he not fight his past self to the death, but he also went to level up his own life. Should this be considered a stroke of luck amidst misfortune, or a comical stroke of luck?

Ah, it's not important.

The important point is that if this conjecture is true, then it's obvious that I have no way to intervene in this battle of inner demons. Without a suitable place like the Hunting Saint Ritual, even if I wanted to set up a Dragon Break Ritual to help him prove his Dao through force, it would be in vain. The only thing I can do is believe.

She didn't really like the ambiguous, uncertain word 'believe.' It meant lacking necessary conditions, being unable to make precise judgments, and thus having to rely on events not part of her intelligence system for success. She disliked the word, and she disliked the actions it implied.

'To believe' means to do less, or not to do anything at all. And this doesn't align with her principles. Therefore, she knows she will inevitably take some action. And just as she was pondering this, Luo Ye's words echoed in her ears once more.

"Go and see these worlds."

"Go and see these human civilizations."

Luo Ye's voice was fleeting, but she knew it wasn't a hallucination. She picked up the paper and pen she had taken out of the table but hadn't used. Then, like a genuinely ordinary, ordinary British exchange student, she walked out of the room, down the stairs, and onto the street in the city.

Many people greeted her along the way, and she returned their greetings one by one, following her pre-set behavioral logic—she knew them, their names, experiences, backgrounds, and structures. She knew everything about them, and she also knew that most of them didn't actually care about anything she revealed. They treated her as a foreign friend, but in reality, they didn't know her true identity here.

She passed them, like a butterfly flitting over a thicket of thorns.

She didn't hate them, because while she knew everything that was currently in existence, it didn't mean she could predict everything that would happen in the future.

This civilization is not in a closed system. Even though they reside on the surface of the cosmic dream, the resources held by their mass-energy cycle system are still infinite.

They... are changing.

I like change.

I like everything that changes and evolves.

I like this kind of civilization, regardless of which ethnic group it belongs to.

Alice crossed the street, passed through the square and the park. She gazed at this country that was rebuilding from the ashes, looking at the vibrant and determined faces of its inhabitants.

Perhaps, such a civilization should not be destroyed by the inevitable disaster that is about to arrive.

But I am a balance scale; I shouldn't lean towards either side.

She tilted her head and glanced in Zhang Jie's direction—she saw that man still had that outwardly sunny but inwardly dejected look. And she knew without even needing to calculate that he would soon face despair.

What is his inner demon? Is it the old, but difficult-to-deal-with, cliché thought: "If I hadn't become a reincarnator, everything I have would have disappeared"? Is that why he wants to relive that fate without encountering the main god in this environment, which is essentially the same as the source world, in order to gain the confidence that "I can do it on my own"?

"Ah, if that's really the case. Then, if he were to die here in despair, his inner demons might consume him… That won't do. I must find a way to prevent that possibility. However, interfering with an individual struggling with their inner demons would be harmful, whether positively or negatively."

【So……】

She reached out her hand, grasping at the sky. The next moment, a thunderous roar in broad daylight was accompanied by a halo of light descending from the heavens!

Since she couldn't interfere with the individual, she decided to influence the environment. She watched the halo of light fall into the distant plain and manifest as a suspended sphere. The next moment, whispers quietly arose in the minds of certain people, but definitely not Zhang Jie.

—Do you want to understand the meaning of life?

—Do you want to truly...live?

Chapter Thirty-Six: The Future

The world has changed.

And it changes very quickly, extremely quickly.

Because some secrets can be concealed, and some cannot. The sphere of light hovering above the Central Plains shone with a radiance far stronger than the sun. And its will radiated outwards to the surrounding areas of this land.

Alice watched as the country beneath her feet went from peace to a state of emergency, then from emergency to wartime mobilization, and progressed toward wartime at a visible speed.

First, Zhongzhou's overseas assets were urgently evacuated. Large amounts of money, assets, and overseas Chinese were decisively and forcefully evacuated and returned to the country. Then, all active-duty troops were put on a state of combat readiness, and numerous strategic points along the coast and land borders were tightly protected. Territorial waters were kept clear, and air defense measures were put into operation around important cities to ensure that long-range ballistic strikes could not be effective.

Then, the discharged soldiers were recalled. When Alice left school the next day, she often saw young or middle-aged people in military green coats, carrying bags, hurrying out of the city. They were initially scattered, but after seeing each other, they formed groups of three or five. Later, silent streams of people converged and quietly flowed into certain institutions.

Alice glanced at them a few more times, then she clearly sensed that someone was watching her. That evening, after returning to school, a group of university administrators visited her and told her that it wasn't advisable to go out recently and that she should stay on campus or in her own residence.

This country is changing very quickly.

The hospitable people of the Middle Kingdom became wary of her blonde, blue-eyed face almost overnight. Her once friendly neighbors now looked at her with suspicion and scrutiny. Alice could even sense a hint of mission in her gaze.

In this era, the internet was not yet well-developed.

When Alice turned on her laptop the following evening, she discovered that while her internet connection hadn't been cut off, her computer had been tampered with to monitor her while she was out. She couldn't find anything related to the glowing orb phenomenon when browsing the web. And when she used social media, she frequently received invitations from unknown numbers.

Some wanted her to describe the external situation, others wanted her to find a way to take a picture. If she could do it, they would immediately pay a huge reward. However, when Alice checked the entities on the other side through the internet, she discovered that besides most of the foreign forces, there were also a small number of domestic shills. Clearly, this country was determined not to let even the smallest fish escape.

