You mean... outside?"
A Li's bewitching eyes turned serious, and she stood up. Her imposing presence made Ziyue frown.
"Calm down."
"You told me," A Li took a breath, "That we come from that world, that everything here is fake, that's where we truly belong!"
Ziyue looked at the other person, remained silent for a moment, and then spoke, "You've been here for so long, do you really think everything here is fake? You don't remember anything from before, do you? Do you really want to go back to the past? Or do you simply want to escape from here?"
A Li: "."
Faced with Ziyue's sharp gaze, A Li finally gave in, glancing away and Divine Path, "Then why does Chen Qing want to go back? Does he intend to abandon this place?"
"It shouldn't be." Ziyue shook her head. She hadn't spent much time with Chen Qing, but she could sense that Chen Qing was sincere towards the people around him and had put his heart and soul into the place he had created. He would never abandon it so easily.
"When I left before, someone appeared in the Southeast who could summon us. I guess that guy was sent by the outside world. In the military reports two days ago, Chen Qing had successfully occupied the Southeast, so he should have successfully controlled that outsider as well."
"I suspect that someone outside wanted to contact Chen Qing and reach some kind of deal with him, so Chen Qing needed a chance to go back."
"If Chen Qing can go back, what about us?" A Li asked excitedly. To be honest, she really wanted to escape from here. If she could leave this dangerous world, she really didn't want to stay here. Deep down, she didn't want to face Cui Yan again.
"It might not be a good thing," Ziyue shook her head and said, "What do you think people outside will think of us?"
"What do you mean, 'how do you see us'?" A Li was taken aback. "Didn't you say we were sent here?"
"I actually have some doubts about that." Ziyue's voice was somewhat low. He said that the Development Team was a special group sent by the Federation, the hope to save humanity, but she didn't remember this memory, no one else remembered it, only the King of Qin remembered it, and everything was told by the King of Qin.
She used to trust him, but now she suddenly had some doubts. Was what he said back then true?
"You mean we weren't sent from above?" A Li was taken aback.
"It's unclear at the moment. Perhaps. We'll just have to wait for Chen Qing to tell us."
"Why can't you take us back with you?" A Li asked anxiously. "Wouldn't it be better if I knew the truth immediately?"
"If Chen Qing didn't bring it up, then it's possible that the higher-ups only want to see Chen Qing," Ziyue said softly. "An invitation to just one person must be because they're wary of something. Think about it, if those outside have the ability to bring us back at any time, why would they need to conquer this world?"
"This can only mean two things: first, the people he brought back to this world need the cooperation of the people of this world; second, bringing back only one person likely means that our people here would pose a threat to the outside world once they leave!"
"A threat?" A Li asked, puzzled. "Why? This world is fake. We can't still be surrounded by demons after we get out, can we?"
The moment those words were spoken, both of their eyes lit up.
No way?
Are you really going?
This time, the one who came to Chen Qing was the long-lost Heavenly Secrets.
Chen Qing was slightly surprised by the other person's arrival, but she quickly realized, "You met with Jiang Xiaoling?"
"Nonsense." Heavenly Secrets rolled his eyes at the other party.
Chen Qing frowned. Jiang Xiaoling's family was protected by a barrier, and they were escorted to the academy on weekdays. The only place they could come into contact with him was inside the academy, which had its own special barrier.
The Heavenly Dao Academy is responsible for the academy's protective barrier, which is frequently updated and replaced. Even they themselves cannot enter without alerting the students on duty at the barrier, but this guy does it with complete ease.
Someone who can ignore barriers and is also difficult to catch is indeed a headache. No wonder the ancient forces have always disliked him; if this ability isn't used for their own benefit, they'll be asking for trouble.
"You knew this truth before, didn't you?" Chen Qing looked at the other person.
Heavenly Secrets hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded. "I know, the King of Qin is Number One, but actually, I was the one who led the team at the beginning."
