Chapter 1 Distorted Space

Xu Jingming discovered that the surrounding space was distorted and blurred. His clothes had also changed into loose robes with the number "230534" on the left chest. At the same time, his figure, hairstyle, and appearance became exactly the same as in reality.

"Hmm?" Xu Jingming felt the changes in himself with puzzlement.

"Friendly reminder: When entering the Mysterious Land, please hide your real appearance and information. Body shape and size cannot be changed." Along with the echoing sound, a panel for adjusting appearance appeared before his eyes.

Xu Jingming looked at himself in front of him. "Hide my real appearance and information?"

He began to adjust his appearance, slightly modifying his face shape and hairstyle, and fine-tuning his eyebrows and eyes. Immediately, he looked a bit more sharp and resolute.

Once the adjustment was completed.

Whoosh!

The distorted space returned to normal, and Xu Jingming saw a vast wilderness before him. A huge spaceship was parked in the wilderness. This spaceship was estimated to be over a thousand meters long, and its height exceeded three hundred meters.

Buzz! A phantom figure appeared beside Xu Jingming and said, "Number 230534, please enter the spaceship in advance. The Mysterious Land journey will officially begin in 172 hours and 51 minutes."

"172 hours later?" Xu Jingming was taken aback.

"Yes, you can log off at any time now," the virtual figure nodded. "We will also send a notification five minutes before the official start of the Mysterious Land journey."

Xu Jingming understood and walked towards the spaceship.

As he approached the spaceship, Xu Jingming saw a hatch silently opening, and wide steps descending. Xu Jingming walked up the steps and entered the spaceship.

He walked along the main corridor inside the spaceship for a while. Soon, he saw a large hall.

The hall space was extremely large, over a hundred meters high. At a glance, there were tens of thousands of Cosmic Citizens scattered throughout the hall, yet it didn't feel crowded at all!

These Cosmic Citizens had different figures and appearances. Some were over six meters tall with skin like rock, some were less than half a meter tall and petite, some were tall giants with four arms, some were aloof three-eyed people, and some were humans with furry tails—humans from various Cosmic Civilizations gathered here. "Would you like something to drink?" A robot walked over and asked enthusiastically. Various drink options floated before it, all marked 'free'.

Xu Jingming ordered a familiar alcoholic beverage.

The robot conjured the drink out of thin air and handed it to Xu Jingming enthusiastically.

"There are still more than seven days before departure." Xu Jingming sat down in the hall with his glass and quietly observed the other Cosmic Citizens. "Are these tens of thousands of people just chatting here?"

"Number 230534." A short-haired blond man walked over with a glass of wine, indicating his chest. He also had a number on his chest, 370628. "I'm from the Lanweien Star Alliance, and you?"

"Wu Hook Star Alliance," Xu Jingming nodded slightly.

The short-haired man sat down and said with a smile, "Entering the Mysterious Land once costs a billion Cosmic Credits, which is really not easy. Shall we exchange information about the Mysterious Land? It can be considered helping each other?"

"Exchange information?" Xu Jingming looked at him. "Sure." "You should know about the first planet of the Mysterious Land, right?" the short-haired man said, taking a sip of wine.

Xu Jingming's expression froze slightly.

"You don't even know the first planet?" The short-haired man was stunned. He didn't expect such a reaction.

Xu Jingming couldn't say anything. Making up something would easily be exposed.

"Not too clear," Xu Jingming said, shaking his head.

"Your civilization is willing to spend a billion Cosmic Credits to enter, yet you know so little about the Mysterious Land?" The short-haired man was puzzled. "This is the first planet. As long as someone from your civilization has been here, they should have recorded some information."

"Could you tell me a thing or two?" Xu Jingming asked.

His civilization was a newly emerging Cosmic Civilization! It had little accumulation, and its intelligence network was naturally very weak.

He was the first from the entire Blue Star Civilization to come to the Blood Rain World! Even the hidden opportunities in the Blood Rain World were found out by Pang Ze and told to Xu Jingming.

