As he uttered the words "moon-eating toad" from his mouth...

The other two Sun People players instantly changed their expressions drastically!

After a moment of shock and suspicion, one of them couldn't help but exclaim in alarm:

"The moon-eating toad?! The legendary moon-eating toad actually exists?!"

"So... the 'Rebirth state' of a Sun and Moon Person is actually a newly born 'moon infant'..."

"And this 'moon infant'... gets devoured by the moon-eating toad right after birth, while still just a placenta?!"

"This... no wonder there have never been any moon infants among Moon People players either... it's not that Moon People players' evolution can't reach that step... but that once they reach that step, they get devoured by the moon-eating toad!"

"Then over all these years... how many moon infants has the moon-eating toad devoured?! The top-tier batch of Moon People we Sun People players have been nurturing have actually been intercepted by the moon-eating toad!"

The several Sun People players grew angrier and angrier as they spoke.

However, within this "anger," there was also a faint, barely concealed trace of fear...

This fear gradually silenced their discussion, plunging them into an eerie silence.

After the silence, one Sun People player said softly:

"It should be... only the 'Rebirth state' of a Sun and Moon Person player becomes a 'moon infant'..."

"And we, as Sun People players, our randomly obtained 'Rebirth state' definitely cannot be a 'moon infant'."

"If we assume our 'Rebirth state' is becoming a 'sun infant,' then the moon-eating toad probably wouldn't devour 'sun infants,' right?"

This deduction seemed logically sound.

The Sun People player stating it also spoke with considerable certainty.

However, after a moment of silence in the air, the Sun Person wearing "Cheng Lin's" appearance said gravely:

"No... I suspect the three of us were being too naive from the very beginning!"

"A skill like [Salvation Domain], which can create a 'Rebirth state,' is indeed incredibly overpowered!"

"But why don't you think about this—"

"With our level of luck, how did we manage to obtain such an overpowered skill?"

"With our luck, can we really rely on this overpowered skill to reach the legendary 'Rebirth state'?"

These two questions thrown out indeed brought another wave of silence.

"Cheng Lin" continued gravely:

"I just suddenly realized—"

"Even players like us, whose luck isn't top-tier, can access a god-like skill that leads to the 'Rebirth state'..."

"Then throughout the long history of the entire Qiankun Land, even within that unattainably high Sun and Moon Tower..."

"Over the vast passage of time, after countless trials and tribulations, how many astonishingly talented top-tier lucky ones have emerged?"

"Among them, there might be those born with the 'SSS-grade Luck' effect, and perhaps even those like that Chen Cang earlier, born with a [Protagonist Halo]!"

"But those beings who only exist in legends, beings we can't even hope to reach... none of them have ever achieved the 'Rebirth state' either!"

"Could it be that with their level of fortune, they couldn't access overpowered skills similar to [Salvation Domain] that allow players to reach the 'Rebirth state'?"

"Impossible, right?"

"And we... although we have some measure of fortune, we are far inferior compared to those legendary figures!"

"So why should we be able to become that kind of 'unprecedented and unrepeatable' existence, achieving the 'Rebirth state' that even those powerhouses never reached?"

"Thinking from this angle... perhaps this 'Rebirth state' is itself a trap!"

"Just like that newly born 'moon infant,' perhaps 'sun infants' indeed aren't devoured by the moon-eating toad, but they might very well be devoured by another, even more terrifying creature?!"

"And you should have also noticed—although Sun People players have an extremely low mortality rate, those top-tier existences actually have a higher mortality rate than ordinary Sun People players..."

"I used to think that might be because of scheming and infighting among those top-tier existences, leading to the fall of top-tier Sun People players..."

"I even fantasized that there might be a more terrifying 'ascension channel' for those top-tier Sun People players..."

"That they could achieve a cross-world 'ascension' through that overpowered 'ascension channel'!"

"Really, I fantasized like that, thinking the disappearance of the top-tier Sun People players wasn't a fall at all, but a cross-world 'ascension'..."

"But now thinking about it, the 'ascension' I fantasized about was probably still too naive!"

"Perhaps they really did cross worlds, achieving a kind of 'ascension' to some extent..."

"Only that kind of 'ascension' might be a situation even more terrifying than death..."

