Information about the Qiu Mo Ku (Demon Imprisonment Cave) is highly classified. Many of its affiliated research center's scientific research projects involve official future plans, and Xing Hechou only touched on the general details.
“The overall shape of the Qiu Mo Ku is similar to an inverted tower, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. The higher the level, the wider the space, the more demons it contains, and the weaker their strength.
The lowest-level demons are only slightly stronger than ordinary beasts. Fully armed ordinary people who have undergone training can also eliminate them.
But their numbers...”
Xing Hechou paused for a moment. According to the reports sent back by the frontline exploration team, the top level of the Qiu Mo Ku doesn't seem to follow the physical laws of the real world, making it difficult to measure distances.
At the entrance alone, they discovered dozens of large mountains, each three to four thousand meters high.
The insides of the mountains were hollowed out, and it is estimated that there are hundreds of millions of low-level demons living there...
Similar towering mountains were also discovered in the deeper wilderness.
Even the most optimistic researchers don't dare to guess the exact number of demons.
“The Qiu Mo Ku is a prison and laboratory that was forgotten and abandoned by the Yi Xue Hui (Otherworld Society) thousands of years ago. Over time, a dynamically balanced ecosystem has formed inside.
Low-level demons feed on the plants and minerals inside the Qiu Mo Ku, multiplying and being hunted by more powerful demons. The energy released upon their death returns to heaven and earth.
Demons can continuously become stronger by accumulating energy, and can even use some hidden passages to go to the next level.
Many of the demons in the first few levels are social creatures like ants. Large-scale wars occasionally break out between populations, and the rate of renewal is very fast.
The further down you go, the more powerful and ancient the demons become. Some high-intelligence demons that have survived from ancient times have even appeared.”
Speaking of this, Xing Hechou couldn't help but glance at Li Ang.
This Brother Li was a personal witness to the Shenlong incident.
The content he heard from Hanba and relayed to the Special Affairs Bureau was analyzed word by word by the think tanks. Even a single word had to be analyzed for three meanings, which was more torturous than appreciating high school Chinese literature.
According to the think tank, it would be best to invite Comrade Li to the Special Affairs Bureau in person.
He could wear a helmet that could parse brainwaves into images and audio for them to carefully interpret the subtle expressions on Hanba's face when she spoke.
Afterward, whether he wanted a silk banner or game coin rewards, it would be easy to arrange. The Special Affairs Bureau wasn't short of money.
If Hanba had said a few more words back then, these think tanks might really have given birth to some kind of "Hanba-ologist"...
“In short, the frontline exploration team successfully made contact with some high-intelligence demons at the bottom through certain methods.
Combining the information they revealed with the modern medical association's analysis of ancient books, we understand why the Qiu Mo Ku can maintain ecological balance—
The entire prison developed high intelligence a long time ago. It used some of the original designs of the Yi Xue Hui to find ways to replenish matter and energy from the outside world during the spiritual energy decline period.”
Li Ang was stunned when he heard this. Replenishing matter was easy to understand. The Qiu Mo Ku would secretly swallow the real world. But how could it replenish energy?
Could it be that the Qiu Mo Ku would secretly embezzle the Red Bull, Snickers, and Medon stacked in the warehouses of Yin City Port?
Seemingly seeing Li Ang's doubts, Xing Hechou explained, “The Qiu Mo Ku exists in the cracks of the real world. In theory, it and the demons inside it should also be like Yi Xue Hui cultivators,
gradually fading away due to the decline of spiritual energy.
But for some reason, it has learned to analyze part of its existence into the real world,
like a convex lens focusing light.”
Liu Wu Dai, who hadn't spoken all along, paused for two seconds. “Wait, are you saying...”
“That's right. The Qiu Mo Ku learned to treat itself as a solar panel hundreds of years ago, basking in the sun every day to replenish its energy.”
Xing Hechou couldn't help but show a pained expression. “Transcendent life cannot survive in an environment of declining spiritual energy, but the Qiu Mo Ku is not life. It is more like a highly intelligent automatic machine.
It steals soil, water, and plant species from the real world to improve the internal environment, so that the internal system achieves dynamic balance, and feeds the large family in its belly.
We even believe that some of the ancient Yi Xue Hui personnel who designed the Qiu Mo Ku, as well as the Shenlong and Hanba responsible for guarding it, knew this.”
Xing Hechou said solemnly, “The external spiritual energy is receding, and it is unknown how long the period of depletion will last.
The Shenlong and Hanba may have reached some kind of agreement with the Qiu Mo Ku in secret,
or at least acquiesced to the Qiu Mo Ku carrying out self-salvation—only in this way can they survive the long period of depletion that may occur.
After all, according to the original design, the Shenlong should have wiped out most of the demons when the contract was completed.”
Li Ang thought of the short mythical girl with fiery red skin, pursed his lips, and said nothing.
“If even the only two jailers acquiesced to the prison itself developing in secret, then all of this is not surprising.”
Xing Hechou shook his head and said, “Fortunately, the confinement left by the ancient Yi Xue Hui can still have an effect. Those restrictions are themselves part of the Qiu Mo Ku, which is equivalent to the underlying code,
and even the prison itself cannot modify it.
For example, to travel between levels, you must use hidden passages, and only a small number of demons can pass through at a time;
The more powerful the demon, the more restrictions it will receive, and it will not be able to move freely. The most powerful demons have not yet been able to regain consciousness;
There is an upper limit to the number and quality of demons in each level. If the energy reaches the limit that that level can tolerate, the Qiu Mo Ku will automatically start the destruction program for that level, crushing all the demons in it—in this way, demons are forced to kill each other in the absence of jailers.
It is these underlying codes that have bought us a crucial moment of respite.”
Li Ang frowned and said, “The demon tide...”
“Yes.”
Xing Hechou nodded and said, “We don't trust those high-level demons we contacted, but they do know a lot of secrets.
Combining all the information, we believe that the so-called demon tide is likely to be the process by which the Qiu Mo Ku, an automatic machine, plunders matter and energy from the outside world after getting rid of the shackles of the jailers, due to its underlying code and its own essential needs.
In order to continue to develop and grow, the Qiu Mo Ku is very likely to release countless demons from top to bottom, level by level, and manipulate them to plunder all the resources of the real world.
This is the so-called demon tide.
Once the demon tide is launched, the hundreds of millions of demons in the first few levels can still be eliminated with conventional artillery fire,
but those deeper-level demons who have mastered strange transcendent powers will cause devastating damage to the order of the real world.
This will be a literal doomsday disaster.”