"Sorry," the short-haired man said, getting up and turning to leave. He didn't want to help an enemy.

Xu Jingming silently watched him leave, feeling helpless. After a moment.

"What, you don't know anything?" A tall woman, nearly five meters tall with a perfect figure, looked at the small Xu Jingming, somewhat puzzled. "You don't know, and your home civilization doesn't know either? Has no one from your home civilization ever been here?" Xu Jingming just shook his head.

"Then why did you spend a billion to come in?" The tall woman also left. "If you didn't want to exchange, you could have just said so. You're wasting my time."

"Information about the first planet of the Mysterious Land is the most basic. If you're not willing to talk about anything, we can't exchange information," the aloof three-eyed man said after chatting for a couple of sentences before turning and leaving.

Xu Jingming sat there for half an hour, and eight Cosmic Citizens came to chat, intending to exchange information. But Xu Jingming couldn't even say anything about the 'first planet', so others naturally didn't want to say more.

This made Xu Jingming mutter to himself.

"After sacrificing everything, I realized that among so many Cosmic Citizens, I have the least information." Xu Jingming was a little helpless. "I can't help it. I'm the first one from the Blue Star Civilization to explore this place."

His home civilization had a thin foundation, and it knew too little about many secrets of the universe. There was nothing he could do about it.

"Number 230534." A small human sat down opposite Xu Jingming.

"I know nothing about the Mysterious Land," Xu Jingming said, looking at him.

"I've noticed that you really don't know anything," the small human said with a smile. "How about this, I'll sell you a piece of information about the Mysterious Land! How about a billion Cosmic Credits?"

"A piece of information for a billion?" Xu Jingming looked at him. "I don't even know if your information is worth that price."

"I can sell you the basic information about the top three planets of the seven planets in the Mysterious Land," the small human said. "Competition among countless civilizations in the universe is fierce! Everyone is intentionally blocking information about the Mysterious Land of the Blood Rain World'. It's very difficult to buy it outside. I wouldn't dare sell this information in the Myriad Realms Group. Only inside the spaceship do I dare to tell you the details face to face."

"Basic information about the top three planets?" Xu Jingming thought to himself.

"A billion is not expensive at all," the small human tempted. "If you blindly go in without knowing anything, you might gain very little. But if you go in with information, you might gain much more! This 'Mysterious Land' entry is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It's worth spending a little more money to buy information."

Xu Jingming shook his head. "But I don't have money."

"If you have less money, you can buy less. For example, basic information about the first planet only costs one hundred million," the small human continued.

Xu Jingming shook his head again.

"You're so stingy at a crucial moment," the small human scoffed, getting up and leaving. "You'll understand the pain of not having information when the journey begins."

"No need to go over there. That newcomer doesn't even know about the first planet."

"He dares to come in without knowing any information?" "Who knows? Maybe he knows a lot of information but doesn't want to reveal it."

"From my observation, he really doesn't know anything!"

Xu Jingming heard the discussions of some Cosmic Citizens not far away. With his state of mind, he could sense the hostility of some people.

"Quite a few people are hostile to me." Xu Jingming was a little puzzled. "I didn't know them before, and those who can come here are not ordinary Cosmic Citizens. Their mentality shouldn't be so bad. Could it be that there's competition?"

Xu Jingming was just guessing.

Because he could be considered completely ignorant about the Mysterious Land.

After staying in the hall for a while, Xu Jingming logged off and left.

Virtual World Network, personal space.

"Information is very important." Xu Jingming sat on the sofa, thinking. "With information, I can be more purposeful, avoid many detours, and gain much more."

"But it's clear that none of those Cosmic Citizens are willing to do good deeds and give me information for free."

"Even according to that information peddler, some powerful civilizations in the universe are intentionally blocking information about the Mysterious Land." Xu Jingming understood this as well. There were countless civilizations in the universe.

They competed with each other.

