"Uh oh, if the person opposite me is King Green, then who am I?" Old Green suddenly froze, staring dumbfounded at the version of him across who seemed an older self.

Even more than him, Xue Dili began to doubt the nature of this world.

Had he fallen under some illusion technique that altered his perception? Although not entirely identical, the Old Green across seemed to be in his seventies, while the Old Green within Xue Dili was only fifty or sixty. Clearly, sharing the same name and appearance, it was hard for Xue Dili to believe there was no connection.

In Old Green's memory, he had no descendants, as his wife had been in poor health and they had never had children over the years.

Combined with the fact that this hellish world was accessed through the emergency contact device of the fairy tale world, Xue Dili couldn't help but conceive a horrifying thought.

"Rabi, go make a pot of fragrant tea to welcome our guest," King Green seemed to notice the odd color on Xue Dili's face and told him.

"Yes, Father," the girl responded.

Xue Dili was stunned; this voice sounded familiar. He turned to see the girl who had been kneeling on the ground stand up, her face exactly like the Silver Princess of the Silver Country.

Not just Xue Dili, Old Green was also dumbfounded by this completely illogical situation.

A body-twisting hell, bizarre creatures speaking language, humans barely surviving, and the Silver Princess who should have been born in the fairy tale world, now reciting ideological studies texts in a detention center, along with Old Green— all appearing in this bizarre world...

Xue Dili now had two thoughts: either he was under an illusion technique and his perception had been modified since entering this world.

Or, this hellish planet and the fairy tale world had some kind of counterpart relationship like "inner world" or "mirror world."

He leaned more towards the latter because although his main body was only at Legendary Level, his numerous protections and treasures had resistance to magic characteristics. In the deepest part of his consciousness, he also held the awareness of the sealed divine authority.

If it were an illusion, the Birdman Armor and Cursed Blood should have reacted.

But now, neither the Birdman Armor nor the Cursed Blood was triggered.

Moreover, Old Green was even more troubled; his soul had been wandering in front of this king, and he came to a terrifying conclusion.

"This guy, even his soul is identical to mine, except for experiences and memories being completely different, he's just like, just like..."

"Like a copy of you?" Xue Dili asked.

"Yes, strange, why is this happening... Not just me, the Silver Princess from Silver City is also here, Xiao Xue, there's something very wrong here, I feel like we've touched some sort of terrible taboo..." Old Green's expression was complex, as confirmed by the beard he had plucked off his own face.

"Don't panic, there's a big problem, panicking won't help, and besides, we're both seasoned mages, what haven't we seen?" Xue Dili consoled Old Green.

Old Green: "..."

He felt even more panicked.

"Guests, the tea is ready," the girl brought out three bowls of tea. Seeing her face, Xue Dili and Old Green found it hard to imagine the Silver Princess possessing such skills.

Upon closer inspection, it wasn't tea leaves, but some kind of dried mushroom being brewed, giving off an aroma.

"Presumably, you are the 'Mage' recorded in ancient times?" The king drank a sip of mushroom tea, looking at Xue Dili.

Xue Dili also took a sip; it tasted like boiled mushrooms, filling his mouth with mushrooms. It didn't surprise him that the king would say so, as the de facto highest leader here, he must know the most stories about ancient civilizations and mages.

Moreover, he bore the same face as the headmaster of the Magic Academy in the fairy tale world. Xue Dili wouldn't be surprised if he revealed himself as a Tier Four mage in the next moment.

"I suppose so. I'm a tourist from afar who stumbled into this place, and your citizens immediately took me for some kind of lord." Xue Dili responded.

"Light Lord, that's the main deity in our local mythology."

Seeing this King Green seemed to know some old stories, Xue Dili directly asked, "Then I'd like to ask, how much of the ancient records are preserved here? Where did those strange forms outside come from?"

Xue Dili didn't hide his purpose, and his straightforwardness clearly made this King Green uncomfortable. In the end, he could only take out a book seemingly full of mythical legends to lend to Xue Dili for viewing.

Looking at the book, Xue Dili felt like he was observing ancient tribal myths. Inside, the Light Lord led pioneers to establish city-states, but the pioneers betrayed the Light Lord and killed him, eternally imprisoning him in the sky.

Thus, the ancestors who betrayed the God Lord were also cursed, becoming eternally tormented "monstrosities," the very same bizarre beings fused with the fungal mat that Xue Dili saw upon arrival.

Later, a drop of blood from the injured Lord of Light merged into the earth, giving birth to a new people, which are the over one thousand individuals in their current tribe.

