Seeing Daddy Cat effortlessly lift the props on his body, Dream Jia immediately asked in confusion, "Huh? Can you lift the props on your clothes? Why do our clothes seem to be stuck to our bodies like second skin, impossible to take off?" Upon hearing this, Daddy Cat scratched his head laboriously with his short, thick arms and said, "Uh... Well... Actually, I'm not really sure! Maybe it's because the Countess is afraid you'll catch a cold? After all, I'm a unique Argon person with very special resistance." Daddy Cat's reply was utterly nonsensical, but given the bizarre nature of this place, it wasn't surprising to Judge Yan and the others that Daddy Cat would say such things. Out of curiosity about Daddy Cat, Judge Yan wanted to continue questioning him about his unique resistance. However, Daddy Cat seemed unwilling to discuss the topic further. So he skillfully changed the subject, saying, "Oh? It seems that a few new lucky ones have joined us over there. Sorry, three of you, I have to go see how they're doing. Please rest here for a while! After all, you still have performances to continue tomorrow! Meow meow meow!" "What? We have to perform the fire ring again tomorrow!?" Judge Yan's trio immediately changed their expressions upon hearing this. At the same time, the pain of being burned by the flames three times before washed over them again, filling them with an extreme sense of despair. "Hey! Didn't I just say that? You three are participants in the performance, and this place is just a backstage for the performers! So, after you three have rested, you naturally have to continue performing! Don't forget, this is our way of repaying the Countess for saving our lives and providing shelter!" Daddy Cat replied. "But rest assured, everything is just a performance, and the lifelike scenarios are just to make the performance more vivid. Your lives will never be threatened! So everyone relax, take it easy, and enjoy the stage!" Daddy Cat waved his hand to Judge Yan's trio, urging them not to be too nervous. "Alright, it's getting late! If you three have nothing else to do, please rest early. You three also need to cheer up tomorrow! I'll come see you after your performance. Meow meow meow!" Daddy Cat finally instructed before hurrying away, quickly disappearing into the nearby white space. "Damn it! We have to perform the fire ring again tomorrow! And it looks like this kind of performance will continue endlessly. Who can bear this!?" Seeing Daddy Cat disappear, Judge Yan was extremely frustrated. Just the thought of performing the fire ring again and encountering various accidents during the performance filled Judge Yan with cold sweat. Dream Jia couldn't contain her anger anymore and cursed loudly at the vast white space. Unfortunately, no matter how loud and vicious her curses were, there was no response from anyone. The creatures trapped in cages also just glanced at Dream Jia before turning back, continuing to stare blankly in their cages. It seemed that these creatures were already accustomed to someone cursing loudly at the empty space. Perhaps in their eyes, no matter how dissatisfied Dream Jia was now, no matter how she showed her desire to resist, she would eventually accept the fact that she would be imprisoned here forever. Dao Lao, upon learning that they had to perform the fire ring again tomorrow, simply sat cross-legged at the table, enjoying breakfast, and said, "Hey! I said stop arguing! If it worked, there wouldn't be so many creatures imprisoned here! Come on, let's eat something first, replenish our energy, and then think about the next plan." Seeing Dao Lao enjoy his food so much, Judge Yan's stomach also started to grumble uncontrollably. So he also sat down cross-legged, picked up the piece of bread-like object from the basket, and took a careful bite. To Judge Yan's surprise, he tasted the flavor of a golden arch gate's beef burger coming from the bread-like object. Seeing Judge Yan and Dao Lao enjoying their meal so much, Dream Jia, who had persistently claimed that these foods were poisonous, finally couldn't resist sitting next to Judge Yan and cautiously broke off a piece of bread, putting it in her mouth. After chewing for a moment, she couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow! How does it taste exactly like the chocolate mousse cake from that pastry shop in the Realm of Gods? How is this possible? This thing is too delicious!" After drinking up all the liquid from the jug, Dao Lao analyzed, "Just now, I was thirsty and subconsciously thought of the coffee directly brewed by Judge Yan. As a result, I unexpectedly tasted the exact same coffee from the liquid in the jug." "You mean, these things can disguise themselves as the food we want to eat based on our memories?" Dream Jia said as she devoured her bread. "Based on our memories, disguising themselves as corresponding food? No wonder I tasted the beef burger flavor from this bread-like object right after thinking of the golden arches. It turns out that these illusions are created because our consciousness is being deceived!" Judge Yan suddenly realized, while continuing to devour the second piece of bread without stopping, this time constantly recalling the taste of fried chicken in his mind.
"Yes, that makes sense. Just like Daddy Cat said, everything that happens when we perform the fire ring is actually a very realistic illusion. Since this powerful illusion is capable of making us experience the pain of death firsthand, creating different delicacies for us through these strange foods is naturally a piece of cake," Dao Lao said, taking another jug and silently chanting "peach milk tea" before taking a sip.
