Nightmare Forest

It is much easier to have farm ghouls run out of the forest and create a ghoul tide than to wait for players to come in and get lost in the nightmare.

But An Rou still shook her head: "He wouldn't be that stupid. Ban Yue, you have good eyesight, can you see what they are doing?"

It was too far away and the light was dim, so the princess couldn't see clearly.

"Stay still here, I'll take a closer look."

The princess allowed the silk wrapped around An Rou to continue extending, keeping her in place, while she used other silks to move closer silently.

After a while, she retreated quickly.

"It's over! Those bastards are cutting down trees! And one of them is setting fire to them!"

An Rou's heart sank.

The Ghost King was serious this time. Perhaps Paopao had sent an offline alert to Long Yan, but he had easily fooled him, allowing the Ghost King to completely put his worries to rest.

In fact, after Shi Xizheng was possessed, An Rou had been puzzled. Wasn't he worried at all that she might expose the secrets of the Soul Society? Tricking and sabotaging them in secret wasn't enough for him anymore. Was he absolutely determined to mobilize a large force to kill her and Yong'an?

You know, in terms of keeping the game running, An Rou and he are on the same side.

Or... An Rou had a terrifying guess.

—Has the luck of the real world been almost completely stripped away by the Soul Realm? For the Ghost King, the loss of the Destruction Game is not unacceptable.

According to the Ghost King's logic, she was able to enter the game because she had inherited the Soul Realm's luck from Chu Mo. In other words, if the intermediate zone of the Soul-Guiding Song disappeared, she would most likely return to the Soul Realm.

In the eyes of the Ghost King, as long as she is not dead, she will always be competing with him for luck!

"An Rou, why don't we just fight them? Once the fire starts, the Nightmare Forest will be impossible to save!" Princess Half Moon pondered over it but had no idea what to do.

An Rou came back to her senses and heard the princess continue to sigh.

"It's just that the energy of the Valley Rainbow has been extinguished. Otherwise, the forest is moving at high speed, and even if they want to sabotage it, it won't be easy to succeed..."

"Half a month."

The princess was startled and looked over.

An Rou asked thoughtfully, "You're very familiar with the Empty Valley. You must know that the ghouls that spawn at night are targeting the Rainbow of the Empty Valley. But do you know what would happen if a ghoul were to encounter the Rainbow of the Empty Valley?"

The four major potions can also give birth to ghouls. An Rou has personally witnessed the result of a ghoul being touched by the rootless flower - it becomes an evolved ghoul, and then a ghoul.

Could it be that if a ghoul comes into contact with the Rainbow of the Valley, it will also turn into a ghoul?

The princess was stunned by this strange question. It had been more than ten years since she had served as the goddess guarding the Rainbow Valley, and she couldn't remember it at the moment.

In the distance, flames suddenly erupted at the edge of the forest, and the fire was already growing. Judging by the speed of the flames, it was very likely that the guild players had poured fuel into the forest.

The Ghost King's move was very clever, and coupled with the fact that his energy for getting rich was exhausted, the farm couldn't escape even if it wanted to.

Once the forest fire spreads to the entire Nightmare Forest, I'm afraid that everyone and everything on the farm will be roasted alive.

The more times like this happen, the less anxious you should be.

An Rou was still thinking.

Princess Banyue had searched her mind thoroughly, but found nothing.

"I really don't know what will happen. Why were I so stupid not to catch a few ghouls and give it a try?"

The princess couldn't help but feel frustrated.

If she had not been so intent on escaping when she was young, and had the state of mind she has now, she would definitely have had this kind of leisurely mood.

An Rou said softly, "I...seem to know."

"Then tell me quickly! Can you solve the current problem?"

"Let's try it out. Let's go back to the farm first."

When the two landed at the rootless flower field, the time was just right, two minutes to eleven at night.

Meng Ziyu and three ghoul employees each drove a thermal boat, floating in the air, ready to deal with the ghouls created by the raw materials of the medicine.

Seeing Princess Banyue, Meng Ziyou waved his arm and said hello: "Sister Princess!"

He is now parasitic in Khan's body. He looks tall and mighty, but his words and actions are like a child, which looks awkward no matter how you look at him.

The princess was not in the mood to joke with him, so Ling Luo swung her hand and pulled his thermal boat over.

Meng Ziyou hurriedly manipulated the control panel, turning the compass while screaming, "Be careful, be careful! This thing is not a wooden toy. It's very dangerous!"

Two minutes had passed by the time the thermal boat was steady beside the princess.

