The portable grandfathers that appear are all problematic.

The prince frowned, but could only sigh and say, "Go down. It's possible that the empire has been struck by a strange plague, but news of this must still be kept secret and relayed to me as quickly as possible."

"Ok!"

The prince saw the message sent back from the Land of Judgment, and a great weight was lifted from his heart. But at that moment, another great weight began to weigh on his heart.

For some unknown reason, 12 days ago, a large number of stillbirths suddenly occurred among newborns or pregnant women about to give birth throughout the empire.

Actually, this wasn't a problem a few days ago, and not many people cared. After all, the empire was still in the early stages of industrial development, and it would take several days for a message to spread throughout the entire empire.

At most, it was discovered by those with ulterior motives who believed that some kind of special plague or contamination had suddenly caused an extremely high mortality rate among children during this period.

But as time went on, for a full 12 days, no more newborns were born in the entire empire. Even babies that were halfway through development became stillborns, and even if a baby was born, it would often die again after a few days.

All of this has escalated over time. Just a few days ago, I was too busy with the Great Expedition to pay attention to the situation here, but now, it is like the Sword of Damocles hanging over my head.

Even in the Imperial Hospitals, a rumor has spread.

That is, "The world is about to be destroyed, and we have lost the ability to have children."

He immediately arrested the rumor-monger and sent him to the Military Intelligence Bureau.

While this may suppress public opinion, the fact that not a single child was born successfully in over ten days is not normal for a country with more than a billion people.

He even had a feeling that this prince might be a curse from God.

"I hope it's just a disease or contamination..." he thought, and dispatched a large number of people to investigate whether there were any unknown diseases or contamination in the bodies of the mothers of those stillborn babies.

However, after seeing the four teams of demons instantly eliminated on the screen, all of whom were single-handedly defeated by Xue Dinglu, a smile crept onto his face.

In short, it's not all bad.

……

"Let's begin. I have a suspicion that the Demon race's genetic situation is exactly the same as ours. We were all cloned, not born naturally," the true Mad Viscount said to the Golden Emperor.

"But what is the significance of knowing whether we were truly born naturally or through a special method?" the Emperor asked his collaborator.

The Mad Viscount instantly looked at the founding emperor of the human empire with the eyes of someone looking at an idiot. He felt that this emperor was a fool, just a representative who had been pushed up, and did not have the wise, brave and decisive appearance described in later records.

He even began to doubt whether his lifelong research into a stable method to summon the emperor was a mistake.

But they are still allies now. He explained, "It's actually very crucial. We are all like copies, so where is the original that copied us? Is it the gods? If one day the gods take back their authority, or if the gods die, where will we go?"

After the mad viscount finished speaking, the emperor fell silent.

"In most cases, if the gods die, the entire world will instantly fall into infertility. We will all die, and no new life will be born. At most, the entire world will completely collapse in 50 years," the Mad Viscount said, expressing his thoughts.

The Emperor fell silent again. Although he was the son of a peasant and his own political acumen was not high and his vision was not far-reaching, he could understand from the Mad Viscount's words what kind of crisis the future of the empire would face if his guess was true.

“I have another guess: the empire itself is already facing a fertility crisis, but it hasn’t manifested itself yet because it’s been so short,” the Mad Viscount continued, sharing his conjecture.

"So we need to find the demons, or even capture them alive. I want to see if their genes are the same as ours. Ideally, I'd like to capture a man and a woman alive. If their genes are different, then I'm thinking, could we use the demons' genes to change our reproductive crisis?" The Mad Viscount had even come up with a research plan after the Holy Grail War.

"At that time, I will need you to reveal your identity and then get me enough research materials and resources."

The mad viscount's words caused the emperor to frown deeply, even though he knew the mad viscount's plan was necessary. After all, if what he said was true, the whole world would gradually wither away because there would be no newborns.

If the demons' genes are different from humans', then at least it proves that there is still a chance for things to turn around. If the demons' hosts actually have the same genes as humans...

The emperor could not imagine such a future. He felt that if it were to happen, the whole world would be finished. Within fifty years, the world would only have old people and no more newborns.

The empire is on the verge of extinction, and civilization will be utterly wiped out.

This is the future he absolutely does not want to see.

Soon, they rushed onto the demon's initial island, but after searching for a long time, they still couldn't find the enemy.

They finally found the enemy just before dawn.

It was a pair of a boy and a barbarian, with the barbarian leading a giant deer that was over ten meters tall, as if it were his mount.

“Proceed according to plan,” the Mad Viscount said immediately.

"Alright!" The emperor obeyed the younger generation's arrangement. In the next instant, thick golden armor appeared all over his body, and he raised a golden greatsword that was more than two meters tall, looking exactly like a giant golden man.

