"Beta Test Creatures?"
Hearing Hei Ying's explanation, Feng Qi was filled with doubts.
These four words were clearly the conclusion drawn by the Psionic Race after researching the Blue-Skinned Beings. However, the information revealed was extremely limited. He couldn't deduce any concrete or effective intelligence from just these four words.
But the term "beta test" itself was not unfamiliar to him.
Before Dawn, the super virtual game, was officially promoted and released in Star City, it had gone through several testing phases, including a closed beta.
A closed beta, also known as a beta test, referred to the earliest phase of game testing conducted with a limited number of participants before the game was fully developed. After the beta test concluded, the game would then enter further phases such as internal testing and open beta testing.
If the "beta test" in Beta Test Lifeforms had the same meaning as the term used in gaming, then a bold theory emerged in his mind—the force behind the Blue-Skinned Beings might be invading the human world in a way similar to a game.
The abilities of miracle items were wildly diverse.
Perhaps there existed a miracle item capable of allowing domain creatures to enter the human world in a manner similar to players in a game.
This theory was not entirely baseless speculation.
Considering the intelligence he had previously gathered on Blue-Skinned Assassins, this hypothesis had some merit.
From the existing information, several key characteristics of the Blue-Skinned Assassins stood out:
First, they never feared death. Once they locked onto a target, they would stop at nothing to eliminate it, even at the cost of their own lives.
This trait closely resembled that of players in a game.
In the super virtual game launched in Star City, many players trained in-game without any fear of death. After all, it was just a game—dying simply meant restarting.
If the Blue-Skinned Assassins only existed as projections and were actually controlled by a force similar to players behind the scenes, this would explain why they never feared death.
Second, despite their lack of fear toward death, they still exhibited emotions, which was unusual for artificially created lifeforms.
At first, Feng Qi had assumed that the Blue-Skinned Assassins were mere combat tools created for war.
However, the more he investigated, the less this assumption seemed accurate.
One of the most striking points was that the Blue-Skinned Assassins displayed emotional responses during combat. For example, they would grimace in pain when injured.
If they were indeed artificially manufactured battle constructs, then removing emotional responses from their design would have made them far easier to control.
There was also a particular case that supported this notion.
According to the intelligence he had obtained, there was an instance where a Blue-Skinned Being had befriended a human child and even helped cure the child's serious illness.
Although he had not witnessed this event firsthand, if the report was true, then it further proved that the Blue-Skinned Assassins had independent thought—something that combat tools should not possess.
Third, the Blue-Skinned Assassins possessed an incredibly wide range of abilities.
This aspect made them quite similar to humans.
Most domain forces discovered so far each possessed unique racial talents or abilities, but few had such a broad variety of skills.
However, the Blue-Skinned Assassins exhibited an astonishing range of capabilities—mental manipulation, psychic attacks, spellcasting, stealth assassination, close-quarters combat, and even structured profession-based roles. Their system was highly comprehensive.
The reason humanity's cultivation system was so diverse was that it had evolved by incorporating various traits from different domain creatures over time.
After all, modern cultivation techniques originated from rune modification research.
Rune modification had initially been a concept introduced during the study of domain creatures, which later expanded into its own discipline.
With humanity facing constant threats from countless foreign races, its cultivation system had been influenced by many different forces.
However, for the Blue-Skinned Beings to have such an extensive and well-rounded system was highly unusual.
If one viewed this situation through the lens of gaming, it suddenly made sense.
A game naturally required diverse character classes and skill sets rather than a singular growth path.
Fourth, the Blue-Skinned Assassins lacked functional internal organs.
This was the most baffling discovery.
Despite their undeniable strength, autopsies had revealed that their bodies contained no functional organs. Furthermore, upon death, they would disintegrate into pure energy particles and completely vanish.
Having personally encountered Blue-Skinned Beings before, Feng Qi was certain that they had physical bodies and were not simply elemental beings.
If one assumed that they were merely projections of life, this mystery could be explained.
Fifth, Wei Wei had once pointed out during her research that the Blue-Skinned Beings were constantly receiving signals from an external source.
This suggested that there was indeed an unseen entity controlling them, much like a player controlling a game character.
The signal they received was most likely a form of neural connection, linking the hidden players to their Blue-Skinned avatars and controlling their every move.
So when the signal was cut off, the Blue-Skinned Beings would instantly enter a dazed state, essentially losing their connection with the hidden players controlling them.
