Li Ang ignored all the curious or reverent gazes from passersby along the way and stepped into the headquarters of the Demon Scientist Alliance.

This was a spaceship shaped like a half-ring, its surface bristling with vicious black-metal spikes,

weirdly-shaped cannons everywhere, cables like veins whose purpose was unclear, and light strips that flickered with ominous glow, like rows of blinking eyes.

"Pretty trendy, actually."

With his slightly skewed sense of aesthetics, Li Ang sighed with emotion, walked through the main entrance, and immediately saw the two "female" receptionists behind the counter.

One had faint red skin, pitch-black horns on her head, an oval face that could be called flawless, watery eyes that hooked the soul, a tiny beauty mark at the corner of her eye, a skimpy sundress on her body, gloves on her hands, and a harpoon-like tail swaying behind her.

None other than the legendary Succubus.

The other wore a Halo above her head, a Greek-style robe, and had a pair of wings on her back—a likewise stunningly beautiful Angel.

The faces of these two receptionists would be considered top-tier beauties even in the kill-field game world, where plastic surgery tech runs rampant,

but, but,

even the most indiscriminately amorous, most lustful, most shamelessly flirtatious players, the kind who eat anything hot or cold, would never have any ideas about them.

The Demon Scientist Alliance’s lower limit of integrity doesn’t have a bottom line, only a deeper pit,

and these beautiful receptionists who look like a Succubus + Angel combo might have been some bizarre thing in their previous life.

Maybe not women, maybe not human, maybe not even living carbon-based lifeforms...

If you really went and hit on them, you might as well prepare to be bagged and tagged—or worse, be condemned to eternal torment without ever getting release.

Li Ang had also heard plenty of strange rumors about the Demon Scientist Alliance, like how they can turn a goblin with a face full of festering sores who never bathes his entire life into a cute schoolgirl from the Elf Clan,

or how they can skin and de-bone a ferocious demon summoned from The Abyss, refining it into a slave without self-awareness.

This bunch possesses cutting-edge scientific tech spanning countless fields, and a sense of decency so cheap they’ll put it on open sale,

yet they’re all quite rational and cautious,

never doing anything too taboo in the real world, so they haven’t been publicly targeted for annihilation by official organizations like the Global Occult Coalition.

(The few members who get too out of line are proactively "liquidated" by their own. In a sense they’re even more rule-abiding than many organizations—hovering somewhere between lawful evil and chaotic evil, depending on the individual.)

"Mr. Li,"

Names carry weight; the Succubus receptionist on the left immediately stood up and said politely, "Do you have any requests? Do you need me to notify the President or Vice President?"

"No need. I’m just here to buy some data related to souls."

Li Ang waved his hand. He was about to ask where the Demon Scientist Alliance’s external shop was when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure slowly manifest in the air not far away—a figure wearing a dark yellow robe, whose entire face was hidden under the hood’s shadow.

It was the founder of the Demon Scientist Alliance, Side Truth.

"I’ll take this one."

Side Truth drifted over, gave the two receptionists a brief glance, then turned to Li Ang and rasped, "Long time no see, Mr. Li. Your Spiritual Energy skills have improved a lot compared to back in the Lost World."

"Same to you, sir."

Li Ang nodded slightly. Side Truth himself was also one of the Psychics, mainly cultivating the psychic Creation System, his Spiritual Energy level unfathomable—even Li Ang, as he was now, could vaguely sense the ocean-deep Mind Energy swirling around the other party.

"In the guild library that’s open to the guild’s mid- and high-level personnel, I’ve stored some books and materials related to souls. Mr. Li can sit there and browse at your leisure. If you need, you may also borrow copies of those books for free."

Side Truth spoke as if he already knew what Li Ang was going to say, and continued ahead of him, "Consider it our Demon Scientist Alliance’s way of showing respect and goodwill toward the strong.

If you don’t like this form of payment, you can also offer a small bit of compensation."

"Compensation?"

Li Ang raised a brow. "Such as?"

