Chapter 232 Information about the Powerful Figure Behind the Scenes

Only Su Ze and Gai Qian remained in the corner.

The air seemed to freeze.

Su Ze approached step by step until the shadow he cast almost completely enveloped Gai Qian's illusory figure.

He stopped, with less than half a meter between them.

“I saw there were always outsiders before, so I took it into consideration for you, even when it was just Ye Qingqing and Shen Jie, whom you consider your own.”

“Now, there is no one else.”

Su Ze's voice was flat, yet it struck Gai Qian's heart like a heavy hammer.

“Speak. Your biggest secret.”

“And your identity.”

Gai Qian's illusory figure fluctuated violently, and countless complex emotions flashed through her pitch-black eyes.

She had long expected this moment.

This man had never trusted her from the beginning.

She took a deep breath, seemingly having made a decision, and her fluctuating figure gradually stabilized.

“I come from a... place that people here cannot understand.”

Gai Qian's voice was somewhat dry. “An area called Youlan Planet. When I entered the survival game, the area I was in was called the Yunyang Interstellar Building on our planet.”

She stared intently at Su Ze's face, trying to find even a trace of shock or confusion.

After all, for a novice who had only just experienced the second round of the game, terms like 'planet' and 'interstellar' should be enough to overturn his perception.

However, Su Ze's face showed no expression at all.

He just listened quietly and then uttered two words.

“Continue.”

Gai Qian was stunned.

That's it?

His reaction was just 'continue'?

Was he not shocked? She was talking about another planet!

This was equivalent to an alien standing in front of him; how could he be so calm?

A deep sense of bewilderment rose in Gai Qian's heart.

Wait...

A thought flashed through her mind like lightning.

Could it be...

That's it!

Could Su Ze be... a potential newcomer being secretly cultivated by veteran players from other worlds or other planets?

Otherwise, how could a newcomer be strong to such a freakish degree in the first round of the game?

How could he be so unfazed by her words about 'planets'?

Thinking this way, everything became logical.

Gai Qian's gaze toward Su Ze unconsciously carried a hint of pity.

To put it nicely, he might be a subordinate being focused on for cultivation.

But in reality, wasn't he also just a chess piece?

But as soon as this thought emerged, she immediately extinguished it.

Pity him?

Damn it, she wasn't even his subordinate right now, at most a prisoner. What right did she have to pity others?

“Keep talking.”

Su Ze's voice interrupted her thoughts.

Gai Qian snapped back to her senses, nodded, and continued to speak, her voice carrying a hint of desolation.

“Actually, this survival game is far more cruel than you imagine.”

“The player faction needing to resist the monster faction is only the most superficial rule. What's more cruel is that you need to be on guard against other players at all times.”

“Subjugation, annexation, enslavement... this kind of situation is the norm.”

She gave a self-deprecating laugh.

“Moreover, as far as I know, more than ninety percent of human player areas basically follow the route of a few elites.”

Su Ze raised an eyebrow. “What about the majority of ordinary players?”

“The majority?” Gai Qian sighed. “The majority of ordinary players, including even those members whose strength is in the middle range, find it very hard to survive.”

“The entire survival game is like raising Gu. The system uses round after round of disasters to filter out the weak and force the strong to become stronger. In the end, those who survive will only be that small handful of people at the top of the pyramid.”

Su Ze frowned.

“What is the meaning of doing this?”

“How could I possibly know?” Gai Qian smiled bitterly. “I was just a small fry who died in the fourth phase. I couldn't even save my own life and could only turn into this ghostly state. Do you think I'm qualified to explore such ultimate questions?”

Su Ze nodded and changed the question.

“How do you know so much? Even if you experienced three rounds of the game, logically speaking, you shouldn't have access to this intelligence.”

“Because our Youlan Planet was already an interstellar civilization before entering this survival game.”

Gai Qian's tone carried a hint of complex, inexplicable meaning.

“Although it was only the lowest kind, having just made contact...”

