In a frigid apocalypse, I went on a shopping spree with the reborn.

Time passed, and everyone healed their wounds, rested, and checked their equipment, followed by a long wait.

Jiang Qingyue took out crab meat from her spatial storage, gave each person a piece, and they ate it together. While eating, she also took out a pen and a notebook.

Eternal Winter God, Outer Void, Controller, Purpose, Alien Beasts, Zombies, Lifespan, Official Disconnection, Time Stopper, Power of Ice and Snow, Messenger...

One by one, seemingly related but actually completely unrelated things gradually emerge on the page.

She circled the word "purpose" several times, until the paper was torn, but still came up empty-handed.

She had no choice but to brainstorm: "What do you think is the purpose of the God of Eternal Winter?"

Liu Yuyao glanced at her notebook: "You plan to deduce the purpose of the Eternal Winter God, survive by conforming to its rules, or find a loophole to destroy it?"

Jiang Qingyue nodded. If they continued to follow the other party's rules, they would all be sacrifices, regardless of whether the Eternal Winter God's experiment succeeded or failed.

Unless one can foresee this purpose in advance, one cannot escape the Lord of Eternal Winter.

"Who knows?" Liu Yuyao scoffed. "Maybe in the eyes of the Eternal Winter God, we're just ants or microorganisms in this vast forest."

"I did an experiment on a whim to see what choices these ants would make in different environments. Maybe one day I'll lose interest and stop playing with them, or I might lose patience and wipe out the entire colony with a single slap."

Nangong Zhao looked at Zhao Mingyue, who seemed hesitant to speak, and his eyes flickered: "Captain Zhao, you're so young yet already a local tyrant. You must be exceptionally talented. I wonder if you have any advice for us ordinary people?"

Zhao Mingyue licked her little tiger teeth and glanced at Nangong Zhao. For some reason, she felt that this woman was even more annoying than in her previous life.

Seeing Jiang Qingyue looking over, she quickly withdrew her disgusted gaze and said to Jiang Qingyue, "There can be no fish in the sea, or there can be many fish, but there can never be only one fish."

"The same applies to everything. I think we don't need to consider what exactly the Eternal Winter God is, but since there is one Eternal Winter God, there can't be only one in this world."

"It is very likely that there are many main gods in this world, such as the Eternal Winter God, the Dark Night God, the Crimson Sun God, and so on. Where there are living beings, there will definitely be competition."

"You mean we can seek help from other gods?" Chen Sanyang asked.

Everyone fell silent for a moment, then looked at Liu Yuyao, wanting to know how she could stand Chen Sanyang. It seemed that this guy had nothing but loyalty.

"What's wrong? Did I ask the wrong question?" Chen Sanyang scratched his head, a little embarrassed.

Wang Defa, showing rare kindness, replied, "Let's not even talk about how we contact the other gods, or what we can offer them to help us."

"In the eyes of these supreme gods, no one has the right to speak on equal terms."

"Old Chen, let me ask you this: a group of mosquitoes are being studied and subjected to various experiments. A few small mosquitoes then come to you asking for help. Would you stand up to the researcher and fight them to the bitter end for their sake?"

"What should we do then?"

"Isn't this what we're discussing right now?"

"Oh, then you guys discuss it, I won't say anything."

Jiang Qingtian, who was sitting in the back row, suddenly spoke up: "According to Captain Zhao's guess, the gap between the so-called main god and us is not so big that it is insurmountable. Using us as experiments means that we have value to be studied."

"The final experimental results may be helpful to God, just like how we humans study plants and extract their active ingredients to make life-saving medicines."

"Humans seem to be very strong, and plants have no ability to resist. But some plants are poisonous, and their poison can easily kill humans."

"In other words, if we, like plants, find the right method and the right time, we can kill the God of Eternal Winter."

"Little Sweetie is right," Nangong Zhao agreed. "If there are many gods, or if they are simply one race, for example, humans are born as humans, and gods are born as gods."

"What if the supreme god is merely the name of a race, rather than a title for the strongest?"

"Just like ants and elephants, there is a difference in strength from the moment they are born, but whether it is an ant or an elephant, they all have their own lives and pressures."

"The gods must also have their own survival pressures. This means they are actually very busy, like working oxen and horses, facing various KPIs, rent, utilities, and so on every day, and it is difficult for them to have the leisure to study things that are useless."

"Unless this experiment is very important to it, at the very least it must be able to change its quality of life."

"Does that mean we're not as insignificant as we imagine, or that we're actually quite important?"

"I agree," Wang Defa added. "Surely the Eternal Winter God isn't just doing this for fun, is he?"

Liu Yuyao didn't refute, but simply said, "Even so, since our lives are on different levels, it's too difficult to deduce the purpose."

"Just as ants can hardly imagine why humans plant trees or protect the environment, we don't know what the gods need to survive, nor do we know their situation. It's almost impossible for us to deduce their purpose using human thinking."

