I Have a God Simulator

"Absolutely not!"

Harlow shot upright and said decisively, "Dragon Remains can’t be stored. The Dragon Race can’t be spatially folded or contained. Therefore, Kataro’s corpse must be hidden somewhere in this world."

"I’ve already found a few pieces of Dragon Bone, but it’s not a complete set."

His reaction was a little delayed.

Luh Yao realized this as soon as he said it.

The Dragon Corpse at Yunzhong Temple was buried under the desert by the Cloud Guest for this very reason.

Harlow looked relieved. "You almost had me there. I, Harlow, am a veteran of countless battles. I’ve seen it all. How could I make such a rookie mistake?"

Luh Yao thought so too.

So, it seemed Harlow had other reasons for lingering in the human world.

"I came here for my duel with Kataro!"

"A duel is a sacred and solemn oath!"

"As a Cerberus, an oath is life itself! It is a noble responsibility and duty, as well as an outward expression of pure Divinity!"

"I see..."

Under the assault of Luh Yao’s spare ribs and honey cake, the Pirate Dog slowly began to talk.

In truth, after a hundred years of searching for the Red Dragon to no avail, Harlow had decided to return to the Netherworld. He couldn’t piece together the Red Dragon’s remains in a short time, and he had been away from the Gate of the Netherworld for too long.

He used a special method to contact the commander of the Cerberus, the Titled Deity "Hundred-Armed Giant," only to receive a reply that struck him like a bolt from the blue.

"There is no place for you at the Gate of the Netherworld."

The Cerberus are an exclusive group responsible for guarding the Gate of the Netherworld. Two Cerberus guard the Gate for one Era at a time, and they rotate in shifts. There are fifty Cerberus in total.

Within the Cerberus, there is also a cruel elimination process. The most capable shoulder the responsibility, while the weak are not qualified for the mission. They become strays, losing even the name of Cerberus.

Harlow repeatedly emphasized that he was by no means weak among the Cerberus; he was above average.

"The reason is that I borrowed Lord Hundred-Armed Giant’s ’Hell Eye,’ and it was damaged while fighting against the Red Dragon’s ’Dragon Thorn Scale Armor.’ That’s why the Hell Eye suddenly detached and vanished, causing one of my heads to explode."

Speaking of this, Harlow grew quite dejected. His ears drooped and his tail sagged.

Luh Yao summed up the main point, "In other words, you were essentially persuaded to quit by a Titled Deity?"

"It’s a leave of absence!" Harlow corrected.

Luh Yao asked again, "You said before that to be a Cerberus, you must have a post and orders at the Gate of the Netherworld. Do you think you still are one?"

Harlow’s doggy mouth twitched. "I think I am."

Luh Yao was curious. "Are the Cerberus believers of the Hundred-Armed Giant? What kind of group are they, exactly?"

"I can only tell you that we are not. I cannot disclose anything else."

When it came to details about the Netherworld, his lips were sealed.

Luh Yao proposed, "Since you have nothing to do right now, how about you consider working for me?"

It wasn’t that Harlow needed to do much. Just the intelligence he carried about the Netherworld, along with his years of experience guarding the Gate of the Netherworld, made him a canine-shaped treasure trove of knowledge. He would be very helpful in optimizing the management of Ghosts.

"Though you are a respected Pioneer, I must refuse."

Harlow said, not without a touch of pride, "I was born of the Netherworld, and I will eventually return to the Netherworld. A Cerberus will not accept recruitment or gifts from an outside God!"

’What a pity,’ Luh Yao thought.

It seemed Harlow had a deep emotional attachment and sense of belonging to the Netherworld.

"Well, if you change your mind in the future, you’re always welcome here."

Luh Yao extended an olive branch.

Harlow sat upright on the ground and said very formally, "I thank you for your high regard and goodwill, but it is still impossible."

"I have a few questions."

"Please, ask."

Luh Yao began, "According to human myths and legends, the Cerberus was the prototype for the Three-Headed Hellhound. So, do all Cerberus take the form of a Three-Headed Dog?"

Harlow had mentioned before that in his four battles with the Red Dragon, two of his heads had exploded. Including the one he had left, that made for exactly three.

"Of course not!"

Harlow shook his head. "That’s a distorted image caused by the world’s rules. You are a Pioneer, so you must know that when crossing into other worlds, the forms of more powerful beings are more likely to be distorted and hidden. No matter what form they ultimately take, it’s never their original appearance."

"Different individuals also form different images under a world’s Rule Projection."

"When a Cerberus enters your world, it forms a body like a three-headed Giant Monster, which is why we’re perceived as wolves or dogs with three heads... We do indeed have three heads, which represent our three stances for facing different situations. It’s not as if losing a head means it’s gone forever."

"I move around in my current form for convenience and to avoid drawing attention."

Luh Yao nodded as he listened.

When something from a Low Realm Dimension enters a High Realm Dimension, there’s a time limit. Exceeding fifteen days will turn it into an unpredictable monster or aberration.

Harlow also came from a High Realm Dimension, but he was clearly not bound by this rule.

It seemed, then, that some human myths were actually true descriptions with a degree of accuracy. It was just that after being passed down orally and altered over long periods of time, many had deviated significantly from their original versions.

Luh Yao changed the subject. "Let’s talk about Cancong’s situation."

