God Realm

Only Lin Li and Li Heng knew the full scope of the plan. They would separately begin operations in the virtual world and the real world.

Li Heng would be responsible for waging a direct war against Human Civilization alongside the Jelly organisms, while Lin Li would control everything concerning tens of millions of people in the virtual world and use that to provide Li Heng with sufficient information, allowing him to continuously influence the material world.

A year later, this enormous virtual world would be able to provide Li Heng with over 200 million joules of energy per second. That amount of power would be enough for him to manipulate any substance larger than one micrometer as he pleased.

For Human Civilization as a whole, however, 200 million joules per second was actually very little. It amounted to only 4.8 million kilowatt-hours per day, merely a fraction of the Three Gorges Power Station's output.

But different substances had different values. The energy released when one microgram of antimatter reacted with one microgram of ordinary matter was equivalent to that released by 43 kilograms of TNT, yet the value of the two was worlds apart.

Li Heng could convert annihilated information into whatever form of energy he needed. This meant he could even convert all of that energy into antimatter without any loss. His efficiency in using energy far surpassed humanity's current technological level.

He would be able to alter the memories of tens of thousands of people simultaneously within a few hours, or envelop ten million people in an unconscious virtual world at once and control all their actions. A country with a population of one hundred million could be completely controlled by him in just one day.

This was the source of Li Heng's confidence in carrying out the Grand Unification Project. As long as the Hong Alliance and the Commercial Alliance were thrown into internal chaos for seventy days, he could turn the remaining seven billion people in the world into one loving family.

In a city in the southern continent controlled by Manohar, Lin Li had already arrived at the factory that had been altered beyond recognition. A heavily armed team guarded the place.

Over the past month, Manohar had been tormented by this place until he had grown thin. Even his beer belly had shrunk considerably. Deep dark circles hung beneath his eyes, and his once-shining bald head no longer seemed so dazzling.

Finally seeing the person who had come to replace him, the bald man thanked Lin Li excitedly. "You have no idea what kind of life I've been living lately. Those slum dwellers only have their heads left, sitting in culture tanks, and they're living better than I am in the virtual world. Yet I have to stay out here and guard them."

Most of those slum dwellers suffered from various illnesses. Their contracts stated that they would receive free treatment for most diseases, participate in experiments involving the latest biotechnology, and receive a large sum of compensation after the experiment ended. The term was five years.

Manohar's image as a benevolent philanthropist, along with his immense power, made these people agree with barely any thought. Then their bodies were reduced to nothing but heads, soaked in culture tanks and sent into the virtual world.

And because of Li Heng's orders, the big bald man had no choice but to guard these people whose bodies had been reduced to heads every day. He even had to remain here alone.

Manohar was the only person watching over them in the enormous factory. Every night, those heads would close their eyes with all kinds of Anomaly smiles on their faces. Thin, twisting black wires extended from the backs of their heads, while the only sound in the empty factory was that of robots changing their nutrient solution.

The fear brought by the anomalous monsters and the oppressive, deserted environment tormented him day and night. On top of that, his own artificial intelligence would occasionally take on that monster's voice and issue commands. Insomnia, nightmares, and Nerve exhaustion constantly plagued him. The bald man no longer possessed the imposing air he had once had when he held great power.

Lin Li's arrival freed him from this tormenting life. He no longer cared who this person was or what social status he held. In his eyes, it would not be surprising even if that monster ruled the world someday.

The factory, which covered two hundred thousand square meters and stood thirty meters high, had been divided into ten floors. The first floor was already filled with transparent glass culture dishes. People with only their heads remaining wore intoxicated smiles in nutrient fluid, while over a hundred small robots continuously replaced the nutrients in the dishes to keep them alive.

These small robots had little heads and big bellies like snowmen, along with two small wheels and four long mechanical arms. They could work all year without rest, and in roughly eight hours, they could complete the life-support maintenance for five hundred thousand people on one floor.

Lin Li walked up to a culture dish. A woman's head swayed gently in the water with a smile on her face. Below her neck was a mass of red gelatinous material, with a small sphere in the middle constantly pulsing.

This was an extremely simple life-support device. It retained only the functions of the heart and blood vessels, directly absorbing nutrients through the blood to supply the head with oxygen and nourishment. This made their survival costs extremely low. The daily life-support cost for one person was less than one yuan.

The greatest cost of the virtual world was still the supercomputer used to construct the environment and simulate intelligent NPCs. A world made up of five hundred thousand people was comparable to a large real-world city spanning several thousand square kilometers. It required an entire exa-scale supercomputer running at full capacity, already consuming all the computing power of the artificial intelligence under Manohar's control.