The enemy had obviously also discovered the two people here. Based on their experience, they quickly judged that the Mad Viscount was probably the host, while the big golden man was a Heroic Spirit.

So they prepared accordingly. The barbarian slammed to the ground in an instant, and the next moment, a small, goblin-like monster appeared in front of the boy as a guard. He then led the giant deer towards the Golden Emperor.

……

"The fifth team!" Xue Dinglu finally found a demon girl.

Her appearance was so thin that she looked like a skeleton. If it weren't for the information transmitted back by the cursed blood, Xue Dinglu really wouldn't have been able to imagine that she was a girl.

He strapped these people to the cross, knocked them unconscious, and began his research.

However, like everyone else, this girl's genes are highly similar to those of the Ninth Apostle, and this similarity has even begun to distort their very nature.

Xue's Law even suggests that if everyone has highly similar genes, is there still a need for sexual reproduction?

The essence of sexual reproduction is for the sake of genetic diversity, for the evolution of the population, and even for better adaptation to the environment.

The more primitive an organism is, the more it relies on division or simple reproduction; the more complex and advanced an organism is, the more it acquires genes from the outside world to fill its gene pool.

This is the essence of the universe.

However, in this world, everyone's genes are highly similar to those of the Ninth Apostle.

Xue's Law even suspects that human reproduction in this world is not actually sexual reproduction, but simply replication and cloning.

The Ninth Apostle's genes have polluted the entire world, and all species in the world are evolving in the direction of the Ninth Apostle, just as the appearance of all intelligent life in the universe is evolving towards the King.

So, after countless years, this world came into being?

Xue Dinglu thought for a moment, or perhaps only the participants in the Holy Grail War are like this?

All participants in the Holy Grail War were controlled by that unknown shadow. After controlling their hosts, the shadow altered their genes and, through intercourse, purified and expelled all other genes in the world, resulting in a population completely distorted by the genes of the Ninth Angel.

Why did they do this? And why did this happen in the first place?

Xue's law thought of a virus on Earth called Wolbachia, which is an extremely rare virus, so rare that it exists in more than 99% of insects worldwide.

This virus enhances the insect host while, like a devil's contract, severely restricting the insect's reproduction.

In other words, mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia can only reproduce with mosquitoes infected with the same virus. If they mate with uninfected mosquitoes or mosquitoes infected with other viruses, Wolbachia will instantly destroy the other mosquito's reproductive ability, ensuring that only mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia can reproduce successfully.

Xue knew that in his country, the biological way to control mosquitoes was to release different species of Wolbachia mosquitoes into the local environment. These different species of mosquitoes would instantly destroy the reproductive capacity of the local native mosquitoes.

Wolbachia is like a devil's contract. It grants infected individuals stronger physical attributes, greater combat power, and longer lifespans, but at the cost of completely controlling the host's reproductive rights.

This virus had also been used as research material in his parallel world counterpart, but in the end he chose bacteriophage as the carrier to fight against the Divine Tree.

The world today is very much like a place where this virus is rampant, but Wolbachia only spreads among insects on Earth, and there has never been a case of it infecting humans.

But this world is different. The entire world seems to have been completely polluted by the genes of the Ninth Apostle. At least in the samples he found with his cursed blood, the entire world seems to have been completely hijacked by the genes of the Ninth Apostle.

Xue Luding thought that if he was lucky enough to successfully save the world, he would definitely go and study biology.

Or perhaps, he could have his parallel universe counterpart give him a lesson, since the current situation is beyond his ability to resolve through mere speculation.

Even the blood of the curse cannot eradicate this curse. Even if the curse can break their contract with the heroic spirit, their genes are already fixed, which is a disaster that even the blood of the curse cannot solve.

Furthermore, given that the entire world is a gene pool of the Ninth Apostle, could it be that the magical ritual of the Great Expedition was actually a resurrection ritual of the Ninth Apostle?

The circumstances surrounding the various rituals were incredibly diverse. For instance, back in Boston, the mystic Brinton couldn't believe that Xue's Law and his colleagues could transform into giants of light through a simple ritual called "To Glory."

For Xue, an outsider, the local rituals were likely far beyond his comprehension.

However, Xue Dinglu felt that the most likely scenario was that this was actually just a ritual for the divine tree to absorb more nutrients.

That is, through this war called the Great Expedition, the two sides will decide which side will become the nourishment for the Divine Tree in the future.

The victorious side is allowed to recuperate by the divine tree, while the loser side will be endlessly exploited by the divine tree.

If one side keeps winning and has far exceeded the optimal recovery time given by the Divine Tree, the regulators will start blowing the whistle unfairly and forcing them to lose.

