Chapter 295: Losing One's Vest

"It's fine."

Yan Jing nodded. "I'm in no rush to assimilate the Rite of Summer and Winter Sacrifices."

There was still a full month before his next mission started.

If the Rite of Summer and Winter Sacrifices Wang Changnian provided wasn't suitable, he would figure out a way to enter the Inner World and get one himself.

Just like before.

Right now, his biggest concern was choosing his next role.

"Xiao Yanzi, where is your next Dungeon?"

Shen Youran asked.

"A place called the Data Heavenly Kingdom,"

Yan Jing replied.

He showed Shen Youran the new Dungeon mission he had just received.

[Heavenly Kingdom—Data Heavenly Kingdom—Street DA-1414. Now issuing Stage A Dungeon task. Task: Fugitive.]

Task Description:

Across a vast, boundless Wasteland, the people endured radiation, natural disasters, mutation, and pollution. They gradually lost all hope for survival until the Heavenly Kingdom appeared, awakening their last shred of passion for life. Rumor has it that deep within this Wasteland hide various Heavenly Kingdoms. If the people of the Wasteland could one day enter them...

...they would gain the peace, joy, and happiness they so desperately dream of. You have fortunately been born into one such realm, known as the Data Heavenly Kingdom. A mysterious entity controls ninety percent of this Heavenly Kingdom. Any outsider will face immediate expulsion and elimination without hesitation. Please do everything you can to survive in this Heavenly Kingdom for three hours. During these three hours, you will face total pursuit by the Heavenly Kingdom. [Note: This is the only task for Stage A of this Dungeon, but the difficulty is extreme. Extremely extreme.]

"Heavenly Kingdom..."

Shen Youran stared at the task, her brows furrowed tightly. It was a long time before her expression eased.

"Xiao Yanzi, do you know anything about the Heavenly Kingdom?"

She finally looked up at Yan Jing.

"Absolutely nothing,"

Yan Jing shook his head.

Shen Youran nodded. She stood up and pulled over the whiteboard they usually used for tutoring.

She drew a circle the size of a car tire on the board, picked up the pointer resting below it, and pointed.

"This is the Surface World."

Then, she took a marker and drew a small, egg-sized circle in the bottom right corner of the large one.

"This is Yueyin, where we are right now."

Next to Yueyin, tracing the circumference of the large circle, she drew eleven more small circles in sequence.

"These are regions just like ours. Starting from Yueyin and going clockwise, we have Tianzi, Domain, Wanli,"

"Weiyang, Qitian, Maori, Tiangou, Dark Ghost, Dongcang, Dalao, and finally, looping back right next to us, Beast Lord."

"From this, Xiao Yanzi, you can see just how massive our Surface World is."

Shen Youran pointed to the twelve egg-sized circles she had drawn. They all sat along the outer edge of the large circle, forming a ring.

In the center of the large circle was a massive, sprawling expanse of empty space.

"People have even started trying to enter outer space to develop new Domains."

Shen Youran's expression was grave. "This isn't because the Surface World lacks land. In fact, many places inside this large circle are like Wastelands.

"The key issue lies in what the corresponding Inner World looks like."

"The Inner World is a resource. Xiao Yanzi, I don't know if you can understand this concept from the perspective of an entire region."

Yan Jing nodded.

For an individual, entering a Dungeon only had two outcomes: life or death. But for a Domain, as long as there was a corresponding Inner World, it was impossible for everyone to die.

As long as everyone didn't die, someone would always manage to break through.

Even if only one out of ten thousand people became a high-tier powerhouse, it was worth it.

Shen Youran drew two intersecting lines across the large circle, one horizontal and one vertical.

"Setting aside those shadowy forbidden zones we cannot enter, the Surface World is a hemisphere."

"Using the center of this hemisphere as the origin, and a mountain range known as the World Ridge pointing east, the region Yueyin sits in..."

"...is located in the southeast of the Surface World. Aside from us, our neighbors, Beast Lord and Tianzi, are also in the southeast."

As she spoke, Shen Youran drew two more lines across the circle, dividing it into eight slices like a cake.

Yueyin and its two neighboring regions fit perfectly into one of those slices.

"The Inner World Domains corresponding to our three regions are primarily the Eerie Capital and Minhu. As for the Heavenly Kingdom you mentioned, Xiao Yanzi, it corresponds to a faction ahead of us called the Metal Plains."

Shen Youran then drew another circle above those three egg-sized ones.

Compared to the three eggs, this circle was noticeably larger.

"The Cultivators on the Metal Plains are all ascetics. Over in that Domain, the survival rate for crops and plants is incredibly low,"

"The climate is extremely harsh as well. It's completely unfit for human habitation."

Shen Youran continued, "But their corresponding Heavenly Kingdom is massive, and its Inner World Pathways are extremely complex. Because of this, our three regions have all explored the Heavenly Kingdom to varying degrees, hoping to reap some benefits from it."

"But—"

Shen Youran took a deep breath.

"The results were not optimistic."

"The Heavenly Kingdom is far larger than we imagined, and its ecosystem is wildly complex. Compared to Minhu, it is vast but sparsely populated."

"If you land in their Wasteland, it's a dog-eat-dog scenario. But if you actually enter the Heavenly Kingdom itself, it's even worse."

