A Power System Where a Hundred Flowers Bloom

Wearing someone else's skin, Yue Shi returned to the home of that unlucky fellow.

He turned into a secluded alley and pushed open a wooden door.

Inside was a single room. It was reasonably tidy but smelled of cigarettes.

The furniture was sparse, and an old CRT television sat in the corner.

The townsman whose identity Yue Shi had taken was a marginalized individual who lived alone and had no relatives or friends. A change in personality wouldn't immediately draw much attention.

Yue Shi placed the original owner's phone on the table.

The black cat possessed by the Ghost leaped from Yue Shi's arms. Its tail flicked impatiently as it walked straight to the phone and hovered a paw over the screen.

A stream of information poured out, invading the device.

The screen lit up automatically. The lock screen password was useless, and the data within was instantly read, parsed, and archived by the Ghost.

Using this phone as a starting point, the Ghost began to infiltrate the world's network.

This was a modern world with the internet, making the Ghost's information gathering far more efficient than that of the Minister's group.

Yue Shi had already explained to the Ghost that they had left the world of the book and entered this so-called reality.

As he tinkered with the phone, the Ghost grumbled, "There doesn't seem to be much difference between the two worlds. At least, I can't feel any significant disparity."

To an information lifeform, whether it was in a book or in reality, information was still information. Its essence remained unchanged.

Yue Shi ignored the Ghost's complaints. He sat down on the edge of the bed, flipped his wrist, and retrieved a book from his extra-dimensional space.

It was Containment Object 005, the Book of Creation.

He hadn't been polite when he destroyed that containment station.

Since he was making a move, he naturally intended to get his money's worth. He had gladly taken any containment objects that could be moved.

The Book of Creation felt cold to the touch, possessing a strange texture that was neither metal nor wood.

Yue Shi flipped it open casually. The original story had disappeared, and the book was automatically generating a new one.

The protagonist had died a tragic death after being betrayed by a close friend, only to unexpectedly be reborn. He swore to take back everything that belonged to him.

But before he could act, he discovered that his rebirth was very strange.

His past self still existed. His reborn self hadn't overwritten his past self; instead, they coexisted.

Yue Shi raised an eyebrow with interest, his fingertip tracing the tangled plot lines on the page.

The new story seemed to have fallen into a logical quagmire from the very beginning. That was interesting.

The Ghost had finished a preliminary integration of the surface information grabbed from the local network. Drawing his attention away from the data flood, he spoke.

"What do you think?"

"What exactly is the relationship between the world in the book and this so-called reality?"

"Is it a small world? A sub-world? Upper and lower? Mother and subset?"

Yue Shi closed the book and leaned against the creaking bed frame. He thought for a moment before speaking carefully.

"Perhaps it's an inclusive relationship. Reality includes the book world, but there isn't necessarily a distinction in size or rank."

Ghost asked, "How so?"

Yue Shi didn't know how to explain it either, so he could only offer a somewhat flawed analogy. "It's like how natural numbers include odd and even numbers. But the quantity of natural numbers is the same as the quantity of odd numbers, which is also the same as the quantity of even numbers."

"They are all infinite sets. The quantity is positive infinity. Comparing the size of infinities is meaningless."

"A world contains a vast, boundless universe. Theoretically, both the book world and reality are infinitely large within the observable range."

The Ghost understood. "You mean that on the level of 'infinity,' there might be no fundamental difference in rank between the book world and reality?"

"That the so-called 'primary' and 'secondary' might just be cognitive biases caused by our perspective?"

"Something like that," Yue Shi said, spreading his hands.

"Two worlds. One was bound into a book. For the other, we just haven't found the book cover yet. Who knows if this world is also a book?"

Speaking of which, he suddenly remembered something. "Right, the old monster, the Tree of Truth, once said that the value of Pi in the book world was a finite decimal."

"I wonder where that guy ran off to. He shouldn't be that easy to kill."

"Pi is a finite decimal?" The Ghost paused. "Does that prove the book world is fake?"

Yue Shi shook his head. "I don't know."

"Forget that for now. Back to business." A stream of data flashed through the black cat's pupils.

"The preliminary intel integration is complete. The Deep Red Continent we're on is ridiculously large."

"Based on public geographic data models, the total area of the Deep Red Continent is at least ten times the sum of all known continents in our original world. And that's only the explored part."

"The social structure in most regions is deformed and fragmented. In some areas, like certain megacities in the east and center of the continent, technology is highly advanced. Artificial intelligence and cybernetic modification are very common."

"Meanwhile, other regions, like this western border we're in, are extremely impoverished and broken down, as if forgotten by time."

Yue Shi raised an eyebrow. "Cyberpunk?"

The Ghost continued, "Regarding supernatural powers, although the public knows of their existence, it's limited to surface-level information. Real core intelligence doesn't seem to be open to ordinary citizens."

"Power systems, cultivation methods, containment object files, and the distribution of major factions—this information isn't strictly controlled on the public network, but it's flooded with massive amounts of fake junk data. Ordinary people can't distinguish truth from falsehood."

"Standard procedure," Yue Shi remarked.

"The power systems in this world are incredibly complex," the Ghost said. "There are gods, immortals, demons, and ghosts. There are martial artists and Daoist cultivators. There's also divine arts, magic, bloodline abilities, and various technological cybernetic augmentations and mechanical ascension. It's truly a contention of a hundred schools of thought, a power system where a hundred flowers bloom."

"The entertainment industry here is also extremely developed and varied. It has a bit of a 'dying for entertainment' vibe. Virtual idols, consciousness uploading, extreme sensory stimulation—it has everything."

"It's just a pressure relief valve for a high-stress environment," Yue Shi said, not surprised at all.

"Without these addictive forms of entertainment, ordinary people would have gone mad long ago, knowing the world is so abstract and weird while being powerless to change it."

"True enough," the Ghost agreed.

"So, based on the current intel, I strongly suggest your next course of action. You should find a proper job, obtain a legal identity and a stable income, and gradually integrate into this society as a law-abiding citizen."

Yue Shi glanced sideways at the black cat. "Reason? I thought you'd suggest I just rob a bank or take control of some high-ranking official."

"In the short term, that would be more efficient. In the long term, you'd die faster," the Ghost analyzed calmly.

"The Prohibition of Magic in Zhongzhou isn't just for show. It provides relatively stable living security for ordinary citizens, but the crackdown on illegal supernatural activities is extremely intense. The surveillance network is tighter than it looks on the surface."

"You've just arrived and haven't grasped the power systems here. Rashly using supernatural powers in a high-profile manner will easily trigger alarms and draw the official forces to surround and suppress you."

"However, they don't completely reject the supernatural here," the Ghost added, shifting his tone.

"The Zhongzhou authorities have established academies that teach cultivation systems with essentially no side effects to citizens who pass strict vetting."

"This is the formal channel to obtain a legal status to use supernatural power. Though the vetting is strict and the process long, and you'll likely be placed under heavy restrictions and surveillance."

"So, your suggestion is for me to take the civil service exam?" Yue Shi's expression was strange.

"My suggestion is for you to choose a safer, more sustainable path for survival and development," the Ghost corrected.

"At this stage, accumulating quietly and understanding the rules is wiser than charging in blindly. Don't forget your true identity—you're just an undocumented resident who smuggled himself into this world."