Chapter 62

——If she is trying to get close to me, the Great Emperor player, it seems to make sense.

Zhou Xian looked at the talkative Beidou, and a thought suddenly came to his mind.

But upon closer consideration, Zhou Xian found something amiss.

If that were the case, wouldn't she be deliberately exposing herself now?

No, could it be that she's trying to dispel my suspicions by using this method, making the false seem real and the real seem false?

It's no good, Zhou Xian felt his head was a mess.

"Forget it, anyway, she doesn't seem to be planning any conspiracy..."

To be honest, compared to a conspiracy, Beidou had once saved his life. At least this strange girl hadn't plotted anything against him, so Zhou Xian chose to trust her.

"You know about this? How did you find out? Even large clubs would find it hard to get this kind of information, right?" Lai Yiming couldn't help but ask about the knowledge Beidou possessed.

"Tch, I know more than just this. If you want to know secrets from me, I can talk for three days and three nights without repeating myself!" Beidou was quite boastful.

"For example, the king of Xuanwu actually favors not his sons but an illegitimate child outside. Yes, you heard right, the king of Xuanwu has an illegitimate child. The reason it's 'illegitimate' is that the woman is from Zhuniao. Also, the general of Zhuniao, Lian Cangqiong, is gay. I spent three days tracking this guy and finally confirmed it—ouch!"

Zhou Xian slapped Beidou's head with a hand strike.

"What are you doing?!"

Beidou pouted and glared at Zhou Xian.

"Let's save the side talk for later. We're not here to discuss gossip today."

Zhou Xian admitted that he initially wanted to hear some secrets, but after Beidou started talking, he realized how absurd his initial thoughts were. Only someone as idle as Beidou would be interested in such trivial gossip.

However, if what she said was true, Zhou Xian wouldn't be surprised that Beidou knew about the Divine Prison.

"Um, that's about all I know on this topic, but the Divine Prison is indeed a very dangerous ritual. Rumor has it that the Divine Prison trial... no, all trials related to advancement, not only affect the other world but also cause changes in the real world... You can see this from the news online. The water forums are full of stories about how someone who was paralyzed from the waist down miraculously recovered because of a game. Yes, something like that."

"But the game affecting reality is too absurd."

As Lai Yiming said this, he couldn't help but look at Zhou Xian.

The content on the forums that Beidou mentioned was either urban legends or some kind of hype, but Zhou Xian was a real existence.

Not only Zhou Xian himself, but also the beings with incredible superpowers in Zhang Taihao's video were truly astonishing.

In this regard, they had no choice but to believe.

"But since it has happened, it means there is a reason for its existence, and we can't deny it. Perhaps 'Dragon Tomb' is not just a game," Zhou Xian expressed his opinion.

"Not just a game... could it be the real world?" Xu Tianyun shook his head, seemingly denying it, but also seemed to be deep in thought.

"Indeed, this game is not simple," Su Xiaoyue interjected with a frown.

"What?"

Zhou Xian immediately focused his gaze on the frowning Su Xiaoyue.

"Zhou Xian, do you remember the Hou Zi you asked me to investigate?"

"Didn't you already tell me about this last time?"

"Yes, but during the police investigation, they came to our school. Although they were investigating an unknown virus, we managed to get some information... After Hou Zi went home, he never went online again. In other words, it's impossible for him to have been killed in the game world."

Su Xiaoyue's words left Zhou Xian stunned.

This doesn't match my hypothesis!

"However, according to his family, Hou Zi seemed to have some mental issues after the summer break. He often muttered about how being killed in the game would result in death, and when others mentioned 'Dragon Tomb' or 'Legendary World,' his reactions were very strange."

As Su Xiaoyue spoke, everyone was filled with doubt.

"Could not logging into the game also cause death?" Xu Tianyun wiped the cold sweat from his forehead upon hearing this.

Tao Shan nodded, "That would make this ability very dangerous. If you learn it, you could die in the game, and not entering the game would have the same consequences... That's terrifying."

