"Gods are not as worthy of respect as we imagine."

Lamont said lightly, "In the year that followed, we returned to the outside world,

At that time, a war sweeping across most of the world had broken out, and no one noticed us, the Church's hunters no longer pursued us relentlessly.

We hid in the countryside, constantly trying to find a way to heal Ken.

The mutations on his body grew more severe, and his brain had become somewhat clouded due to the effects of resurrection.

However, this wasn't a curse, but a manifestation of a creature gradually becoming perfect—Lisa's Holy Light healing had no effect on him at all,

Ken, who returned from resurrection, was supposed to look like that."

Lamont's gaze seemed to float over to the package behind the Kui Ox mech, "After all, his body is a creation of God, already approaching perfection, and mortal medical methods likely have little effect on him.

After fully realizing this, we had no choice but to resign to fate and began preparing for a second journey to the Sacred Mountain."

Li Ang said, "This time you inquired about the illusions Lisa saw."

Lamont nodded, "We bought a sailboat and had Ken stay in the cabin,

With the experience from last time, the process of our second Sacred Mountain trial was much smoother, and we quickly reached the Wishing Machine.

Lisa asked the question—what is the connection between the natural disasters in the world and the goddess."

Ding Zhensi's heart stirred, Lamont and the others did not directly ask "whether the world's natural disasters are related to the goddess",

because asking like that, the answer might just be "no" or "yes",

Whereas asking about the nature of the connection could yield more information.

Li Ang asked, "What happened next."

"...The Wishing Machine remained silent for a long time, then she appeared."

"She?"

Li Ang frowned, in the Killer Game's translation system, the meaning of the words is directly transmitted into the player's mind, allowing players to hear the distinction in each word, "That goddess?"

"To be precise, her incarnation."

Lamont slowly said, "The machine projected a human-shaped shadow, gradually gaining color.

She descended before us, gave us a cold glance, and then calmly answered our question—

A significant portion of the world's natural disasters were indeed designed and driven by her.

As for the reason..." 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Lamont paused for a moment, then hoarsely continued, "She created our world,

like laying soil and moss in a box, introducing water sources, breeding insects, she created mountains, rivers, and seas, and created humans.

She did not explain the reason for world creation,

but, compared to mindless beasts and demons, the reproduction and development speed of the human species seemed too fast,

Humans wantonly expand, encroaching on the sky, ground, and oceans, occupying the living spaces of other species.

Just like a gardener needs to regularly clean the garden, she also needs to periodically eliminate a portion of humanity, and use other means to curb the speed of human reproduction and development.

For example, dispersing humans across countless islands separated by oceans,

guiding some apocalyptic activists to launch wars, consuming human numbers and energy.

Even the Sacred Mountain trial is part of this—the wish itself does not come without a cost,

the energy source for the Wishing Machine is life, especially the souls of highly intelligent life forms,

Each wish requires the creation of a natural disaster, as an energy supplement."

Lamont slowly said, "You can imagine our world as a square box with a narrow opening, the god who created the box, due to her profound nature, cannot enter the box personally and can only cast her shadow.

The more wishes made, the more natural disasters created, the closer her connection becomes with the inside of the box, and her shadow's power grows stronger.

When human development reaches a certain level, and the power of the projection accumulates sufficiently,

She will step out of the Sacred Mountain, to perform a reset."

"Reset..."

Ding Zhensi slightly clicked his tongue, this term doesn't sound good, "Destroy the world, and then recreate?"

"Not for the world, but for humans, a reset means destruction."

Lamont said deeply, "We are not the first Hero Team to reach this point; in fact, before us, others have asked similar questions and received the same answers.

The senseless wars in the outside world, the Church's absurd persecution of scholars, are actually attempts by human leaders to save themselves—resisting and delaying the arrival of natural disasters through self-destruction."

"So that's it."

Li Ang nodded, this also explained why those nations with fully developed technology trees did not organize established Hero Teams to head to the Sacred Mountain and make wishes—perhaps they and the Church knew part of the essence of the Sacred Mountain trial early on.

