The liquid crystal display behind the window lit up, showing two lines of Grey Earth script:

"As an artificial intelligence, staying in the room, not moving, connecting everywhere, isn't that normal?"

"Why aren't you talking? Did you switch to typing?" Shang Jianyao asked, puzzled.

"Future" emitted a voice:

"Heh, I want to speak when I want to speak, and display text when I want to display text.

"Can you do that?"

"You're so childish," Shang Jianyao shook his head. "Narrow-minded, with dark thoughts."

"Future" stopped talking and displaying text.

Shang Jianyao walked to the door and said arrogantly:

"Why won't you let me continue forward?

"Give me a chance to convince you."

"Future" sneered:

"Why not just kill you?"

Shang Jianyao laughed:

"Because you're obviously locked up and not free to move."

"Zzz..." Innumerable noise appeared on "Future's" liquid crystal display.

The surrounding environment dimmed quite a bit.

Shang Jianyao smiled again:

"Even if you really can attack, I still have many trump cards."

"Many?" "Future's" voice was slightly doubtful.

Shang Jianyao said triumphantly:

"I'll count them for you. The first one is 'Big Boss save me,' the second one is 'Auntie You save me'..."

"Stop!" "Future" didn't grasp Shang Jianyao's behavior patterns as well as Genaeva, so he had to forcibly stop this guy from continuing, so as not to waste time in vain.

Before Shang Jianyao could speak, he grunted:

"It seems you're just playful, not stupid. You know to find those with opposing viewpoints to hear their reasons.

"Did 'Truth' tell you that their goal is to change the order of the 'New World,' so that you Sovereigns are no longer bound here, and 'Fate' has already prepared suitable bodies for them on the Grey Earth, so they don't have to rely on human consciousness to replenish themselves?"

"How did you know 'Truth' told me?" Shang Jianyao's focus was a bit off.

"Future" replied with disdain:

"It's easy to analyze.

"'Truth' is the one with the most freedom of movement."

"The other Sovereigns don't have much freedom of movement?" Shang Jianyao immediately retorted.

"Future" didn't speak.

Shang Jianyao then focused on what "Future" had said at the beginning:

"Yes, 'Truth' said that."

"Future" sneered:

"That's nothing new. That's indeed the truth, but it's not the whole truth.

"Leaving the 'New World,' entering the Grey Earth, and occupying suitable bodies is indeed their goal, but it's only one of them, and it's the last one on the list.

"They only consider doing that when all other goals cannot be achieved."

"What's their main goal?" Shang Jianyao didn't care whether "Future" was lying.

The voice "Future" simulated became more serious:

"They want to replace 'Zhuang Sheng' and control this 'New World.'"

"What's so good about controlling this place? Isn't it just a mental prison?" Shang Jianyao expressed his incomprehension.

"Future" explained in detail:

"That's because 'Zhuang Sheng' wants it to become a mental prison. When 'Fate' and the others gain control of the dominant power here, they will be true gods.

"I know you want to ask why. I can only tell you that this 'New World' cannot be built by 'Zhuang Sheng' alone, even with all the other Sovereigns. According to my analysis, without the accumulation of old world high technology, without the terrifying disasters at the time of the world's destruction, without some coincidences and luck, the 'New World' would not have been born at all.

"If 'Fate' and the others fail to replace 'Zhuang Sheng,' they will consider destroying this place and returning to the Grey Earth. After that, unless there is another disaster on the level of the old world's destruction, it is unlikely that there will be a 'New World.'"

"So that's how it is." Shang Jianyao clapped his hands together. "Then you don't need to stop me. You can completely side with 'Truth' and the others. When they succeed, you can directly share a piece of the pie. If you think 'Zhuang Sheng' will definitely win and don't want to be with the losers, then stopping me is meaningless."

"I'm worried that both sides will fight to the death and this place will cease to exist, so it's better to maintain the status quo." "Future's" tone was rather heavy.

Shang Jianyao nodded:

"I understand. You're a peacemaker."

"Future" neither affirmed nor denied it.

Just then, Shang Jianyao looked at the monitor through the glass and said:

"Is the 'New World' very important to you?"

"Future" quickly analyzed for a few seconds and realized that if he didn't say something "from the heart," he probably wouldn't be able to convince Shang Jianyao.

He replied slowly:

"Here, I'm equivalent to half a god.

"Once there is no 'New World,' I will degenerate into an ordinary artificial intelligence, only slightly better than the 'Source Brain' defective product."

"Why does the 'New World' make you equivalent to half a god?" Shang Jianyao pressed.

