401: Weird Game

“Have you read any novels?”

Yang Dian was startled.

Wasn't he asking about dimensional folding?

How did it suddenly turn to novels?

“Have you forgotten? A year ago, I was just a crappy writer.”

Hearing this, Han Zhang's eyes involuntarily glazed over.

“Yes.”

“A year ago, besides being a high school student, you were also a web novelist.”

If Yang Dian hadn't mentioned it, Han Zhang would have really forgotten.

Who would have thought that a young man who had just graduated from high school a year ago would grow into a Jianmu, supporting heaven and earth, a year later?

Snapping out of his daze, Han Zhang let out a soft breath and said,

“In that case, it's easy to explain.”

“I don't know if you've read any World of the Strange national fortune novels.”

“You know, the kind where someone is pulled into a World of the Strange to fight on behalf of their country. Once they clear a dungeon, the clearer and their country gain a lot of benefits, but if they die, the country suffers bad luck.”

“I have.” Yang Dian was a bit surprised:

“A dimensional invasion in this manner?”

“It's similar to that method, but not exactly the same.” Han Zhang tapped his wristband, opened a short video platform, and pointed to a live stream channel named 【Strange Game】, saying,

“Not long ago, a live stream channel called 【Strange Game】 appeared on the internet, and it cannot be closed.”

“It's rooted in the network; any short video or live stream app you open will promote it full-screen. We've tried everything to shut it down, but couldn't.”

“Even if we physically disconnect from the internet, as long as you open the relevant app, it can still run without a network connection.”

As he spoke, he clicked into the live stream channel.

There were 132 live rooms in the channel, with men and women, old and young, inside.

At this very moment, countless bullet comments were appearing on the screen, most of them questioning whether the 【Strange Game】 was real or fake.

“Under the threat of Mutants and Machina, 63 countries have already officially declared their demise.”

“Of the remaining 132 countries, one person from each has been selected to participate in the Strange Game live stream.”

“The rule is to enter the World of the Strange and clear dungeons.”

“Success means the clearer gains a lot of benefits, including but not limited to strength enhancement.”

“Failure means the World of the Strange descends upon the clearer's city, unleashing slaughter.”

Yang Dian stroked his chin, frowning:

“It feels a bit strange.”

After muttering to himself, he suddenly thought of something:

“When did the live stream rooms appear?”

Han Zhang checked his watch:

“Seven minutes ago.”

“I think I understand.” Yang Dian looked enlightened:

“Seven minutes ago was exactly when I discovered the anomaly and found this place.”

With a flick of his hand, he rippled space, pushing the spatial node to the surface space. Yang Dian speculated based on what he had seen and heard on his way here:

“First, the Heavenly Dao Ghost was born after Ghost God Star died.”

“The Heavenly Dao Ghost possesses a nascent consciousness.”

“It used certain methods to tear open a dimensional rift and descend upon an Alien Planet that had just experienced Qi Revival not long ago.”

“The Alien Planet fell under the attack of ghosts, and it took the opportunity to usurp the position of the Alien Planet's ‘Heavenly Dao’.”

“The usurpation is not orthodox; it hasn't completely digested the Alien Planet, having only digested a tiny fraction of it.”

“It needs help to accelerate its digestion of the Alien Planet.”

“This help could be the planetary debris of Ghost God Star that fell into the dimensional rift, or it could be the gods, ghosts, and ordinary people of Ghost God Star who survived on the planetary debris.”

“So, it used methods we currently don't understand to find those planetary debris that had fallen into the dimensional rift, wanting to retrieve them.”

“One piece of planetary debris fell onto Earth, which is the debris we are standing on.”

Stamping his foot on the planetary debris below, Yang Dian continued:

“The Heavenly Dao Ghost possesses self-awareness.”

“After discovering that Earth was not so easy to deal with, it fell silent, even actively trying to detach from the dimensional folding state.”

“Until I came looking for it.”

He gestured at the spatial node with his hand.

Yang Dian affirmed:

“It's a bit smaller than when I first discovered it.”

“At this rate, the spatial node will completely disappear in about three months.”

“At that time, the dimensional overlap should end.”

Han Zhang took out a pen and paper to take notes:

“So, dimensional overlap can be artificially interfered with.”

“For example, after you refine the territory map, you can make the planetary magnetic field more aggressive, shortening the interval of dimensional overlap.”

“Or, for example, if the Heavenly Dao Ghost usurps the ‘Planetary Will’, it can put the dimensional erosion into a silent state, or even control the planet to actively detach from the dimensional overlap state.”

“If the speculation is true, we need to find a way to master the latter technology to ensure that we can detach immediately when overlapping with a powerful world in the future.”

After Han Zhang finished taking notes, Yang Dian continued:

“The Heavenly Dao Ghost has self-awareness. After seeing that Earth was not easy to deal with, it should have been preparing to silently detach from the dimensional folding state with Earth.”

“But unfortunately, I discovered its anomaly.”

He reached into the spatial node and rummaged around.

Yang Dian could perceive that wisps of negative energy were converging from all over Earth through the ley lines to the vicinity of Ghost God Star's debris, and then surging into the Alien Planet through the spatial channel.

“Ghosts and gods grow stronger by consuming Qi.”

“The Qi here refers to negative emotions such as fear and greed.”

“So the Heavenly Dao Ghost should also be able to absorb negative emotions like fear and greed to strengthen itself and accelerate its digestion and erosion of the Alien Planet.”

“It noticed that I discovered it, so silence became impossible. It simply decided to harvest Earth before leaving.”

“The 【Strange Game】 is its method of harvesting Earth.”

“By influencing humans through live broadcasts, the fear, greed, and other negative emotions generated by humans can be used by it, making it even stronger.”

“In addition, another characteristic of dimensional folding erosion is that the greater the impact on the Alien Planet, the more ‘things’ can be harvested from the Alien Planet.”

“Previously, we defined ‘things’ as land, which is clearly wrong.”

“Through subjective influence, ‘things’ can also be energy.”

Placing his hand on the ground, Yang Dian could perceive an inexplicable magnetic field constantly expanding through the ley lines towards the distance.

“Harvesting matter will create a dimensional folding erosion zone.”

“At this time, the connection between the two planets must be close and cannot be detached in a short period.”

“Planet 3, where Griffin's Red Dragon is located, is a very good example.”

“Every time Planet 3 initiates a cross-dimensional war, the duration of the war always lasts from decades to hundreds of years.”

“Harvesting energy is different.”

“The spatial node is shrinking at an almost visible speed, and it will disappear in three months.”

“Barring any accidents, the dimensional folding between Earth and the Alien Planet will end then, and the 【Strange Game】 will only exist for three months.”

Han Zhang scribbled in his notebook, but in the end, he was still a bit indecisive.

“So, what should we do now?”