“Alright, the reality is that our planet was subjugated by a major power. Along with four other planets, we are all ruled by a super planet named Planet Gangwu.”

“Our Youlan Planet was the last of these five affiliated planets to enter the survival game. Therefore, through various channels, we had long known about the existence and some rules of the survival game.”

Planet Gangwu?!

The moment those three words entered his ears, Su Ze's pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.

Liao Long!

The guy he had counter-killed during the Novice Period—the mastermind behind him came from Planet Gangwu!

Su Ze's expression did not change, but waves had already risen in the depths of his heart.

“Briefly tell me about this planet.”

Gai Qian didn't notice Su Ze's abnormality and organized her words.

“A super planet already capable of large-scale interstellar navigation. Its technological level is... exceptionally advanced, far beyond what our Youlan Planet can compare to.”

“And the rulers?” Su Ze pressed.

“I'm not sure specifically who they are.” Gai Qian shook her head, her face filled with awe. “I only know it's a family with the surname ‘Wu’. They rule Planet Gangwu, as well as the five affiliated planets including us.”

Wu!

It really was this surname.

Su Ze's eyes narrowed slightly.

“This family is very powerful?”

“Of course they are powerful.” Gai Qian's answer came without any hesitation. “However, once entering the survival game, all material and technological weapons from reality are reset to zero. Everyone's starting point is the same. So even they have to start developing from scratch.”

She changed the subject.

“But the knowledge, experience, and foundations they possess are beyond the imagination of ordinary people. Relying on these, if they want to rise, they will be much easier and stronger than 99.9% of the players in the same period of this game.”

Su Ze fell silent.

He thought of the inference he had made based on the intelligence revealed by Liao Long earlier.

The members of that Wu family had a basic combat power of at least over two thousand points.

And this wasn't even counting the high-quality equipment, powerful skills, and technological knowledge far beyond his own understanding that the opponent might possess.

Now it seemed that his guess might have been conservative.

“What round of the game is Planet Gangwu in now?” Su Ze asked the most critical question.

“The seventh round.”

The seventh round!

And he had only just entered the second round.

The gap between them could not be described as anything but massive!

A strong sense of urgency rose in Su Ze's heart, but he quickly suppressed this emotion.

Thinking too much was useless; one must eat one bite at a time and walk the path step by step.

He composed himself, his gaze becoming sharp again as he looked at Gai Qian once more.

“Last question. How did you manage to make Shen Jie's special building and Halo, along with Ye Qingqing's Halo, form a perfect cycle?”

This luck was abnormally good.

Gai Qian was taken aback, a helpless expression appearing on her face.

“This... really was just good luck.”

“At that time, I deliberately had them both gather ten thousand people at the same time, so they simultaneously got a one-out-of-five choice for a special building and Halo. I looked through them all and then, based on experience, selected the optimal combination from the ten options.”

“Really?” Su Ze just looked at her quietly without speaking.

“...Really, I'm not lying to you.” Gai Qian felt a bit spooked being watched by him, but she still nodded, bracing herself.

“Fine.”

Su Ze withdrew his gaze and stopped pressing her.

He took out a dozen or so soul stones from his backpack and casually tossed them onto the ground.

“These are for you.”

Gai Qian looked at the soul stones on the ground, somewhat dazed.

What did Su Ze... mean by this?

“I had Liu Yuanfang arrange for a player to invite you into a Dormitory. Accept it.”

Su Ze's tone brooked no argument as he took out the soul nourishing bottle again.

“Now, use these soul stones and the soul nourishing bottle to recover some strength as quickly as possible.”

Gai Qian felt a surge of joy upon hearing this.

But before this joy could fully rise, it was doused by Su Ze's next words like a bucket of cold water.

“After that, come with me to collect supplies.”

The joy on Gai Qian's face froze instantly.

She understood.

Su Ze simply did not feel at ease and did not trust her, so he wanted to keep her completely within his sight...