Returning to the dormitory, Feng Qi washed up and changed into clean clothes. He then sat at his desk and began organizing his thoughts and intel.
Even now, he refused to believe that Wang Jinsheng could be a domain creature.
If Wang Jinsheng was a domain creature, why would he return to Star City Academy to teach?
During his tenure, he often wrote articles and published them on influential forums, inspiring countless aspiring youth.
For this reason, Feng Qi firmly believed that Old Wang's intentions were for humanity's benefit.
He still vividly remembered Old Wang's lectures on history.
It was under Old Wang's guidance that he found the courage to face the apocalyptic truths within the future dreamscape, stepping up to assume the mantle of humanity's savior.
However, as Wei Wei had pointed out, there were indeed too many suspicious points about Wang Jinsheng.
As a historical luminary, it was strange that he had never been targeted by domain creatures for assassination. His rise to prominence seemed almost unnaturally smooth.
The voice from the black mist claimed this was a seed planted over a thousand years ago.
That seed, as the narration suggested, might have been a "switch" embedded in humanity's bloodline—a mechanism that was passed down and gradually spread until it was implanted in every human.
But what could achieve such a feat?
His first thought was cultivation techniques.
Only highly effective and exceptional techniques would be continuously promoted and passed down through generations.
From this perspective, Wang Jinsheng's actions indeed appeared suspicious.
In the future, Wang Jinsheng was hailed as a historical luminary, and the research institute he was associated with—the Tiger Soul Research Institute—focused on cultivating techniques as its core area of study.
This implied that Old Wang might have developed a groundbreaking technique that revolutionized human civilization.
But what if that technique had hidden flaws?
What if humans who practiced this ultimate technique were unknowingly implanted with a "bloodline switch"?
This switch would then influence and be passed down to subsequent generations.
In the apocalyptic dreamscape, the Lord of Black Mist could have activated the switch, executing a meticulously planned harvest of humanity.
[Could it be possible that Old Wang was secretly possessed by a domain creature?]
"Then a hidden force manipulated Old Wang's influence to promote this ultimate technique…"
As he muttered, he suddenly thought of Lin Ran.
In historical records, Lin Ran had developed a cultivation technique that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands due to ruptured meridians.
That incident had been shrouded in mystery from the very beginning.
Now, adding Old Wang into the mix, Feng Qi couldn't help but suspect that there were problems within the Tiger Soul Research Institute itself.
If the Tiger Soul Research Institute was akin to the Institute of Technological Research in its covert operations,
many mysteries could be reinterpreted from a new angle.
Starting with Lin Ran.
Due to Lin Ran's exceptional achievements in developing techniques, the hidden forces infiltrating the Tiger Soul Research Institute might have viewed him as a threat, fearing that his techniques could catalyze rapid growth for humanity.
Thus, during the testing phase, they intentionally tampered with parts of Lin Ran's promoted technique, causing catastrophic consequences.
This resulted in Lin Ran being blamed for the disaster.
In essence, they eliminated a "hero" who could have advanced human cultivation studies—all without shedding a drop of blood.
From this perspective, it also explained why Lin Ran himself didn't encounter any issues when practicing or testing his technique, but the problems arose only after it was widely promoted.
Now, regarding Wang Jinsheng.
As a historical luminary, he must have developed many exceptional techniques before creating the ultimate one, wielding an influence far surpassing Lin Ran's.
The Tiger Soul Research Institute could have utilized some means to control or exploit him, leading to the dissemination of a technique that acted as a "bloodline switch."
This technique genuinely advanced humanity, causing widespread adoption.
But it secretly harbored the seeds of humanity's destruction, which the Lord of Black Mist had long prepared to exploit for harvesting humanity.
Viewed from this angle, everything seemed to make sense.
[Ah Qi, do you still remember Le Ping'an?]
"What about him?"
[You once couldn't figure out why he joined Star City Academy. Could it be that the Institute of Technological Research was planning to infiltrate the Tiger Soul Research Institute?]
Hearing this, Feng Qi was momentarily stunned.
When he learned that Le Ping'an was a werewolf, he had always had an unanswered question.
Why did the Institute of Technological Research plant Le Ping'an in Star City Academy?
At that time, Feng Qi wasn't well-known, and even his cultivation gymnastics were still in the testing phase. It seemed unlikely that the Institute of Technological Research would specifically place Le Ping'an by his side unless there was another motive.
It was likely by coincidence that Le Ping'an discovered Feng Qi's knowledge of the hidden forces, leading to a series of subsequent werewolf incidents.
When Feng Qi had asked Le Ping'an about his future aspirations, Le Ping'an had replied that he wanted to join a cultivation research institute.
Was it possible, then, that the Institute of Technological Research had long been planning to infiltrate the "cultivation research institutes," with the Tiger Soul Research Institute as their prime target?
The hidden forces might have arranged for Le Ping'an to join Star City Academy precisely because of the close collaboration between the academy and the Tiger Soul Research Institute.
If Le Ping'an performed outstandingly at the academy, he would naturally be recommended for the Tiger Soul Research Institute.
After all, the historical luminary Wang Jinsheng himself was a graduate of Star City Academy.
The answers to the mysteries seemed increasingly clear.
At this thought, an image surfaced in Feng Qi's mind: Le Ping'an, surrounded by stacks of cultivation books at his desk, diligently studying.
