Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 1598: Chapter 1596: The World’s Malice (Curled Up and Eating Its Own Tail)

Yukina’s ability to take action was certainly not weak. She made a phone call, and soon both Sora and Setsuna arrived at the Touma Family residence. Under the gaze of the girls, Touma felt a bit nervous but still managed to stutter through the entire story. After finishing, she showed everyone her personal terminal... which even had photos of her with others at Heavenly Dao Palace.

”This thing is really interesting.”

Setsuna was clearly more interested in the high-tech personal terminal, but Sora was more concerned about the people displayed on it.

”Wait... that’s Sora... so who is this girl dressed like a princess next to her?”

”Latifa, she’s the manager of Amagi Brilliant Park.”

”Manager?”

Hearing this, Sora was suddenly shocked.

”She still looks like just a child though...”

”Sora said that Latifa is the princess of Maple Red Paradise in the Magic Kingdom...”

”There really is a princess...”

Yukina also felt amazed, then quickly pulled herself together.

”By the way, tell us, how many girlfriends did you say Haruno has? Have you met them?”

Touma didn’t think much about it, in fact, Sora did take her to meet some of Fang Zheng’s girlfriends, so she displayed the photos and started introducing them one by one.

After Touma finished her introduction, the other three were left in silence.

”What’s wrong with you all...?”

Looking at the silent Sora, Setsuna, and Yukina, Touma appeared a bit puzzled. Sora let out a long sigh, shaking her head.

”I finally understand... the rivals are just too strong...”

”Rivals?”

”Yes, look... there’s Kurumi... and Asuna... and... sigh...”

The more Sora talked, the more disheartened she became. In terms of beauty, looks, ability, and background, she found herself far inferior to the others. While Sora was considered a cute girl in class, popular even, she was merely cute. Compared to someone enchanting like Kurumi, or an elegant young lady like Asuna, she had no advantage.

Standing with them, she felt like she was nothing more than a maid or attendant to those young ladies...

Yukina also felt defeated, not from a prominent family, her situation was similar to Sora’s, and comparing herself to those inside instantly killed her confidence.

The rivalry between women is straightforward and uncomplicated, while men can comfort them by saying ”each has its own strengths,” such words only work among women of equal standing.

For instance, Kurumi and Asuna are both young ladies, Kurumi is an Elf, and Asuna’s combat skills are exceptional; both possess distinct beauties, and their personalities differ. Kurumi is somewhat like a little demon while Asuna is gentle and elegant, so they naturally have little to compare against each other.

Like comparing apples to oranges, it’s meaningless to judge which is bigger or tastier since they’re not the same species.

But for someone like Sora and Yukina, it’s like being wild berries from the mountains, nameless and without history, never to be served at state banquets, not even having a chance for comparison... or rather, no value for comparison exists.

Just like there’s no comparative value between a pebble and a sapphire.

Touma, at least, had a skill, her piano playing was quite good, but the others clearly lacked such confidence.

The harmony in Fang Zheng’s harem largely owed its existence to such dynamics; with varying backgrounds, personalities, positions, opportunities for rivalry were slim.

For example, Eiriri loved drawing doujins, none of the others shared that interest. And Black Cat’s over-the-top persona was unmatched worldwide, no one wished to compete in that field with her. Kurumi was involved in the Ministry of Internal Affairs supervising, those wishing to compare might need skills like Kurumi’s endless avatars. Sora was similar, though she joined later, managing Amagi Brilliant Park and maintaining a good relationship with Latifa kept her position unchallenged.

After all, everyone had their responsibilities, each crucially important.

During this silent pause, it was Setsuna who suddenly spoke.

”So, how long does Haruno plan to stay here this time?”

”Well... I’m not quite sure. He said he wanted to establish a Teleportation Gate linking this world with the Heavenly Dao Palace...”

Concerning this, Touma only had a rough understanding, Fang Zheng didn’t elaborate, and she didn’t ask. Faced with Touma’s answer, the other girls remained speechless, not knowing what to say. After all, with Touma’s personality, they were already aware of it. If it were Yukina or Sora, they might have thought more deeply, whereas Setsuna might observe quietly; however, expecting Touma, a straight-laced girl, to consider those things was simply unreasonable.

