209: Chapter 205 Opening of the Farming Sector

His voice slowed, losing the calculated tone he had used in the conference room, replaced by a narrative textured with the grit of passing years.

"The winter of '59, on the Western Sichuan border, during the defensive battle codenamed 'Gale Pass.' Our company defended a valley entrance. The enemy had three times our numbers and armored vehicles. The company commander was gone on the first day. The platoon leader followed on the second. By the third day, only eleven of us could still stand on the front line. I was the youngest."

His gaze passed through Yang Hang, through the metal walls of the cabin, and settled on some distant, faraway place.

"'67, 'Iron Cliff Ridge.' I was a battalion commander by then. A jungle infiltration mission; I led three platoons behind enemy lines. Seven days and seven nights without seeing the sun, with leeches and bullets raining down on us alike. When we returned, only forty-seven men remained out of one hundred and twenty-three."

"'73, 'Operation Sunset.' Overseas evacuation. It was my first time stepping onto foreign soil wearing a bulletproof vest. The sound of gunfire and the cries of children blended together—I couldn't even tell which way to shoot. I was twenty-eight that year."

"'81, 'Snowline Outpost.' Garrisoned on the plateau. Altitude of forty-eight hundred meters. I froze off three of my toes."

He looked down at his feet. Though he couldn't see them through his shoes, he knew that the space where those three toes had been was empty.

"After that… it was the office. My Rank grew higher, and the sound of gunfire grew more distant. Files replaced bullets. Meetings replaced the battlefield."

He paused.

"In my life, I've taken countless bullets, and the blood I've shed for the Yanhuang Civilization is enough to fill a bathtub."

After he finished speaking, the conference room fell silent for a few seconds.

Yang Hang picked up his teacup and took another sip.

The aroma of tea rose in the dim light.

"Are these experiences the reason for what you're doing today?"

His voice was soft.

Lin Huaiyuan's lips moved.

"I wouldn't dare."

"Then, in your opinion, why would someone who has bled for their civilization and fought for it—" Yang Hang set down his teacup, his gaze landing calmly on Lin Huaiyuan's face, "—end up in such a state?"

Silence.

Lin Huaiyuan opened his mouth.

"I… was genuinely trying to operate this Magic Sea Bank. The rebates I promised were not empty words. As long as the plan proceeded smoothly and the capital chain remained intact—"

"It wouldn't have proceeded."

Yang Hang interrupted him, stating the fact plainly.

Lin Huaiyuan's words caught in his throat.

"As of this evening, if I'm not mistaken, I haven't unlocked the remaining permission functions for the Cause and Effect Fate Platform AI Customer Service System."

Yang Hang tapped his fingers lightly on the tabletop.

"Or do you think I'm the one who remembered wrong?"

These words landed in Lin Huaiyuan's ears, heavier than any accusation.

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something. He formulated his words, then discarded them. He formulated them again, then discarded them again.

In the end, he said nothing.

Because he had realized the truth.

The Fate Master wasn't debating with him. The Fate Master was simply revealing his hand—the table you were playing at was fake from the very beginning.

"I…" Lin Huaiyuan's voice was hoarse, "I understand."

Yang Hang stood up.

"I came here out of curiosity. I've seen what I wanted to see."

His tone was indifferent, as if he had just finished browsing a small stall and was ready to leave.

"Is there anything else?"

Lin Huaiyuan was silent for three seconds.

Then, this old man with graying hair, who had held his back straight his entire life, leaned his body slightly forward in his seat.

Not a bow. Not a kneel.

Just a lean.

But for Lin Huaiyuan, this action was harder than kneeling.

"Fate Master… sir."

In his voice, the composure of the old politician finally shattered, and he finally uttered the last two words he had been unwilling to say since he first met Yang Hang.

"I admit my fault. I accept the punishment. These sins are unforgivable; I will not make excuses."

He raised his head, his eyes rimmed with red.

"But the three thousand seven hundred ordinary Survivors in the organization—most of them were coerced and knew nothing. I am willing to voluntarily withdraw from this Magic Sea trial in exchange for giving them a chance to start over."

Yang Hang didn't respond immediately.

He looked at Lin Huaiyuan.

He watched him for about five seconds.

Then, he shook his head.

"If you had honestly promoted the bank from the beginning, perhaps as the first organization to develop this on the Cause and Effect Fate Platform, I would have supported you and provided assistance."

His voice was not loud, but every word was clear.

"But you chose another path."

Lin Huaiyuan's breathing quickened for a moment.

Yang Hang's gaze swept across Lin Huaiyuan's face.

"If you had succeeded, everyone in your organization would have been the greatest beneficiaries. It's just that you failed… therefore, there are no innocent people here."

The words landed.

Lin Huaiyuan wanted to say something—but the chair opposite him was already empty.

Shadows shrouded the vacant seat.

The teacup was gone, too.

Even the aroma of the tea had dissipated completely, as if no one had ever been there.

Lin Huaiyuan sat alone in the dark, motionless for a long, long time.

— —

After leaving Lin Huaiyuan, Yang Hang went to see Director Sun Zheng.

There was no long conversation. He simply carved out a temporary space in the Karmic Void Realm—a pitch-black expanse with an endless lake embedded within—and pulled Director Sun Zheng inside.

The two sat by the lake, each with a virtual fishing rod.

Yang Hang just asked a question out of curiosity.

Director Sun Zheng was silent for a long time before giving an answer—human favors, entanglements with childhood friends, long-term psychological struggles, and that sliver of desire for the supreme position that he didn't want to admit to himself.

Yang Hang was satisfied with the answer, retracted his fishing rod, and sent him back.

He didn't say whether it was good or bad. He just listened.