"And that situation is just like the 'moon infant' being devoured into the belly of the moon-eating toad..."

"Cheng Lin's" words were spoken with great gravity.

And these viewpoints were also extremely pessimistic.

To put it in more common terms, it's like this—

In a certain cultivation world, all cultivators spend their entire lives pursuing cultivation to the pinnacle, then attaining the Dao and "ascending."

But suddenly one day, a certain cultivator says that so-called "ascension" isn't entering a higher-level world at all.

But rather being "eaten" by a higher-level world, achieving a higher-level death...

That is, everything all cultivators pursue throughout their lives is an illusory lie.

So-called "ascension" is merely falling into an abyss more despairing than death...

Then this kind of pessimistic emotion is absolutely enough to overturn the entire cultivation world!

The key is that this kind of speculation has no way to be verified.

Just like what this "Cheng Lin" is saying now, it's also merely his speculation.

So in this speculation without evidence, both "ascension" and "death" could be the answer.

Before, he guessed the answer was "ascension";

Now, he guesses the answer is "death."

Both could be the truth.

Only by truly arriving can one glimpse the "possibility" and see it fixed as the "truth"...

It's just that by then, one might not be able to convey that fixed "truth" back...

For a moment, the three Sun People players, including Jiang Ye currently worn on "Cheng Lin's" hand, all silently fell into contemplation.

After a long silence, they didn't continue with the pessimistic speculation raised by "Cheng Lin."

Instead, they raised a more practical question—

"So next, do we continue the experiment... or abandon the experiment?"

Abandoning the experiment, even without reaching the so-called "Rebirth state," they could still live very well based on their Sun Person identity.

From this perspective, they truly have no need to continue the experiment.

Choosing to abandon the experiment is the wisest decision.

However, only Jiang Ye, an outsider, could vaguely perceive—

The Sun People currently without survival pressure probably have less than 1 year of history left.

If all Sun People choose to be content with the status quo...

Then in 1 year, most likely all Sun People will face a historic total extinction!

Conversely, choosing to seek the "truth" might actually have a certain probability of achieving a kind of "ascension" in some sense?

Moreover, Jiang Ye couldn't help but develop some more suspicions...

He had never been able to understand before—

What kind of existence exactly was the Mysterious Existence in the tombstone area of the underground burial ground of the 4444 Apartment.

Why, when facing Huang Bo of the Light faction, did it say those arrogant words...

And why, when asked about Lin Ling, did Lin Ling say those were just illusions...

Including that Mysterious Existence that assigned a mission to Chen Cang...

What kind of existence is he?

The Mysterious Existence in the tombstone area might not yet be definitively linked to this era.

But that Mysterious Existence who directed Chen Cang is necessarily connected to this era!

He not only revealed much information about this era to Chen Cang...

He even provided Chen Cang with a temporary Prison watch with a usage period of 1 year!

Furthermore, he even knows about the "moon-eating toad," which exists only in legends even from the perspective of Sun People players in this era...

These various signs force Jiang Ye to suspect—

The Mysterious Existence in the tombstone area, and the Mysterious Existence who directed Chen Cang...

Could they both be creatures from this era?

Then the probability that they are Sun People in this era is quite high!

According to the history pre-enacted in Jiang Ye's mind...

The Sun People will be exterminated in one year.

Then, only extremely top-tier individual "Sun People" should have survived that fate of extermination.

Of course, they might not be "alive" either. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

At least the existence in the tombstone area, no matter how arrogant its tone or how extraordinary its origins, clearly can't be compared to a living player.

After all, it seems trapped in the tombstone area, unable to do anything, which is why it can only direct other players to act for it.

The Mysterious Existence of the Reincarnation Mirror Palace is the same;it clearly lost its ability to act autonomously, so it could only place its hopes on Chen Cang...

However, even having lost autonomous action ability, they are still much stronger than those Sun People who were exterminated.

Combined with "Cheng Lin's" conjecture...

Perhaps they are that batch of top-tier Sun People from this era who weren't blinded by the present stability and chose to firmly pursue the truth.

And these three Sun People players right now...

They are clearly not top-tier Sun People.

So, after raising the practical question of "continue the experiment or abandon the experiment," they barely needed to struggle much and quickly reached an answer—

"Forget it, it's too dangerous..."