Above the four pharmacy buildings, white bubbles rapidly grew in dense clusters.

The four thermal ships quickly turned their turrets and prepared the anti-aircraft guns. Just as the ghouls were about to press the launch button, An Rou's voice sounded in their minds.

[Don't move yet.]

Meng Ziyu looked at An Rou in surprise, but before he could ask anything, the first batch of ghouls had already hatched.

His mouth opened in astonishment.

A large number of ghouls swarmed towards the mature rootless flowers, but seemed to be attracted by something halfway and suddenly changed their route, passing the courtyard and swarming towards the pond like locusts.

In the pond, above the folded hands of the stone statue that had just been rebuilt today, a rainbow of empty valleys was quietly suspended, and dim colorful light was slowly flowing.

The first batch of ghouls rushed in.

The princess opened her eyes wide.

She knew the Rainbow of the Valley, and knew that at night, the heat of the rainbow faded, and the surface felt extremely hard. Yet, those ghouls easily penetrated it.

Where the two touched, it was as if the paper was burned by a cigarette butt, leaving a small colorful halo.

The change was very slight, but everyone who witnessed this scene noticed that the color flowing in the rainbow in the valley had become brighter.

"Does the Ghoul Spirit provide energy to the Rainbow of the Valley?"

The princess was so shocked that she kept rubbing her eyes and accidentally got her hands covered with eye shadow.

Meng Ziyu was not too surprised. Instead, the appearance of the princess's harlequin cat made him want to laugh.

He held back his laughter because An Rou looked very serious.

An Rou boarded the thermal boat and flew over the pond. She endured the nerve-wracking, soul-stirring chant, her gaze following the "cloud" of white ghouls towards the pharmacy building.

The building full of flowers, cotton, fish and wood, the ghouls breeding above the four buildings were all attracted by the rainbow of the valley.

"An Rou, have you discovered this setting a long time ago?" The princess blinked her fancy eyelids.

"No, I'm just guessing. There's one thing I haven't told you yet. I can connect to the consciousness of some NPCs. In the valley of consciousness of ghouls and NPCs, there's a common background sound. Do you know what it is?"

The princess had no idea and continued blinking curiously.

"It's so cold, so cold, so cold, I'm almost freezing to death, it's really too cold..."

The two words "very cold" didn't sound very emotional, but An Rou combined several descriptions she had heard into one.

Listening to it again, it seems a bit weird.

The princess felt a chill on her back and subconsciously glanced at Meng Ziyu: "Are you cold?"

Meng Ziyu was blocked from hearing the sensitive words, and he didn't quite understand what was said, so he rolled his eyes when he heard it.

"I have anti-aircraft guns, how can I be afraid of the cold?"

No wonder An Rou said it was background noise. It seems that the ghouls and NPCs were unaware of the cries in their subconscious.

The princess looked back at An Rou: "And then?"

An Rou's gaze fell on the increasingly bright rainbow in the valley, and then she gestured to the princess at the ground.

The void rift has opened.

An Rou was not sure whether the Ghost King still possessed the "super hearing" after being parasitic in Shi Xizheng's body. To be on the safe side, some things could only be said in the void.

The two entered the void and the crack closed.

"Then the farm arrived at the Empty Valley, and I suddenly realized that the farm residents no longer complained about the cold subconsciously. It was the energy of the Empty Valley Rainbow that warmed them."

"What does this have to do with the Ghoul replenishing the energy of the Valley Rainbow?"

After the princess finished asking, she came up with the answer herself, "I know, ghouls are also NPCs, and so are ghouls! They are all afraid of the cold, which is why they are so attracted to the Rainbow of the Valley!"

An Rou nodded: "I think that since ghouls don't have parasites, perhaps their fear of the cold is even stronger than that of ghosts."

"No, I still don't understand. This only explains why the Hollow Rainbow attracts ghouls, but it doesn't explain why ghouls can transform into the Hollow Rainbow's energy. Are they different forms of the same thing?"

The princess was indeed able to follow An Rou's ideas.

Since she already knew the answer, An Rou simply confessed all her guesses.

"Banyue, have you ever thought about why destiny value is the core ranking of the Soul-Guiding Song?"

"...Didn't you say that destiny represents luck, allowing the Ghost King to quickly lock onto its target?"

An Rou shook her head. "That's just one of the reasons. I think that destiny represents strength, and the measure of strength in the Soul Realm is luck. If players with high levels but low rankings lose to players with higher rankings, everyone will just think that luck is also a part of strength, and that they were just unlucky."

