Xu Shi's guess wasn't complicated, and it had existed for quite some time.
That was, was the strength of the "Heavenly Principle" also connected to the "Rust Fog"?
The first time he noticed this might have been the moment Shen He died.
The reasoning was simple. Ten years ago, for the sake of Night Sin City's so-called plot development, the "Heavenly Principle" had even been able to use Mechanical God to wipe out the city's two major powers at the time, "Refraction" and "Tianhe," overnight.
The fact that it could accomplish that spoke volumes about how terrifying its power was—honestly, even Xu Shi now might not have been able to handle something so cleanly, without leaving behind the slightest trace.
Combined with the "Heavenly Principle's" control over experimental zones across the entire world, it was only natural for people to have concerns.
However.
When he broke—or rather, completely changed—the course of the plot, the "Heavenly Principle" hadn't stepped in to interfere. That seemed rather strange.
Xu Shi had begun to suspect it back then. Was it that what he had done hadn't crossed their bottom line? Or...
Had they already lost the ability to forcefully intervene like that?
He hadn't rushed to reach a conclusion at the time. His initial purpose in setting sail had also carried an element of testing—using further expansion and exploration of the world to try and find the "Heavenly Principle's" elusive bottom line.
Yet.
Things had developed to this point, and the "Heavenly Principle's" attitude was still somewhat ambiguous. The clearest example was probably when they had briefly contacted him through the Saintess in Liminal Space and displayed what seemed like a decision to compromise.
To be fair, as an "outsider," he had turned another experimental zone upside down—or rather, conquered it. For something that