Chapter 303 | The One Who Devours All

“In the era before the supernatural descended, 【Old Dream】 was already a hidden existence active in the shadows.”

The Faceless Man spoke solemnly, his flat face turned toward Yue Shi.

Yue Shi paused slightly, trying his best not to let his gaze linger on the Faceless Man's face.

It wouldn't do; he looked too much like a peeled egg. If he looked too long, he'd start laughing.

“The Old Era before the descent? The origins of this 【Old Dream】 are truly extraordinary.”

“Speaking of which, what exactly was the Old Era like?”

“In the real world, most history regarding the Old Era seems to have been blurred, whether intentionally or not.”

Yue Shi’s gaze swept across the surrounding bookshelves.

“Modern humanity is full of fantasies and conjectures about the previous era, but the truth remains elusive.”

“However, this game seems to hide quite a bit of information about the Old Era.”

The Faceless Man turned his head to look at the history books on the shelves.

“I started as a Player, then became a manager, and later a renegade.”

“In the process of hiding within various game instances, we collected a significant amount of information regarding the Old Era.”

“Based on the various records we've found, we can infer that while the social structure of the Old Era was different from the modern one, the level of technology was essentially the same.”

“For many years, the technological development of this world seems to have remained in a state of stagnation.”

“In the previous era, the world was divided into many different nations, each with its own independent government, military, laws, and culture.”

“Nations sometimes cooperated, but there was also frequent competition, conflict, and even war.”

The Faceless Man sounded like a scholar; he seemed very interested in history, and once he started talking, he became quite passionate and loquacious.

“The supernatural and transcendents likely descended upon or were born into this world at some specific point during the Old Era.”

“The rulers of various nations at the time all developed a deep interest in these individuals who possessed supernatural powers.”

“You should understand—there are always those who pursue things beyond mere power and wealth, things more ethereal, like immortality.”

At this point, his voice took on a subtle tone.

“After discovering that traditional firearms had little to no effect on most supernatural creatures, nations adopted various countermeasures.”

“Their strategies were all similar. On one hand, they tried to domesticate the supernatural, using supernatural creatures to fight other supernatural creatures—effectively using the supernatural to control the supernatural.”

“On the other hand, they quickly established official transcendent organizations to bring this new power under their control, placing transcendents on the front lines against supernatural disasters.”

“In the early stages, the supernatural creatures weren't particularly powerful, nor did they possess much intelligence. Their frequency of appearance and the level of hazard were relatively controllable.”

“Relying on the newly established transcendent organizations, along with targeted research and technological assistance, humanity held the upper hand.”

“Although social order was impacted, the general framework was maintained.”

Hearing this, Yue Shi thought for a moment. “Since humanity held the advantage initially, how exactly did the Old Era collapse?”

“Did the supernatural creatures suddenly become stronger? Or did transcendents lose control en masse?”

The Faceless Man was silent for a few seconds before coldly uttering one word: “Civil war.”

“The rulers at the time basically held an attitude of 'exterminate and research' toward the supernatural.”

“And their attitude toward transcendents was ostensibly one of cooperation and management, granting them honor and status, while the core reality was suppression and control.”

“In the shadows, experiments involving the vivisection of transcendents to decode the source of their power never stopped.”

“What kind of attitude the elite class of ordinary humans would take toward transcendents—beings capable of overturning the old order—is something anyone with half a brain could figure out.”

“Fear, wariness, exploitation, domestication, and precaution—clearing them out when necessary.”

“Almost every nation adopted a similar management model for transcendents.”

“They used the social rules of ordinary people—family ties, profit, morality, and honor—as a leash to bind transcendents, driving them to fight the supernatural.”

Yue Shi nodded, his voice understanding. “I think I have a general idea of how the Old Era collapsed now.”

“Yes, exactly as you suspect,” the Faceless Man confirmed.

“Everyone underestimated the nature of 'transcendence,' and they underestimated the growth rate and ceiling of transcendents.”

“Transcendence defies logic. It doesn't require accumulation like technology, nor does it require study like knowledge. Some people are born at Rank 4, capable of wiping a small country off the map with their bare hands.”

