On my second playthrough, they were full of malice towards me.

The shimmering crystal ball was carefully placed on the desk in the dormitory.

This is a task assigned to me by Lady Reina.

All I need to do next is contact the Holy Kingdom in the name of the Sealed City and send the crystal ball to that goddess.

For some reason, this time, Liao Ji in the dream, although from God's perspective, could still hear Caroline's inner thoughts.

Just as he had guessed, the crystal ball was indeed given away by Caroline. However, Liao Ji still looked regretful because in this dream, it was clearly Lena who gave away the crystal ball, and Liao Ji did not see Lena's figure.

Although it was a bit of a disappointment, Liao Ji felt that he might be able to glean some other information from the thoughts of Lena's personal secretary, so he didn't rush to quit but continued watching.

Caroline was about to pick up the crystal ball and put it into the package, but soon the succubus secretary stopped and even unwrapped the crystal ball that was already wrapped.

Just as Liao Ji was wondering about Caroline's perplexing behavior, the secretary's inner thoughts resurfaced.

Lady Corena also said that she was not a qualified succubus, but this crystal ball contains learning materials that can improve her succubus knowledge.

Lady Lena also gave me a key to the spell to open the crystal ball, in addition to the goddess. Wouldn't it be a waste if I didn't open it now?

[Besides, as the sender, and given how important this crystal ball is, I definitely need to open it and check its contents first, right? That way, I can better understand how to complete Lady Reina's mission.]

Yes, it's all for the mission, and also for learning.

With these thoughts running through his mind, Caroline finally reached for the crystal ball with his sinful hand, activated it using a spell, and immediately the images inside appeared.

Liao Ji: "."

He suddenly realized that his previous image of Caroline as a "shrewd and capable" and "reliable" secretary was starting to crumble.

However, as time went on...

Bang!

The image was turned off by Caroline with a blank expression the second it appeared, which made Liao Ji next to her breathe a sigh of relief.

It seems that although this succubus secretary is somewhat susceptible to temptation, she still retains her integrity and knows the dangers of a precipice.

Caroline closed the crystal ball, her high heels clicking crisply on the floor as she hurried to the window. She then slammed the curtains shut, plunging the room into darkness.

The secretary then went to the bedroom door, locked it from the inside, and finally went to the wardrobe. Her golden ponytail hung down her back. After bending down and taking out a large roll of paper from under the wardrobe, Caroline took off her high heels, though she was still wearing her black stockings. She returned to the bed, adjusted her glasses, and then opened the crystal ball again.

Liao Ji: "."

"Hmm, it seems Caroline has indeed studied the materials diligently, which puts my mind at ease." Suddenly, a seductive voice rang out beside Liao Ji, catching him somewhat off guard.

Immediately afterwards, Liao Ji felt himself being forcibly pulled out of God's-eye view, and his figure appeared in Caroline's dream, along with... appearing out of thin air at the same time.

Another succubus.

A pink-haired succubus.

"Greetings, my Lord Ashes. I never imagined that our first meeting after five hundred years would be in a place like this. But it doesn't seem so bad, does it?"

Following the flippant words, Lena's ruby-like bright eyes stared straight at the young man in front of her. Above her red pupils were long eyelashes, like snowflakes, which were extremely beautiful in the blink of an eye.

Succubi have always had very thick hair. Even though Rena chose a medium-short haircut that reached her ears, her fluffy pink hair still looked like it had been permed, resembling a pink ocean.

A pair of curved succubus horns protruded from both sides of the pink fur. To Liao Ji, who had seen many of Jiu You's dragon horns, the succubus horns had no sharpness at all. They were curved more, like sheep horns, and even a little cute.

Seeing that Lord Ash was looking her over, Lena curled the corners of her mouth. She stood gracefully with one hand on her hip, not minding showing off her slender and perfect figure. Her plump tail curled up, and the heart-shaped tip of the tail swayed back and forth, which showed that its owner was happy.

But after Liao Ji fell silent, the pink-haired succubus seemed a little unhappy and said:

"Why aren't you saying anything, Lord Ash? You were the one who came to find Lena, and now Lena has to take the initiative? Hmm... that's quite interesting."

"Although it was a bit sudden, well, let me explain. For me, anyone who tries to impersonate me will be detected by me, and anyone who tries to spy on me will also be detected by me. So when you, Lord Ash, entered Caroline's dream to try to find me, I already sensed it in the Magic City."

"As for the last thing, entering someone else's dream is a piece of cake for me. After all, I've done this countless times and I'm very skilled at it."

"Alright, before we officially begin to enjoy our reunion, is there anything else you want to ask me, Lord Ash?"

