Chapter 1 The Miner

The miner took a sip of coffee, closing his eyes as if carefully choosing his words. After a moment, he said,

"Actually, my meeting you wasn't a coincidence. I don't know if you believe that or not?"

Fang Senyan frowned. "What do you mean?"

The miner replied, "We people all belong to the Empire. Although bound by confidentiality agreements, we still have an unspoken understanding when it comes to uniting, especially with the Empire's deliberate promotion. Moreover, we can get firsthand data. So, seventeen months ago, we noticed that your Dow Jones Index line was rising at an alarming rate."

"Wait!" Fang Senyan said, amused. "If I remember correctly, isn't that Dow Jones Index thing used for stocks?"

The miner smiled. "Yes, but the colleague who set up this database happened to share the same name, so he conveniently used this system to make a specific and rough assessment of the coefficient of strength improvement for contractors entering each world. Usually, when they first enter, the strength improvement of contractors who survive is quite rapid, but the subsequent increase often fails to exceed the mark of 9."

Fang Senyan's eyes flickered. "So, what was my upward arc?"

"The comprehensive assessment is 184. You can understand it as your strength almost doubling every five worlds," the miner said seriously. "This data is almost the best result besides the Apostles."

"Almost?" Fang Senyan narrowed his eyes. "So, there's someone better?"

The miner smiled wryly. "I'm sorry, it's not that I don't want to say, but I can't."

As he spoke, he mimed a pistol with his right hand and pointed it at his head. "I believe you combat types also have certain restrictions. For example, in the world you originally lived in, using active abilities obtained from the space should have very serious consequences. We're the same. Once leaked, our heads will explode as if hit in the face by a 7.62mm steel-core bullet. So, to avoid creating more work pressure for our sanitation workers, why don't we change the subject?"

Fang Senyan shrugged. "Okay, I understand your difficulties. So, after you spotted my... impressive Dow Jones Index, you started to proactively approach and befriend me?"

"Yes," the miner said. "Because according to our reasoning, there's an over eighty percent chance that you're the legendary Chosen One... Your天赋能力 (tian fu neng li, talent ability) is even useful to the space!"

Fang Senyan smiled, but didn't comment much on the miner's statement. Instead, he picked up a pot of coffee and slowly sipped it. "Being the Chosen One isn't anything great. You still need someone's protection to grow."

If Fang Senyan's team members heard him say this, they would definitely know he was talking about Sanzi, and even Sanzi himself wouldn't say the statement was wrong. But the miner only took it as an admission and smiled. "The Chosen One can indeed receive preferential treatment from the space, so they definitely understand the inside story more deeply. And cooperating will also get more preferential treatment. This is the fundamental reason why I'm finding you for deeper cooperation."

Fang Senyan glanced at the miner and suddenly asked, "What's your relationship with the Big Ben Research Institute?"

The expression on the miner's face instantly stiffened. After a long time, he said, "What do you mean by asking this question?"

Fang Senyan said directly, "I can't say I know the Empire like the back of my hand, but I can see through it clearly. People like you can't possibly escape the Big Ben Research Institute's pervasive surveillance."

The miner was silent for a while. "We were originally pawns of the Big Ben Research Institute. But now, we're completely at odds with them."

"Why?" Fang Senyan asked curiously.

The miner said lightly, "Although we can get the space's protection, the royal family's authority overrides everything. They captured our families and wanted us to reveal all the secrets. But the only outcome of doing so is getting our heads blown off... But if we don't say it, then the whole family dies. So, those of us who are still alive are cold-blooded bastards who value their own lives more than their families. We're also the Big Ben Research Institute's mortal enemies!"

Fang Senyan seemed to understand something. "I see."

The miner looked at Fang Senyan seriously. "The people of the Big Ben Research Institute are ruthless and only serve the Empire's royal family. They use any means to achieve their goals. If you plan to cooperate with them, then you're undoubtedly seeking skin from a tiger."

Fang Senyan nodded. "I understand... Alright, what do you want to know?"

"Nightmare Space... Or, to be precise, these Noah Spaces. What do you think they actually are? Machines? Living beings? Or something we can't understand?"

