“I was thinking the same thing,” Wang Dingshan agreed without hesitation. “We didn’t come here for a vacation. This is a world of extreme danger.”

“But merely increasing the difficulty shouldn’t be the original intention of the Demon Hero Temple’s design, even though that is important too,” Yang Zicang said.

“So what do we do? It looked easy when we watched, but now it’s so hard to execute.”

Within the small team of just five people, complaints erupted as loudly as those from inside an underground prison.

Yang Zicang rubbed his temple, and suddenly a flash of inspiration struck him.

Seeing the change in Yang Zicang’s expression, the others nearby looked over. Yang Zicang looked up, a hint of joy on his face, and said:

“That’s it—I have an idea.”

“What did you think of?” Zorro asked first.

The others eagerly chimed in together: “What’s your idea?”

“Do you all remember those psionic fields from last time where I acquired the ‘Spiritual Imprints’?”

“You mean those psionic game cartridges?” Wang Dingshan’s eyes lit up.

“But those are just minigames. What we’re building is an arena city.”

A gleam of determination shone in Yang Zicang’s eyes as he said, “What is the meaning of the ranking battle? Isn’t it the very purpose of pitting two cities against each other to determine which is superior and which is inferior!”

“Ah… you’re right.”

Wang Dingshan nodded.

Jiaoma’s small fist struck her palm. “Exactly! If we can design an Arena City that determines the superiority of two cities without costing too many lives, that would be the ultimate Demon-Bane Palace.”

Wang Dingshan pulled out his parasitic nightmare creature, shaking it with both hands. Lele was jolted dizzy and opened its bleary eyes.

{I was in the middle of a level… What do you want?}

“Lele, you hang around there all the time. Got any good suggestions?”

{Huh? I don’t know what you’re talking about.}

Wang Dingshan got angry on the spot, shaking the monster-skin-like Scratch Card and said, “Don’t play dumb with me. If you don’t contribute any effort, you won’t get to play Psi-kat Cassettes for months!”

Lele fell into a heavy, contemplative silence.

{Then I’ll go ask the Dog-head Strategist.}

“？”

The few of them watched Lele, who continued to close its eyes. Wang Dingshan let out a heavy sigh.

“Forget it, this guy is hopeless. We’ll have to rely on ourselves.”

After a few seconds of silence, Jiaoma gritted her little silver teeth and pulled out the Group Leader badge. A firm light gleamed in her eyes.

“My father… might be fighting inside those very palaces. My… my wish is that, one day, I can be reunited with him. If I were the creator of the Demon-Bane Palace, I would surely want him to keep getting stronger—constantly, repeatedly, endlessly surpassing his past self—to become the strongest in this world!”

A “flame” born from the depths of their hearts flickered in everyone’s eyes, imbued with a complexity of emotions that was hard to put into words.

“Yes, our purpose is to filter out the unqualified and nurture those with the potential to grow stronger, creating shortcuts for them to continuously improve.”

“Exactly, shortcuts!”

At this moment, the five of them suddenly had a flash of insight, as if they had grasped the true meaning of the existence of this “Demon Hero Hall.”

“New Moon Grade C crossroads, Full Moon Grade B crossroads, Crimson Moon Grade A crossroads, and now the Demon Hero Hall.”

Yang Zicang murmured, lifting his head:

“This is essentially the path to strength that this world has designed for us, isn’t it?”

A tingling sensation ran through their skin.

“Right! You, kid. If I remember correctly, Zicang should have long been able to handle stable Grade A crossroads, right?”

“Yeah.” Yang Zicang was a bit stunned.

Wang Dingshan and Zorro both looked at Yang Zicang, smirking with ill intent.

“Exactly. So, if the Demon Hero Hall is meant to be cleared only by the limits of someone like you, Yang Zicang.”

“What do you guys want to do?”

“What do you think, our little guinea pig?”

Yang Zicang covered his forehead. He felt that those few casual words had brought him a painful job.

After a busy day passed and everyone left, the ten-square-kilometer psychic field returned to its green mountains, clear waters, and floral scents.

Jiaoma stood alone on the empty grassland.

“I hope I can soon reach the Fate Track, as the builder of the Demon Hero Hall.”

……

Time expanded for fifteen days, which, in real time, was seven and a half days later.

The Gothic-style grand hall was packed with people. Besides the Demon Hero Hall production team, many of their friends had also come inside, partly to watch the excitement and partly to take advantage of the rest time.

Gong Huanwu sat behind the foremost desk, conducting preliminary reviews.

There were a total of sixty-two production teams. Over the past two weeks, each had created what they felt was a viable work.

These works, whether in terms of scenes or simulated psychic monsters, all appeared fairly simple. Most bore traces of B-grade or even A-grade Cruxspaces.

Some teams had simply directly copied more complex B-grade Cruxspaces, for instance, by flipping their terrain left and right, or by adding regions like flames or mental illusions.