“The idea of ordinary people controlling transcendents was a fallacy from the start; it was only a matter of time before they would fail spectacularly.”

“Because might is right.”

“When an individual's fist is large enough to outweigh all collective violence, economic sanctions, and moral criticism, power naturally shifts. A total upheaval of the world was the inevitable conclusion.”

“To put it bluntly, ordinary people tried to suppress and persecute transcendents, only to be slaughtered by them in return.”

The Faceless Man's voice was cold.

Yue Shi, however, was a bit distracted, wondering how the Faceless Man usually ate.

The other continued, “The ruling class of the Old Era exploited transcendents, using their flesh and blood to block the supernatural, all while stabbing them in the back and viewing them as disposable experimental subjects and potential threats.”

“But they never imagined that the transcendents' growth would far exceed their estimates. Even less did they expect that some supernatural powers could ignore conventional physical rules, acting as a pure strike from a higher dimension.”

“Around the third year after the supernatural descent, the contradictions completely intensified.”

“A group of transcendents who saw through the status quo—perhaps out of ambition, or perhaps to resist oppression—joined forces and carried out a decapitation strike.”

“The ruling class of the Old Era, those at the pinnacle of power, were all slaughtered in a very short amount of time.”

The Faceless Man paused, seemingly recalling fragmented records. “However, the collapse of the Old Era didn't end there.”

“The transcendents who replaced the old ruling class quickly ran into internal problems.”

“They were able to ignore nationalities and unite initially because they realized their own people were stabbing them in the back, creating a survival crisis.”

“Once the external threat was removed, internal conflicts gradually surfaced.”

“Without the survival crisis, small issues evolved into major ones.”

“The transcendents broke out into infighting, and the entire world plunged into total collapse.”

“This period of history is particularly chaotic, and the records are incomplete. We suspect that some hidden existences may have intervened behind the scenes, guiding and inciting the human civil war to accelerate the world's collapse.”

“In short, the final result was the arrival of the apocalypse. The old order was shattered, the world was turned upside down, and a new order grew from the ruins, becoming what it is today.”

“So that's how it was.” Yue Shi remained silent for a moment, digesting this information.

The Faceless Man added, “There is another strange phenomenon.”

“Many specific historical details of the Old Era can seemingly only be clearly remembered and discussed within the range of the Supernatural Game Show.”

“Back when I was still a Player, I encountered this history in game instances. But once I completed the mission, left the game, and returned to the real world, my memories of the Old Era would be unconsciously ignored.”

“I suspect that in the real world outside, there is some kind of power continuously causing humanity to forget certain things on a massive scale.”

Yue Shi nodded; he knew a bit about this as well.

Back in Amber City, he had noticed that the speed at which the public's emotions recovered after a major disaster was quite abnormal.

They seemed to forget the trauma of disasters extremely quickly, returning to their normal lives and keeping the city exactly as it was.

Yue Shi asked, “You said 【Old Dream】 existed even before the supernatural descent. Could he be an indigenous supernatural power of this world?”

The Faceless Man shook his head. “We aren't sure either.”

“In short, in some game instances, we've found many clues pointing to 【Old Dream】, as well as information left behind by previous Players.”

“Players haven't just been humans from the previous technological civilization; they might even be traced back to even more ancient civilizations.”

“All signs indicate that his history of activity likely far exceeds our imagination.”

Sensing that this description was a bit abstract, the Faceless Man continued, “Saying it like this, you probably can't fully grasp it.”

“However, after looking at this, you should be able to understand intuitively.”

As he spoke, he reached out and took a thick file folder from his narrow sleeves.

The folder floated toward Yue Shi.

Yue Shi took the file. He opened it and found that it wasn't made of paper, but a strange material that felt like condensed light screens.

Inside were numerous photos, scans, and neat textual annotations.

The contents of the photos were varied.

There were carvings found in the corner of a modern-style room.

There were parchment scrolls dug up from a secret underground chamber in a medieval castle instance.

There were notes found in an ancient tomb ruin instance.

There were also some obviously surreptitious photos or screenshots of abnormal graffiti that appeared in other game instances, completely out of place with the historical background.

