ATIGIBTC Chapter 127.2

He Fang was a little worried. He was worried that Guo Miaofeng, being a bit too slow-witted, might be oversimplifying the matter with the Summit of the World in his mind. After thinking it over, he shook his head and said, “Forget it. It’s still too dangerous. Let’s keep going with what we’re doing for now. If the Summit of the World really thinks we’re getting in the way, they’ll probably take the initiative to contact us.”

“That’s fine too,” Guo Miaofeng nodded. “It just so happens that I’ve had a few things I haven’t figured out yet.”

He Fang was a bit surprised when he heard that. “There’s something you need to figure out?”

Wasn’t Guo Miaofeng’s main job drawing maps? Could it be that some kind of terrain had appeared that was hard to understand?

“Ah, recently I’ve come across some strange terrain in certain areas,” Guo Miaofeng said to He Fang.

So it’s true? He Fang raised an eyebrow.

“What kind of strange terrain?” He Fang asked.

“Well, strange… I don’t even know how to describe it. A lot of them are formations that should be impossible under the local environmental conditions. The formation of any terrain follows certain rules, but these places don’t meet any of those conditions.” Guo Miaofeng showed He Fang several unique landforms. He Fang had seen many strange landscapes and worlds in real life, so he didn’t feel anything particularly unusual about them.

“Every time one of these strange terrains appears, a hole appears along with it. These holes are very deep. With the equipment we have now, we can’t detect the bottom of them. So up to now, I still haven’t figured out what these holes are,” Guo Miaofeng scratched his head with some frustration.

“Did you report it to the research institute?” He Fang asked.

“I did. The institute said they’ll send a researcher to go around with me in a while. There are quite a few places like this, so who knows how long it’ll take to figure everything out.” Guo Miaofeng gave a silly, embarrassed laugh. “Honestly, I also think it’s kind of weird to be so hung up on figuring out what a hole is. But for some reason, if I don’t get to the bottom of what these holes are all about, I just can’t feel at ease.”

He Fang glanced at Guo Miaofeng. The middle-aged man, looking a bit embarrassed, wore an expression tinged with helplessness. He rubbed his head and lowered his gaze with a sheepish smile. His sun-darkened skin made him look a lot more rustic than before.

“It’s not strange. Having a spirit of inquiry about anything is a good thing. You’re doing well,” He Fang said honestly, probably to encourage Guo Miaofeng. Then, with interest, he asked, “Where are they all located?”

Guo Miaofeng marked the locations on the terminal map and directly displayed them to He Fang. And He Fang suddenly noticed that the places where these locations were marked, when looked at carefully, seemed to be connectable into one continuous thin line, with a very regular distribution.

He Fang stared at it, a little dumbfounded. “It doesn’t even feel like a question of whether it’s natural or not anymore. With how regular this is, no matter how you look at it, it can’t be natural, right?”

Guo Miaofeng scratched his head in confusion. He didn’t seem too adept at handling this kind of situation. He Fang was nearly amused by how oblivious Guo Miaofeng was.

Still, a sudden appearance of this many bottomless holes on the surface, He Fang also felt something was off.

He opened his own system map and compared it to the terminal map Guo Miaofeng had shown him. Then, he suddenly discovered a very strange symbol. At the overlapping area between his system map and Guo Miaofeng’s terminal map, there was a small white dot.

Because the system map was already full of various markers with each one directly indicating specific locations and issues as designated by the Bureau of Land and Resources, He Fang hadn’t paid much attention to them and hadn’t particularly noticed what that little dot was. But then, as he zoomed in, he suddenly froze.

They weren’t the little white dots he had assumed. They were… tiny white crosses.

Unlike the incomplete map in Guo Miaofeng’s hand, the system map had very clearly marked many small white crosses. He Fang connected all of those white crosses and suddenly realized that they nearly encompassed all of the currently usable land not yet covered by the Nightmare Beast Forest.

He Fang furrowed his brows, suddenly feeling that these places might not be so simple. At first glance, it was hard to determine whether they were naturally formed or man-made. Either way, they gave an uncomfortable feeling.

