Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

“Don't be anxious. I don't think the Great Dark will arrive immediately. Based on what we've found out, the Land of Inheritance was last opened at least a thousand years ago. The universe still exists, doesn't it?”

Elder Jiao patted Mister Bug's shoulder and comforted him.

Having lived more than eighty years, he was nearing the end of his life, and he kept an open att.i.tude towards death.

However, both he and Elder Meng had a lot more juniors in their families than Mister Bug's family members.

Their hearts were heavy too after they learned the news.

Earlier, when they received the invitations, n.o.body except Su Nongying gave the invitations to their family members.

One of the reasons was that the meeting attendants here were the oldest members of Dragon City who held critical positions. They had much more Rare Honor than other members did.

So, a lot of them had traded the Rare Honor for items that could strengthen one's body or even make one live longer for their families. Also, the products that Dragon City and Su Mingcheng's company developed together had been released.

It was very easy for their families to live healthily on Earth for a hundred years or even longer. It was unnecessary for them to enter Dragon City as players.

Dragon City was still in the phase of development, and n.o.body here was allowed to idle by.

Even Ji Ye's cousin, who received his invitation, had been asked to work as an a.s.sistant in the most dangerous virus laboratory.

It was impossible for their parents to spend their retirement in this place.

In comparison, a wealthy, carefree life back on Earth was much better.

Of course, the most important reason was that everybody was vigilant and suspicious about the purpose of the Land of Inheritance. They thought that they shouldn't take their families in until they figured out the truth about the Land of Inheritance!

However, now that they finally figured out the “truth”, they couldn't help but feel regretful.

As a matter of fact, the meeting attendants here were the lucky ones.

Some people who weren't here had sold their invitations.

They would probably regret it even more after learning this.

Every invitation to Dragon City was worth more than ten billion after the bidding. They could get several billion even after paying the tax!

However, if it meant a ticket to Noah's Ark, the top hundred magnates of the world would happily pay not just several billion but half of their belongings for it, even if they didn't have to choose Dragon City. Besides, the ETA of the Great Darkness wasn't confirmed yet.

Nevertheless, if the world was to be destroyed, would the money on Earth mean anything?

Millions, billions, and trillions were just numbers. The real valuable things were the currencies on the Land of Inheritance, such as Civilization Coins, Honor, and Rare Honor!

“Right, speaking of Rare Honor, I recommend that you save it instead of trading it for items on Earth. You should save as much of it as possible,” Ji Ye suddenly said.

“Since the Rare Honor is for the exchange of things between Earth and the Land of Inheritance, will the invitation to the Land of Inheritance be among the things?”

“It's possible that Rare Honor can be exchanged for the invitations!”

When everybody fixed their eyes on him, Ji Ye continued, “That's very likely!”

Every meeting attendant trembled except Elder Meng, who seemed to have already thought of that and was holding his teacup steadily.

It was indeed a possibility and a fairly large one.

Maybe some requirements must be met first. For example, the level of the settlement must reach a certain level or one of its members must receive a certain rating.

However, it was indeed not hopeless.

In particular, there was a good chance that Dragon City could complete the Road to Legendary quest and become a Legendary settlement.

Besides, if all the lives in the universe would be destroyed in the Great Darkness, to trade Rare Honor for technologies and items to develop the civilizations on Earth would be pointless.

“The Land of Inheritance is truly cunning!”

“Why didn't it reveal the information sooner? A lot of players traded Rare Honor for a.s.sets, didn't they?” Mister Bug complained.

Cunningness seemed always to be the Land of Inheritance's style.

The beta test, the Transcendent advancement test, and the distribution of invitations in every round were never friendly and always malicious.

Perhaps the Land of Inheritance only had limited capacity and had to perform “screening” in such a way.

“In fact, the exchange of technologies and a.s.sets was not entirely meaningless.

“It's like one can live a splendid life even if one knows that one will inevitably die someday.

“There's limited capacity on the Land of Inheritance. It's unavoidable that some people can't get the tickets. It's a comfort for them that they enjoy the benefits from the advancement of technologies and civilization before the arrival of the Great Darkness,” Shang Yan said.

“Also, through the exchange of technologies, some advanced civilizations might be able to figure out a way to survive the Great Darkness without entering the Land of Inheritance. If so, they can reduce the burden of the 'ark' and give more openings to the underdeveloped civilizations such as us, right?”

