Hearing Stephen's words, Notch's gaze once again turned toward that dense and mysterious rainforest in the distance. He stared at that green ocean, quietly thinking in his heart.
"There hasn't been the slightest bit of news coming out from here…"
After a moment of silence, Notch slowly spoke.
"There are only two possibilities."
"The first, a passive reason, once you enter, you cannot escape."
"The second, an active one, after going in, you no longer have the will to leave."
"And it's not only the rainforest itself. The surrounding area is also affected."
"I really can't imagine how news could be sealed up so tightly, without the slightest gap…"
His voice was calm, but the meaning within carried a chill that made one's heart grow cold.
Stephen quietly listened to Notch's analysis, his mood inevitably turning heavy.
He too shifted his gaze back toward the rainforest. The scenery that had once looked beautiful and pleasant to his eyes now seemed hard to look at.
He murmured to himself, "No matter which possibility it is, this place is absolutely not simple…"
The mist in the rainforest seemed to grow thicker and thicker, as if hiding countless unknown dangers and secrets.
Facing such a mysterious domain, Notch and Stephen both realized this trip would likely not be easy.
However, their curiosity and desire to explore did not diminish because of this. Instead, it was stirred up even stronger.
Hearing Stephen's words, Notch nodded and said, "The only thing we can be sure of is that this place must be under someone's rule."
"To achieve something like this, that person is indeed worth meeting…"
———
[Inside the Endless Void]
"Everything is proceeding smoothly, just as you wished. It won't be long before we can achieve embodiment…"
The passive red consciousness was silently sensing the power collected by Withersla.
Although deep down he still held reservations toward the many thoughts of the dominant red consciousness.
It could not be denied, they still shared similarities. Both carried an extreme longing for freedom.
Ever since losing their bodies, ever since being sealed within this Void, far too much time had passed.
Whenever he recalled those dark, sunless years, the passive red consciousness would shiver in fear.
He truly could not imagine how he managed to survive through such long and painful times…
Day after day, night after night, facing this endless Void, knowing neither months nor years, neither time nor day. During that span he had nearly collapsed more than once.
By his side, only the dominant red consciousness accompanied him. Without each other, they likely would have long gone mad.
And because of this, the passive red consciousness was unwilling to abandon the dominant one.
Inside, he resisted violence and slaughter, and for the innocent beings who met total disaster he felt nothing but pity.
However, he was not some saint.
Here and now, even knowing that their freedom would be built upon countless lives' blood and tears, he still could not hold back the excitement of soon regaining freedom, of once again seeing the outside world.
So much so that even in his words a trace of longing slipped through.
Hearing the passive red consciousness, the dominant one was somewhat surprised.
"Did I hear that right?"
"The excitement in your words is already impossible to hide."
"Weren't you always trying to stop me before?"
If not for the dominant one pointing it out directly, the passive red consciousness wouldn't even have realized his emotions had overflowed.
Clearly, just now, his longing for freedom had won over his reason.
He did not answer the dominant one's question, or rather, he didn't know how to answer.
After a brief silence, he changed the subject.
"What we can be sure of is, we can't go back."
"Even if we collect enough power to embody, we can only remain in this game world…"
"What are you planning?"
The passive red consciousness understood well, even if they gained a body, it would only be a shell existing within this game world.
They could never return to their original world.
In the future, they would continue living inside this game world.
Although they had been trapped in the Void for such endless years.
The passive red consciousness had never truly thought about what he would do after embodiment, or what kind of life he would experience.
After all, until now, they had never even found a trace of hope to escape the Void's bindings.
But now, at this very moment, seeing embodiment right before his eyes, seeing the arrival of a brand new life, the passive red consciousness naturally began to think about what to plan and arrange next.
Hearing his words, the dominant red consciousness thought for a moment, then said, "I haven't thought that far."
"Let's wait until we meet Notch first."
It was obvious, he was lying.
In truth, at the beginning the dominant red consciousness had not fully thought through everything. At first his only idea was to embody and then take revenge on HIM.
After all, it was because of HIM that they had been sealed in the Void for so long.
So the dominant red consciousness absolutely had to let HIM personally taste the endless pain and torment they once suffered.
