After listening to the Miner’s explanation, Party Ace finally knew where the problem lay. The probability of obtaining the fruit of Aladdin’s Magic Lamp was slim to begin with, and it so happened that when they obtained it, their mother Realm was in a dormant state, which had an even smaller probability of occurring.

And yet, it happened. All the other Realms knew about the fruit and coveted the fruit, but they also knew that Noah Realm C had just swallowed one of its own kind, so no other Realm dared to challenge it directly at the moment. The two small probability events coinciding gave rise to the current situation.

The Realm who had the right to trade for the fruit, Noah Realm C, was sleeping and could not sense the birth of the fruit, while the rest of the Realms who could, did not dare extend their hands!

However, to do nothing at all was obviously not in line with their interests, and that was why the Miner was contacted as a middleman, for a tentative, more indirect approach.

“I’m sorry. Although the conditions of the other Realms must be very generous, I have no intention of striking a deal with them. The other Realms don’t have the thing that I want,” said Sheyan.

“What do you want?” asked the Miner curiously.

“I want my former party member to come back to life,” replied Sheyan. “Noah Realm C should be the only one that has his genetic samples. Other Noah Realms should not have that kind of thing, unless the contestant is already planning to defect.”

The Miner pondered, then said, “In theory, that’s true, but there might be another way. Your party member should have been injured before, right? When other Realms collected battle data, they might have collected some of his genetic samples by chance. You really don’t want to….AAAAARRGGHH!!!”

The Miner suddenly let out a soul-shattering scream. It sounded like he was experiencing something more terrifying than death, such as castration…. Then, a blurry image of Eve was projected from Sheyan’s Nightmare Imprint.

“Contestant No. 1018 will not consider your proposal. And you…if you don’t get as far away from my people as possible, even your status as a non-combatant won’t be able to save you!”

In the face of such a situation, Sheyan could only smile wryly. The Miner naturally did not dare to stay any longer. He immediately ran away without another word. Seeing Eve staring at him, Sheyan shrugged and handed her the fruit of Aladdin’s Magic Lamp.

“Is your wish to revive Mogensha, who died in the 2012 world? Are you sure?” asked Eve.

“I’m sure. The only thing I’m not sure of is whether you can do it,” answered Sheyan.

“What you’re seeing now is just a branch consciousness of mine. My main consciousness is still sleeping, so I can’t immediately fulfill your wish. You’ll have to wait until my main consciousness wakes up before you can see your old teammate again – provided his data is still in my database.”

Sheyan immediately scowled. His palms tightened into fists. “I hope you’re joking! And this joke isn’t funny at all!”

“I’m just telling you something that has a probability of happening, although the probability is very low,” replied Eve flatly. “But I think you should be able to see that guy again in a week at most.”

Sheyan heaved a sigh of relief. “That’s what I want to hear.”

***

The time passed quickly. The duel between Aziz and Bidder No. 7’s party had already concluded. It was pretty unremarkable.

The one dueling with Aziz was a woman who had the bloodline of the Na’vi from Planet Pandora in Avatar. The weapon she used was the longbow belonging to the leader of the Na’vi tribe seen in the movie!

The longbow had received the blessing of Eywa and was a peak-level legendary weapon, just like G-Spot before it upgraded. It was only a step away from becoming a lower-tier divine artifact.

And yet, the combination of such a powerful bow and the terrifying Black Arrow….was utterly defeated by Aziz!

Perhaps it was as Aziz himself said – in a solo fight against a long range attacker, as long as the opponent was not overwhelmingly stronger than him, he would never lose! A proclamation like that may sound arrogant, but it was not conceited. It was something that he had proven again and again through countless battles.

Sheyan reckoned that Aziz must already be a combat genius even before he became a contestant. Otherwise, how could he have faced off alone against the most powerful country in the world with nothing but his gun?

Although someone called Bin Laden had also done something like that, it must be noted that Bin Laden was a member of the Saudi royal family that had more than USD $800 million in personal assets. He had 52 siblings and cousins in his family, and the wealth of the whole family was over USD $30 billion!! It was the combination of such astonishing wealth and personal network that Bin Laden could remain free for so many years, and he was still killed in the end, at the age of 53.

Meanwhile, Aziz’s notoriety as “America’s public enemy” was gained solely through his own effort, with nothing but his gun!

