This is!

Upon seeing the evaluation of the first-place work, Han Zhan instinctively became fully alert.

The same reaction came from Xia Youwei.

As Han Zhan’s first Contracted Spirit, the shared experiences they had quickly resurfaced in their minds!

A decadent, drunken alcoholic.

An elegant, gentlemanly poet.

A trustworthy friend.

A backstabbing... traitor!

"October just happens to be the time when Deep Blue City started to become unstable, and the lie..."

"Is it him?!"

Han Zhan and Xia Youwei exchanged a glance.

The others still didn’t understand what was happening, why it seemed like Ah Zhan and Youwei knew the person who got first place.

"Bob, help me filter the information, narrow the range, Deep Blue City, the list of participants in the offline creative competition."

Han Zhan reacted swiftly, immediately contacting Bob.

The entire territory of Great Xia was covered by the Celestial Net, making it most convenient to solve matters via the Celestial Net.

But this time, Bob’s response seemed much slower.

"..."

"Bob?"

"???"

"@Bob"

After a while, Bob’s virtual projection appeared in front of Han Zhan and the others.

"Your Heaven Net Core needs an iterative upgrade, the response speed is much slower, is it the multiple threads causing the lag?" Han Zhan asked upon seeing Bob’s Little Dragon Man image appear.

Bob shook his head.

His expression was somewhat serious, the Little Dragon Man pursing his lips, his eyes filled with intensity.

"The data you wanted to investigate just now, it’s lost."

"Since the establishment of the Celestial Net, data loss has never occurred, so I just spent time on an ultra-large scale screening and self-check."

Data loss?!

Han Zhan’s first reaction was that Bob was joking.

The Celestial Net losing data? How could that be possible?

"Did the self-check yield any results?"

"The database is fine." Bob’s eyes were deep, looking at Han Zhan, "But there’s a problem with the underlying logic."

Underlying logic, what kind of problem could it have?

Before Han Zhan could figure it out, Bob spoke again, revealing the answer.

"What you’ve experienced is false, there wasn’t any offline creative competition."

"It not only deceived you but also successfully deceived my underlying logic, making the Celestial Net think there was data being recorded when in fact there was none."

"So the data wasn’t lost, it never existed!"

"I’ve already urgently communicated the situation here to Lin Jingxuan, he will take action."

After Little Dragon Man Bob said this, the entire virtual projection disappeared again.

As the Celestial Net, he still had many matters to handle, and the situation with Han Zhan was out of control, he didn’t need to waste any more time on this issue.

This is the unique, absolute rationality of Intelligent Mechanical Life.

Not long after Bob’s figure disappeared, a huge golden Profound Text appeared in the sky above Deep Blue City.

As the golden Profound Text slowly rotated, it began to slowly descend toward Han Zhan,

The next second, the offline creative competition venue that seemed so real just a moment ago, vanished!

The staff who were preparing to present awards, vanished!

The participants who, like Han Zhan and the others, were filled with anticipation,

also all vanished!

False, all false.

This was a total lie!

In the virtual contact chat group, new messages popped up.

Lin Jingxuan: "[False] has been erased, but the root cause of [False] has yet to be found."

Before long, Han Zhan’s reply also appeared in the chat group.

Han Zhan: "I’m ninety percent sure that the creator of the root of [False] is the traitor who betrayed Great Xia, now the chief strategist on the Crimson Insect Race side, Yi Fan!"

Lin Jingxuan: "The possessor of the Lying Talent? The higher the Realm of the Lying Talent, the more troublesome it is. Based on the feedback from my suppression just now, the opponent currently has at least Tier Eight strength."

Lin Jingxuan: "I don’t rule out the possibility of him using special tools to avoid the pursuit of the Heaven and Earth Array, currently I can’t find his true body."

Han Zhan: "Second Senior Brother, leave this matter to us."

Han Zhan took the initiative to take on this matter.

Given the current busyness of the Second Senior Brother, it’s highly likely he won’t be able to focus all his energy on this issue.

Moreover, if the opponent is Yi Fan, Han Zhan is more eager to have a direct confrontation with him.

To personally end his life, to avenge his mentor, and Deep Blue!

After a brief silence in the chat group, a new message popped up.

Lin Jingxuan: "Alright."

The conversation ended.

With his eyes leaving the virtual chat window, Han Zhan took a deep breath.

"Ah Zhan, are you okay?" Seeing Han Zhan’s state seeming somewhat off and his emotions fluctuating greatly, Xia Youwei asked with concern.

"I’m fine." Han Zhan shook his head slightly and continued, "Looks like we’re going to have to work overtime in Deep Blue City."

...

Yi Fan has two Talent Abilities.

Namely [Lying] and [Immortal], both of which have now been elevated to the highest SSS Level in the Great Xia archives.

Moreover, based on Second Senior Brother Lin Jingxuan’s recent assessment, Yi Fan is very likely already a Tier Eight Spirit Contract Master.

Tier Eight Spirit Contract Master, with two SSS Level Talents.

With such intelligence on the enemy laid out, anyone would feel a toothache.

"He’s deliberately provoking us." Han Zhan first gave his assessment.

"Previously, with First Senior Brother and Second Senior Brother around, he didn’t show his face, fearing that revealing himself would lead to being discovered by two Tier Nine Ultimates."

"That’s why he conjured up this drama after only we were left."

A nonexistent offline creative competition, a fake organizer and participants, a pen name that resembles merciless mockery, causing no tangible damage.

Everything is absurd.

Perhaps a world constructed from lies is meant to be.

"After the Deep Blue upheaval and the ambush in the Qinse World, I especially studied the SSS Level Talent [Lying]."

"The Lying ability, though powerful, isn’t completely unsolvable."

"Because a lie must be built on a foundation of truth, it isn’t baseless, it can’t be mere rhetoric."

To put it simply, like the false data Bob mentioned, it could indeed be created through the Lying ability, but it must be transmitted back through a data terminal to be entered and recorded in the Celestial Net database.

The data is false, but the data terminal and database truly exist.

Similarly.

The vanished offline creative competition, though constructed by lies, must have a premise for its existence, which is that someone believes in it.

How can someone be made to believe?

At this moment, Shang Siteng’s eyes suddenly lit up as she thought of the most critical link:

"It was the flyer!"

The flyer we encountered at the Breeze Bar!

It was because of that flyer that they believed in the existence of the offline creative competition and registered for the competition. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

If all falsehoods have a root cause,

then the root cause might very well be that flyer!

"Let’s head to Breeze Bar right now!"