Based on all the intelligence gathered so far, Feng Qi had sufficient reason to suspect that a certain racial force was behind the Blue-Skinned Assassins.
They were using a miracle item to connect their thoughts to the Blue-Skinned Beings, treating the invasion of the human world like a game.
If this theory was correct…
Then the beta test phase could be understood as only a small portion of Blue-Skinned Beings being sent to the human world through a special miracle item. There might be an internal test and even an open test following this phase.
The force behind the Blue-Skinned Beings could be an enormous race that had no fear of death.
At this thought, Feng Qi's expression turned grim.
Perhaps this was precisely what the Psionic Race had discovered, which was why they treated the Blue-Skinned Beings with such caution. They believed that this race would become a formidable obstacle in the battle for dominance among the myriad races in the future.
Compared to the Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault of the Psionic Race, this potential miracle item, capable of projecting warriors' consciousness, was far more terrifying.
But all of this was merely Feng Qi's speculation based on the intelligence at hand. He had no way to verify the truth with certainty.
There were still too many unanswered questions about the Blue-Skinned Beings.
They could not be captured by cameras or recorded by any photographic devices; they were only visible to the naked eye, as if they existed outside the known rules of reality.
The small orbs carried by the Blue-Skinned Assassins, used to search for miracle items—what exactly were they? And why could they precisely locate miracle items?
Why were the Blue-Skinned Assassins collecting such a vast number of miracle items? Was there some hidden agenda behind their actions?
These were just a few of the many mysteries surrounding them.
Thinking about all this, Feng Qi felt a headache coming on.
These domain creatures wielding miracle items were like players who had activated cheat codes in a game.
The Psionic Race, with their Sacred Spirit Consciousness Vault, had access to an ability that allowed them to endlessly develop technology and knowledge.
Hei Ying's faction had used a mysterious miracle item to create the unsolvable bug that was Little Black.
And now, the Blue-Skinned Beings might have a miracle item capable of projecting their racial consciousness, creating warriors with infinite resurrection.
Feng Qi realized that every miracle item he had come across so far had incredibly overpowered abilities.
Take Qin Shikong's incomplete miracle fragment, for example—it gave him the ability to perform seemingly random yet accurate future deductions.
Or the incomplete Bloodstone obtained by the Mist Lord, which could infinitely reproduce small Bloodstones. Consuming these stones enhanced the bloodline potential of an entire race.
Even a fragmented miracle item possessed terrifying capabilities.
For instance, if the Mist Lord's Bloodstone had enough time to grow, it could elevate a race's potential to an unimaginable level.
If the time restriction were removed, the race that controlled the Bloodstone might be able to birth newborns who already wielded power equivalent to deities.
They could make their race's starting point the end goal that other species could never reach, no matter how hard they cultivated throughout their lifetimes.
The miracle bracelet Feng Qi obtained was also absurdly powerful.
It allowed him to establish faith connections across space and time.
If he weren't restricted by the suppression of domain forces, and if he could freely use the bracelet's power, he could establish faith across countless worlds. He would become a deity whose believers spanned multiple timelines and dimensions.
Every single timeline would have his followers.
Then there was the final miracle item—Three-Tails.
Also known as the Evolution Token.
At first glance, the Evolution Token's ability seemed simple, but in reality, it was a game-breaking existence.
Its ability to upgrade talents through assigned points wasn't just about simple enhancement.
At its core, it was helping Feng Qi deduce the future growth path of an ability.
Take Tiger Fist as an example.
Under normal circumstances, Tiger Fist could only reach a three-star technique rating. Even with further refinement, it would eventually hit a potential ceiling.
But the Evolution Token granted it infinite growth potential.
Even after reaching a five-star rating, Tiger Fist could still continue evolving, constantly deducing a more optimized growth trajectory.
The Blood Source ability he obtained was an example of this—a skill that underwent a quantum leap in power with the help of the Evolution Token.
These miracle items were essentially cheat codes in a game.
Each miracle item had the potential to bring about a qualitative leap for an entire race.
And these were only the miracle items he knew about.
There were likely other hidden factions that had even more terrifying miracle items in their possession.
Apart from the domain forces infiltrating human society…
There were still many domain races lurking within their own domain fields, yet to make their move.
Some of them might possess even more fearsome miracle items.
The deeper Feng Qi delved, the more he realized that this path to saving humanity seemed endless.
The road ahead for human civilization was filled with countless obstacles.
