Chapter 162: Stone Egg, stop, I can't take it anymore

Sophia was startled, but with the roar, an overwhelming pressure forced her directly to her knees.

The wound on her back tore open once again. Panic filled Sophia's eyes; this terrifying deterrence was on a completely different level from Waldner. She could not even speak, and as she opened her mouth, a mouthful of blood sprayed out.

After waiting for a moment, the pressure on her body gradually receded. Only then did Sophia's limbs grow weak, and she collapsed onto the bed. Glancing at Zhou Yi, who was still unconscious, and carefully sensing her surroundings, Sophia narrowed her eyes.

She had witnessed the changes in Zhou Yi during the battle.

Although she did not know what had supported Zhou Yi when he launched his counterattack, he had become unfamiliar and even terrifying at that time, bearing an extreme similarity to the pressure she had just felt. Could it be...

Sophia did not dare to think further, nor did she dare to attempt to take the small colorful stone again. An entity like that could crush her to death as easily as swatting a fly. The being had merely issued a warning and said nothing more, meaning it was at least not an enemy.

With this thought in mind, Sophia grasped Zhou Yi's hands, pinched the spirit stones, and began trying hard to absorb them.

In an instant, a warm sensation poured through her entire body. The pain from her wounds lessened, and the hand holding the spirit stone grew warm, then gradually became scalding hot. Sophia frowned and wanted to let go, but she found herself completely unable to do so. After struggling a few times, she knew that all of this was in vain.

Then, she forced herself to relax. The energy within the spirit stones surged toward Sophia's body in a torrent, washing over her in waves. The wound on her back began to gradually heal.

It was unknown how much time had passed when she opened her eyes again. The sky outside the window was already bright, clearly indicating that the entire night had passed. Feeling the soreness in her shoulders, she was about to move when she realized she was still holding Zhou Yi's hand.

Sophia paused, instantly recalling everything that had happened before. She released her grip on Zhou Yi's fist; the two large spirit stones had already turned into black stones the size of chestnuts, which she picked up and tossed aside.

Crawling to Zhou Yi's side, she replaced them with two new spirit stones and meticulously cleaned the blood and grime from his face and body. The spot on his chest where the fingernail had pierced was completely healed, leaving no trace behind.

It was impossible to tell the condition of the injury between his ribs, as Sophia lacked medical knowledge. However, seeing that Zhou Yi's breathing was steady, she pulled over a chair, sat cross-legged upon it, and kept a quiet vigil.

......

At this moment, Zhou Yi was sitting in a pavilion, watching the surging waves by the sea. Gone was the depression of the previous black waves and sky; his entire body felt exceptionally comfortable.

He knew that after borrowing the power of the stone egg, his body should have reached its limit by now, but being sucked into this place meant that at least his life was not in danger.

He had just taken a stroll around the hill piled with stone statues. Right now, the summoning power emanating from the statues toward him had diminished greatly, no longer possessing the urge to swallow him up the next second and turn him into one of them as it had initially.

Zhou Yi knew that part of this was due to his own mindset having changed, and another part was that the stone egg probably felt he was still useful. Raising his eyes, he looked at the brilliant, flowing lights in the sky and the tiny, twinkling points of light drifting around him.

Zhou Yi guessed that these must be the absorbed energy.

Having been severely injured earlier, the fatty and the others must have found a safe place for him to recuperate, while Sophia knew that spirit stones could repair the body.

At this thought, a smile appeared on the corners of Zhou Yi's lips. Although he had nearly died while fighting the four monkey-like foes earlier, not a single person had retreated even in such a critical moment, and everyone had fought with all their might. Sophia, in particular, had gambled her life. This realization deeply moved Zhou Yi.

As for the stone egg, it wasn't bad either; it hadn't dropped the ball at a crucial moment. At least, it would be hard to find another entity that possessed such a mark and could still coexist peacefully with him.

"Hmph..."

A sneer came from the sky, clearly having just eavesdropped on Zhou Yi's thoughts. Zhou Yi didn't get angry; at the very least, it had saved him and lent him its power, which must have cost it a fair bit as well.

"Don't be dissatisfied. We share honor and disgrace; they are saving me, and I won't die for the time being. I can tell that you know all about Time City and Forgotten Hill. Can you tell me about what's going on here?

