Hidden Level

Wait, what the hell?

Ren Yi was genuinely stunned.

Seriously? He was already a proper Anomaly, so why did he still have to deal with things like internship certificates?

It took Ren Yi a full five seconds to accept the cruel reality that he might actually have to do an internship in the future. With a trace of sorrow, he continued reading.

"Back to the topic. Good Instance partners are hard to find, so sometimes you need to recruit some NPCs."

"NPCs are vital existences within an Instance. High-quality NPCs are as valuable as Anomaly Artifacts."

"Special Reminder: All NPCs must be recognized by the Alliance's rules."

"Once an NPC is reconstructed by the Alliance's rules, their nature of existence changes. They become subordinates to the Instance Master, and there is absolutely no risk of betrayal. You can rest easy!"

"Now, let's get to the real deal."

"Method One: Recruitment Instances."

"For Pasture worlds, you can temporarily convert the nature of your Instance into a 'Recruitment Instance' after paying a certain fee."

"In such an Instance, you can add various side quests."

"When Participants pass the screening and complete the side quests, they can choose to stay in the Instance and become NPCs."

"The downside is that this is limited to Pasture worlds and depends entirely on the Participants' willingness. There's a high chance you'll end up with a total loss."

"The upside is that NPCs recruited this way are of very high quality, and the Alliance's rules will actively refine them, allowing for synergy with the Instance's rules."

Ren Yi glanced at the crystal. The crystal certainly couldn't clear an Instance on its own, so he passed on this one.

"Method Two: Payment."

"If there are Participants in your Instance who haven't cleared it yet, you can pay a fee directly to the Alliance to forcibly convert them into NPCs."

"This method isn't limited to Pasture worlds; Participants from worlds currently being invaded can also be converted."

"You can even proactively tell them about this rule to sow discord among the Participants."

"The upside is that you don't need the Participants' consent."

"The downside is that it's expensive."

"The stronger the Participant, the more abilities they have, and the rarer the special items they carry... the more expensive it gets."

Oh? This one was interesting.

Ren Yi immediately perked up.

The Alliance allowed the proactive disclosure of NPC recruitment rules. That explained why the Pope and the King of Xin knew about it.

So, was this rule their target?

Ren Yi's gaze lingered on the word "expensive" for a moment before he decisively scrolled down.

One or two might be manageable, but he didn't believe for a second that the "they" his brother mentioned only referred to a couple of people.

He was just a cub with no steady income. He wouldn't consider this.

"Method Three: Pollution."

"This method is limited to Anomalies with pollution abilities. If a Participant is polluted deeply enough by you, they can be directly converted."

"The advantage is that while you still need to register with the Alliance, it's quite cheap."

"The disadvantage is that they lose their self-will. The specific outcome depends on your own pollution effects."

Great, another term he hadn't seen before.

But obviously, this couldn't be the goal of the Pope and the King of Xin either.

Why would they risk everything just to end up losing their self-will?

Next, next.

"Method Four: Self-Manufacturing."

"Various worlds have different methods for producing intelligent life, such as puppets, sentient machines, blood thralls, artifact spirits, and so on."

"These can also serve as NPCs."

"The downside is that the materials and manufacturing methods for each are hard to obtain."

"For example, sentient machines need high-tech nuclear reactors, puppets need souls and physical materials..."

"However, non-living materials will be automatically refined by the rules upon entering the Alliance, so you can snag some for free during a world invasion."

"The advantage is that since the materials already comply with Alliance rules, the registration fee is relatively low."

"The four methods above each have their pros and cons. Of course, you might have your own special fifth method, but remember that all require Alliance registration."

"And finally, there is one last method: Buying!"

"Here, your editor has secured a 50% discount from our sponsors! Click the link below to jump to the purchase page!"

Ren Yi skimmed the last two sentences and ruthlessly closed the post.

He found it.

Clearly, the soul crystal brought back to the Alliance fit the definition of "non-living material" in the fourth method.

As for the "physical materials," Ren Yi had a few guesses.

He wrote the words "soul technology" on the paper.

The soul experiment in the Three Cities World had spiraled out of control, causing the physical body to deform along with the soul.

Could it work in reverse? Could they use the soul's form to reshape a physical body, quickly creating a vessel that matched the soul?

And if soul technology truly existed, it would explain how to extract a soul from a crystal.

If that were the case, the cost of the entire plan would be remarkably low.

An open scheme. This was a blatant, open scheme.

By now, the objective of the entire plan was quite clear.

From start to finish, their goal wasn't to defeat Azure, nor was it to save the doomed Three Cities World. It was to secure a chance for the people of Xin City to be "reconstituted" within an Anomaly Instance.

Whether the world was destroyed didn't matter. Whether they were humans, Anomalies, or NPCs didn't matter. Even the lives of one or two individuals could be discarded at will.

Everything was for the sake of survival.

The Pope had long since despaired for his own side due to the Holy City's "brand of piety."

But Xin City was different. There was a high probability they hadn't been irreversibly affected, so there was still room to struggle.

Thus, the Pope was never the leader; he was more like an assistant, silently paving the way for the plan from the shadows.

He must have been the original provider of intelligence, handing over secret files about the Azure World and setting the initial framework of the plan.

He was the first person to place a piece on the board.

Trapped in the Holy City, he could only exert influence from the sidelines. After all, he couldn't have known that Azure would target Ren Yi from so far away.

Just as he had said at the beginning, he only hoped to use Ren Yi to convey certain messages to the Alliance and other Anomalies behind him.

And Ren Yi had indeed done exactly that on the forum back then.

However, there was still one crucial executor missing.

Without a doubt, that person was the King of Xin.

He was responsible for execution—even proactively inducing Azure to merge all the souls in the city while simultaneously bypassing the Calamity...

Wait, that's not right.

Ren Yi suddenly realized something.

Since the King of Xin had proactively sacrificed himself from the start, and assuming they already possessed mature soul experiment technology...

That meant the King of Xin definitely had a way to influence souls. His sacrifice wasn't a gamble; he had come prepared.

So, how could he not have left a backup plan?

If Azure failed, then everything went according to plan, securing a chance to reconstitute Xin City within an Instance.

But what if the situation on the Alliance's side didn't match their expectations?

Furthermore, if Azure happened to succeed, slipped into the Alliance, and took complete control of the situation, would the King of Xin really just accept defeat and let that "son of a bitch" be the final winner?

But a backup plan needs a trigger. There had to be a way to judge when to do nothing and when to go down swinging.

Ren Yi felt his tentacles stiffen as his perception focused on the nearby crystal.

It seemed the Pope and Azure he had faced weren't the final bosses of the Three Cities World.

Why did it feel like there was still a hidden level?