Strange Messages

In a room that was obviously many times more luxurious than the others, Bai Zhi lay on the bed with one hand propping up his head and closed his eyes.

—With the anomalies on the ground falling into a riot, hiding in advance was the best choice.

Although he appeared to be resting, his attention had remained focused on the Shadow Puppet on the ground the entire time.

All of his judgments about the environment above ground relied on the Shadow Puppet. Although the surface was extremely dangerous right now, he had originally intended to sacrifice the Shadow Puppet anyway.

The Shadow Puppet cost 1,000 Spiritual Energy to make. With his current reserves, he could still afford a loss of 1,000 Spiritual Energy.

Bai Zhi had originally considered sending out the Ghoul as well, but after taking the Core Area's environment into account, he ultimately decided against it.

Although the Ghoul could be reborn in the Lava World after death, dying in the Core Area was no simple matter.

The Ghouls were unlike the Shadow Guards. They had emotions of their own, joys and sorrows. They could be happy, cry, and feel pain. Bai Zhi had no intention of treating them as expendable tools.

However, that meant West Pavilion Gardener and the others would have to put in considerable effort to obtain Qualification Cards. According to Chang Xi, those strange Robots covered in rust were not uncommon in the Core Area—she had encountered three of them in a row—but judging from how the Cleaner had mercilessly crushed one into a pile of scattered scrap metal earlier, Bai Zhi did not think the situation looked optimistic.

By his estimate, this so-called screening mechanism within the Core Zone was merely the beginning of the Core Area's mutation. He did not know how