Chapter 115: The Chat Room and the Message from the Divine
“Undetectable?” Chen Qing was taken aback by her words. He looked up and saw Bu Zhaozhao’s face, unusually open and straightforward.
“Are you… the one running the test?” he asked.
Chen Qing furrowed his brow and pressed further. “You’re clearly just a soul… so why…”
“Being a soul doesn’t mean I can’t use non-heritage artifacts. Take the typewriter I contracted with you—it’s an item designed specifically for souls to operate. That’s not strange.” She explained candidly before continuing, “The main issue is not here.”
“The key point is that, among the routes I predicted, all paths related to the Thousand-Faced Gentleman have vanished. Historically, such a thing has simply…”
“Never existed?” he asked, his expression strange.
“It has appeared twice before.”
“Isn’t that fine then?”
“But those two artifacts lost their monitoring capabilities only when climbing to A-level.”
His expression remained unchanged, but Bu Zhaozhao grew noticeably cautious. “I don’t know what’s going on… but take my advice—its danger may outweigh the benefits. Better to hold off for now.”
He stared out the window, lost in thought. Seeing his silence, Bu Zhaozhao refrained from pressing further.
Yet, having come this far, she still offered useful advice: “If you insist on advancing, there are two paths to promotion: first, working backward from high-level non-heritage artifacts to determine materials and routes; second, acquiring them through the shrine.”
Her form began to fade, and her voice drifted away: “It’s up to you to decide.”
He listened as her words vanished, fingers tapping softly on the windowsill.
The shrine and high-level non-heritage artifacts…
Not so easy to obtain.
He remained silent, eyes shifting to the unattended screen behind him.
On the forum’s chat website, the number of online users had grown to six.
“Welcome everyone to the Hidden Ones Forum. This forum aims for mutual benefit and assistance. Please protect your personal privacy within the forum. The forum guarantees all speech here but cannot ensure your safety offline.”
A system message popped up first in the chat interface.
The layout was simple: above the chat window, less than two or three centimeters away, was the online user count; below, the chat area was stark white with no additional function keys.
Only at the bottom, a faintly blinking cursor struggled to prove its presence.
“Welcome to this forum.” — Thousand-Faced Man
---
“Who are you? You seem to know this forum well.” — Albinism
“Don’t pry into others’ information casually. No one here wants their real name known.” — Thousand-Faced Man
“But you seem familiar with this forum.” — Albinism
“He’s right. Do you have a connection to this forum?” — Hunter
“This is a matter of fees.” — Thousand-Faced Man
After a brief silence, his cursor began to blink again.
“But this time, I’m willing to offer it free of charge. This forum requires a basic level of trust to proceed.
I’m willing to lead by example.
Regarding your questions, both yes and no.”
Outside the screen, a young girl grasped her hair, her face pale. Her youthful screen showed clumps of brown hair falling out as she read the words, thoughts swirling in her mind.
“It’s because I’m not new to this forum.
Or rather, because I have no direct ties to this website.
This site—or rather, this organization—has existed for a long time.
Every time it appears, it brings great disasters.
The last time it surfaced, I happened to be there.
And after centuries, I’ve returned here once more.” — Thousand-Faced Man
“So, you’ve entered the Hidden Ones twice?” — Sailor
“Yes.” — Thousand-Faced Man
“That’s why you know something about this place.
For example: this is an organization of extraordinary individuals.
For example: everyone here seeks or wishes to understand something.
Even knowledge itself can be traded here.
Those who meet trading volume or activity thresholds are rewarded with opportunities by the Hidden Ones.” — Thousand-Faced Man
“If there are opportunities, why keep them secret?” — Hunter
“But someone else has to know too.” (Helpless expression) — Thousand-Faced Man
“Oh? This generation of Hidden Ones hasn’t loaded emoji?” — Thousand-Faced Man
---
“…” — Fairy Tale Author
“Interesting, I like it.” — Fairy Tale Author
“But how can we ensure that everything we obtain won’t be stolen, or that the information traded won’t be passed on or be false? Isn’t that a huge loss?” — Albinism
In a jungle, a primitive man clutched a dry branch, faint light casting shadows over the grass.
Behind him lay six or seven corpses silently resting elsewhere.
“Someone’s losing patience…” he muttered softly. “I’m almost there… hurry up.”
“Then we can try.” — Thousand-Faced Man
“Besides, after hundreds of years, I want to see if the Hidden Ones’ non-heritage artifacts still work.” — Thousand-Faced Man
After these words appeared, the five people in front of their screens saw a trading prompt the next second:
“Thousand-Faced Man is requesting to initiate a trade with Albinism, Hunter, Sailor, and Fairy Tale Author.”
All clicked to accept the request.
The moment they did, Thousand-Faced Man’s avatar leapt to the center of their screens.
“Next, I will conduct two trades with you.
First, you may offer a false piece of information as a commodity; I will buy it.
Normally, this purchase would be blocked by the website.
Then, I will trade you a piece of common knowledge from the extraordinary realm. That should suffice.”
The four fell silent for a moment but soon responded.
“I am male.” — Trade rejected.
“There are gods in this world.” — Permission denied.
“I am silicon-based life.” — Trade rejected.
“My hair is colorful.” — Trade rejected.
He looked at the messages on the screen, a slight smile curling his lips.
Typing on the keyboard, a line of words appeared:
“There are gods in this world.” — Verification successful.