After skimming through this mythical story, it seemed quite absurd, filled throughout with a ridiculous and surreal sense of primitive worship. However, certain intelligence could be deduced from parts of this mythological tale.

It suggests that the monstrosities outside are some kind of "ancestors," the creators of these products of reinforced concrete, cement roads, and circuit boards. They seem to be the indigenous inhabitants of this planet, which is not even as large as Australia, but for some unknown reason, they all turned into monstrosities.

Then a new batch of settlers came and occupied the place, struggling to survive while battling those monstrosities. This persisted for countless years, up to the present, and it seems they can't hold on any longer.

Xue Dili continued to subtly inquire about some ancient stories, and King Green now began to stammer, as if he knew something, but also felt this information was not for an outsider to know, so he was very cautious.

Since there wasn't much intelligence to be gained here, Xue Dili smoothly asked, "Old King, as a Mage, I know many medical Techniques. Let me treat you; just extend your arm."

Xue Dili smiled, and a small Holy Light Ball appeared in his hand.

"Alright." This time, the old man did not refuse, only extended his hand.

Using Cursed Blood, Xue Dili took some physical samples. Then the girl named "Rabi," who had the same face as the Silver City Princess, also received a touch of Holy Light from Xue Dili and provided a DNA sample through Cursed Blood.

As a Mage, Xue Dili was given the hospitality of this so-called "King," who was more like a "village chief." Rabi took him to a dwelling resembling a converted, abandoned container, not far away, as Xue Dili's place of residence.

Here, the original container was modified slightly, with some makeshift wooden furniture inside, extremely shabby, cold in winter, warm in summer, and it seemed the container was even somewhat drafty.

Before leaving, the "Princess" said, "Does the esteemed Mage require a 'bride' to serve you?"

"No need, but have the two people I met before come to see me. I have some questions for them," Xue Dili said directly.

She left, and Xue Dili looked out at the scene outside the container. It seemed there weren't many people walking the streets of the tribe. These people survived on this hellish star by farming mushrooms, and outside the tribe, there were only grotesquely twisted heads.

In the settlement, even many passersby wore colorful plastic straps. They seemed to revere all technological creations of the ancestors as sacred objects, thus exhibiting peculiar behaviors, such as sharpening circuit boards into spears and using plastic straps as spearhead decorations.

In Xue Dili's hand, three samples of blood continually spun: the "monstrosities' blood," the old chief's blood, and the princess's blood.

Both Xue Dili and Old Green had many suspicions and ideas that urgently required information exchange.

As he analyzed with Cursed Blood, he said, "Old Green, I analyzed the DNA of the monstrosities and compared it with the DNA of the old chief and the princess, and I discovered they are essentially the same species, with no changes in the DNA of the cell nucleus."

"In essence, the monstrosities and these humans are of the same species, but they manifest in vastly different forms. I still cannot comprehend why the monstrosities exhibit such inhuman traits," Xue Dili said, as Cursed Blood continued analyzing the DNA.

"There are even more questions," Old Green sighed. "I am very curious why they regressed to a primitive societal form. I previously proposed these people migrated here, but looking at the world outside full of monstrosities, this village seems like an isolated island. Where did they migrate from?"

Old Green paused, then continued, "And most importantly, their connection to my world—I don't believe the village chief who looks exactly like me, and the chief's daughter with the face of the Silver Princess, is mere coincidence."

Xue Dili also felt there must be some connection between Hell Star and the Fairy Tale World, but they currently had too little intelligence to know.

Soon, the father and daughter whom Xue Dili had met in the wild arrived. Xue Dili, still acting like a mystic, touched them and obtained DNA samples as they departed, causing Xue Dili to frown.

"What's wrong? Is there something odd about their race?" Old Green asked.

"No, I seem to have discovered some unique information. There weren't enough previous physical samples to notice," Xue Dili said as he immediately displayed the cellular structures of several individuals: the monstrosities and the basic cellular structures of these five people were consistent.

In essence, the monstrosities and the people within Hell Star are of the same species, without even a reproductive isolation barrier.

But there's one strange point: the telomeres of the monstrosities are very active, continually growing, while the princess and the father and daughter had telomeres that aged like those of normal carbon-based life forms over time.

Biologically speaking, telomeres are a key indicator of carbon-based life longevity.

"You only mentioned the princess and the father and daughter; what about the chief who looks like me?" Old Green pointed out a gap.

"Him? His telomeres extended indefinitely, just like the monstrosities," Xue Dili pulled up the information on the old chief. "This is the point that most perplexes me."

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