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"Your Highness... Your Highness?"

Zi Yue heard the familiar voice and struggled to open her eyes, as her body was severely burnt and not a single patch of skin was intact. Fortunately, her eyes were not damaged; they still shone like a pair of purple gems.

"High Priest?" Zi Yue asked in confusion, her eyes darting about as she realized that she had been protected in the center by the Four Holy Army, which greatly relieved her.

"Where’s the Imperial Ghost Army?"

When the High Priest was questioned, his face flushed with shame.

Speaking in a low voice, he said, "The female general commanding them was extraordinary, rearranging formations impeccably on the verge of collapse and retreating into a defensive formation much like the Mystical Tortoise, safeguarding the rear.

Moreover, the soldiers of the Imperial Court were bizarre in their execution—shockingly efficient under such conditions, like a group of puppets, truly unaffected by morale.

My lack of skill and slow response resulted in the deaths of barely twenty thousand rearguards. .."

"Twenty thousand..." Zi Yue gasped. All this at the cost of her life, and that was the result?

The Ancient Demon Clan was of this level and yet aspired to swallow the world whole—where did their courage come from?

Although the Imperial Ghost Army lost twenty thousand, it didn’t seem like a small number—yet the troops used were hardly elite.

Furthermore, with the shrine mechanism of the mother and sub-temples, the Imperial Court probably had the fastest troop production among all forces.

Perhaps only the Celestial Serpent arriving from outer space to the Celestial Serpent Palace could slightly suppress it.

Twenty thousand... At most, it would only delay their progress by a month.

Her life was indeed cheap...

Zi Yue then looked in another direction, where that eerie figure still lingered.

No one dared to do anything to him, even now that the Four Holy Army had completely surrounded the area. The High Priest still dared not make any moves. It was one thing that the mysterious figure had saved Zi Yue, but his bizarre abilities were the key.

This figure complicated Zi Yue’s feelings immensely.

That guy, the King of Qin... really deployed this device...

Chen Qing had returned safely from the real world, claiming to have dealt with the King of Qin, but Zi Yue hardly believed it. Among the people she knew, the King of Qin was the most meticulous and resourceful.

The main reason the Siao family member successfully rebelled back then was that all the luck was on his side; otherwise, it was impossible to harm the King of Qin.

Chen Qing’s process of dealing with the King of Qin was surprisingly well-planned.

After all, who would have thought that the top officials of the Federation, which Chen Qing was cautious of, would be willing to cooperate with her, using the security of the headquarters and even a region’s populace as bait to lure the enemy.

The King of Qin did not fall unfairly that time, but she still did not believe he was completely gone.

Now it seemed her suspicions were correct.

Long ago, she had suspected that the King of Qin’s Heavenly Moon plan involved the deletion of their key memories.

She had been communicating with Ali, who suffered severe humiliation and conspired against during that period, and was greatly averse to his memories from that time.

Even now, though his mentality had improved, his memories were still fragmented.

He vaguely remembered, the King of Qin..

. had erased some of their key memories about the Otherworldly Demon Statues.

And there was a keyword: White Drawing!

When she heard that word at that time, her heart skipped a beat.

As the main data engineer, though not a designer, she had firsthand access to plenty of intelligence. She knew exactly what White Drawing was—it was meant to be the beginning of the fourth version’s major dungeon for the Otherworldly Demon Statues.

Although testing had not yet started, she had already received intel that that creature was the key to unlocking the fourth version!

What exactly did the King of Qin intend by hiding that part of the memory?

There were two answers. Most of her team members from the design team might have heard of the name White Drawing; perhaps to prevent any unwarranted ideas, he had erased that part of the memory.

But the other possibility was that he, himself... harbored thoughts he shouldn’t have!

His slogan was world peace, to spare the Reincarnators from a world of great torment where they wouldn’t live in fear of becoming fodder for demons.

But if that were all he wished, he should have completely sealed White Drawing, not secretly moved it.

It turned out, the King of Qin was not an idealist but a real ambitious man!

But the abilities of White Drawing, she did not know. She initially suspected that with White Drawing, the King of Qin might be capable of some bizarre ability to back himself up, but what specific abilities White Drawing possessed, only the original designer... Pu YunChuan knew.

Chen Qing... Are you Pu YunChuan?

Do you... know?

Complex emotions flashed through Zi Yue’s eyes.

---------------------------------------------

"Chen Qing... Are you Pu YunChuan?"

"I....."

In the past, Chen Qing would have nodded without hesitation, always believing himself to be Pu YunChuan, but after a series of events, he was no longer sure.

His memory only lingered before his serious illness; subsequent memories, the continuation of that game, the initial design of life in Digital City, were all just vague shadows, which only barely formed some fragments after he arrived at Digital City.

Before heading to Yundu, Wang Ye had transmitted the last piece of intelligence to him.

Back then, Pu YunChuan was more than just a simple game designer.

Pu YunChuan, who was in the late stages of cancer, had been invited to participate in a plan, the initial digital life project, which had been invested in by a very mysterious capital force before being banned by the Federation government.

Among those invited to participate, apart from some top artificial intelligence experts and data masters, Pu YunChuan was also on the list.

Wang Ye also discovered some original records in Digital City that mentioned Pu YunChuan. Many proofs demonstrated that in this digital era, Pu YunChuan had a significant influence; the Demonic World becoming the highest energy-yielding data world was no accident but Pu YunChuan’s initial design.

Wang Ye even came to a conclusion.

That person... the one who created the Demonic World... might still be alive!

After receiving the intelligence, Chen Qing almost stayed awake for three days and nights, constantly wondering, what am I... really?

"I have a feeling..." Before setting off, Zi Yue said to Chen Qing, "The King of Qin and Pu YunChuan definitely have some connection. He impersonated Pu YunChuan, and you exposed him, but if you are not the real one, then is he truly an impostor?"

Chen Qing: "....."

"That White Drawing, I remember it was the key to launching the fourth version. Do you remember?"

"I have... some..." Chen Qing felt very confused when he heard that name and even refused to actively think about it, rejecting the idea of recalling the issue.

Chen Qing didn’t know why he felt this way.

But he agreed with Zi Yue’s words; the King of Qin... might indeed have a backup plan, and if so, he was likely to appear during their trip to Yundu.

"Your Majesty?"

Returning to reality, Chen Qing stood up by himself, looking at himself standing unsteadily. Shen Qi quickly got up to support him. "Why don’t you rest a bit more?"

"What can I use to recover here?" Chen Qing said, looking around with a wry smile.

Here, as the core fragment, the elements were in disarray; he didn’t dare to breathe freely, all breaths had to be purified by Spiritual Power, otherwise, the air, filled with too many other elements, would only worsen his physical condition if he breathed them into his lungs.

"So, Your Majesty, do you now wish... to take action?" Shen Qi asked cautiously, furrowing his brow.

The situation outside sounded grim; stepping in at this time was not ideal, and given the current physical condition of his lord, he wasn’t optimistic.

"Your Majesty... shall we wait a bit more?"

"We can’t wait any longer..." Chen Qing shook his head. "If we wait... everyone will die!"

He remembered the power of the White Drawing!!