Chapter 89

Chapter 89

Ying Yuanxing found himself increasingly drawn to an anonymous online forum ever since he had gleaned valuable information from it.

He realized that reliable information sources in the Weird World were scarce. While the Weird World Consciousness was the most authentic, it was currently preoccupied, and he preferred not to disturb it without pressing matters.

As for the Weirds around him, Ying Yuanxing had already exhausted their knowledge. Most possessed limited information, and to learn more, he would need to find more Weirds. However, discerning the truth from their words presented another challenge.

Yet, on the anonymous forum, Ying Yuanxing discovered that some Weirds were surprisingly truthful, offering insights into the Weird World and its current events.

For instance, a recent news item reported widespread supermarket robberies—not just one, but many.

The thieves' method was peculiar: they used a black sphere that, when thrown, instantly spirited away Weird Food. Supermarkets had issued bounties, promising not only a reward but also all the stolen Weird Food to any Weird who apprehended the culprits and turned them in.

If that were the sole incentive, few Weirds would be tempted. However, several Weirds had come forward to corroborate—not the supermarkets' trustworthiness, but the black sphere's apparent ability to make Weird Food vanish.

Scanning the replies, Ying Yuanxing’s lips twitched. After spending considerable time navigating the Weird World’s networks, he had begun to grasp the peculiar logic of its inhabitants.

Many respondents weren’t interested in capturing the robbers, even with the promise of the stolen Weird Food. Instead, they were inquiring about where to acquire such a "Weird Artifact."

Tracking down the thieves would be difficult, not only due to their unknown strength but also the vastness of the Weird World. Supermarkets, however, were fixed locations. If one could obtain a device that snatched Weird Food in seconds, the potential gains would be far greater.

Ying Yuanxing was at a loss for words regarding these replies. He could only sigh—this was classic Weird World behavior, unbound by laws or morals, their lawless nature unmistakably evident.

Observing these responses, Ying Yuanxing began to suspect that the bounty-issuing supermarkets might also covet this robbery tool. If their true aim was revenge, eliminating the thieves would be simpler; why insist on their live capture?

Truth be told, Ying Yuanxing was curious about the black sphere.

Yet, the forum descriptions gave him pause. The black sphere sounded uncannily similar to something he recognized.

Ying Yuanxing’s gaze fell upon the bomb at the bottom of his backpack—a black sphere, perfectly matching the description, except for its purported theft capability…

Hold on. He re-read some Weirds’ descriptions of the robbery scenes.

"The supermarket counters were all gone, the Weird Food inside vanished, leaving a huge empty space."

Because no damaged items were left behind, other Weirds assumed the black sphere was a storage container that had simply removed the supermarket’s goods.

But… a bomb could also blast things away, leaving no trace.

Further scrutiny revealed that some Weirds had even recognized the bomber: it was the same Weird who had previously sold corn and was subsequently hunted by the supermarkets.

Ying Yuanxing recalled that after he listed bombs as weapons, initial sales were modest, but soon, few Weirds were willing to buy them. Yet recently, bomb sales had suddenly spiked.

The pieces fell into place.

Ying Yuanxing deduced that these Weirds had discovered the bombs’ effectiveness and decided to retaliate against the supermarkets. Their strategy, he admitted, was quite clever.

Conventional methods inflicted little damage on these supermarkets, but bombs could utterly destroy them. While these Weirds gained nothing from their revenge, the supermarkets suffered immense losses.

Having processed this information, Ying Yuanxing turned his attention to the phone sent by Xia State.

The phone contained various pieces of information—not classified data, but news from across Xia State, trending online topics, and other miscellaneous updates.

Essentially, the information stored on this dedicated phone made Ying Yuanxing feel as if he were browsing the internet back on Earth—except it couldn't connect to the web or allow him to reply.

The phone had everything: serialized novels, anime, TV shows, trending online posts, and even product recommendations tailored to Ying Yuanxing’s tastes. If he clicked "buy," the item would be sent over the next day when 1666 arrived to return the phone to Earth.

It made Ying Yuanxing feel like he was merely in a remote area with poor internet, rather than in an entirely different world.

However, Ying Yuanxing suspected this feeling was precisely Xia State’s intention. Frankly, prolonged stays in the Weird World could indeed blur one’s connection to Earth.

According to messages from the Dawn Bureau, they even planned to use Ying Yuanxing’s farm as a transit point to send similar phones to other Xia State game players, allowing them to also feel a connection to Earth.

Of course, they wouldn’t receive updates as frequently as Ying Yuanxing; once a week was the best estimate, as they couldn’t safely use their phones as often. They might only have a few hours a day to check.

It would take at least three or four days to go through all the content or just the parts they were interested in, so a weekly update was just right.