Every piece of data was accompanied by detailed annotations.

Clearly, the renegade GMs had conducted a long-term, systematic, and rigorous analysis of this.

Yue Shi flipped through it quickly.

The contents of the file were clearly reflected in his eyes.

In the previous era, or even older eras, a specific group of humans would inexplicably receive invitations.

Afterward, they would be drawn into a series of abnormal events and required to complete various dangerous missions.

The pattern was exactly the same as the current Supernatural Game.

Enter a specific scene, follow certain rules, struggle to survive, and receive rewards upon completion.

A key analysis in the file pointed out that the Players invited in the past seemed to be under some kind of severe restriction, unable to reveal information about the Supernatural Game Show to outsiders.

They called it the “Unspeakable.”

Some of these Players had tried to leave information in the instances they experienced, hoping to warn those who came after them, or simply to prove they had existed.

Yue Shi’s gaze fell on the summary on the last page of the file, where it was written in bold text:

「Based on existing evidence, it is reasonable to infer that the existence of the Supernatural Game Show far exceeds current understanding.」

「The ruler, 【Old Dream】, is suspected to be a hidden existence that has spanned multiple human civilization cycles, continuously screening Players through similar patterns.」

「The difference between 【Old Dream】 and other forbidden zone masters remains unknown.」

He closed the file and looked up.

“Interesting.”

“What exactly is 【Old Dream】's purpose in pulling humans into the game?”

The Faceless Man shook his head. “I don't know.”

“But for us Players who were chosen, it certainly isn't a good thing.”

“You either die in games that get progressively harder, or you become a GM.”

“Even managers don't live long. Among those in the Temple, living past a year is considered longevity. Most simply disappear or die for no apparent reason.”

Hearing this, Yue Shi handed the file back and said, “I've got a good grasp of the general situation now.”

“Since you know so much about 【Old Dream】, you should be able to find him, right?”

“Take me to him. Now.”

“What?!” The Faceless Man was shocked.

“You're just going to charge in like that? Don't we need to make some preparations?”

Yue Shi curled his lips. “GMs were able to find a bug to defect, yet this bug hasn't been fixed for a long time.”

“You guys were able to dig up so much intel on 【Old Dream】 within the game instances without being sanctioned by him.”

“Previous Players couldn't reveal the existence of the Supernatural Game to outsiders, yet now you can discuss it freely.”

“Every single one of these points indicates that 【Old Dream】's current state is likely very poor!”

“He might be facing some terrible situation and is unable to maintain the normal operation of the game.”

“This is a god-given opportunity to take him down!”

...

Amber City Central Hospital.

Bai Wanyang's injuries were recovering well.

Now that he had fallen from a transcendent to an ordinary human, Zhang Songyun had let him go.

He would no longer be plagued by bad luck, and no new injuries appeared on his body, but the wounds in his heart showed no signs of healing.

The situation wasn't as dire as he had imagined.

Although the director tacitly allowed infighting among investigators, Zhang Songyun, as the victor, hadn't driven him to total ruin, and the director naturally wouldn't kick him while he was down.

In his current state, Bai Wanyang certainly couldn't remain in the Special Operations Section.

The Bureau had arranged a quiet clerical position for him. If he remained silent from now on and didn't seek revenge against Zhang Songyun, he could still live a better life than most people.

But how was that possible?

Once a person has tasted power and privilege, they can never let it go!

Even though Bai Wanyang was a good person at heart, he didn't want to fall from grace. He loved the privileges that supernatural power brought!

It was only now that he truly felt regret.

He had indeed wasted a lot of precious time.

Starting from a similar point, his former friend Yue Shi had already become a top-tier powerhouse who struck fear into the hearts of all.

Meanwhile, he, Bai Wanyang, had remained stuck at Rank 2, never developing his own abilities and spending a massive amount of time making money.

Those classmates who had survived with him back then—had they really turned into parasites feeding off him, as Zhang Songyun had said?

Bai Wanyang didn't want to verify that.

He was afraid he wouldn't be able to handle the blow and would break down.

He would wait until his emotions stabilized.

Right now, he wanted to reclaim everything that belonged to him!