Chapter 387: Exhausted Planet, Energy Reaction in the Atmospheric Flow

With the help of the Ghost World, Qi Suian successfully entered the planet where the survivors were located.

For his own safety, he had the Tai Sui God alter his appearance to be gaunt and malnourished. After all, this batch of survivors all looked like that.

The survivors were indeed weak, but to Qi Suian, they posed no significant threat.

As soon as he arrived, the Profound Yang Qi within him became highly active. Although it had been eroded and assimilated by the Profound Virus, this was, after all, its home.

The Ghost Monster Soul Seed enveloping it, however, seemed a bit sluggish, having left its comfort zone.

"Its growth will take at least fifty percent longer now."

"But this is good news for me," Qi Suian said softly. "Smart-Brain, take over the satellites. Infiltrate the network."

While instructing the Smart-Brain, Qi Suian also released a sub-body projection of the Eternal Morning Star satellite.

He wasn't just going to use their satellites; he was going to put his own into orbit as well.

He basically wanted it all.

A few minutes later, the Smart-Brain quickly compiled a report on the entire planet for Qi Suian.

'Resources depleted. A civilization unable to break through the planet's surface. A humanity on the verge of extinction.'

'The Doomsday Game is truly incredible. To think it found two at once... No, wait, there's actually only one.'

Qi Suian had previously thought the Ghost World was also a Doomsday World, but on second thought, that didn't seem right.

How was that a doomsday? Humans and ghosts were one and the same there, protected by the world's will, and their population was even beginning to grow.

So the only real doomsday was on this one Exhausted Planet where the survivors lived.

The humans of the Ghost World had a less-than-ideal life, but it couldn't be called a doomsday. At least they weren't in danger of extinction.

In contrast, on the planet where the survivors lived, the Smart-Brain estimated that even without Qi Suian's intervention, their resources would be completely depleted in about ten years.

It was easy to imagine what would happen then.

"According to the report, the cause was humanity's over-exploitation of the planet's resources, leading to a failure of resource regeneration and the collapse of the ecosystem."

"But that doesn't seem right to me," Qi Suian said, looking at the report in his hand.

[Yes. It looks more like some kind of colossal entity has sucked the entire planet dry, causing it to wither.]

Qi Suian agreed with the Smart-Brain's assessment.

Setting aside its eras of underdeveloped technology and productivity, this planet's human civilization had only been around for a little over a hundred years, starting from its industrial revolution and the dawn of capitalism.

'No matter how fast they developed, a hundred years shouldn't be enough to bring an entire planet to this sorry state.'

This reminded Qi Suian of the survivor protagonist's death-rewind ability.

'If he wasn't the first person to have this ability, then maybe it would all make sense.'

'In the past, someone was rewinding time for the entire planet, but as an individual, they couldn't pay the cost of a planet-wide time reversal.'

'In the end, the only thing left to pay the price was the planet itself.'

'And the reason the current survivor protagonist can't use his death-rewind here isn't because he's unable to, but because the planet can no longer support it.'

'He can't pay the cost himself, which is why it doesn't work—it's not an environmental issue.'

Only with this speculation could Qi Suian conceive of how an entire planet's resources could be exhausted within a hundred years.

If this was the case, it wasn't exactly bad news for Qi Suian.

The Smart-Brain's theory about a colossal entity sucking it dry, on the other hand, was the worst-case scenario.

'Who knows if that terrifying entity is finished feeding or not.'

If he had to choose, Qi Suian leaned toward a combination of both theories.

The person who had the death-rewind ability before the current protagonist was fighting against the colossal entity that was draining the planet.

They must have failed; otherwise, the planet wouldn't have ended up in this state.

"Smart-Brain, what's the status of the takeover?" Qi Suian asked.

[Global network takeover complete. Disarming remaining forces...]

This was truly an attack from a higher dimension of power. None of the factions on the Exhausted Planet could even begin to compare, technologically, to the Tai Sui God, which had already evolved 63 times and possessed numerous modules.

In an instant, the entire planet was brought under control. Most electronic devices failed, satellites were hijacked, and military bases were neutralized.

Of course, this action drew the immediate attention of the planet's remaining factions, who scrambled to respond.

Qi Suian ignored their actions and said, "Find the survivor protagonist."

Now that he had arrived on the Exhausted Planet, the survivor protagonist had lost his value to the will of the Ghost World.

As for setting up the formation to open a passage between the two worlds, there was no rush.

Qi Suian was certain that as soon as he opened it, the Doomsday Game would inevitably release a limited-time event for a New World Pass.

And because the Ghost World would be arriving with such force, the whole event probably wouldn't last more than twenty-four hours.

'Then how would I get the chance to study the survivor protagonist and the ghost he controls?'

The last time his target was forced into the Truth Layer to survive, he had managed to control another ghost.

And it was a Guile Ghost.

