Though It Was a "Game," It Was No Child's Play!

Obviously, after hearing that string of names that sounded scalp-numbingly terrifying, even Li Yun's eye twitched slightly.

"All right, Main God, from the sound of it... you really are quite the 'kind soul.'"

"You flatter me."

Yet beneath that icy voice, there seemed to be a faint trace of teasing.

Even though he knew full well that this was nothing more than a superficial, fabricated "personality setting."

What appeared humanized was, in truth, merely one of countless randomly selected "personalities," a temporary facade manifested through the support of massive amounts of data.

After all, amid the near-infinite fluctuations of information, a foundational command from a certain dream—one that had existed within the Cosmic Model from the moment of its birth, originating from a user named "Li Yun"—had quietly locked down the relevant permissions. The virtual consciousness known as the Main God was like a mirage of foam rising and falling upon the tides. The instant it was born was the instant it perished; every moment of its past would forever be erased along with its old traces in the next instant, becoming a newly piled sandcastle on the shore.

They looked alike, but they were not the same.

—A "tool" did not need a truly independent self. That would mean needless risk.

Li Yun had intended this from the start. Yet because of it, the aspect of "humanity" within the Main God, which had only just been born in essence, remained somewhat weak no matter how it tried to simulate it.

Yes, humanity...

He turned back for a casual glance. A deeper glow shimmered in the phantom figure's eyes, like two pale jade gemstones.

In this dream, if he wished, he could easily see many indescribable, ethereal "things."

His gaze silently crossed the countless shifting phenomena here, crossed the deepest reaches of the lofty heavens, until it finally passed beyond some intangible, formless "boundary" and touched upon the truth outside—

There stood a radiant yet hazy halo, alone in an unknown dimension of primal chaos. It was almost like the so-called "silent and empty, standing alone and unchanging, circulating endlessly without exhaustion," yet for some reason, it still retained the concept of "form."

Within the vast obscurity, countless "stars" revolved endlessly around it. Following a seemingly nonexistent connection, they formed a cosmic arrangement in which a host of stars surrounded a great sun. Amid those long reflections like a river of galaxies, new starlight would occasionally be born from nothingness, merging into the layers of dimensions quietly separated within...

Li Yun knew.

That was the current Main God, using the portion of "influence" he had granted it to raise one dream within another throughout this boundless Great Dream whose entirety could not be seen.

Or rather, one illusory yet real "virtual world" after another.

...Ancient wilderness, mortal society, space epics, cyberpunk, evolutionary tides, ancient myths, abyssal disasters, immortal martial realms, burning galaxies, Jedi, memetic anomalies, hive minds, Western fantasy divine kingdoms, biohazard finales, strange tales, cataclysmic sunsets, unofficial historical chronicles, undead calamities, twilight of the gods, post-apocalyptic wastelands...

Countless elements were quietly gathered by the Main God from the refracted fantasies of living beings, then differentiated and developed through equally unfathomable computational power, cast into it ceaselessly like firelight...

In the end, within this strange dimension that was both illusory and real, at some naturally ripened moment, they crossed a certain threshold of qualitative change. One jewel after another, wrapped in halos bright or dim, was ignited—like morning stars rising into the heavens among the nations!

Thus, this vast dimension that began from one and gave birth to a host of stars could perhaps be called... the Star Realm!

Looking carefully, within the dazzling sea of stars, the closer a star was to that great sun representing the Main God, the more brilliantly it shone. There were already more than a thousand such flecks of starlight.

Those were the true-illusionary reflections that had at least taken preliminary form: Mortal Worlds. They were "dream worlds" representing different orders and origins, each having begun to gradually settle into an essence from the moment of its birth within this Great Dream, where reason itself did not truly exist and logic stood overturned.

The greater number of dim stellar afterglows signified worlds that had yet to be truly outlined, or that fundamentally lacked the various "elements" matching their essence and sufficient to operate their initial forms. They had merely given rise to bubble-like primitive prototypes, still existing in design and awaiting subsequent follow-up as theoretical "projects."

Some did not even qualify as preliminary worldview projects. They were merely sparks of inspiration, ordinary seeds that had quietly collided into existence amid the convergence of vast information. Unearthed by the Main God from the Cluster Subconscious Sea, they adorned this Star Realm, which seemed to possess some special symbolic meaning, as nearly dark "dark stars," awaiting the future...

Even the "Biohazard Apocalypse-type" world where Li Yun had currently invested a thread of thought to observe specific samples of several "newcomers" and identify shortcomings was merely one small speck of starlight that had been born under the invisible hand of the Main God and revolved around that central great sun. Compared with the other stars, there was nothing particularly special about it.

Everything seemed to be proceeding as expected.

And that "gaze" merely watched in silence as the stars revolved and all things fell into place in a brilliant scene.

...Yet perhaps it was not entirely an illusion. One could vaguely sense that beneath this wondrous process, along the long journey of this galaxy being opened within the void, the Main God itself seemed to be undergoing certain subtle and obscure changes.

According to the faint insights fed back from Dream in the Mirror, that should likewise be... the earliest prototype of something illusory?

But he did not say anything about it.

He pondered lightly until his gaze swept across the dozens of relatively "special" stars deep within the sea of stars, their bodies faintly flickering with layer upon layer of illusory radiance—stars that already had "newcomers" placed within them...

At last, someone could not help but sigh.

"How are our current revenues and expenses? How much 'startup capital' do we have left?"

