“Human beings…” Tu Shenshi said with an impassive smile. “This world was indeed built using human civilization as a reference model. And you are exceptional specimens.”

“What does it mean by that…” Tan Xiao was confused, his subconscious stirring with fear. “Human beings, puppets… I can’t understand what it’s saying.”

Pan Xiaoxin’s face was pale. In a quiet voice she said: “It means this world is like a game — like a simulation city. We are the residents of that simulation city. We… we are all fake…”

“How can that be?” Old Teacher Cheng’s heart was unsettled. “I’ve lived more than half my life, taught so many students — how could I be fake? I can speak, I can think, I have independent thoughts. How could I be a puppet? That doesn’t make any sense…”

Bai Youwei frowned, looking at Tu Shenshi: “Just say it plainly — what is the difference between us and human beings?”

Tu Shenshi genuinely considered the question for a moment. “In terms of differences… there seemingly are none. After all, this world was built one hundred percent in the likeness of human civilization — from the large-scale geographical environment down to every individual microorganism, all identical to the human world. If there is truly a difference to be named, it would be, perhaps… that you exist inside a puppet world.”

“A puppet world?” Bai Youwei asked again. “What is the difference between a puppet world and a human world?”

Tu Shenshi smiled. “In a puppet world, there is the Puppet Game.”

Bai Youwei fell silent.

“Why do you make that expression?” Tu Shenshi smiled warmly. “Even though it borrowed the model of human civilization, you still exist genuinely. This world is also real — it simply operates under different physical laws. There is no need to look so devastated.”

“It is different…” Bai Youwei bit her lower lip. She silently tightened her grip on Shen Mo’s hand. “In the real human world, there are no games. There are no monitors. There is no suppression, no manipulation… and no one is turned into a puppet.”

The smile on Tu Shenshi’s face gradually faded. “…Then are you considering abandoning the reward you have earned?”

Bai Youwei frowned and said nothing.

Her mind was in turmoil. She had thought that as long as she won the game, the world’s crisis would be resolved. But now she had learned that the entire world was, in truth, one giant toy?

To become the master of a toy — what was the point of that? In the end, would they not still be playthings in the hands of those monitors?

She pressed her lips together and turned to look at Shen Mo beside her.

With Shen Mo’s temperament, he would probably care about this even more than she did…

“If the game had never appeared, we likely would have gone through our entire lives never realizing we were actually puppets…” Shen Mo said, his gaze downcast, his voice low and restrained. “Earlier you said you were grateful to us for providing data — may I ask why? The meaning of the game, the true nature of this world, why we exist… Until I can understand these things, I feel that even though we’ve won, it’s as though we’ve lost.”

Tu Shenshi looked at them both, was silent for a long while, and then slowly spoke: “I understand… Human beings are a species rich in curiosity, deeply drawn to pursuing what they call the meaning of life or the value of existence. Though you are not human beings, you are a perfect replica, and so it is only natural that you would display such tendencies.”

When it said “not human beings,” they all felt an instinctive discomfort simultaneously — their expressions showing unmistakable resistance and aversion.

Who would willingly be a puppet?

Tu Shenshi smiled faintly. “How to explain it so you might understand… do you know the Tasmania Island Effect?”

“…The Tasmania Island… Effect?” Shen Mo’s brow furrowed.

“Ah, that Tasmania Island!” Cheng Weicai said. “It refers to the phenomenon in which, within a closed environment, human civilization falls into a self-destructive cycle.”

Tu Shenshi gave a gentle nod. “Yes. This theory applies not only to human civilization, but to other civilizations as well.”

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