"Oh, I almost forgot."

Harlow tore into a spare rib, his sharp teeth making a loud CRUNCH.

"He’s being hunted by a group of people. From the looks of it, they must be from the Committee."

’As I expected,’ Luh Yao thought.

"Cancong asked me for a favor. He wanted me to find the memories he left behind and bring them to him." Harlow gnawed fiercely at the bone, his voice becoming muffled.

Luh Yao thought for a moment, then refused.

While he didn’t think Harlow was lying, Cancong had to retrieve the memory stick-figure drawing on his wrist and the part left in the Dragon Nest himself.

This also indirectly confirmed that the new generation of Cancong truly didn’t remember what had happened before.

"That’s fine. I’ll just stay here and wait for him to come."

Harlow readily agreed with Luh Yao. "Anyway, as long as I’m here, I’m not breaking my oath. It’s just that you’re unwilling to give it to me, and it’s not like I can beat you."

"I have a feeling Cancong might have already been captured."

The Three-Headed Hellhound’s [Hunter’s Mystery] could lock onto and track a target. He had followed Cancong’s scent all the way to the memory fragment here at Luh Yao’s place.

At the same time, he could also sense Cancong’s general direction.

After parting with Cancong, that Longsu Zhucong had suddenly stopped moving. Not long ago, after arriving in Luh Yao’s city, Harlow discovered that Cancong’s aura had vanished completely, just like the Red Dragon’s.

The difference was that the Red Dragon’s remains were scattered across the world, leaving some clues behind, while Cancong had left no trace at all.

"Around yesterday, I faintly sensed Cancong again, but this time he was in the far north. It should take him quite some time to find his way here. So, I’ll have to trouble you. I’ll just wait for him here for the time being."

Harlow straightened up, sat on the ground with his ears pricked, and made a bowing gesture.

Luh Yao was momentarily speechless.

’He’s just freeloading, yet he makes it sound so righteous.’

’What happened to not accepting recruitment or gifts from outsiders?’

’I guess eating doesn’t count, huh?’

Luh Yao thought, ’Oh well, it’s just another mouth to feed. Speaking of which, Harlow is basically a down-on-his-luck worker from the Otherworld. He wasn’t fired, just unwanted.’

’Workers shouldn’t screw over other workers.’

Luh Yao opened a package of pork floss pastries and put them in a bowl. "Harlow, do Ghosts only appear in Low Realm Dimensional Worlds?"

"That’s right."

The Pirate Dog chewed the pork floss pastry with his side teeth. "This is a Real Cosmos. A Real Cosmos is itself a giant World Anchor. Its existence causes the surrounding space to enter a state of relative solidification. This solidification phenomenon continues to extend outward until it reaches a state of absolute stillness.

"Inside a Real Cosmos, the pressure of the rules constantly increases and solidifies, compressing all visible and invisible things to their absolute limit."

"Forget Ghosts, even we Cerberus, who are highly adaptable, are completely bound and weakened upon entering another Real Cosmos."

"I was very strong in my prime. My Combat Power was at least three times what it is now, but I’ve been weakened a lot since coming here. If Kataro came over, it would probably be the same for him."

Harlow licked the tip of his nose.

Luh Yao vaguely grasped something. "Then are Low Realm Dimensions also part of a Real Cosmos?"

"You’re talking about the Void Cosmos."

Having eaten the food Luh Yao gave him, Harlow explained with extra patience, "The Void Cosmos is what’s commonly referred to as the Low Realm Dimension. Compared to the Real Cosmos, it’s full of change. Both time and space are in a state of continuous, leaping alteration... It’s like the surface of the water versus what’s underwater."

"No matter how wide the water’s surface is, it’s still just the top of the water."

"And no matter how deep the water below, it can’t directly affect the surface area."

"Real Cosmoses can’t directly touch or overlap; they are independent spatial dimensions. No matter how large or far they expand, or how much of the surrounding space they solidify, they are merely the water’s surface based on a World Anchor. Since everyone is at a different water depth, they will never meet."

"Only through the Void Cosmos can they make contact in a true sense."

Luh Yao’s scattered thoughts finally began to clear up.

He proposed a hypothesis: "In other words, it’s difficult for a world within a Real Cosmos to encounter another Real Cosmos... or rather, other civilizations?"

"You are correct."

Harlow slurped the marrow from the spare rib. SLURP. SLURP. "It’s like trees in different locations on a mountain."

"Their roots are relatively fixed. The roots are the Real Cosmos, which grow downward under the pressure of the rules, locking down the surrounding soil. But the leaves on the trees have more directions and variations—these branches and leaves are the Void Cosmos."

"The superposition of numerous, changing Void Cosmoses forms the relatively solidified Real Cosmos."

"That’s more or less the idea."

What Luh Yao was thinking was this.

Humanity’s satellites and probes, even the farthest-flung Traveler 1, still haven’t left the solar system, nor have they received signals from any other intelligent civilizations.

According to Harlow’s description and definition of a Real Cosmos, no matter how far or for how long a probe travels, it would be difficult to find the root of another Real Cosmos within this solidified space.

To make contact with other worlds, one must enter the Void Cosmos where the branches and leaves reside.

This was consistent with Song Shiyi’s earlier assertion.