Chapter 1 The Chase

Amidst the dazzling stars, Han Xiao’s figure was speeding through space.

“So that’s how it is, the information-state alert network…”

Recalling the intelligence he had just obtained, Han Xiao’s expression was quite grave.

Babani had revealed many secrets, including the information-state alert network and high-dimensional information vision, and Han Xiao finally understood how they had discovered him. He couldn't help but feel a headache.

Unless one possessed information-state technology surpassing that of the World Tree, this kind of detection method was practically unavoidable. No wonder the three great civilizations were exposed so quickly; it was truly impossible for outsiders to move an inch within the World Tree civilization's territory.

As for how he triggered the alert network, it must have been when he calibrated the navigator and observed the tan planet and the adjacent World Tree roots at close range. This interaction between an outsider like him and the World Tree civilization's information aggregate was what alerted them. That's why a Holy Tree Envoy came to investigate, using high-dimensional information vision to trace the marks he left behind, even with the protection of the Son of Destiny mark.

It was like having an extremely strong sixth sense, where you could detect the direction of anyone who glanced at you and even sense which part of your body they were looking at.

“This is troublesome. It seems like I won’t have a chance to complete the land grab mission this time…”

Han Xiao thought to himself, his mind racing.

The key was the information-state alert network. As long as the alarm wasn’t triggered, even if he left traces, the World Tree wouldn't be able to detect him immediately; it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

But now that he had been discovered, the Holy Tree Envoy could trace him along the path of his traces. In this situation, using the Son of Destiny's energy to grab land, he worried that it would be discovered by the high-dimensional information vision. He couldn't even conveniently leave behind a King’s Throne.

According to the mechanism of the information-state alert network, it wasn't impossible to avoid it. As long as one consciously avoided information interaction, simply flying through the universe without touching anything related to the World Tree, it was still possible to hide… just like when he first teleported over, without any information entanglement, the World Tree didn’t detect him.

But this was easier said than done. At least this time, he had already triggered the alarm, and there was basically no chance of hiding now.

As for other secrets, Babani also revealed some, some of which Han Xiao already knew, and some which he didn't, further increasing his understanding.

What he valued the most was the World Tree's remote sensing of the direction of foreign information aggregates. The more people who knew, or the deeper the entanglement between the two sides, the more the direction of the explored universe would be exposed, which was not good.

“Although the three great civilizations concealed the information, they still let some personnel know about it in order to explore in secret… If further confidentiality measures are not taken, the number of insiders will only increase.”

Han Xiao’s eyes twitched.

The more one knew, the easier it was to be sensed. The World Tree’s ability in counter-tracking was too troublesome.

Unfortunately, there was no information about the coordinates of the World Tree's main body in these intelligence reports. According to Babani, he had never read any relevant information in the psychic network. None of the Holy Tree Envoys or other high-level personnel he had come into contact with knew.

But even so, the value of this information exceeded all previous exploration results. It was probably the biggest gain of this trip. Knowing the World Tree's various methods allowed him to take countermeasures.

“Fortunately, virtual purification is effective, otherwise there would be almost no way to obtain these secrets.”

Han Xiao felt fortunate. The information he possessed now surpassed what he knew in his previous life.

Seeing Babani's resolute actions, he realized that the effect of virtual purification might exceed expectations—many foreign races had been swallowed and assimilated by the World Tree. If everyone had a similar awakening and could become a potential spy, anyone could become a traitor.

Although the World Tree would definitely take precautions against this move after being alerted, immediately rewriting the minds of those who "lost control," causing the duration of virtual purification to plummet, it should at least allow time for self-destruction. In that case, the foreign powerhouses swallowed by the World Tree might not be able to play a role.

However, the World Tree’s powerhouses would not die completely. Once they died, they would turn into seeds and return to the World Tree, falling into a deep sleep. The World Tree could consume resources and time to mature them, allowing them to awaken and be reborn, a mechanism similar to the Underworld, but with subtle differences.

The basis of Underworld Heroic Spirits was the soul. They regained their pre-death combat power by acquiring a physical body. As long as the Heroic Spirit existed, the physical shell didn't matter, because it was still essentially "alive."

The World Tree’s resurrection mechanism was different, it was an ability in the information-state domain. Each individual was unique, and the information was updated in real time due to the World Tree connection. When an individual died, unlike a Heroic Spirit who retained consciousness, their thoughts became dormant like true death, entering a hibernation period, turning into a "seed." Only when the World Tree supplemented them with nutrients could they be reborn and awakened.

In this respect, the World Tree and Sanctuary Resurrection also had similarities, except that Sanctuary Resurrection only required opening the Sanctuary and did not require additional consumption of resources and time. Whereas the World Tree's resurrection of an individual required a large amount of resources and time, meaning that once someone died, they could not be revived in a short period of time.

This form made Han Xiao think of the old real-time strategy games' "barracks," where producing units required a progress bar, especially stronger units requiring more time.

“The principles of resurrection of both the World Tree and the Sanctuary are related to the information-state, but there is a principle of uniqueness. What would happen if a World Tree powerhouse was resurrected with the Sanctuary first? Would the connection still exist?”

Han Xiao couldn't help but be curious.

If feasible, Sanctuary Resurrection might be able to constantly seize the powerhouses controlled by the World Tree, causing the strength of the two sides to ebb and flow.

But he couldn't rule out the possibility of failure. After all, individuals had a symbiotic relationship with the World Tree. So even if an individual died, as long as the World Tree, which preserved the individual’s information-state template, still existed, the "dead" individual might be judged by the Sanctuary as still alive, so they could not be resurrected and would be enslaved forever.