A set of supercomputers like that was worth several billion yuan, and its annual electricity bill alone exceeded one hundred million yuan. Yet that was only for a virtual world containing five hundred thousand people.

Manohar was purchasing more supercomputers. If this factory were completely filled in the future and the number of people sustained reached ten million, the funds required would exceed one hundred billion yuan—enough to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.

However, the information provided by this factory could allow Li Heng to produce thirty grams of antimatter in a year. At a price of one quadrillion yuan per gram, this investment would yield a return of three hundred thousand times.

Of course, that was only a theoretical price. In reality, it could not possibly be that high. The Hong Alliance's annual gross output was only two thousand trillion yuan, and even all the wealth produced by the entire world in a year could not buy that much antimatter.

A similar black tentacle extended from the back of Lin Li's neck. It twisted as it connected to the woman's head in the culture dish. Though it looked similar, the one he used after being modified by the Symbiote was far superior to the cheap products used in this factory.

These mass-produced devices had no power to act. They could only serve as bridges, converting electronic signals from computers into signals for the human brain, allowing the virtual world to interact in real time and operate smoothly.

In the virtual world, a woman named Osana was enjoying the service of handsome male attendants in her own private building.

Her husband had died in an accident when she was thirty-two. For money, she had gathered her courage and come here to undergo a biotechnology experiment.

She had thought it would all be terrifying, but the technology was even more miraculous than she had imagined.

To someone as lacking in knowledge as she was, it was practically Mythology. In her heart, Manohar had become the reincarnation of some legendary heavenly deity.

With a thought, her superpower lifted a Chengluo cat several meters away into the air. Watching the little animal struggle and twist, she burst into delighted laughter. Here, she was no longer that poor, lowly, incompetent inferior. She was a divine servant chosen by the gods, and this had to be the God Realm.

Osana silently recited, "System Panel," and data that only she could see appeared before her eyes:

ID:

Name: Osana

Remaining Lifespan: 118 years

Strength: Level 1

Telekinesis: Level 1

Assets: One starter building, two starter servants

Energy Points: 16.6

She had been here for eleven days. Apart from spending points to buy a Chengluo cat she had once seen in a wealthy household as a pet, she had made almost no additional purchases.

She never felt hungry and had no need to work. Her private building was hundreds of times larger than her real-world home. Having escaped the hardship of laboring endlessly just to survive, Osana instead felt somewhat at a loss.

Every day, the Energy Points on her panel increased by 1.6. Energy Points could buy almost anything in the store: delicacies she had never heard of, textbooks ranging from elementary school to university, alterations to beautify her appearance, a change of sex, enhancements to her body and abilities, renovations to the interior environment of her building, and custom-made legendary fantasy creatures.

Those products made her burn with desire, but their steep prices stopped her cold. With only 1.6 Energy Points per day, she would not be able to afford those things even by the end of her life.

After setting down the Chengluo cat, she lay back on the soft bed and ordered the two handsome male attendants to continue serving her. Osana let out a confused sigh.

She had spent day after day busily struggling for a living and had scarcely ever imagined what her future life would be like. Now that she had suddenly escaped the endless repetition of labor, the initial excitement and exhilaration faded, leaving behind a profound emptiness.

Lin Li sensed the thoughts of this woman from the slums. This virtual world had been given rules similar to those of a game world. Each person's private building was both their Safe House and resurrection point. When they were judged "dead" while fighting others, they would return here and be restored to normal.

These five hundred thousand people almost all came from this city and the surrounding villages. Many had complex social relationships involving blood ties, interests, grudges, and more. This had also led them to spontaneously form some organizations, and these groups, like those in the outside world, tried to control the order here.

But these groups quickly discovered that it was meaningless. Every person's Safe House was invincible. As long as someone hid inside and refused to come out, no one could threaten them.

If someone had enough patience and could endure loneliness, they could remain in their own building until the end of their life. Cheap entertainment and a vast amount of knowledge ensured that they would always have something to pass the time.

No one needed to worry about necessities for survival such as food, medical care, or housing. The existence of Safe Houses could shatter the original social order. Here, powerful organizations could no longer exploit the weak. Every individual could alter their appearance and sex according to their own wishes, and the social system built around the family unit completely collapsed.

This brief period of observation had already allowed Lin Li to glimpse his collaborator's intentions. While providing orderly information, this virtual world was also an experimental ground, attempting to explore a new social order after humanity had broken free from the constraints of birth, aging, illness, death, sex, and family.