The battle began.
The battle ended.
To deal with these ordinary Devil Guards, the Swarm didn’t even need to deploy any large units. A group of Jumping Bugs just swarmed over and tore them to pieces. The Lust Demons nearby trembled in fear, but didn’t dare to move. They could only stand there dumbfounded, watching as the Jumping Bugs shredded the Devil Guards’ corpses and tossed them into the Incubation Pool for decomposition.
This was precisely Fang Zheng’s objective.
"How is it?"
Watching the Devil Guards’ corpses gradually break down into their most primitive form in the Incubation Pool, Fang Zheng observed the genomes in front of him while inquiring to his three Insect Queens. This was his second reason for sending the Swarm into Hell. If Fang Zheng’s previous hypothesis was correct, most civilized races in this world might have migrated from various Alien Planets. To verify his hypothesis, Fang Zheng needed to conduct a series of experiments to determine.
In response to Fang Zheng’s inquiry, the three Insect Queens carefully sensed the decomposed Devil Guards’ genome, then Mirune spoke.
"Their genes show signs of artificial modulation."
"Oh?"
Hearing this, Fang Zheng couldn’t help but become a bit curious.
"So what you’re saying is, the Devils are artificially cultivated products?"
"Yes, Master. They are very similar to the Swarm, except the modulation methods of this race are too primitive, and..."
"And?"
"Their modulation methods are very crude, leading to their bodies having no growth capacity. They can only stimulate cellular differentiation and recombination through massive consumption. Moreover, this modulation is very deliberate... as if specifically reorganized to adapt to the environment."
"Isn’t that what biological evolution is all about?"
Fang Zheng was somewhat dismissive of this, since biological evolution is sure to progress in a direction to adapt to the environment. Similarly, in a highly radioactive environment, people might die if they go out now, but after a few generations, mutants could appear.
"This is different, Master."
At this time, Lulana also chimed in.
"No matter how it evolves, the goal always has a primordial Motherbody. However, here, we haven’t detected the genes of a primordial Motherbody. All its genes are foreign synthesized, and their purpose is very clear, to enhance vast environmental adaptability and physical strength."
"All of them?"
"Yes, all of them."
"This is interesting..."
Upon hearing Lulana’s report, Fang Zheng couldn’t help but squint his eyes and begin to carefully recall the records he’d seen about Devils. According to Mirune and Lulana, Devils’ bodies are more like specially designed "clothing." Considering those descriptions about Devils tempting souls... Fang Zheng clearly remembers there’s a depiction in the White Tower’s Mage records that Devils in Hell don’t die. After being killed, their souls return to the River Styx, and then they resurrect from the lowest-level little Devils...
Could it be that the River Styx essentially acts as a 3D bio-printer, and the Devils themselves are a soul race that crafted bodies to communicate with other races? Coupled with records suggesting Devils have an unusual interest in souls...
"I think I’m beginning to understand how Hell came to be..."
Fang Zheng muttered to himself while tapping the chair’s armrest. If those historical records are accurate, then the world was initially in Chaos, until the Goddess of Order arrived and stabilized its order. However, an important aspect of Order is drawing boundaries, making clear distinctions. Heaven and Earth, Light and Dark, Life and Death, symmetry brings stable order.
Conversely, for the development of civilization, Good and Bad are equally crucial.
What is Good? What is Bad?
What is Evil? What is Justice?
The concept of Chaos will just lead to the invasion of Chaos, so Devils ended up embodying the concept of "Bad." Perhaps this is the survival method of the Devil Clan, or maybe it’s by the Goddess’s demand, but regardless, at least due to the emergence of Devils and Hell, people know clear concepts like "doing good deeds leads to Heaven, doing bad deeds leads to Hell," and "what Devils do surely is bad."
If that’s truly the case, then from a certain perspective, the existence of Devils in this world can be seen as a "necessary evil."
But that’s just speculation.
"Continue to attack, plunder, expand, and absorb! Meanwhile, find out where the River Styx is. If possible, bring back some samples."
Fang Zheng quickly issued orders for the Swarm to continue expanding. In the Main World, he wouldn’t dare to cause such a stir, but in Hell, it’s different. After all, they are Devils, and Fang Zheng is a Paladin—a Paladin killing Devils is an utterly justified and natural order of things.
Who knows, this Swarm might even gain enlightenment on the Holy Light after slaughtering a round of Devils!