Just like you wouldn’t expect a straight male to flirt like a playboy.

”Since that’s the case, we must take action too!”

With this thought, Sora clenched her fist.

This is no time for surrender!

While they were discussing strategies, Fang Zheng felt a bit troubled.

Despite having spent a long time in this world previously, circumstances were now different. According to the Dimensional Codex’s requirement, Fang Zheng needed to establish a force in this world to connect it with the Main World.

Fang Zheng thought it would be ideal to develop games, but the problem was that this world, like other worlds Fang Zheng had been to, had a warped development path.

Unlike other worlds, this one excelled in the cultural entertainment sector, focusing heavily on films, music, and novels.

Games were the only area lacking.

Not that there weren’t any games here, but they were relatively undeveloped. If calculated in numerical terms, the game Attribute Level in Asuna’s Game World hits the highest ”five,” while in this world, the game Attribute Level caps at ”two.”

Comparable to the level of arcade games in the 1990s.

What further frustrated Fang Zheng was the unpopularity of video games, with very few people playing them. It wasn’t a matter of popularity but an overall disinterest at a societal cultural level.

Thus, in the Game World, creating ”Dark Soul” might swiftly grant him a Divinity, but in this world, where video gaming wasn’t prevalent, the resources he could leverage were significantly fewer.

It wasn’t just the game itself that was lacking; resources were also scarce. Everything from modeling to coding was underdeveloped. To enhance the gaming scene, he essentially had to level up the entire information infrastructure.

After investigating with ”Ratziel,” Fang Zheng decisively gave up.

It would take two to three years to straighten it out, and he didn’t have that kind of American time to waste here!

What about other options?

Military... useless. This world was so distorted that, according to ”Ratziel”’s investigation, the greatest forces were love, followed by cultural entertainment, then the supernatural. Politically, militarily, and scientifically, everything else was mere child’s play. In short, this world seemed like an ideal Shangri-La, with global peace, no oil wars, no cold war confrontations, with everyone busy falling in love and creating a great life.

Indeed, calling for love at the world’s center...

It seemed saving the world with love was... oh, maybe not.

Based on ”Ratziel”’s findings, despite the absence of wars or local conflicts, the world had shockingly high rates of crimes of passion, akin to a small oil war.

Recalling his past experiences, Fang Zheng could only state... every world has its dark side.

And building an influential force in this world, Fang Zheng found his options quite limited.

Either set up a national-level harem here or cause a stir in the cultural entertainment sector.

The first option was immediately dismissed; he didn’t want to get slashed again, even if surviving, it would still hurt! Besides, in a world prone to crimes of passion, he didn’t want one oversight leading harem A to slash harem B’s head, harem C to carve harem D’s belly... what a mess!

In addition, cultural entertainment could also complement Heavenly Dao Palace.

Currently, the only idol groups Heavenly Dao Palace could showcase were Farron Xiuxiu and Idol Kurumi. Though the little girls liked singing and dancing, very few were willing to step onstage. As for TV movies, they were directly imported from other worlds. Of course, fulfilling people’s ever-increasing spirtual cultural needs was vitally important to Fang Zheng. Local cultural entertainment industries need to be developed too.

It wouldn’t do to have Natsuse reporting the news broadcast every day.

The emergence of Amagi Brilliant Park somewhat alleviated the situation, but it wasn’t enough. If he could incorporate this world, Fang Zheng intended to make it a reserve base for the cultural entertainment industry.

As for his next steps...

Fang Zheng had come prepared; in his view, directly acquiring a cultural entertainment company seemed a good start. Much like when he acquired three companies in the Game World and collectively created a new era of holographic AR games, if he got this step right, future problems wouldn’t be issues at all.

As for acquiring those companies, it was simple, really – just a matter of money.

And how could a money matter be a problem?

After all, it wasn’t even his money.

With the FBI budget being so plentiful, how could they possibly use it all without skimming a little off the top?