The Miner took a sip of his *coffee, his eyes closed as if weighing his choice of words. After a moment, he finally said, “Meeting you was not actually a random event. I don't know if you’ll believe that statement.”

Fang Senyan frowned. “How so?”

The Miner replied, “All of us here are affiliated with the Empire. While bound by Non-Disclosure Agreements, there’s an unspoken understanding among us to unite, especially with the Empire’s deliberate facilitation. Plus, we get first-hand data. That’s why, seventeen months ago, we noticed your Dow Jones Index line-up was surging to an astonishing degree…”

“Wait a minute!” Fang Senyan said, half-laughing, half-crying, “If I recall correctly, isn’t that Dow Jones Index thing used for stocks?”

The Miner smiled. “It is, but the colleague who built that database shares a name with that concept, so we borrowed it—this system can roughly assess the coefficient of self-improvement for Contractors upon entering each world. Typically, Contractors who survive the initial entry show a rapid increase in strength, but this rate of improvement usually can’t exceed the threshold of 9.”

Fang Senyan’s gaze flickered. “Then, what is my upward trajectory?”

“The comprehensive assessment is 18.4. You can understand that as nearly doubling your strength every five worlds you experience,” the Miner stated very seriously. “This figure is almost the best performance recorded, second only to the Apostles.”

“Almost?” Fang Senyan narrowed his eyes. “Meaning there are others who are better?”

The Miner gave a wry smile. “I sincerely apologize, it’s not that I don’t want to tell you, but that I’m prohibited from doing so.”

He then mimed holding a pistol with his right hand and pointed it at his own head. “I believe your combat-oriented peers also face certain restrictions, right? For example, in the world you originally hailed from, using active abilities gained from the Space must carry very severe consequences. It’s the same for us. If we leak information, our heads explode as if hit directly by a .78 caliber hardened steel core bullet. So, to avoid creating more work for our sanitation crews, perhaps we should change the subject?”

Fang Senyan shrugged. “Fine, I understand your difficulty. So, after noticing my good ‘Dow Jones Index,’ you actively sought to approach and befriend me?”

“Yes,” the Miner confirmed. “Because according to our projections, there’s over an 80% chance you are one of the legendary Chosen Ones… Your inherent talent may even be useful to the Space itself!”

Fang Senyan smiled but offered no further comment on the Miner’s assertion. Instead, he picked up the pot of *coffee and took a slow sip. “Being a Chosen One isn’t that remarkable; one still needs protection to grow.”

If his own team members had heard Fang Senyan say that, they would have known he was referring to San Zai, and even San Zai himself wouldn't have disputed the statement. But falling on the Miner’s ears, it was taken as a tacit admission. He chuckled. “The Chosen Ones do receive preferential treatment from the Space, so they naturally have deeper access to inside information, and cooperation yields greater benefits. This is the fundamental reason I sought you out for deeper collaboration.”

Fang Senyan glanced at the Miner suddenly. “What is your relationship with the Big Ben Research Institute?”

The Miner’s expression immediately froze. After a long pause, he asked, “What do you mean by asking that question?”

Fang Senyan was blunt. “I won’t say I know the internal workings of the Empire like the back of my hand, but I certainly have a clear picture. People like you—how could you possibly escape the pervasive surveillance of the Big Ben Research Institute?”

The Miner was silent for a while. “We were all pawns of the Big Ben Research Institute initially, but now, we are completely irreconcilable enemies.”

“Why?” Fang Senyan asked, intrigued.

The Miner said flatly, “Although we gain the Space’s protection, the authority of the Royal Family places everything above us. They captured our families and forced us to reveal all our secrets. But the only outcome of complying is instant death—a blown head. If we refuse, our entire families are wiped out. Therefore, those of us still alive are cold-blooded bastards who value our own lives above our families, and we are the sworn enemies of the Big Ben Research Institute!”

Fang Senyan seemed to grasp something. “I see.”

The Miner looked at Fang Senyan seriously. “The people from the Big Ben Research Institute are ruthless and only serve the Empire’s royalty. They are unscrupulous in achieving their goals. If you plan to cooperate with them, it is tantamount to seeking skin from a tiger.”

Fang Senyan nodded. “I know… Alright, what do you want to know?”