If anyone else had said these things, it would have been difficult for Liao Ji to believe them, but Lena is different. This field of mysticism is precisely what the "supernatural" type excels at, and as one of the best in it, it's not an exaggeration for Lena to be able to do these things.

What Liao Ji truly found abstract and exaggerated was...

"so."

Liao Ji looked the succubus up and down, then asked with a hint of helplessness, "What are you wearing right now?"

The succubus, Reina, appeared in the dreamlike vision. She was wearing the same goddess robe that Styutia had worn before, but it was clearly a replica. It lacked any holy radiance and had been modified by Reina. She made the slits on the lower half of the robe even more open and daring, completely exposing the sides. The curves of her upturned buttocks could even be faintly seen. The front was even more outrageous, with only a long, thin piece of fabric, like a loincloth, barely covering her legs.

The robe at the front of the head has a cutout design at the chest, and if you lower your head slightly, you can see that it is covered with a plump and rounded lace lining. This is no longer a goddess's robe, but more like a erotic robe.

"What, is Lady Ash not satisfied with the outfit I designed for Styutia? How about this one?"

Liao Ji only felt a blur before his eyes, and the next moment, Lena transformed into a figure in red armor and boots, looking exactly like the Empress version of the Dragon Girl. However, just like Styutia's outfit, Jiu You's outfit was also modified by Lena. When worn by a succubus, it was simply changed from the previous "erotic robe" to an "erotic military uniform".

Liao Ji: "."

"With your abilities, it shouldn't be difficult to teleport from Shanghai to China, right? Since you're willing to come see me, why don't we just meet in reality?"

If this continues, the topic will be steered astray, Liao Ji asked directly.

Lena initially pursed her lips, seemingly unhappy that Liao Ji was so clueless as to start talking about serious matters with her. However, she quickly composed herself and shook her head at Liao Ji.

"It's too late. From the moment you refused my teleportation and went to find Jiuyou, I was no longer able to see you."

"Because if I insist on going to see you too, it will wake 'them' from their 'dream'."

Liao Ji frowned and asked, "Them?"

"Yes, those 'observation bodies' that were deployed across the world by Zero over the past five hundred years to search for you."

"As for why we can't wake 'them' up."

Lena paused for a moment before answering the question:

"Lord Ash, do you still remember the plan that the first 'Observer' you awakened at the Sand Bar was preparing to carry out against the Black Hole settlement?"

Chapter 170 Observational Body

plan?

Liao Ji only knew that at the Sea Sand Bar, Zero wanted to transform himself into a mechanical giant, but judging from what Lena just said, it was clearly not that she was referring to.

The succubus didn't bother with any more mystery; with a wave of her hand, light and shadow shifted, and the dreamlike scene around her was quickly reconstructed. When Liao Ji regained his senses, he was already floating high in the sky, and beneath his feet...

It was the same place where he first transmigrated.

Lena didn't explain much after that; she just stayed by Liao Ji's side, indicating that he should just watch quietly.

Soon after, a meteor-like point of light appeared in the pitch-black night sky above the Black Hole settlement. Its trajectory was so conspicuous in the darkness that it seemed to be trailing a long white tail.

At first glance, it didn't seem fast, as if it was just crawling in the air, but in reality, after only a minute or two, the meteor had already turned into a blazing fireball, filling Liao Ji's entire field of vision, and finally crashed into the southeast corner of the Black Hole gathering place.

A fraction of a second later, the powerful shockwave from the explosion transformed into a tsunami-like surge of air, destroying all the buildings within the Black Hole settlement. Beneath the hellish inferno, a massive mushroom cloud rose and expanded.

Even from God's perspective, Liao Ji's view from high above was filled with the bright light of day. After a few seconds of brief blindness, when he looked down, what he saw was a dark mass of caves that was almost completely leveled, and even "ruins" would be an understatement.

"TS-283 medium-sized tactical nuclear bomb, produced by Kyle Technology. There are at least five figures of nuclear bombs with this power within the Mechanic Alliance. As for the smaller ones, they are countless, too numerous to count." After everything was over, Lena's voice rang out again.

"Lord Ash, the level of contamination from the 'Observer' you encountered in the Black Hole was relatively low, and the world's deviation wasn't too great at the time, which is why you managed to stop in time. Otherwise, she would have dropped a nuclear bomb to wipe out a Kaleva gang."

"But if we put this in the present day, and all the 'observation bodies' around the world were to awaken, you can probably imagine what the world would become, right?"

With another wave of her hand, the infernal inferno and the horrific scene below vanished into thin air, and the scene within the dreamscape transformed once more.

This time, they arrived at the top of a tall tower. Looking up, they saw a dazzling starry sky and the Milky Way that seemed within reach, while looking down, they saw a bustling metropolis with bright lights and vibrant nightlife.

