North Africa, Sahara Desert.
[ Surface Temperature: -1°C ]
For North Africa, located in the equatorial region, this temperature was undeniably low.
However, considering the extreme temperature differences between day and night in desert areas... at least for the Sahara Desert, it was still within an acceptable range... the limit.
It was within this environment...
The Newborn World Serpent, acting as the mastermind organization that strongly controlled all of human civilization, had a central headquarters base... Its surrounding defense measures had already improved by a huge margin compared to before.
First, the entrances to the headquarters base buried deep underground were numerous.
Setting aside those that remained sealed year-round and could only be opened by special means in emergencies, which would self-destruct if opened incorrectly... and the many others that were one-way exits...
One of the most commonly used entrances was disguised as the basement... of a two-story house.
A small town had already been built around this house.
Within a radius of dozens of kilometers around the small town, there were even more satellite towns or simple relay stations, all echoing each other's presence.
Inside these other towns and relay stations, there were also secret passages that connected directly... or indirectly, to transfer stations leading to the Headquarters Base.
Each transfer station was equipped with strict inspection checkpoints.
Once an alarm was triggered, they would instantly turn into incinerators.
As for the towns serving as camouflage... the residents inside were all active members of the Newborn World Serpent, who had been bound by Aponia's Discipline.
Sim Su had even left a backdoor in the consciousness of some individuals.
It served as a double insurance policy.
These people would go on patrol around the area daily, constructing and maintaining a wider surveillance network.
Furthermore, inside every fake family they acted out, there was at least one Gray Serpent.
The latter did not always appear as humanoid mechs.
It might be an old radio sitting on a table.
It could be an antenna on a roof beam.
Or it could even be a car parked on the roadside.
Of course, these deceptively simple gadgets, in contrast to high-tech equipment, only looked old and similar to the originals on the outside.
Their internal circuitry was undoubtedly incredibly complex.
Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to host a sentient AI like the Gray Serpent.
Take an old radio, for example. It could actually function like a budget-model Cybertronian (Transformer), extending mechanical arms from its sides to perform various tasks.
For instance, it could press a dangerous red button, detonating the large-scale explosives buried beneath the house to send any intruding hostile target to the afterlife, both physically and conceptually.
Normally, one of the radio's pinhole cameras would be continuously running thermal imaging, night vision, facial recognition, and even X-ray scanning.
Its 24/7 high-frame-rate capture function was especially effective at flushing out Alien Monsters disguised as rubble and sand.
In short, it was under this impenetrable, multi-layered defense system that...
"Phew~"
Fu Hua, who had just returned to the Headquarters Base after a solo field mission, walked straight into the basement of the residential house.
She let out a long breath, and a visible white mist formed in the air.
In a corner of the basement, an old man sat as if fast asleep.
He was dozing in a wheelchair, appearing to have mobility issues.
Suddenly...
"Welcome back, Miss Hua."
The old man suddenly looked up, his eyes appearing... vacant.
Faced with this situation...
"I've told you, just call me Fu Hua, Aponia."
"It's easier to identify me that way."
"And drop the honorific. I'm really not used to being addressed like that."
This was clearly not the first time Fu Hua had encountered this.
She knew this was Aponia, who was stationed at the Headquarters Base, communicating with her remotely.
At the same time, it served as a confirmation of her identity, ensuring she wasn't an Alien Monster disguised as a human.
It also confirmed that no miniature Alien Monsters were hiding on her person.
Ahead, the floor slid open to the sides.
A lift platform had already come to a halt.
Fu Hua stepped onto the platform, which rapidly descended.
The platform's speed was adjusted according to the passenger's physical condition.
As for Fu Hua, who had recovered her full strength as a Flame-Chaser-class MANTIS, it felt like standing on level ground even as she plummeted like a drop tower.
Moments later...
"I understand, Fu Hua."
When the platform reached the bottom, Fu Hua saw the nun herself.
Aponia smiled and finished the sentence they had been halfway through. "You worked hard today."
"It was just transporting confidential data," Fu Hua replied.
As she spoke, rainbow-colored feathers drifted around her, and her eyes turned crimson as she looked at Aponia.
Clearly, she was also cautiously confirming the other's identity.
After all, although the possibility of the Headquarters falling silently while she was away was small, as long as it wasn't zero, she had to remain vigilant.
The current situation left no room for anyone here to make even the slightest mistake.
With that settled...
"Let's go straight to the archives," Aponia said with a smile after they had both confirmed each other's identities. "Dr. MEI, Miss Vill-V, and Mr. Kevin have all been waiting there for a long time."
Hearing her say that, Fu Hua nodded and followed her.
As they walked side by side...
"Which Vill-V? Which Kevin?" she suddenly asked.
"Ah, my apologies. I wasn't clear," Aponia said, her voice still soft. "It's the original Vill-V, and... Lord Kevin."
"Understood."
Fu Hua said no more after getting the answer she wanted.
Before long, the two arrived at an electronic door.
Beep!
There was no iris scan... such a thing couldn't stop those Alien Monsters.
Aponia herself was the most efficient, walking security measure.
