Shang Jianyao seemed unable to read other people’s expressions and pressed Jacob and Hendrik for an answer:

“He seems quite powerful. You guys seem very afraid of him?”

After a few seconds, Jacob, who had a better temperament, said weakly:

“‘Truth’ is also in that high tower, but He comes out from time to time.”

He used the Red River word for deity, “He.”

“Is He equivalent to a Ruling God but not a Ruling God?” Shang Jianyao asked, following up.

Hendrik said with a displeased expression:

“Every time He comes out, it's accompanied by the death of one or two Awakened.”

“But we haven’t personally experienced His strength, so we can’t give you an accurate answer,” Jacob added.

Shang Jianyao went “Oh, oh” twice:

“Ruling Gods generally don’t leave the high tower?”

“They don’t need to leave the high tower to extract the consciousness of every resident here and respond to different prayers.” Jacob's face showed reverence, and his voice became lower. “Of course, I have never seen or heard of the Ruling Gods leaving the high tower.”

“I see.” Shang Jianyao sighed. “They aren’t approachable enough; they don’t know how to enjoy themselves with the people.”

Hendrik narrowed his eyes and stared at this guy for a few seconds:

“The flock doesn’t want to coexist with the lion either.”

Shang Jianyao didn’t pick up on that; his thoughts had already jumped elsewhere:

“Our bodies in the Ashlands—if no one provides liquid food, no nutrient injections or solutions, will we slowly starve to death? Or can the extracted human consciousness nourish the body and maintain the most basic biological activity?”

This was common knowledge among the strong in the New World. Hendrik glanced at the weak Jacob and said in a deep voice:

“An unreplenished body will deteriorate faster, making it impossible for your mind to recover normally. Even your consciousness will weaken.

“In such a situation, you can only rely on absorbing the consciousness of the humans around you to maintain the stability of your mind. This will indeed nourish your body to a certain extent, allowing it to maintain the weakest biological activity, as if every cell has entered hibernation.”

“But what if there are no humans in the surrounding area?” Shang Jianyao asked further.

“Then you can only try to obtain human consciousness here,” Hendrik said coldly. “If that doesn't work, your body will die first, and your consciousness will soon dissipate.”

“Just approaching?” Shang Jianyao asked, puzzled.

Jacob laughed in a sighing tone:

“The Ruling Gods won’t waste such consciousness, letting it perish on its own.”

“I understand.” Shang Jianyao slammed his right fist into his left palm. “It's like when we discover that some food is about to expire and quickly eat it.”

Without waiting for Jacob and Hendrik to respond, he presented a counterexample:

“But I have a friend who hasn’t had humans around for thirty to forty years and is a battery for someone. His body is still alive, just nearing mummification.”

This friend referred to Yan Hu.

“Impossible,” Jacob and Hendrik denied in unison, one with a weak tone and not much strength, the other with emphasis.

“That’s just how it is.” Shang Jianyao spread his hands.

Hendrik said coldly:

“That can only mean that he isn't a battery for someone. Someone is regularly providing him with human consciousness, although the frequency may be low and the quantity small, but it is enough to maintain his most basic survival.”

“Why would that person do that?” Shang Jianyao expressed confusion.

Hendrik didn't answer and said directly:

“You need to ask him instead of us.”

“Oh.” Shang Jianyao had an expression of “Why didn’t I think of that?”

He asked again:

“Back then, when I entered the place where my friend’s body was sleeping, he didn’t immediately hungrily absorb my consciousness. He had to wait a quarter of an hour before trying. Why?

“Uh, we weren’t friends back then.”

Jacob and Hendrik looked at this guy again, their expressions very strange, as if the person in front of them was an idiot.

Finally, Jacob provided the answer:

“Because we are in the New World, and there is a barrier between us and the Ashlands. Whether it’s sensing human consciousness approaching or searching, locating, and extracting, it takes a certain amount of time.”

“I see.” Shang Jianyao first had a sudden realization, then he had another counterexample. “But when I came here before to provide protection for my companions, there was no delay.”

“Provide protection…” Jacob chewed on this phrase twice and asked with some understanding, “Was someone extracting your companion’s consciousness at that time?”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Shang Jianyao nodded frequently.

Jacob gave an answer to the previous question:

“You didn’t feel the delay because someone had already established a channel.”

“Professional,” Shang Jianyao praised.

Then, with a spirit of getting to the bottom of things, he continued to ask:

“Another thing I don’t understand is, how were we locked onto and started having our consciousness extracted as soon as we entered that area?”

Jacob, who had been standing for too long, pulled over a bar stool and sat behind the bar. Hendrik helped to speculate:

“No delay means that either the process of sensing human consciousness, searching, and locating was completed beforehand, or an Awakened from that area had just returned to the Ashlands from the New World.”

