商见曜 was first startled, then suddenly understood:

“No wonder there are so many coincidences!”

Du Heng maintained that slightly teasing smile and said:

“To allow Jiang Baimian to break through the barrier and bring the nuclear bomb next to that machine, I even guided her so that she could quickly enter the ‘Mind Corridor.’”

“Oh…” Shang Jianyao had an expression of “so that’s how it is.”

He immediately thought of something and asked curiously and with concern:

“Do those Arbiters who want to maintain the status quo, and ‘Truth’ and the others, know that you want to go down in flames?”

“‘Siming’ and the others should only know that I have some personalities with strong self-destructive tendencies, but those are not mainstream and are suppressed.” Du Heng smiled slightly, “Otherwise, their attention and interference with your team wouldn’t be so little, only providing some guidance at a few key nodes, either personally or through agents. Of course, this is mainly to prevent you from developing feelings of persecution and doing something irrational that would disrupt the overall situation.”

The different colors of light flashing anxiously gave the room a sense of tension.

Shang Jianyao said “Oh” and then:

“In other words, ‘Truth’ and the others don’t know that our team has a nuclear bomb?”

“Although I added corresponding influences to your memories long ago to make readers actively ignore them, there are always variables and accidents in the world, so I can’t guarantee it.” Du Heng was relaxed, “And now, even if they know, they can’t influence Jiang Baimian anymore unless they can defeat me first and gain control of the ‘New World.’”

Shang Jianyao nodded slowly.

He glanced back at the door, as if looking at the Arbiters like "Siming" trying to invade this place:

“No wonder you clearly knew what they were up to, but still let me push open that door and walk into this room.”

“I can’t actually stop it even if I wanted to.” Du Heng smiled self-deprecatingly, “My various personalities are very independent, and different personalities guard different, uh, although not accurate enough, using ‘ports’ to describe it is relatively more vivid. So even if I didn’t want to open the door for you, Xiao Chong, who has a friendship with you, wouldn't listen and would open the door corresponding to him. Once you enter his room, you, who are also split into multiple personalities, will gain an aggregated state and automatically come here.”

Shang Jianyao didn’t quite understand, but he knew something called “the minority is subordinate to the majority”:

“Wouldn’t you send a few of you who don’t have a friendship with me to guard Xiao Chong’s room, and lock him up as soon as you discover he wants to open the door?”

“My use of ‘ports’ earlier was indeed not accurate enough.” Du Heng thought for a moment, “Can you eliminate one of your personalities, or merge it with another personality?”

“No.” Shang Jianyao shook his head.

Du Heng nodded:

“Each of my personalities here corresponds to a room, and because I have the highest authority over that machine, the control of the ‘New World,’ every room naturally becomes a port leading here.

“I only talk about the presentation, not the principles. Can you understand?”

“Yes.” Shang Jianyao had become a good doctor through prolonged illness, and understood as soon as he heard it. “Other personalities wanting to enter Xiao Chong’s room is equivalent to trying to merge with him, which is impossible.”

Du Heng showed a satisfied smile:

“Good to understand.

“Here, the problems that my flaws manifest are numerous and are a targeted aspect.”

Shang Jianyao’s mind turned, and he asked suspiciously:

“You should have some personalities who want to change the status quo. Wouldn’t they secretly let things go, allowing ‘Truth’ and the others to come in?”

In other words, "Siming" doesn't need to send different Old Task Force teams again and again.

“There are some personalities who want to change the status quo, but no personality is willing to hand over the leadership of the ‘New World’ to them. Even if we really want to rebuild order and solve hidden dangers, we should lead it.” Du Heng seemed to be influenced by that part of his personality, speaking with confidence and dominance.

Clap, clap, clap, Shang Jianyao applauded.

He exclaimed:

“No wonder we told the company the location of the Eighth Research Institute and spread it out. The major forces haven't sent anyone over for so long! It's preparation in name, but actually procrastination!”

Before taking control of the “New World” or failing completely, “Siming” and the others will not allow people from the major forces to enter here.

It was precisely because they understood this that the Eighth Research Institute decisively transferred personnel and did not defend this place.

Anyway, for "Professor Li", "Doctor" and others who understood some of the initial situation and made some guesses, whoever controls the leadership of the "New World" is who they will be loyal to. When gods fight, mortals should not participate. Wait for things to settle down before returning to continue being "gatekeepers".

And "Zhuang Sheng" has a tendency to destroy everything, so he naturally wouldn't stop them from evacuating, and may even have secretly encouraged them. After all, if he doesn't speak, those in the Eighth Research Institute who are currently loyal to him may not really be able to muster that courage.

“For the real higher-ups of the major forces, there is only one factor preventing them from figuring out the specific location of the Eighth Research Institute: those above don't allow it, uh, except for the ‘Salvation Army.’” Du Heng affirmed Shang Jianyao’s statement.

“The ‘Salvation Army’ is really miserable. It feels like they are not in this circle. Could it be that they haven’t received the news yet and obtained the specific location of the Eighth Research Institute?” Shang Jianyao was very sympathetic.

Perhaps in order to change the status quo, some Arbiters secretly supported the “Salvation Army” after the New Era, but that was more akin to cooperation than protection, and they would not treat them as their own.

Du Heng smiled and didn’t answer this nonsensical question.

He glanced at the increasingly erratic flickering lights and said:

“They’re coming soon. Ask quickly if you have any questions. I have something to say to you later.”

Shang Jianyao said “Oh, oh” and then:

“Why are your bones under the old locust tree in Linhe Village?”