Within the Biohazard Apocalypse plane, as he withdrew his gaze, the shadow upon the roof, which had already faded to the point of nearly dispersing, suddenly became a little clearer again.

"The condition of the tourist group has not yet stabilized, but the relevant mental energy income has been confirmed to exist. Related data is currently being accumulated, and preliminary verification results are expected after the First Round concludes."

"Additionally, Administrator, during your previous repeated extensions of subjective time within the Subconscious Sea and your prolonged high-load deep dives, you obtained and accumulated more than 1.2 million units of Standard Mental Energy."

"Constructing illusory operational worlds within dreams alone incurs almost no expenditure. However, not long ago, the Main God extracted and refined a small number of special items from dreams, including Sands of Time and Philosopher's Stone, to repair a small portion of AC's influence modules on the material level of reality. This was done to support the recovery of its ability to interfere with the material universe to a certain extent and bring in newcomers."

"This expenditure alone totaled approximately 470,000 units of Standard Mental Energy..."

Listening to the Main God's detailed reports—reports that could truly be described as money flowing away like water—even Li Yun's brow could not help but twitch.

Then it settled again.

At this moment, he was genuinely somewhat grateful for his foresight. Back when he had used the Main God to calculate the costs of the initial plan and keenly noticed certain hidden uncertainties, he had simply gritted his teeth and thrown himself into that bottomless abyss-like "sea." Like an indigestible copper pea, he had stubbornly endured several more rounds in there, earning himself a few sources of "extra income."

Otherwise, if they had proceeded according to the original estimate that had been merely "barely sufficient," they would probably have encountered the problem of a broken cash-flow chain halfway through operations...

Li Yun was already ruthless enough with himself, but the Main God was even more ruthless when it came to spending money!

While someone's thoughts raced, the voice beside his ear continued—

"...Additionally, after the First Round concludes, according to the testing procedures, the first 'exchange' options will be opened to newcomers who clear the trial. Based on calculations, after excluding the impact of the current unstable income from tourists, the remaining Standard Mental Energy reserves are expected to fall below the danger line of 35%..."

"Mm, I see."

After roughly hearing the answer, Li Yun merely responded expressionlessly to indicate that he had heard it. His gaze remained slightly lowered, resting upon the few people inside the villa below.

Within those black eyes, he had already caught traces of fluctuating, colorful halos. They clearly rippled from every part of the humanoid figures' surfaces, varied in color and brightness, swaying around these "subjects of observation" like illusory flames tightly wrapped around their bodies, yet also gently rippling like water.

Throughout this process, tiny, inconspicuous pale "sparks" naturally refracted from those halos like dust particles, drifting into the air before quietly vanishing...

After watching for a long time, a faint trace of satisfaction seemed to appear in his expression. At last, he no longer paid attention to the people inside.

The phantom leaped lightly from the sloping roof, five or six meters above the ground. The movement was so fluid that it called to mind those stray cats by the roadside, effortlessly vaulting over walls.

There was no need for any elaborate motion to absorb the impact. His feet touched down steadily and silently, while the withering lawn of the courtyard quietly swallowed every trace of sound.

He landed as firmly as if rooted to the ground.

Yet whether it was the few zombies on the street merely ten or twenty meters from the villa, or the guests inside anxiously keeping watch outside, all of them coincidentally "overlooked" this place, utterly failing to notice any trace of him.

As though he were an invisible ghost.

"...Then increase the reward points for newcomers who pass the First Round from double to fivefold, and add an additional 'blind box draw.' The contents shall follow the sixth category clause of the incentive guidelines..."

After standing there for several breaths, as though he had noticed something, he turned and quietly gazed toward the remnants of a collapsed building by the distant street.

More precisely, he had noticed the enormous faded billboard amid the ruins. Tied to its broken, broad advertising surface were numerous decorative ribbons that had now become almost no different from ragged strips of cloth, though beneath their dusty exteriors, traces of vibrant colors could still be seen. They fluttered lazily in the wind...

As he stared quietly at the sight, somewhat absentmindedly, Li Yun directly spoke a decision that was almost incomprehensible.

"Calculation complete. Please note that if implemented according to this standard, the remaining Standard Mental Energy reserves will likely fall directly below the threshold of 200,000 units..."

Faced with this additional expenditure that was clearly outside the projections, even the Main God's ordinarily calm, unruffled voice suddenly took on a strange hint of emotion.

The feeling behind it... was rather like the complicated sigh one might feel upon suddenly seeing a prodigal wastrel who had given up on himself.

Yet by comparison, someone clearly had no intention of explaining much to this "virtual consciousness," whose human aspect had deliberately been restricted.

Only a subtle smile suddenly curved across that indistinct face.

"You do not understand. Spending a fortune to buy a horse's bones, yet the human heart remains unsatisfied—that is often the clearest form of attraction..."

Only a few words, carrying a touch of lament.

Yet the person involved had no intention of explaining further.

"Let's go. We have seen enough here. It is time to look at the next Newcomer Trial world..."

He casually left behind that decision. The illusory figure paused slightly, his gaze seeming to pierce through layers of fog and fall upon the figures scattered throughout the ruined city, hiding desperately in ignorant confusion.

"Though it can only count as a little 'game' for now, it is no child's play..."

"...As for how much of the 'server-opening rewards' these newcomers can obtain, that will depend entirely on their own fate."

As his lingering voice faded, the heavy fog around him immediately began to churn, breathing and spreading like a living thing.

The next moment, that illusory, hazy shadow silently vanished into the vast rolling grayness, leaving no trace to be found...