Sheyan was also enlightened after witnessing the battle. Aziz had only one advantage in that fight, which was his shooting range, and he utilised that advantage to the greatest extent possible! The two combatants spent more than 34 hours in the duel arena, but the total amount of time they actually fought was only 74 seconds. What’s more, to the chagrin of Bidder No. 7’s party, the female archer did not even get a chance to attack!

She had a divine artifact, yet had no chance to use it. What an awkward, embarrassing, helpless situation!

Perhaps Aziz would only feel desperate when he had to face monsters like Sheyan. In the end, it was Sheyan’s diseases which could attack without a trace that caused the most trouble for Aziz. Once he was infected, all kinds of non-fatal but endless negative conditions would break out one after another. Even more annoying was the fact that Sheyan was actually an MT, which gave Sheyan many opportunities to make mistakes!

Although Aziz had not fought directly against Sheyan before, he knew Sheyan’s abilities very well, and he had carried out countless simulation battles between them in his mind. Unfortunately, he never won once in the simulations. Oftentimes, after he had decreased Sheyan’s HP by half, Sheyan would already get close to him. The outcome was obvious after that.

After that, Party Ace remained in Prince Pombaru’s territory, living a relaxing life everyday. Everything was prepared for them, be it caviar, red wines, steaks or even beautiful women, if need be. Because Sheyan and his group were all strong, they were not afraid of any schemes the other side may come up with.

Eve had told Sheyan that her main consciousness would wake up in a week at most, and it had been six days since then. While Sheyan was puffing on a cigar and fantasising about Brother Black’s resurrection, a leggy beauty in uniform came in and said to him politely, “The prince has just returned, sir. He has something very important to discuss with you.”

Sheyan did not pay this matter much heed. Currently, the relationship between the contestants and the Empire was very similar to the relationship between the celestial beings in cultivation novels and the royal family of the mortal realm. The two sides may sometimes cooperate with each other, but the celestial beings had a natural sense of superiority. Even if Prince Pombaru threatened them with nuclear weapons or particle cannons or what not, they could just instantaneously teleport themselves to other places or even another dimension like the auction house with the flesh armour…

And it was with such a mindset that Sheyan walked into Prince Pombaru’s office.

There was no one inside. The uniformed beauty said in a soft voice, “Please wait a moment.” Then, she brought him a glass of water and left, closing the door after herself.

This office was spacious. The sofa Sheyan was sitting on did not look like anything special, but when he sat down on it, the seat would slowly and softly sink, and the back of the sofa would lean over to support him. The sofa’s internal massaging device was like countless little hands that pushed gently against his body, relieving his fatigue. The sofa was a good example of the general atmosphere of the entire office – it was not luxurious, but efficient, simple, and comfortable.

Sheyan waited in the office for some time, but considering Prince Pombaru’s status, Sheyan figured that he probably had to make a lot of preparations everytime he had to meet someone – wash his face, dress up properly, arrange for some followers, etc. – so it was understandable. As Sheyan thought about that, his eyes strayed to the transparent glass window beside him.

Groups of soundless images were displayed upon it, and there were little lines of captions below the images.

This was a very common technology in this era, something even the common people could enjoy. The difference was that Prince Pombaru’s was in HD and had a better 3D effect.

The first image that appeared on the screen was just a dot.

The caption below read: “Starting point”.

Then, the dot split into two, then into four, then into eight. It continued until it was all over the screen!

The dots that filled up the entire screen right now were called the base points.

Then, the shot rapidly zoomed in on one of the dots and magnified it. The dot exploded!!

Up to this point, Sheyan still had no clue what was happening, but the next scene almost made him jump up from the sofa.

The dot had exploded in an empty void, but after it exploded, it started to rapidly solidify, giving birth to one planet after another, as well as countless stars.

At this time, the shot zoomed out, and he could see countless other base points similarly exploding and taking shape!

The caption below read: “The origin of the universe, and also the origin of life.”

After that, the line of text disappeared from the screen, to be replaced by the next line: “Why is life a luxury in the universe?”

The line of text was right. In the vast universe, few planets contained life. Among hundreds of billions of planets, less than 100 had lives on them, and even fewer contained intelligent life-forms. Based on this ratio, it was definitely not wrong to call life a luxury in the universe. In fact, calling it a luxury may not even do its preciousness justice.