I Don't Agree to the Terms-Chapter 610 - 331: Shocking Change, Civilization in Decline

"It’s done," Gu Shanhai sighed with relief.

In the fourteenth month of the Great Ruin, Gu Shanhai and Rein finally finished distributing various awards to the players. In addition to the rewards for the ten billion excellently performing players, they also provided a basic reward to all participating players, as promised.

From this, they could also confirm the number of players, with 132 billion joining in the rescue of the entire Adventure King world.

It was not just the world itself that had spent a considerable amount of resources, but the "First Epoch" also contributed a significant amount of resources for compensation. It was known that the players’ main world line had rewards, and those must have come from the "First Epoch." However, the cost was ultimately recouped from the Adventure King world itself.

"Teacher, we have only completed the first phase, and there is still ten months to go," Rein reminded him.

To be completely freed from the impact of the Great Ruin, at least another ten months were needed, so it was far too early to declare "it’s done."

"It’s okay, the number of subsequent rewards can drop, at least we won’t need to provide both the 132 billion basic rewards and the 100 billion excellence rewards as we currently do," Gu Shanhai indeed understood that; he wasn’t a fool.

"What’s the situation with the subsequent matters?" Gu Shanhai inquired.

"The anomaly zones are receding, and the rules are stabilizing, but I have an unsettling premonition," Rein said hesitantly.

"An unsettling premonition? What about?" Gu Shanhai felt nothing. His intuition and sixth sense were mostly focused on his own fortune or misfortune, with only a small part being comprehensive.

He didn’t care about the outside world, just his own situation.

"I don’t know; maybe it’s just an illusion," Rein couldn’t pinpoint what was amiss, as everything seemed to be progressing well, and he had no explanation for it.

"It’s probably just an illusion, I haven’t detected anything wrong," Gu Shanhai also responded.

During this time, Gu Shanhai’s Spiritual Sense had been wandering throughout the world and monitoring the anomaly zones. These zones were indeed gradually diminishing, as if the world was healing itself.

He had actually wondered if these broken and chaotic rules could cause irreversible damage to the world, and then he had cast these thoughts aside.

Not to mention he couldn’t see where the influence lay; even if he did, he had no way to solve it.

"That’s a relief," Rein also found himself in the dark. If someone as strong as Gu Shanhai said there was no issue, then likely nothing major was amiss.

After finishing his statement, Rein prepared to continue his official duties, but he felt something was off and couldn’t start writing as if there was a problem somewhere.

Gu Shanhai also felt puzzled: "You’ve been holding the pen for two minutes now. What’s holding you back?"

"I... seem to have forgotten something," Rein said.

"Forgotten? How could you have forgotten?" Gu Shanhai was somewhat surprised; it was unlikely for someone as capable as Rein to forget things.

"I’m not sure," Rein admitted, perplexed.

"Like what, what have you forgotten?" Hearing Rein’s response, Gu Shanhai was also a bit confused.

"I forgot... um, a few characters," Rein said with some difficulty as he looked at the text in his hand.

Gu Shanhai chuckled, hearing this: "You can forget characters? Which ones, let me see for you."

Rein then spoke with an ugly expression: "These nine characters."

Hearing this, the smile on Gu Shanhai’s face began to fade.

If it were an obscure character, that would be understandable; after all, it’s normal for people not to know some words.

At that moment, Gu Shanhai realized that Rein might not be pretending to have forgotten due to not recognizing the characters, but that he had genuinely forgotten nine characters.

"Where, show me," Gu Shanhai stood up and walked over to Rein’s side.

Rein held up his pen and circled the nine characters he had forgotten.

Gu Shanhai could recognize these nine scattered characters; he knew them. Yet upon seeing them, he also experienced a bizarre feeling—as if these nine characters were not really characters.

Correct, it was his feeling, not the actual situation.

These weren’t obscure or uncommon characters; on the contrary, they were quite common.

"I think, your unsettling premonition might be true," Gu Shanhai also looked grave.

"Text seems to be erasing itself; those anomaly zones haven’t receded but merged with the world as the Great Ruin left, causing irreparable damage to our entire civilization."

Gu Shanhai understood the causes and effects in an instant; he wasn’t aware of these events because everything was disappearing in an imperceptible way.

It was precisely because of Rein’s special status as the Heavenly Destiny Saint that he could sense them.

"It’s likely not just text that is disappearing; other aspects of civilization might be vanishing too. If we don’t stop this, we may well return to a primitive society," Gu Shanhai said without exaggeration, in fact downplaying the severity. If the entirety of civilization were to disappear because of these anomalies, it wouldn’t just be a return to primitive times; humanity capable of building civilization would vanish along with it.

This was the most challenging disaster Gu Shanhai had ever encountered. Its origin was conceptual, as if someone were erasing civilization itself with an eraser, and this eraser was an invisible threat, leaving no trail for Gu Shanhai to pursue.