"That's interesting," Chen Qing said with a smile. " The King of Qin reported to his superiors that he lost the ability to contact them after the failed assassination attempt. But what about you? You've been perfectly healthy the whole time, haven't you? Why did you lose contact with the Federation?"
"It's very simple," Heavenly Secrets laughed. "If I suddenly stopped contacting them, they wouldn't think I had betrayed them, and therefore wouldn't easily use the Disintegration Program. Then, during the time when the King of Qin was missing, I simply cut off contact and lived a carefree life for these years."
"Just for a carefree life?"
"That's part of the reason," Heavenly Secrets said lazily, reclining comfortably in his rocking chair. "You have no idea how tiring it was to carry the lives of so many people on my shoulders. These past twenty years of carefree living have been truly wonderful, but alas, it couldn't last long. Now I'm quite envious of those sealed-away guys, so carefree, they can just daydream all they want."
"If you spaced out for tens of thousands of years, you probably wouldn't say that." Chen Qing rolled her eyes. "Since you said it's only part of the reason, what other reason is there?"
"First, there are traitors in the Federation!"
"Traitor?" Chen Qing narrowed his eyes and asked, "What kind of traitor are you? Which side have you sided with?"
"Of course it's those veteran players!" Heavenly Secrets sneered. "You don't really think those Federation nobles can resist the temptation, do you? As long as they have a chance to live forever, do you really care about the fate of ordinary people? Do you really care about the Federation's insufficient capacity?"
"There's a mole, which means there are actually people from the Federation colluding with us?"
"Of course you think the people here don't want to control the Federation?" Heavenly Secrets laughed. "No matter how vast or realistic this place is, it's still just a virtual world in the end. The Federation can cut off the power. Once the power goes out, everything here will vanish. Do you think those players who have already achieved immortality would allow such a huge threat?"
"They didn't want the Federation to intervene and disrupt their absolute authority in this world, nor did they want the Federation to give up this place. The Federation, on the other hand, wanted to control this place but didn't want to compromise with those players. The two sides remained deadlocked for years."
"I have a question," Chen Qing asked, puzzled. "Does it have to be this world? This is just a game. Can't a virtual world be recreated? Jiang Xiaoling said that this world consumes nearly half of Central China's electricity. Instead of wasting resources here, why not just shut it down and create a new one?"
"It's not that simple." Heavenly Secrets shook his head. "When digital life re-emerged, it caused chaos for a century before the Federation regained control. But during that chaotic period, some crucial things were lost, namely the complex code for creating virtual worlds. So many years have passed, and the Federation's technology has been upgraded generation after generation, but for some reason, it just can't create new virtual worlds, and the original intelligence of those Virtual Realm has never been cracked."
"What's even stranger is that all the designers who created those virtual worlds vanished without a trace after the chaotic period of the digital age. They disappeared without a trace. While we don't really believe a game designer could master the complex intelligent code that creates Virtual Realm, the disappearance of you designers makes one feel that it was intentional."
Chen Qing: "."
"So your appearance is strange!" Heavenly Secrets frowned. "Logically speaking, you shouldn't be here."
Chen Qing's heart inexplicably skipped a beat; he felt there was something very important he had forgotten.
What exactly is it?
"Never mind, judging from your expression, you probably don't know. After all, you didn't even know the concept of the Virtual Realm at the beginning. Let's talk about your return to the Federation."
Chen Qing nodded. "Is there anything you want to tell me?"
"You're not thinking of going there to take control of the Federation, are you?" Heavenly Secrets said quietly.
"I don't have that kind of ambition," Chen Qing said, pursing her lips. "As long as I can get rid of it, that's fine."
"It's impossible to get rid of it." Heavenly Secrets shook his head. "Did you get some information and go there? Could you retain your abilities from the game?"
Chen Qing nodded. "At first, I found it unbelievable when I heard about this, but I didn't expect it to be true, so I'm very curious, why do they dare to let me pass!"