Dao Lao nodded in satisfaction again, indicating that this time the taste was identical to peach milk tea. Then, Dao Lao expressed concern about the situation they would face if everything here was indeed created by the Countess herself. Because facing a powerful creator, even if the three of them exerted all their strength, it would still be a meaningless struggle without any chance of success.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"But, I don't remember any entity possessing such powerful illusions or creation abilities during the Divine War back then. Otherwise, wouldn't the Divine Army suffer even greater casualties? And surely, the Realm of Gods would gather more forces to eliminate this Countess, lest she continue to wreak havoc here," Dream Jia said puzzledly.
"Perhaps it's because the Countess has the ability to shield the divine power of the Realm of Gods, so she can cause mischief in secret without being detected by the Realm of Gods and successfully evade pursuit? Or maybe, this Countess never used these powers during the Divine War, so she never attracted the attention of the Realm of Gods?" Judge Yan speculated.
"If the Countess didn't use her immense powers, then why did she participate in the Divine War? To act as cannon fodder? Or as a spectator? This clearly doesn't fit the logic of entities with mold spirit energy," Dream Jia retorted.
"A spectator? Could it be that this Countess is also a fragment of the Mold Mother? And she's an even more powerful fragment?" Suddenly, Judge Yan thought of their previous speculation about the true identity of the mold spirit energy they merged with Elina and immediately guessed again.
"So, Elina chose to flee to the black hole VOID-5173. Because this way, the two fragments of the Mold Mother's divided self could merge into one! And the reason she was able to successfully bypass the barriers set by the Shadow Spirit World here was also thanks to the help of the Countess, who is also a fragment of the Mold Mother?" Dream Jia also realized this suddenly.
Upon hearing this, Dao Lao couldn't help but nod and said, "Hmm, this speculation is highly probable. Moreover, shielding the divine power of the Realm of Gods and creating a world, these powerful abilities indeed match the strength of the Mold Mother!"
"So, the Mold Mother secretly hiding in the Realm of Gods, hiding in the black hole VOID-5173, is to use the chaotic energy in the black hole to create a world, and to use this brand-new world to launch the next Divine War against the Realm of Gods? And she didn't choose to kill us directly because, like other creatures, we are experimental subjects she is trying to create a new world in the black hole or necessary tools for creating this world?" Judge Yan quickly used his imagination and made various speculations.
As the three of them brainstormed various hypotheses, they felt that they were getting closer and closer to inferring the truth. And as they continued to expose the conspiracy of the Mold Mother, they felt the chill creeping up their spines. Because they knew that if the Mold Mother gained the ability to create a new world in the black hole and could nurture new mold spirit energy here, it would mean that all the black holes in the Realm of Gods would become brand-new habitats for mold spirit energy. It also meant that mold spirit energy would grow again under the noses of the Realm of Gods and would soon have the ability to launch larger-scale sudden attacks directly from within the Realm of Gods!
"In that case, we must find a way to escape from here as soon as possible! Otherwise, who knows how long we will be trapped here, and when the Mold Mother will launch another attack on the Realm of Gods. Moreover, we don't know how many more entities as powerful as the Countess exist, or how many worlds the Fragrant Nebula has created for the Mold Mother. So, we must quickly find a way to pass on this information to the Realm of Gods so that they can strengthen their guard and start investigating each black hole as soon as possible!" Dao Lao concluded. After speaking, he couldn't help but sigh heavily, indicating that the magnitude of this task would be unimaginable and extremely daunting.
Since combining the information obtained on the planet Elv and the information obtained from Daddy Cat, the three of them had roughly analyzed the conspiracy that the Mold Mother might be planning in secret. Therefore, in the time that followed, the three of them began to focus on discussing how to escape from this Fragrant Nebula.
Through discussion, the three unanimously agreed that if they wanted to escape from here, the first step they needed to take was to figure out how to deal with the upcoming fire ring performance. Although none of them were certain whether they could truly pull off the performance, they still believed that completing the fire ring act could be a crucial turning point. So, they focused their minds and began to diligently recall every detail of the previous three fire ring performances, attempting to identify any possible flaws that could help them avoid the inevitable accidents that occurred each time, thereby successfully completing the fire ring act and seeing what would happen next.
However, while their thoughts were reasonable, the difficulty of truly reconstructing every detail seen during the three performances and finding potentially useful information from them was immense. Just as Han Yun and his companions were at a loss for how to proceed with their efforts to complete the fire ring act, the Mold Spirit Energy Pursuit System in their consciousnesses almost simultaneously emitted a "ding" sound. Subsequently, the system transmitted a freshly generated Mold Spirit Energy Detection Report to the minds of the three, which had been pre-shared with the system for ease of task execution.