"You want to know why I killed Li Chenjie, right?" Yimi said directly.
Bai Ye nodded. "Yes, that's the only part I couldn't figure out. The reason you covered for us should be that Allen's team arrived at Laboratory No. 3, and only then would Laboratory No. 3 be opened as a restricted zone, correct?"
Yimi nodded, then said, "I killed Li Chenjie because he had a hidden identity as a spy for Rhine Company. Rhine Company sent him here."
"One reason was fear that the mirror world would be discovered, and the other was Dr. Dale's recent erratic behavior, repeatedly failing to report research progress to the company. Therefore, Li Chenjie's other mission was to retrieve the Life Crystal."
"As for whether you said the Life Crystal belongs to the restricted zone or a mission, it's actually neither. You should be well aware of the rules regarding possessed items. Even if you kill someone, the killer cannot take anything from the possessed item."
"However, the Life Crystal is not considered a possessed item. In other words, it can be forcibly taken. If you die, someone else can take it from you."
"It's just that the Life Crystal is within the restricted zone. If the zone isn't open, it can't 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, "When you say 'some items,' what do you mean?"
Yimi replied, "The things the God Disciples want to obtain are not just the Life Crystal."
"So, the crucial point is..." Bai Ye probed, "What are God Disciples?"
Yimi explained, "God Disciples are people who died in the World Battlefield. They have come back to life, but their identity is no longer the Chosen, but God Disciples. I don't know the specific details, but you can understand it this way: God found some dead people and brought them back to life to work for Him."
"Work for God? I've never heard of that!"
Bai Ye raised an eyebrow.
Bai Ye had never heard of God Disciples, not just in this life, but even in his previous life, he had never heard of them.
This was what made Bai Ye feel incredulous.
If there were any abilities, equipment, restricted zones, or missions, it would be normal for Bai Ye not to know.
Even though Bai Ye had lived to the end in his previous life, he couldn't have visited every area of the World Battlefield, nor could he have been to every restricted zone or completed every mission.
But the term God Disciple sounded significant. As a high-level player in his previous life, Bai Ye felt it was strange that he hadn't heard of it.
Yimi, unaware of Bai Ye's inner doubts, said, "It's normal that you haven't heard of them. Most people don't know."
"First, the number of God Disciples is very, very small. Or rather, not everyone is qualified to work for the gods. Otherwise, with so many people dying every day, wouldn't God Disciples be everywhere? In reality, only those whose abilities are recognized receive such treatment."
"Second, God Disciples can be understood as puppets of God. They have no memories of their past lives..."
Yimi hesitated at this point, then spoke again.
"It's not that they have no memories of their past lives, but rather their memories are imprisoned by God. They don't know their past, nor do they have any connection with their past."
"Third, you can't tell a God Disciple 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 Disciples didn't remember their past. Otherwise, if today hadn't ended with the death of two of them, this matter might not have been settled.
"If you hadn't killed them, and you had never met them, would you still think they were God Disciples?"
Bai Ye pondered.
He supposed he could understand it this way.
Bai Ye had killed quite a few people in his previous life, but he wouldn't remember the insignificant ones. In the high-level battles later on, not many people actually died, as they were all experts and would have had some life-saving measures.
If a few occasionally met their end, it wasn't necessarily because Bai Ye had killed them. As long as he didn't encounter this awkward situation of "resurrection from the dead," even if the other party were a God Disciple, Bai Ye would indeed be unable to distinguish them.
In other words, Bai Ye might have encountered them in his previous life but simply didn't know they were God Disciples.
Bai Ye asked, "So, what does it mean to work for God?"
Yimi replied, "I don't know."
Bai Ye then asked, "What is it that they want?"
Yimi responded, "I don't know."
Bai Ye inquired, "Is there anything special about the Life Crystal?"
Yimi answered, "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 involve my interests, so it's not something I can't talk about. On the contrary, I don't reject more people knowing about the existence of God Disciples, because this matter might be related to how to leave the World Battlefield."
"Oh?"
Bai Ye raised his eyebrows. If it was about leaving the World Battlefield, he was suddenly wide awake.
Bai Ye said, "Tell me everything you know."
Yimi glanced at the corpse of the female mage and said, "I had two companions. Both were from the same world. Besides Lilia, there was another named Cryst, but Cryst 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 think much of it, but afterward, I was hunted by God Disciples."
Bai Ye asked, "Were the God Disciples who chased you your companion?"
"Yes." Yimi said, "He was a very, very good friend of mine. No, we were brothers, family. We grew up together in an orphanage. Even after leaving the orphanage, we lived together. We were together for thirty years. We were indelible presences to each other, and then we were sent to the World Battlefield together."
"This is also why I survived," Yimi continued. "His past memories were imprisoned, but not erased. The memories were still deep in his heart. Emotions are indelible."
Yimi pointed to his chest.
"He stabbed me here, but at the moment he killed me, he cried. He remembered everything," Yimi said. "He told me about the God Disciples because he became a God Disciple after death. He also told me about God and about God Disciples searching for something for God."
Bai Ye nodded and made a gesture 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."