Chapter 1298 Dark Forest Hypothesis
Chapter 1298 Dark Forest Hypothesis
Raul was regretting his actions to the point of wanting to vomit blood! He could never have imagined
that he had messed with the wrong person this time! The "money tree" he had been stalking turned out
to be none other than the King of Hell! From NôvelDrama.Org.
"King of Hell... I'm innocent!" Raul writhed on the ground as if struck by lightning.
Lilly sat in her chair, her gaze lowered as she asked, "Innocent? How so? Please, enlighten me."
Raul didn’t know what to say.
Jalen also regretted his interference. Why had he meddled in this matter at all? He had actually
believed Raul's nonsense! It was obviously impossible that the King of Hell had “robbed” them. It was
clear that Raul had twisted the truth and lied!
"King of Hell, I was also deceived!" Jalen hurriedly tried to explain himself. Although he didn't
understand why the King of Hell appeared in the form of a child, they, as little ghosts, dared not
question anything about the King of Hell.
Lilly didn't even look at Jalen. She continued to gaze at Raul and said, "Go on!"
In this instant, the imposing and solemn presence of the King of Hell poured forth. Her young face was
serious, filled with righteousness, and not a single spirit dared to doubt or show disrespect.
"King of Hell, I... I..." Raul was on the verge of tears. Two malignant spirits beside him couldn't
withstand the King of Hell's pressure and spoke up one after the other, "King of Hell, spare us! It was
the boss who forced us!"
"The boss told us to follow you. He said you were his money tree, and that you had Azurite gemstones
on you. He said these Azurite gemstones aren't something you should possess..."
"Yes, yes, yes! It was all the boss's idea. We were just following orders..."
The two malignant spirits kowtowed as they spoke. Raul had nothing to say in his defense. If he had
known that this child was the King of Hell, he wouldn't have dared to rob them no matter what.
"King of Hell, have mercy..." Raul could only continue to kowtow, unable to come up with any excuses.
At this moment, he regretted his actions to the core, wanting nothing else but to slap himself for being
such a fool. Why did he have to rob them? Out of all the people to rob, he had to rob the King of Hell!
Suddenly, he remembered the look in Lilly's eyes when she was looking at the clothes inside the store.
Even when she left the shop, she cast several reluctant glances at them.
The King of Hell liked those sets of clothes! Raul thought he found a way to save himself.
Raul immediately began to grovel, saying, "King of Hell, it was all my fault. I was foolish and ignorant.
Please, give me a chance..." He moved closer, lowering his voice, and continued, "All the remaining
outfits in my store are yours! I beg you, King of Hell, to forgive my foolishness..."
Lilly's eyes remained calm, and she gazed silently at Raul. So, this was what Crawford Ancestor
meant. They had voluntarily offered the clothes. But would she accept?
Lilly loved money, but in this regard, she was clear-headed. She sneered, "Could you say it louder?
Offer all the outfits in your store to me?" Her voice turned cold, "Bullying the weak and fawning over the
strong. It seems like this isn't your first time."
Lilly raised her hand, and the destiny pen appeared in front of her, along with a black-colored book. A
dim light flashed, revealing a few lines of text. Though concise, these lines exposed all of Raul's past
misdeeds. They could be described as a litany of crimes, ranging from robbery to arson, all while
ostensibly running a clothing store.
The surrounding spirits whispered among themselves, shocked that Raul was so wicked. Just
moments ago, he had been the one to report the incident first, and they had trusted his confident
demeanor. Now they realized they had been deceived!
Raul was sentenced to be punished in hell right on the spot, and not to be released until his soul was
weakened to the point of becoming a "faint soul." By then, he would have lost his cultivation and
become a normal ghost. Releasing him in that state would be more agonizing than killing him. The
ghosts he had once oppressed would definitely seek revenge.
With a pale face, Raul shouted, "King of Hell! I was wrong! I admit my mistakes! Can you spare me? I
was forced into this situation. In the underworld, that’s how cultivation is, and only the strong ones
remain! We only have a limited amount of cultivated resources, and to advance, we have no choice but
to act this way... I've been cultivating since I awakened, and it took me a whole five hundred years to
reach the level of a ghost lord! Five hundred years..."
Tears streamed down Raul's face. "If the cultivation environment was better, I’d be able to cultivate the
right way as well. I admit that robbing others of their cultivated resources is a heinous act, but I'm not
the only one who does it! All novice ghosts act this way! It's a dog-eat-dog world, and we've all come
through it this way. Whoever can seize the resources gets them. You can ask them!" Raul pointed at
the surrounding novice ghosts and then at Jalen.
Jalen turned pale, wishing he could break Raul's fingers. "I didn’t..." he started to say, but his defense
sounded feeble.
The few novice ghosts mixed in with the group hung their heads, clearly agreeing with Raul's words.
Lilly understood now. In the underworld, it seemed that novice ghosts were like this.
Is this the dark forest hypothesis?
Once discovered, only one side would survive, or none would.
Lilly's gaze shifted to Cloud, thinking to herself perhaps Crawford Ancestor had been right all along.
So this is what Crawford Ancestor meant when he said that cultivation is a cruel process.
In fact, the reality was even more cruel than what Raul had mentioned by a hundredfold. Lilly couldn't
help but draw parallels to stories she had heard in the mortal world, of bugs placed in a pot, deprived of
food and water, where they could only resort to tearing each other apart and consuming one another to
survive, using each other's flesh and blood as vital resources.
In the end, only one bug remained—the Bug King—and it was the one to earn the right to survive. Lilly
suddenly realized that, under the current order, sentient beings were truly akin to a group of bugs being
trapped in a pot.