Chapter 304 Coexistence World

This date lasted for a whole day.

And the nighttime was particularly agonizing for Xia Xinyan.

Naturally, Ling Mo did not take the initiative to go all the way, but what he did that wasn’t the final step made quite an impact on Xia Xinyan.

She realized that Ling Mo’s aggression seemed to be rising more and more.

And it was especially purposeful, just right in line with her vulnerabilities.

But that wouldn’t be entirely accurate… To be more precise, it was the way he approached things that left her completely unable to refuse.

It was that kind of… if she refused, it would seem to hit him hard psychologically, and in such an atmosphere, it seemed quite fitting for such actions. Most importantly, this matter itself didn’t feel excessive—rather, it was precisely within that range she found acceptable.

Or maybe her bottom line was just getting lower.

That night, Ling Mo took a big step forward.

Anyway, he was quite satisfied; although he didn’t reach the final step, he felt sufficiently fed and happy.

All in all, considering Xia Xinyan’s original goal, this date seemed to be quite successful.

But it left her feeling a bit complicated.

The two of them didn’t linger in the Dark Zone for long; after confirming the safety of the new stronghold, they left the game and returned to reality.

A lot had also happened in reality during that day.

Summer Jincang basically managed to follow up on what Xia Xinyan told him, but regarding discussions online, the vast majority still held a skeptical attitude.

Additionally, the opening of the Dark Zone and its new module rules sparked a lot of player discussion, with the hottest topic being the death penalty in the Dark Zone—dying there meant true death, completely vanishing from reality, leaving no corpses behind.

Perhaps because most players still viewed “Realm of Divine Presence” as just a game, when new content was released, players disregarded the warnings and rushed in to experience it. As a result, whether due to carelessness or mismatched skills, many players met their doom in the Dark Zone on the first day, which propelled the topic into the limelight.

Other players suddenly realized that this game was indeed serious.

After some players died, their friends tried to break open the Game Pods to rescue them; however, once they broke them open, they found that—inside, even the players’ bodies had vanished.

This naturally triggered a small panic; they had no idea whether the next step meant that deaths in the Battle Zone Dungeon would also lead to real-life deaths, resulting in various conspiracy theories spreading across the internet.

This was the downside of a big event occurring prematurely; throwing a frog into boiling water suddenly makes it aware that something’s wrong.

It’s also worth mentioning that the number of people bringing abilities into reality surged dramatically that day, mostly players who had entered the Dark Zone. It was likely just as Xia Xinyan had thought; this appearance of the Dark Zone also brought about the era of abilities prematurely.

Although monsters hadn’t started invading reality yet, the sudden changes still plunged society into a certain level of chaos. Coincidentally, the Summer Family, prepared for a monster invasion, managed to minimize their impact, which could be considered an unintentional stroke of luck.

The fat guy also acted quickly; in just one day, he had basically completed the relocation of the Chicks Stronghold, and most Chicks members had received the news and were hurrying towards the new stronghold.

After leaving the game, Xia Xinyan passed on the things she discovered in the game to Summer Jincang, mainly to ensure that the Summer Family could stake a claim in the Dark Zone early and prepare for future struggles.

Additionally, Ling Mo’s family had already been brought over, living in a place Xia Xinyan had arranged for them in advance, located very close to the Summer Family and nestled within their protective circle, making it arguably one of the safest places at the moment.

In the following days, Ling Mo began work on building the camp in the Dark Zone—all the building materials could be purchased in the game mall, but turning those materials into actual quarantine walls and various defense structures would still require quite a bit of effort.

The fat guy started preparation for the relocation in the Dark Zone, trying to move all Chicks members closer to Ling Mo’s new stronghold—the main reason being this area was relatively close to the Summer Family’s influence; the power distribution between the Dark Zone’s apocalypse and reality would definitely differ, making it impractical for them to establish a stronghold in place.

While they were busy, Xia Xinyan also took a moment to meet with Monica.

It was in the Dark Zone.

The new stronghold was based on Ling Mo’s old village house; although some houses had been destroyed, most could still be lived in with minor repairs. It was sufficient to accommodate the current Chicks members, and the arrival of new members finally added some vibrancy to the place, naturally leading to the need for the stronghold to expand as the numbers grew.

So, while the Chicks team was busy clearing out wandering undead outside, Xia Xinyan and Monica were watching the show from the rooftop in the middle of the stronghold.

They were also discussing something important.

“Do you know what’s going on in this world?” This was Xia Xinyan’s biggest curiosity at the moment.

However, surprisingly, Monica shook her head: “I don’t know; this world is a bit strange.”

“What’s strange about it?”

“How should I put it…” Monica seemed to collect her thoughts before saying, “This world and the real world seem to be in a symbiotic state, and the coexistence is quite peculiar; I’ve never seen anything like this before… The most important part is that I can’t distinguish which world is the main one, so I don’t know which world leads; this point is stuck, leaving me unable to analyze further.”

Xia Xinyan pondered for a few seconds and asked, “Do you know what situations might lead to this phenomenon?”

“There are many situations, like world fragmentation, time-space disturbances, and so on… but telling you wouldn’t help much,” Monica said while tapping her chin thoughtfully, “Anyway, just know that the chances of these situations occurring are extremely low. Even if two symbiotic worlds appeared, they would generally be two already destroyed worlds—because no normal life can withstand the force of a world tearing apart.”

“That’s why I’m quite puzzled; it’s the first time I’ve seen such a situation. Two symbiotic worlds, and one of them is a normal world…” After thinking for a moment, Monica speculated, “I believe that some external force must have intervened to cause this situation; otherwise, your situation is like winning the lottery and bankrupting the lottery company.”

Xia Xinyan: “…”

After all that, it was like saying nothing.