This was the most impressive sentence among the miner's questions to Fang Senyan.

Fang Senyan couldn't answer the miner at the time because it was an area he had never thought about, never touched upon. The miner obviously didn't expect Fang Senyan to answer either, and bluntly told him:

"According to our research, Noah Space should be a very strange mechanical-flesh type of creature. It has a strong self-repair ability, but in certain key aspects of the mechanical structure, it needs the help of assistants, just like crocodiles need the help of plover birds to clean their oral hygiene."

"According to the initial setting, this assistant should have been created by the great power who designed or manufactured the Noah Space at the same time. The two should be a symbiotic existence similar to ants and aphids. Ants protect the safety of aphids, and the feces of aphids are the delicious food of ants. But, for some reason, this assistant didn't appear. So, in order to avoid its own destruction, Noah Space, with its high intelligence and autonomy, began to actively select contractors who could replace the assistant while strengthening humans according to its own instincts. This is the origin of the Chosen One."

After hearing the miner's analysis, Fang Senyan immediately judged that what he said was definitely not false. Because these words were reasonable, seamless, and people who didn't understand certain situations in depth would definitely not be able to say them.

So Fang Senyan returned the favor and told him about some of his experiences. After thinking for a while, the miner said:

"Since we can confirm that space is a strange living thing, and its power is amazing, even able to trace back and travel through the long river of time, we can basically assume that the energy it consumes is also extremely terrifying. According to the principle of conservation of energy, space should also ingest quite terrifying substances from the outside world to maintain its activities and life needs."

"That's right," Fang Senyan nodded. "As far as I know, the Empire is about to provide space with an astonishing amount of ore, fuel, and various kinds of products."

The miner smiled. That smile made Fang Senyan feel a little uncomfortable, as if he was mocking him for knowing too little.

"That's just the surface phenomenon, Mr. Seaman. If you really think that the Nightmare Space can't live without the Empire's supplies, then you're completely wrong! If space could be so easily controlled by the Empire, then it would have completely become a vassal of the Empire or even been dismantled long ago. In fact, these substances provided by the Empire to the space are merely equivalent to some seasonings in our kitchen. With these things provided by the Empire, the space may live a more comfortable life. Without these things, the space will definitely be able to survive!!"

Hearing the miner's words, Fang Senyan's expression changed drastically. Because if all the information the miner said was true, then it would inevitably involve a question, that is, since there are multiple spaces, then if survival resources are limited, it would definitely involve the allocation of survival resources!!

The most direct example is Earth. The emergence of World War I and World War II, in essence, was still the occupation and distribution of limited resources on Earth! As for the Iraq War later on, it didn't even need a fig leaf and went directly for the oil!

After thinking about these things, Fang Senyan hesitated for a moment and couldn't help but say:

"If your theory really holds true, then the multiple Noah Spaces... aren't as peaceful as imagined?"

"Peace?" The miner scoffed, mocking, "Mr. Seaman, you should be one of the people who have benefited the most from the Space Battlefield, right? Why do you have such naive thoughts!!!"

"Contractors are recycled by their affiliated space after death, and all the rewards you gain after killing contractors belonging to other Noah Spaces are created by your own affiliated Noah Space at the cost of its precious source energy! You can understand source energy as replenishable life force. If it didn't maintain a mentality of encouraging you to kill contractors of other Noah Spaces, why would it go to such great lengths?"

"Then... what is the intention of the Bloody Battlefield?" Fang Senyan couldn't help but ask in surprise.

"The low-level Bloody Battlefield is of course to accelerate the evolution of contractors," the miner said seriously. "But the high-level Bloody Battlefield is estimated to have changed in nature... You can understand Noah Space as a war weapon like an aircraft carrier. It has no attack power itself, or it is limited by certain rules and cannot attack each other. All the lethality lies in the fighters it carries. The strength of different Noah Spaces also depends on the strength of their affiliated contractors! If I'm not mistaken, the high-level Bloody War has become an arena for the Noah Spaces. Powerful Noah Spaces will use their powerful strength to obtain more and larger living space and survival resources!"