Chapter 351: It’s Fine If You Can’t See, Just Use a Living Observation Device

"This gaseous structure is so intensely hot... I might as well call it ’Yang Energy.’"

Qi Suian had given the gaseous structure on the survivor a name. The name held no particular meaning; it was just the first thing that rolled off the tongue.

After Qi Suian extracted the Yang Energy, he processed and modified it, turning it into a disposable observation tool.

The vessel for this tool was the head of the nameless survivor.

Life support technology kept the head connected to a machine that provided it with nutrients, ensuring its survival.

Then, by using neural links and his Spirit vision, he could use this living observation device to achieve his desired results.

As for collecting test subjects, there was no rush. There were still other survivors out there. The priority was to establish his own line of sight first.

Whether the survivor who had been turned into a living observation device was still alive depended on one’s definition.

From the Doomsday Game’s perspective, he was certainly dead.

But from a medical and physiological standpoint, he was, of course, still alive.

He just no longer possessed any consciousness due to the modifications.

"Next, I’ll find one that hasn’t been contaminated... Oh. There aren’t any left."

"All the current survivors are already contaminated. A pity. I can only wait for the next batch." Qi Suian received this unfortunate news through his reconnaissance network.

He wasn’t worried about there not being a next time. Previously, he hadn’t been confident about returning to the reality layer, but now he was.

It was merely a matter of observing enough information, then using the contamination formed from rule-based data to push or pull him and his environment, allowing him to transition from the truth layer to the Sealing Layer.

From there, returning to the reality layer would be simple; he could solve it directly with his Floating Cannons.

Qi Suian had been occupied for nearly five hours, and by now, the four remaining survivors had long since reached the temple on the mountain.

They had already begun their investigation, causing the truth to gradually surface in the truth layer.

"Exploration progress" is, in essence, the same as "truth."

The survivors were likely unaware that if they ever reached one hundred percent exploration progress in a survival instance, they wouldn’t be sent back directly. Instead, they would enter the truth layer.

This was not a good thing. At that point, they would have to face the ghost in its complete, true form.

While not a guaranteed death sentence, their chances of survival would be far, far lower than they were now.

Thus, the best strategy was to aim for only half the exploration progress and focus on staying alive.

The Doomsday Game wasn’t some legitimate enterprise; it was more like one of those scam operations out of Northern Myanmar. And now that Qi Suian had messed with it so much, the era of "more work equals more rewards" was long gone.

Therefore, one had to exercise the right amount of restraint.

Otherwise, they would only have themselves to blame.

"Next, I’ll pick the most heavily contaminated one to start with." After a moment’s thought, Qi Suian selected his target.

When dealing with contamination, he would of course pick the most severe case. After all, it would provide the most data.

It was either all or nothing; there was no in-between.

"AI, up the mountain," Qi Suian commanded, and the Tai Sui God immediately took flight.

With its one flight and two acceleration modules engaged, the Tai Sui God shot toward the mountaintop.

Meanwhile, Qi Suian observed the temple on the peak through his living observation device.

"Circle the mountain. Why does the temple seem to be facing us? I thought we were circling around it." Qi Suian had noticed something was off.

The Tai Sui God began to change its course, and Qi Suian confirmed it wasn’t an issue of direction. No matter the angle of approach, the temple was always facing him head-on.

"Pick a missile and fire it. Let’s see what happens." Qi Suian had no desire to ponder the ’why.’ These things didn’t operate on logic.

So Qi Suian would speak with firepower.

A small, delicate-looking missile shot out and struck the temple.

Qi Suian saw no explosion. The missile was simply swallowed by the temple.

The temple then pulsed, squirming twice before falling still again.

"It’s alive." Qi Suian’s eyes narrowed.

The Tai Sui God swiftly approached the temple. Qi Suian inspected the point of impact; there was nothing there.

It was as if nothing had happened.

Reaching out to touch it, he found the texture was that of a normal building. It possessed none of the flexibility its earlier movement implied.

Clearly, triggering its nature required specific conditions.

"No matter which angle you approach from, you always end up at the main gate. It must be some kind of rule."

Qi Suian didn’t bother trying to figure out why. It likely involved some sort of spatial manipulation he wasn’t familiar with.

Thinking about it was pointless. So he strode into the temple without hesitation.

The moment he passed through the temple gates, a sudden, sinister chill washed over him.

"These rule-based mechanics are truly absurd. Even with my resistances, I can still feel this chill." Qi Suian’s various elemental resistances were already absurdly high.

If he were thrown into the Polar Day World or the Cold Winter World now, he could completely ignore the temperature. He could even squat on the head of a Wasteland King in the Wasteland World’s most restricted zone and take a crap for a month without worrying about radiation.

This was all thanks to the boost in elemental resistance from the Profound Elemental Attachment Technique.

Thanks to the Elemental Chalice, a composite sacred artifact, Qi Suian had acquired vast amounts of elemental data. Through destructive experimentation, his powerful adaptive abilities had granted him immense elemental resistance.