However, as time passed, his plans began to change.
In one earlier conversation with the passive one, the dominant suddenly realized a key issue.
Once they met Notch, regardless of whether Notch had the ability to uncover the truth behind past events.
Or whether he had the willingness to stop this revenge.
It would not change one fact, everything in the end would depend on Notch's decision.
All the authority of this world ultimately belonged only to Notch.
In both words and strength, Notch held absolute authority.
Yet this was something the dominant red consciousness could never accept.
After being sealed in the endless dark Void for so long, that consciousness, once dominant, gradually realized the unparalleled pleasure of holding all power.
That feeling was like a drug, impossible to quit. And with time, something deep within him began to quietly change.
Once, he had only been a silly kid following behind Notch, full of admiration.
Even if he had done some bad things before, he wasn't truly evil. Most of the time, it was only because he thought it was fun.
Back then, he wasn't very mature, naturally tied to his family and life experiences.
He had at best been a troublemaker kid.
But now, with the years rushing by, things and people all changed. He was no longer that mischievous child who still kept a trace of kindness.
Now he longed for more power and more freedom. He no longer wanted to live beneath others, nor to be bound or restricted.
In his heart burned a blazing fire. That fire pushed him to pursue higher existence. It drove him to try to control everything in the world, and to place himself above all.
That way, no one could sway his will anymore. Nothing could block his steps forward.
After realizing all this, the dominant red consciousness began his own plan.
That plan had already begun quietly from the moment he summoned Withersla.
Both the passive red consciousness and Notch were inside his plan.
And both were key pieces.
But in his future, there was no place for the passive red consciousness or Notch.
Of course, the passive red consciousness did not believe his words.
But he had no way to expose him on the spot.
After all, embodiment was about to arrive. At such a time, it wasn't necessary to create conflict.
He knew the dominant one's character, he could only stroke with the fur.
Thinking this, the passive red consciousness nodded.
"I know you still can't let go of this anger, that you still want revenge."
"Don't worry. When the time comes, I'll have a proper talk with Notch."
Hearing that, the dominant red consciousness smiled with deep meaning.
"Mhm."
"When the time comes, you two definitely must… 'properly talk'…"
———
[Western Grasslands, Beside Grayfist's Camp]
Grayfist's chest rose and fell violently, every breath as if it would suck the air dry.
His eyes opened wide, staring at Steve who lay fallen at his feet. His heart surged like crashing waves, hard to calm for a long while.
"Victory… is mine..."
Grayfist murmured to himself, his voice hoarse and trembling.
The victory of this battle hadn't been as difficult as he imagined, yet for the moment he still couldn't quite believe what lay before his eyes.
Before the battle began, Grayfist had been full of confidence, convinced he could definitely defeat his opponent. However, he had never underestimated Steve's strength.
Though Steve entered the PVP field late, his outstanding talent could not be ignored. Even more so, this game used holographic technology, and many operation techniques were actually similar.
A lot of operations simply trained physical agility and adaptability.
The gap between Steve and Grayfist perhaps lay only in the different emphasis they had when honing fundamentals.
Steve in the early stages studied monsters, so his basic skills were all aimed toward them.
Grayfist was different. From the start he chose players as sparring partners.
Since the game introduced PVP gameplay, the number of matches Grayfist had fought was beyond counting, possibly measured in the thousands.
In clashes with countless, all kinds of opponents, he gradually came to know and understand many different types of people.
Not only were their attack styles distinct, but their behavior patterns were also completely different.
Through massive amounts of battle experience and deep observation and analysis of players, Grayfist had built a huge database of information he could call upon.
Now, by only observing tiny movements of an opponent's hands or body, he could accurately judge what action they might take next.
Though Grayfist had plenty of data as reference, in fights against other players, that data could only play a supporting role.
Because most players carried all kinds of items and resources, and could flexibly use them depending on the situation.
Some even creatively turned unexpected things into temporary weapons for combat.
For example, some would spit when desperate. Some dried bread and used it as a weapon. Some even collected slimeballs to make "snot cannons" just to disgust people.
All one could say was, the inclusiveness of this game was a bit too strong…
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