Critical information that affected the foundation of civilization was naturally blocked as much as possible, making it difficult for new Cosmic Civilizations to collect.

"Pang Ze has never entered the Mysterious Land either." Xu Jingming came to the Blood Rain World on Pang Ze's suggestion, and Pang Ze told him everything he should know.

"There is one person who might know a lot." Xu Jingming thought of someone and pondered.

"His Excellency, Di Kanuo!" Xu Jingming sat on the sofa.

"Perhaps His Excellency Di Kanuo will despise me and think I'm shameless," Xu Jingming stood up. "But information about the Mysterious Land is very important to me. It's also important to generations of evolutionaries in the Blue Star Civilization."

"Even if I'm called shameless, I can't care anymore," Xu Jingming made a decision.

He was very measured in his actions.

From childhood to adulthood, he never wanted to make things difficult for others. His Excellency Di Kanuo had treated him very well, even giving him the Crimson Cloud Medal. Xu Jingming was very grateful to him, and he had always been very careful around Di Kanuo.

This time, it was a critical moment in his evolutionary path! It was even important to the Blue Star Civilization in the future, so he decided to be shameless for once!

Xu Jingming gently clicked and contacted Di Kanuo.

Virtual World Network.

Di Kanuo was collecting a large amount of information.

"It's not easy being a boss. It's even harder being a top boss in the entire Human Alliance of the universe." After Di Kanuo decided to start a business, he began to prepare formally, only to find that this path was really not easy.

Managing people was a skill.

Running a group, managing money—everything was a skill.

Di Kanuo had received the best education since childhood. Over the years, his education level had reached 22, which was much higher than Xu Jingming's! Naturally, he wasn't the kind of fool who only knew how to spend money.

"Hmm?" Di Kanuo received a contact request. "Xu Jingming wants to see me?"

Di Kanuo was a little curious.

Di Kanuo's attitude towards Xu Jingming was somewhat different. On the one hand, Xu Jingming was the first genius Di Kanuo had encountered in the Blue Star Civilization, and the only one who had defeated him.

On the other hand, Di Kanuo had been responsible for protecting the Blue Star Civilization for more than thirty years. In fact, when he first arrived in the Blue Star Civilization, Xu Jingming hadn't even been born yet! So he had watched Xu Jingming grow from an infant to the present.

At Di Kanuo's age, more than thirty years accounted for nearly half of his life!

In such a long time, he had only encountered such a genius who had also defeated him! That was why Di Kanuo had given him a Crimson Cloud Medal.

You had to know that someone of his status would never take the initiative to give gifts.

Whoosh.

With a light tap from Di Kanuo, Xu Jingming appeared from nothing and arrived at Di Kanuo's personal space.

"His Excellency, Di Kanuo," Xu Jingming said respectfully.

"Sit," Di Kanuo looked at Xu Jingming. "It's rare for you to come here."

"I usually don't dare to disturb Your Excellency," Xu Jingming sat down. Di Kanuo looked at Xu Jingming with a smile. "If I'm not mistaken, a martial arts fanatic like you would only come to me if you encountered something very important."

Xu Jingming was slightly stunned.

"Speak," Di Kanuo said.

"After becoming a Cosmic Citizen, I mainly trained in the Blood Rain World," Xu Jingming said. "I recently sacrificed ten thousand taels of gold and entered the Mysterious Land. After entering, I realized that I knew nothing about the Mysterious Land."

"And the other Cosmic Citizens in the Mysterious Land are my competitors. No one will tell me any information. I don't even know the information about the first planet of the Mysterious Land," Xu Jingming said.

"The Mysterious Land has a total of seven planets. There's no need to collect fragmented information about the seven planets," Di Kanuo said casually. "It's all useless."

Xu Jingming was stunned.

"To go to the Mysterious Land, you must first understand what the Mysterious Land is for," Di Kanuo said. "The 'Mysterious Land' in the Blood Rain World is actually the only public recruitment channel for the seventeen top forces of the Human race in the universe."