Worldwide Awakening: My Soul Kinds Are Lost

"It really was a case of 'one trick ponies conquering the world.'"

Wang Linchi discovered that the Game System, relying on its set of three core technologies combined with its massive scale, could quickly filter and segregate all the Erroneous Sins, thereby creating distinct instances.

However, unlike Echo instances, the instances formed by Erroneous Sins could not be divided to run concurrently. Each Erroneous Sin was unique and couldn't be duplicated like world echoes, where the latter only required their source to be solidified and then erased.

Currently, only Wang Linchi could destroy an Erroneous Sin. Other players, and even the Game System itself, were powerless against them.

Moreover, if an Erroneous Sin's impact became too great, it could, in turn, affect the Game System. Both belonged to the same category of rules, so it was impossible for the Game System to inflict unilateral harm without retaliation. Forces are always mutual, and in this case, it was practically a brawl between them.

However, after segregation, all Erroneous Sins were imprisoned in a separate space. The Game System would assign players to complete tasks, with rewards for success and punishments for failure.

In addition to assignments from the Game System, players could also volunteer for these instances. Those who volunteered would face no penalty for failure, serving as an encouragement.

"The method of dealing with Erroneous Sins, however, seems to harbor quite a few hidden dangers." Wang Linchi observed the Game System's approach: instigating rule conflicts between two or more Erroneous Sins to force them to 'crash.'

But sometimes, Erroneous Sins didn't crash. Instead, the intertwining of their rules could lead to the formation of even more powerful Erroneous Sins.

More importantly, if an Erroneous Sin didn't crash but instead upgraded, attempting to crash it again would require an Erroneous Sin of comparable magnitude. Otherwise, it would be absorbed by the more advanced Erroneous Sin, becoming part of it and enabling a further upgrade.

"If this reckless approach continues, and they accidentally synthesize an Erroneous Sin of immense magnitude, wouldn't the Game System... devour it?"

Initially, Wang Linchi thought the Game System might suffer a catastrophic failure. Then it struck him—what failure? The Game System itself was likely the largest Erroneous Sin of all.

"So, the Game System is essentially cultivating its own fodder?"

Currently, there were two ways for Erroneous Sins to strengthen themselves. One method was to absorb the rules of both Chaos and Order, primarily sourced from players. This was the standard path of advancement for all Erroneous Sins.

The second was passive enhancement, occurring when the rules of different Erroneous Sins intertwined. Ordinarily, Erroneous Sins wouldn't advance in this manner, as they lacked self-awareness. Unless guided, Erroneous Sins would not encounter one another; even if they did, their differing rules would cause them to steer clear of each other.

It was akin to the saying 'kings do not meet kings.'

The Game System, however, disregarded this, intentionally guiding players to bring Erroneous Sins together, thereby engineering more powerful ones.

Once these Erroneous Sins were 'fattened up' to a certain degree, the Game System would devour them whole. The resulting enhancement would undoubtedly be immense.

If absorbing the power of Chaos and Order rules led to a qualitative leap through gradual quantitative accumulation, then directly integrating a massive Erroneous Sin into itself would not only trigger an immediate qualitative transformation but also provide a substantial quantitative boost.

If Wang Linchi were in its position, he would cultivate humans while simultaneously guiding the Growth of Erroneous Sins for harvesting—precisely the Game System's strategy.

"The plan is ingenious, but does the Game System know that an overabundance of Erroneous Sins can lead to World Stasis?"

Wang Linchi was somewhat puzzled. World Stasis would inevitably plunge everything into prolonged silence. During this period, the rules themselves would become dormant, ultimately leading to the world's demise. Forget the rules; whether the world itself could even continue to exist would be questionable.

Therefore, while the Game System's approach seemed effective, it was highly impractical and, in fact, a surefire path to its own destruction.

"If it's unaware, that's one thing. But if it knows," Wang Linchi mused, "perhaps it has a contingency plan?"

Given how far it had already gone, Wang Linchi felt compelled to consider darker possibilities.

