Lucky billion players, you've never seen one before / I can accumulate my own luck

Fan Xiao nodded: "The monsters in hell all emerge from the ground. If they made their way out like that, the earth would have been ravaged long ago."

“But we didn’t see that... I guess the land here is like the monsters here, capable of ‘self-healing’.”

"Judging from this point of view, it is very unlikely that those battle marks were left by the previous batch of dungeon players."

After a pause, he concluded directly: "Those traces should have been left by us in the last cycle. Because the interval between the two cycles is very short, the land has not had time to 'heal' itself, and the traces of the battle have not completely disappeared."

"..."

The hooded girl understood.

What the other party meant was that time in hell might not participate in reincarnation, but rather continue to move forward normally.

"It seems you have thought of it too."

Fan Xiao grinned: "That's right, I suspect that the so-called 'seven-day survival' is based on the time in Hell. The time flow ratio between Hell and the outside world is 1:15."

"In this way, if you want to survive 7 days by constantly reincarnating, you have to live 15 times 7 days, which is 105 days... Well, conservatively speaking, players need to accumulate 105 reincarnation opportunities to barely survive."

"Coincidentally, during the first cycle, both the Silver City and Obsidian City factions should have 15 players each, and each player should have the number '7' on their hand. As long as you can wipe out the opposing faction, plus the number on the back of your hand, and calmly survive until the end of the dungeon, there shouldn't be any problem."

Hooded girl: "..."

This is actually a paradox.

Players capable of annihilating the opposing faction's players would certainly not consider using such a passive approach to clear the game.

Such people will definitely pursue high ratings, so they will definitely conduct various tests in the dungeon.

Therefore, he needs other players to act as tools for him to use, so he will definitely not easily kill players from the opposing faction until the very last moment.

The hooded girl glanced at Fan Xiao subconsciously.

The treacherous fellow in front of me belongs to this type of person.

"Don't tell me this is the 'passing plan' you mentioned."

"The hooded girl said in a cold voice."

“That is indeed one of the options,” Fan Xiao shrugged, “but it has to be used during the first cycle. After that, everyone’s number of cycles will decrease, and if we use this option again, we probably won’t be able to gather enough people to last seven days.”

"There are no monsters in this area where we are now, so it's safe."

The hooded girl said, "If you just stay here and don't go back to the outside world, you can still clear the game."

"Are you serious?" Fan Xiao asked.

"Just saying," the hooded girl said in a cool voice.

"Hmm... I'm glad you didn't really think that way."

If his junior sister were an idiot, he would have to seriously consider whether or not to let her join his branch... Fan Xiao said, "Assuming that the suggestion of 'extreme danger' refers to hell, then the deeper dangers of hell may not have been revealed yet."

"It's highly likely that the real crisis of the night, corresponding to 'extreme danger,' will only arrive when Hell completely invades the outside world and causes its destruction."

"You mean... the destruction of the world itself won't cause our deaths?"

The hooded girl asked in surprise, "Did we die from the real crisis lurking in hell?"

This statement is tantamount to overturning the previous conclusion.

What kind of crisis could there be in hell that would make her, an A-level psychic power holder, unable to survive?

"Hmm, it's quite possible. This is something I came up with on the spur of the moment when I was fighting the monster. It hasn't been verified yet, and these kinds of things can't be verified. We can only guess for now."

Fan Xiao nodded and reminded him, "I suspect that if we stay in Hell for too long, it might itself be one of the conditions that trigger the final crisis."

"Otherwise, just like you said, we can wait in this area for seven days and then clear the level directly."

"This is far too simplistic. The sanctuary of 'Tomb of Guilt' has lost its purpose and become a useless dungeon design."

"Of course, that's not what I meant."

After giving his junior sister some time to process this, Fan Xiao's eyes turned serious as he continued, "What I'm about to say is purely my speculation... Since time in Hell is the real time, and time in the outside world is a illusory time that can be cycled through, then... is it possible that the outside world is also illusory?"

“Impossible!” the hooded girl said. “I have used my abilities in the outside world. If it is fake, an interference with the player’s mind, I will definitely be able to see the flaws.”

Fan Xiao didn't argue, but smiled slightly and continued, "Don't rush to refute me. When I say 'false,' I don't mean something that's as illusory as a phantom."

“What I mean is that compared to the reality of hell, the outside world is more likely to be a manifestation of something like history… or a dream.”

"Although it did become a real space, only the space and the scene were real. In essence, it was still fake, just a projection of the past."

"Why do you emphasize the past?" the hooded girl asked. "Do you believe that the outside world... is a manifestation of the past?"

"It's just a guess; I've seen similar copies before."

Fan Xiao recalled "Qingshan Prison" and "Qingshan Academy" which was manifested based on Himuro Rui's memories.

At "Aoyama Academy," the high school students, teachers, and others seem to be living normal lives, but in reality, they are just repeating history that has happened in the past.

These "people from the past," like the residents of this current instance, also have "fixed perceptions" in their minds.

Even though this understanding defies logic, they don't find it strange; they believe it deeply, as if they've been under a spell.

Because they are repeating the past from beginning to end, unable to escape this overarching logic.

Although students and teachers at Aoyama Academy can communicate normally with players, they become logically contradictory when players try to correct their "fixed perceptions".

The same applies to the inhabitants in this instance.

When asked about topics related to hell, they exhibit a decline in intelligence, becoming fixated on rigid logic and clinging to dead ends.

Does this imply that... there was no hell in the past?

Residents naturally won't care about things that don't exist.

