There is One New Rule Every Month Globally

The scene before Chen Yi somewhat stupefied him, he was a bit unprepared for how this seemingly solid bronze door could be so fragile that it turned to powder upon a single touch and disappeared into the ocean.

And the sight beyond the door was even more wondrous.

At the entrance was a corridor akin to a tomb passage, and strangely, there was no seawater inside, as if an invisible thin film had separated it from the deep sea outside.

It looked extremely spectacular.

Chen Yi tentatively stepped into the corridor before him, where the interior walls clearly bore the traces of artificial excavation, with even the marks of pickaxes striking the walls.

Until he reached the end of the corridor, he saw an area that might be a burial chamber, where space suddenly opened widely.

But there was not a body nor a fragment of clothing in sight; as if with the passage of endless time, the bodies had disintegrated into dust and scattered into the air.

And on the wall, there was a line of characters.

"Record, Origin Year Four, the seventh God Slaughter plan organized by Senior Chen of Blue Star is hereby declared a failure."

"Senior Chen is dead, with nearly ninety percent of the remaining strong ones dead as well."

"Henceforth, the Origin Year resets to zero, and all planets shall enter a process of reckoning by the deities; Blue Star is to suffer yet another extinction. Till the power to resist is amassed next, it will be at least ten thousand years."

"Difficult, difficult, too difficult."

"The power of deities is nearly unstoppable."

"To succeed in God Slaughter led by Senior Chen and the powerful from various races is extremely difficult, with no chance of success."

"So be it."

"Only this time the deities' slumber will be short, and when they awaken this time, there likely won't be any opportunity to accumulate the power to fight against them."

"However, it is said that someone called the Emperor of Man has gathered the remaining strength to research a way to extract the divine power within the deities and distribute it among mortals, allowing them to grow stronger quickly and to select those capable of fighting the deities rapidly, albeit reportedly in a cruel manner, with many deaths."

"Anyway, time to sleep, I'm dead exhausted."

"—Qiu Di."

At the end of the last line, this man from who knows how many years ago left his own name, Qiu Di — a somewhat strange name.

Origin Year Four?

What kind of calendar is that?

Chen Yi wasn't entirely unfamiliar with Blue Star's history, although he couldn't say he knew it like the back of his hand. There had been many calendars throughout Blue Star's history, but there had certainly never been one called Origin Year Four. It seemed like the fourth year of the original gods, almost as though there'd be some sort of four-year anniversary event coming up?

...

Three hours later.

"What's up, Yi?"

Tuberculosis Rabbit, who had been playing beach volleyball with Sword Without End under the night sky, approached Chen Yi who had just returned: "I heard from sister-in-law that you went to play in the depths of the sea, to see what's at the bottom. How was it? Was it fun down there?"

"..."

Chen Yi remained expressionless and silent for a long time before finally revealing what he had just witnessed.

"The historical records of Blue Star might not be complete. Before us, there might have been one or more generations of human civilization on Blue Star, far more than simply evolving directly from ape-men to our current state."

"There are many gaps in the history."

"And the main reason is that the Blue Star Race has suffered several extinctions, with each being thoroughly clean, leaving virtually no traces. When human civilization reemerged, all that could be seen were the remains of the ape-men era."

"That passage stated that this was the seventh God Slaughter plan led by Senior Chen, and its failure resulted in a reckoning by the deities, ending in extinction; the Blue Star Race must have already been wiped out once by that point."

"But I have no idea when it happened."

"There's no record in history."

"Also..."

He paused before continuing, "Those last few lines mentioned that someone called the Emperor of Man began gathering the remaining forces to extract the power from within deities for the benefit of mortals, and that through some cruel but efficient means, they quickly selected beings capable of challenging the deities."

"Doesn't this operation seem a bit like leveling up in a game?"

"..."

Sword Without End, who had been listening intently, suddenly froze, his mouth slowly opening wide in shock as he murmured softly, "Damn, that's true. The two deities we saw at the White Phoenix Clan, weren't they summoning random Props by whipping them with their divine powers?"

"Moreover, the game hinted that these Props indeed originated from deities."

"Even some rare Props, a single one would require the existence of three deities."

"And isn't the game's maps and the monthly rule villages exactly about filtering out the weak to cultivate a group that's strong enough to oppose the deities?"

"Looking at it this way, it seems that what the Emperor of Man led and devised back then was quite successful; at least it appears to be working well now, bustling and lively."

"It's just... we don't know how long ago it was, there's no approximate time reference."

Tuberculosis Rabbit had been silently contemplative with a complex expression on his face ever since Chen Yi mentioned the deities, lost in thought.

"Yi."

At this point, Jiaye hesitantly spoke up, "Are you sure that line of text is about the game?"

"Certain."

Chen Yi took a deep breath before speaking in a hoarse, solemn voice, "I may not have been sure upon seeing that line of text, but when I saw another line of small characters deep within the burial chamber wall, I became completely certain."