Lamont calmly said, "One of the reasons we voluntarily remained at the Sacred Mountain is to eliminate other heroes within the mountain, preventing later heroes from continuing to make wishes, thus reducing the occurrence of natural disasters.

On the other hand, it was to stop her when the god's projection steps out of the Fog Door to reset the world."

Ding Zhensi was astonished, "You want to slay a god?"

"It's the god's projection."

Lamont corrected, "According to Solomon's speculation, the god's projection does not share memories with the god herself,

If we can eliminate the projection within the Sacred Mountain, the god outside the box won't know exactly what happened."

Hoenhem frowned and asked, "Even if it's just a projection, it's probably not something you can handle."

"Someone has to do it, even if the hope is slim."

Lamont raised his arm, slowly uncovering the faceplate of his armor, revealing a skeletal, mummy-like, pitch-black face.

"Finn and Ken's actions of destroying the Holy Mountain Gate in the outside world are only attempts to trap the god's projection within the Sacred Mountain.

I am the last insurance, responsible for the attempt to slay the god should the situation become irreparable.

No matter your purpose for coming, I ask you to stop and leave here.

I do not wish to commit further slaughter."

"Slaughter? You may have misunderstood something...."

Li Ang rubbed the whiskers on his Dragon Head Mask with a casual smile, suddenly flashing beside Lamont, the Tyrant Halberd and the flaming Cross Longsword clashed once,

Boom!

The air burst open, the sharp sound of metal clashing echoed across the sacrificial field,

both flew back, Lamont's metal boots left long cracks on the ground, ultimately flying farther than Li Ang, who relied on the Cloud Ascending Ladder skill to step on invisible steps.

"Our unwillingness to engage in meaningless battles does not mean we lack the power to win."

Li Ang casually swung the Tyrant Halberd and said calmly, "In your current state, you likely don't have the strength to stop us from entering the Fog Door.

Moreover, in dealing with the god's projection in this regard, our goals are aligned."

"What?"

Lamont was slightly taken aback, "Aren't you travelers from a Different World looking to return home?"

"The home we seek is beyond the reach of the gods' call. We don't have that much value to them."

Li Ang smiled, knowing that the mission objectives for the players present had changed again, from completing the Sacred Mountain trial to eliminating the projection beyond the Fog Door.

"What are you planning to do?"

Lamont said gravely, "Killing the projection of a god preparing to reset the world is a last-ditch, desperate measure.

This is a completely different concept from entering the Fog Door directly to kill a god's projection!

I stayed at the Sacrificial Field because no one can return to the Fog Door after leaving without completing the full Sacred Mountain trial.

If you fail, it will only provoke her sooner! It will prompt her to recreate the world sooner!"

"Just as you said, we're merely travelers from a Different World, with little attachment or ties to this world."

Li Ang said calmly, "And you'd best not try to stop us—trying to stop us would either mean you eliminate us all, severely injuring yourself, leaving you unable to kill the god's projection that will eventually appear,

Or we eliminate you, leaving us with casualties and a higher chance of failing the god-slaying.

From any angle, the best course is to let us pass through here,

If we succeed in slaying the god, everyone will be happy,

Even if we fail, we can at least cause harm to the god's projection to aid you in your task."

"..."

Lamont was silent for a long time, weighing the pros and cons before finally putting away his Cross Longsword, granting passage to the Fog Door, "I hope you know what you're doing."

"Don't worry,"

Li Ang put away the Tyrant Halberd, and along with his companions, proceeded towards the Fog Door, smiling, "It's just a god after all..."

As he stepped into the Fog Door, the surrounding scenery abruptly changed to a cave.

The cave was shaped like an open teapot, with bright sunlight shining down from the top, illuminating the surroundings.

Li Ang and the others were positioned at the bottom of the cave, standing on soft sand,

Ahead of them was a lake with clear water, and on a sandbank in the middle of the lake, a rectangular metal machine was quietly placed.

On the side of the machine, like a projector, several beams of light were refracted, forming a humanoid shadow.