The reason they tell players the prophecy of Hell destroying the world is most likely just a forced arrangement of the dungeon—prescribing a fixed understanding.

Of course, the two instances, "Green Mountain Prison" and "Battle of Two Cities," are only similar in appearance, not necessarily in their actual situations.

Fan Xiao considered it merely a guess and would not draw any conclusions until evidence was found.

As for the evidence... if it really exists, it's most likely in hell.

The outside world is the past.

Hell is now.

There will definitely be traces of the past left behind.

"Hopefully, some traces will remain, and these monsters won't destroy everything."

Fan Xiao silently prayed.

At this moment, the hooded girl said, "A very bold guess."

She continued her deduction along this line of thought: "If the outside world is the past, and hell is the present... that is to say, the outside world has become such a miserable hell because of a world-ending crisis."

"And our second mission is to eliminate the True King Caesar... The world-ending crisis was caused by the True King Caesar?"

She glanced around, frowned, and said, "Could it be that the real King Caesar is now living in hell? Only... he's turned into a monster?"

If that's the case, then the quest "Destroy the True King Caesar" won't conflict with players of the Order faction.

No matter how good Caesar was in the past, now... just by feeling the atmosphere of hell, you know that he must have undergone some kind of mutation and become a complete monster.

"Well done, you're pretty smart."

Fan Xiao smiled and praised him.

The hooded girl ignored her eagerness and continued, "This guess... is easy to verify. We just need to test the abilities of the true King Caesar."

"If his abilities are similar to those of the monsters in hell..."

She suddenly stopped talking at this point.

I somewhat hope this speculation doesn't come true.

Caesar, the true king, is the protector of mankind.

In order to maintain this order, he even went so far as to personally stop his only close friend from seeking revenge for his wife, thus ruthlessly trampling on the precious friendship between the two.

And now, in hell... there isn't a single living soul in sight.

The land was covered with hideous, grotesque monsters.

Perhaps these monsters were once humans.

If it was truly a problem with the true King Caesar that caused this tragedy...

A human guardian who slaughtered humanity with his own hands ended up like this... This ending is far too tragic.

Chapter 431 Let's see how you've come to like me

The hooded girl kept her guesses to herself and didn't say anything more.

The man in front of her must have already thought of this, so she didn't need to add anything extra.

She then returned to the main point: "Shall we go find Caesar the True King now and test his abilities?"

"Once the arrow is released, there's no turning back. Going directly to Caesar, the true king, is a last resort, and it's best not to use it unless absolutely necessary. After all..."

Fan Xiao glanced at the vast hell and seemed to be able to faintly sense countless breaths sleeping beneath the ground... even the earth itself seemed to be breathing.

He shook his head and reminded his junior sister, "We might not be his match, and once we start fighting, we'll have to decide who wins and who loses."

"Perhaps if we lose, he will only arrest and imprison us because we didn't kill any humans."

"But... this will put us in a very passive position, and we won't be able to gather any intelligence. This cycle will be essentially wasted."

"..."

The hooded girl did not refute this point.

She had previously thought that even if she was no match for the true King Caesar, she could still escape.

Now that she knows that Hell may have been "created" by the true King Caesar... her thoughts have changed.

It's highly likely that the true King Caesar has transformed into Hell itself, becoming Hell in its own right. She is an enemy of Hell... and the entire world. It would be strange if she could possibly defeat it.

As for escaping... she could indeed easily escape using A-level psionic energy, but if the outside world were shattered, and Hell were filled with aberrations and crises, she would have nowhere to settle down and rest, and being worn down to death in Hell would be almost inevitable.

"No wonder even I have entered the cycle of reincarnation."

The hooded girl accepted the fact that "even she herself could die in the dungeon."

"so."

She picked up where Fan Xiao left off and asked, "You mean, we should first look for clues about the past in hell?"

"That's right, that's what I'm planning to do anyway."

Fan Xiao nodded: "As for you... your ability is similar to time stop, right?"

"I suppose moving around in hell won't be a problem for you. In that case, we can split up to increase our search efficiency and meet up here again in an hour..."

"No, let's not set a time. Let's just do what we can."

"Sure, it would be better if the time was flexible."

The hooded girl nodded slightly: "We just analyzed that staying in Hell for too long might cause the final crisis of the night to arrive earlier than expected."

"With this premise in mind, setting a time becomes meaningless."

She paused, hesitated for a few seconds, and said, "I won't hold on until the limit before leaving, that's too dangerous! In the last reincarnation, we probably died in the final crisis of hell."

Is my junior sister trying to show concern and remind me not to stay until the final crisis arrives before leaving...? Fan Xiao understood the girl's arrogant concern, but pretended not to understand at all.

Not only that, he even reminded us in a very straightforward way: "You're such a coward! In the last cycle, the reason we died was most likely because the outside world was shattered, and we had no safe shelter to rest in, so we were worn down to death."

He pointed to the exit of hell not far away and said, "The 'door' is still there, and the outside world is fine. As long as we get here in a very short time, we can leave hell and avoid the final crisis."

“I have a teleportation item, so leaving at the limit is no problem at all. As for you... if you’re a coward, you can leave early.”

"Anyway, I didn't expect you to play any role in intelligence gathering. I was planning to do this myself anyway."

"..."

A surge of anger welled up in the hooded girl's heart.

After giving Fan Xiao a few cold glances, she didn't say anything more, and her figure disappeared from the spot.

It seems he didn't even bother to say a word and simply used his spiritual energy to leave... Fan Xiao nodded with considerable satisfaction.

It's incredibly easy to drive a proud and arrogant person crazy.