Chapter 222 The Truth

Fang Yue's spirits lifted at those words, and he listened intently.

"Little one, you should know that players are called vagrants in the game. But do you know how the bodies of these vagrants are born?"

"I've seen it. They appear out of thin air, between reality and illusion."

"Appear out of thin air, huh…"

Fairy Mei Yu shook her head with a wry smile.

"That's not right. The bodies of the vagrants exist in reality. They are plundered from… another world."

Fang Yue was stunned on the spot.

"Another world… plundered? What's going on?"

"To be precise, it should be control. All vagrants are controlled by the Heavenly Lock and thrown into the Blue Sea World."

Control?

Fang Yue's expression changed, and he touched his back. "Could it be that we…"

"That's right, we are the same. Or rather…" Fairy Mei Yu emphasized, "We are about to be the same as them!"

This time, before Fang Yue could speak, Fairy Mei Yu continued.

"All vagrants are connected to the Heavenly Lock from birth. At the end of the lock is an unknown Tier 9 Transcendent class guiyi (ghost/monster). We call it the Lock Master. Those controlled by the Heavenly Lock are called Lock Slaves. The Lock Master controls the Lock Slaves, conquering one world after another. After dominating a world, it transforms everyone in that world into Lock Slaves. Then, it sends all the Lock Slaves to occupy the next world, endlessly, inexhaustibly."

"This world we are in is called the Lock Country by people from other worlds. Our real world, Blue Star, is located on the border of the Lock Country. It's a very small section. As the Lock Country gradually expands, the crisis finally spread to our side. It didn't even attract the Lock Master's attention; it was simply an unconscious expansion, crushing us."

"But it's precisely because of this that we have a chance to catch our breath and survive."

Fang Yue listened to all this, his mouth agape like a goose egg. He was somewhat dazed.

Heavenly Lock? Lock Country? Lock Master?

He felt that these words were so distant from him, even vague and unreal. After thinking for a moment, he could only ask dryly, "Um, is that Tier 9 Transcendent class guiyi very powerful?"

"Powerful? It's not just a matter of being powerful. There are only seven beings in the entire world as terrifying as it!

Seven beings standing at the pinnacle of the world—those are the Tier 9 Transcendent class guiyi.

And the Lock Master is one of them. Among the other six, the only one I know is… Ye Han."

"However, Ye Han's capital, the Night Country, is adjacent to the Lock Country, but in terms of map divisions, it is very far from our world, and the influence it receives is minimal.

Rumor has it that in the Night Country, the night is endless, and guiyi are immortal and indestructible. The living environment is much harsher than in our Lock Country."

After a pause, Mei Yu smiled. "I'm getting a little off track. Let's get back to our current situation. Heavenly Devour is approaching, and the Heavenly Lock is about to descend from the sky, locking up everyone on Blue Star. What we have to do is break free from this fate and fight with all our strength!"

Fang Yue was stunned.

"You mean… we are already locked by the Heavenly Lock? We are not Lock Slaves yet?"

"To be precise, people like us are, but others are not."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a bit complicated to explain. Simply put, you and I are players. We descended into the Blue Sea World through the system, descended into… the bodies of vagrants! From the moment we connected with the bodies of the vagrants, the Heavenly Lock established a connection with us.

And when the game's closed beta ends, and our bodies return to the real world, bringing that power back to the real world, the Heavenly Lock will firmly lock onto us through the transmission of power.

The more people who enter the Blue Sea World, the more people the Heavenly Lock will lock onto. If everyone enters the Blue Sea World, then everyone will become slaves of the Heavenly Lock…"

"Then why did you make Blue Sea a public beta?! Letting so many people enter the game…" Fang Yue couldn't help but say, but was quickly interrupted.

"But! Don't worry, let me finish. However, if we don't enter the game and don't acquire power, Heavenly Devour will still descend. This is an inevitable process. Our world has reached the critical point of its protection time. Either our protective shell breaks and Heavenly Devour descends, slaughtering everything, leaving no one behind. Or, we use the Heavenly Lock to steal power, become Lock Slaves, become slaves, our descendants turn into unconscious beings, turn into the bodies of 'vagrants,' and are sent to the next world."

Hearing this, Fang Yue immediately recalled the bodies he had seen in Gu Yue Village, slowly appearing from between reality and illusion.

At that time, he thought those were the player bodies set by the system. Now he understood that those were… people, living people!

They were just stripped of their consciousness, their souls erased, existing as shells to be used.

And now, when his world was occupied by the Heavenly Lock, all of humanity would one day become that kind of existence, becoming… the next 'vagrant.'

A chill ran through him.

"Is it… is it impossible for our own technological strength to resist Heavenly Devour?"

Fairy Mei Yu shook her head slightly. "If you had reached the Xianren (Immortal) realm, you would understand that the difference between humans and gods cannot be resisted by any existing power. Therefore… we, the first generation of cheaters, chose a third path."

"A third path?"

"That's right, a third path: sacrificing us pioneers, using our flesh and blood, using our lives, to resist the descent of Heavenly Devour, allowing those who have never entered the game, those who have not been polluted by the Heavenly Lock, the original natural people, to live healthy lives, preserving our race, preserving… the last of humanity!"

Fang Yue understood. That is to say, when faced with the crisis of Heavenly Devour, humanity was divided into two types of people: those who had gained power and were infected by the Heavenly Lock, and ordinary humans.

Those who entered the game and gained power were the infected.

Those who did not enter the game, or who quit the game early on when the Weirdness Index was not high, were ordinary humans.

Mei Yu chose to use the power of the infected to protect those who had not been infected, to preserve their lives, and to preserve the inheritance of the race.

And Fang Yue just happened to be…

His heart skipped a beat.

"Doesn't that mean I'm also…"

"Yes, you have also been locked by the Heavenly Lock. When the pollution reaches a certain level, you will become… guiyi. If you're lucky enough, you'll become an unconscious shell, sent to the next world, your body occupied by another soul, working for the Lock Master. The time left for you, or rather for me, or even for the entire Blue Star, is not much."