Then, Yang Hang went to the last target of his trip: the only Survivor who had been marked with a Magic Sea red name during this incident.

Truth be told, the Council of Thirteen's bank plan had failed, yet it had also succeeded; none of the organization members had been punished by the Cause and Effect Fate Platform.

Instead, Director Sun Zheng's personal guard had taken the fall.

After returning to his Houseboat, Yang Hang didn't take the matter to heart; it had merely been an action driven by curiosity.

Just like the answer he gave Lin Huaiyuan: if the Council of Thirteen's plan had succeeded, every Survivor in the organization would have been a massive beneficiary, becoming parasitic leeches sucking the blood of millions of Yanhuang Civilization Survivors.

Their current appearance of being pitiful and innocent was only because the plan had failed.

And even if some were truly innocent, hadn't he categorized the punishments accordingly?

Upon returning from the Council of Thirteen, Yang Hang continued to immerse himself in researching his energy talent. He hadn't opened today's or yesterday's treasure chests.

He had saved up two and wasn't in a hurry; he had just gained some insight into energy rules. He would wait until he had a genuine need later, so he could use the treasure chests more effectively, while also preparing some material reserves for the Magic Sea professional System that Alola would categorize later.

Regarding energy research, his Flash of Inspiration talent and Rule Affinity talent, combined with his immense Mental Energy, allowed him to make rapid progress in energy rules.

Even when he encountered a bottleneck, a flash of inspiration was basically enough to solve it.

If he truly couldn't solve it, he would forcibly use the Power of Causality to pull the solved outcome into reality. Thus, his mastery of energy rules was achieved through a combination of active comprehension and the auxiliary advancement provided by the Power of Causality.

The twenty-eighth day of the Magic Sea Calendar, 1:10 PM.

Yang Hang exhaled a breath of turbid air from the time field created by the Sleeping Pendulum.

But this wasn't urgent.

Because Alola had just sent a notification: the basic vegetable production supply chain for the real Farm Realm had been completed.

Yang Hang pulled himself completely out of his immersion and stood up to stretch.

A group of Bionic Maids surged forward silently, bringing hot water, towels, and fresh clothes. After enjoying a thorough hot bath, Yang Hang appeared in the entertainment lounge of his super-luxury Houseboat, dressed in a loose white short-sleeved shirt.

He lay back on the sofa, and two maids stood on either side to massage his shoulders and neck.

While enjoying the service, he completed three tasks in his consciousness.

First, he fully opened the data channel between the real Farm Realm and the virtual Farm Realm on the Cause and Effect Fate Platform.

Second, he added a vegetable-patterned materialization button to the bottom right corner of all farm owners' game panels—by clicking it, the vegetables grown in the Farm Realm could be materialized and sent directly to the Survivor's hands. Real vegetables. The kind you could eat.

Third, he changed the entrance to the Farm Realm from a hidden one to an official, conspicuous entrance—placing it alongside the Karmic Trading Realm, Causality Enhancement Realm, and Causality Bank as a first-level function button.

After completing these three tasks, Yang Hang had Alola draft a notice.

It had a gold border.

Highest priority.

Pushed to the entire Cause and Effect Fate Platform.

All life rings vibrated synchronously.

[ Cause and Effect Fate Platform System Update Announcement: A new feature has been opened, and some unknown risks have been fixed! ]

[ 1. Brand new feature officially online — Farm Realm. ]

[ The Farm Realm is a virtual reality farming game on the Cause and Effect Fate Platform. Select the "Farm Realm" button on the Fate Master interface to enter. ]

[ Upon entering, you will receive an exclusive farm. You can choose from four terrains: Mountain, Grassland, Forest, or Riverside. Sow, water, raise livestock, build, steal crops — enjoy the pastoral life. ]

[ Main rules are as follows: ]

[ 1. The farm Rank is from level one to ten, upgraded based on a comprehensive assessment of farm output and construction. ]

[ 2. You can spend karma points to exchange for "Little Green Water" to accelerate the growth cycle of crops and poultry. ]

[ 3. You can go to other farm owners' farms to steal mature crops and poultry produce. If discovered, you will be marked with a "Crop Thief" tag. Farms of equal or higher level equipped with guard dogs will refuse teleportation. To remove the tag, you must compensate with crops of equal value. High-level farms enjoy a daily theft discovery immunity against low-level farms. ]

[ 4. The farm has an automatic closure mechanism. The System evaluates the farm owner's real-time status in the Magic Sea. When in situations where they cannot get away, such as combat, patrols, or the Sequence War, the farm will automatically close and cannot be stolen from. ]

[ 5. The time flow in the Farm Realm is five times that of Magic Sea reality. Spending five hours in the Farm Realm equals only one hour in reality. ]

[ 2. Farm Vegetable Materialization Feature. ]

[ Click the vegetable-patterned button in the bottom right corner of the farm owner panel to spend corresponding karma points to materialize mature crops from the Farm Realm into your vicinity, your hand, or your Spatial Backpack in any place that can hold them. ]

[ 3. Retention of Beta Farm Owner Rights. ]

[ From the evening of the 25th day of the Magic Sea Calendar when the beta went online until now, all farm owners who have entered the Farm Realm will have their farm Rank, crops, poultry, buildings, and all other assets and progress fully retained, with no resets. Thank you to all pioneer farm owners for your exploration. ]

[ Cause and Effect Fate Platform Tip: The first brave farm owner successfully stole a hen from a level two farm during the beta period. The Cause and Effect Fate Platform hereby pays high tribute to this pioneer. A friendly reminder: that chicken has already been stolen back by the original owner. ]

[ Wish all farm owners a happy harvest. ]