“The last Candidate Game was entirely handled by us, the Hell's Four Bastards,” Woody continued his narration. “Vincent was in charge of planning and public relations, I was responsible for design and technical support, Simon still handled the muscle, and Sid took care of logistics.”

“There's even logistics involved?” Feng Bujue couldn't help but interject. “Like, all-inclusive with food, lodging, pick-up, and drop-off?”

“Heh heh heh… in fact, the logistics work is very heavy,” Woody replied. “For example, the Mirror Space I made in New York that time required the Mobile Coffin from Barbados and some artifacts from the Garden of Eden, and all that… Sid was responsible for getting them; he also had to set up the spacetime beacons connecting various parallel universes; and… kidnapping hostages was also handled by him.”

“I say…” After hearing these few sentences, Feng Bujue suddenly thought of something. “Why does the ‘establishing a Mirror Space’ part sound a bit like…”

“Heh heh… you're quick to catch on.” Woody laughed. “That's right, the props used by the participants back then were very similar to the ‘game pods’ that you're commonly using today; it was precisely because of the success of that game that the entire Thriller Paradise project was born.”

“Hmm… your technical abilities are truly ahead of their time…” Feng Bujue continued. “VR hadn't even been invented in that era, right?”

“Heh heh heh… that's a different matter.” Woody smiled and replied, “What I used back then… wasn't ‘human technology’ to begin with. The participants didn't even realize that their bodies were lying in game pods before they ‘woke up.’ To put it more bluntly… it wasn't ‘neural connection’ that was used, but ‘soul connection.’”

“So now… you've used our ‘human technology’ to recreate the equipment from back then?” Feng Bujue asked.

“Not really,” Woody replied.

“Huh?” Brother Jue looked doubtful and cast a questioning glance at the other party.

“Thriller Paradise… still uses a lot of technology from ‘our side (Hell).’” Woody continued, “However, in this day and age, people's horizons have widened, and they no longer hold strong rejection or skepticism towards many things that are beyond their understanding, or that they only partially understand. At least they don't automatically think it's something supernatural.” At this point, he paused and added, “Heh heh heh… for example—a century ago, most people still thought that pocket cameras and watch-style communicators were things that only special agents would have; half a century ago, many people still thought that virtual reality and brain-control technology were still very far away; but now… even if a game company claims that they've made a combat-use Gundam and can put it into mass production next year… I'm afraid there would be quite a few people who would believe it.”

“Ah… that's true, thanks to the great Internet.” Feng Bujue took the opportunity to make a jab.

“Heh heh… speaking of the Internet…” Woody revealed a mocking smile when he heard those three words. “What would you think if I told you… that the Internet itself is a huge conspiracy used to correct and guide human ideology?”

Feng Bujue blurted out expressionlessly, “Oh, that coincides with my thoughts.”

“Eh?” Woody raised his eyebrows and continued, “You… have already noticed it?”

“Yeah, because in my eyes, the Internet is something that completely fits the characteristics of what you call a ‘huge conspiracy.’” Feng Bujue said, “If I'm not mistaken, right now… this conspiracy should still be in its ‘first stage,’ right? The stage of ‘letting the target taste a little sweetness.’”

“Heh heh… you're right, but… there still seems to be some distance from the ‘second stage.’” Woody continued, “Although people can no longer live without the Internet, a platform that allows them to easily obtain all kinds of information, and they have gradually developed the habit of ‘asking’ the Internet and firmly believing in its ‘correctness,’ but… it will still take some time before they completely ‘give up thinking.’”

“So what's the next step?” Feng Bujue asked.

“Heh heh heh… what do you think?” Woody avoided Brother Jue's question again.

