Deceit killers act rapidly; without any restrictions in play, perhaps even the most common deceit could wipe out an entire street within an hour... Why are there limitations?"

"The existence of deceits is nearly incomprehensible."

"We can only deduce their motives from the patterns they exhibit."

"The author analyzed 8,729 supernatural events and ultimately concluded..."

"For deceits, killing is not the goal, nor is torture. Despite being able to operate with much higher efficiency, they adopt the lowest mode of action. Their true purpose is to permanently lower a person's rationality through terror and horror and to harvest their reason."

"Flesh and spirit, these rudimentary things are not needed by them. Strictly speaking, human blood and flesh are just compounds, essentially no different from the meat of cattle and sheep; deceits make no distinction... However, there are shining points in humanity."

"The real difference between humans and animals lies in our ability to think, our possession of wisdom and reason! The combination of multiple rationalities and wisdoms forms a civilization! This is humanity's most prideful achievement, and our crown of reason is exactly what the deceits covet! They scare us, torment us, use death to harvest our crowns!"

"...And yet humanity is powerless, our technologies incapable of observing or explaining the existence of deceits."

"In summary, a terrifying conclusion can be reached..."

"Our world is actually a vast pasture, all humans are lambs, the common 'deceits' are sheepdogs, the 'great deceits' are shepherds... Only thus can everything be explained... The author speculates that above the 'great deceits', there must be a horrifying existence, perhaps it can be called 'ranch owner'..."

"The lambs are not the property of the shepherd, but belong to the ranch owner. Hence, they and the sheepdogs can only occasionally consume one or two as a permitted benefit, but mass slaughter is not allowed... because these are the possessions of the ranch owner, not theirs. Therefore, although deceits exist, the number of people they kill is negligible compared to the vast population. Moreover, various so-called killing patterns are nothing but means to cook and extract reason..."

"If the above speculation holds true, it can explain many things, and there is an even more terrifying conclusion..."

"That is, one day the ranch owner will come, to harvest all human reason and civilization... I call that day—'Judgment Day,' an eternal despair, I hope it never arrives!"

...

Zhong Shenxiu turned the page and saw the author's name—'Ming D. Tantai'!

"Dr. Tantai Ming?"

"This speculation is quite intriguing."

Zhong Shenxiu nodded gravely.

This speculation was very close to some of his own research.

And if the ranch owner indeed existed, it must be at least a Dharma Body level.

Perhaps, like him, the other had encountered a similar situation and was using this method to alleviate its own madness?

It had to be said, the possibility was high.

"Lambs, sheepdogs, shepherds, ranch owner... a very exquisite piece of reasoning, capable of explaining many things..."

He put down his tea cup and massaged his temples.

Angel's voice carried sadness: "We suspect that deceits and great deceits alike need a certain level of rationality to sustain themselves, which is one of the main reasons why we continue to passively observe and tolerate their killings."

"If this balance is broken, it will trigger quite terrible consequences! For example—the Deceit City incident!"

Zhong Shenxiu flipped to the front, finding the file labeled 'Deceit City,' and perused the related introduction.

Before the shepherd hypothesis was concluded, the Foundation had completely figured out the behavioral patterns of one 'great deceit.'

It was an ancient fortress where people would occasionally vanish.

Thus, they completely sealed off that area, forbidding any tourists or researchers from entering, even using Deceit Master's methods to block all news about it, creating a thorough seal.

This measure, at first, did indeed work, and that 'great deceit' showed no signs of activity for forty-nine years.

At that time, many high-ranking members of the Foundation were celebrating, thinking they had completely sealed a 'great deceit.'

And then, a great horror occurred!

Deceit City completely abandoned its previous pattern and started to move as a whole, killing indiscriminately.

The Foundation employed nearly all of its military power—legions of armed members, armored vehicles, missiles... all forms of technological weaponry were useless against that city that lay between reality and illusion.

Then, Deceit City broke through the seal and merged with Z City, plunging an entire city with a population of millions into death and horror.

"That incident was the Foundation's most catastrophic loss in history; humanity permanently lost a city, and then, hundreds of Deceit Masters paid the price of permanently residing in psychiatric hospitals. They didn't manage to seal the great deceit but just returned it to 'normal,' resuming its previous pattern of killing without madness..."

Angel's voice was bitter: "Our analysis after the fact suggests that after being enclosed for too long, due to the extended period without harvesting reason, it went mad, ran amok, completely abandoned the program set by the ranch owner, and began to kill indiscriminately, becoming a natural disaster."

"The previous shepherds may have had rationale and followed the rules set by the ranch owner, but a mad shepherd wouldn't care about such things... After all, you can't expect a madman to still follow rules..."

"The irony is that the end of the Deceit City incident wasn't due to us defeating the great deceit, but because after harvesting enough reason, it 'normalized' itself again... and began to operate as per its old killing patterns..."

"The shepherd plunges into madness, harvests a large amount of reason, and then recovers... This is a very peculiar phenomenon, almost like a protection mechanism set by the ranch owner. Without this 'protection,' a mad great deceit could destroy the entire world..."

"But it is not out of compassion, only to protect its 'property'..."

...

Zhong Shenxiu listened silently: "So, after the Deceit City incident, you all reestablished principles, to observe deceits as a rule, not to act unless a certain limit is exceeded, keeping deaths within a certain range... especially for large-scale supernatural entities, like the Anywhere Express Company..."

Angel said: "It's a compromise, a helpless compromise. Humanity can only try to delay... and then, wait for the arrival of Judgment Day..."

Guessing the truth was useless.

Because there was no method to resist.

What one could gain was eternal despair!

"Abandon sagacity, relinquish knowledge, and the great thieves will cease..."

Zhong Shenxiu sighed, feeling that if interpreted from another angle, it aptly matched the situation of this world.

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