Return trip.
On the way back, Lilith used her authority over the Virtual World Core to open up the sphere, revealing the interior brimming with a silver-gray glow.
This thing was also a sphere, and the mont Zheng Yichen held it in his hand, he montarily experienced an illusion of the starry sky.
"Does this count as a supercomputer?" Zheng Yichen asked uncertainly.
"You could understand it that way. It’s a core capable of simulating a world almost as real as reality."
A world almost as real as reality—Lilith had ntioned this to Zheng Yichen more than once, though it still sounded preposterous to him.
After all, the factors involved in creating an entire world were far too complex. To render it properly, how many graphics cards would be needed... cough, cough.
Was this thing essentially an ultimate, all-powerful GPU?
"Like a whole universe-level exaggeration?"
"... Technically, it’s a planet, based on the heart of a world." Lilith corrected Zheng Yichen’s choice of words; a universe-scale simulation was simply too large.
And the benchmark for this technology was a planet embodying Dusk. Of course, saying "just a planet" wasn’t as simple as it sounded. It contained nurous factors, and a planet embodying Dusk could be considered the heart of a world.
Boundary Breakers specifically targeted such locations because of their significance. The Virtual World Core was designed to simulate these places because, with a heart, one could construct an entire ’universe.’
The outer shell wasn’t important—what mattered was the engine inside.
"That’s still pretty incredible, isn’t it?" Zheng Yichen said with uncertainty in his voice, looking up at the sky to see so distant black dots rapidly approaching—it was the local ard forces.
Zheng Yichen wasn’t surprised by this. He casually tossed the folded-up Virtual World Core to Tanshia Firlo, put both hands on the steering wheel, and began a mad race across the wasteland.
The rapidly approaching fighter pilots were dumbfounded. According to their radar lock, Zheng Yichen was traveling at an unbelievable speed, faster even than their jets!?
Since when could sothing on the ground outrun sothing in the air??
Not only that, after being overtaken, Zheng Yichen’s signal disappeared from their radar entirely: "Report! We lost him!!"
"???" The command center hesitated for a mont. How could you lose him? What about air superiority? How could sothing running on the ground evade sothing flying in the air?
Even more extraordinary, the satellites in orbit also lost track of Zheng Yichen.
Now in camouflage mode, Zheng Yichen yawned. Aside from the technology brought by the Boundary Breakers, the local technological capabilities, though formidable, were no match for Lilith’s comprehensively integrated tech.
"Are you planning to completely seal off Dusk?"
The local authorities convened another eting. Based on clues from explosive events, they had discovered the suspected presence of Boundary Breakers. However, the opponent’s vehicle was too advanced, and they had outright lost track of it.
What they could confirm was that the opposition had found sothing very special in the wasteland. However, they couldn’t determine exactly what it was. Based on current clues, it likely related to the Virtual World or so other critical object.
For example, the kind of Boundary Breaking core ntioned by the Proxy Agents.
The idea of another world—if it were truly possible to access—also offered local humans a solution to their overburdened survival space, didn’t it?
"Seal it off? Forget it. It’s best not to provoke the opposition too aggressively." Opinions among the local authorities in the eting room were far from unified.
They didn’t want to offend the Proxy Agents, but neither did they want to lose out on sothing that even Proxy Agents seed highly interested in. Ideally, they wanted to "have a conversation"—convince the Proxy Agents to hand over the item or at least let them study it.
In two days, they had captured several fugitive Boundary Breakers, gathering a wealth of information from them—details about Boundary Breaks, supernatural powers, and more.
They had also gained significant insights into the Proxy Agents. According to the Boundary Breakers, Proxy Agents were the most critical enforcers of Dusk and the most formidable beings under its banner.
How formidable?
The Boundary Breakers claid that if not for the degraded conditions of this world, even a random individual among them could single-handedly annihilate all the local ard forces. Yet, the Proxy Agents could still beat them all down.
But in the current conditions, they had been reduced to the level of ordinary humans—vulnerable to bullets and unable to resist if overpowered by people.
Was this garbage environnt actually a hidden advantage?
For the locals, this seed like an unexpected blessing. Proxy Agents, who could normally subdue Boundary Breakers effortlessly, were now essentially average people too, weren’t they? And since they were just ordinary humans... well...
In short, the intelligence provided by Boundary Breakers had sparked a variety of ideas. Yet, while so individuals found opportunities to exploit, others were intimidated by the Proxy Agents’ displayed technological capabilities.
The initial assumption that environntal advantages leveled the playing field dissipated significantly. The Proxy Agents might be ordinary people here, but they still wielded superior technologies.
"There’s no need to escalate tensions with the Proxy Agents from Dusk. As long as we find qualified people, we can always gather information about the alien world ourselves. This arrangent ans our future generations could beco ’colleagues’ of the Proxy Agents. Worsening relations won’t help us."
One individual’s argunt sounded quite rational. Indeed, the Proxy Agents offered substantial benefits, but those benefits weren’t theirs to seize. The sa person continued, "Also, rember that the Boundary Breakers and the people of Dusk are enemies. The information they provided might very well be a trap! We mustn’t beco their tool."
"So, we’re just going to let the Proxy Agents go?"
"... It’s not letting them go. Also, that kind of statent is inappropriate—the Proxy Agents are here to help this world."
The eting room remained divided, with radical factions advocating to detain the Proxy Agents, thereby acquiring more valuable information. According to the Boundary Breakers’ intel, Dusk didn’t exactly care much about humans.
The Proxy Agents were rely pawns of Dusk, and Dusk itself didn’t intervene unless the fundantal survival of the world was at risk. Even the capture of Boundary Breakers wouldn’t provoke retaliation.
This notion emboldened the radicals. Moreover, given the Boundary Breakers’ description of their degraded world, it felt like everything was an even playing field—no one could be intrinsically superior anymore.
The radicals, therefore, were increasingly eager. Conversely, the conservatives argued for restraint. Their strategy was to find qualified candidates to beco Dusk rcenaries and stop there.
Even though Dusk seed indifferent to Proxy Agents, the relationships between Proxy Agents and Dusk rcenaries—or among Proxy Agents themselves—remained murky.
The Boundary Breakers avoided offering details on such matters, focusing instead on fueling the radicals’ enthusiasm. However, the conservatives fixated on these ambiguities, unwilling to fall into any hidden traps.
Everyone in the room understood the concept of being used as a tool for soone else’s sches—or at least most did. So understood yet still wanted to try.
Aside from the rotten natural environnt, their world’s overall state—where supernatural forces weren’t involved—was also dire.
"The Proxy Agents are helping the world, not the human race!"
"Idiot..."
"??" The radicals froze in surprise, then erupted in fury. Heated discussions were normal, but they hadn’t sunk to open insults yet!
Looking around, they noticed others appeared equally puzzled. So who had just spoken?
"It was . A Proxy Agent." Zheng Yichen’s voice echoed again. The tension in the room instantly plumted. This was supposed to be an offline eting—how was his voice audible?
Had this location been physically breached?
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