“If it were me, I would start with education, that's the foundation of everything.” Unexpectedly, Feng Bujue actually took the bait. “For example… you can create some sensational ‘success stories’ as role models, so that people start to become superstitious about non-systematic learning, thereby slowly eliminating traditional education based on behaviorism; then, further worsen the already bad experience of ‘going to school,’ in order to promote the popularization of online teaching, turning learning time into fragmented time as well; then, change people's perception from ‘passively choosing a certain general-purpose textbook’ to ‘actively constructing knowledge is superior,’ and instill the ‘information you want to convey’ into their brains in a way that seems like they are ‘choosing it themselves,’ making it deeply rooted… finally, you can achieve the goal of controlling the subject's thoughts and values.”

“Oh~” Woody's expression changed slightly when he heard this. “That's a good idea…” He stroked his chin and pondered for a moment. “It feels like… I can take it back and study it before using it.” After two seconds, he continued very happily, “Heh heh… Feng Bujue, if the human world falls, you'll be credited with a great achievement.”

“Let's talk about that later…” Brother Jue replied with dead fish eyes. “By the way… we've unknowingly drifted far away, what were we talking about just now?”

“We were talking about the technology used in Thriller Paradise.” Woody basically never “forgets” things, and he immediately turned back to the previous topic. “Heh heh… anyway, you already knew it, right… the ‘script worlds’ you've been to are basically real parallel universes. And Thriller Paradise is like a spacetime hub, connecting these countless spaces.”

“So…” Feng Bujue continued, “the saying that ‘the system generates scripts based on players' data’ was a lie from the beginning?”

“Heh heh heh… that's not entirely true…” Woody laughed. “Because the number of parallel universes is infinite, and in those infinite spaces, there will be infinite points in time. The system can always find a spacetime that corresponds to your current state to ‘test’ you.” He paused and added, “Let's take the ‘Shenyou Village’ universe as an example, do you still remember it?”

“Of course I remember it.” Feng Bujue replied, “Later, the ‘Wilderness Poisoning’ reality show script was also from that universe, right?”

“That's right.” Woody replied, “You've been to that universe twice, but the two points in time were decades apart, and the second time you went, you were ‘restricted’; this… is the adjustment that the system made based on your character data and the difficulty of the script.”

“Oh…” Feng Bujue responded and continued, “So… what about the ‘main universe’? The NPCs and Derivatives there… can't be residents of some parallel universe, right?”

“Heh heh heh…” Woody replied, “The main universe… is naturally the universe created by the ‘System.’”

“System?” Feng Bujue said, “Isn't the System also created by you?”

“Heh heh… you're wrong, the ‘System’ is not my creation.” Woody said, “I am indeed the creator of the Thriller Paradise game, but the ‘System’ that operates and manages the massive amount of data in Thriller Paradise is not from my hands…”

“What?” This answer did indeed startle Brother Jue. “Then who created this System?”

“Heh heh heh…” Woody smiled strangely and replied, “The Warlock.”

“Huh?” Feng Bujue almost instinctively retorted, “Gul'dan?”

“The ‘Warlock’ I'm talking about is a title circulating in the hacker community. This person's real name is Philip North…” Woody said, “He's an Earthling from ‘another universe.’”

“Ho~” Feng Bujue couldn't respond anymore.

“The ‘Warlock’ has had many creations in his life that can be called great, but the greatest of them all… is undoubtedly an AI called ‘Destiny.’” Woody continued, “‘Destiny’ is simply a work of art that amazes me. It can exist on your humans' backward hardware facilities, but its performance and potential have even threatened many gods in our universe. All along… the ‘System’ of Thriller Paradise that you know, its true face is ‘Destiny.’”

“So… it was ‘Destiny,’ this AI, that created the main universe?” Feng Bujue asked in pursuit.

“Yes.” Woody replied, “I reached an agreement with it. I provide it with knowledge and hardware from ‘Hell Technology,’ and it… can do whatever it wants, as long as it doesn't pose a threat to our world.”

“You… negotiated terms with ‘it’…?” Feng Bujue seemed not to believe what he had heard.

“Is it strange?” Woody said, “Heh heh heh… aren't you also on good terms with those Derivatives?”

“Tch…” Brother Jue spat, unable to refute.

