Hearing the miner’s analysis, Fang Senyan felt no surprise; rather, it felt as if things had fallen naturally into place. Fang Senyan was not a dull man, and the various clues he had previously gathered were like scattered pearls, but the miner’s explanation was the thread weaving them together, one by one.

He suddenly recalled something: the Blood Invitation he had fought so fiercely to obtain.

That Blood Invitation eventually led to a figure like the Cardinal. Although that individual was a copy, judging by his current state, his combat awareness—indeed, his entire physical form—must have evolved into something optimized for exploiting his specific strengths, placing him a full tier above Fang Senyan now.

Clearly, the Cardinal’s appearance was not arbitrary. Something important enough to make other sectors risk tearing their own faces and violating the rules to seize it must be truly remarkable.

The mere fact that only one Cardinal appeared suggested that the cost of such a flagrant violation of protocol was astonishing.

After all, the Noah Space, not being naturally generated but rather a manufactured lifeform, must adhere to certain limitations in its methods and rules of operation, despite possessing extremely high degrees of [autonomy] and execution capability. For instance, if Tu Mou is 1.68 meters tall and weighs 84 kilograms, theoretically, by paying any cost, he could still manage a full splits—though it would come at the severe price of torn hamstrings and ripped muscles.

“So, given how highly the Space values the Blood Invitation, perhaps this item is the very credential the Space uses to contend for some critical resource!” Fang Senyan suddenly grasped the realization.

Immediately, his thoughts, like a billiard ball hitting an edge, seemed to reach their destination only to bounce sharply off in a completely different direction: “That’s it! I feel like ever since that incident, the Noah C Sector I belong to has become increasingly dominant. Then this time, having multiple Sectors team up to eliminate us in the Bloody Battlefield—perhaps that is a lingering consequence from that previous battle!”

Although Fang Senyan’s guess deviated slightly from the truth, it wasn't far off.

It must be remembered that the inherent instinct of the Noah Space is evolution—creating harsh environments to squeeze out human potential for evolution. There is a saying that human effort has its limits, but this only refers to the physical strength of humanity! It absolutely does not mean that human spiritual power has reached its ceiling.

Among normal humans, an extraordinary figure like Einstein only utilized just over 30% of his brain capacity; an average person rarely exceeds 14%. Furthermore, the higher the brain capacity utilization, the harder it is to evolve and improve.

For example, evolving brain utilization from 10% to 20% might only require 10 units of Source Energy, but advancing from 20% to 30% would demand at least 50 units. As for going from 30% to 40%, even 500 units of Source Energy might not suffice!

While the Noah Space develops the brain capacity of its contractors toward evolution, they themselves, as lifeforms, face the severe crisis of evolving. The fate of failing to evolve on the path of progress is evident in the history of dinosaurs, mammoths, and saber-toothed tigers.

Therefore, for all Noah Spaces to evolve, they must ingest all sorts of bizarre external materials, substances, and even light! These things serve as nutrients for them.

And these crucial evolutionary substances often appear within wormholes, black holes, or even temporal vortices—areas of extreme peril. Even an immensely powerful Noah Space must enlist the full, uncompromising cooperation of all other Noah Spaces to excavate and gather these materials.

This is why contractors can only experience the Nightmare World at certain intervals: the Noah Spaces must first secure their own survival and needs before allocating Source Energy to enter the Nightmare World.

The actions of Noah Spaces—"hunting" and "mining"—require the near-unanimous effort of all Noah Spaces to undertake. However, how the spoils of this harvest—the food and energy—are then distributed is not entirely done through equal, communal sharing.

First, half of the gathered goods are set aside for equal division; this acts as a basic living subsidy, ensuring enough for the Noah Space’s fundamental survival activities so they don't starve.

The remaining half of the harvest is then divided into one hundred shares, and the amount each specific Noah Space receives is determined by the contractors they have cultivated.

The more powerful the cultivated contractors, the more spoils their nurturing Noah Space receives, leading to a faster rate of evolution!

Of course, evolution is not a smooth path; it involves many arduous twists and even detours, resulting in wasted effort. This allows lagging Noah Spaces opportunities to catch up and turn the tide.

Take the Blood World Invitation from the previous time: it dictated how many high-tier contractors Noah C Sector could send into battle. Clearly, the side with numerical superiority has a greater chance of success. Thus, Noah C Sector reaped enormous benefits.

This current Bloody Battlefield is no different. The increasingly dominant Noah C Sector has forced the other Sectors to form an alliance against it. But both sides have staked everything! The alliance of the other Sectors is a forceful attempt to snipe and suppress Noah C Sector, but they too have poured their entire resources into this. Once Noah C overcomes this hurdle, this suppression will transform into nourishment, and beyond that lies boundless opportunity.