“Here’s what we’ll do. Don’t just bring a researcher. Go find Yuan Zhiran and apply for a military deployment. Transport instruments together with the research institute. Anyway, just do everything you can to figure out exactly what these places are.” Since they didn’t know, they would just have to find a way to figure it out. Letting something suspicious sit there indefinitely wasn’t He Fang’s style.

“Understood, City Lord.” Guo Miaofeng responded immediately, without another word.

Although He Fang was a bit worried and doubtful, the tasks at hand were more pressing right now.

As Shi Canghai had said, the longer the time dragged on, the more fear would gradually fade. It had already been quite a long time since their last military parade. By now, the other mobile cities were likely in a position to think things through.

So He Fang, acting in the name of Mirage rather than Hope City, summoned all the city lords of the mobile cities to request a meeting. Attendance wasn’t required in person. It would be conducted through the locators. This was also the first time He Fang formally appeared before all the city lords of the mobile cities.

Each city had its own lord. He Fang wasn’t particularly skilled at negotiation, so he spent the whole time sitting there like a mascot, wearing a profound and unreadable expression as he watched his subordinates passionately debate the matter of the new peace treaty with the others.

He intended to directly state the plan of transforming all the currently existing lands into Holy Lands, indicating that he would not favor the Northern District alone.

Furthermore, Mirage would accept fair trade and be the first to offer resources and manpower to help other mobile cities rebuild their homes on the Holy Lands.

Mirage’s undefeated reputation already made the other mobile cities quite wary. On top of that, Mirage’s scouting teams and the mercenaries who had passed through Hope City had widely spread word about them. By now, Mirage and Hope City had practically become something like “potential saviors” in the eyes of the outside world.

Although some people still wanted to wait and see, the frenzy over land grabs among the cities in the Northern District—now already turned into the Holy Land—was more than enough to make everyone understand: if they acted first, they could claim more territory. Securing land with high-quality resources would definitely give a city an advantage. So, deep down, everyone was already wavering.

After all, in a post-apocalyptic world that had lasted so many years, who didn’t hope to finally settle down and live in peace? Most people had already had enough of this kind of nomadic, refugee-like life, constantly fleeing from one place to another.

Of course, not everything went so smoothly. There was inevitably a great deal of manipulation and subtle probing behind the scenes. Sai Gu’s shadow was unsurprisingly among them.

But this time, according to Shi Canghai’s instructions, He Fang didn’t have their own city directly draft the peace treaty. Instead, he handed over the right to draft the treaty entirely to the mobile cities.

Shi Canghai’s reasoning was this: based on the current mindset and habitual thinking of mobile cities across the world, if the goal was “fair trade”, then it would naturally be conducted according to the mobile cities’ own demands. Yet, the demands of the mobile cities were far below the production peak of He Fang’s city. As long as they never fully understood Mirage, Mirage would always hold the upper hand. No matter how the treaty was written, the ones who would truly benefit in the end would always be Mirage.

And as for those in power within the mobile cities, what they truly cared about was still authority. Giving them the power to draft contracts that seemed friendly to them, while He Fang’s people kept tweaking things behind the scenes to maintain a “balance”, meant that, in the end, it was their own treaty. Would they really find anything to complain about?

He Fang sat inside the locator room in Hope City, watching his NPC engaging in a war of words with the others. In reality, everyone looked down on his NPC, completely unaware that it was, in fact, the “seemingly fragile but true controller”. Suddenly, a chill rose from deep within him.

It was the kind of feeling that comes from realizing, ‘Anyone who plays strategy has a dirty heart.’

His own moral-model main city NPC really couldn’t compete with the ones from the Library, who had crawled their way up from the shadows.

The process of drafting a treaty would take a very long time, so He Fang’s side simply requested the right to sell the terminal first. After all, these people were racking their brains to “scavenge” from Mirage, so naturally, they wouldn’t be stingy about letting Mirage disseminate some harmless bits of culture. The terminal was finally launched for sale across the entire post-apocalyptic world. Of course, with the exception of the Summit of the World.

During this period, He Fang used a variety of high-quality entertainment and film productions from Angel City to directly capture the attention of the public, whose lives were now bland and monotonous. With features like “no internet connection”, “one-time purchase”, and “watch-only, no commenting”, the upper levels of the mobile cities didn’t harbor much suspicion toward He Fang’s side.

