After being forced to step down, the once-annoying nun eloped with me.

... .....

More than four thousand meters underground, the connection between the Mother's Nest and the demons two thousand meters below is getting weaker and weaker.

The disconnection wasn't due to the distance, but because the demons residing there were indeed slaughtered by the enemy.

However, the Mother Nest was not anxious. On the contrary, it rejoiced at the sacrifice of these demons.

Among the sacrificed demons were a large number of new types of demons. By comparing combat data, the Mother Nest can determine which evolutions are effective and which are meaningless.

The evolution of metal smelting technology is undoubtedly valuable.

If it weren't for the fact that they were facing enemies who could use a large number of magical weapons in the Demon-Scarce Continent, the metal demons might not only have been able to defend the key intersections, but also launch an attack from above... But then again...

The importance of metal far exceeded the Old Mother's imagination. It suddenly realized that if the demon's exterior was covered with a layer of hard metal, then the demon's shell could naturally evolve into magic-resistant skin, sacrificing physical resistance in exchange for immunity to magic.

In this way, the demon possesses two layers of armor.

The outermost layer is a man-made metal armor that does not require any evolution limit.

At the very back is the demon's own evolved anti-magic skin.

By combining these two elements, a demon can achieve maximum evolution potential while simultaneously gaining resistance to both physical and magical attacks without sacrificing its combat power...

This is a merit worth noting.

Conversely, some evolutions are utterly worthless.

That is the evolution of integrating human tools into the body parts of demons.

The old mother nest finally understood that the reason why those tools had all sorts of shapes was simply because if humans wanted to use those tools, the tools needed to have shapes that met the conditions for use.

Human tools are meaningless to demons.

When digging tunnels, human pickaxes are no match for the mouths of diggers.

To build a sturdy floating bridge across a cliff, human hammers and nails are no match for the spider silk sprayed by a demon that has evolved a special silk-spinning structure.

All of humanity's tools are worthless to the devil.

Conversely, however, humanity's weapons far exceeded the imagination of the devil.

[A terrifying race... While the tools for acquiring basic resources were still in their primitive stages, humanity somehow advanced the weapons used to slaughter its own kind to the next level...]

[If we demons are a species that develops comprehensively, ensuring that the tools we produce keep pace with the weapons we use to kill... then humanity is a terrifying race that, even when its society and productive capabilities are still in a primitive stage, has been able to take war two giant leaps forward.]

[Terrible, absolutely terrifying.]

Those strange, short, man-made objects—are they called magical dolls?

Their entire bodies were adorned with exquisite weapons. Each weapon possessed unique characteristics, and each shape was designed solely for killing.

Can these guys really keep up with the development of their weapons?

The Mother Nest was deeply suspicious of this... but just then, as the tunnel ahead was being excavated, the Mother Nest suddenly realized a problem.

In the country across the sea, there is an enemy whom his compatriots are particularly aware of.

My compatriots said that if it weren't for that person, the country across the sea might never have even had a chance to start... Naturally, these terrifying monsters would never have appeared in Ysgard.

...The Mother Nest suddenly realized something.

The key to equipping these monsters with advanced weapons and enabling the countries across the sea to enter a new era of warfare independently is not that those countries have experienced brutal wars.

Rather, it's because there's a character who's already exceptionally talented in their time leading them into the next era—and most importantly, for that character, war is the key to entering the next era ahead of time.

Because that character knew that the demon's grand scheme... the next great demonic calamity was near. Faced with this calamity, everything else could take a backseat to military might.

The terrifying regent.

We can't let him live in this world.

Where is he?

Sudden.

The Old Mother Nest sensed that something in her spiritual perception seemed to be watching her from afar.

But anxious about the future, it disregarded the surveillance that had been commonplace for centuries. It was simply searching impatiently for the regent's whereabouts. It had to kill that man. Or capture him alive.

So, where is he?

The Mother Nest decided to have her children dig another tunnel to the surface.

And Yang Hao did indeed see through its thinking.

Chapter Twelve: [Thoughts and Reality] - 8K

The demon's mental world is an extremely abstract world.

From what Yang Hao saw and heard, this was more like a VR game on Earth—the difference being that this time he didn't need to venture into the "game area" like he was playing a game. Instead, he could simply observe and study the abstract images that were both real and unreal from a distance, like an observer.

