Chapter 110: The Dialogue

“So, what am I now?” Li Ren stood there stunned for a long moment after hearing Fan Yunshan’s account.

Meanwhile, Lantis and Lania had arrived in Yuxiao City. Seeing Li Ren and Fan Yunshan deep in conversation in the city lord’s hall, they wisely refrained from entering and instead silently kept watch outside the door.

Fan Yunshan noticed this scene clearly and nodded with satisfaction in his heart.

“You two,” Fan Yunshan said, pointing with his finger at Lantis and Lania outside, then turning his gaze back to Li Ren. “I’m not entirely sure about your situation either. At least in this world, I have never encountered beings like you, which is precisely why I find you so intriguing.”

“Especially you.”

“Me?” Li Ren was surprised. In his eyes, he was nothing special at the moment. If Lantis really wanted to fight him, even a hundred versions of him probably wouldn’t stand a chance against her.

“That’s right. You’re the only one who truly piques my curiosity,” Fan Yunshan said solemnly, nodding firmly to affirm this.

“Why?”

“Because of your abilities, the talents you possess—these should never exist in a system like this. Think about what you have now: the absorption attribute, the flicker power, and that unknown creative force you wield. I must say, you are truly a miracle.”

He paused briefly, then continued, “This place, which is currently called a game, is actually a realm where each participant’s soul ventures deep into the underworld. There, that fragment of the soul undergoes continuous strengthening. Of course, this strengthening comes from the monsters—meaning the experience gained.”

“Experience is essentially the energy reserve within oneself. The way to acquire it is through those monsters. In fact, those monsters are composed of the remnants of ‘Heavenly Evils’ we’ve hunted on the battlefield. Their broken limbs form all the creatures here. Some barely alive beings thrown into this place become the highest-level leaders. And all of this is under the system’s control; that’s essentially the entire world.”

“Will players who become strong in the game also become powerful when they return to reality?” Li Ren asked, puzzled. He remembered novels where protagonists gained immense power within the game and then wielded great influence in the real world.

“Ha! That’s a fascinating idea. Have such people ever appeared in history? You should know this place has existed for three thousand years!” Fan Yunshan laughed heartily.

“No, they haven’t. But how did people end up here in the first place, if there weren’t games before?” Li Ren’s curiosity couldn’t be suppressed. After all, people in the past had no access to games.

“Hahaha, you sure ask a lot of questions, kid. Honestly, I don’t know. I came here as one of the last batch of people. My original body was gravely wounded fighting Heavenly Evils, so you could say I came here to recover.” He shook his head with a smile. “As for your questions, wait until you meet City Lord Zhao. After all, he’s kind of your master, isn’t he?”

“Master? City Lord Zhao? Zhao Yun?!” Li Ren was utterly shocked.

“That’s right. His Qinglong Five Strikes are among the best in both spear and sword arts. You can see traces of that in yourself, so you could say he’s your master too,” Fan Yunshan said with a strange smile.

“Well, that does make sense. But what exactly are we like now?” Li Ren said with some distress. He still couldn’t fully grasp his own situation.

By all rights, he should have gone straight to the underworld since he was already dead, but somehow he ended up in this game world.

If he had become a player in the game world, that would be understandable, but to become a monster composed of Heavenly Evils, as Fan Yunshan described—that was baffling.

Fan Yunshan seemed to sense Li Ren’s thoughts and smiled before explaining, “Actually, the Skeleton Clan isn’t formed from Heavenly Evils. They are a native race of the underworld. Besides the Skeleton Clan, there are other clans as well. Their minions are also system-generated, not true members of the races, just representatives. Take your little Skeleton King as an example.”

Li Ren felt slightly reassured, though he remained puzzled about his origins. It was a bit better, at least.

“So what’s next? What do you plan to do?” Li Ren looked at Fan Yunshan, who was still seated beside him chatting.

“Me? Naturally, I’ll stick with you. Where else would I go? Or should I become a standing NPC handing out quests to players?” Fan Yunshan shrugged helplessly.

“Hey, I’m truly honored,” Li Ren said, surprised as he looked at the immensely powerful Fan Yunshan.

“Come on, don’t look at me like that. I’m heavily wounded right now. Asking me to serve you is impossible. Even if I went back to Luoyun City with you, I’d probably just be standing there handing out quests. Hahaha,” Fan Yunshan laughed with grand humor.

Li Ren laughed too.

“Besides, honestly, it doesn’t quite make sense for me to be under your command. But with City Lord Zhao’s connection, the system won’t be too harsh. In fact, you could say I’m your subordinate.”

“Hm? City Lord Fan, what do you mean?”

“I forgot to tell you—I’m just a humble centurion under City Lord Zhao here in the underworld,” Fan Yunshan said.

Li Ren was suddenly enlightened, but mostly astonished.

If Fan Yunshan was merely a centurion and severely wounded, then the strength of the entire underworld must be incredibly formidable. Yet, despite this, it has been invaded by these Heavenly Evils and is now barely holding on to the last stronghold. This was truly astonishing.

“I know it’s hard to accept this reality, but since it has already happened, you’re now one of us. There’s no going back. Why not keep moving forward? Even if you treat it all as a game, what does it matter? Life is like a game,” Fan Yunshan said as if he understood Li Ren’s inner turmoil. He empathized deeply, knowing it would be extremely difficult for Li Ren to accept everything and commit to fighting for the underworld.

Despite Fan Yunshan’s words, Li Ren still struggled to adjust. He took a deep breath, and a profound silence settled over the hall.