169: Chapter 166 The Discovery of Victoria

In a deep blue sea area thousands of miles away.

Victoria had just woken up in the morning and was habitually lingering in bed.

At her level of strength, typical Magic Sea crises no longer posed a threat to her.

She had only encountered super high-rank sea beasts during the last Magic Sea Beast Tide, so her morning was quite leisurely.

She lay in bed, browsing the Symphony Realm on her life ring.

By chance, she scrolled past a post.

The poster's ID was a string of letters—Michael Carter. Faction identification: Stars and Stripes.

It was accompanied by a screenshot of his karma points balance.

10151.

Caption: "Woke up and my karma points went from 151 to 10,151? Which kind soul transferred them to me? Does anyone know what's going on?"

Victoria stopped chewing her dried fish.

Ten thousand karma points.

Her red pupils slowly narrowed.

She remembered something.

The God-Seeing Society.

She had previously paid attention to that Yanhuang Civilization fan organization. The three leaders—President Lu Xingye, Zhao Kang, and Zhang Chengming—were all people who had seen the Fate Master Yang Hang with their own eyes. Each of them had been given one million karma points.

Yanhuang Civilization Survivors, one million.

Foreign civilization Survivors—ten thousand?

A hundredfold reduction.

Reasonable.

Too reasonable.

A look of joy and excitement appeared in Victoria's eyes. She quickly clicked on Michael Carter's avatar and sent a friend request.

The other side replied in seconds.

Then retracted it.

Added it back.

Retracted it again.

When it was added back for the third time, a message was attached—

[Michael Carter: P-please... may I ask if this is truly Ms. Victoria herself? It's not someone impersonating you, is it?]

Victoria activated the camera function of her life ring and snapped a quick selfie. The sea breeze blew her black hair, her red pupils stared directly into the lens, and the background was an endless expanse of blue sea.

She sent it.

The other side was silent for five seconds.

[Michael Carter: Oh my... it's real! Ms. Victoria, it is an honor to communicate with you! A great, great honor! Is there anything you need my help with? Although I am only a Silver Grade Survivor, if there is anything I can do—]

Victoria cut straight to the point.

[Victoria: I want to know what you did during the period before your ten thousand karma points appeared. Tell me from the beginning, and be as detailed as possible.]

Michael Carter was very cooperative.

He hunted a few low-rank sea beasts as usual, ate to replenish his energy, participated in an Individual Sequence Contest in the afternoon, lost, and when he returned in the evening, he accidentally discovered that his karma points balance had surged to 10,151.

"Lost." Victoria stared at these two words for three seconds.

[Victoria: What was your opponent like in that Individual Sequence Contest?]

[Michael Carter: A powerful Teuton Survivor. He looked very young and didn't have any special equipment on him, but his Houseboat was huge and had a very large cannon muzzle. I turned my arms into blades and charged up, and we exchanged a dozen or so blows, but in the end, I was blasted away by his cannon and lost.]

Victoria frowned.

This description really sounded like just an ordinary Sequence Battle match; there was no crushing, no instant kill, and the opponent was just a Teuton civilization Survivor.

"Could I have guessed wrong?"

She leaned against the ship's railing, her red pupils slightly unfocused.

Ten thousand karma points could not appear out of thin air.

The Magic Sea System would not give out money for no reason.

Very few Yanhuang Survivors had managed to save up ten thousand at this stage, and it was even less likely that they would transfer it to a foreign civilization Survivor.

Between foreign civilization Survivors? Even less likely; everyone was dirt poor.

Michael Carter earned it himself? A Silver Grade Survivor whose original karma points balance was only 151—obviously impossible.

Eliminate all impossible factors, and whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

The classic quote from the detective novel that was well-known in Fog City, which she had read before her Transmigration, surfaced in Victoria's mind.

The only special event he experienced during that time was an Individual Sequence Contest.

The time node—a few hours before the life ring was released.

Fate Master Yang Hang was likely matching for a large number of Individual Sequence Contests during that time to test the life ring.

Michael Carter indeed met Fate Master Yang Hang.

But he didn't remember it.

"It's possible his memory was altered." Victoria whispered this conclusion.

The "Teuton Silver Grade expert" in his memory was actually an Incarnation of Fate Master Yang Hang.

But Fate Master Yang Hang had used some means—perhaps the ability of the Fate Platform, or perhaps a talent—to tamper with Michael Carter's memory of this battle.

Replacing "Fate Master Yang Hang" with "an ordinary Teuton Survivor."

Reasonable.

Too reasonable.

Victoria politely chatted with Michael Carter about daily life for a few more sentences, taught him a few practical skills for dealing with mid-rank sea beasts, and then exited the conversation.

She went to the Fate Platform and browsed comments for half an hour, trying to find similar cases to corroborate her deduction.

She didn't find any.

In the massive amount of information, Michael Carter was the only foreign civilization Survivor she could find who publicly mentioned an anomaly in karma points.

Perhaps there were others, but she hadn't found them.

Then Victoria's attention was drawn to some other discussions on the Fate Platform.

Individual Sequence Battle.

Fate Master Yang Hang.

1,500 matches.

Returned to the top of the leaderboard.

She clicked on the leaderboard and took a look.

[1st Place: Yang Hang (Yanhuang Civilization), Wins: 1500]

[5th Place: Victoria (Fog City), Wins: 890]

No surprise.

Victoria never thought that Fate Master Yang Hang would truly give up on the Individual Sequence Battle.

During those few days when his ranking stopped at 662 matches and didn't move, the entire Magic Sea was guessing whether he didn't care anymore.

She didn't think so.

An existence capable of constructing the Cause and Effect Fate Platform and manipulating the fate of 1.4 billion people—how could he not care about an opportunity that could make him stronger?

Unless he truly believed that the rewards of the Individual Sequence Battle were useless to him.

Victoria felt that Fate Master Yang Hang would not be that arrogant.

Perhaps he was just—controlling everything in a way she didn't understand.

It had always been that way.

Victoria withdrew her gaze and looked down at her own record.

890 matches.

Michael Carter had only played four or five hundred matches and met Fate Master Yang Hang.

She had played nearly 900 matches.

Not even once.

Not even once had she encountered an opponent who was even suspected to be Fate Master Yang Hang.

Was she really that unlucky?

Ever since she came into contact with the Cause and Effect Fate Platform and realized that the "Yang Hang" at the top of the list was more than just a name. Ever since she realized that standing behind that name might be the God behind 1.4 billion Yanhuang Survivors.

She had been imagining.

What was Fate Master Yang Hang really like?

Radiating light? Enveloped in a mysterious aura? Aloof, majestic, and solemn?

Or was it—

Victoria's red pupils suddenly brightened.

Or was it that she was just like Michael Carter? Had she actually already met Fate Master Yang Hang? Had she even had an intense battle with him? And then, for some... unspeakable reason... the Fate Master had likewise altered her memory?