166: Chapter 166 He's Playing a Bigger Game

Inside the tin house, the atmosphere remained oppressive.

Although the truth about the "creator" that Shen Ye had thrown out was enough to shatter one's worldview, it did not cause Chen Xi to lose his reason.

On the contrary, as the brains of the team, after a brief shock, he quickly grasped several key points of doubt.

"Captain Shen."

Chen Xi tapped his fingers lightly on the table, breaking the silence:

"Although you have unraveled the mystery of the origin of the beasts, there are still a few things that I feel don't make logical sense."

Shen Ye looked up:

"Go ahead."

"First, it's those suddenly appearing space-time rifts, and those Men in Black."

Chen Xi's eyes were sharp, recalling that scene in the cave:

"That group of Men in Black possessed the ability to manipulate the rifts, and they were organized and disciplined, even retreating at the last moment due to a 'time machine malfunction.' This indicates that there is a massive force behind them."

"Does this force have any connection... to that future version of you?"

Shen Ye's brows locked tight, and a flash of confusion and pain crossed his single eye.

He recalled his experience of losing control in the school dungeon; that feeling of space shattering actually had some eerie resonance with the aura of these current rifts.

"To be honest, I'm not too sure either."

Shen Ye shook his head, his voice low:

"However, I have a vague intuition—that these space-time rifts scattered everywhere have some level of causal connection to the spatial turbulence I encountered in the dungeon back then."

"It's as if... at that time, I inadvertently broke a hole in the 'spatial barrier' of this world. And now, someone is using this hole to tear the rifts wider and wider."

"As for that group of Men in Black..."

Shen Ye sighed:

"I can't figure it out either. Why are they scavenging materials from high-level beasts on such a large scale?"

Chen Xi nodded thoughtfully.

Could it be for some kind of ritual? Or to maintain the operation of that so-called "time machine"?

Throughout this journey, whether it was snatching the skin of the Frost Giant Python or coveting the core of the Thunder Wing Illusion Butterfly, this group's objectives were extremely clear.

"Alright, let's set this question aside for now."

Chen Xi changed the subject and threw out a second, more critical question:

"Then, after that 'future you' found you, did he explicitly tell you what exactly needs to be done to stop all of this?"

"Could it be that he just told a story to scare us?"

Shen Ye was stunned for a moment, then recalled the conversation at the altar:

"There was no specific method. He just kept emphasizing one thing at the time—that I must find Ye Fei before she joins your team, take her away, and keep her away from you."

Speaking of this, Shen Ye subconsciously glanced at Ye Fei, who was sitting next to Chen Xi, and gave a bitter smile:

"But looking at it now... I have already missed this critical point in time."

"Not only did Ye Fei join your team, but she even... completed her class advancement."

The air instantly turned quiet.

According to the Black-Robed Man's theory, Ye Fei joining Chen Xi's team was the beginning of the path toward becoming the "creator."

Now that it was a done deal, didn't that mean the countdown to destruction had already begun?

Ye Fei shrank her neck in fear and said with a sobbing tone:

"Then... is it too late for me to quit the team now?"

"Don't be silly."

Chen Xi suddenly laughed out loud, waved his hand, his eyes sparkling with the light of wisdom:

"Don't you think there is a huge loophole in this logic?"

The group was stunned:

"What loophole?"

Chen Xi stood up and paced in the narrow room, analyzing clearly:

"According to that Black-Robed Man's statement, the reason the future will be destroyed is because Shen Ye and Ye Fei from thirty years in the future traveled back to the past and created the beasts."

"Then, as long as we know this result now, in thirty years... we just don't travel back, wouldn't that solve it?"

"As long as we don't return to the past, the beasts shouldn't be born. This is a problem that can be solved as long as 'I don't do it'."

Shen Ye was suddenly startled, as if waking from a dream:

"That's right! As long as I don't go, wouldn't everything cease to exist?"

"But..."

Chen Xi stopped, his gaze deep as he looked out at the pitch-black night outside the window, his voice becoming somewhat eerie:

"Look outside."

"If we could change history just by 'not going,' then right now... at this very moment, the beasts outside should have already disappeared."

"Because the cause and effect would have been severed."

"But, they are still here. The Illusion Butterfly in Thunder Roar Valley is still there, the poison spider in the Black Swamp Forest is still there."

Chen Xi turned around, looked at everyone, and said word by word:

"This indicates a more terrifying problem."

"Either history is not a simple closed loop, and even if we change the present, the past that has already been changed will not disappear."

"Or..."

Chen Xi narrowed his eyes, a chilling light flashing in them that made one's heart palpitate.

Xia Qing, who was beside him, pushed up his glasses and suddenly interjected, his tone carrying a hint of suspicion:

"Or... it's that 'future Brother Ye,' he is lying."

"Or, he still has something crucial... that he is hiding from you!"

Xia Qing's words were like a bolt of lightning, splitting the fog in Shen Ye's heart.

"Hiding it from me?"

Shen Ye's single eye contracted violently.

He began to frantically recall that scene at the altar.

Although that Black-Robed Man was sorrowful and desperate, every one of his words seemed to be guiding himself to stop Ye Fei and Chen Xi from making contact.

But, since he could project himself from the future, why didn't he just tell himself "don't create the beasts," and instead had to use such a roundabout way?

"It makes sense."

Shen Ye took a deep breath, cold sweat seeping from his forehead:

"Xia Qing is right. I always feel... that future version of me, although he seems to be atoning, there is a kind of madness in his eyes... that I can't understand."

Chen Xi nodded, took over the conversation, and continued to deduce:

"I think so too."

"Think about it, if not letting Ye Fei join the team was to prevent her from getting stronger, to prevent her from awakening her abilities. Well, now Ye Fei has already joined the team."

"If that future version of you's goal was really simple, just to eliminate the beasts. Then upon seeing this, he should be desperate, or take more radical measures."

"But..." Chen Xi recalled the scene when the group of Men in Black retreated in the cave:

"The master behind that group of Men in Black had the opportunity to kill me, yet let me go."

"If that master and the Black-Robed Man are in cahoots, or are the same person..."

Chen Xi's eyes became extremely sharp:

"Then his goal is definitely not just as simple as 'stopping the birth of the beasts'."

"Perhaps... he still needs me to do something. Or perhaps, he is playing a bigger game, and we, even including the future version of you, are just chess pieces."