Moreover, based on the World Tree's mechanism, Han Xiao even suspected that the World Tree, like the previous master of the Underworld, had intercepted the information-state of its subordinates, preventing them from entering the Sanctuary, so they could not be resurrected.

“Currently, I can only guess. I can only know by trying it myself… Well, it’s not convenient to take risks now.”

Han Xiao pondered to himself.

Babani was dead, and he didn't know if the information he revealed counted as a medium. Han Xiao didn't want to risk using Sanctuary Resurrection for the time being. If the World Tree connection was not lifted as a result, it would create many risks. He could wait until the war broke out to experiment, and then he wouldn't be afraid of exposing his coordinates.

Han Xiao went through various thoughts, digested the newly acquired information, and then opened the panel to take a look.

The mission [Nowhere to Hide] that was triggered before had already been completed, and he immediately settled it.

The panel prompt immediately popped up, showing that he had gained 210 billion experience points, 2 random reward opportunities, and a Babani character card, which was an offensive skill and not very useful to him.

In addition, it also prompted a significant decrease in his World Tree faction favorability, and opened a new mission.

[You have triggered emergency mission [The World Tree's Wrath]!]

[Mission Brief: Your actions have angered the World Tree. It regards you as a great threat and has decided to launch a large-scale pursuit to eliminate you.]

[Mission Requirement: Deal with pursuers and escape the World Tree civilization's territory]

[Reward depends on mission rating, mission rating depends on escape resistance]

[Note: When you activate this mission, it means that the World Tree has remembered you. No matter when it discovers your tracks, it will launch a pursuit, permanently effective]

“Hey, I really stirred up a hornet's nest.”

Han Xiao clicked his tongue.

It seemed that virtual purification had left a deep impression on the World Tree, which regarded him as the number one threat. As long as he was discovered, they would relentlessly pursue him.

The mission itself was simple. If he wanted to escape, he could leave now directly using the Emperor’s mech, but the rating depended on resistance. Completing the mission so easily would probably get him the lowest rating.

He wouldn't have a chance to complete the land grab mission this time, so he would have to come back next time, but Han Xiao pondered for a while and didn't plan to retreat immediately.

Since he had been discovered anyway, he might as well take the opportunity to use virtual purification to get more intelligence, and incidentally kill some World Tree powerhouses, so that they would return to seed state and temporarily reduce the World Tree's high-end combat power. Unfortunately, he didn't know what changes would occur to the connection between the World Tree and an individual after the Space-Time Amber sealed the target, so he didn’t dare to take the risk for the time being, for fear of being remotely located after taking the amber away.

“But after all, this is the enemy's home base, with powerhouses everywhere, and there are many factors that can threaten me. If I’m too reckless, I might capsize.”

Han Xiao steadied his mind, simply took out bombs specifically designed to clear traces, and while speeding along, laid them along the way.

This kind of bomb could clear conventional information traces other than high-dimensional information-state, making it impossible for the information-state shadow projector to rewind.

Although the information-state shadow projector couldn't detect high-dimensional information-state in the first place, deploying these bombs could expand the area that the World Tree forces couldn't detect, which would be beneficial to him.

…

At the same time, behind Han Xiao, a massive fleet was chasing closely.

In the command room, a group of Super-A Grades of various appearances gazed at the window, constantly illuminating high-dimensional information traces with the help of the World Tree's power.

“The outsider has begun to clear traces on a large scale. The other party already knows about the existence of the shadow projector from Babani. This is likely a targeted measure… mobilize more people to search the area they passed through to prevent the outsider from leaving anything behind.”

The tall figure standing at the forefront slowly spoke, her tone unquestionable. Everyone else present followed her lead.

Teidelian, a Nine-Leaf Executive, was in charge of coordinating this pursuit and was the person with the highest status present.

The World Tree had five Tree Kings, and each Tree King had two Executives as assistants, ranked from One-Leaf to Ten-Leaf.

The Tree Kings were generally asleep, absorbing the power of the World Tree to strengthen themselves, so these Executives under the Kings were the highest administrative officers in charge of World Tree civilization affairs. They were not only high-ranking and powerful, but also possessed formidable personal power. None of the Executives under the Kings were below the peak Super-A Grade level.

Besides her, there were other peak Super-A Grades in the room.

“Just chasing behind makes it easy for the other party to escape. I have already notified some Holy Tree Envoys to ride the roots to intercept them ahead.”

Someone next to her spoke in a deep voice. This was a high-level Holy Tree Envoy, with a deeper World Tree connection and stronger personal power, far from what Babani could compare to.

“The outsider seems to be alone and is very strong. At the very least, they're at the Executive level. Be careful they don't break through.”

Someone else spoke again. This time, it was an Ancestral Spirit, whose identity was generally responsible for matters of faith.

And the person speaking was not an ordinary Ancestral Spirit, but a member of the "Thirteen Ancestral Spirits," which represented the strongest thirteen among the Ancestral Spirits, with a starting strength of peak Super-A Grade.

“Rest assured, His Majesty the Tree King is always watching. If the situation is not right, he will descend personally.”

Teidelian replied coldly, then turned her head to look at everyone and said,

“Babani was bewitched. This time, all those who are pursuing me are individuals who are steadfast in their convictions. I hope you can resist the outsider's strange bewitching methods.”

Hearing this, everyone present nodded.

After suffering one virtual purification, although the World Tree did not know the principle, they felt threatened after seeing Babani's performance through the psychic network.

To be on the safe side, all those dispatched to pursue this time were individuals who were loyal to the World Tree from the start, without any "foreign races" who had their minds rewritten.