Monsters Are Coming-Chapter 18 - Future Crisis

Li Tie's choice of the Artifact Spirit Meteor Vein spread among the player community.

During this period, some players followed in Li Tie's footsteps to the Artifact Spirit Valley, also hoping to house Primordial Artifact Spirits and obtain rewards.

The number of monsters in the Artifact Spirit Valley was not large, but their levels were very high, and the further in you went, the higher the Hunting Level of the artifact spirits, with increasingly cool appearances.

Several teams returned defeated after multiple attempts.

Li Tie was no exception. After housing five artifact spirits, he chose not to continue deeper into the Artifact Spirit Valley.

Besides the five artifact spirits at the entrance of the valley, those inside had a minimum hunting level of 30. He couldn't withstand even a single hit, so continuing the challenge was pointless.

The emergence of the Artifact Spirit Stream gave many players a direction to strive for next.

...

Imperial Tomb Village, underground

Qi Sheng was sitting cross-legged on the Primordial Altar, rapidly processing network data through the Guidance feedback in his mind.

At that moment, the elusive Guiding Water Ball suddenly appeared:

"Boss, I've detected the presence of the Black Tide on Earth."

"Where?"

"In the direction of the North Pole."

"Let's take a look, notify Uncle Yan."

"Will do, going now!"

The Guiding Water Ball then disappeared into invisibility.

Shortly after, a cold voice came through:

"Little Qi, I'm here."

A projection screen scene unfolded before Qi Sheng, showing a room decorated in an ancient style. A round table inside burned with blue flames, beside which sat a man with an ethereal demeanor.

He had long black hair, pale skin, and a delicately tied bow that outlined his perfect neckline, though his handsome face showed no expression.

Mysterious and noble, these were the thoughts that surfaced in Qi Sheng's mind when he first met Yan Ming years ago.

The man in the projected image was Yan Ming, one of the four great Servants of Emperor Zhao, and the controller of the Power of Space.

The Spatial Engagement part of the Challenger System (Player Recruitment System) was completed by him, and Guiding was responsible for data and content analysis.

In the past, in the face-to-face confrontation with the Horror Black Tide, Yan Ming lost most of the vitality inside his body, thereafter appearing like a puppet, incredibly cold.

Qi Sheng was used to this.

If not for Yan Ming and the other Servants risking their lives to save him, he would have died in the fearful dark fog long ago.

This time he had Guiding notify Yan Ming because he was unable to perform long-distance space transmission by himself and needed Yan Ming's help.

"Uncle Yan, sorry to trouble you," Qi Sheng politely nodded.

"Get ready."

Yan Ming's voice fell, his pupils dissipating icy blue micro-lights. Below Qi Sheng, a rotating blue teleportation array appeared.

A strong sense of weightlessness followed.

Boom!

Blue flames enveloped his body, and in the blink of an eye, he vanished from the spot.

As the blue light obscuring his vision dissipated, his gaze fell upon a world of flying snow. Looking around, an endless expanse of pristine white blanketed the ground, ice glaciers covered the vast land, connecting with the distant blue sky to form a pure and magnificent painting.

The bitterly cold wind converged in the air, tearing out a piercing howl near his ears.

The sudden drop in temperature made Qi Sheng involuntarily shudder, and at this moment, he decisively switched to the Emperor's Omen Form.

Boom!

Crimson flames spread from his head over his entire body, and the chill dissipated.

At this time, he flew into the sky, progressing in the direction provided by the Guiding Perception.

Several minutes later, he saw a black line hanging high in the sky. When he reached to touch it, multiple black tendrils instantaneously stretched out wishing to entangle his palm.

However, under the refinement of Emperor's Fire, the tendrils instantly disintegrated.

This discovery made Qi Sheng realize the severity of the issue.

His former homeland was being subjected to an invasion by the Horror Black Tide.

Unlike in Monster World, the erosion of Earth by the Horror Black Tide was still in its early stages and did not affect the world's ecology.

However, one could foresee that in the future, Earth would also be corroded and devoured by the Horror Black Tide.

This reminded Qi Sheng of a previous speculation.

During his absence, many Alien Race forces had emerged on Earth, their appearance perhaps related to the Horror Black Tide.

A few days ago, he saw a discussion post online.

The post discussed why "Dark Land," this virtual game, was being released in a limited edition.

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Logically speaking, the virtual servers built by the Moon Eclipse Clan could fully support a massive player base, but the availability is always limited and managed by the Human Clan Federation and other Alien Race forces settled on Earth.

If it were merely a marketing strategy for exclusivity, it would be unreasonable.

Although the Moon Eclipse Clan purchases resources from other racial forces using currency, they mostly gift technology and resources to various races.

Statistics show that the resources Moon Eclipse Clan provide to other races every year are much greater than what they purchase.

The poster speculated on this issue.

They believed that the real purpose of the Moon Eclipse Clan in creating virtual games wasn't to gain resources from other races through the game, but rather to train troops in an almost realistic virtual environment, aiming to prepare for some potential major crisis.

As for offering game qualifications to other races, that was just incidental, playing a sparring role.

In the virtual games previously developed by the Moon Eclipse Clan, it was always the Moon Eclipse Clan against a coalition of other races.

Thus, training troops was the main purpose, primarily serving the internal needs of the Moon Eclipse Clan.

One piece of historical evidence supports this speculation.

According to historical records, three hundred years ago when the Moon Eclipse Clan fled to Earth, they stated that their Plane World was being eroded by some mysterious force, leading to the world's catastrophic collapse.

During that apocalypse crisis, the Moon Eclipse Clan ultimately gave up resistance, and the remaining clansmen used space technology to flee to Earth before their world collapsed, eventually establishing Eclipse City on the Moon.

Similar statements came from other Alien Race forces who arrived on Earth.

And now, Qi Sheng had an answer in his mind.

The apocalyptic crisis faced by the original homeland of the Moon Eclipse Clan was likely due to the Black Tide invasion, and the struggling years against the Black Tide led the Moon Eclipse Clan from their peak to decline, a similar fate experienced by other Alien Race forces.

Now, Earth also showed early signs of the Horror Black Tide invasion.

This confirmed the speculation in the discussion post; the Moon Eclipse Clan was training troops to prepare for an unknown terror.

Another fact could corroborate his conclusion.

The area of Monster World was expanding, and its landscape was continuously changing.

He initially thought it was due to an unknown alteration caused by the Black Tide erosion, but now it seemed more likely that the Horror Black Tide had devoured other worlds, incorporating their fragments into Monster World, causing its area to keep growing.

This was also the reason why the "map" feature in the game had exploration fog.

It wasn't that he didn't want to provide each player with a complete world map, but the terrain changes in Monster World were too significant, and the old maps could no longer fit the current Monster World.

[Chief, this world will gradually worsen in the future, you need to speed up your player recruitment plan.]

The Guidance stated gravely.

"Let's advance steadily, at least for now, there won't be any impact."

[Chief, I have a doubt.]

"Ask."

[If this world enters the climax of the Horror Black Tide invasion, with Evil Spirits rampaging, what will you do?]

"If it really comes to that day, perhaps I will grant players the authority to bring the power of Monster World back to reality, at the very least to ensure their safety in the real world... But before that, I will not reveal any information."

[Why?]

"Players without real-world stress can enjoy and have fun in Monster World, and happiness is the source of their fearlessness and creativity."