I Don't Agree to the Terms-Chapter 611 - 331: A Shocking Change, Civilization in Decline_2

As for those mutated areas, they were not something Gu Shanhai could resolve, akin to rules of the world, existing like gravity and air; how could Gu Shanhai possibly deal with them?

"What should we do then?" Rein also had no solution at hand and could only consult Gu Shanhai.

"What can we do, mix things up..." Gu Shanhai replied irritably, for what else could he do? Currently, he had no expertise in that particular field.

Indeed, he did possess two types of special Spirit Plants related to cause and effect and fortune, but the problem was, these had nothing to do with the crisis he was facing. To make a connection, he would need relevant expertise, which he simply did not possess.

"Ah?" Rein was a bit surprised as well. If even Gu Shanhai was out of options, then the situation was dire.

"Try your automatic system and see if there’s a way to resolve this." Gu Shanhai could only make a last-ditch effort; he certainly couldn’t solve it himself.

Following Gu Shanhai’s suggestion, Rein hurriedly set about adjusting his automatic system.

The result was not unexpected... it failed.

"No good, this matter far exceeds my capabilities; it’s not something I can resolve," Rein said, looking at the text in his operation log where the automatic system had failed automatically.

"It seems even the Saint can’t resolve this; we’ll need to think of another method," Gu Shanhai thought, fortunately foreseeing Rein’s failure. If it were so easily resolved, Gu Shanhai wouldn’t be agonizing over it.

"What if I become a deity?" Rein asked.

"I don’t know, I’m not a deity, and besides, you can’t become one now," Gu Shanhai knew becoming a deity was not easy.

At least one thing was certain, the current rule environment was not suitable for deities to exist.

Indeed, at first glance, deities might seem lackluster, and it seemed they truly were.

The deities in the World of Adventures belonged to the category of rule deities, not those who became gods through acquired deification or innate worship like faith gods or incense gods.

Rule deities were inherently powerful, unaffected by external factors, indifferent to whether or not they were worshipped. Their power didn’t dwindle due to lack of followers, but they had a major drawback: extreme dependence on the world’s rule environment. Once the rule environment changed, these rule deities could not adapt, possibly leading to various issues.

Thus, Rein’s desire to become a deity was not going to be easy.

Gu Shanhai was merely cutting his internet connection, not setting up a private server for him. If Gu Shanhai couldn’t interfere with a Saint, let alone a deity.

And like him, the remains of the God of Destiny’s End that he had followed the same logic. Unlike Rein, if he wanted to become a deity, similar to his status as a Saint, it wouldn’t be a true deity but rather a unique effect derived from his own system, similar in nature to Heart Demon Dao Soldiers, akin to a quasi-deity. Hence, Gu Shanhai wasn’t worried about his own predicament.

"I want to try; if I can succeed..." Rein expressed his intention, but before he could finish, Gu Shanhai interrupted him.

"What if you fail, though? You can’t expect me to handle the player side of things, can you? How could I possibly do it alone? Think about it; if rewards are delayed and it provokes player backlash, what good would your success do? The world would just spiral into chaos," Gu Shanhai analyzed the pros and cons with him.

Now was not the right time to become a deity. Besides the player factor, Gu Shanhai had left unmentioned that the rules themselves were unstable. He wouldn’t actually prevent him from becoming a deity, but that should at least wait until the entire World of Adventures stabilized; otherwise, even if he succeeded, the current shifting rules could lead to failure.

"This..." Rein had to admit, if he succeeded, that would be fine, but if he failed, he could very well die, leaving Gu Shanhai alone to support the entire world, and the consequences would be unimaginable.

Just dealing with the players was enough to exhaust Gu Shanhai, not to mention being responsible for production, development, and so forth.

He felt somewhat helpless at the moment.

"I’m not against you doing this, but if you must, it would be better to wait until everything has settled down."

"The decline of civilization is not something that happens overnight; there’s no need to worry in the short term. Besides, even if the text disappears and the transmission of civilization is cut off, what of it? As long as we’re still here, we can develop it anew."

Gu Shanhai didn’t hesitate to give Rein a pep talk. What else could he do? The mood had been set, and it would be a shame not to stir up some emotions.

Rein was quite receptive to this approach, mainly because the person coaxing him was Gu Shanhai; if it had been someone else, Rein certainly wouldn’t have believed it.

"Then we’ll do as you say, teacher. However, the days to come might be hard." Rein knew that it probably wasn’t just the text that was disappearing—other things were vanishing too, only they were forgotten for now because of their disappearance.

But just the disappearance of text was troublesome enough. Rein handled a vast amount of official business, all mediated through text. Without text, how would he manage such a huge world?

"The disappearance of text is manageable, but I fear that even language might have issues." Gu Shanhai also felt a bit helpless; it was indeed a tough issue to tackle.

Problems related to language might have already appeared without them noticing.

"Teacher, I’ll leave the investigation to you." Rein’s tone was also solemn; Gu Shanhai wouldn’t joke about serious matters.

"I’ll do my best. Civilization’s issues aren’t urgent, we can still hold on. For now, what needs priority are the players."

"We natives might be affected, but the players and their various Daoist Soldiers and equipment might not be influenced by the world’s rules."

"Therefore, we need to find ways to preserve civilization through the players."

Gu Shanhai, of course, would not be affected. He wasn’t a native of this world; everything about him was isolated from the world itself. Moreover, with his slight restoration of past-life power in his World Tree form and True Spirit, such minor capabilities could hardly affect him.

The only pity was that his slight past-life power was limited and more suited for defense than progression. Holding onto it for protection was one thing, but using it to confront this world head-on was almost like throwing an egg against a rock.

If he genuinely had his past life’s strength, Gu Shanhai wouldn’t have to worry about these things at all.

"Is it feasible?" Rein, hearing this, was quite hesitant since players were a special existence.

"Let’s try it, it won’t cost us a limb." Gu Shanhai didn’t really know what else to do. Besides, with him as a safety net, even if they regressed to a primitive form of civilization, Gu Shanhai was confident that he could pull them back.

However, the entire civilization definitely wouldn’t develop like the adventurer system anymore. The adventurers and saints had become things of the past.

"Then let’s give it a try, but this means another expense, and a substantial one at that. Teacher, do you still have enough equipment and Daoist Soldiers?" Rein asked.

Skills were no issue, with skill potions on hand, there wasn’t much to worry about.

However, due to changes in the rules, the lands of adventure had disappeared, rendering the equipment and Daoist Soldiers obsolete.

Gu Shanhai had already distributed most of the equipment and Daoist Soldiers he had obtained as rewards.

"Not much left, but we can use skills instead. Players might prefer skills over equipment."

"We’ll switch all rewards to skills from now on and keep equipment and Daoist Soldiers as a limited supply." Gu Shanhai could only change strategies. Thanks to the saints’ self-sacrifice, otherwise, he would have been at his wit’s end.