148: Speculation on the truth

Six full hours later.

The meal had concluded, and both host and guest were satisfied.

Emperor Luo suddenly waved his hand, and the surrounding "Green Wonderland" instantly vanished.

The accompanying high-ranking nobles stood up one by one, bowed, and backed out of the hall.

Seeing this, a flash of sharpness appeared in Zhang Huaiyuan's eyes. With a thought, he constructed countless nanorobots within his body, quickly clearing the ethanol from his bloodstream.

His slightly dizzy head immediately cleared, and he gave instructions to those below.

"Mr. Kols, Mr. Sailos, you two should go out and look around first."

"Yes, Your Excellency the Head of State."

The two men glanced at Emperor Luo, who sat on the main seat with a calm expression, bowed slightly to Zhang Huaiyuan, and then followed suit, retreating from the room.

The originally lively "Heavenly Pavilion" instantly quieted down.

"It seems that although you have only just taken control of the Star Alliance, your prestige is by no means low. This puts my mind at ease."

Emperor Luo nodded inwardly at this, pondering.

"Do you know why I invited you here, brother?"

"I know a thing or two," Zhang Huaiyuan nodded. "Is it about the Disaster Zone?"

"Exactly." Emperor Luo's expression grew solemn, and he slowly said, "Given your level of expertise, you must have realized long ago that this is not a coincidence."

"Hmm..." Zhang Huaiyuan pondered for a moment, then reached out and took out a file, handing it over with a smile. "This is a field I specialize in; I've made some progress."

Judging from the strategy guide, it was clear that appropriately demonstrating his own abilities would be more effective.

Emperor Luo took the information brick, somewhat surprised. He naturally could not understand the dense symbols and formulas within, so he immediately called out softly:

"Smart Brain, compare this data."

"As you command, Your Majesty."

The light and shadow of the integrated device flickered on and off. The two men tacitly remained silent, leisurely drinking tea while waiting for the results.

About half an hour later.

"Your Majesty, the preliminary scan is complete."

"The completeness exceeds the data from the Imperial Research Institute by 60 percentage points..."

"Among them, 37 material comparisons roughly match materials seen in the ruins, while the remaining 68 substances have yet to be verified..."

"According to this data, the estimated impact will exceed previous projections by 5-8 percentage points..."

As the comparative information popped up one by one, there was a hint of amazement in the Smart Brain's tone: "I must say, Your Excellency Zhang Huaiyuan, your knowledge and wisdom far exceed my imagination."

Emperor Luo's gaze became increasingly appreciative. Through his ability, he discovered that the favorability rating had increased from 20 to 22.

"I certainly didn't misjudge you."

A hint of gravity flashed in his eyes, and he slowly spoke, "Since you have researched to this point, brother, I imagine you must have had quite a few speculations about the existence behind it."

"Hmm... But what exactly is that thing? Can you enlighten me, brother?"

Zhang Huaiyuan's expression became serious. He knew that from this moment on, Emperor Luo truly accepted him and was willing to share intelligence.

"To be honest, I don't know either."

"What?" A flicker of surprise crossed Zhang Huaiyuan's eyes, but before he could ask carefully, Emperor Luo took the initiative to explain:

He sighed, and for the first time, exhaustion and even a hint of fear appeared in his expression as he revealed the truth.

"My ancestor once survived a catastrophe ten thousand years ago."

"In the notes he left behind, it was recorded: 'They are endless, they are everywhere. They devour everything, they constantly evolve, they are irresistible.'"

"This..." Hearing this description, Zhang Huaiyuan was slightly stunned. For some reason, he suddenly thought of an item he had once obtained in the treasure room of Morsa, the leader of the "Gale" Pirate Group—something that looked like dried beast meat.

Fragment of an Energy Conversion Cyst (deceased).

It contained knowledge of up to level 5 rules.

To this day, he had only been able to decipher a tiny fraction of it.

If this was the opponent... then there was truly no hope.

"So, this mastermind is the existence your ancestor recorded?"

Zhang Huaiyuan felt a chill in his heart. Even if his ability were increased tenfold, it would be impossible to develop something comparable to level 5 rules in a short time.

"I'm not sure, but it likely isn't."

Unexpectedly, Emperor Luo shook his head and said, "According to my ancestor's records, those creatures acted extremely aggressively, killing each other and devouring everything in existence within a very short time. They would never settle for evolving by relying on these special substances."

"Then who could it be..."

Zhang Huaiyuan frowned slightly; he could not believe that such a powerful civilization could be defeated.

"Based on the notes left by my ancestor and the tireless search for answers by generations of ancestors over these long years, I have arrived at a desperate inference."

Emperor Luo looked at Zhang Huaiyuan and said word by word, "This world... might be a commodity that has been enslaved, kept in captivity, and can be traded at any time."

"What!" Zhang Huaiyuan's pupils shrank slightly; he had never expected such an answer.

"In fact, more than 6,000 years ago, after the catastrophe recorded by my ancestor ended, a unified, massive power appeared in this world."

"At the peak of that power, the first existence similar to the current Galaxy Beast catastrophe appeared. According to my ancestor's records, the catastrophe at that time was far more terrifying than it is now."

"Almost all creatures in the entire region evolved simultaneously. That massive power persisted for hundreds of years, but in the end, for some unknown reason, it headed towards extinction."

"The only thing that can be certain is that that catastrophe was definitely not the one recorded by my ancestor ten thousand years ago. Otherwise, that power could never have persisted for hundreds of years."

Emperor Luo stated definitively.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Huaiyuan nodded thoughtfully. Indeed.

He had analyzed those evolutionary substances in the Disaster Zone; even the strongest ones only contained a portion of ordinary level 2 rules knowledge. A civilization that had mastered level 5 rules knowledge was unlikely to employ such trivial methods.

"Furthermore." Emperor Luo looked at Zhang Huaiyuan's expression, paused for a moment, and continued:

"You should have also discovered that there are quite a few distinct ruins in this world. Their styles are completely different and could never have come from the same power."

"The Imperial Research Institute once verified the history of these ruins and found that they did not exist in the same era."

"So..." Emperor Luo lowered his eyelids, his smile somewhat bitter. "I suspect that perhaps this world is like an auction item, having been bought separately by these civilizations to conduct some special experiments."

"And we... are all lab rats in a cage."