"Take the two more well-known ones, for example: the Mechanical Heavenly Kingdom and the Life Heavenly Kingdom. Each of them is roughly the size of Yueyin, and the entities living there generally view us humans as nothing more than raw production materials."

"We suspect that other Domains in the Surface World might also correspond to it, but there's no way to know for sure. It involves overlapping spatial dimensions, and the mechanics are too complicated to treat as a simple one-to-one mapping. For instance, a so-called Inner World Domain could be curved like a potato chip..."

"But I digress."

"Anyway, the factions within the Heavenly Kingdom are highly convoluted. Just when you think you've adapted to the rules of one place, everything changes when you arrive at the next."

"Years ago, Yueyin launched an initiative called 'Heavenly Kingdom Pioneering,' and our Shen Family was involved."

"Afterward, we established a few universal truths about this massive Domain."

"You can listen to them, and then decide if you still want to enter this Dungeon."

"All right." Yan Jing nodded.

"First, within the Heavenly Kingdom—whether out in the Wasteland or inside the various Heavenly Kingdoms themselves—there is a universally accepted classification. They divide their residents into Smart Seeds, bionic species, and original species."

"Among them, a Smart Seed refers to a species whose body has undergone mechanical modification. Based on the extent of the modification, they are further divided into semi-Smart Seeds, full Smart Seeds, and data species."

"Meanwhile, based on their structural resemblance to the human body, they can be classified as Pseudo-Native Species and pseudo-other species."

"Bionic species, on the other hand, refer to awakened animals or humans who have been injected with biological serums. Based on these two criteria, they are divided into animal species and human species."

"Finally, original species refer to Inner World Residents who haven't undergone any mechanical or biological modifications whatsoever."

"Each Heavenly Kingdom is a mysterious entity upon the Wasteland. The scavengers out there dream of nothing more than entering one."

"However, their locations don't seem fixed. Because of this, many scavengers spend their entire lives chasing after the Heavenly Kingdom, only to never find it."

"If a Player spawns in the Wasteland, the most likely outcome is being captured by Inner World Residents and interrogated about whether they've ever been to the Heavenly Kingdom."

"They have a borderline pathological obsession with the Heavenly Kingdom."

"But in reality, according to feedback from our Players, the so-called Heavenly Kingdom isn't a good place at all—"

"..."

"Lastly, the two primary Pathways within the Heavenly Kingdom are Mechanization and Gene. The two are mutually exclusive and fundamentally opposed. That is to say, a person who has undergone mechanical modification absolutely cannot inject biological serums, and vice versa."

Shen Youran had spoken at length.

Yan Jing listened quietly until the end, then nodded.

"Things were rushed before my last Dungeon, so I didn't tell you, Teacher Shen, but my original Dungeon was also a Heavenly Kingdom. Just not the Data Heavenly Kingdom. It was the Peace Heavenly Kingdom."

"So I figure, I probably really do need to make a trip there."

He smiled.

"Besides, I also want to try and see if I can find Rituals for those two Pathways you mentioned."

The more diverse abilities he witnessed, the more he felt that there were only two ways to reach the Summit:

One was to specialize in a single Pathway.

The other was to embrace them all, like a river flowing into the sea.

It was already impossible for him to take the first route, so he wanted to attempt the second.

"Okay."

Yan Jing had mentioned this idea to Shen Youran before.

As an Investor, she was naturally tempted when she heard his proposal.

She had only repeatedly sought his confirmation out of concern for his safety.

Now that Yan Jing had made up his mind, she asked, "Should I send you the data on the Data Heavenly Kingdom when I get back later?"

"No, give me the files on the Peace Heavenly Kingdom."

Yan Jing smiled at Shen Youran.

Shen Youran froze for a moment, then nodded.

The two finished their tea and chatted for a bit longer. Before leaving, Shen Youran pulled an amulet-like object from somewhere within her nightgown and pressed it into Yan Jing's hand.

"Xiao Yanzi, this is a new Peach Wood Charm. I got this one from the temple next door, too. The master there said these Peach Wood Charms need to be swapped out regularly."

"Don't lose it."

She pursed her lips, her expression totally serious.

"I won't."

Yan Jing smiled and nodded.

After Shen Youran left, Yan Jing was just about to open the Ghoulish Life Role-playing Game to select a new role, when suddenly...

An icy, clear voice echoed in his mind.

"Young Master, do you have maids in the Surface World as well?"

The words were freezing cold. It was the exact tone his maid always used when holding him accountable. Hearing it, Yan Jing's heart inexplicably skipped a beat, and he swallowed hard.

What was bound to come had finally arrived.

When it came to losing one's vest, exposing his identity to a prisoner like the Fear Bird didn't really matter.

But Fei Yu was different.

A few days ago, when Stage A concluded and he returned to the Surface World, Fei Yu had remained silent. Yan Jing had thought the matter was blown over.

Now, it seemed the time simply hadn't been right.

After thinking it over briefly, he walked back to his room.

Then, he released the bindings of the Power of the White Stone within his body. Instantly, streams of red light particles surged from his chest like flowing sand.

Soon, a figure wearing a plain long-sleeved dress appeared before him.

Looking at Fei Yu in front of him, Yan Jing was just about to roll out the excuse he had prepared long in advance, but then he noticed that his maid's phoenix eyes had suddenly turned red.

Oh no!

Her eyes were red.

She was going to go berserk!