Could all of it have been for the sole purpose of infiltrating the Tiger Soul Research Institute?
[It is indeed possible. In the future historical developments that you are unaware of, the Tiger Soul Research Institute eventually falls under the control of the shadowy forces behind the Institute of Technological Research.]
Hearing this, Feng Qi was about to nod but suddenly had a flash of inspiration. A phrase that the Black Mist Lord had said to Mu Yan surfaced in his mind:
"I didn't win, but humanity has already lost. No one can survive."
The first three words of this sentence seemed to carry a deeper meaning.
"System, do you think it's possible that the faction controlling the Tiger Soul Research Institute and the one controlling the Institute of Technological Research aren't the same? Maybe the Institute of Technological Research's attempt to infiltrate Tiger Soul was just an effort to penetrate the core of an enemy faction and gather intelligence."
[Entirely possible. The domain creatures clearly have divided factions. While they're fighting humanity, they're also competing against each other. That's likely why the Black Mist Lord said he didn't win, even though humanity has already lost.]
This realization gave Feng Qi a headache.
He had thought it was a simple confrontation between humanity and domain creatures. But based on the clues at hand, it seemed highly likely that multiple hidden factions were at play, each maneuvering within their own agendas.
Perhaps Mu Qing's decision to spare the Black Mist Lord and head east in this Future Dream was a reaction to the expansion of another domain faction.
[This is too much! My brain is about to explode from overthinking!]
Ignoring the System's complaints, Feng Qi opened his notebook and began to jot down his thoughts.
Moments later, two new lines of speculation appeared on the page:
Institute of Technological Research (Confirmed Domain Influence):
Known historical impacts: Sabotaging the Crimson Research Institute, creating the Spiritual-Energy Nanobots (Little Black), and assassinating humanity's new-generation talents.
Tiger Soul Research Institute:
Speculation 1: Possibly infiltrated and controlled by the domain forces behind the Institute of Technological Research.
Speculation 2: Potentially controlled by another domain faction, with the Institute of Technological Research dispatching Le Ping'an to penetrate the enemy's core and gather intelligence for future struggles.
Speculation 3: The problem lies solely with Old Wang, and the Tiger Soul Research Institute itself has no issues.
…
Setting down his pen, Feng Qi sank into deep thought.
These speculations were based purely on existing clues and might not reflect the truth. But if they were accurate, it meant that more than one domain faction was embedded within human civilization.
While infiltrating and manipulating humanity's development, they were also locked in a covert war with each other. Once humanity was completely destroyed, the domain factions would then vie for control over the Earth.
This aligned perfectly with what the Black Mist Lord had said: humanity had already lost, but it hadn't yet won.
If this hypothesis was correct, then one lingering question was finally answered:
Why didn't the Institute of Technological Research, clearly capable of crushing the Crimson Research Institute and even destroying human civilization outright, choose to do so in one sweeping move?
The answer: they were also wary of other hidden domain factions.
They had the power to destroy humanity but lacked the capability to emerge unscathed in a struggle against rival factions. It was even possible that the Institute of Technological Research was also searching for and analyzing the other domain forces embedded in human society.
This realization brought forth a new question:
If the real battlefield was the present, with humanity infiltrated by various domain factions, then what exactly was the purpose of the Path of Ascension?
Why did the strongest fighters, knowing the enemy had penetrated humanity, choose to traverse the Path of Ascension instead of staying behind to fight or working to eradicate the corruption?
"System, analyze this situation for me."
[Ding~ The system has thought itself into a crash and cannot process any more questions.]
After a moment of silence, Feng Qi, still unable to make sense of the situation, realized there were only two people who could potentially provide answers:
Mu Qing or Lü Yue.
Reaching Mu Qing wouldn't be easy—it would require him to follow the timeline where he joined the Dawn Army. But from what he understood, he might not survive long enough to see the formation of the Dawn Army due to unforeseen events.
That path was an option but carried considerable risk.
As for Lü Yue, Feng Qi couldn't understand why his future self had left no information explaining the Path of Ascension. Could the secret of the Path of Ascension be so guarded that even between trusted allies, it couldn't be shared?
For now, the answers to these questions lay in exploring future timelines.
On top of that, there was another unresolved issue: how Little Black could accurately locate and hunt him.
Logically, since he had been erased from the timeline, Little Black shouldn't even be aware of his existence, let alone hunt him down. How could it track someone who had supposedly died centuries before its creation?
During his last Future Dream, Little Black hadn't shown up.
This led Feng Qi to two possibilities:
Little Black hadn't yet reached his location before he died.
In a timeline where he directly opposed the Institute of Technological Research, Little Black hadn't been created at all, which was why it didn't appear.
Deep in thought, Feng Qi continued jotting down his ideas in the notebook, consolidating his intelligence. He realized that this time, after returning from the Future Dream, he faced more unanswered questions than ever before.
Initially, after confirming that the Institute of Technological Research was a hidden enemy, he thought eliminating it would allow humanity to enter a rapid growth phase. By bringing back cultivation techniques from the future, he could ensure humanity's ultimate victory.
But the newly uncovered information painted a far more complicated picture.
The path to saving the world remained riddled with thorns. He had a long way to go and countless mysteries to unravel.
Closing the notebook, he took a deep breath:
"Damn it!"