"Since we can live stably, why pursue that kind of fortune on the edge of a cliff."

"Exactly, with our permissions and status, we can live very well anyway."

"The time wasted on this experiment can just be considered as coming out to relax..."

Soon, they reached a consensus.

The mechanical eyeballs again shot out at extreme speed, like a Light and Shadow Escape, and the three quickly returned to the dock of the Heaven and Earth Sun and Moon River.

After casually converting another batch of Moon People into Sun and Moon People, the three boarded the Mist Train heading toward the Qiankun Land.

Just when Jiang Ye thought he could follow the Sun People players to the Qiankun Land for a good tour...

He keenly sensed something was wrong!

This Sun People player wearing him on his wrist, sporting "Cheng Lin's" appearance, was clearly in an abnormal state!

Indeed...

After the Mist Train traveled a stretch on the Moon River...

"Cheng Lin" suddenly spoke to his two other Sun People friends:

"How about you two go back first? I want to take a bath in the Moon River to cool off and calm down."

"??" This statement made the two Sun People players look at him strangely.

However, after a moment of silence, they didn't say much.

So soon, the Sun People player with the "Cheng Lin" identity embarked on a solo action, going his separate way.

In the upper carriage of the Mist Train, the two Sun People exchanged a glance and directly asserted: "I bet Xiao Bai hasn't given up at all."

"Do you think his pessimistic speculations might have just been to persuade us to back off, so he could work alone?"

"But there's no need for that, we both now possess the SSS-grade [Salvation Domain] too. If we wanted to work alone, we could also do it."

After a moment of silence, the Sun Person who first discovered "Cheng Lin" had an SSS-grade talent couldn't help but blurt out:

"Could it be that the Sun and Moon Person 'Cheng Lin' has some other special quality? I always feel Xiao Bai deliberately guided me to abandon the 'Cheng Lin' identity, then he took over this identity himself..."

Saying this, this Sun Person felt inexplicably unwilling.

However, after a moment of silence, he didn't say anything more.

Meanwhile, "Cheng Lin," who jumped into the Moon River claiming to "take a bath," turned around and returned straight back to the Mist Forest of Oddities!

He continued heading toward the inner region of the Mist Forest of Oddities, returning to the accident site where Chen Cang was previously discovered.

Just when Jiang Ye thought this slightly chubby Kid Brother was going to carefully study the "hair tree" that Chen Cang had cut down earlier, or the new "umbilical cord tree" that grew when the moon infant was born...

He didn't expect—

This guy directly stood under that "umbilical cord tree" and put on a new Prison watch.

Of course, it was still the kind transformed from a Sun and Moon Person, with mechanical eyeballs connected at the watchband.

After putting on the new watch, he took off the "Cheng Lin" watch...

He transformed into another ordinary-looking adult appearance, then spoke to the "Cheng Lin" watch:

"There's no one else here, shall we have a proper talk?"

??!

A string in Jiang Ye's heart suddenly tightened!

In his field of vision, no so-called "instruction" appeared...

So what does this guy mean?!

Could it be... he has seen through that he's a thinking Sun and Moon Person?!

For a moment, Jiang Ye didn't dare act rashly.

After a moment of silence, the Sun Person pondered again:

"If you don't dare admit it, then do you dare enter the [Salvation Domain] with me, then obey the instruction to 'choose trust'?"

Hearing this, Jiang Ye fell silent again.

To be honest, when the three Sun People were frantically experimenting, he was afraid he would also be pulled in to serve as an experimental lab rat, then given the "choose trust" instruction while knowing betrayal was inevitable...

In that case, he really wouldn't know whether to continue obeying the instruction or violate it and expose himself.

Now, this guy has spoken to this extent...

Clearly, if Jiang Ye still doesn't admit it, he really will pull Jiang Ye into the [Salvation Domain] and use the "trust" versus "betrayal" judgment of 「Salvation」 to force him to admit.

So, Jiang Ye simply stopped pretending.

He quickly transformed from the "Primitive State" of a Sun and Moon Person into the flesh-and-blood version of "Cheng Lin's" appearance.

After locking eyes with this Sun People player for a moment, he finally spoke in a grave voice:

"You... when did you discover I had a problem?"