"It's not impossible. According to medical research, we might look into withdrawal symptoms. If we consider the mystical aspects, there are multiple explanations," the maid from the Zhang Taihao family said. "If what Beidou said is true, then the changes in the real world might be due to the modifications in the Divine Prison trial in the game world."

Hearing the maid's explanation, Tao Shan was drenched in cold sweat, and Xu Tianyun's face turned pale.

"Right, Zhou Xian, you mentioned that your ability and the source of the soul thoughts are the same. What do you think about that?" Lai Yiming asked.

"…I don't know, but I haven't died since I got this ability. And at the time, I didn't notice anything strange."

Zhou Xian scratched his head.

When he passed the Divine Prison trial, he encountered a domain outsider demon. It was a tough battle, and Zhou Xian barely won in the end.

Thinking back, Zhou Xian didn't notice anything strange.

"Could it be related to a version update?" Lai Yiming asked thoughtfully.

"I'm not sure. I don't really understand how my ability works. But I suspect it might have started when the countdown appeared."

To be honest, Zhou Xian was still confused about the origin of his ability. Worse, he suddenly realized he might have overlooked something important.

"Yes, that's possible. You said you defeated the monster on the same day the countdown increased. According to online descriptions, the timing seems to match. I suspect it might be due to the influence of that monster," Lai Yiming had investigated this.

Right, there's also that monster.

"A monster that came out of the game world..." Su Xiaoyue glanced at Zhou Xian. "By the way, the doctors investigating the epidemic found a 'suspected virus' sample in the old school building."

This further confirmed that the soul thoughts were indeed abilities generated by the game.

"But, to say the game is the real world is also unlikely, right? Think about it, in the game world, there are so many players. If it were a different world, why wouldn't they question us? And the resurrection of players and the memory of NPCs, as well as the tasks, don't make sense in the real world. But NPCs treat all this as a matter of course, which is strange," Xu Tianyun was very skeptical.

"What's going on with 'Dragon Tomb' is something my sister's Lucifer Empire is investigating with the Shenglong Group. If we get any information, I'll let you know."

After the anomaly in the game world, not only Zhou Xian but other major guilds were also very interested.

"——And we have another issue," Zhang Taihao asked seriously. "According to your account, the problems with the soul thought system users are due to these reasons. Now that you can use game abilities in the real world, could your death in the game world also cause you to fall into a coma, or even die, in the real world?"

This wasn't an exaggeration but a reasonable inference.

If Zhou Xian's supernatural ability and the source of the soul thoughts were the same, then the problems they faced could also affect Zhou Xian.

And the probability wasn't small.

"Zhou Xian..." Su Xiaoyue looked at Zhou Xian, hesitating to speak.

"No, don't worry about that. I'm not that easy to die."

Zhou Xian was one of the Great Emperor players. Unless a powerful being personally intervened, he wasn't afraid of ordinary people.

"Then, I have one last question," Lai Yiming stood up. "Old Zhou, your ability comes from the game, right? Could your state in the game world affect your current body, and could your situation in the real world affect the game?"

"Yes, I've considered that. If the game can affect reality, then can reality affect the game? I've been discussing this."

Can reality affect the game?

Zhou Xian had indeed thought about this more than once.

"But how can we do that? There's no way the real world can give us skills to learn, right? Could Old Zhou learn something like Jeet Kune Do or Karate?" Tao Shan asked curiously.

"Regarding that, I remember Li Chuyu's family used to practice ancient martial arts," Zhou Xian had an idea but then found it absurd. "Could I learn some sword techniques in the real world and use them in the game?"

Verifying the influence of the real world on the game seemed to be no easy task.

"Everyone, it's time to eat!"

Li Chuyu, wearing an apron, came out of the kitchen and saw everyone discussing.

At that moment, everyone's gaze focused on Li Chuyu...

"Eh... What's wrong?"

She couldn't help but ask.