Chapter 409 - 406: The Three Great Hypotheses

Chapter 409: Chapter 406: The Three Great Hypotheses

Qin Xiaoxia had long considered the idea of projecting his consciousness.

Back when he used Crystal Technique items to warn the nations of the World Alliance about the coming of the Dark Tide, he lacked the relevant knowledge and didn’t have access to a Secret Realm, so he had no choice but to use Crystals with Engraved Technique Arrays.

His heart was heavy then; he just wanted to personally deliver the warning "face-to-face" to all the World Alliance nations at the same time.

But now, all Qin Xiaoxia could think was: ’That was so lame!’

If he had first let the Dawn Members who made the visit express their intent—a gesture of politeness and respect—and then he had directly appeared in all those places as a mental projection, the level of prestige would have been completely different.

Having been the Dawn Sage for so long, Qin Xiaoxia’s mindset had unconsciously begun to align with that of a true Dawn Sage.

Everyone in the association trusted him. All of Dawn, and indeed countless people across the globe, revered and relied on him. Even the world consciousness itself showed him favor. When a person is in such a position, they often begin to change in the ways people expect, becoming the type to plan N steps ahead for every single move.

Of course, no matter how he changed, his own core personality still had an influence; in fact, Qin Xiaoxia quite enjoyed it at times.

But taking a step back, it was a classic case of "where you stand depends on where you sit." While Qin Xiaoxia found this deeply resonant, it also served, to some extent, as indirect proof of the special nature of Spiritual Power.

When he began researching a combination of Quantum Entanglement, Dawn’s knowledge of Spiritual Power Magic Patterns, and the Soul Interference of the Sound Transmission Flower and Dream Lizard, Qin Xiaoxia knew that a Reaction Technique for thought projection had real potential.

Furthermore, he might even be able to use it to go sightseeing in the Otherworld in the future.

This was not merely for selfish reasons; it was also the key practical ability Qin Xiaoxia needed to verify the "three hypotheses" he held in his mind.

The "First Hypothesis" concerned the "traversability" of living beings from Earth.

From his initial cautious probing to later, repeated forceful attempts, Qin Xiaoxia had tried many times in the Demon Eye’s Desolate World.

But no matter what, he himself could not pass through the Magic Mirror to the Lobelica World. All it did was cause the Demon Eye to consume a great deal of Magic Power.

It wasn’t just him; the Red Demoness, Su Su, Baru, the Holy Spirit, Brown, and the other high-ranking Dawn members who knew of the Eye of Void’s existence were all unable to pass through the Magic Mirror to Lobelica.

Doudou, on the other hand, had passed through the Magic Mirror in an instant, only to get spooked and immediately flee back.

’Could it be that their power levels were too high, causing them to be severely rejected by Lobelica’s Power of the World?’

He had indeed considered this possibility at first. But after having the Monkey King send a clever Great Macaque to try and it still failed, it became clear that it was highly likely no living being from Earth could cross over.

The fact that they could enter the Desolate World controlled by the Demon Eye seemed to be related to both the Demon Eye’s presence there and the fact that the Desolate World had almost no Power of the World left.

This concern extended to the collision with the Fallen World Caslopa, making Qin Xiaoxia worry that living beings from Earth might not be able to cross over there either.

After all, at every contact point discovered across the globe, it was a one-way street: Demons from the Otherworld came through, while human armies could only patrol the cities where the points were located.

Even if they completely cleared a contact point for a short time and had Soldiers and tanks drive back and forth, they were still on Earth.

However, the current world collision looked different when viewed through the lens of the "Second Hypothesis."

This situation was fundamentally different from the "smuggling" act the Demon Eye performed with the Magic Mirror. This was a mutual collision that had already created fissures. ’How could one side "unilaterally deny entry"?’

Unfortunately, even though he could communicate with the world consciousness to some extent, the messages were extremely vague. Unlike a conversation with a person, he couldn’t get a simple, microscopic "one plus one equals two" answer. But on a macroscopic level, he could confirm whether a way for his world to enter Caslopa existed.

The answer, naturally, was that it did.

So, the current stalemate had to be because they were using the wrong method, or perhaps they simply didn’t have the precise location.

And finding the right method was simply a matter of time.

In the minds of Hua Country’s leadership, the battle they had fought on the border front was supposed to elevate their nation’s—or, more accurately, a modern human superpower’s—status in the eyes of the Dawn Association, earning greater recognition for the power of a nation-state.

They had indeed succeeded. In fact, the shock it delivered to Qin Xiaoxia was beyond imagination.

Even though he knew modern military equipment was formidable, seeing that battle on the border made Qin Xiaoxia realize on a profound level just how terrifying humanity could be.