“Don’t you understand the principle of returning fallen leaves to their roots?” Du Heng smiled with a sigh, “After I discovered that my body had completely died, I asked my good student Wu Meng to come to the Second Research Area and bring my bones back to my hometown. He was deeply involved in brain development and superpower projects himself, and he happened to be doing academic exchanges elsewhere at that time, escaping the calamity. He was the most suitable candidate. Hey, what I didn’t expect was that he developed ambition because of this.

“He was already initially awakened himself, and when he saw that machine and the corresponding biochip, he had certain guesses. Afterward, relying on the research results of our project, he built his own secret laboratory in that ruin, bypassing the ‘Sea of Origins’ and the ‘Mind Corridor,’ becoming quite powerful.

“He is the first, and currently the only, human in the Ashlands who did not rely on the platform we provided to gradually reach half the level of the ‘New World.’ This is also the limit of humanity.

“He sought to seize control of that machine from the outside. For this reason, he conducted many experiments and created a large number of strange creatures with unique abilities within that ruin. At that time, some Arbiters wanted to cooperate with him. I could only control things here, unable to split myself, while using the help of that Celestial Master from the ‘Eternal Night’ sect and the ‘First City’ to forcefully send his consciousness into the ‘New World’ and lock it up.”

“Wonderful.” Shang Jianyao sincerely praised.

Then, he asked in confusion:

“The ‘Sea of Origins’ can also be bypassed? Isn’t that our own mind world?”

Du Heng showed a smug smile:

“When building that platform, our biggest achievements were two: One was to control the damage to the brain to a certain extent through the ‘Hall of Stars,’ so as to avoid several costs occurring at the same time; the second was to associate the second step of improvement with the enhancement of one's own will and changes in mentality, resulting in a Fear Island corresponding to psychological shadows. This is more systematic and more quantifiable, significantly reducing the difficulty for Awakened to enter the ‘Mind Corridor.’

“However, this is a sufficient condition, not a necessary condition. Other methods can also be used to enter the ‘Mind Corridor,’ such as forcefully stimulating and developing the brain.”

“What about those who haven’t awakened?” Shang Jianyao changed the question.

Du Heng calmly replied:

“The rule we set is to control the number of Awakened and make awakening a difficult thing.

“With the current system and the special nature of the ‘New World,’ the success rate can actually reach 80%, but in that case, the failures will basically have brain damage, although not necessarily severe.”

Therefore, the people who neither awakened nor showed any abnormal state in each awakening ceremony were equivalent to having a normal, sweet sleep there.

Shang Jianyao observed the flashing lights around him:

“I have another question. Why do you thirteen Arbiters correspond exactly to the thirteen brain functional areas?

“Isn’t that too coincidental?”

“It’s not too coincidental. It’s that only people with this number and corresponding to different brain functional areas can survive.” Du Heng said, “Among us, some were already awakened at that time, but a large portion were still ordinary people.

“Do you remember me saying that we were experimenting on Li Hui’s brain at that time?”

“I remember.” Shang Jianyao nodded.

Du Heng explained in detail:

“What mutated was Li Hui’s thalamus. After our consciousness was extracted, it successfully filled his different brain functional areas and merged with the mutated area. This was the first step to survive. After that, the biochip played a role, and the virtual reality created by that machine underwent a qualitative change.”

“No wonder January is ‘Bodhi’!” Shang Jianyao suddenly understood.

Du Heng nodded:

“The area corresponding to ‘Bodhi’ has therefore become more complete and has gained some abilities that do not belong to the thalamus.”

“Thirteen functional areas, thirteen Arbiters…” Shang Jianyao repeated, and asked in confusion, “Then how did ‘Truth’ survive?”

Du Heng simply replied:

“Fourteen functional areas. He is the hippocampus.”

“Oh.” Shang Jianyao satisfied his curiosity and obtained enough information.

Du Heng no longer gave him the opportunity to ask questions:

“The reason I’m telling you so much is that I hope you can help me end all this.”

“Huh?” Shang Jianyao was confused.

Du Heng smiled:

“‘Siming’ and the others won’t care about you anymore after they throw you in here. In their opinion, no matter what the outcome, it has nothing to do with you, a mortal, and you can’t play any role, because they believe that everyone is selfish and that few people will voluntarily sacrifice themselves for unrelated people without being forced to. The higher the status, the greater the power, the stronger the strength, the less likely they are to do so.

“They don’t understand you, but I do. I’ve actually been in contact with you. I know you’re a special person. You have a pure heart.

“So, I hope that you can let Jiang Baimian put your body into the corresponding experimental capsule later and turn on the ‘God’s Forbidden Zone’ mode to further distort your brain. Then, with my help, you can obtain certain permissions in the ‘New World,’ become an Arbiter, and fight against ‘Siming’ and the others with me.

“Our main goal is to delay time while creating a relatively normal electromagnetic environment so that Jiang Baimian can detonate the nuclear bomb remotely.

“Of course, you can also refuse and not participate in this matter. Then, seize the opportunity of the ‘New World’s’ order collapsing, directly return to your body. Even without you, I’m not completely without confidence. I just want to increase the success rate now.

“Um, I didn’t implant any thoughts into you, nor did I try to influence you with other abilities, because that kind of you would not be able to pass the final step of stimulation.”

Du Heng’s expression instantly became serious, and he sincerely said:

“I officially ask you, are you willing to sacrifice your life and end this decades-long human disaster with me?”

Shang Jianyao was silent.

After a while, he raised his right hand and solemnly pressed it against his left chest, answering in a deep voice:

“For all of humanity!”