"Alright."
Without the slightest hesitation, Fu Zhu readily agreed to Ruan Mei's request, which in turn caught her by surprise.
"Shouldn't this be considered your secret? To agree so readily..."
Fu Zhu shrugged nonchalantly. "It's just as I told Silver Wolf outside. How would you know that the mob grinder is the only secret I have? Besides, the mob grinder is just a product that utilizes the mechanics of this world.
You all just haven't realized it yet because you haven't adopted the perspective of a Steve. Otherwise, I find it hard to believe that the three geniuses of the Genius Society couldn't come up with a simple structure like a mob grinder."
"Adopting the perspective of a Steve..."
Ruan Mei's eyes lit up. She felt as though she'd had an epiphany. Many questions that had previously stumped her were suddenly resolved the moment she heard Fu Zhu's words and began to view this world from a Steve's perspective.
For instance, why she couldn't cut off a piece of the Iron Golem's body with her scalpel. It was because, by its setting, it was an indivisible whole. Unless the Steve who created this world changed that setting, she would never be able to do it, even as an Emanator.
Her other questions could also be explained through the lens of a Steve's perspective.
"Ruan Mei, since you want to watch, why don't you go ahead and ask Herta and Screwllum if they want to watch as well."
"Alright."
Ruan Mei nodded and turned to walk back towards the village. Fu Zhu, meanwhile, began to pillar upwards by placing blocks beneath his feet.
Ruan Mei followed the path from memory back to the village entrance. But when she looked up, the village was no longer as it had been when she left. All the houses were missing their walls, support pillars, and even their floors, leaving only the roofs hanging perfectly intact in mid-air.
The villagers stood around dazedly inside their roof-only homes. On the other side, Herta was swinging a pickaxe, chiseling away at everything in sight, while Screwllum followed beside her, talking and analyzing nonstop.
Seeing this, Ruan Mei was stunned and quickened her pace.
"Herta, what are you two doing? Why are these houses left with only a roof?"
"Gathering materials."
Herta replied with a matter-of-fact look, using the stone pickaxe in her hand to knock down another entire wall. She then casually tossed aside the pickaxe, which had only a sliver of durability left.
"I know you're gathering materials, but why are you... digging up the villagers' houses?"
This was what Ruan Mei couldn't understand. There was a nearly endless supply of stone in the layers of dirt right beneath their feet.
Hearing Ruan Mei's question, Herta sighed, turned around, and explained with her hands on her hips, a hint of annoyance in her voice, "Ruan Mei, this is where your thinking is wrong. From the very beginning, we've been mistaken. We've been looking at these villagers from an outsider's perspective, treating them all as real-life beings.
"Admittedly, they are lifeforms, but have you noticed something? It's what Fu Zhu mentioned before."
Screwllum chimed in at the right moment to supplement Herta's point. "Mr. Fu Zhu has been describing everything in this world using game terminology from the very beginning. It's clear that he wanted us to view this world from the perspective of a player, or a Steve. Otherwise, some things cannot be understood using real-world knowledge."
"So..." Herta continued where Screwllum left off, "from a Steve's perspective, these villagers won't die from not having a house to live in or food to eat. The lifeforms in Fu Zhu's homeland, or rather, in MC, are quite amazing, aren't they? So why should I be courteous to them? Is digging up the stone from underground more convenient than digging it from the villagers' houses?"
After hearing their explanation, a slight smile appeared on Ruan Mei's lips. So, they had figured it out as well.
"I see. It seems I'm not the only one who has thought of this. So, what's your plan now..."
"Just as Fu Zhu said, a Steve does whatever they want. Only by putting ourselves in a Steve's shoes can we truly understand this world."
"In that case, would you like to see Mr. Fu Zhu's new creation together? A new product made according to the settings of this world."
The moment Herta heard that Fu Zhu had made something new, she couldn't sit still. She had originally planned to develop some MC technology first, but now the stone pickaxe in her hand suddenly felt a lot less appealing.
"What? He made another new toy?! Let's go!"
Ruan Mei nodded. She was about to lead the way but realized someone was missing from the scene.
"Where is that Stellaron Hunter?"
Herta looked around. Seeing no sign of Silver Wolf, she shrugged nonchalantly. "Who knows? It's not like I'm her parent, why should I keep track of her? Besides, we'll get a notification when she leaves the Simulated Universe. Until then, let her do whatever she wants. Let's go, take us to Fu Zhu!"
Hearing Herta's words, Ruan Mei didn't press the matter and simply nodded in agreement.
---o---
"Alright."
Dozens of meters beneath the village, Silver Wolf was tirelessly mining blocks with a freshly-made iron pickaxe.
To her right, a virtual screen was lit up, displaying several photos of Fu Zhu's fight against Phantylia on the Luofu.
She had found these few photos when she had hacked into the Luofu's various databases out of curiosity on her way to the Herta Space Station.
If Kafka and the others hadn't been there to draw attention away from her, her little stunt might have actually been discovered.
Silver Wolf glanced sideways at one of the photos on the screen. It showed the moment Phantylia was struck by the Divine Lord and knocked into the Nether portal.
"A portal that can lead to another world... Hmph, watch me perform a speedrun and scare the hell out of Herta and the others!"
Because of the planet she was born on and her association with Elio, Silver Wolf had realized far earlier than Herta and the others that this world was nothing more than a game world created by a Steve for entertainment.
Since it was a game, she was naturally going to become the strongest player!
To become the strongest, she had to obtain stronger equipment by traveling to worlds beyond the main world, achieving goals that others had not!
Clink.
As the block before her shattered, a vast expanse of bubbling lava appeared before Silver Wolf, making her eyes light up.
"Finally found it!"
She had obtained the knowledge of how to create a Nether portal from the Luofu's database. All she was missing was a pool of lava!
"Nether, here I come!"