Later, He Fang opened up different levels of terminal access restrictions to the upper echelons and city lords of the mobile cities. They also had the privilege of granting access rights to their own city’s residents. This sense of “exclusive privilege” was still enough to make these people accept He Fang’s terms.

But He Fang’s real objective was: once a single city activated full terminal access, residents of other cities would be unwilling to fall behind and would also want access. At that point, one tug would set the whole situation in motion. He wouldn’t have to go city by city, exerting effort anymore.

Everything progressed very smoothly like silent rain nourishing all things. Shi Canghai’s approach truly did suppress the likelihood of war.

And under Shi Canghai’s current proposal, Angel City began to stir with ideas. After seeing the direction He Fang intended to take in the future, Yuan Sanjin proposed creating a “luxury goods” brand to build name recognition for Mirage.

He Fang was initially not optimistic. In a time when people were too poor to even afford food, who would still want to buy luxury goods?

But Yuan Sanjin pulled together a proposal overnight. The plan was to sell “luxury goods” related to the terminal, like high-end headphones, ultra-large-screen terminals, 3D sensory terminals, and so on. She even introduced recording equipment that would allow people to submit videos to Angel City, activating the enthusiasm of the general public to produce content. After reviewing the plan, He Fang thought it might not be too suitable for mobile cities that were not yet stable.

However, seeing how excited Yuan Sanjin was, He Fang asked her to first survey how terminals were selling among ordinary people. In the real world, there were always wealthy people interested in high-end products. The market might not be huge, but the profit was certainly high. If they were really going to do it, maybe not now, but definitely in the future.

Next came a batch of professional-grade equipment designed to “liberate the labor force”. These items were handed over to Wei Qixuan. As one of the cities most fond of farming and physical labor, Hope City was expected to take the initiative in “promoting” these products to other mobile cities. It was emphasized that purchasing wasn’t strictly necessary. They could be rented, and if people didn’t know how to use them, they could even hire people from Hope City.

While it’s true that relying on a large workforce could achieve the same results, if tools could be used to partially free up labor, that labor could be redirected to other tasks. For instance, instead of sending a massive number of people to clear land, they could be building houses instead. Although this couldn’t be called a full liberation of the labor force, it could at least ease the demand to a certain degree. After all, with the population limits in cities, it’s simply impossible to develop all the available land. There’s always a ceiling.

Bit by bit, these exchanges and sales opened up, which essentially served as proof that the main cities were gradually infiltrating these former mobile cities. Other mobile cities that had yet to enter the Holy Land looked on with increasing unease, especially as they saw that in just a few short months, the cities were already taking shape and beginning to thrive.

Everyone was well aware: once they entered the peaceful cities, former “combat cities” and such would cease to exist. Everything would shift into an era of trade. In that era, whoever developed fastest would gain the upper hand.

When He Fang thought about it carefully, they hadn’t really done much at all. They had simply stepped forward to set an example. The other mobile cities, in pursuit of their own interests, began to act on their own. It was all incredibly interesting. Shi Canghai then launched a whole series of campaigns, directly elevating Mirage to the status of a legend, to the point where those around them didn’t even dare to covet it lightly.

He Fang thought to himself that the people in the Library really did know how to use their brains. They were impressively adept at maneuvering through complex situations.

Shi Canghai was circling among the major cities, elevating Mirage’s status, while Shi Sangtian suddenly handed He Fang a draft of a new doctrine she had started formulating—for the Divine Lord’s Church. When He Fang saw the content, he was completely dumbfounded.

“What the hell is this?” He Fang flipped through it. The contents were downright outrageous. If Shi Canghai was trying to plant the idea of a god into people’s hearts, then what Shi Sangtian had produced was basically a direct affirmation of the existence of a real god.

“There is indeed a true god in this world,” it stated, “and this god desperately needs faith. Without a proper, qualified organization, that faith would be scattered and weak.”

Shi Sangtian’s expression was very calm, as if she didn’t think there was anything odd about what she had done.

“Recently, I’ve noticed that Angel City has a relatively standardized system of belief in the Divine Lord, but it’s not enough. City Lord, since you brought the Divine Lord into the public eye, it must be with the intention of having the Divine Lord lead the development of the cities and rally the people’s hearts. With a formal doctrine, everyone will have a justified and structured way to contribute their faith. That way, belief can become more pure.”