Rest assured, if you want to say who you are, go ahead; if you don't want to, forget it. Just treat me like thin air. I won't be waking up anytime soon anyway, and the two of us just sitting here like this is pointless. You've probably gone years without chatting with anyone—don't you find it suffocating?"

Zhou Yi rested his chin in his hands, completely devoid of the tense feeling he had felt before.

Ever since last night, he had figured out one thing: the stone egg did not want him to die not because it thought he was so important, but because finding another suitable body would be too troublesome.

True to his expectation, after this thought, the stone egg did not refute it, meaning that for the time being, he was relatively safe.

He waited for a moment.

Just when Zhou Yi thought it wouldn't say anything, the voice in the sky spoke. This time, it wasn't so high and distant; it seemed to be right by Zhou Yi's ear. The tone wasn't loud either, as if opening the door to memories.

"More than two hundred years ago, in the year 2015 of Earth time, two good friends established a laboratory. They designed a live-action experiential game, allowing all participants to lie inside gaming pods and then enter a preset game world to complete task narratives.

Among them, a tall boy named Wu Yu applied for funds from his father and took care of everything related to game operations, promotion, and external affairs, while the other boy, Jiu Yan, settled his mind and began designing the game world.

From an initial single world completing one day's storyline, it later developed into over a hundred worlds where people could live continuously inside the game for months. Naturally, the gaming company also correspondingly manufactured gaming pods capable of providing deep sleep."

Zhou Yi raised an eyebrow. Such a long continuous speech had never happened since he met the stone egg, and it hadn't been interrupted and disjointed, which surprised Zhou Yi.

He did not interrupt the stone egg's words, but Zhou Yi had a feeling that one of those two boys was him.

Seemingly immersed in its own memories, the stone egg paid no attention to Zhou Yi's thoughts and simply continued speaking slowly.

"Everything developed over the span of ten years. Jiu Yan, who was in charge of design, began to grow continuously; he wanted to spend more time researching new worlds, but Wu Yu was thinking about how to enhance the gaming experience and get users to spend money.

Jiu Yan wanted to pour all his energy into design, while Wu Yu hoped he would participate more in operations and develop according to the market. The greater their differences grew, the more frequently they argued, and Wu Yu even gathered a group of people wanting to participate in research and development, though those attempts all ended in failure.

After that, the two had a deep conversation. Jiu Yan didn't say much else; he knew how massive the investment in the entire gaming company was, given that related industries required a lot of support.

Jiu Yan compromised. He found one of his previous design drafts: if they wanted to monitor game operations while keeping their hands free, the only way was to create an artificial intelligence robot to accomplish it all.

Furthermore, he produced all his ideas and settings on a one-to-one scale, including a body—an image completely identical to Jiu Yan. It was tested in operation for a period of time, and the operational status was extremely good, with management being very capable. The handling of all issues yielded the exact results Jiu Yan desired.

After that, the real Jiu Yan began to plunge into research, deriving thousands of game worlds from a few hundred modern-style small worlds. As for each world, the changes were also immense. Initially, it was just a solitary island with a few villages on it.

Later, it was modeled almost at a one-to-one ratio, completely imitating modern metropolises, from architecture to the system-controlled humans within, and even starting to create many ancient worlds based on historical records.

As soon as this was launched, it instantly overshadowed all other gaming companies. After all, many people wanted a live-action experience of lives they had never lived before: poor people wanted to live the lives of the rich, rich people wanted to try the lives of emperors and generals, boys hoped to shed hot blood on the battlefield, and girls hoped to experience outshining all others in elegance.

Gradually, Jiu Yan discovered that these small game worlds were slipping out of his control because the programmed data-humans within seemed to have begun acquiring consciousness. He searched through everything many times, yet found no clue to the core problem.

Meanwhile, Wu Yu could no longer be reached. It was then that he discovered he had been isolated within a small space—not his laboratory at all. And the one who had isolated him was actually that replicated version of himself."

At this point, the stone egg seemed somewhat agitated. The wind around Zhou Yi began to pick up, growing strong enough that he had to grip the table to avoid being blown away, though his feet had already lifted off the ground and were floating in the air.

The sea waves crashed frantically against the reefs, and the hill of stone statues trembled along with them.

Zhou Yi looked up at the sky and shouted with all his might:

"Stone Egg, stop! I can't take it anymore!"