I Don't Agree to the Terms-Chapter 615 - 333: The Sundial that Creates Disaster_2

The ability was rigid but powerful, merely triggering a disaster at a set time.

"A completely new product, which likely formed from the chaotic, shattered rules that the world absorbed initially."

It felt like an enhanced version of a Saint and a degraded version of a Divine, but in reality, it definitely wasn’t. It was the aftereffects that Gu Shanhai had previously worried about.

If a person’s broken bone didn’t receive timely treatment, the body’s self-healing would accommodate the misaligned bones, leading to either malformation or erroneous recovery.

This was how the Disaster Sundial was born.

"If I’m not mistaken, the Disaster Sundial is just the beginning, and various anomalies will become even more numerous in the future."

In other words, these anomalies were evolved forms of the original mutation zones, which initially relied on the Shanhai, and now, after being absorbed by the world, served as substitutes for the Divine.

This meant that the world’s anomalies weren’t limited to the Disaster Sundial alone; more anomalies were either being born or lying dormant.

If they were purely Divine, there actually would have been a way out because Divines wouldn’t care too much. However, these anomalies were different; they inherently bore chaos and were born, more importantly, without a sense of self. The Disaster Sundial was such a case; if it were a Divine, it would have been possible to communicate through words and interests to gain opportunities. The Disaster Sundial itself was inanimate and incorporeal, impeding any interference.

"We can only fight magic with magic," Gu Shanhai had some ideas already.

Since this thing itself was a rule, then let the Divine, who are also rules, take action.

He had two plans, one of which was for Rein to ascend from a Saint to a Divine, but this required time, at least until after the server closed. The closure of the server signified the world entering a period of stability, where there would be no player influence, reducing many variables.

The second plan naturally revolved around the Saint Pond formed by the Saints. Gu Shanhai wanted to use this as a base point to counter these anomalies. Basically, it was a patch, albeit one mixed with private agendas.

If the patch were uploaded under normal circumstances, then these ponds wouldn’t favor Rein and the civilization itself, as they, whether in life or after death, fought for the world, so it would be impartial. If one were to exploit it, it would necessitate mixing in some private interests.

The best scenario would be to implement both plans together, with Rein ascending to divinity and the Saint Pond acting as a patch for support. This way, they could not only successfully suppress these anomalies but also exploit and develop them.

During this time, Gu Shanhai also reaped sufficient benefits. With Rein’s ascension, Gu Shanhai could glimpse into the mysteries of the Divine, a rule-based life form, and with the Saint Pond becoming a patch, Gu Shanhai could access relevant data about the world’s anomalies.

With this data on hand, Gu Shanhai could not only fully utilize the relics of the God of Destiny’s End but also optimize and obtain special powers related to anomalies.

Anomalies have a significant negative impact on both the world and civilization but their destructive power cannot be denied.

Just like the decline of civilization, Gu Shanhai suspected that certain anomalies were at play but he simply couldn’t trace the existence of these anomalies, unlike the Disaster Sundial with its evident traces.

If Gu Shanhai acquired the corresponding abilities, even if leaving this world would weaken him, it would still be a significant aid.

"It seems the Disaster Sundial still has traces to follow," Gu Shanhai watched as the hand on the sundial moved from the range of a tsunami to heavy snow, then disappeared.

Even though the Disaster Sundial disappeared, the tsunami it triggered in its vicinity didn’t cease immediately; it caused a disaster, following a complete process. It wouldn’t just stop upon leaving but would gradually subside like a natural tsunami. Essentially, it wasn’t an ability but an actual tsunami.

Gu Shanhai didn’t follow the Disaster Sundial to the next disaster location, as it seemed pointless for him since he couldn’t find a way to handle the Disaster Sundial or interfere with it, making following it meaningless.

"Fortunately, the Adventure King’s world is quite large, large enough for the entire Disaster Sundial to wreak havoc."

All one could say was that the world was vast enough for it to roam, if it were smaller, given the frequency with which the Disaster Sundial activated disasters, it probably would have been the end for everyone.

After learning of the situation, Gu Shanhai naturally returned.

He had no plans to look for other anomalies because there were none to be found. His ability to locate the Disaster Sundial was partly due to data support and partly because it was conspicuous enough to be detected by his Spiritual Sense. If there were other possible anomalies without even a clue, how could Gu Shanhai find them?

Upon returning, Rein noticed Gu Shanhai and thus asked, "Teacher, have you come back? Did you find any clues?"

"A kind of existence I call anomalies," Gu Shanhai summarized his findings to Rein briefly.

This made Rein frown, his mind busily pondering, "So, Teacher, you suspect that our civilization’s decline is caused by some anomaly?"

"Exactly, but I can’t find it, and likely neither can you," Gu Shanhai spoke frankly.

"But we cannot just sit and wait for doom, we have to at least try. Currently, our civilization has lost a huge amount of technology, even characters have vanished by thirty percent, and the language is nearly collapsing. If we don’t look for it now, trouble will definitely arise later." At this moment, Rein wasn’t speaking in the original language of the Adventure King’s world but in the Player Language taught to him by Gu Shanhai, which wasn’t part of human civilization and thus was minimally affected.

"Do the players have any understanding of the anomaly?" Gu Shanhai inquired.

"No, I’ve even posted rewards, but to little effect," Rein admitted. He had asked players to investigate quite early on, which did lead to some clues, but after verification, they were all confirmed to be false alarms.

Having false alarms was normal, given the vast number of players.

"Also, player numbers are declining; Teacher, do you think we should implement measures to warm things up?" Rein raised another relevant issue.

"Declining? No need to worry about it. After losing the land of adventures, our productivity vanished directly. Coupled with the emergence of anomalies, I fear it will also affect the production of skill potions, so the loss of players is actually a good thing for us."

"The world has severely overstretched itself in nearly the last two years and cannot support so many players."

Gu Shanhai was aware of the loss of players, as the rewards had dropped drastically recently.

However, the major forces and high-contributing players hadn’t left; those leaving were low-contributing players who couldn’t catch any rewards.

Before he left, he had initiated a contribution dialogue skill service, so naturally, some players were getting ready to exit early; they weren’t about to delay their time for such small rewards.

Of course, this was also how Gu Shanhai preferred to gracefully send off players. Once the players had depleted their contributions, they would surely leave. As for forcibly expelling them from the world, that would surely provoke player discontent. The method had to be appropriate.

"Has it really gotten so severe?" Rein knew that every reward issuance involved astronomical resources, but since Gu Shanhai always provided them timely, he hadn’t noticed this point.

"Yes, you don’t know how expensive household necessities are until you run the house yourself. Once the Dow sinks totally, you will understand the difficulty when you handle it," Gu Shanhai complained. Despite their generous expenditures on each occasion, the entire world was already tight on resources. After four more months of rewards and player contribution exchanges, the resources they could mobilize would probably be nothing but skin and bones.