She had been a shrink who was responsible to deal with the players' and natives' psychological problems. She was used to keeping a positive att.i.tude.

“Let's hope so.”

Hearing what Shang Yan said, Li Qing and the others were more energized.

Ji Ye, however, remained silent.

He didn't know who built the Land of Inheritance, but since it had gathered so many civilizations and species and even crafted some “special planes”, it was at least one of the “G.o.dly civilizations”.

Even such a civilization could only build a Land of Inheritance as a shelter instead of taking care of the source of the Great Darkness. If so, what were the odds of the mediocre civilizations surviving the Great Darkness with the technologies from the Land of Inheritance?

Besides, technically speaking, “Great Darkness” was a word that Ji Ye translated from the green Flood Dragon's mental waves, and it might be inaccurate.

The real crisis might be even more horrible than the literal “darkness”!

However, there was no need to say it out to make everybody more anxious.

“Next, we have to make one decision. Should we deliver the intelligence back to Earth or not?

“If we are to deliver it, do we announce it on the forum of the Land of Inheritance, or do we secretly submit it to the Confederation Office? Or is there another way?”

Ji Ye opened his mouth and moved on to the next subject.

Everybody fell silent again.

Undoubtedly, the news of the Great Darkness would cause huge reactions after it was sent back to Earth.

The leaders of Dragon City had seen a lot. They had also gained enormous courage through battles against aliens, and they could cope with life-and-death crises calmly.

Even so, they were still shocked to hear the news about the Great Darkness, even though they already had a “ticket”.

It was not hard to imagine how the people on Earth who didn't have tickets would react.

The entire planet might fall into chaos. Even the Confederate Government could hardly control the situation!

“I think we should send the message back!”

“In a way, the 'players' such as us were lucky to be directly invited to the Land of Inheritance. However, we couldn't have received the invitations without the civilizations that so many generations of people had created together on Earth!”

“Without the civilizations backing us up, we couldn't have gotten the 'tickets'. So, this piece of news should be transmitted back to Earth!”

Elder Meng suddenly put down his teacup and stood up before he spoke in a rarely-heard sincere tone.

Those that were summoned to the Land of Inheritance were all intelligent civilizations. Even the Sludge Monsters were capable of using tools and communicating with a language.

The attendants here were invited as players partly because they were lucky, and partly and most importantly, it was because the civilization of mankind had reached a certain level!

“In fact, that must be your plan too, City Master, right? Or you wouldn't have asked the second question.”

Elder Meng turned around and looked at Ji Ye.

As Elder Meng said, Ji Ye preferred to send the news about the Great Darkness back to Earth because it was unnecessary to keep it a secret.

Even if Dragon City kept it a secret, the other settlements would learn of the matter too after they were developed.

The only problem was how the information should be publicized.

Should it be announced on the forum of the Land of Inheritance or should it be told to the Confederation Office only?

That seemed to be a pointless question.

The forum was established by the Confederate Government and so was the Confederation Office.

What was their difference?

In fact, their difference was quite huge.

This information was so shocking that there was no way that the Confederate Government would publicize it after acquiring it. It would even be cla.s.sified as a secret and spread only among a small group of people.

As to who the small group of people would be, the answer was obvious.

After all, the Land of Inheritance had only been open for a few months, and the privileged cla.s.ses in the past weren't fully changed yet.

If the information was announced on the forum, even if the Confederate Government deleted it quickly, it would soon be disseminated, and every human would learn it shortly.

“A public announcement is fairer, but I don't think it's the best option.”

Elder Jiao heaved a sigh.

Yes, it was the fairest option but not the best one.

What would the society become if everybody learned of the arrival of their doom and the Confederate Government wasn't prepared at all?

Self-pity and violent crimes might not be the worst problems.

The real serious problem was that everybody would lose the momentum to work or live.

Some of them might even become angry and attack players and their relatives.

If something happened on Earth and their relatives' safety couldn't be guaranteed, the players on the Land of Inheritance would be inevitably affected. They couldn't concentrate their attention to compete and fight with the aliens!

It must be noted that the players' tickets did not really equal access to the s.h.i.+p.

Once all the settlements from Earth failed on the Land of Inheritance, n.o.body would be able to enter the Land of Inheritance again without the direction of the power of providence from the settlements.

That would be the real doom.

Perhaps resolving the crisis that this information would cause was the Land of Inheritance's greatest test for a civilization!