Recalling the resplendent palace from his dream, Ming Po frowned slightly. A hint of doubt suddenly surfaced in his heart.
Ming Po had realized sothing. Given his personality... he really shouldn't like such luxurious interior decorations. Yet, he still clearly rembered what the palace in his dream looked like.
Fountains, sunlight, rainbows, a beautiful azure sky, and a massive palace white as jade. Little girls chasing each other, and an endless green adow.
He could even hear the sounds of birds and puppies... And beneath him, a giant throne forged from solid gold.
"That palace..."
Ming Po pondered for a mont before probing, "Can you modify the decorations inside as you please?"
"Basically... I think so?" Gao Fan wasn't entirely sure either. "A palace is different from an Anchor Point. Even if the master of the palace enters a ga themselves, the palace won't reset..."
"No, that's not what I an."
Ming Po shook his head, interrupting Gao Fan. He fell silent for a mont before asking directly, "Take Gao Song's palace, for example. Why does it look like a company? Did he decide that himself? Did he modify it? Can he change his palace into sothing else? Like... turning his company into a royal palace?"
"That's definitely impossible." This ti, Gao Fan answered without hesitation. "Just think about it, Boss. That definitely wouldn't work. Otherwise, I could just find a place to open a palace, na it 'Nuclear Bomb Manufacturing Base,' and wouldn't that an I could mass-produce nukes?
"Taking a step back, even if I just opened a firearms factory or sothing, I'd definitely turn a profit. Selling that kind of stuff to other Deceivers of the World would easily earn way more chips than the maintenance cost.
"If we could earn chips through this kind of 'farming' thod, we wouldn't need to participate in gas at all... The Ga of Deception isn't that kindhearted."
"So, what exactly are the rules tied to?" Ming Po pressed on. "Title? One's Anchor Point? Or sothing else?"
"I'm not too sure..."
Gao Fan hesitated. These secrets clearly exceeded his intelligence network.
Although he had indeed co into contact with Deceivers of the World above the Zhou's Azure Lead rank, he didn't have close personal relationships with them, making it difficult to obtain exact information.
"All I know is... every palace looks very similar to its master's 'style'."
Not wanting to disappoint Ming Po, Gao Fan racked his brain to share everything he knew. "For example, the Red Queen's palace is a gold and red royal palace. It has a lot of rose-gold decorations inside.
"I also know an older guy nad Wu Ma. He's at the Silver of Moon level too. He's a veteran police officer, and the entrance to his palace is a police station. But the scale inside is absolutely massive—it looks like a military camp, yet also like a gym. There's a track, a basketball court, a football field, and even a prison... There are many Deceivers of the World working out bare-chested every day. Every single one has an eight-pack, and a wave of sweat hits you right in the face. It was only then that I learned working out actually benefits Deceivers of the World.
"Then there's a girl nad Jiuxin Qiaokeli. The entrance to her palace is an underground bar, and the door is actually pretty hard to find. But once you go inside, it doesn't look like a bar at all. It's more like a nightclub inside a massive building—kind of like Clouds from Cyberpunk 2077. With all those purple, red, and blue neon lights flashing, it really has a cyberpunk vibe. It flashed so much my eyes hurt..."
Gao Fan hesitated a bit. "The people inside... how should I put it? It wasn't exactly tacky, but it felt very alternative, maybe even a little scary. There were plenty of guys and girls, but their makeup made uncomfortable... Most wore heavy makeup. It looked a bit like cosplay, but not ani style—more of a dark gothic vibe. There were also so with a Korean street fashion or heavy tal rock look. So looked really cool, but others just looked too creepy."
"Alt subculture?"
Ming Po smiled. "Then I probably know the place."
Gao Fan looked up in confusion, clearly having no idea what Ming Po ant. Looking at the formally dressed Ming Po, Gao Fan couldn't quite picture him in those kinds of clothes.
He shook his head vigorously, forcefully dispelling the bizarre image from his mind, and continued, "Most of the people in there are quite young. The majority co to buy alcohol, and so are there to play gas—oh, right, there are even arcade machines inside! Fighting gas, pinball, shooting gas, people just looking for fun... it's pretty comprehensive.
"But apart from that, so guests co to buy information or make transactions. It's all to avoid Heavenly Query. Outside, Heavenly Query monitors everything, but if you enter a palace under the guise of seeking entertainnt, Heavenly Query can't see you.
"I'm not saying Deceivers of the World need to have a moral bottom line... After all, Deceivers of the World are essentially rcenaries who don't know where their next al is coming from. They commit fraud, robbery, murder, and everything in between, so there's no real need to keep their hands clean."
At this point, Gao Fan grumbled with clear displeasure, "But when I was inside negotiating a hiring fee with their boss, she deliberately left hanging in the lobby for half an hour—and in that half hour, I was hit on seven or eight tis! By both n and won... They're a bunch of perverts!"
Hearing this, Ming Po sized up Gao Fan's stature, slowly nodded, and agreed, "Indeed."
"In conclusion," Gao Fan summarized, "a palace shouldn't have much to do with Titles or Anchor Points. But you definitely can't just change it into whatever you want either... I think it probably has to do with the mind. After all, every palace closely matches the vibe its master gives off."
'The mind, huh...'
Ming Po murmured softly. He rembered how gently and cheerfully he had smiled in that dream, surrounded by so many friends...
That didn't seem like him at all. It felt more like Ai Shiping or Shen Yiqi.
The Ming Po in the dream had lounged lazily on the throne, looking like a true king.
Inevitably, a thought popped into his head.
'Was Wei Gu Qiong Chen really ?'
Or rather, why was Ming Po so firmly convinced that Wei Gu Qiong Chen was himself? Was it because of the shattered bottle in his Wine Cabinet? Because of the Title that Utopia had blurted out?
Was it because of the mory that surfaced in his mind, where he referred to himself as Wei Gu Qiong Chen?
Or was it because of Naless's dependence on him, exactly like the puppy-like girl in his dream?
But whether it was Wei Gu Qiong Chen's abilities, personality, or aesthetic sense... they were completely different from his own.
His personality had been sunny and cheerful, gathering flocks of friends around him. Rather than "low-key elegance", he preferred a "divine and luxurious" style. There was no shadow of Ai Shiping beside him, nor had he joined the Chinese Chamber of Comrce where his father belonged.
Would a person really change this much simply from "losing their mory"?
Which side was Ming Po supposed to believe?
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