Without it, he never would have developed such comprehensive protection.

The sinister chill lingered for nearly three seconds before finally dissipating.

Qi Suian suspected it was an attempt at intimidation.

"AI, what do you think would happen if we released the Hanged Ghost from the Melting Furnace?" The random thought suddenly occurred to Qi Suian.

The Hanged Ghost had yet to produce a single point of evolutionary energy, so it was still just taking up space in the Melting Furnace.

So Qi Suian wondered: if a ghost from the reality layer were to appear in the truth layer, where it shouldn’t exist, would it trigger some kind of malicious bug?

[There is an extremely high probability of unknown outcomes. It is not recommended.]

[If you insist on trying, it would be best to do so after your current research projects are complete, so as not to interfere with them.]

The AI was clearly against it. This was just one of Qi Suian’s typical random, destructive impulses.

If he wanted to play with something so obviously problematic, he should at least wait until he’d squeezed every last drop of value out of the current situation.

"Makes sense!" Qi Suian realized he was becoming more and more impulsive, almost chaotic.

He couldn’t help but wonder to himself, ’I’m not becoming chaotic evil, am I?’

’I’ve always considered myself chaotic neutral. After all, I kill men and women alike, treat animals and plants with equal disregard, and am always thinking about blowing up planets. That’s pretty neutral...’

The more he thought about it, the less confident he felt.

He didn’t even dare ask his AI, for fear it would confirm his suspicion.

As long as he didn’t know for sure, he could claim whatever alignment he wanted.

[A survivor is approaching your position.]

The AI issued a notification.

"She’s not approaching me, she’s being chased and is trying to escape," Qi Suian retorted.

The AI’s projected path did indeed have her moving toward him, but her intentions were completely different.

"It’s one of the Veterans." Qi Suian could now see the person.

She was a scrawny woman, but her underlying features were quite good. If she were healthier, she would probably be considered attractive by normal human standards.

Unfortunately, Qi Suian no longer fit the description of "normal human." In fact, if you broke the phrase into two words, "normal" and "human," he didn’t fit either of them.

"It seems the resource depletion on the survivors’ home planet affected their soil and water. Otherwise, they wouldn’t all be this emaciated."

Both waves of the fifth batch of survivors Qi Suian had encountered had been visibly emaciated.

As a result, their two basic attributes, Spirit and Physique, were likely even lower than the first batch’s. Fortunately, with proper nutrition, those stats could recover to normal levels.

The female survivor also saw Qi Suian, the Armored Man. She froze for a second, then her face filled with horror.

It was for no other reason than the fact that Qi Suian seemed so utterly out of place with his surroundings.

Anyone with half a brain would know something was wrong. Why would she stick around instead of running?

"I just love home deliveries." Qi Suian completely ignored the bizarre snakes swarming behind the female survivor.

It seemed some sort of kill-on-sight rule had been triggered, but she apparently had a talent for resisting contamination, which was why the effect wasn’t guaranteed and she had managed to escape with her life.

Qi Suian lunged forward at extreme speed, grabbing the female survivor just as she tried to change direction and flee.

Among the four remaining survivors, she had the highest level of contamination and was on the verge of becoming heavily contaminated.

"Let me go! Let me go!" The survivor struggled, of course, but with her basic attributes not even reaching 1 point, she had no strength to resist.

Qi Suian didn’t even dare let the Tai Sui God use much force; a moment’s carelessness and he might crush her to death.

The difference between 10 attribute points and 1 wasn’t just a tenfold gap—it was astronomically large.

As for the strange snakes behind them, which resembled certain indecent organs, let’s just say they didn’t have wings, so they couldn’t fly.

The swarm of snakes coiled together, making strange noises, seemingly trying to get Qi Suian to throw the survivor down to them.

Qi Suian suspected the snakes didn’t actually want to *eat* the survivor he was now holding—whom he’d already tranquilized—but rather do some... other things.

"Strange. Where did they get such depraved ideas?" Qi Suian was puzzled.

The Zhiyue People of the Ziyue Dynasty were spawned, not born. They didn’t require two sexes for reproduction, so they had no need for lust.

With no need, there’s no demand, and eventually, the instinct would be forced to atrophy.

They had desires, but they were mostly related to greed or gluttony, not... this.

"Could it be an innate quality of the ghosts themselves?" The thought suddenly struck Qi Suian.

It was actually quite possible. After all, ghosts came in all shapes and sizes.

It wasn’t impossible for a bizarre, desire-driven species to appear, one whose core urges the Zhiyue People themselves didn’t possess.

After casually tossing a grenade into the swarm of snakes, Qi Suian turned to leave.

The snakes swarmed over it, smothering it. The grenade never exploded. Apparently, they dictated the laws of physics here.

"Still chasing me? Suit yourselves. It’s not like I can’t conduct research and experiments in mid-air." Qi Suian ignored the snake swarm. As long as he didn’t touch the ground, let’s see them fly up and get him.

The snakes’ target wasn’t him, but Qi Suian needed this survivor as a test subject.