Chapter 105: The Truth of the Black Sphere, Two Main Cities

Inside the Holy Light Cathedral, three priests were constantly monitoring the corruption of the Heavenly Father Altar.

When Kamiyu entered, a white-robed priest stood up and directly revealed Kamiyu’s identity: “Lord Beta Tester, you have arrived.”

Jack immediately stepped forward, positioning himself to protect Kamiyu.

Kamiyu widened her eyes, looking at the other party in surprise: “How do you know my identity? Did Li Changde tell you?”

The white-robed priest shook his head, speaking calmly as if seeing through everything: “Lord Beta Tester, please rest assured. We are followers of the Holy Light Church and do not belong to any human Camp.”

Kamiyu asked: “Holy Light Church? Are you humans or NPCs?”

She had never seen any NPCs on the Crimson Earth before. Whether in the Main City or the Wilderness Zone, everything was desolate and dilapidated. Almost everything had been built from scratch by the Players themselves.

“Please forgive our humble appearance, Lord Beta Tester. We are humans. I am An Dao, one of the earliest first batch of Players to enter the Crimson Earth,” Priest An Dao said.

“I see, but you still haven’t said how you know my identity,” Kamiyu remained vigilant.

“The Beta Tester Title is a great gift from the Heavenly Father. Our Holy Light Church venerates the Heavenly Father Inarius, so naturally we know the children of the Heavenly Father,” Priest An Dao explained.

“I’m an orphan; I have no parents,” Kamiyu revealed a rare genuine emotion.

She deeply disliked the terms “father” and “mother.”

Jack raised an eyebrow, looking down thoughtfully at the petite Kamiyu.

“May the Heavenly Father bless you,” Priest An Dao paused for a moment, then blessed Kamiyu.

Because of the word “children,” Kamiyu’s emotions shifted somewhat. She said: “Don’t talk about all this mystical nonsense. Since you’re not an NPC but a human Player, speak in terms humans can understand.”

The priest blinked, maintaining his composure as he said: “Lord Beta Tester, please calm your anger.”

“I’m not angry.”

Kamiyu was not a perfect person, nor a perfect Protagonist. She had a temper, and she could lie.

The priest paused, then spoke solemnly to Kamiyu: “Next, I will report to you, Lord Beta Tester, the history of this land and some secrets known only to Beta Testers.”

The priest glanced up at Jack, signaling for him to leave.

Kamiyu immediately said: “He is my person, one of us.”

The priest nodded and continued: “We were the first batch of Players to enter the game. We were transported to the Main City Kaijistan, which is here.

By studying ancient texts, we learned that this place is called the Crimson Earth, a land corrupted by Aberrant Beast Demons from Hell.

The original civilization has ended, leaving only the remnants of the Heavenly Father and the Holy Mother—namely, the Altar of Inarius and the Altar of Lilith.”

Kamiyu and Jack listened intently.

“Believe it or not, including new Players, all Players know that the Hell Tide arrives periodically. The Heavenly Father Altar predicts the arrival time of the Hell Tide, allowing everyone to prepare.

At that time, some asked, some objected: Why prepare? Why resist the Hell Tide? Couldn’t we just collectively go Offline?”

Kamiyu nodded. If there were no rewards, she would also choose to take risks and farm the Altar of Lilith rather than stay and face certain death.

“That is because Kaijistan is the last Main City, and the altar behind us is the last Heavenly Father Altar. If Kaijistan falls and the altar is trampled by monsters, the Aberrant Beast Demons will break into the Real World,” the priest said solemnly.

At this moment, Jack asked, “In reality, we have planes, cannons, and nuclear weapons. How could we possibly fail to defeat these monsters?”

The priest shook his head and sighed, saying, “You all know about the Nora nuclear power plant accident, right?”

Kamiyu thought to herself, why suddenly bring up a nuclear power plant accident in the Real World?

Her heart skipped a beat. Could it be…?

Jack said, “Wasn’t that just an accident?”

“I mentioned earlier that Kaijistan is the last Main City, but in fact, thirteen years ago, the Crimson Earth had two Main Cities, the other called Seriga.”

Kamiyu suddenly understood.

Jack also widened his eyes, realizing the truth behind that terrifying “nuclear accident” that claimed the lives of over a hundred thousand residents overnight.

Priest An Dao sighed and said, “That was the first Hell Tide. We didn’t have enough manpower, our Levels weren’t high enough, and our equipment was insufficient. We couldn’t fully defend both Main Cities.”

“In the end, all the Players defending Seriga Main City died in battle. Seriga fell, and some monsters broke into the Real World at that location—Nora.”

“You all know what happened to the city of Nora afterward,” An Dao said gloomily.

“That wasn’t a nuclear accident; it was a nuclear explosion,” Kamiyu exclaimed, her eyes wide open.

“Did the nuclear bomb eliminate those monsters?” Kamiyu pressed.

An Dao shook his head and said, “It was useless. It couldn’t stop the Aberrant Beast Demons flooding into the Real World at all.”

“Afterward, we had to split off another part of our manpower to deal with these Aberrant Beast Demons in the Real World. By the time the Hell Tide ended, only ten of the First Batch of Players remained, and hundreds of thousands of casualties occurred in the Real World.”

“It also indirectly triggered regional wars afterward,” An Dao sighed.

Jack also widened his eyes and gasped sharply.

Jack now understood. The “Nora nuclear accident” thirteen years ago directly led to regional ethnic conflicts, which erupted into a brutal racial war three years later. It was then that he lost his parents, his sister, and his home.

It was the Aberrant Beast Demons who had killed his family, his people, and left him living a life filled with resentment and anger.

At this moment, Jack was consumed with hatred, wishing he could rush out right now and slaughter every last Aberrant Beast Demon.

“Wait a minute, didn’t Li Changde say that the First Batch of Players entered the Crimson Earth three years ago? How could it be thirteen years ago?”

“What happened during the ten years in between?” Kamiyu seized on this discrepancy.

“The First Batch three years ago was a later group. The ten Holy Light Church followers who ultimately survived used the Supernatural Power of the Crimson Earth to establish a shadow government, influencing the course of the Real World.”

“During those ten years in between, we used the points from the Heavenly Father Altar to create the Black Sphere and establish its selection and teleportation mechanisms. Through the Black Sphere, we selected human elites to enter the Crimson Earth and resist the Hell Tide.”

Here, An Dao spoke somewhat vaguely, concealing certain things.

Kamiyu slapped her thigh in anger and said, “I understand now, all the explanations can be pieced together.”

But the next moment, her heart raced with fear. “So my Talent, the Talents of all us Players, are manipulated by you ten?”

She felt the world spinning around her.