"Such as answering some of my questions and confusions regarding Spiritual Energy skills."

Side Truth said, "The six major branches of Psychic Abilities differ greatly from one another and are worlds apart.

I want to acquire some basic data on the Enchantment System to broaden my own knowledge base."

"Sure."

After a brief moment of thought, Li Ang agreed to his proposal. In the whole kill-field game, there aren’t that many players cultivating Psychic Abilities, but not that few either,

yet the number of high-level Spiritual Energy users, all told, doesn’t even exceed fifty.

Having someone to trade experiences and exchange information with is definitely better than fumbling in the dark alone.

"Then it’s settled."

Side Truth smiled faintly and sent Li Ang a friend request link. After Li Ang accepted,

the two of them passed through the hall and came to the library on the east side.

The Demon Scientist Alliance’s library actually looked fairly normal.

A few well-dressed gentlemen and ladies sat at long tables, spaced apart from one another, silently leafing through books under the glow of desk lamps.

But if one looked closely, one would find that all the books in their hands were leather-bound black grimoires bearing demonic designs,

and the library staff moving among the three-meter-high bookshelves, sorting books, were all demons.

Side Truth snapped his fingers, and dozens of books of varying thickness flew off the shelves, arranging themselves neatly on the long table. Li Ang, not standing on ceremony, sat down and quickly flipped through them, occasionally taking time to discuss insights about Spiritual Energy with Side Truth.

The Demon Scientist Alliance’s understanding of the soul was indeed deeper than that of Li Ang, or of any organization.

They believed that the soul could be divided into two concepts: Soul Energy, and the soul’s "shape."

The former is like Spiritual Power, Aether, or elements—universal Energy widely distributed within the living beings of the natural world.

The amount of Soul Energy within different life-forms varies.

Species with tiny bodies, such as ants, have less,

while higher mammals such as humans, cattle, and sheep possess comparatively more total Soul Energy.

And because the latter possess a higher level of intelligence, capable of producing memory and emotion, their Soul Energy will naturally condense into form not long after birth, acquiring what is called a "shape"—that is, the soul individual in popular understanding,

which can inherit the appearance one had in life—for example, a sheep’s soul has the shape of a sheep, Sadako’s soul has the shape of Sadako.

After a soul generates a fixed "shape," it can inherit a portion of its memories, emotions, and personality, and in the true sense becomes an inseparable part of the self.

In the various regional mythological systems, the so‑called reincarnation is actually the same thing—that after all living beings die, the soul-shape collapses and turns into unconscious Soul Energy.

In the real world there exists a kind of underlying rule that automatically cycles Soul Energy,

reinvesting wandering souls back into the embryos naturally gestated by life.

"The essence of the soul is actually not all that mysterious. To put it loftily, the soul is the lubricant that drives all living things in this world, the inborn natural right of all creatures, and at the same time the ’tax’ that every living being must pay back to the world from the moment of birth.

And to put it in a less flattering way..."

Side Truth lightly swept his palm across the tabletop, lining up several Gold Coins stamped with terrified human faces and a few red crystals.

Li Ang immediately recognized them as souls condensed into physical substance.

"In Ancient Egyptian mythology, Ma’at, daughter of the sun god Ra, is in charge of judgment in the Underworld. She uses an ostrich feather to weigh the good and evil of the dead during their lifetime; only those who did good deeds may obtain another life.

In Greek mythology, Charon, the ferryman of the Underworld, demands a Gold Coin from every deceased soul as fare to cross the Styx."

Side Truth put away the Gold Coins and crystals, and said calmly, "According to certain currently much‑discussed theories, the gods in many myths of the real world are nothing more than Transcendents slightly stronger than us.

For the strong, souls are currency—something that can be bought and sold, distorted, commodified, traded at will.

All those Underworlds, Yellow Springs, and Underworlds in ancient times

were in fact nothing but powerful Transcendents

exploiting the fixed mechanism by which the world’s root automatically cycles Soul Energy

to profit themselves.

