While Jiang Ye was lost in wild thoughts, Li Ku was thinking a lot as well.

Although a certain system bug prevented him from recalling the wave-particle duality of light, he did remember the “game” part, and he thought of the prison watch the administrator had been chasing.

From the information known so far—

Players in this apartment world cannot enter the mist.

But players who wear the watch can enter…

So, could it be assumed that—

The area shrouded by mist is the part of the world that belongs to the “game”?

Players without a “game-zone account” who enter this game zone empty-handed…

From those people’s perspective, they would be “erased” by the mist.

But in essence, perhaps they are not truly dead; maybe the mist converts them into a string of code?

And the Prison watch from the Doomsday Prison era is equivalent to putting a “game-zone account” onto them.

Possessing that account, they can freely move inside the mist, this game zone?

Also because the watch itself has already generated a game-zone identity.

So even if someone else puts on the watch, that person will become the identity corresponding to the watch?

Therefore…

The identity generated by the Prison watch is actually a kind of game-zone identity?

Then, the administrator’s covetousness toward his prison watch…

Oh no… more precisely, what he coveted was only the prison watch.

Because having the prison watch is effectively having a “game account,” allowing safe entry into the game zone?

Li Ku felt this hypothesis was probably close to the truth.

He even considered Yang Wenchao’s earlier question, about why the Prison watch could also be taken into the resurrection coffin and resurrect with the player.

If one understands the Prison watch as a game account…

Then that question might have an angle that explains it.

The Prison watch is like an extra layer of “game account” skin over the player’s physical body.

From the resurrection coffin’s perspective, that skin might itself be part of the body to be resurrected.

Like eyes and limbs.

This skin is viewed as some “organ” of the player’s physical body.

So when the resurrection coffin resurrects a player, it resurrects this skin together with the body.

From this viewpoint…

The grade of a resurrection coffin… perhaps cannot be measured purely by “grade.”

Maybe more accurately… the resurrection coffin’s dimension is higher than the Prison watch’s.

Therefore, it can “create” a Prison watch the way it “creates” a body!

Li Ku actually wanted to ask the administrator more about these thoughts.

For example, whether the Prison watch is a “game account”…

But considering the so-called “Taboo,” he ultimately suppressed those ideas.

Perhaps because of the Taboo, the people in this endless grave mound area all seemed somewhat silent.

Yang Wenchao, who first proposed “combined reality and illusion,” similarly fell into deep thought, seemingly pondering something.

When he came to his senses, he spoke up:

“When I read some miscellaneous books before, I saw a discussion about whether the world we live in truly exists.”

“Of course, lots of content creators have made clickbait posts about this.”

“For example, quoting famous figures saying the probability we live in a real world is less than one in ten million…”

“And with the frantic development of artificial intelligence, many things are overturning our cognition.”

“From the perspective of ‘infinity’…”

“If the universe has infinite space and time…”

“Then ‘parallel worlds’ are almost guaranteed to exist.”

“Because the word ‘infinite’ is terrifying.”

“Because it implies infinite possibilities.”

“Any situation that seems ‘impossible’ within limited understanding…”

“Can become possible within infinity.”

“Like the infinite monkey theorem.”

“Infinite monkeys can type any long novel in the world…”

“By the same logic… in an infinite universe, our planet is like a long novel typed by a monkey.”

“We think we are unique…”

“But any neighboring ‘monkey’ that makes only one typo can create another long novel that differs from ours by only one character.”

“By the same logic, another planet that differs from ours by only one ‘character’ must exist.”

“That is a kind of ‘parallel world’!”

“It sounds absurd, but the word ‘infinite’ gives all this possibility.”

“To disprove such possibilities, the best plan is to disprove the concept of ‘infinity.’”

“In other words… if there are not infinite monkeys, if the universe is not infinite…”

“Then those assumptions cannot hold.”

“And if the universe is not infinite…”

“Then outside the universe, is there another world, or is it emptiness?”

Yang Wenchao spoke so much at once that the others fell into thought again.

What he actually wanted to say was—

“Whether our world is real…”

“This question is, like whether pi can be fully calculated or whether the universe is infinite… very hard to prove.”

“In an argument I read, there was a theory to test whether the world is real.”

“That theory proposes—”

“We, with human intelligence, defined the concept of ‘true’.”

“It’s because we also created the concept of ‘false’ in contrast.”

“Fiction played a crucial role in the enlightenment of human intelligence.”

“Because we invented gods, invented faith… we ignited the god-skill called ‘imagination.’”

“And imagination is the foundation of all creation. We can turn things that never existed into reality!”

“Now we can even invent fake worlds, like the various ‘two-dimensional’ worlds in media.”

“If we also live in a kind of three-dimensional ‘fake world’ like a two-dimensional world…”

“Then, to prove this world is fake…”

“You must prove that beyond our dimension there exists something ‘more real’ that created us.”

“Because the concepts of true and false are always relative.”

“If you use beings inside a two-dimensional world as the reference frame, then all beings inside that two-dimensional world are real relative to each other.”

“Only by using us outside the two-dimensional world as the reference frame does the whole two-dimensional world become false.”

“By the same reasoning…”

“If our dimension is fake…”

“Then beyond us there must be another-dimension existence that is more ‘real’.”

“It is that existence’s ‘reality’ that makes our world appear ‘fake.’”

“But conversely, if that ‘real’ existence really exists…”

“Then beyond it, perhaps there is yet another existence that is even more ‘real.’”