This is also a possibility.

But there are also issues such as genetics, and more and more questions about the world seem to be flooding into Xue's mind.

He has yet to see the true family of the Ninth Apostle, but the problems he has encountered are already giving him a headache.

"Can the Starfleet solve a problem of this magnitude?" Xue Lude thought for a moment, calculating the time. The Starfleet should have obtained the coordinates of this world from the corpse of the Ninth Apostle.

Are they candidates who aren't ready to come yet, or are they postponing it for a while?

Xue Dinglu arrived first anyway, which gave him a headache.

At that moment, the archer suddenly transmitted information to him through the contract: "There are enemies."

The connection between the Heroic Spirit and the Contractor is not particularly strong. Such remote information transmission will only give the other party a vague sense of it, as if they have suddenly become distracted.

This small influence alone is enough to convey a lot of information.

The rule set by Xue's Law is that if an enemy is encountered, notification should be given immediately; if the enemy is difficult to resist, notification should be given again immediately.

However, upon seeing the strength of the demon enemies, Xue Dinglu immediately realized that he had been overthinking things.

Of the five teams he has controlled so far, only the last one is somewhat strong, but it is only at the near-Tier 4 level.

Even though Xue Lude was suppressed by the barrier of this world and most of the insect-eating tree in his body was sealed, he could still easily reach a combat power of level 4 or above.

Therefore, even the near-Tier 4 heroic spirit wearing skeletal armor couldn't have the slightest effect on him.

Therefore, when the archer sent back the information, Xue Lude didn't take it seriously. He thought that the two near-4th rank Heroic Spirits should be able to easily protect Lana.

But in an instant, the archer sent back another message.

This startled Xue Dinglu, who had already drawn his dimensional sword and opened a portal.

"Are there enemies of level 4 or higher on the demon side?" Xue Dinglu immediately abandoned his ongoing research.

After all, this research can continue indefinitely, but Lana only has one life.

Even though it was just someone randomly chosen to get the ticket to this grand expedition, Xue Dinglu will not give up on her.

……

The Land of Judgment, the original landing site for humanity.

In that instant, the female pirate and the archer were like cats with their fur standing on end.

They faced only one enemy, a centaur knight who appeared to be a skeleton, wielding a chain sword. Despite this, the aura emanating from that heroic spirit was incredibly strong!

He was terrifyingly strong, giving the impression of completely surpassing the Blood Duke.

They couldn't even believe that there was such a powerful heroic spirit among the demons.

During their great expedition against the demons, they learned some information: near-Tier 4 is basically the ceiling, and the true Tier 4 combat power is the battle of the gods at the ceiling.

Therefore, when the fourth-tier Blood Duke appeared, many people felt that the game was in the bag. After Xue Law was able to easily kill the Blood Duke, even if they were short of people, the prince felt that they would have no problem.

The difference in strength was too great, and now that they saw this skeletal centaur knight, the archers immediately appeared and quickly notified Xue Dinglu.

Without another word, the horse began to gallop faster, its speed as swift as a ghost.

"Waves, heed my command!" A surging waterspout spun around the female pirate, and a massive torrent of water surged toward the centaur like a tsunami.

She thought that the large-scale waves could at least delay the situation for a dozen seconds, giving Xue Dinglu time to arrive.

The archers immediately drew their bows and nocked arrows, which were enchanted with a whirlwind and shot out in an instant. The whirlwind and the tsunami formed a massive water whirlwind that obscured the view and stirred up the surrounding dust and mud, creating a huge composite magic.

This kind of combined magic should at least delay things for a dozen seconds.

However, in the next instant, the female pirate felt her pupils constrict.

Behind the waterspout, there was no sign of the centaur skeleton knight. So where was he...?

She turned around abruptly, and the terrifying chain sword pierced through her back in an instant.

"Magic to control water? Unfortunately, those who control water elements like you are most afraid of what's behind you and what's above you." The skeletal centaur suddenly drew his chain sword and, in the next instant, deflected the arrows that were gathering a fierce wind.

In an instant, the accelerating centaur rammed into him and sent the archer flying like a rag doll.

“Pathetic.” The skeletal centaur finished speaking, completely ignoring Lana hiding in the cave on the other side, and prepared to leave on his own.

A cross-shaped portal appeared on the spot.

Xue Dinglu saw the blood-stained centaur and the two heroic spirits lying on the ground, their fates unknown. His brows furrowed.

He opened the portal in less than three seconds.

And now, in just these three seconds, the fate of these two heroic spirits is unknown.

No, or rather, it is already dead, but its soul has not yet left this body.

He sensed it; the enemy was in the upper-middle tier of level 4, and very strong.