"Besides, this won't help the next round of battle."

Jiang Qingyue listened to everyone's words without uttering a word of rebuttal. New entries were added to her notebook: needs, time, race…

Seeing her increasingly serious expression, Yan Bao became extremely worried and kept chirping.

Long Jiuxing held it in his arms and stroked its fur with his hand, comforting it silently.

Zhao Mingyue pursed her lips and comforted her, "Things will work themselves out. The Eighth District is the home of all of us, not just yours, and you shouldn't have to shoulder the burden alone. Everyone should just do their best."

"Yeah, right." Chen Sanyang finally couldn't hold back his words: "We're really strong right now, and we have good relationships with District 1, District 33, and District 34. Even if we have to decide the rankings among the remaining districts, we definitely can't be last, even if we don't get first place."

Jiang Qingyue shook her head: "I have a feeling it won't be that simple."

"What do you mean?" Liu Yuyao asked.

Jiang Qingyue spoke as if to herself, and also took the opportunity to explain her concerns to everyone: "Logically speaking, the second round shouldn't be considered a crisis at all for powerful races."

"Several powerful races could join forces to force the weakest races into a life-or-death battle to determine the last place in the second round."

Upon hearing Jiang Qingyue's words, everyone's expression changed drastically.

Can you do it?

can.

There's not even a need for the major clans to join forces. For example, with Jiang Qingyue's current strength and that of the Eighth District, she could easily point to two clans of similar strength and force them into a decisive battle to determine the last and second-to-last place.

The person ranked last will be erased along with those who died, while the person ranked second to last, no matter how heavy the casualties, will at least not be erased.

As for disobeying?

Jiang Qingyue could have declared: if they don't listen and refuse to fight, then she would annihilate both of them. She would then focus on killing these two races until they were all dead.

Not only Jiang Qingyue, but any leader with a combat power of 600,000 could say such a thing.

Meanwhile, the stronger players of the same level would be delighted by this, because with the last place ranked, the rest of the people could live.

From the perspective of the two weak areas, if we fight hard and manage to get second to last place, the whole clan can survive; if we don't fight, both areas will die, and if we die, we will be tied for last place.

There was simply no choice.

With such a huge loophole right there, it's impossible that the Eternal Winter Gods didn't know about it, yet they didn't set up rules to close it. That means there must be something else they don't know about in this second round.

Everyone racked their brains, and even Chen Sanyang, who had been bursting with confidence just moments before, was now deflated.

A supreme god who can change the rules at any time, and the fear of the unknown—these are far more disheartening than facing a powerful enemy.

During the previous matches, people were dying on all sides, and everyone was trying their best to survive, so they didn't feel the passage of time at all. But this day of rest felt exceptionally long.

It's especially frustrating to have resources like quantum computers and crystal cores but not being able to use them to improve your strength.

In the last bit of time, Jiang Qingyue took out a bowl of beef and a bowl of milk, and also took out the item amplifier.

Just as she was about to take the picture, Xiao Yi quickly jumped out of the personal terminal: "Master, you can't!"

Why?

"This is a fixed combination. The item amplifier simply magnifies it five times, it doesn't create five separate items."

"Whether the owner expands the pot before cooking or expands it after cooking, it only counts as one serving, and the effect will not become five times. It cannot be divided among five people, and even more so, it cannot be used five times by the same person."

Jiang Qingyue's face darkened: "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"Xiao Yi thought her master knew. Anyway, a pot of milk and a pot of beef are a fixed combination. No matter how many times the item magnifier magnifies, it only increases the quantity. Essentially, it still belongs to that pot."

"If it's divided among five people, it won't be effective. If one person eats it, then all five enlarged portions need to be eaten together to count as one pot."

Long Jiuxing's face darkened: "So, it's like enlarging a pill five times; the volume increases, but the effect doesn't. Does that make sense?"

Xiao Yi's voice became even softer: "That's the result of the test, and there's nothing Xiao Yi can do to change it."

Jiang Qingyue took a deep breath, mentally cursing the dog god's ancestors for eight generations, and silently put away the item amplifier.

This stuff is huge when cooked, and it takes a lot of time to finish it. If it were five times larger, my jaw would get sore from chewing and I still might not be able to finish it. By the time I finished eating, the show would have already ended.

Watching her stew beef with milk, even though many knew Jiang Qingyue wouldn't do something pointless at such a crucial moment, still made many people worry about the taste of this stuff.

After cooking, Jiang Qingyue mashed it into minced meat, making it look like thin porridge. She let it cool to a perfect temperature so that it could be swallowed as quickly as possible in an emergency, before storing it back in her space.

I inquired about everyone's situation and then gave everyone some Plant Doctor Essence.

