The simple greetings ended, and the two fell into a long silence.

Although they had the same face, they emanated completely different auras.

"Isn't this a bit too cold?"

Eventually, "Lindong" couldn't hold it in any longer and pouted unhappily. Just a few minutes ago, she had clearly witnessed Ethan and Bazarian sitting shoulder to shoulder, chatting happily in front of a jewelry store window, yet upon seeing her, her supposed boyfriend suddenly transformed into the person who claimed to be "afraid of talking to strangers."

She forced a smile, "I know you probably have a lot to ask me, you can start now."

"What has changed?"

"Hmm?"

The unexpected question left "Lindong" slightly stunned.

"I guess after a year, you choose to meet me at this point in time, something major must have happened."

The guild's records regarding the "Goddess" had been in a state of disconnection, and until the "adventurers," represented by the King of Gold and Crimson Queen, left this world, they were never able to see Her again.

Ethan asked again, "Is it the fall of the God of Truth, or has the thing with the underground sanctuary made them decide to take action?"

So far, all indications showed that his girlfriend in front of him wasn't truly from the "future"; it wasn't even a parallel universe, but more likely a real place millions of light-years away from this planet.

"Is there really nothing that escapes your eyes, is there?"

"Lindong" sighed, "Seriously, I still prefer your innocent and clear eyes when we first met."

"Has the Holy City already planned to start a war?"

"Not yet——"

"Lindong" suddenly changed her tone, "You're trying to get information out of me, aren't you? You've become mischievous."

A simple yes-or-no question can reveal a lot of hidden information, "This means I am from the Holy City, not only that, you can deduce that I know the movements of the Holy City's upper echelons, which means I have an unusual status over there..."

A helpless smile appeared on her face.

This thinking was virtually identical to hers. If she were in Ethan's position, she might also use some unexpected questions to probe the other's identity.

Whether this was due to her influence or Ethan's nature, she couldn't tell for the moment.

In that case…

"This conversation needs a fair rule."

"Lindong" straightened her expression, "Everyone gets to ask questions after answering, now it's my turn—how did you guess?"

"I went to the underground sanctuary, and there are some parts of the experiment that didn't make sense. According to the experimental records, after the surface was destroyed, they gathered many children in the sanctuary for drug experiments to extract energy from the 'Black Lotus.'

Merlin, Zhuang Xiao, and Song Xian were among the outstanding ones selected from those children.

"Drug experiments? The story there should be quite complete."

"Lindong" wondered.

In a world on the brink of collapse, the high-level leaders of the underground sanctuary staked everything on human experiments, and after countless sacrifices, they finally derived a perfect experimental subject.

A child capable of fully accommodating 'Black Lotus' energy, one who can communicate with 'Black Holes,' one destined to become divine.

After this cunning child reached another world through the consciousness transmission device, they unilaterally cut off contact with the underground sanctuary, kicking away those who once controlled and used them as an experimental subject. Faced with this despair, they had no choice but to dispatch another group of "adventurers" to search for her whereabouts.

This was a plot and set of character settings she compiled based on three annual game stories, and if it were made into a game, it would surely achieve great success in the next year.

"The most direct evidence is that you're different from Zhuang Xiao and the others; your body isn't left in the underground sanctuary's consciousness transmission device."

Although Merlin had found the answers he longed for, there were still many ambiguous details within.

They ultimately couldn't find the successful experimental subject in the sanctuary's biological laboratory.

"Hmm, that is indeed a flaw."

"Lindong" pondered, "But later on, you can patch it by saying there was a malfunction during the first consciousness transmission, causing the subject's death, but her consciousness miraculously survived and successfully reached another plane. 'Death' led to the consciousness losing its memory, which is a very common setting. If there are any logical errors in the future plot, amnesia can always be used to patch it up."

She noticed Ethan's gaze and said, "What kind of look is that? This is how recent AAA games do it!"

"And the story's setting is too much of a deus ex machina, why would an orphan suddenly appear in the sanctuary, able to perfectly accommodate the 'Black Lotus' energy?"

"There's no way around it."

"Lindong" shrugged, "Let's just say the protagonist of the story tends to have unique qualities."

"Or perhaps, a higher power intervening on an even higher level than the sanctuary in their research."

In this way, many flaws that seemed coincidental to Ethan became perfectly logical.

This explains why the Holy City, after the first obliteration of the surface, did not hunt down the council and the refugees completely, allowing them to hide on the surface and survive.