However, this would require knowing the players’ locations, notifying them in advance, and arranging for Weirds to deliver the phones.

Though the Dawn Bureau knew Ying Yuanxing could help if asked, they preferred not to trouble him unless absolutely necessary.

Ying Yuanxing noticed their hesitation and didn’t press further.

As he refocused, he saw Xuan Ying staring at him, occasionally glancing at the phone in his hand, his expression somewhat…

"Is the phone really that fun?" Xuan Ying’s voice was muffled.

Ying Yuanxing coughed awkwardly. When he wasn’t using the phone, he could easily go a whole day without touching it. The Weird World’s news wasn’t exactly plentiful, but Earth’s trending topics and other entertainment options had unknowingly consumed much of his time.

But that was also because the farm had grown a bit dull.

Honestly, the farm was vast, but most of the work had been delegated. The novelty of arduous farming had gradually faded, making him less invested.

Ying Yuanxing admired those who could stay disciplined. As for him, once things were mostly handled, he didn’t like pushing himself too hard.

Still, he remembered he had an enemy in the Weird World—he couldn’t afford to slack off entirely.

What is Zero’s weakness?

Zero’s existence always unsettled Ying Yuanxing. Though under the Weird World Consciousness’s suppression, Zero shouldn’t be able to act against him—just like the Weirds bound by the farming game.

From what Ying Yuanxing had gathered, other supermarkets had taken action, but Hongxing Supermarket remained silent. It was precisely because of Hongxing’s inaction that some supermarkets hesitated, fearing there might be something they didn’t know.

"Xuan Ying, you’ve fought Zero before. What do you think his weakness is?" Ying Yuanxing asked after some thought.

If there was anyone on the farm who understood Zero, especially in combat, it was Xuan Ying.

"He…" Xuan Ying hesitated, recalling his battles with Zero. "His abilities are numerous and complex. There’s no single way to counter him. He can even learn others’ abilities."

"Sounds a lot like you," Ying Yuanxing remarked, remembering that Xuan Ying could absorb skills from Weirds he devoured.

"He learns them better," Xuan Ying said.

"Can he learn your abilities?" Ying Yuanxing asked.

Xuan Ying paused, then shook his head. "I don’t know if he has, but the two Weirds beside him each possess a fraction of my skills."

Ying Yuanxing recalled—Gu Yu’s ability was puppet control, which did resemble Xuan Ying’s. But Gao Shuo’s skill was still unknown to him.

"It’s devouring, absorbing memories," Xuan Ying said.

"He must have had issues with memory absorption, which is why his personality is especially brutal," Xuan Ying added.

Brutal?

Ying Yuanxing thought of Gao Shuo’s behavior after Zero left—he had seemed quite normal. But he didn’t doubt Xuan Ying’s words; after all, Xuan Ying had known Gao Shuo longer.

If Gao Shuo’s personality had been warped by excessive memory absorption, yet he could act so normally after Zero’s departure… just how terrifying must Zero’s true nature be, to keep even a mentally unstable Weird in line?

Of course, the most crucial point was that such a Zero could still remain by the side of the Weird World Consciousness, even serving as a right-hand man. This made it hard for Ying Yuanxing to not harbor some unsettling suspicions.

Ying Yuanxing felt tempted to expose Zero but had to consider one big question.

Could the Weird World Consciousness defeat Zero?

This wasn’t Ying Yuanxing underestimating the Weird World Consciousness’s abilities—it was mainly because the latter had a major weak spot: the world core. And aside from the Weird World Consciousness, Zero was the Weird being who interacted with the world core most frequently.

Any tampering with the world core would force the Weird World Consciousness to focus completely on stabilizing it, leaving no room for other concerns—just like the current situation.

With the world core slightly unstable, the Weird World Consciousness had already taken off. If it became too swamped to act, and Zero showed up, Ying Yuanxing felt he still wasn’t ready for that.

"I can hold him off now. He won’t be able to get close to you," Xuan Ying said, picking up on Ying Yuanxing’s worry.

Under the guidance of the Weird World Consciousness, he had learned more efficient ways to get stronger. Though he still couldn’t defeat Zero, he could at least keep him busy.

As long as he could delay Zero, Ying Yuanxing could get away and stay safe.

Ying Yuanxing understood what Xuan Ying meant by "holding off," but stalling wouldn’t harm Zero—it would only continuously harm Xuan Ying himself.

With the Weird Food provided by the farm, Xuan Ying could keep going for a long time. But without it, the outcome for Xuan Ying wouldn't end well.

"Sometimes I wonder if you’re here just to motivate me," Ying Yuanxing muttered. Every time he started to let his guard down, Xuan Ying always made him feel he couldn’t afford to relax.

Xuan Ying seemed confused at Ying Yuanxing’s words. He understood what "motivate" meant, but had his words just now really been encouraging?