The kind of scenarios where villains would conveniently show up just to be humiliated by the protagonist only existed in movies and novels.
Reality was different. These villainous factions were all incredibly cunning.
Even if they possessed miracle items, they wouldn't reveal themselves so easily.
Every faction was operating in secrecy, scheming and laying out their plans for the future.
Even though he had the ability to infinitely reset and retry, he had already been killed NNN times.
At this thought, an even bigger question surfaced in Feng Qi's mind.
So, what exactly is the "Great Cataclysm" that looms over them?
What is it that these domain races, armed with all sorts of miraculous, heaven-defying artifacts, are so terrified of?
Could it really be so horrifying that even these beings, with limitless potential, fear it so much that they are desperately plundering resources to develop and fortify themselves, all in preparation for that inevitable day?
With these doubts weighing on his mind, Feng Qi lifted his gaze to the dark silhouette hovering not far in front of him and asked,
"Do you know what the Great Cataclysm foretold in the prophecy truly is?"
The shadow immediately shook its head and replied,
"I don't know. All I know is that it will be an unprecedented disaster. This prophecy originated from the most powerful races standing at the very peak of the domain world's hierarchy. They seem to have already started making preparations to deal with the arrival of the Great Cataclysm."
Hearing this explanation, Feng Qi nodded.
He had heard something similar from Old Mist.
Though these domain races didn't know exactly what the Great Cataclysm would be, they had already observed certain signs leading up to it.
For example, the gradual depletion of spirit energy within the domain world, the withering of all things…
Some unknown, terrifying substance was slowly eroding the entire domain world, pushing it toward collapse.
This was why domain races were fleeing to the human world.
Even though they had never personally witnessed the Great Cataclysm, they understood that if they didn't escape, they would face complete annihilation.
One thing was certain—the Great Cataclysm would begin in the domain world.
To these domain races, the human world was their last refuge, the final stop before the calamity arrived. Once they retreated here, there was nowhere left to run.
That was why the various domain forces had chosen to establish themselves in the human world, laying out their plans for the future, preparing for war over resources in the inevitable struggle among the myriad races.
Behind the ruthless competition for survival, every domain faction sought to strengthen themselves as much as possible before the final apocalypse descended.
Plundering, slaughter, development, research, growth… all of it served a single purpose.
All races understood one fundamental truth—only absolute strength could serve as the final trump card against the Great Cataclysm.
Upon careful reflection, Feng Qi realized that human civilization still had a long road ahead.
At present, humanity's cultivation system was incomplete, and the development of cultivation sciences was still in its infancy. Compared to the great domain races, the gap was almost insurmountable.
But before working to enhance human civilization as a whole, Feng Qi believed it was more crucial to eliminate internal threats first.
A civilization corroded from within was weak, no matter how tall it grew.
"Now, it's my turn to ask you a question," the shadow suddenly spoke in a deep voice, interrupting Feng Qi's thoughts.
Feng Qi responded calmly with a nod.
"Go ahead."
"What is your real goal in attacking Future City this time? Even if I possessed the resources you need, there would be no reason to start a war just to take them, would there? We are all laying the groundwork for the future. A conflict like this will only lead to mutual destruction. What exactly do you hope to gain from it?"
Feng Qi pondered for a moment before answering.
"The reason I launched this war on Future City is simple—I came for you. I want to know all of the secrets of the Institute of Technological Research."
"All of its secrets?"
"Yes."
The shadow frowned in confusion.
"How much do you even know about me? And what exactly do you hope to get from me?"
This response caught the shadow off guard.
Feng Qi's answer was akin to waging war on an entire nation just to obtain a single tree planted within its borders.
The meaning behind such an act was completely incomprehensible.
Feng Qi then spoke again.
"I don't know much about you, but I do know that you are a traitor of the Psionic Race. You once led a faction of the Psionic Race in rebellion, and you even took a miracle item with you when you left."
Hearing this, the shadow showed no sign of surprise.
From the moment Feng Qi mentioned the Psionic Race, it had already guessed that he had some understanding of both the tribe and itself.
With this in mind, the shadow asked,
"Where did you learn about me?"
"You probably won't believe it, but I don't just know about you—I've spent time with you before."
The shadow's confusion deepened.
"So what is your real objective?"
Feng Qi's expression turned serious.
Then, under the shadow's incredulous gaze, he slowly spoke.
"My objective is simple. The most critical part of your entire future plan—The Black Reaper Project."