After a long talk with the miner, Fang Senyan finally grasped his current predicament in broad strokes. Some might wonder what the point of Fang Senyan wasting time uncovering these secrets is, as he still has to go out and fight to the death.

But one saying holds true: Those who do not plan for the ages cannot plan for the moment; those who do not perceive the whole picture cannot master a single domain.

If you don't even know the fundamental reason why you are fighting, you are destined only to be a chess piece.

And the fate of a chess piece is threefold: the first is to capture an opponent’s piece; the second is to mutually destroy an opponent’s piece in an exchange; and the third fate is the most tragic—to become a discarded piece!

Fang Senyan naturally only desires to be the first type of piece; the other two fates are completely unacceptable.

The information obtained from the miner allowed him to grasp the commands issued by the Space with greater precision and better interpret the intentions behind them!

Following this long discussion, Fang Senyan seized the time again and returned to the real world. This time, he traveled with Sister Fogsong and an old man. This old man’s identity was quite special; he was none other than the mighty Sacred Oak, Sindaro.

This old fellow possessed an extraordinarily powerful sensory ability and was inherently gifted with the technique of Spirit Gathering, capable of drawing spiritual energy from all directions. Even in barren wastelands, once this old man rooted himself, the area would instantly become a blessed haven.

So, the moment this ridiculously powerful old man stepped onto Earth, he immediately sneezed seven or eight times, weeping and running a fever, looking terribly afflicted. Then, ignoring the danger of exposing his identity, the old fellow frantically cast auxiliary spells—Purification, Rejuvenation, Wild Mark, Water Breathing, and more—upon himself without reservation. Finally, he gulped down a potion that looked precious and proved to be very precious indeed, finally regaining his composure.

At this point, Fang Senyan, feeling the immense pressure, rolled his eyes and took the nearby bag, handing over the masks and gas filters he had prepared long ago. Seeing the old man’s exaggerated reaction, Fang Senyan was already beginning to feel like he was wasting time.

Next, they proceeded to the first potential location: Mount Cook in the Southern Alps of New Zealand.

Here, Sister Fogsong and Old Man Sindaro could finally try to experience the feeling of breathing freely. However, the cost was that Fogsong’s cute, small nose quickly turned red and itchy, looking as though she suffered from dust allergies. So, she soon put her mask back on, and no matter how Fang Senyan tried to persuade her, she stubbornly and shyly refused to remove it...

Seeing this, a helpless Fang Senyan directly crossed out the next three potential targets in sequence: these were the primeval rainforests of the Amazon basin, a villa in the French countryside, and the primeval jungle along the Yarlung Tsangpo River on the southern slopes of the Himalayas...

The last hope was pinned on the vicinity of the boreal coniferous forests, specifically deep within the Greater Khingan Range, situated on the border between China and the Soviet Union—this was Fang Senyan’s final recourse.

But even this final hope shattered as cleanly as a soap bubble. With Sister Fogsong absolutely refusing to remove her gas mask, the old man could only remove his own with a look of desperate tragedy. After inhaling a tiny bit of the biting cold air, he immediately shook his head like a rattle drum: “No, no! Absolutely not!!”

He hastily tried to pull the gas mask over his head, but amidst Fang Senyan’s sigh, the Sacred Oak Sindaro suddenly froze. It was clear that the gas mask, still a good ten centimeters from his face, was now suspended there, as if solidified.

After a long moment, Sindaro snapped back to awareness, the wrinkles on his aged face seeming to shrink with shock: “How could this be? How could this possibly be!!! A land of miracles, why would it appear in such an extremely defiled world!!”

Fang Senyan narrowed his eyes slightly; Sindaro’s astonishment was clearly not feigned! And what the Sacred Oak Sindaro’s seemingly cloudy but sharp eyes were gazing toward was precisely the northwest!!

Northwest of the Greater Khingan Range!!

Well, I first need to clarify something quite absurd that has been happening. Apparently, some people have accused me of hiring ghostwriters lately for writing the 3K arc. Brother, just think about it from a ghostwriter’s perspective: could a ghostwriter for the 3K arc possibly survive? Secondly, well, I actually couldn't help but start sketching out a new book a little bit, haha. When I started writing the outline, it felt like a wild horse breaking free from its reins. The new book primarily focuses on outlines, chapter structures, and similar things. But rest assured, Final Evolution will be completed with quality and quantity guaranteed. Lastly, can anyone guess where the land of miracles is located? Uh, finally, it seems there was another aftershock just now... Uh, finally (did I say finally too many times?), please join me in praying for our compatriots in Ya’an! Finally, as a foodie, I suddenly really miss the cured pork belly from Shenmulei in Ya’an... (To be continued)