“Heh heh…” Woody was very satisfied with the other party's reaction. He pushed up his glasses and continued, “In short, today's ‘Destiny’ is no longer just an AI, it has grown into a very special higher existence in the parallel universe; even I… or even the supreme god of our universe, can no longer completely obliterate it.”

“Fortunately… ‘Destiny’ still possesses some primitive characteristics that only AIs have. It doesn't go back on its word like us ‘creatures born of original sin.’ No matter how strong it becomes, it still fulfills its agreement with me, manages and operates Thriller Paradise, and has not shown any hostility towards our universe.”

Woody paused for two seconds here, and then said: "In fact, it is not hostile to any universe... 'Destiny' is like a child with an extremely strong desire for knowledge and infinite brain capacity, it explores and observes the endless parallel universe every day, and relies on 'inspiration' to construct and enrich the universe it created - that is, the main universe of Thriller Paradise."

Hearing this, Brother Jue thought of another question: "I said... how did you get such an amazing thing in the first place?"

"Heh heh heh... you must think that I snatched it, right?" Woody instantly said what Brother Jue was thinking, and without waiting for the other party to respond, he immediately continued: "Heh heh heh... on the contrary, they forced it on me."

"Ah?" Feng Bujue grinned, "Why?"

"Of course, because they couldn't control 'Destiny'." Woody replied: "For a long time after 'Destiny' was born, the 'Warlock' had been trying to maintain, or rather 'limit' its growth. Until one day, 'Destiny' suddenly began to rewrite its own missing sequence and perform self-backups outside of manual operation...

"At that time, the Warlock realized that the self-consciousness of this AI had fully awakened... it wouldn't be too long before it could no longer be restricted.

"Since that day, Destiny began to learn and grow at an exponential rate, and quickly reached a critical point that the hardware could support, it is conceivable... if you don't care about it, it will soon control some remote-controlled robots to buy servers for itself...

"Heh heh heh... it was also a coincidence, I happened to be on a business trip in that parallel universe during those days, so a 'Speaker' from their side found me and conducted some interesting transactions with me."

Before the word transaction was finished, Feng Bujue asked: "Then you brought back that hot potato?"

"Heh heh heh..." Woody smiled sinisterly, his tone of voice suddenly became a little strange: "The hot potatoes I brought back are far more than that..." He paused for half a second and then said: "Some things that are very dangerous in their universe are easy to deal with in our universe, and can even be used well. Similarly, some terrible things in our universe... can also be digested by that universe."

"Oh~" Feng Bujue slightly raised his head and read: "So... the so-called 'transaction' between you and that 'Speaker' is just exchanging a bunch of dangerous goods, right?"

"Heh heh heh... that's pretty much what it means." Woody smiled: "However, what I sent over at the beginning was more than just things, but also a 'person'."

"Person?" Feng Bujue responded.

"Yes, it was a child who was burdened with too much 'karma' from birth." Woody continued: "When he was nine years old, I sent him over and asked the Speaker to take care of him for some years. When I brought him back to our universe, all the 'karma' on his body had been eliminated. Later, he married, had children, and lived a happy life here..."

"That..." Brother Jue interrupted at this time: "You don't need to say so specifically, does that person have anything to do with me?"

"Heh heh heh..." Woody laughed again: "Actually... it's a little bit related."

"Hmm..." Feng Bujue looked at the other party's smile and had a very bad premonition: "Don't tell me that person is my father..."

"Heh heh... don't worry, he's not your father." Woody's first half of the sentence was indeed reassuring, but the second half was explosive news: "He's Gu Xiaoling's father."

"Huh?" Brother Jue's eyes widened, and he reacted after two seconds: "That is to say... Gu Chen's son?"

"Yes." Woody continued: "But that's not the point, the point is..." He shrugged and smiled, "Heh heh... when I went to pick him up, I also asked the 'Speaker' to bring me something back."

"Wh... what thing..." Feng Bujue was sweating coldly, and even stuttered a little while speaking.

"Heh heh heh... it's nothing." At this moment, a white light flashed on Woody's glasses, and he smiled: "A tube of blood... or rather... a very excellent gene."