Moreover, in those regions, they mostly performed only psychic ability phantom demonstrations, because no one had yet become adept at truly creating flames in a psychic field.

“Group 7, get ready.”

“Not okay, the next group to begin the demonstration…”

Watching this tense yet lively scene, Yang Zicang and his group exchanged worried comments: “With only a bit more than four months left, it might be difficult to finish the Demon Hero Hall in this kind of state.”

Soon, another clear announcement came from the front.

“Group 10, get ready.” The voice of the assistant beside Officer Gong echoed through every corner.

On the other side of the not-so-long table.

Huan Bao’er shook her head. “Let’s set it aside for now.”

“So, did we pass?”

“You’ll be informed later.”

The group leader of the ninth team set down their group leader credential in disappointment. The phantom image of the assessment scene that had appeared before them shrank back into the credential. From their expressions, it was easy to guess that their performance had not met the general officer’s standards.

Soon, it was the 18th team’s turn.

Under the watchful eyes and encouragement of her former department members, Jiaoma led four group members toward the long table.

Seeing her obedient little Jiaoma, Huan Bao’er revealed a faint smile. Her gaze swept over Yang Zicang before returning to the girl.

“You have a very strong quadrilateral team member here; you should be able to control the intensity with greater precision.”

Jiaoma nodded with an innocent smile. “Please, take a look, foster mother Huanhuan.”

She offered her group leader credential with both hands, her heart gently thumping. Once handed over, there was a high chance it would never return to her hands.

Yang Zicang’s heart thumped slightly on hearing this form of address.

Then, he began to suspect suspiciously: could it be that his assignment to Jiaoma’s department and becoming her team member was a convenient decision made by these officers, turning a blind eye to arrangements?

Quite dubious, indeed—because Jiaoma had very few male team members, all of whom were middle-aged uncles.

Just as he was pondering this, Yang Zicang suddenly noticed Huan Bao’er looking his way with an amused glance.

Gong Huanwu took the stiff, card-like strip of material from Jiaoma’s hands and inserted it into a nightmare device reminiscent of a tape reader. This item, much like a video recorder, emitted phantom sounds.

{Oh~ Not bad at all.}

Golden and emerald green light gleamed in the Demonic Nightmare’s eyes, outlining a virtual silhouette of a building—precisely the mental illusion arena that Yang Zicang, Jiaoma, and the others had been working overtime for half a month to construct.

This arena resembled a maze of intersecting rat holes, spanning three levels, each with three corridors crossing at various junctures.

“Jiao Jiao, tell us about your mental arena.” Gong Huanwu said.

Those around drew closer, seeing the arena beginning to take shape.

Jiaoma shot a nervous glance at Yang Zicang, who responded with an encouraging look.

“On the first level, we have fast-moving monsters, but their attacks aren’t particularly strong. This is designed with the support personnel among the participant teams in mind.”

Many nodded in agreement. A few group leaders belatedly smacked their heads and muttered under their breath:

“How did I forget? Not everyone has strong combat abilities.”

One of their companions shot a look of feigned innocence, as if this team’s arena had mindlessly ramped up the difficulty.

Jiaoma continued:

“On the second level, enemies appear that can only be easily eliminated with telekinesis or soundwaves, and this level is divided into two sections. On the third level, we’ve crafted a little room with the ultimate reward. However, the entrance to the third level can only be opened from behind by another team, which must also obtain the item stored in a room on the second level that cannot be entered to proceed.”

“So the door can’t be opened from this side, right?”

“Mm-hmm, right.” Little Jiaoma nodded nervously.

“Team A can’t directly enter the room to get the final item; Team B must open the first door, and the key to the second door is with Team A. So, a fight between the teams is necessary, right?”

“Even if a team arrives first, they’ll have to wait for the other. This arena is indeed already quite well-developed.”

Everyone nodded gently. This team hadn’t simply copied a cruxspace scenario.

The cruxspace is a real, ordinary terrain. However, the scene designed by Team 18 clearly had artificially guided, competitive elements where teams fight each other.

Gong Huanwu said, “The scenario has some competitive factors, but the scoring content inside is also very important. How did you set the strength of the monsters that need to be faced?”

Several people all looked toward Yang Zicang and Wang Dingshan.

“For the first floor, we marked monsters that Wang Dingshan could only pass at his limit. As for the second floor, those are monsters that Yang Zicang can only pass by going all out.”

Huan Bao’er smiled lightly, “Psychic, ranged, and melee types are all included. This venue will already give most city teams a run for their money.”

Her pale fingers lightly tapped the table, “Alright, put it down. Wait outside for the results.”

Jiaoma happily bowed and pulled Ding Jiaojie’s arm as she walked out. Judging by the director general’s expression, what they had done seemed pretty good.

While Gong Huanwu put away the group leader token and took notes, the assistant beside him called out loudly, “Team 19, prepare.”