Ying Yuanxing suddenly wrapped Xuan Ying in a hug. Since Xuan Ying had taken human form, this kind of closeness had become rare between them.

After all, it felt too personal. When Xuan Ying wasn’t in human form, there were no big deals—it was like holding a toy, without any weird feelings about it. But in human form, it was different.

Xuan Ying froze up, but his arms automatically went around Ying Yuanxing.

Ying Yuanxing felt the warmth beneath him go from cool to just right—Xuan Ying was adjusting his body temperature to match Ying Yuanxing’s preference, just like how he changed his face around.

"If you hold off Zero, what happens to you after I escape?" Ying Yuanxing asked.

"I can try to take him on, though he might also devour me. We’d be stuck like that for a long time. Once we’re both weakened, Mother should recover enough to kick us both out of the Weird World," Xuan Ying explained seriously, having already thought through the plan.

Ying Yuanxing considered it and found the idea not bad.

But...

"Why do you always come up with plans that harm yourself? Can’t you think of something that benefits us both?" Ying Yuanxing gave Xuan Ying’s cheek a pinch, realizing only now that Xuan Ying had a subtle way of putting himself in harm's way.

"It’s the best solution," Xuan Ying replied, unfazed by the pinching. In fact, he even softened his skin slightly to make it more pleasant for Ying Yuanxing to touch.

Ying Yuanxing immediately noticed how smooth and supple Xuan Ying’s skin had become—soft yet springy, it felt amazing.

"Think of another way. Here's the deal: if I live, you live too," Ying Yuanxing insisted firmly. He’d learned that going easy on Xuan Ying only led to plans where he gets hurt. "Oh, and we stay together—not me in the Weird World and you outside it."

He quickly added.

"Then... I’ll work harder to grow stronger?" Xuan Ying suggested.

Ying Yuanxing’s mouth twisted. When asked for a non-self-destructive plan, this was what Xuan Ying came up with?

That was just stating the obvious!

After some thought, Ying Yuanxing realized the solution still lay with the world core. The Weird World Consciousness’s weakness was the world core—if it could be put back together, the problem would be solved.

However, his earlier idea of taking a small piece of the core might not be safe enough.

Ying Yuanxing decided he needed to gather the core fragments, preferably consolidating them into one piece. That would make it harder for Zero to find them and allow him to hand them over all at once.

Alternatively, if the world core fragments were united, the power boost would be substantial—maybe enough for him to handle Zero on his own.

As for the easiest core fragment to obtain now...

Ying Yuanxing glanced at Xuan Ying and immediately shut that idea down. If he asked, Xuan Ying would willingly just give it to him—but he couldn’t do that to him.

The only other lead he had was Yuan Xiu, but unlike Mu Ye—who was somewhat naive and had needed his help—Yuan Xiu wouldn’t just hand over a core fragment.

Suddenly, Ying Yuanxing understood why Zero, despite claiming to help the Weird World Consciousness gather core fragments, had made so little progress. What Weird being would willingly give up their power source?

And without detection tools, cores hidden within their bodies were nearly impossible to locate.

...

While Ying Yuanxing pondered how to deal with Zero, Zero himself silently read the message Gu Yu had sent him.

Aside from not directly exposing Ying Yuanxing’s situation, he had done everything possible—yet those useless subordinates had accomplished nothing.

Not only had they failed to stop the cheap Weird Plants from dominating the market, they hadn’t even managed to suppress them.

Worse, their aggressive actions had inadvertently promoted the Weird Food. Without their over-the-top interference, Ying Yuanxing’s products would have taken much longer to gain market recognition.

After all, some Weird Foods seemed beneficial but had hidden side effects or were outright scams. Now, with the supermarkets’ bounty hunts and crackdowns, every Weird being knew these were the real deal.

On top of that, the retaliations from other Weird beings had reduced the number of hunters, as leaving supermarkets understaffed invited sneak attacks.

Zero began to question whether his decision to leave some market share to these supermarkets had been a mistake.

He had assumed competition would drive motivation, and fully monopolizing the market would be too demanding—he had no interest in such trivial games. But now, it seemed these so-called allies were nothing but dead weight.

"Zero, what’s wrong?" The Weird World Consciousness suddenly noticed Zero’s emotional fluctuation, surprised.

In all their time together, the Weird World Consciousness had never seen Zero like this.

"Nothing major. Ying Yuanxing has just been causing some waves lately," Zero replied, initially planning to withhold details but deciding to test Ying Yuanxing’s importance to the Weird World Consciousness.

"What happened to him?" The Weird World Consciousness asked, concerned.

"He started selling Weird Food and faced retaliation from some supermarkets. But he’s resilient—he’s already fought back," Zero vaguely explained.