When the time came, the voice of the Eternal Winter God appeared precisely on time:

"The second round of the All-Heavens Arena Tournament has officially begun. All experimental zones, please prepare accordingly."

The barrier that had kept people from moving between the various areas has disappeared.

"The 96 surviving test zones can voluntarily go on stage and designate their own challenge test zones. Those designated cannot refuse. Regardless of the number of people in each zone, team battles will be conducted on a zone-by-zone basis until the other side is completely wiped out."

"The area with all deaths is tied for last place with all previous experimental areas where deaths occurred, and is not included in the rankings."

The winning team gains one point and inherits all the points from the losing team. Rankings for this round will be based on points.

"Each experimental zone member must appear on stage at least once and at most ten times, whether voluntarily or involuntarily."

"In addition, this God reserves the right to adjust the competition rules at any time."

A huge leaderboard appeared on the sky, showing the 96 experiments that were still alive, with all the experimental areas displaying a score of 0.

After the rules were announced, the audience erupted in uproar.

Despair filled the faces of some of the weaker races.

It's not a regional battle between players of similar strength, nor is it even a random match; anyone can actively choose their preferred match.

Some leaders in weak areas have a combat power of just over 400,000. If they are designated to take over in areas like Area 1 or Area 8, it's no different from sending them to their deaths.

Countless people shouted at the heavens, complaining about injustice or begging, but the supreme god never responded.

"Whoosh." A guy who looked like a dead tree stump that had come to life rushed onto the arena.

He is the leader of District 9.

Next to the eighth district, in the location of the ninth district, a group of small, withered tree stumps followed their leader and rushed onto the arena. Once they left, the entire ninth district was empty.

As soon as he took the stage, he pointed directly to District 95.

"Oh dear!" Chen Sanyang exclaimed, slapping his thigh so hard it was swollen. "Such a huge bargain, and those guys from District 9 got it. We should have been the ones to grab it first."

Jiang Qingyue and the others also looked at District 95. Apart from the few experimental districts that had already been wiped out, District 95 was definitely the weakest one present.

Previously, when the human race was weak and they were using human lives to overwhelm the enemy, in this 95th district, every person who went up died. After they were all dead, others kept going up, and the number of deaths was even greater than that of the human race.

They gave all the key quantum computers to their opponents, who became even stronger after merging with them, while their numbers continued to decrease and their strength never improved.

After several more rounds, there is now only one left in District 95, and it is not the leader. The leader was killed in the battle with Jiang Qingyue and the others.

The only survivor is of unknown ranking, but judging from his aura, his combat power is probably only a little over 300,000. Facing the 9th district, he would be completely powerless.

Chen Sanyang: "These guys in District 9 are pretty smart; they picked the easiest target right away."

"After this battle, they will get a point. They will grab the easiest points first. These guys are too cunning."

"Jiang Shen, after their battle is over, we can't let them get ahead again, otherwise they'll have taken care of all the weak ones, and we'll only be able to fight the strong ones in the end."

Jiang Qingyue remained silent, her bad premonition growing stronger; she felt things weren't so simple.

Under the current rules, this is practically a massacre of the weak.

The reason is simple: weaker regions, even if they go on stage, dare not challenge the strong by name, while stronger regions can keep picking on the weak.

She couldn't figure out what purpose such rules could serve.

Is it really just so that more people will die?

But if the supreme god wants to kill more people, wouldn't it be faster for it to do it itself?

The last remaining survivor in District 95 was sucked into the arena by the main god.

There are still more than twenty people in District 9, and their leader is even more powerful, only slightly weaker than Jiang Qingyue and her group. His combat power is over 500,000, making him one of the second-tier experts present.

These guys looked at the poor little guy opposite them and laughed wildly and arrogantly.

"start."

After the deity finished speaking, the twenty-odd people rushed over aggressively.

"That's shameless," Wang Defa complained. "These guys are stronger than the others, yet they still resort to using encirclement..."

With a loud "boom," before Wang Defa could finish speaking, the arena shook violently.

Even the usually indestructible protective barrier was deformed in this massive explosion and was about to crack. The main god temporarily added another layer of protection, which prevented the explosion on the arena from affecting those below.

What happened?

It happened so fast that no one had time to react. By the time they could see clearly, there was nothing left on the stage.

"Are you seeing things?" Chen Sanyang asked incredulously.

Jiang Qingyue and the others felt a chill run down their spines, because there was nothing on the arena—no corpses, no broken weapons, no signs of battle; everything seemed to have been vaporized in an instant.

"..."

The experimental zones were completely silent.

No one expected that the seemingly ordinary weakling in the 95th Experimental Zone, who had been reduced to a single survivor, would possess such a deadly move that could lead to mutual destruction.

What kind of special item is this? Countless people are speculating.

The Supreme God offered no explanation, coldly announcing: "District 9 and District 95 perished together. No one survived, no victors, and no points. They are tied for last place with the four districts that died previously."