"You want to know why I killed Li Chengjie, right?" Yimi asked directly.
Bai Ye nodded. "Yes, that's the only part of the sequence I haven't figured out. The reason you covered for us should be that Allen's team arriving at Lab Three would trigger it as a restricted zone, correct?"
Yimi nodded. "Killing Li Chengjie was because he had a hidden identity as a mole for the Rhine Company, sent by them."
"One was to prevent the Mirror World from being discovered, and the other was because Dr. Dale's recent behavior was abnormal, repeatedly failing to report his research progress to the company. Therefore, Li Chengjie's other task was to retrieve the Life Crystal."
"As for whether you consider the Life Crystal to be part of the restricted zone or a mission, it's neither. You should be well aware of the rules regarding held items. Even if you kill someone, the killer cannot take anything from within the held item."
"However, the Life Crystal is not considered a held item. In other words, it can be forcibly taken. If you die, others can take it from your body."
"It's just that the Life Crystal is within the restricted zone, and without the restricted zone opening, it cannot be obtained. There are no missions related to the Life Crystal, but it's not impossible for some items to be related to certain missions."
Bai Ye asked, "What items are you referring to?"
Yimi replied, "The things the God Cultists want to get their hands on are not just the Life Crystal."
"So, the crucial point is..." Bai Ye probed, "What is a God Cultist?"
Yimi explained, "God Cultists are people who died on the World Battlefield. They have come back to life, but their identity is no longer the Chosen Ones, but God Cultists. I don't know the exact details, but you can think of it this way: God found some dead people and brought them back to life to do his bidding."
"Working for God? I've never heard of that!"
Bai Ye raised an eyebrow.
Bai Ye had never heard of God Cultists, not in this life, and certainly not in his previous one.
This was what made Bai Ye feel incredulous.
If it were about some ability, equipment, restricted zone, or mission, it would be normal for Bai Ye not to know.
Even though Bai Ye had survived to the end in his previous life, he couldn't possibly have traversed every area of the World Battlefield, nor visited every restricted zone, nor completed every mission.
But the term "God Cultist" sounded significant. As a high-level player in his past life, Bai Ye felt it was strange that he hadn't heard of it.
Yimi was unaware of Bai Ye's inner doubts. "It's normal that you haven't heard of it. Most people don't know."
"Firstly, the number of God Cultists is extremely, extremely small. In other words, not everyone is qualified to serve God. Otherwise, with so many people dying every day, wouldn't God Cultists be everywhere? In fact, only those whose abilities are recognized receive such treatment."
"Secondly, God Cultists can be understood as God's puppets. They don't have memories of their past lives..."
Yimi hesitated at this point and then continued.
"It's not that they have no memories of their past lives, but their memories are sealed by God. They don't know their past, nor do they have any connection to their past."
"Thirdly, you can't tell if someone is a God Cultist from their appearance. Simply put, you might have met them but not recognized them. For example, those two just now, do you recognize them?"
Bai Ye replied, "Yes, I sent them away."
Yimi: "..."
Yimi was speechless. Fortunately, God Cultists didn't remember their past. Otherwise, if today didn't end with two deaths, this matter wouldn't be over.
"Then, if you hadn't killed them, if you had never seen them before, would you still think they were God Cultists?"
Bai Ye pondered.
Saying it that way made it understandable.
Bai Ye had killed quite a few people in his previous life, but he wouldn't remember the insignificant ones. In the late-stage high-level encounters, not many people actually died, as they were all experts with some life-saving measures.
The occasional few who fell might not have been killed by Bai Ye. As long as he didn't encounter such an awkward situation of "resurrection after death," even if the other party were a God Cultist, Bai Ye truly wouldn't be able to tell.
In other words, Bai Ye might have encountered them in his past life but simply didn't know they were God Cultists.
Bai Ye asked, "So, what does it mean to serve God?"
Yimi replied, "I don't know."
Bai Ye then asked, "What are the things they want?"
Yimi responded, "I don't know."
Bai Ye pressed on, "What's special about the Life Crystal?"
Yimi said, "I don't know."
Bai Ye asked, "Are you tired of living?"
"I don't know..." Yimi paused, then gave a wry smile. "I'm not hiding anything. This matter doesn't concern me in terms of personal gain, nor is it something I cannot speak of. On the contrary, I don't object to more people knowing about the existence of God Cultists, because this matter might be related to how to leave the World Battlefield."
"Oh?"
Bai Ye's eyebrows shot up. Talking about leaving the World Battlefield made him wide awake.
"Tell me everything you know," Bai Ye instructed.
Yimi glanced at the corpse of the female mage. "I had two companions. Both were from the same world. Besides Lairiya, there was another named Chrysler. But Chrysler died in a previous restricted zone."
"In the World Battlefield, life and death are normal. But in a subsequent restricted zone, I accidentally found something called the Stone of Origin within it. I didn't pay much attention to it. However, afterward, I was pursued by God Cultists."
Bai Ye asked, "Were the God Cultists who chased you your companions?"
"Yes," Yimi confirmed. "He was a very, very close friend of mine. No, we were brothers, family. We grew up together in an orphanage. Even after leaving the orphanage, we lived together. We've been together for thirty years. We are an indelible presence to each other, and then we were sent to the World Battlefield together."
"This is also why I survived," Yimi said. "His past memories were sealed, but not erased. The memories are still deep within his heart. Emotions are indelible."
Yimi pointed to his chest.
"He stabbed me here, but at the very moment he was about to kill me, he cried. He remembered everything," Yimi recounted. "He told me about the God Cultists, because after he died, he became a God Cultist. He also told me about God and that God Cultists are searching for certain things for God."
Bai Ye nodded and gestured for him to continue.
Yimi shook his head. "That's all."
Bai Ye urged, "Tell me what he told you!"
Yimi explained, "He was only conscious for about five minutes, so what he could say was limited. As his consciousness began to blur again, he chose to commit suicide."
...