She shook her head and that evening called the school administrators to come and take her computer away. As they left, they also took her cell phone and other communication devices.

Ah...it seems their determination is indeed very strong.

So Alice closed the door and, like a proper exchange student, nervously rolled into her bed to sleep. In what appeared to be a terrible sleep, she expanded her perception to a transcendent level, observing the next step in the operation of society.

She likes change and development.

Therefore, she also enjoys observing the process of change and development.

When she released her senses, she found that her city had implemented a curfew. Civil defense measures were in effect, and the People's Armed Forces headquarters, which had previously been repurposed, were brightly lit. The city was also under lockdown, and gas stations and food distribution centers began rationing supplies.

So her perception continued to extend outward.

She saw the enormous sphere of light she had created, the one for which she needed to pay royalties to the Supreme God. Several cities surrounding the area where the sphere hovered were already on high alert. All the civilians had been evacuated, replaced by heavily armed elite troops.

Beneath the sphere of light, several large, permanently fixed bases are being constructed at breakneck speed. Within a ten-kilometer radius of the sphere, not even a single uncertified mosquito could fly in. And ten kilometers away… an artillery regiment has completely plundered that area.

Great, safety is guaranteed.

As Alice's perspective shifted upwards, encompassing the entire kingdom, she saw hundreds of heavily guarded convoys departing from all over the country and converging on the location of the sphere of light.

The people of Zhongzhou called them 'Special Members'—a simple, direct, and rather rustic title. They were the first chosen ones selected by Alice's counterfeit supreme god. Two days prior, the instant the counterfeit supreme god's sphere of light appeared, Alice transported them all to hundreds of unique miniature otherworldly realms, each based on the technology of the memory world but adapted to the environment of this cosmic dream. They were given tasks within their capabilities, with rewards to be given upon completion.

The reward was a copy of the God's exchange list for S-rank and below. The best among them, however, only managed a C-rank in this mediocre first battle for newbies—not exactly a satisfactory result. Therefore, as punishment for failing the entrance exam, Alice added a rule on the spot.

—Exchanges below Grade A require physically reaching the bottom of the light sphere to complete the transaction. Furthermore, lower-level side quests are prohibited from forming higher-level ones.

Her decision led to the current situation. Many of these 'special personnel' immediately reported the news about the light orb exchange to the upper echelons of Zhongzhou. Then, after some small-scale 'conflicts,' the nation took over everything here.

Thus, any potential internal problems ceased to exist. The nation operated at full capacity, awaiting the coming era of great contention.

Alice's gaze continued upwards.

She gazed upon the continents and seas beyond the Central Plains, witnessing the turbulent events unfolding in those foreign lands. Many of those selected to participate in the trials, knowing they could not infiltrate the Central Plains to touch the sphere of the main god, chose to cooperate with their respective nations, forging a bond of mutual dependence. This, in turn, drew the attention of all the nations beyond the Central Plains to this ancient continent.

Amidst turbulent events overseas, Alice knew they would ultimately choose to reconcile. As her gaze continued upward, settling on the ring-shaped sun beyond the heavens, she clearly sensed tiny, relatively weak life forms wriggling at its edge.

Sehmet will arrive here soon.

Before its arrival, the Dao Erosion phenomenon will cause some derivatives of witchcraft to descend upon this land. Even the weakest of them possess a Tier 3 level enhanced with AA-level enhancements. Their arrival is a tangible natural disaster.

My intervention should stop here. Any further 'changes' that occur will be entirely within my calculations.

Alice ceased her observation. She stopped seeking further information and let her senses collapse inward, returning to the state of an ordinary young girl. As she returned, she glanced one last time in the direction of Zhang Jie.

He did not receive a demobilization notice.

He was not chosen by the sphere of light either.

He remained a veteran wounded in the line of duty and discharged from the army. He had been on the battlefield, but it was a battlefield against nature, not against other people. He spent his days pushing his wheelchair in front of the gate, repeatedly watching the gray-green crowds with anticipation, only to be met with loneliness again and again—ultimately, he was still not needed. Because of his seniority, his experience, he was deemed unsuitable to participate in the upcoming battles.

He waited from day to night, and then disappointment overwhelmed him.

After the last hurried procession disappeared down the street, and the night patrol warned him of the new rule against going out at night, he pushed his small wheelchair back to his little room, alone and forlorn.

He sat alone in the living room until late at night. He smoked one cigarette after another, and then waited for dawn.

Alice looked away.

She slept soundly, and then, in her dreams, casually created dozens of miniature otherworldly realms of varying sizes. Some were entirely original, while others referenced popular novels, movies, folklore, and legends from this world. She then secretly embedded purified power seeds and usable otherworldly timelines within them.

The next day, when she woke up, she received a notification from the school administrators.

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

“Margot Lloyd, the school has made new arrangements for you exchange students. You will be traveling with us from now on; we have already arranged accommodation for everyone.”

A tall, thin man with a smiling face, but whose words left no room for negotiation, appeared before her. Behind him followed two armed soldiers. Clearly, unless Alice intended to do something beyond her authority, she had little choice.

So she nodded, took her belongings, and left her room. Downstairs, she saw a bus that was already prepared, and many other exchange students who looked just like her, or at least appeared to be, filled with anxiety. They would be taken together to a closed area where they would be well-fed and cared for, but would have virtually no freedom of movement.