Chapter 2186: The Role of the Anchor
Zheng Yuci had no anchor, so the childhood personality could not steal materialized objects from her spiritual realm.
Dou Shengnan had already reached a level where she could use an anchor, yet one of her materialized objects was easily stolen.
What was going on? Was it because Zheng Yuci's evolutionary path was different, or was there something wrong with Dou Shengnan's evolution... or did the super item play some other role in this?
After a moment of contemplation, Xu Huo asked again, "Was what you placed in Dou Shengnan's spiritual realm an anchor?"
The childhood personality nodded.
Xu Huo let out a slight breath and continued, "Who else have you seen who can place anchors?"
The childhood personality stopped what it was doing and looked down at its book.
The white-shelled book remained open, but the passage about the "anchor" had disappeared, replaced by three other words:
"Teacher Zhang."
Although he had anticipated it, seeing this answer still made Xu Huo's heart sink.
The more he explored Teacher Zhang, the more powerful he seemed to become. Of course, if Teacher Zhang didn't understand "anchors," the childhood personality wouldn't know about them either. Before this, none of the mental evolution materials he had encountered mentioned "anchors" or any similar concepts.
It was possible that people who knew about them simply hadn't crossed his path, but those capable of projecting a spiritual realm anchor were extremely rare. Even Dou Shengnan, famous for this ability, could only use it at critical moments.
The Holy Land and the five satellite cities were likely all within its control. Such a vast range and sustained duration were far beyond what any human could achieve.
Xu Huo smiled faintly and said, "The goddess in the Goddess Instance is different from humans. She should be far stronger than Dou Shengnan."
This question led to another—had Teacher Zhang left an "anchor" in his spiritual realm?
Reading his thoughts, the childhood personality gave its answer: "Anchors are only useful for those with weak willpower."
But from this, he understood another issue.
Naturally, this was also something he couldn't do now.
Now, it seemed he had an answer.
Teacher Zhang had taught many children, including sociopaths like Xue Lang. Even if he cultivated them according to his own ideas during the education process, not all of them would obey him unconditionally when they grew up. However, based on the intelligence ball given by Chang Bei, some people were still working for him. How did he make them obey?
The childhood Xu Huo still looked down on Xue Lang as always. After a pause, he added, "If Teacher Zhang places an anchor on you, I'll find it."
If Teacher Zhang's "anchors" could exist for a long time, with control and in large numbers, these people would still "repay their master" after they matured.
However, Dou Shengnan's "anchor" was a trump card, while the anchor thrown by the childhood personality seemed to be just an "anchor."
Xu Huo could sense that during his fight with Dou Shengnan, the childhood personality had only used the spiritual power he had left behind earlier. It wasn't any special killing move—it just blended into the opponent's spiritual power to approach the target more inconspicuously.
The childhood personality nodded seriously.
"This thing," Xu Huo looked at the black water on the table that had reverted to a brick shape, "although an anchor can't be controlled by the user once it leaves the body, will it dissipate after the person dies?"
The childhood personality rested its chin on its hand, thought for a moment, and replied, "I've never seen Teacher Zhang die, so I don't know."
This passage made Xu Huo pause for a moment before he said, "It seems using it as a barometer is impossible, but that's fine." After all, he still had Dou Shengnan's item. Once the person died, the item would naturally become ownerless.
"Keep it."
The "anchor" was still a bit far from him, but at least he now understood what it was. Additionally, the super item in Dou Shengnan's eyes was very strange. It didn't seem like the surgical implants other players used to prevent their items from being removed; rather, it coexisted with her eyes in some form. This alone was beyond normal bounds. And the childhood personality had only stolen a materialized object from her spiritual realm. Whether or not it was related to the super item, Dou Shengnan's mental evolution wasn't worth referencing.
Perhaps the next time they met, her strength would be compromised due to the loss of the super item.
Having held on for this long, Xu Huo's headache began to split again. He withdrew from the spiritual realm, purchased several mental defense items and instruments on the bounty platform, and finally managed to lie down and sleep.
This time, nothing disturbed him. When he woke up, the sky was already pitch black.
The next room was still empty. Xu Huo took out his communicator and called Huang Mao.
Huang Mao was having a great time on the other end. When he answered, there were intermittent screams in the background. "You're awake? How's your rest? Want to come play with us?"
It was already late. Xu Huo said, "Aren't you planning to sleep?"
"One of the great things about evolution is turning daily sleep into sleeping once every three days. Great times, fun everywhere—why sleep?" Huang Mao laughed heartily. "If you're not coming, fine. We're planning to play until tomorrow morning!"
What he did had nothing to do with Xu Huo. "I hope you still have this energy when you enter the temple tomorrow."
After confirming that Ahai was fine, Xu Huo hung up and prepared to find something to eat.
Just as he sat down in a restaurant and picked up his chopsticks, a group of people—more precisely, a group of believers—surged out from different directions, dispersing around him as if to monitor him. Their gazes were far from friendly.
"I thought the goddess's believers were all pacifists, but it turns out there are radicals too." Xu Huo looked at the two players sitting in the same restaurant. "Do you have business with me?"
It turned out they weren't there about the day's interrogation hall incident but about Ahai.
"Are you keeping him as a hostage?" one of them asked.
"Why would you think that?" Xu Huo countered. "You can tell from my appearance that I was seriously injured before. Ahai helped me, and he said he wanted to go to the Holy Land, so I brought him along."
The ordinary people in this instance didn't show much fear toward outer zone players. This wasn't just because their religious beliefs made them steadfast, but also because the goddess could truly protect them. Whether in Purple Lake City or other cities, it was rare to see locals and outer zone players traveling together.
His overly serious expression made him less convincing. Then, the other player spoke with a warning tone, "I'll be watching you. Don't try to harm anyone in this district."
Xu Huo turned to carefully examine the other person. "You look a bit different from the locals."
Most locals in this district had androgynous features, and with the existence of hermaphrodites, they wore "male" and "female" badges to distinguish themselves. Compared to them, outer zone players had clearly defined male and female appearances, unlike the locals.
"Are you outer zone players?"