The presence of Li Ang and the others seemed to break a certain silence, as the shadow gradually became clearer, gaining color.

It was a woman in a plain long dress, with an indifferent expression. She raised her head to gaze at the sunlight atop the cave, and slowly turned to look at the players.

"How... how could this be?!!"

Ding Zhensi exclaimed in shock, even forgetting to turn off the public microphone of the Kui Ox Mecha due to the shock.

His voice echoed in the spacious, teapot-like cave, but Hoenhem and the others couldn't care less about alerting the enemy—they were just as shocked.

The shadow projected by the Wish Machine was none other than Su Ni Sheng, whom the players had met in the Lost World not long ago, at the Heterodox Academy.

"I understand, I understand,"

Ding Zhensi quickly muttered, "This is all an experiment by the Heterodox Academy,

Creation, destruction, all recorded in the experimental log of the box..."

"What are you talking about?"

David couldn't help but interrupt, "Why is Su Ni Sheng here? Isn't she from your Special Affairs Bureau?"

"This isn't reality in the true sense!"

Ding Zhensi shouted in a low voice, "We are in a past time that has already vanished! The Killing Ground game has extracted a segment of the ancient Heterodox Academy's experience and crafted it into a narrative mission, placing us within it.

What we see is Su Ni Sheng from the past Heterodox Academy era!"

Ding Zhensi felt the hair on his back stand on end, a chill running through his body to the top of his head.

The Heterodox Academy in history often conducted inexplicable experiments, leaving behind many obscure and incomprehensible experimental logs.

Ding Zhensi wasn't sure about the content of this "Box World" experiment before him,

but when the Killing Ground game releases a script mission related to history, it means that this piece of history is isolated,

players are like participants in a fantasy adventure described in a book, and their actions will not affect the real world,

and the current Su Ni Sheng will have no knowledge of the events related to the future Special Affairs Bureau.

The Su Ni Sheng shadow projected by the Wishing Machine had subtle differences from the Su Ni Sheng Li Ang had met at the Special Affairs Bureau headquarters not long ago.

Not only did her plain long dress differ in style, but the entire aura of the person was different.

The current shadow was more imposing, akin to a true deity gazing upon the ants of the mortal realm.

"Hmm?"

The shadow cast a indifferent glance at the players, seemingly sensing something, and slightly furrowed her brow, casually beckoning with her hand towards the players.

A massive, invisible repulsion force suddenly formed behind the players, and Ding Zhensi, unable to activate the jet propulsion of the Kui Ox Mecha in time, was swiftly drawn to Su Ni Sheng's shadow.

Crack.

Su Ni Sheng gently twisted, and the two sturdy arms of the Kui Ox Mecha fell off with a crack,

Another twist, and the front armor of the Kui Ox Mecha, capable of withstanding high-frequency bombardment from tail stabilizer armor-piercing rounds, was neatly torn away,

revealing the extremely stunned Ding Zhensi inside the cockpit.

The Su Ni Sheng shadow took a step forward, her gaze over Ding Zhensi, focusing deep inside the cockpit of the Kui Ox Mecha—where the spirit of the Kui Ox resided.

"Stop her!"

Hoenhem roared, the Book of Sand in his hand swiftly turning,

The situation changed too quickly, he didn't know what these Heterodox Academy people were up to, but one thing was certain—they were extremely powerful, powerful enough that all the players' strength had to be concentrated to take them down swiftly.

[Blaze Storm]

[Rapid Freezing]

[Frost Nova]

...

In the blink of an eye, Hoenhem had unleashed over a dozen high-level spells, unleashing the magic power accumulated throughout the entire script mission,

transforming into a multi-colored energy surge,

and sweeping towards the shadow.

Meanwhile, David and Amber also reacted, one from the left, the other from the right, the former directly using the third skill of the Judgement Spear for maximum power, while the latter drew the Tidal Messenger's scimitar, summoning the Skeleton Pirate Ship Shadow.

And Su Ni Sheng, facing the overwhelming attacks, simply opened her palm.