“It’s like…” Yang Wenchao paused to think, “like assuming that beyond our universe a higher dimension created us…”

“Relative to the two-dimensional world, we are real; relative to that higher-dimensional world, we are fake. That higher dimension is ‘more’ real.”

What he said made Li Hongbin and Gong Cheng dizzy.

Damn it! There is reality beyond reality…

Falsehood within falsehood…

They, confined by their limited knowledge, couldn’t see this world clearly!

Only Jiang Ye more or less understood what Yang Wenchao meant.

Actually, it’s like Inception’s dream within a dream.

One layer, two layers, three layers of dreams…

These can be converted to one layer, two layers, three layers of falsehood…

They might be in a similar situation right now.

It seems some players might jump out of a level of falsehood to reach the so-called “real”…

But in truth, it’s merely a higher level of falsehood.

Including Jiang Ye’s distinction between the naked eye and the Guan Gong Eyes.

He thought the naked eye saw falsehood and the Guan Gong Eyes saw reality.

But in reality, what the Guan Gong Eyes see might also be another level of falsehood…

Thinking this, Jiang Ye’s gaze briefly met Yang Wenchao’s.

Or, more precisely, it met his Ji Zixuan clone.

After all, Jiang Ye’s clone did not enter this space.

For some reason, Yang Wenchao kept staring at the Ji Zixuan clone for a long while, then suddenly blurted:

“Do your eyes… break through some layer of falsehood?”

Break through?

Jiang Ye was stunned by the question.

Suddenly he had a thought: “If our physical bodies can increase in rank… even more than once…”

“Then could our ‘world’ automatically upgrade as our bodies do?”

Yang Wenchao was also taken aback by the question and seriously considered it.

But in the end he slightly shook his head: “It’s unlikely the world’s rank changes with a body’s rank.”

“Rather, different body ranks can operate in different world zones.”

“Like a game map that divides zones for level-10 monsters, level-20 monsters…”

“Beings of different ranks are divided into different zones.”

“The increase of our body’s rank should just give us possibilities to reach other zones.”

As he spoke, Yang Wenchao pondered and offered another explanation:

“Maybe we are shackled by layers of false chains.”

“Each time you break through a layer of falsehood, you move into a higher-level falsehood.”

“Of course, understanding it as a game is still more convenient—when our body levels up, we can go to higher-level areas and see more truths.”

He paused there, but did not mention his thoughts on Reincarnators—the idea of Reincarnation being like a larger game.

Amnesiac Jiang Ye did not yet know about Reincarnators; he was just a bit curious…

He had a feeling Yang Wenchao might have obtained information inaccessible to ordinary people.

From the game, or from some existence inside that coffin telling him?

After a long discussion about the nature of the world, Wan Xin listened with only a simple understanding and did not participate.

When the others finished debating, Wan Xin couldn’t help but try probing:

“By the way, about these grave mounds, can we dig up one or two to try our luck?”

He was Yang Wenchao’s junior, so the question was mainly to ask for Yang Wenchao’s opinion.

Before Yang Wenchao could reply, the administrator beside them said directly:

“Most of the grave mounds nearby have already been dug up by me.”

“So this area has basically lost its exploration value.”

“The place I invited you to explore is the strange mist reached by following the compass needle’s direction.”

As he said this, he looked at the compass in Li Ku’s hand and asked, “This compass reacts differently when it’s with you. So I wanted you to use it to lead us. You don’t mind, do you?”

Li Ku glanced at the compass and nodded: “We should go in the direction of the needle, right?”

The administrator nodded.

“Then follow me closely.”

Li Ku wasn’t afraid the administrator would pull a trick. Holding the compass, he walked at the front in the needle’s direction.

The administrator followed closely behind him, and occasionally warned those behind, “Stay close. There must be no mistakes in the direction of movement.”

He paused and emphasized, “I brought others here before.”

“And those who slightly deviated while following me mysteriously disappeared in the grave mound area and never reappeared.”

That warning carried weight.

Those behind naturally tightened up completely.

Wan Xin couldn’t help but complain: “If this route is so risky, why don’t you just use the portable apartment card to bring us along?”

The administrator shot him a cold glance but didn’t answer.

In truth…

Although he verbally warned them, inwardly he quite hoped these people would stray and vanish.

He didn’t care about their lives at all.

If they got lost in this half-real, half-illusory grave mound space, it was none of his concern.

On the contrary, if any of them had even a bit of ability…

Their disappearance might have other value!

With that thought, the administrator followed Li Ku while furtively scanning the few people behind.

For a brief moment, his gaze landed on the red-eyed “Ji Zixuan.”

An indistinct dark gleam flashed in his eyes, and a strange smile tugged at his mouth.

Jiang Ye naturally noticed that smile.

The administrator deliberately smiled at him—it was an obvious attempt to sabotage him!

And he was so blatant about it!

This made Jiang Ye feel very odd…

Because while following Li Ku’s direction, he had felt a kind of faint guidance pulling him slightly off course.

Originally he thought that guidance might come from some secret within this endless grave mound area.

Now with the administrator’s smile, he became unsure…

Was there really some existence in this endless grave mound area calling him?

Or did the administrator use some hypnotic method to deliberately mislead him?

While he wrestled with this, Li Ku suddenly stopped ahead and said seriously:

“Everyone stop! The compass needle, it suddenly reacted!”

Those words made the scheming administrator shiver inwardly!

Especially since he was right behind Li Ku and had seen the compass needle actually trembling!

As if in the next second, the needle would swing to a new direction!

What the heck is this?

How could a compass needle that had been fixed still move??

This situation had never occurred in the administrator’s prior explorations!