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"I knew it... You must still be alive." Chen Qing turned around with a smile.

"How did you make sure?" Old Liu, who arrived late, looked at Chen Qing deeply, his gaze complex.

"Because I’m still alive..." Chen Qing smiled. "I hold no value to those people; they preserved Ziyue and their genes because those people are the game designers, indispensable for both intelligence and future world transformations. It’s no surprise their genes were preserved, but it’s different for me. "

"I’m merely a pawn to win over Pu Yunchuan, plus with my later betrayal, they have absolutely no reason to preserve my genes. Thus, upon learning the true events of that year, I wondered—who else could possess such power to preserve my genes until now, and send them in undetected?"

"It could only be you, right?"

"Indeed, such meticulous thinking..." Old Liu clapped his hands and laughed. "Pu Yunchuan put all his hopes in you at the beginning, and it seems not just because of blood ties; your performance exceeded my expectations!"

"You as well..." Chen Qing looked at him, his eyes equally complex.

He recalled the memories from the perspective of Pu Yunchuan; in those memories, this respected general, who held the highest prestige in the Eastern Federation and a key military figure thwarting the nobility, should have faded into obscurity after the failed attempt back then. But apparently, that wasn’t the case.

Not only did he lurk in the shadows like those people, but he had the power to arrange for himself. Was Old General Liu truly the same as in the memories—determined to thwart their ambitions, an iron-blooded soldier willing to sacrifice his life?

Was it really so?

Chen Qing took a deep breath, feeling he might have seen through the truth of that year yet not quite understood it entirely.

"Do you agree with my approach?" Chen Qing asked directly.

"Of course, I agree," General Liu sighed. "If it were possible to simply obliterate that world and trap those people there forever, I would definitely agree... But... can you not do it?"

"Why?" Chen Qing furrowed his brow, not having the chance to inquire further when the entrance to the New World suddenly expanded, and the engineers there were also shocked, saying, "How is this possible? Wasn’t the power already cut off? Why can it still complete the update?"

Chen Qing was stunned, then quickly grabbed the chief engineer and asked, "What’s happening?"

"I... I don’t know..." The chief engineer looked terrified. "It seems... there’s another place also charging up through a loophole!"

Chen Qing narrowed his eyes, suddenly recalling something: "The Western Federation?"

Indeed, it was the people from the Western Federation who set him up back then, trapping him on West Island. Now...

"Such a significant project, even the energy interface got connected by the Western Federation, and you guys didn’t notice at all?" Chen Qing turned his head to Nie Xingjun.

Nie Xingjun was also shocked. The Demonic World was the most important project of the Eastern Federation, constantly draining tremendous energy. He could accept if some hackers infiltrated the project, but the idea that even the energy interface was hijacked was sheer fantasy to him.

"Don’t be so shocked..." Old Liu sighed. "This world is different from the previous real world. The officials of Digital City overly trust their permissions. When there’s an existence with higher permissions, they can do many things without them knowing, especially concerning the real world..."

Old Liu waved his hand, and a video appeared out of thin air, showing the massive underground network built by the Western Federation, which had somehow connected here without anyone’s knowledge.

"Why would the officials care about the outside? It’s all bitter labor and foot soldiers out there.

When there’s no suspicion from above, do you think those suffering low-level individuals would earnestly protect those borders?

Even if a few discover it, for the people above, a few deaths of low-level soldiers and laborers in the real world are nothing out of the ordinary. .."

"So that’s how it is..." Chen Qing looked at the video and let out a cold laugh.

Nie Xingjun blushed, recalling historical incidents when leaders from the Eastern Federation visited the real world. After a couple of accidents, that rule was quietly abolished. When it wasn’t enforced from above, who would dare risk visiting the real world?

But he never anticipated that the upper echelons’ control over the lower levels would be so feeble...

"But these many years, you seemed to have done nothing," Chen Qing said to him.

"Couldn’t do anything..." Old Liu shook his head. "The gap is too great."

"Which of the Four Major Guilds was your doing?"

"Shenwu!"

"Shenwu?" Chen Qing was taken aback; he remembered... this old gentleman gained his fame by defeating Red Sun, right?

Aren’t all members of Shenwu Guild from Neon people?

"The people of Red Sun have always admired strength. Morality, dignity, and etiquette are just facades; the main reason the Western Federation controlled them and made them obedient in the past was because they had been defeated before. Now, they serve me because they lost to me back then."

Hearing this, Chen Qing’s face twitched, but upon reflection, he had to admit it was indeed true for that nationality.

Remembering the old days, although Old General Liu had high prestige nationally, there were many detractors online.

Yet in the forums, those refuting the detractors the most were from Red Sun, forcibly included in the Eastern Federation.

Although he hadn’t visited there, he heard from some compatriots that the most revered person there seemed to be Old General Liu.

"No wonder..."

Chen Qing pondered the previous intelligence and likely deduced some situations.

The explosion at the laboratory years ago marked Liu, capable of ambushing the nobility, as indeed having the power to counter the Long Family.

Subsequently, those noblemen became the first batch of digital lives in the Demonic World, supporting several major guilds to rule the world.

Old Liu covertly used the fervent worship of the people from the Sunrise Kingdom, rallying a force. It made sense...

Perhaps not all among those people were twisted together as one.

Otherwise, why would there be the Four Major Guilds instead of a single unified power?

So that’s how it is...

Like the beginning, the players... still the same group of people.

"Why have you come to find me now?" Chen Qing looked at Old Liu.

"I could only awaken with the revival of the ancients, and what you see now is merely an incarnation of me."

"Are you the Venerable One?"

"What do you think?" Old Liu sneered. "Would the people of Sunrise Kingdom faithfully serve you unless you were the strongest?"

"Makes sense..."

"So now..." Old Liu moved closer to Chen Qing: "Shall we cooperate, my young friend Chen Qing?"