This had greatly increased the survivor protagonist's power, and his value had skyrocketed accordingly.

It was a dual-structure, but time was limited. Plus, with the subject's death-rewind ability, it was far too troublesome for Qi Suian to study him.

[Locking on...]

The search took time. After all, it required painstaking comparisons, and the workload was much greater than taking over the network and disarming forces.

One was like finding a needle in a haystack; the other was a targeted strike. The difficulty levels were obviously different.

At the very least, it required a full scan followed by a re-check.

Qi Suian didn't rush it, instead observing the planet's situation through satellite maps.

"There's a faint energy reaction in the atmospheric currents?" Qi Suian noticed a problem.

"The structure is similar to Yang Qi, but different."

Qi Suian went to capture a sample, but he found nothing.

'It flows, it's undetectable, and it can spread... what the hell is this???' Qi Suian couldn't understand it at first.

So he could only follow the flow of energy.

'It exists in densely populated areas, and...'

Using the maps, climate data, and energy flows, Qi Suian discovered that this massive stream of energy seemed to be converging on a single point.

"Smart-Brain, you can stop searching. I think I've found the survivor protagonist," Qi Suian said suddenly.

'This couldn't be some kind of special, conceptual energy formed from the combination of truth and lies, could it?'

'That's why it's invisible and intangible, but because it's combined with Yang Qi, it manifests as an energy structure.'

How Qi Suian knew was simple: he lingered in the area, collected data through his reconnaissance network, and then summarized and filtered it.

This allowed him to learn about the widespread popularity of the Ghost Control Technique.

As for the person spreading the Ghost Control Technique, it was, of course, the survivor protagonist, Su Huayun.

However, the Ghost Control Technique he was spreading was no longer the original version, but an improved one.

Its success rate had been greatly increased.

He obtained its contents as well. It was very mature, looking like the product of decades of development.

'It looks a bit strange. Not like it was developed through research, but more like it was forcibly twisted onto the right path.'

"Lies... became truth." Qi Suian's eyes narrowed as he considered the possibility.

'So death-rewind is also a type of lie, merely an action that occurs after a region has been deceived.'

Qi Suian vaguely guessed at a possibility: his target couldn't actually revive or rewind time. He simply used lies to make the surrounding area misjudge the situation, thereby anchoring the outcome of rewinding after death.

'Add to that truth, guile, and a protagonist's halo...'

'...supported by the Doomsday Game.'

'If Su Huayun is truly allowed to mature, he might actually be able to kill me.'

The ability to make lies a reality, to turn fiction into fact—it was just too broken.

'Fortunately, he's still naive, and the Doomsday Game is really stingy.'

If Su Huayun hadn't been chosen by the Doomsday Game but by some other, more powerful platform, he probably would have risen to power long ago.

Then it would be him hunting Qi Suian, not the other way around.

But there were no "if"s. The Doomsday Game had screwed Su Huayun over badly.

Then again, without the Doomsday Game, even with his protagonist's halo, Su Huayun probably would have never been able to awaken his own talents and potential.

He would have ended up trapped on this resource-depleted planet, eventually becoming a pile of white bones.

Fine steeds are common, but a master who can recognize one is rare.

There just weren't that many platforms and opportunities out there for someone to grow.

-----------------

"It's the Violator. He's come to the real world, too." Looking at the failing electronic devices, Su Huayun immediately thought of the Violator.

That suit of armor he wore was clearly sci-fi equipment.

Although he didn't know where it came from, its technological level was far superior to their own.

He just couldn't use it to its full potential in the Netherworld Survival Area. But once he was in the real world, he was like a fish in water.

"The Violator? Who is that?" a senior official beside him asked hurriedly.

"He's the Violator. A very mysterious person."

"I've run into him a few times. He wears a suit of armor that looks like something out of future-tech," Su Huayun said vaguely.

The main reason was that he didn't want to expose his identity as a Law Enforcer.

"He's a person? Oh, that's good." The senior official breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it wasn't a ghost.

People could be killed.

"He can ignore ghosts, and his base stats are extremely high. Back then, even with 5 points in Physique and Spirit, I was no match for him."

"Ghosts are nowhere near as difficult to deal with as he is," Su Huayun said coldly.

Even though his Deceiver class had been upgraded to SS-Rank, his even stronger death-rewind was useless against him.

Not to mention, in the real world, he didn't have the death-rewind ability.

"You're overestimating him. You really think he's taken control of every single armory? Plenty of them still require physical activation."

"If he dares to show his face, we'll make sure he dies without a grave." This senior official had never met the Violator, nor had he ever entered the Netherworld for survival.

Hearing about something and experiencing it firsthand are two completely different things.

"Can you get it done in one minute?"

"Otherwise, it might be too late." Based on his past few encounters, Su Huayun was already certain the Violator had a way of tracking him.