Although He Fang had indeed brought the Divine Lord out into the open and the Divine Lord had played a massive role in both the scouting teams and protecting civilians, in truth, as an atheist in the real world, to He Fang, the Divine Lord was still just a landmark.

“Isn’t this a bit too superstitious? Isn’t blind faith kind of… bad?” After so many years of education, he was still instinctively averse to religion. Not to mention, he knew perfectly well that the Divine Lord was nothing more than a statue NPC meant for daily ambiance.

“City Lord, my brother said that right now, you’re doing everything you can to win over the hearts of the people. Making everyone believe in the Divine Lord is one of the key ways to do that. Don’t underestimate the power of faith. Didn’t you personally witness a miracle brought about by faith?” Shi Sangtian was referring to the time they used the Divine Lord to resurrect Shen Houyun.

He Fang’s expression was complicated. It really was like this. No doubt about it. And since it was already being called the “power of faith”, then the landmark was, in the truest sense, god. There wasn’t anything strange about it.

He Fang opened the doctrine that Shi Sangtian had painstakingly compiled. Within it, the detailed descriptions unfolded directly before He Fang’s eyes like a grand, magnificent scroll. A sweeping epic from nothingness to creation, the tales of countless deities, the Divine Lord’s prophecy, and the sorrow he felt for the world when he transformed into a sculpture. The thick tome completely presented the image of a true god in all its weight and glory.

But looking more closely, flipping through the contents, this so-called epic was just He Fang’s early game experiences: The Creator descends—that was him entering the game. Constructing the underground water system—the birth of the Holy Spring. Building the wind power plant—Thunder God’s blessing. Erecting the first house—God’s creation. The appearance of NPCs—the descent of the gods…

He Fang’s expression could hardly be described as anything but complicated. Everything written in this chaotic and sacred document was exactly what he had personally experienced while building the city. Yet with just a few stylistic tweaks, it had all been transformed into a solemn and awe-inspiring mythological doctrine. Nothing felt out of place. Even the names sounded profound.

At this point, He Fang couldn’t help but wonder that maybe the myths and religions in real life had all started like this, too: adaptations based on real events.

“I think… it’s pretty interesting.” If he could set aside his atheist mindset for a moment, Shi Sangtian’s version of the Divine Lord’s doctrine was quite brilliant.

Shi Sangtian looked at He Fang seriously and said, “I’ve already polished the content a bit. I’m just not sure whether it strays from reality. I’ve been spending all my time at the City Lord’s Museum, and some things are just too difficult to understand. Fortunately, the curator has been patiently explaining the history behind every item on display.”

Just thinking about how his own cringy, middle-school-level dark history was on display in the City Lord’s Museum made He Fang’s face involuntarily turn red.

“At the very least, everything seems perfect to me as it is now. But the truth behind it all can only be known by you, the Creator. That’s why I hope you’ll revise and verify it,” Shi Sangtian said seriously. Her face, identical to Shi Canghai’s, was full of sincerity, making He Fang’s embarrassment and awkwardness seem almost unreasonable in contrast.

He Fang coughed lightly and cleared his throat. “It’s fine. Just leave it like that.”

“No need for any revisions?” Shi Sangtian asked, puzzled.

He Fang’s expression was a bit subtle. “Well, it is mythology, after all. We can’t really know too much about what the gods do.”

Shi Sangtian stared at He Fang, and He Fang looked back at her. Suddenly, Shi Sangtian said, “I understand how to revise it now. You’re right. If it’s too realistic, it undermines the mystery of the divine. Thank you for your guidance, City Lord.”

He Fang: “……”

“When all the content is completed, we’ll need to coordinate with Angel City to produce a video. We want to use the simplest method to pass this knowledge on to everyone. I hope the City Lord can approve. Of course, we’ll also need a certain amount of funding,” Shi Sangtian said, completely unfazed by He Fang’s silence, or rather, perhaps she fully understood that even gods could feel shy about their own privacy.

“I got it. Just go straight to the main city’s finance department and find Lu Hu. She’ll handle the arrangements.”

He Fang watched as Shi Sangtian bowed to him, then took her leave. Her elegant, graceful figure gradually faded from view. He Fang quietly wiped the sweat from his forehead.

---