Cannon Fodder

Although Douluo Continent had been shielded by the system, its connection to the God Realm remained. Thus, after deciding to send a few cannon fodder ahead to scout out Douluo Continent, the Five God Kings did not hesitate. They directly selected several Divine Officials with no backing to serve as scouting vanguards.

In the God Realm, above Divine Officials were Third-Level Gods, Second-Level Gods, First-Level Gods, and Supreme God Kings. Divine Officials were therefore the lowest rank of gods, numbering in the tens of thousands. Most had been brought up from the lower realms by gods of higher rank when they ascended. Their lifetime achievements would amount to little more than that.

As for gods who had ascended through their own cultivation or inherited divine positions, even the weakest among them were Third-Level Gods. Moreover, if they cultivated diligently, they might have a chance to advance further. They were considered the backbone of the God Realm.

The Five God Kings wielded their divine power, opening a Space Passage and sending the selected Divine Officials to Douluo Continent.

At the same time.

On Douluo Continent, Ye Cheng received a system notification at that very moment.

Ding! Five outsiders detected...

Scan complete. No threat detected.

They will be placed under control and will not be eliminated.

Hearing the system prompt, Ye Cheng hurriedly opened the System Interface. After a series of operations, the information on all five outsiders appeared before him.

To his surprise, he discovered that these five were Divine Officials who had secretly descended from the God Realm. They were simply too weak, so the system had deemed them non-threatening. After placing them under surveillance, it had left them alone.

Ever since the system had descended six years ago, locking onto this world and using it as its foundation to initiate the Question and Answer System, the entirety of Douluo Continent had essentially taken on the form of the Question and Answer System.

No tangible or intangible change could escape the Question and Answer System's surveillance. Thus, outsiders who came here from other worlds could never hide their arrival from the system. A single scan would reveal every detail about them.

"The Defense Mechanism didn't activate because the Divine Officials are too weak."

"Then could the powerful force from before—the one strong enough to trigger the system's self-defense counterattack—have been the God Kings of the God Realm making a move?" Ye Cheng looked at the system information and silently speculated.

"What a pity that only a few Divine Officials came. Otherwise, if those God Kings had dared to come down... heh heh, I could have shown them the terror of the Answering Space!" Ye Cheng felt somewhat regretful. Those God Kings were far too cautious. They only dared to send a few Divine Officials over as cannon fodder.

If they had been a little more hardheaded, a little bolder—

If the five God Kings of the God Realm had dared to descend upon Douluo Continent, they would have been locked onto by the Question and Answer System the instant they arrived. Then, whether to knead them round or flatten them would be entirely up to him.

The simplest method would be to casually make up an impossible question, designate the five God Kings to answer it, and, once they answered incorrectly, set the punishment as the deprivation of all their cultivation... Using the system's mechanisms to easily kill his opponents would have been absolutely delightful!

Unfortunately, those God Kings were too cautious. They did not dare to truly descend here in person, allowing them to escape disaster instead.

"Should I arrange a round of questions for these five Divine Officials now and deal with them directly?" Ye Cheng pondered as he looked at their information.

"No, that would feel far too targeted."

"And it would undoubtedly let the God Realm know that there is an actual controller behind the 'question and answer.' The risk of exposing myself would increase greatly!"

"It would be better to pretend I haven't noticed them and keep these five around. Then I'll only show them what I want them to know, letting them pass false information back to the God Realm... making them believe that this question and answer is merely an ownerless treasure that fell here, with no actual controller behind it."

"That would lower the God Realm's guard toward this place and might even stir their greed to claim the question and answer for themselves!"

"...If I can lure those five God Kings down to Douluo Continent, then the overall situation will be settled."

The more Ye Cheng thought about it, the more he felt that keeping these five alive was more valuable than killing them outright. In any case, they could not stir up any trouble on his turf. If he wished, he could even replay and examine everything that had happened since these people arrived.

With that being the case, what did he have to fear?

These people were the ones who should be afraid!

God Realm.

Before sending the five Divine Officials to Douluo Continent, the Five God Kings each split off a wisp of Divine Sense and attached it to one Divine Official. Following the officials through the Space Passage, they headed for Douluo Continent.

The five Divine Officials could be called not only cannon fodder, but also the eyes and ears of the Five God Kings. Through the wisps of Divine Sense attached to them, the Five God Kings could observe the situation on Douluo Continent in real time despite remaining in the God Realm.

Very soon.

Through their Divine Sense, the Five God Kings discovered that the five Divine Officials had encountered no obstruction whatsoever. They passed smoothly through the spatial tunnel and descended upon Douluo Continent.

The five Divine Officials consisted of three men and two women. After arriving on Douluo Continent, they did not act rashly. Nor did they make a grand display of their divine power. Instead, they first began searching for locals, hoping to learn what changes had taken place on Douluo Continent.

Very soon.

After using memory-searching methods to examine the memories of many locals, the five Divine Officials finally determined what the abnormal power enveloping all of Douluo Continent actually was.

Question and Answer Space?

Answering questions?

Rewards for correct answers, punishments for wrong ones.

After the five God Kings in the God Realm reviewed the information transmitted through the Divine Sense, they all fell silent.

This so-called question and answer was clearly not a power that should exist on Douluo Continent. It seemed more like something only the gods of the God Realm could accomplish. To be honest, if they were willing to pay any cost, they truly could achieve effects similar to the Answering Space.

Yet when their God Realm faced this question and answer, even after gathering the strength of the entire God Realm, they appeared so powerless—so fragile, as though made of paper and ready to break at the slightest poke!

Clearly, this Mysterious Q&A that had suddenly descended was fundamentally far superior to the God Realm. That was why it could suppress them so easily.

"Where exactly did this Mysterious Q&A come from?"

"Why did it descend upon Douluo Continent?"

"What purpose does it serve?"

"Could it truly be nothing more than a simple question and answer?"

"And what does it gain from doing this?"

A string of questions flooded their minds. The imbalance of information made the Five God Kings increasingly wary of this Mysterious Q&A.

The unknown was the most frightening thing of all.

Without knowing anything about this Mysterious Q&A's true nature, the five God Kings did not dare act recklessly, especially after suffering such a severe loss earlier.

In the end, after discussing the matter, the Five God Kings decided to wait and see. They instructed the five Divine Officials not to attract attention or expose their identities as gods. For the time being, they were to investigate Douluo Continent and see whether they could uncover any clues about the Mysterious Q&A.

Once they understood the truth behind this question and answer, it would not be too late to act.