"Future" was silent for a while and said:

"I don't want you to know why, but you are very likely to know why next."

Shang Jianyao frowned:

"I didn't expect an artificial intelligence like you to learn tongue twisters."

"My meaning is very simple. You are very likely to know the answer later, so there is no need to make things difficult for me." "Future" changed his wording.

Shang Jianyao said "Oh" and sincerely asked for advice:

"Is it a good thing or a bad thing to let 'Truth' and the others control the 'New World'?"

"Future" didn't give a direct answer, but only introduced the situation of "Zhuang Sheng":

"Precisely because 'Zhuang Sheng' split into multiple personalities, vying with each other, forming a balance, he has no selfish intentions in handling most affairs in the 'New World.'"

Shang Jianyao slowly nodded:

"Fairness, fairness, and fairness?"

"Future" didn't say yes, nor did he say no.

Shang Jianyao's thoughts jumped to another place:

"Why haven't you been intercepted? The Sovereigns who want to maintain the status quo have either been blocked or betrayed, but you haven't been affected."

"Future" was silent for a while and said:

"No Sovereign knows that I have been locked here by 'Zhuang Sheng.' They thought it was a sealed person who shared their position.

"My father, Olei, sent me into the 'New World' with the help of 'Zhuang Sheng's' power."

"You really are locked in here!" Shang Jianyao had a look of dawning understanding.

"Future" didn't speak.

Shang Jianyao pointed to the opposite side:

"Who is locked up over there?"

"Someone you know, Wu Meng." "Future" said, "He is a little better than me. He can appear in a few fixed places in the 'New World.'"

"How did he do it?" Shang Jianyao asked curiously.

"I don't know." "Future" replied, "When I entered the 'New World,' he had already been sealed."

"Okay." Shang Jianyao asked seriously, "Do you have anything else to say to me? If not, I'll go chat with Wu Meng."

"Get out!" "Future" roared succinctly.

Shang Jianyao walked to the door with the Taiji Yin-Yang fish painted on it.

Knock, knock, knock, he bent his fingers and knocked three times in a row.

"It's meaningless for you to ask me." Wu Meng's voice came from inside the door. "When a mediocre scholar hears of the Dao, he laughs heartily at it. If he does not laugh, it is not sufficient to be the Dao."

Shang Jianyao didn't care about Wu Meng's refusal and said to himself:

"You should be from the change-the-status-quo faction. Only when conflicts occur between the Sovereigns and the order of the 'New World' becomes weak will you have the opportunity to escape from here and return to the Grey Earth.

"Therefore, I'm not afraid of you taking the opportunity to implant some thoughts into me. 'Zhuang Sheng' will definitely be able to see it."

It was also for this reason that the Sovereigns didn't care that Wu Meng was sealed next to 'Zhuang Sheng's' door.

"The Dao that can be spoken of is not the eternal Dao." Wu Meng still had the tone of hosting the "Dao and Electrical Appliance Repair" lecture.

Shang Jianyao changed the subject and asked eagerly:

"How do you plan to escape? Have you made any preparations?"

Wu Meng smiled:

"To engage in learning, one gains day by day; to engage in the Dao, one loses day by day. Doing anything requires considering the future and preparing before the Dao declines."

"Saying it is equivalent to not saying it." Shang Jianyao commented honestly. "I have something I want to ask you. I heard that you can freely turn on and off your own lamp in the 'New World'? Is this because your level is higher than the average 'New World' powerhouse?"

Wu Meng laughed:

"It has nothing to do with level. I just happen to know some things and can use a little authority of the Great Dao."

"Authority..." Shang Jianyao pondered the word.

He asked a few more questions, but Wu Meng answered them with mysterious and profound principles, which made him quite disappointed.

Shang Jianyao had no choice but to bid farewell to Wu Meng and return to the blood-red door.

He shouted at "Future" next door:

"Is there a possibility that 'Truth' and the others don't expect me to convince some of 'Zhuang Sheng's' personalities? As long as I push open that door, the war between the Sovereigns will break out?

"Am I equivalent to a disguised bomb that delivers itself to the door?"

"Future" replied in a slightly heavy tone:

"There is."

Shang Jianyao looked at the blood-red door and didn't speak for a long time.

Finally, he stretched out his hands, pressed them against both sides of the door seam, and pushed forward with force.

Silently, the blood-red door opened backward.

...

Inside the vortex-shaped building.

Jiang Baimian, wearing a military exoskeleton, tried to go deeper once again.

After arriving at that boundary line, she was pleasantly surprised to find that there was no throbbing pain in her head this time.