“The Nightmare Space… or more accurately, these Noah Spaces—what do you truly believe they are? Machines? Living organisms? Or entities beyond our comprehension?”

This was the question from the Miner that had impressed itself most deeply upon Fang Senyan.

At the time, Fang Senyan had no answer for the Miner, as this was a realm he had never considered or touched upon. The Miner clearly didn't expect an answer either. He continued matter-of-factly, “Based on our research, Noah Space should be a very peculiar type of biomechanical life form. It possesses powerful self-repair capabilities, but certain crucial aspects of its mechanical structure require the aid of assistants—much like how crocodiles rely on oxpeckers to clean their mouths.”

“These assistants, according to the initial design, should have been created by the great powers who designed or constructed the Noah Space. The two should exist in a symbiotic relationship, similar to ants and aphids: the ants protect the aphids, and the aphids’ excrement is a delicacy for the ants. However, for unknown reasons, these assistants never appeared. Therefore, the highly intelligent and autonomous Noah Spaces, to avoid self-destruction, began manufacturing enhanced humans according to their own instinct, while also actively selecting Contractors who could substitute for the assistants. This is the origin of the Chosen Ones.”

Hearing the Miner’s analysis, Fang Senyan immediately judged that the Miner was speaking the absolute truth. The explanation was logical, internally consistent, and something someone without deep insight into certain matters could never articulate.

So, Fang Senyan reciprocated by recounting some of his own experiences. After thinking for a while, the Miner said, “Since we can confirm the Space is a strange life form, and its power is astonishing—it can even traverse the river of time backward—we can basically deduce that the energy it consumes is also terrifyingly immense. According to the principle of conservation of energy, the Space must also draw colossal amounts of matter from the outside world to sustain its operations, as well as its life requirements.”

“That’s correct,” Fang Senyan nodded. “As far as I know, the Empire provides the Space with staggering amounts of ores, fuel, and various kinds of resources.”

The Miner smiled, a smile that made Fang Senyan uneasy, as if mocking how little he knew.

“That’s just the surface phenomenon, Sailor. If you truly believe the Nightmare Space is dependent on the Empire’s supplies, you are gravely mistaken! If the Space could be so easily controlled by the Empire, it would have become a vassal or been dismantled long ago. In fact, the materials the Empire supplies to the Space are merely akin to certain seasonings in our kitchen. With what the Empire provides, the Space might live more comfortably, but without them, the Space would certainly survive!!”

Hearing the Miner’s words, Fang Senyan’s expression shifted dramatically. Because if the information the Miner presented was true, it necessarily involved one crucial question: if there are multiple Spaces, and survival resources are finite, then resource allocation for survival must come into play!!

The most immediate examples are World War I and World War II, which, fundamentally, were about occupying and dividing the Earth’s limited resources! The later Iraq War didn’t even bother with pretenses, going directly for the oil!

Thinking of these matters, Fang Senyan hesitated, then couldn't help but ask, “If your theory holds true, then the various Noah Spaces… are not as peaceful among themselves as we imagined?”

“Peaceful?” The Miner scoffed mockingly. “Sailor, you must be one of the greatest beneficiaries of the Space battlefield. Why do you hold such a naïve idea?!”

“When a Contractor dies, they are reclaimed by the Space they belong to. When you kill Contractors belonging to other Noah Spaces, all the rewards you gain are generated by your own affiliated Noah Space expending its precious Origin Energy! Origin Energy, you can think of it as replenishable vitality. Why else would it go to such lengths to encourage your mindset of slaughtering Contractors from other Noah Spaces?”

“Then… what is the purpose of the Bloody Battlefield?” Fang Senyan pressed on, startled.

“The low-tier Bloody Battlefields, of course, are designed to accelerate the evolution of Contractors,” the Miner stated seriously. “But the high-tier Bloody Battlefields have likely become corrupted… You can think of Noah Space as a war machine like an aircraft carrier; it has no offensive capability itself, or perhaps it’s restricted by certain rules preventing direct attacks against one another. All the killing power resides in the fighter jets it carries. The strength of different Noah Spaces depends on the power of their affiliated Contractors. If I am not mistaken, high-level Bloody Wars have become the arena for jockeying between Noah Spaces. The powerful Noah Spaces will use their inherent strength to secure more expansive living space and resources!”

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