Imagine a group of Jumping Bugs bouncing around on the Fungal Carpet, exuding pure and immaculate Holy Light—this image is truly unbearable to behold.
More importantly, if combined with Holy Light, the Swarm’s appearance seems to become even lower...
When things are unclear, one can still hold on to some fantasies... just like the anglerfish in the deep sea.
After giving the command, Fang Zheng temporarily set aside the swarm in Hell. Expanding in Hell wasn’t an easy task, but he didn’t need to worry too much. After all, Fang Zheng himself hadn’t gone to Hell; there was only a branch of the swarm there, and if anything went wrong, it would be easy to resolve.
However, some problems were not so easily solved.
Standing on the street, Fang Zheng looked up at the small building in front of him with the sign "Franca Workshop," sighed, and then reached out to knock on the door.
Soon, a cheerful girl’s voice sounded from inside the door.
"Come in!"
Hearing the girl’s voice, Fang Zheng pushed the door open and went in. He quickly saw, in the bright and spacious workshop, a lively girl with a single red ponytail, wearing a white uniform, sitting on a table, mumbling and calculating something. Next to her lay a lazy dog—but in fact, it wasn’t a dog.
The girl looked up and upon seeing Fang Zheng, she immediately showed a warm smile.
"You are... Mr. Fang Zheng, right? Welcome to the Franca Workshop, is there something you need help with?"
"I do have some matters to ask about."
Fang Zheng still remembered that the "Franca Workshop" in front of him was one of the buildings he initially redeemed. At that time, the description for "Franca Workshop" was "can provide advice and engineering on urban development." However, Fang Zheng had only been to this workshop once before, while repairing that astronomical robot girl, and the black technology of the workshop had left a deep impression on him.
After all, given that their technological trees were completely different, this girl named Nanoka could use what Fang Zheng saw as completely unscientific methods to repair a cross-dimensional mechanical lifeform with very scientific techniques. This ability was truly... astonishing.
It’s important to know that she’s neither an electronic artificial angel nor a super AI; she’s just an ordinary human.
After that, because Fang Zheng always practiced isolation and detection, there was no need for Heavenly Dao Palace to appear externally, so there wasn’t much that needed to be used.
"Hello, Miss Nanoka, I have some matters to consult with you."
Fang Zheng came to Nanoka, sat on the chair opposite her, then looked seriously at this girl who might not even be 14 years old and asked.
"It’s like this, I currently have a city, and I hope to quickly make its presence known in this world... Do you have any suggestions?"
"Make its presence known, huh..."
Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s question, Nanoka looked up, pondered for a moment, then clapped her hands.
"Well, does Mr. Fang Zheng’s city have any tourist attractions? If there’s some outstanding scenery, you could specialize in tourism..."
"I don’t plan to open the city to the outside world for now. Due to certain reasons, opening the city to the outside currently would be somewhat dangerous."
Fang Zheng shook his head, denying Nanoka’s idea. He had thought about it, but considering the external threats, he decided to continue keeping Heavenly Dao Palace isolated.
"Hmm... that’s a bit tricky..."
Hearing Fang Zheng’s response, Nanoka pouted, folded her arms, thought for a while, and then suddenly brightened up.
"Then, does Mr. Fang Zheng’s city have any unique specialties? If these specialties are very popular, they can also make a name for themselves."
"But I don’t know how to do it. Are there any good marketing plans or strategies?"
When Fang Zheng made games before, he didn’t need to handle marketing, so this was also a headache for him. After all, Heavenly Dao Palace had been isolated for so long—if you suddenly advertise your products all over the world, it might seem a bit jarring, right?
"You could participate in trade fairs."
However, in response to Fang Zheng’s inquiry, Nanoka quickly provided an answer.
"I remember many places hold various trade fairs, right? If Mr. Fang Zheng’s city could participate in these trade fairs, wouldn’t that be a convenient way to enter the market?"
"This idea... is quite good!"
Hearing Nanoka’s suggestion, Fang Zheng’s eyes lit up. Right, there’s also trade fairs! Games are the same, they used to participate in electronic or game exhibitions. Now it’s just a question of whether there’s something similar in this world!
Thinking of this, Fang Zheng smiled and stood up, bowing to Nanoka.
"Thank you, Miss Nanoka, I’ll give it a try... If I want to participate, at that time, can I entrust your workshop with the promotion planning and other tasks?"
"Of course."
Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s words, Nanoka happily nodded.
"As long as it’s something related to the development of a city, you can definitely count on me, Nanoka Franka, for sure!"

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