Just like vying for territory in Monopoly,

those so‑called gods established their so‑called Underworlds near the Soul Well of the world and fixed their own systems of faith.

They proclaimed themselves owners of the fields, managing and cultivating them,

but even without them, plants would still grow in the fields.

Just like in today’s real world: all Deities have died off or fallen asleep, and yet reincarnation continues to operate unhindered.

As for why those gods had to do this,

the root cause, in my personal view, comes down to three points.

First, the total amount of free Soul Energy in the world is limited.

Second, souls can provide Power of Faith and can also be converted into other forms of Energy.

Third, if ancient Transcendents wished to survive and continue on under the pressure of the killing‑field game, they had to make use of the Power of Faith of sapient beings and embark on the road of Divine Enthronement."

"Wait,"

Li Ang thought for a moment and interrupted, "The total amount of Soul Energy is limited?"

"Mm."

Side Truth nodded and chuckled lightly. "Are you trying to say it doesn’t add up?

In the Ancient Times, there were only a few million primitive humans, but now the population has expanded to more than seven billion."

Li Ang nodded.

Seeing this, Side Truth said, "You can think of Soul Energy as the water resources of a planet—limited in mass, and existing in many different forms.

Today the Earth’s seven-plus billion people do seem like a lot, but compared to animals they’re nothing—there are 200 to 400 billion birds,

and a trillion mammals, including mice, bats, and so on.

Reptiles and amphibians number in the hundreds of trillions; in terms of total amount, not much has actually changed."

"Like water resources, it can be endlessly recycled, right."

Li Ang thought for a moment, then asked, "I can also understand the second point, but how do you explain the third?

In ancient times, Deities built the Underworld in order to prolong their own existence, and incidentally diverted some Soul Energy for their own use.

If they really had that level of technology, the best method should have been to carry out large-scale brainwashing directly,

or encourage reproduction and massively increase the total number of sapient beings."

"Exactly."

Side Truth nodded. "That’s also my fourth point.

All along, ordinary people, low-level players, and even national governments have been puzzled by one thing.

If players existed in the past, why didn’t they leave a profound impact on the real world?

If we’re talking about modern times, you can still explain it with the theory that the kill-field game’s intensity was relatively low, the overall number of players small, and their strength insufficient to affect global affairs.

But in the distant past, what about those Deities who could establish God’s Kingdoms?

Their power was absolutely enough to alter the course of the world."

Li Ang paused at that; this was also something he’d been thinking about ever since he set foot on the path of Divine Enthronement.

"My view is, on the one hand they had no reason to do so, and on the other hand, whatever attempts they did make were wiped out by the kill-field game."

Side Truth said slowly, "For Transcendents who choose the path of a Deity, the number of believers is extremely important, but the quality of believers is just as crucial.

Take our Demon Scientist Alliance as an example.

We can use souls as petroleum-like fuel, as currency like Gold Coins,

freely twisting, altering, harnessing, and driving souls, even changing the very ’shape’ and memories of the soul itself.

As long as I wish, I can mold the souls of tens of thousands into forms of absolute obedience to me, providing me with an unending stream of Power of Faith."

Side Truth paused, then said slowly, "But that’s not realistic.

Soul Energy and the shape of the soul

are essentially like the relationship between water and ice.

Soul Energy itself has no attributes.

Only when it takes on a shape—becoming a real soul with rich emotions and memories—can it generate Power of Faith.

Souls fabricated falsely produce Power of Faith at an extremely low efficiency and are completely worthless—in other words, only souls that have truly lived possess value as currency.

This is also why ancient Deities, as well as all those quasi-divine beings we’ve seen in script missions,

without exception adopted the traditional method of founding cults to amass Power of Faith for themselves.

As for why they don’t encourage reproduction, the reason is simple.

After one round of the kill-field game ends—or rather, fails—

most Transcendents die out, while a handful of Deities and Demigods cling to life by relying on faith gathered through Divine Enthronement.

At that point, the kill-field itself will, in the most direct manner, erase most of the impact left by the previous generation of Transcendents.