Now, the door opened...
"Welcome back, Hua."
The first person Fu Hua saw was that cold man.
And...
Six "Vill-Vs" gathered around Dr. MEI.
A certain matter had to be mentioned here...
Recently, within the Newborn World Serpent, several more of their own members had successfully stepped onto a Path.
The Vill-Vs (Original Bodies) in the archives were among them.
The first Extraordinary power she awakened after stepping onto the Path was: Avatar.
Now, these highly self-centered personalities finally didn't have to fight over who got to speak.
Of course, one personality (the Id) didn't want to show up at all, while another (Pure Evil) desperately wanted to, but was forcibly held back... So now, the usual state was six "Vill-Vs" manifesting simultaneously. (Note: At this stage, Vill-V hadn't started developing the so-called "Anti-Kevin Armament" yet, so the "Model Five" personality did not exist, and the "Lecturer" personality had not yet disappeared. Therefore, the total number of personalities was still eight.)
And besides her, Eden (Original Body), who was performing outside, as well as... even Aponia, who was currently standing next to Fu Hua, had all stepped onto different Paths.
Yes, Aponia was the first Sim to step onto a Path.
However, considering she had already gone through the experience of "merging her body into the Elysian Realm," she couldn't be considered a true Sim.
Well, let's put that aside for now and not dwell on it...
"Hua, did you bring the data?"
Inside the archives, MEI looked at Fu Hua and asked.
"I did."
Fu Hua nodded.
Obviously, what she brought was not a paper or electronic document.
But...
"Leave the rest to me."
Xiao Shi's phantom appeared beside her.
Then, several rainbow-colored feathers fluttered, and Xiao Shi directly generated over a dozen holographic images of "Personal Files" in mid-air.
MEI, Kevin, and the six Vill-Vs all looked over.
On those dozen or so files, the following names were clearly written:
"Ivis"
"Lin"
"Fabio"
"Rose"
"Nero"
And...
"Caelus"
MEI's gaze swept across all the files, finally landing on the portrait of the gray-haired youth.
She didn't linger, shifting her eyes away to look at the others in the archive room.
"As of today, we have discovered 139 Pathstriders globally," she murmured to herself.
Hearing this...
"Should we thank Ling Ke?" one of the Vill-Vs said, spreading her hands and shrugging. "It's because he grafted the power of the 'Path' into our universe that so many talents and elites have suddenly emerged at this critical moment."
"Otherwise, most of them wouldn't survive the upcoming extreme cold. They would die in some unknown corner before ever getting a chance to shine."
That was true.
After all, if the concept of the "Path" hadn't been grafted into the current universe, things like "bursting with power in a crisis" would never have happened.
After all, in this era of civilization, humans could only have a chance to master extraordinary power if they survived the Meta-Morph Surgery, which had an extremely low success rate, and became MANTIS with Honkai Beast genes in their bodies.
The so-called "Stigma" was a novel product that only appeared when civilization was on the verge of extinction.
And it was just a half-finished product that had "completed the adjustment of female DNA, while the adjustment for males had not yet begun."
In short, the appearance of the "Path" did indeed give people the possibility of "sudden enlightenment and immediate ascension."
Of course, the "ascension" here was not about stacking boxes or ascending dimensions, but rather... a leap in the level of life.
At present, several people who had already become Pathstriders felt the benefits in all aspects brought about by this leap.
Therefore, the more they understood the "Path," the more the Pathstriders would... how should I put it?
Well, generally speaking, although it might not be entirely accurate, they should be "thankful" to the transcendent being who grafted this concept.
However...
Before, they had to thank someone for rewinding Earth's time by over 50,000 years, allowing the current era to reignite.
Now, they had to thank someone for grafting the concept of the "Path" into the entire universe, giving many people the opportunity to climb higher.
These were clearly good things.
But why... did many things instead become more difficult?
It could only be said that they did not know, as mentioned before: Ling ke did all this from beginning to end only for himself.
Therefore, when he acted, he would not consider the consequences, nor would he consider the long term.
Even to ensure the freshness of the situation, he would actually limit his own "Omniscience" power and actively avoid making long-term, comprehensive, and thorough considerations.
This was the "Player."
A Player only needs to consider how to make things interesting, but the things others had to worry about were far more numerous.
At this moment...
"Get in touch with these newly discovered dozen or so Pathstriders, and try to recruit them all into our camp."
"If they individually request to join, as long as their demands are not too excessive, we can consider it."
Mei suggested, "As for those likely to become enemies..."
She was cut off halfway through her sentence.
"Hmm?"
She noticed the white-haired young man (?) standing beside her was staring at a personal file, unable to take his eyes off it.
"Kevin, what's wrong?" Mei asked.
Upon hearing this...
"Nothing," Kevin replied, still looking at the file with a photo of a gray-haired young man. "I just think the Path ability he awakened is very interesting."
He pointed to the information recorded on the file.
Everyone followed his gaze.
What they saw was...
"This person can channel an immense amount of Imaginary Energy. He can even materialize a train for a long time... one that can freely travel through the sky?"