An exquisite private courtyard was built on the top of the tower, surrounded by exotic orchids that bloom only at night and emit a delicate fragrance. In the cage-style pavilion, two people sat facing each other. Lena, who had changed into a dark purple dress that Liao Ji was familiar with, elegantly poured a cup of mellow black tea for the young man opposite her.

Liao Ji accepted the tea, then looked at the many delicious and tempting snacks on the table, and surveyed the beautiful night view from the top of the mountain. Clearly, this was the place the succubus had designed for their actual meeting and conversation.

It's clearly his dream, and there should be 86 monitoring it from the side, but right now it seems that Lena is more like the master of this place, able to control everything in the dream at will.

After taking a sip of tea, the succubus Xiao Min continued speaking to Liao Ji:

"For the first two hundred years, the 'observation bodies' deployed by Zero could function normally. However, in the following three hundred years, with the passage of time and the increasingly worn-out contracts, the contamination within Zero could no longer be contained and became uncontrollable. Consequently, all the 'observation bodies' connected to Zero, as its replicas, were also affected. They began to report errors frequently, and the data became increasingly disordered."

"If this continues, before we can even 'observe' you, this world will be destroyed by these out-of-control machines. That's why the subsequent 'dream entry' plan came about. In short, Zero herself is barely able to protect herself and no longer has the ability to retrieve or destroy these 'observation bodies.' Therefore, she can only lock 'them' up inside her 'dream.'"

Hearing this, Liao Ji finally had a question that had been bothering him for a long time answered.

Although he was unaware of these inside details before, Liao Ji learned about the concept of "observation body" thanks to the appearance of 86.

Following this logic, it was understandable that he was unknown in the Holy Kingdom, but as he caused more and more trouble and successfully reconciled with Sciutia, causing a miracle to occur again and light rain to fall throughout the Holy Kingdom, if there really is an "observation body", with the powerful computing power that "Dream" is showing now, it can definitely analyze and calculate a lot.

If that's not enough, then the subsequent declaration of war by the Dragon Kingdom, the blood sacrifice and the spirit of oblivion in the sealed capital, and the series of events triggered by my trip to the Southern Territory—it would be too strange if the "Observation Entity" hadn't reacted. However, that's indeed the case. Throughout my time in the Dragon Kingdom, the Mechanical Alliance seemed to have made no move whatsoever, let alone Zero.

Therefore, Liao Ji had roughly guessed that perhaps 86 was a very "special" observation body, while most of the other "observation bodies" had become ineffective or obsolete over the long period of five hundred years.

Looking back now, I guess I was half right.

They were not rendered useless. On the contrary, it was precisely because they were not rendered useless and still retained most of their abilities that they became a great threat after going out of control and were forcibly "dormant".

"So the deviation value you mentioned earlier refers to the impact I will have on this world after my return, right?"

"Based on my experience using the Dreamscape these past few days, even if the 'Observation Entity's' computing power isn't as strong as 86, it should still be able to deduce scenarios for the next few years, or even a decade or more. And if the reality differs significantly from the future scenarios they've calculated, it will trigger some kind of error correction mechanism, forcibly waking them from hibernation?"

Even when a person is sound asleep and dreaming, it doesn't mean that all the neurons in the brain are resting; some are still active, which is what is commonly referred to as the subconscious.

Therefore, if footsteps are heard at night, or if a stranger approaches, or if any unusual noise is perceived by the brain as "unnatural," the subconscious will pull the person out of sleep, which is what is meant by being woken up.

After the succubus on the other side nodded in confirmation, Liao Ji fully understood the initial question: why Lena didn't come to see her had nothing to do with superficial reasons like being arrogant.

Someone of Reina's caliber, if she makes a move, the resulting deviation will be much greater than that of others.

and many more.

Liao Ji suddenly realized a serious problem: if Lena couldn't move, then by the same logic, couldn't Jiu You and Styutia also...?

Liao Ji quickly followed up with, "Lena, what's the current deviation value?"

"Unfortunately, Lord Ash, according to my calculations, we are nearing the critical threshold. This means that whether I come to you or you bring Jiuyou and Sishutia to me, especially the latter, the resulting deviation, due to the cumulative effect, will be more than twice that of the former, immediately triggering a large-scale awakening of 'observation bodies' around the world."

"Even if Zero, as the mother entity, can re-establish a contract with you, as you've seen from Sciutia, the contamination isn't so easily eradicated. Before Zero regains control of these 'observation bodies,' the world might already be nuked to a crisp, right?"

Chapter 171 Dr. Liao Ji

This intelligence completely overturned Liao Ji's previous plans. Before the threat of these "observation bodies" was resolved, Jiu You and Si Xiutiya could not move at all.