Even if most of the slaughtered Demons were not what he’d consider high-quality combatants, things would be different if he were to change the scenario. If all of Dawn’s currently available combat personnel were to face that same Demon Tide head-on.

Without using trump cards on the level of the Demon Eye or Jilian.

Winning wouldn’t be an issue, but the time it would take would be incalculable, and they would most likely suffer significant casualties.

The Demons that fell outside the border front, including the Magic Creatures, numbered in the millions, at the very least. To put it bluntly, even if the Demons just stood still and let them kill, Dawn’s members would have fought until their arms went limp. Moreover, they would have been completely unable to stop the Demon Tide from scattering and escaping.

Although humanity’s conventional military forces still had their shortcomings, Qin Xiaoxia’s confidence in the ability of Earth’s life forms to resist the Dark Tide had skyrocketed.

Furthermore, the Mother of the World herself did not fear the colliding Caslopa, so maintaining the stalemate shouldn’t be a problem.

Even if more dangerous Demons appeared on the other side, Dawn still had aces up its sleeve.

’As long as the people of Earth find a way into Caslopa, given humanity’s intense thirst for vengeance, who’s to say which side will be the other’s Dark Tide?’

Even Qin Xiaoxia was no exception. ’They stabbed our world, and we’re just supposed to let it go?’

’It’s not that we can’t just smile and let bygones be bygones. We can discuss that after we’re done getting our revenge.’

But leaving aside how humanity might respond, the reason for Caslopa’s inexplicable appearance was still unclear.

And so, the "Second Hypothesis" concerned the Fallen Worlds, the World Fragments that occasionally crashed into Earth, and the other Demons that continuously and inexplicably appeared on Earth.

In truth, Qin Xiaoxia had no concrete evidence for this; to put it broadly, it was a hypothesis about a special kind of siphoning effect.

But once the "Second Hypothesis" was involved, it immediately led to the "Third Hypothesis."

Namely, his own world’s devouring and corrosive nature.

The corrosive aspect was most clearly demonstrated by the Desolate World where the Demon Eye resided. As for the devouring aspect...

Never mind the two times he had already witnessed it devour World Fragments.

Even now, with the two worlds in contact, Qin Xiaoxia could only imagine two possible resolutions to the situation.

One: All life on Earth is annihilated, completely invaded and occupied by the tainted Demons of Caslopa. In this mutually destructive outcome, the Power of the World would also diminish, perhaps even becoming infected with Caslopa’s corruption—most likely a true apocalypse.

Two: The living beings of Earth either maintain the stalemate, turn the tables and annihilate Caslopa’s monsters, or beat them back so thoroughly they no longer dare to enter. Then, they would just wait for the Mother of the World to devour Caslopa, bite by bite.

It seemed the Mother of the World was quite keen on satisfying Her appetite, and to Her, Caslopa was an enormous, delicious cake.

She possessed a special digestive power, allowing Her to absorb and assimilate miraculous Laws and powers.

In the entire world, no one understood the Mother of the World, who had birthed all things on Earth, as well as Qin Xiaoxia. No one else could comprehend this feeling.

Whether the first Otherworldly Demons to cross into Earth had stimulated the Mother of the World, or whether She had simply awoken naturally, was no longer important.

What mattered was that Qin Xiaoxia understood: now that She had awoken, the Mother of the World had no intention of going back to sleep easily.

Caslopa was a big cake, but even the biggest cake can be finished. One can grow tired of the same flavor. And an appetite can grow even larger!

So what about the future? Was She just going to wait for another meal to fall from the sky?

As for Earth’s life forms today, the probability of an Evolver appearing was not high, and the emergence of Magic Creatures was pitifully rare. But this was merely the result of Earth devouring a few World Fragments and a portion of Caslopa’s Power of the World over just a few years.

And that was on top of the dissipated Laws and Primordial Qi from the various Otherworldly Demons that had perished on Earth.

To a so-called High-level World, these gains would be trivial, but for the Earth of the past, the changes were nothing short of earth-shattering.

Qin Xiaoxia’s research into a Reaction Technique for a "Thought Body," aside from his own selfish desires, was also a form of proactive preparation.

’My physical body can’t cross over for now, but there’s no harm in trying another method. After all, Pipi often asks his beloved Mentor for guidance through the Dream Lizard.’

’Hmm, this time I’ll have to consider the "prestige" factor. Master Sage has to have his little guilty pleasures, after all.’

His only worry was whether being devoured entailed the complete destruction of the one being devoured. However, in his silent communion with the Mother of the World, Qin Xiaoxia had a vague feeling that there would eventually be a more suitable, mutually beneficial solution.

PS: Second Chapter for Monday.