After Gaia’s consciousness vanished, the city continued operating as usual, but something seemed to be missing.
Zhou Wen led Demonic Neonate to the palace and killed the giant heads in the remaining two palaces. One of the palaces was left for Doctor Darkness.
The effects of the palace on top-notch Companion Beasts were very ordinary. The energy absorbed by an Apocalypse-grade Companion Beast like Prisoner wasn’t enough to support their continued growth.
It was somewhat effective on those at the Calamity grade. It allowed them to exceed the 400-stat limit, but it required a long wait.
The effects on low-level Companion Beasts were obvious. The reason Zhou Wen chose Doctor Darkness was mainly because this Companion Beast’s companion form was a soul. It was very convenient to use, and its skills were relatively rare and useful.
Zhou Wen occupied the last palace, but he felt that the effects were very weak. It was impossible to boost him into the Apocalypse grade. Therefore, he had no choice but to choose another Companion Beast to replace him as he left the city.
In order to prevent others from coming to the city, An Sheng stayed outside to guard it. If someone discovered the secret of the city and wanted to enter to replace the Companion Beasts that were receiving energy, he could inform Zhou Wen in time.
He had gained plenty on this excursion to the giant city. The improvement of the Companion Beasts was secondary; the main goal was to allow Zhou Wen to figure out everything.
Now, it was basically confirmed that The Thearch was that Immortal Thearch. Nüwa didn’t actually exist. Or rather, Nüwa was Earth itself. An Jing’s mother wasn’t Nüwa.
As for where the woman came from, it was difficult to determine.
From the information obtained, the woman wasn’t a creature from Earth or even the dimension. It was very likely that she came from another world.
Lost Immortal Sutra and the mysterious phone were things that women had brought. Perhaps they didn’t belong to this world at all.
As for where the woman came from, only she herself knew or those who had been on the ship had some sliver of knowledge.
Wang Mingyuan and the principal should have boarded the ship after the crash or seen the wreckage of the ship. What did they obtain there? Zhou Wen really wanted to seek them out for questions, but unfortunately, the principal’s whereabouts were unknown. Wang Mingyuan probably wouldn’t tell him anything.
Let’s think of a way to advance to the Apocalypse grade first. When Earth truly suffers the full breakout, perhaps an answer to everything can be obtained. Zhou Wen continued analyzing the dimensional zone information Li Xuan had brought back, hoping to find a place suitable for him to advance to the Apocalypse grade.
Although many dimensional zones seemed to be at the Apocalypse grade, he found them unlikely after some analysis.
Just as he was feeling vexed, the Cube activated again.
The same scene appeared on the Cube’s screens all over the world. It left people confused.
It was a path, a path that led to the sky.
Stone steps floated in the air without any support. They spiraled into the sky with no end in sight. There was nothing else.
Just as everyone was feeling puzzled, a figure appeared on the screen. It had white hair and white clothes. It clearly looked human, but there were crystalline dragon horns on its head.
Who else could it be but Wang Mingyuan? He walked up the stone steps step by step like an immortal in an immortal palace.
“Old Zhou, your teacher is up to no good again,” Li Xuan teased.
Zhou Wen wasn’t in the mood to joke with him as he stared at Wang Mingyuan’s figure in thought.
The place in the scene was undoubtedly not on Earth. It should be the dimension, but he didn’t know where it was.
Many people were paying attention to Wang Mingyuan’s attempt, but to everyone’s surprise, Wang Mingyuan walked up without encountering any trouble. No creatures appeared to attack him.
He circled again and again. Wang Mingyuan wasn’t in a rush. After walking for an unknown period of time, he finally arrived at the end of the Heaven Ascension Steps.
At the end was a floating platform. There were no buildings or creatures.
Wang Mingyuan stood at the end without moving, but the Cube’s screen automatically switched to the rankings.
The rankings only had Wang Mingyuan’s name occupying first place.
“Why is the Cube’s challenge so easy this time? All one needs to do is to reach the end of the stone steps to complete the challenge?”
“There has to be something odd about this, right?”
“That’s too simple. Are they competing to see who can walk faster?”
Humans discussed spiritedly. Many people were tempted. Such a simple trial seemed to be something anyone could complete. As long as one’s stamina was good enough, it wouldn’t be a problem to finish the flight of stairs.
Although many people suspected that there was something odd about the stone steps and that it wasn’t easy to scale them, it didn’t stop people from making attempts.
The Cube lit up again as a human stood on the stone steps.
Everyone stared at the human, wanting to see if there was anything strange about the stone steps. However, the person stood motionless on the first stone step as though he had been petrified.
Just as everyone was feeling puzzled, the stone step beneath his feet plummeted. The person stood on the stone step in a daze and fell with it until he completely vanished.
Soon, the stone step rose again, but the person was nowhere to be seen. The Cube’s screen changed as the challenge ended.
“There’s indeed something strange, but what’s going on? Could that person have been immobilized?”
“This is too strange. After all, he’s a Terror-grade human. How did it end just like that?” Those who knew him were alarmed.
No one knew what was going on, so no human dared to challenge the level again.
Zhou Wen could tell that there was definitely a taboo power on the stone steps. It wasn’t something an ordinary person could walk up.
Zhou Wen wanted to give it a try. It wasn’t that he wanted to compete with Wang Mingyuan, but there was a tiny palm symbol on the stone steps. It was on the side of the first stone step.
He attempted to take a picture of the tiny palm symbol with his phone, but unfortunately, the Cube’s broadcast didn’t allow the phone to download the dungeon.
Just as he was considering making the trip himself, the Cube lit up again. However, this time, it wasn’t a human, but a creature from the dimension.
It was unknown what creature it was. Its entire body was wrapped in a loose gray robe. Even its head was covered, leaving only a pair of white, empty eyes like a blind person without pupils.
He stood on the stone step and wasn’t frozen like the human who had made the previous attempt. He walked up the steps one at a time.
However, his footsteps were extremely heavy, as though he was carrying a mountain. It was extremely difficult for him to walk, unlike Wang Mingyuan’s relaxed steps.
“Don’t tell me this thing has the same nature as the Gravitational Stairs?” Li Xuan said after watching for a while.
“It’s not that simple. It isn’t because of gravity that he has such a difficult time walking,” Zhou Wen said as he stared at the screen.