[Instance matching successful. Current instance: Night Hotel]

The Game System's notification interrupted Wang Linchi's thoughts. He had initiated instance matchmaking earlier but was waiting for enough players.

It took about ten minutes to finally assemble a team.

It wasn't a lack of players trying to match, but rather that Wang Linchi's account was a level 1 'blank slate.' Originally intended for concealment, finding suitable teammates for such an account wasn't easy.

[Night Hotel, Number of Players: 10]

[Task: Survive for ten days or suppress a pair of Evil Demons]

[Reward: Level +1, Gold Coin ×1, Random Food ×5]

[Failure: No Penalty]

With the Fusion of game and reality, all real-world currencies had become obsolete. Game currency was now required for all transactions. Fortunately, the Game System wasn't foolish. It hadn't destroyed every aspect of modern society but had instead assimilated everything, including electronic devices and servers. This meant all data remained intact and had been successfully taken over.

In other words, players could now directly pay for utilities, rent, and even mortgages and car loans within the game panel using game currency.

Real-world currencies were now useless.

Players now needed to eat and drink to prevent their game characters' hunger levels from dropping. However, there was no need for excretion, suggesting all consumed food was completely absorbed.

Since reality had fused with the game, everything now existed as a hybrid of data and physical entity.

This made it somewhat troublesome for Wang Linchi to maintain his alternate account, which, in his hand, manifested as a mere speck of light the size of a fingernail.

With a flash, Wang Linchi was transported into a hotel.

Including him, there were ten people in total—men and women, young and old. The common characteristic of these players was that they were all below level 10 and poorly equipped.

This suggested they likely couldn't even complete daily tasks. Each had a negative contribution score, and their combat strength was relatively poor.

Consequently, the difficulty of tasks assigned to such a group could fluctuate significantly.

"I know this place! It's Sea City! We need to leave immediately, don't go into any hotel!" a middle-aged woman said with an evasive expression, clearly unwilling to complete any task.

"Aren't you afraid of the failure penalty?" a young man beside her scoffed, though fear also flickered in his eyes.

"Is your failure penalty also erasure?" Wang Linchi asked, noting their expressions and feigning nervousness.

Hearing this, the other nine people turned to look at him.

"Your contribution score is that low? Straight to erasure? I just get a -1 to my attributes," the young man exclaimed in utter surprise.

An attribute reduction of -1 wasn't fatal, but if an attribute reached 0, it meant death.

Wang Linchi nodded. "Yes, I've slacked off a lot."

He said this deliberately to probe for information about the basic penalties.

"Oh no, I've received a warning! Act immediately or be judged as exhibiting passive gameplay! We need to hurry and check in!" another middle-aged man suddenly exclaimed.

Unlike these nine, Wang Linchi wasn't flagged for passive gameplay. He had voluntarily entered the instance, so his contribution score was not only fine but actually positive. He would only be judged as passive if he stood at the entrance for too long without a valid reason.

There were penalties for passive gameplay.

The current Game System was no longer the same as when God-given World was first released.

The group surged into the Night Hotel.

Wang Linchi followed at a leisurely pace, his gaze sweeping over the Night Hotel.

Within his Thought Field, everything around him was reflected onto his Thought Mirror, generating vast amounts of data.

Sea City? Indeed, this is Sea City. But hoping to leave this instance and hide out in Sea City is probably wishful thinking.

Wang Linchi clearly perceived that the environment inside the instance was completely different from that outside. The Night Hotel he was in did not exist in the real world at all.

Rather, it was an Echo Space, fabricated by the Game System specifically to imprison certain Erroneous Sins—a technology that existed in the liminal space between reality and illusion.

After being eroded by errors, the Game System wields the three core technologies of the Abyss with even greater proficiency, especially since it also possesses the Power of Chaos.

This thing is more like a protagonist than an actual protagonist, Wang Linchi mused as he stepped into the hotel. He wondered if Ye Tian, a dual protagonist backed by the Fate Devil God, could overcome the current predicament.

In any case, Wang Linchi had no intention of trying; he was already planning his escape to another world.