The number changed to ’96’.
This scene made him squint his eyes, and instantly, various speculations flashed through his mind.
"The numbers changed... They actually changed, ninety-six..."
Zhao Jiayan murmured, speaking in a tone of disbelief and uncertainty, "If we don’t count the specific days, using the lunar calendar today marks exactly the fourth year since we arrived in this world."
"At the very moment we entered a new year, the number suddenly changed. Is it a coincidence or an inevitability?"
Yang Yuan frowned as he looked at the numbers on the plaque of the Mountain God Temple five hundred meters away: "Although we can’t draw a direct conclusion, our first guess must have been incorrect; this is not the ninety-seventh Mountain God Temple."
Zhao Jiayan said, "I suddenly remembered, back at that Ancient Ruins where I found the little knife, I saw a huge stone pillar with the number ’100’ on it. That number seemed to last for just one day before it changed to ’99’. But then I never saw it again, as we were chased out. Because a lot of time has passed and the Ancient Ruins was the ruins of a massive city, I couldn’t associate it with this Mountain God Temple before."
Yang Yuan’s eyebrows moved: "Are you suggesting... when we came to this world, the original number of this Mountain God Temple was also likely ’100’?"
"That’s right. Since it changes, it certainly didn’t just start changing now; it has always been changing. If my guess is correct, the number might decrease by one every year until it completely runs out."
Zhao Jiayan said uncertainly, "What will happen when the numbers run out?"
"The end of the world?"
Yang Yuan wanted to make a dark joke to lighten the mood but abruptly recalled a sentence Yan Chenggong said before: "The Demon God is immortal and will eventually return?!"
Zhao Jiayan’s eyelid twitched, suddenly exclaiming in shock: "Is it possible that our previous ridiculous speculation was correct? Is this world... truly an unfinished Game World? And that so-called ’Demon God’, could it be..."
"A Player?!"
The two of them almost spoke these words simultaneously.
Jiang Yiyi looked at the two, bewildered. She felt that she could understand every word they said, but why did she not understand when they were put together?
Yang Yuan and Zhao Jiayan looked at each other, seeing the same uncertainty in each other’s eyes.
"If this speculation is correct, then what are we...?"
Zhao Jiayan frowned deeply: "Have we entered the Game World a hundred years early? And this Game World... seems not yet fully constructed..."
She looked at Yang Yuan in shock: "Then your previous speculation, your intuition, the things you said were arranged for you, might really exist. There might be an invisible hand manipulating everything, making us help perfect this world!"
She continued looking at the Mountain God Temple five hundred meters away: "Then, this Mountain God Temple should be some sort of ’landmark’ similar to a game map, because it doesn’t seem to require any challenges here."
At that moment, she suddenly made a decision: "Yang Yuan, let’s also find a way to occupy an area and truly establish our own territory. Let’s root ourselves in one place and not let that hand manipulate us anymore; I’m afraid..."
She was very worried that they would be used as ’filler’ in the Game World.
By then, their human civilization would also become an ’Ancient Civilization’, to be ’excavated’ by players.
And then some game plot would include a plot death: someone came here, did some things, and eventually ended up some way.
They would become the ’immortal spirits’ on the player’s path of conquest, for players to grind and gain experience repeatedly.
Zhao Jiayan suddenly wanted to hide, to avoid being ’played’ in the Game World.
Yang Yuan squinted, not speaking.
However, Zhao Jiayan’s words also left him unsettled, wanting to find a place to grind experience and level up high enough to give those players a huge surprise when they arrive.
But just giving players a surprise wouldn’t solve the problem completely.
If only he could find the game developers.
Suddenly Jiang Yiyi looked down the mountain: "Big brother, Jiayan sister, that Chang Xinrou is coming up."
Yang Yuan and Zhao Jiayan looked down the mountain, and sure enough, a streak of light rushed up quickly, moving at more than two hundred meters per second.
The Funeral Crow stood silently atop a giant tree, watching.
Soon, the streak of light came near and stopped in front of the three of them.
"Two benefactors, you’re indeed here."
Chang Xinrou greeted Yang Yuan and Zhao Jiayan, then looked at the Mountain God Temple in the distance: "As expected, my guess was correct; the numbers have changed again."
Zhao Jiayan eagerly asked: "Have you seen such numbers before?"
"Yes, I was one of the first superpower users to awaken naturally. I’ve seen such numbers inside the three Ancient Ruins developed by the alliance. In each of those Ancient Ruins, the numbers started at ’100’ and gradually became ’99’, ’98’, ’97’."
Chang Xinrou said, "Later, during our escape, I stumbled into an Ancient Ruins and found such numbers again. It was then I felt something was definitely not normal with this world."
Yang Yuan asked, "Tell us your perspective, what do you mean by not normal?"
Chang Xinrou nodded and explained her insights one by one: "Have you noticed that at first, everyone globally was transported to the same place?"
"And then?" Yang Yuan’s eyebrows slightly moved.
"Later, we unearthed the Drought Fiend and were forced to flee. To prevent being chased by the Drought Fiend, we had to break into countless groups, and those of us who survived, the tens of billions of people, became scattered teams."