"Isn't it?"

The princess also thought so. After all, the right time, place and people can determine the victory or defeat of a battle.

An Rou: "No, it's just a roundabout way of disguising luck as fortune.

"The game world is just a layer of skin between the Soul Realm and the real world. How can the levels in the game represent the real Soul Realm? In the Soul Realm, it is very likely that the strength is determined by luck.

"Eight weapon levels, the four elemental powers of water, fire, wind, and thunder, potions, items, and skills... everything we see is the evolution of fate. Making simple things complex has only one purpose: to deceive.

"Players, NPCs, ghouls, ghoul spirits... We are also carriers of destiny. Perhaps in the eyes of the Soul Realm, our physical bodies are unimportant. The destiny contained within them is the core of the core."

There was an inexplicable light dancing in An Rou's eyes, which seemed to be excitement, but also some deep and suppressed emotion.

The princess involuntarily took a step back.

"So, Banyue, you're right. The elemental energies of the Ghoul and the Hollow Valley Rainbow are different forms of the same thing. They can be transformed. Seeing is believing. After the Ghoul entered the Hollow Valley Rainbow, its elemental energy clearly increased.

"The same goes for the four great potions. Perhaps the Rainbow of the Valley and the potion ingredients are the things closest to the essence of luck, so they are the most attractive to ghouls.

"But the ingredients for the potion are too scattered. Every flower, every fish, and every piece of thunderwood is an independent entity. As a result, they cannot assimilate the ghouls, and instead are assimilated by them.

"The Empty Valley Rainbow is different. It's very powerful, so powerful that it can absorb the luck carried by a huge amount of ghouls. During the day, this luck is transformed into other forms in the form of elemental power and life force."

An Rou's tone was so firm that the princess was convinced.

The princess asked the last question in her mind: "According to you, the person who made the rules of this game is just trying to bury the existence of luck, so he makes Konggu fight against the ghoul every night?"

An Rou thought about it and nodded slowly: "It's also possible that the form of the ghoul, like the ghoul, is inherently opposed to the players. The two naturally form a antagonistic relationship."

The princess was silent for a while, then forced a smile.

"Should I say it, An Rou? After listening to your analysis, I really have the urge to risk everything to end the game."

She had already digested the purpose of the Soul Realm's deprivation of luck, but for some reason, the theory of luck made her feel uneasy.

An Rou wasn't surprised, because she felt the same way. It was as if, in just a few minutes, she had experienced Yan Shou's disappearance all over again, and the whole world had fallen into an abyss with no end in sight.

It was an extremely torturous feeling of spiritual weightlessness.

"If you can find anyone who believes in this theory and helps you end the game, I won't object and I won't stop you."

An Rou's tone was calm, but it made the princess feel like her heart was being pricked by a needle.

After living to the age of fifty and experiencing the baptism of war and blood, the princess thought she had seen a lot of suffering and had become more open-minded.

She realized belatedly that she had been forcing the other party to consider the overall situation and sacrifice herself, intentionally or unintentionally.

So shameless, so righteous, what's the difference between them and those countries and those unions?

She had imagined more than once that if a disaster struck one day, she would definitely say to the Duozhu army that captured the school: Let the children go, I will kill them or chop them up, it’s all up to you.

Now, the situation has changed.

The Duozhu army gave another choice: either sacrifice one child to the gods, or execute the entire school.

How will she choose?

An Rou's voice broke the princess's wandering thoughts.

"It was already dark, and the ghouls didn't appear until the potion ingredients matured. I suspect the Nightmare Tree sealed the farm into an isolated space, isolating the Valley Rainbow from its ability to stimulate the birth of ghouls."

The crack above her head opened for a moment, allowing An Rou to observe the state of the Rainbow of the Valley.

The rainbow's brightness had clearly increased by a level, but it was clearly not enough. During the day, the rainbow would emit a tangible, seven-colored light, a characteristic of the Valley Rainbow's abundant energy.

"The amount of ghouls generated by the potion's ingredients is insufficient, and they can only last for fifteen minutes. Time is running out, and we need more ghouls to fully restore the energy of the Hollow Valley Rainbow."

Princess Banyue stared at An Rou's face for a long time before her stagnant thoughts came back to life.

Restore the energy of the Rainbow of the Valley and increase the speed of the Nightmare Forest to get rid of the threat of Shi Xizheng destroying the forest.

She said seriously, "Leave it to me."