The Weird World Consciousness thought of the supermarkets he’d seen before and compared them to Ying Yuanxing’s little store, his brow furrowed.

To him, this was simply a case of Ying Yuanxing trying to run an honest business being bullied by dishonest Weird beings.

And why was Ying Yuanxing working so hard? Wasn’t it to make him happy?

Why hadn’t Ying Yuanxing reached out?

The Weird World Consciousness grew anxious. He had left Ying Yuanxing a way to contact him in case of danger—yet if not for Zero mentioning it, he wouldn’t have known Ying Yuanxing was in trouble.

Seeing the Weird World Consciousness fall silent, Zero initially thought his concern for Ying Yuanxing might not run as deep as expected—until the Weird World Consciousness emerged from the world core, gave a quick instruction, and hurriedly dispatched a clone.

Zero watched silently as the Weird World Consciousness left, feeling Ying Yuanxing’s presence had become a real problem.

He knew the Weird World Consciousness’s nature—once it trusted someone, it rarely doubted them. Before, only Zero had held that position. Now, there was another.

However, Ying Yuanxing's existence was not without its benefits.

Zero gazed upon the world core. Despite the Weird World Consciousness's efforts to repair it, the world core was barely holding together due to the missing large fragments. And because of this maintenance, the repulsive force of the world core was growing weaker and weaker.

Just a little more waiting, and perhaps he could replace the Weird World Consciousness to become the true controller of the world core.

In that case, letting Ying Yuanxing occupy more of the Weird World Consciousness's attention might not be a bad choice after all.

On the way to the farm, the Weird World Consciousness first stopped by other supermarkets to confirm that Hongxing Supermarket hadn't taken action—it was the other supermarkets that had acted.

Seeing the substantially denser Weird Qi within the Supermarket Weirds compared to other weirds, the Weird World Consciousness simply chose to let them release more Weird Qi.

The supermarket manager was still unaware, chewing out the staff for not keeping a close watch, allowing yet another weird with a black sphere to come in and clear out a large portion of their stock.

The staff member muttered meekly, saying nothing. The weird had appeared unpredictably—there was nothing he could do. It wasn't like he could stop customers from entering.

Once the scolding was over, the manager knew berating the staff wouldn't help. After some thought, he clenched his teeth and declared, "Since they're stealing our goods, we'll make sure there's nothing left on the shelves for them to take. Move all the goods to the warehouse. Only display empty packaging and labels on the shelves. When customers come, they can ask for what they want, and we'll grab it from the warehouse."

This was the only way to prevent weirds from suddenly grabbing things and running off.

As for stealing from the warehouse, the manager doubted they were capable. The warehouse had only one small door, guarded both inside and out. No weird except staff could get close.

But this approach increased the workload for the staff, as fetching goods from the warehouse was time-consuming.

Of course, it would also affect some of the supermarket's business, but the manager could no longer afford to care. If the thefts continued, the supermarket would be emptied, and there’d be no business left to speak of.

After directing the staff to move all the goods to the warehouse, the manager went to rest. His body was still saturated with Weird Qi, and even though it was dissipating faster now, the duration was short, so it was negligible.

But the staff felt differently. After just a short while of work, he already felt drained of energy.

At first, he thought it was just fatigue from labor, but upon closer inspection, he realized the Weird Qi in his body had significantly decreased. And now, the Weird Food in his hands seemed irresistibly tempting.

The staff knew he shouldn’t eat it, but with his Weird Qi depleted, ravenous hunger overwhelmed him, making it hard to resist.

While moving the goods, he noticed a weird entering the store. Seeing the weird’s movements, he grew alert and was on the verge of alerting the manager when an idea suddenly occurred to him.

These weirds always stole everything in one go. What if he ate a little before they could take it? Surely, the weird wouldn’t report him to the manager.

Truth be told, as a staff member, he resented these thieves. Every time they appeared, he got scolded and punished.

But beneath the resentment, there was also envy. After all, in all his years working at the store, the only Weird Food he had access to was long-expired stuff—probably worse than what these thieves stole in a single heist.

He’d once seen a coworker reply to a post on an anonymous forum, asking about the Weird Artifacts the thieves used. He knew what his coworker was thinking—probably wanting to use such an artifact to rob the supermarket once too. But the thieves never revealed themselves, making it impossible to contact them.

Before, he would never have considered this. But now, with his Weird Qi draining so fast, he was starving.

Noticing the staff’s gaze, the weird grew nervous—until the staff took some food from the shelf and wolfed it down, turning his back as if pretending not to see him.

Other staff members saw this and stayed silent, quietly taking some Weird Food from the same shelf and eating it too.

A loud explosion—the shelf vanished. The manager rushed out at the noise, angrily scolding the staff for failing to prevent it again. The staff bore the scolding silently.