"It's similar to searching for game guides on a forum... The demon's mental world is a forum, and intelligent demons are the users of that forum. They can freely use all the resources on the forum and also upload their own experiences there..."

"But overall, the prevailing ideology of the demon's [forum] is only one..."

That is to ensure the survival of the species.

Correct.

It's not about plundering, it's not about development, it's about...

【Survive】.

This was something Yang Hao had never considered—he had always thought that the reason the demons invaded this world was to gain better development or to plunder the world's resources.

But now it seems that's not the case? Survival...survival?

Is something in the demons' homeland forcing them to flee?

Yang Hao was very interested in this. After repeatedly turning the lens in his hand and adjusting his viewing angle, he seemed to be seeing many bizarre things, as if following the devil's train of thought...

That seems to be something from another world.

It was a rather small world. If Yang Hao's judgment was correct, that "universe" seemed to be only slightly larger than his hometown's solar system—a world about the size of an infant.

In that world, demons conquered planet after planet, devouring countless resources, only to discover in the end that the entire universe was getting colder.

In order to survive, the demons tried to heat up the universe.

But it was all in vain—not only because the demon's technology was extremely primitive, but more importantly, because a piece of charcoal extinguished by water cannot be relit with an ordinary match.

Forced by circumstances, the original, primitive demons began their own evolution, and when they evolved to a certain extent, they came to a conclusion.

Their universe has already announced the date of their execution.

Before their execution day arrives, they must find a new world for their people to survive. But finding a suitable world is never easy.

The demons have spent a great deal of time and resources searching for a suitable world to live in.

They saw many different universes.

Some universes have become completely forbidden to life due to heat death, some universes are simply unsuitable for life other than metals, and some universes are full of paradoxes in the laws of physics, where magma and water can coexist peacefully, while demons cannot evolve organs that can adapt to the simultaneous existence of vacuum and high-oxygen worlds.

They searched for a very long time. After expending countless resources and lives, they finally found two worlds that seemed relatively suitable.

One of the worlds is inhabited by a demon-like race—the demons deem it inappropriate to attack the other side, as the other side not only has a numerical advantage but also a greater advantage in resources.

And another world...

This is the world where Yang Hao lives.

The world is still very young.

The world is rich in resources, and the universe itself is still growing; its size is neither too small nor too large. Naturally, the demons decided to invade this world, not to plunder resources, nor to learn or develop.

They simply want to compete with all life in this world for the chance to survive.

So they launched a reconnaissance intrusion, and were then repelled.

"...That's why we are not enemies who can coexist."

Yang Hao muttered to himself.

It is precisely because the demons' desire to invade the world is so simple.

Therefore, Yang Hao believes that... demons and life in this world have no possibility of coexisting.

After all, this is about survival.

How many races and lives have fought tooth and nail for the sake of survival?

There are only so many resources in the world that can support people. Now people from another world want to come and steal the already scarce resources. As the host country, who can tolerate this?

Moreover... even if they could coexist, Yang Hao would not give the demon the slightest chance.

It wasn't just because almost everyone around him had been harmed by demons. It wasn't just because of his own stance; more importantly, Yang Hao felt a natural fear of the demon's thought process.

Unlike humans, who each have their own ideas, the demons' "species-first" mentality is terrifying.

Even if Yang Hao, as regent, was responsible for his own people, he never thought of being responsible for "all of humanity," which was not under his jurisdiction.

But demons are different.

Every individual demon exists for the sake of the group.

Most of them are devoid of selfish thoughts. Their swarm-like, group-oriented thinking has even given rise to a strange spiritual entity called "collective consciousness."

In the society of demons, every individual is born as part of the whole. In human society, however, every individual ultimately forms a whole.

Although the results are similar, they are ultimately different.

Yang Hao could not imagine his people losing their self-awareness and becoming mere expendable commodities within the "United Nations."

That's why.

"...We and demons are ultimately incapable of understanding each other or coexisting."

He knew he had to keep the demons out of this world.

However... the demon's power was simply too great.

Although the universe in this world called "Purgatory" isn't particularly large... the power of the demons is still far too great for this planet in this world.

A head-on confrontation is a path destined for destruction. No matter how hard Yang Hao tries to make the United Nations stronger over ten years, he is powerless against the overwhelming tide.

If the demons really launch a full-scale attack during the next great demonic calamity, how will the United Nations fight against these crazed enemies who can suffer losses in trillions?