For example, it will destroy God’s Kingdoms that no longer have Deities,

abandon caves and estates that no longer have Immortals as their masters,

and even directly carry out large-scale modifications of mortal memories, making them forget the Transcendent phenomena they once witnessed."

Li Ang’s brows furrowed and he reflexively asked, "Evidence?"

"..."

Side Truth fell silent for a moment, then slowly drew from the void a two-handed greatsword as tall as a person, forged from some unknown metal, and placed it gently on the library’s wooden table.

"Back when I was Lv10, I went through a script mission where, together with a Nordic Barbarian at the King’s banquet, I killed a half-human, half-demon Man-eating Demon.

Later, that barbarian and I killed the Mother of Demons that came upon hearing the news and attacked us."

Side Truth said calmly, "That barbarian and I became very good friends. I thought that after that script mission, we’d never have a chance to meet again,

but unexpectedly, when I reached Lv18 I received another script mission, and in that mission world I saw that barbarian again. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Fifty years had passed since I last saw him. He had long since been revered and raised as King, already elderly and frail, while I was still young.

We reminisced a little about the old days upon meeting, and then his kingdom was attacked by a fire-breathing Giant Dragon coveting the kingdom’s wealth.

Villages and towns across the kingdom were burned by dragonfire and the people suffered heavy casualties.

So, in his aging body, he once again donned armor, took up his treasured sword, gathered eleven lord Knights of the kingdom, and sincerely invited me to go to the Dragon’s Nest with him.

In the Dragon’s Nest, we were fiercely attacked by Dragonborn.

His lord Knights all abandoned him and fled,

and in the end only he and I were left standing before the Giant Dragon."

Side Truth paused, then said slowly, "The Giant Dragon’s strength was close to that of an incomplete Desolated Lion, and at the time I could barely contend with it.

The barbarian and I went through unimaginable hardship to slay it, but my friend was bitten by the dragon and poisoned by its venom.

I used every precious piece of equipment and every item I had on me, but I still couldn’t stop his death.

At the end of his life, he begged me to protect his kin and descendants and let them inherit the kingdom.

I agreed, took the dragon’s severed head, and left the Dragon’s Nest.

When I returned to the kingdom, I killed all the lord Knights who had fled and raised his relatives to the throne.

And before leaving the script mission, I buried his greatsword in the hill of the Dragon’s Nest."

Side Truth slowly let out a turbid breath and said faintly, "My friend, that Nordic Barbarian, was named Beowulf.

And this sword is the Giant’s Sword he used to topple the Sea Demon King and slay the Giant Dragon.

I clearly remember burying the Giant’s Sword beneath the hill in the script world,

yet after I left the script mission, I dug it up again in the real world, on a hill in Scandinavia, and on the sword I saw the runes I had personally carved to commemorate him.

In Beowulf’s time, his kingdom was vast. People built towering statues and Holy Temples for him,

but all of that, those things that truly existed either in the script world or in the real-world history,

are, on the timeline a thousand years later where we now stand, nothing but myth and legend.

The statues and Holy Temples are completely gone, without even ruins left behind.

Only this Giant’s Sword proves that I really went there, that there really was a friend of mine named Beowulf."

Side Truth took a deep breath, looked at the silent Li Ang, and said, "The script missions players experience aren’t just in other worlds; some are on the real Earth, on the actual timeline.

But all those legendary experiences have, under the irresistible force of the kill-field game, been turned into mythic tales.

In other words, the reality we know is only the reality the kill-field game wants us to know.

We too are in a cage."

"..."

Li Ang was silent for a long time. In fact, he had also experienced similar script missions.

For example, the Solitary Cold Temple where he met Chaichai,

the half-body skeleton left behind by that Mountain Demon appeared in a temple in Yin City more than a thousand years later.

Cause and effect were reversed, and it instead became the medium that allowed Li Ang to Trigger the Solitary Cold Temple script mission.

Perhaps after this generation of Transcendents passes away, they too will become strange tales passed around by the next generation of humans...