Shang Jianyao had a lot of in-group discussion experience and immediately shook his head:

“I don’t think the first one would be so coincidental. We had just pushed open the door back then.

“Why did we have to complete that action, not sooner or later, to have our consciousness locked onto and extracted?

“The second possibility is also too coincidental. I think that regardless of the time, whether it's a few days, months, earlier, or a few days, months, later, as long as you enter that area, you will become 'Mindless.' Well, this can be confirmed later.”

Seeing that he was very opinionated, Jacob didn’t try to persuade him and joked:

“There’s another situation where there’s no delay—the Ruling God was extracting your consciousness back then.”

“That’s not right either.” Shang Jianyao denied again. “If it was really a Ruling God, the protection I provided should have been easily broken through, and there wouldn't have been any effect.”

Jacob didn't pick up on his words and changed the topic, asking with some curiosity:

“Did you discover the door to the New World a long time ago and only pushed it open when you encountered danger?”

“Yes.” Shang Jianyao didn't deny it.

“You’re really patient.” Jacob sighed. “I can’t do that.”

After chatting for a few more sentences, Hendrik, who seemed very energetic after drinking his lemon margarita, walked to a set of sofas and took out a saxophone from the corner, playing it on his own.

The deep, calm, and slightly melancholic soothing music slowly echoed in the small bar.

Shang Jianyao listened quietly for a while, seemingly immersed in the atmosphere. At least, he didn't suggest that Hendrik choose the erhu as his main instrument because he was always squinting.

After an unknown period of time, Shang Jianyao stood up, waved goodbye to Jacob, and walked outside.

The streetlights on the side of the road lit up again as he left.

…

“So, locking on and extracting takes a certain amount of time… No wonder you had time to push open the door to the New World, and I could hold out until you provided protection.” In the evening, outside the Eighth Research Institute, on the jeep, Jiang Baimian had a sudden realization after listening to Shang Jianyao’s feedback.

Shang Jianyao used pre-arranged code words to refer to certain sensitive terms.

Shang Jianyao echoed:

“Yes, yes, yes.”

“In that case, it really wasn’t a Ruling God back then.” Jiang Baimian nodded thoughtfully.

Ruling Gods wouldn’t have any delays.

Jiang Baimian still had an operation at night and didn’t want to expend too much energy now. After a brief exchange, she said to Shang Jianyao:

“I’ll inject you with a nutrient injection later. Don’t rush to the high tower or deal with the ‘Vice President’ and the others next. Contact more friendly people like Jacob and Flora, grasp more information, seek more helpers. Uh, avoid those unfriendly people if you can; don't try to be a hero.”

“I understand. We must unite a portion of the people worth uniting and gather the strength of the masses.” Shang Jianyao always used the Salvation Army as the standard for his behavior.

Jiang Baimian ended the topic and finally concluded:

“We’ll communicate at fixed times every morning, noon, and night, each time briefly.

“Uh, if there’s an emergency, I’ll immediately use mental contact to reach your consciousness.”

“What if I have an emergency?” Shang Jianyao asked back.

Jiang Baimian smiled:

“Although you can’t control your body’s movements, you seem to be able to maintain certain instincts. At least, you haven’t lost control of your bladder or bowels so far.

“If there’s an emergency later, just pee your pants directly. I’ll understand what’s going on as soon as I see it.

“If you don’t have any urine at that moment, you can only stimulate me by locking onto your consciousness and trying to extract it, but this will have a significant delay.”

“No problem.” Shang Jianyao agreed without hesitation.

Then, he said with a smile:

“I want to go to the bathroom now, both number one and number two.”

The smile on Jiang Baimian’s face froze for a second:

“Wait a moment. I’ll help you move outside, get you into position, and take off your pants.”

After finishing this matter, Jiang Baimian didn't rush to explore the real New World at night. She planned to wait a few more hours until it was darker.

…

Pangu Biology, underground building.

Long Yuehong and Bai Chen, who had been chatting with their parents for a while, returned to their home.

They had just sat down and hadn’t had time to speak when that slightly childish, familiar voice sounded from the outside broadcast:

“Hello, everyone, I’m the hourly news anchor, Hou Yi. It’s now 8 p.m…

“This morning, the board of directors reviewed the work report for the last quarter and praised the trend of stable growth in the birth rate and the increasingly diverse production of materials…

“The results of the new year’s unified marriage will be announced soon…”

“Initial City and the Salvation Army have broken out into a new round of border conflict…”

“The Order Supervision Department announced that last month was a ‘Month Without Malicious Incidents’…

“The Entertainment Department is preparing to hold ping pong competitions in the activity centers on each floor…”