**Chapter 9: The Truth of Inquiry (2)**
“Wait, you’re telling me there’s a connection channel between the Asking Dao Continent and the modern world?”
Lin Nan couldn’t help but repeat the system’s words, almost as if trying to convince herself it wasn’t all just a weird dream.
【That divine being, apologies, but I cannot disclose their honorific. However, a fragment of their consciousness was transmitted through the channel to your world.
Upon investigation, they were astonished to find another hive, nearly on par with theirs, completely ungoverned and just freewheeling it, developing and dying as it pleased.
No man’s land, first come, first served.
This news quickly reached the Crowd of Gods, and thus, they kicked off their rapacious plan for the other hive.】
Lin Nan frowned slightly. “Since the Crowd of Gods already has one hive and countless dimensions under their belts, why are they still so greedy?”
【The Crowd of Gods draw their power from various dimensions, and their methods of acquiring strength vary.
For example, the deity of the Asking Dao Continent enhances its power by harvesting life energy. That answers your second question.
Of course, I’ll continue with the first question in due time.】
Lin Nan, “…”
Okay, she’d refrain from interrupting with further queries.
【To get a clearer picture of the other hive’s state, the King of Gods decided to send an advance scout. Unfortunately, after round after round of selection, only a low-tier god with scant power made the cut to pass through the channel.
And halfway through, that low-tier god ended up losing nearly half of their strength.
But, by some miracle, they did arrive in your Earth world, becoming its new overlord.
The Crowd of Gods initially hoped this low-tier god would rapidly expand the channel to allow their divine crew to enter.
However, the connection between the two hives was already rare, and the channel was fragile. Any disturbance could make it vanish in a puff of smoke.
So for years, the low-tier god poured their heart and soul into the task, managing to widen the channel only a smidge.
But due to overuse of magic, once humanity stumbled into the civilized age, the low-tier god finally blinked out of existence, leaving behind a successor to inherit their will.】
Upon hearing this, Lin Nan had a lightbulb moment.
Could it be that the low-tier god mentioned by the system was the divine figure popping up in various mythologies across the world?
Looks like they really left many a mark in history, doling out favors to humanity in a bid for strength, only to crash under a mission that was practically impossible and shatter a god who could’ve survived millennia.
Perhaps the emergence of the “AskingDao” game was a turning point.
【After severing ties with the low-tier god, the Crowd of Gods considered entering the other hive to be an impossible task and temporarily scrapped the plan.
But one day, a god touring the Asking Dao Continent stumbled upon information emanating from the other hive.
They claimed to be the low-tier god’s will incarnates, and even after their divine figure’s demise, they never stopped researching ways to enlarge the channel.
Their research went all the way to the hyper-advanced modern world, until one fateful day they made a groundbreaking discovery.
That discovery? Virtual reality games.】
Lin Nan, “Virtual reality games…”
【The Crowd of Gods banded together to craft the system—namely, me. I mediate between them and the game developers, constantly tweaking the system to make it more aligned with what you’d find in other online games.
What the production team has managed to solve so far is that they can transport regular players through the channel, but what stays in your original world is merely a shadow of them.
All players who enter the Asking Dao Continent are under my control.
The Crowd of Gods also hoped to latch onto this opportunity to learn more about the state of the other hive.
And, the more players that show up in the Asking Dao Continent, the roomier the channel between the two hives.
Of course, this one-way teleportation means that the Asking Dao Continent can’t send its locals over to your world.
But you players can freely traverse between both worlds.
This peculiar phenomenon certainly caught the Crowd of Gods’ attention.
Upon further scrutiny, they were amazed to discover that each of you humans carried divine genes. In other words, each of you is a powerless low-tier god in disguise.
So, the Crowd of Gods decided to keep running the game, seeing if you humans could cultivate corresponding Dao laws like the natives of the Asking Dao Continent.
Maybe there’s a hint to access the other hive in there.】
So this was how the “Asking Dao” game came into being!
Unwittingly, the players had become guinea pigs, almost turning into accomplices as the Earth’s hive dangled on the brink of enemy takeover.
Lin Nan felt increasingly like everything she had sensed was mere illusion, ready to be overturned at any moment.
【But the god governing the original dimension had never anticipated that players would get involved in the native apocalyptic probing incident, discovering one method through which gods accrue power.
The Crowd of Gods worried that these low-tier gods might follow suit.
If they swiftly grow in power upon returning to their native dimension, they could become troublesome hurdles for the Crowd of Gods’ conquest of the hive.
So the Crowd of Gods ordered that, before closing the channel, all players showing interest in “Asking Dao” should be drawn into the asking dao continent while blocking their way back.
That way, the chances of low-tier gods ascending to high-tier status would be obliterated.
Just as the Crowd of Gods guessed, the influx of players into the barren Asking Dao Continent caused a worldwide famine, leading to mass player deaths.
Moreover, many players transformed into Fallen Species—though these Fallen Species grew stronger in the short term, they were straying from the path to godhood.
The so-called annihilation plan of the gods was simply a test to see if you low-tier gods could really obtain divine status under immense pressure.
Regarding the natives on the Asking Dao Continent, the gods never gave them a second thought.】
Lin Nan, “…But you still haven’t told us how we can go back?”
【Go back? Why would you want to, when staying here offers a chance to achieve divinity and join the Crowd of Gods? If you return, your fate will be grim. Once the gods enter the hive, you’ll all be turned to ash, utterly wiped out.】
“Even so, we’d rather d*e at home.”
【Fine, it’s no skin off my nose to tell you.
With no one’s help, if you become an actual low-tier god, then you can follow that channel back to your world.】
Lin Nan nodded, “Thanks.”
“Now for my third question, how can I become a low-tier god?”
【Every god has their own path to attain divinity, and you’re no exception.
Thus, even I, as the system, cannot know your way to divinity, and even if I did, I couldn’t spill the beans.
Sometimes the very thing that seems certain will veer off track once it’s spoken aloud—kind of like a sailboat navigating the ocean; you never know which wave will hit next and from which direction it’ll come.
In short, if you can conquer the god of annihilation, you might just catch a glimpse of the path to godhood.】
Lin Nan fell into a thoughtful silence.
After a long moment, she finally spoke, “I guess this question was a bit presumptuous. But why are you helping me?”
【Helping you? Pfft, not really! I just want to make this whole shindig way more entertaining.】
