Mountain City, underground.

"You're running out of time."

Lin Yu looked at the slightly blurred image projected in front of him and said to Lin Xi beside him:

"Actually, I'm curious, how exactly do you see these images?"

"You don't have drones like the Huaxia Army, so how do you see the images?"

"Satellite."

Lin Xi replied:

"We have satellites."

"You can think of it as a kind of... drone that flies very high."

Lin Yu nodded thoughtfully, then said:

"But that doesn't make sense."

"If you fly so high, you'd definitely be above the cloud layer."

"But how could you... penetrate the clouds and fog to see what's on the ground?"

A slight smile appeared on Lin Xi's face.

"You're clever, you've thought of the key point."

"But this actually isn't a big deal."

"We use an optimized SAR synthetic aperture radar technology to first generate greyscale images and then restore them into high-resolution images resembling optical imaging using intelligent algorithms."

"In fact, we have observed many places with this system, including the base of the Huaxia Army."

"We know everything."

After Lin Xi finished speaking, Lin Yu pursed his lips a bit mockingly.

"But you didn't know they would attack, and they're about to storm into your stronghold."

"That's impossible."

Lin Xi waved gently, the image of the starry sky retreated, and the two returned to the grassy field outside the village.

"We have many ways to prevent them from continuing their attack. If necessary, we can even mobilize all level-one monsters from the outer regions to launch a synchronized offensive against them."

"Their power is simply not enough to withstand such an offensive."

"So it's not us who are running out of time, it's them running out of time..."

"Then why don't you take action?"

Lin Yu interrupted Lin Xi, who paused and then replied:

"It's not yet the last moment; we don't want to pay unnecessary costs."

"The construction of Mountain City is a culmination of the dedication and wisdom of many people, and we won't allow it to suffer any substantial damage."

As Lin Xi said this, her tone was extremely firm.

But Lin Yu remained unmoved.

"So, you put your hope in me."

"You want me to accept your thoughts and then persuade them?"

"That's right."

Lin Xi nodded.

"Then why don't you just alter my thoughts? You can clearly read my mind, can't you?"

"Theoretically, you should also have this ability, right?"

There was a hint of suspicion in Lin Yu's tone.

In fact, this had been a question he had held since the conversation began.

He was always on guard against his thoughts being altered and constantly reflecting and reviewing.

But until now, he hadn't noticed any changes to his thoughts.

Or perhaps his memory and thoughts had already been altered, and he simply didn't remember?

This thought sent a chill down his spine, but then Lin Xi's "frank" answer surprised him.

"We won't alter anyone's thoughts."

"This is the foundation of Mountain City's existence, and it's the underlying design logic of this city."

"This rule cannot be broken."

"This is Protocol One."

Protocol One.

Lin Yu recalled that he had heard this term before.

From the mouth of a Mountain City person who was cut down by a scout.

"I see..."

Lin Yu thought, while Lin Xi continued:

"In any case, we don't have much time left."

"Let's continue."

"You've already understood our motives, our plan, and the dilemma we face."

"Next, I will formally try to persuade you."

Lin Xi waved her hand, and the scene around them changed once again.

The two sat above a large sand table, overlooking the real ground.

And on the ground, there was a small village.

"Let's simplify the dilemma as much as possible."

"We will still simulate based on the background you saw in the 'story'."

"We'll design 'entropy' as action points."

"When you exhaust your action points, the monster will appear."

"And what you have to do is defeat this monster using the limited action points."

"Now, give it a try."

Lin Yu gazed at the sand table below and asked confusedly:

"How to do it?"

"Choose your strategy."

Lin Xi explained:

"Each strategy will consume action points while increasing the number representing the village's strength."

"When the village's strength is greater than the monster's, you'll defeat it."

"You don't need to mind the names of these strategies; it's okay if you don't understand them."

"All you need to do is think about how to implement the strategy based on the strength boost it brings."

"...Understood."

Lin Yu nodded slowly.

He carefully looked at the lined-up strategy names and tentatively selected a few of them.

"High-Energy Particle Collider."

"Deep Space Observation."

"Basic Force Monitoring."

Just three strategies exhausted all his action points.

And afterward, the monster easily destroyed the village.

"Try again."

Lin Yu shook his head and the sand table reset.

This time, he chose a few strategies that consumed fewer points.

"Deep Cover."

"Space Migration."

"Accelerated Reproduction."

"Genetic Modification."

"High Environmental Adaptability."

"Information Control."

"Technology Regulation."

All the points were exhausted, and the village's "strength" value reached over 100.

But Lin Yu realized that this was still far from the monster's thousand-point strength.

Sure enough, the village was destroyed once again.

"This is unreasonable."

"The strength gap is too big; I can't possibly defeat the monster through strategy combinations."

"Exactly."

Lin Xi shrugged.

"Isn't this the answer I've been trying to tell you all along?"

"In fact, some of the strategies you've chosen have already been attempted in the real world."

"Holy Blood represents genetic modification, Huadu represents accelerated mutated reproduction, Mechanical God Sect represents information control and technology regulation, while the Huaxia Army represents 'high environmental adaptability'."

"But see, even when combined, these things can't defeat that monster..."

"Just because you say it can't be done?"

Lin Yu interrupted Lin Xi.

"Isn't this just the result you want me to see, right?"

"No."

Lin Xi shook her head.

"This is the inevitable result after extensive simulations."

"I am more familiar than you with leveraging these strategy combinations to achieve the goal, but unfortunately, we couldn't do it."

"Still unreasonable."

Lin Yu shook his head again.

"If action points aren't enough, then just increase them."

"Increase points?"

Lin Xi smiled.

"Are you suggesting reverse entropy increase?"

"Entropy increase is irreversible."

"Unless there's a higher-dimensional 'space,' or power, to consume the information entropy that has been generated."

"Then you would have more points."

"But this is fundamentally impossible."

"Are you trying to tell me that those so-called 'Huaxia Army' are not material entities of this world at all, but creations from another dimension that we can't currently comprehend?"

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