Chapter 213: Discovering the Appraisal God's True Form

Chapter 213: Discovering the Appraisal God's True Form

"I don’t understand. We have no shortage of illusionists, so why open Interconnected Film to public uploads?"

Prophecy God Phoebus, who had participated in the production of Young King and thus earned a share of Source Essence, could not comprehend Yu Sheng'an's decision after tasting the immense profits of the film industry.

Even worse, he could not tolerate the thought of his own Source Essence being divided!

At the moment, Yu Sheng'an, Aphnora, and Phoebus were gathered in the Council Hall of Dofi Temple to discuss the purge of the beastmen in the Dofi domain.

However, at the very start of the meeting, Prophecy God Phoebus openly expressed his confusion and thinly veiled dissatisfaction with Yu Sheng'an's decision to open Interconnected Film.

"Interconnected Film’s appeal to users, just like the Q&A community or even the Music Sanctuary, relies on a steady stream of high-quality content! Only by ensuring an abundance of content can we attract more users—this is how we build a virtuous cycle," Yu Sheng'an explained calmly.

"But we are fully capable of producing high-quality content ourselves to monopolize Interconnected Film’s Source Essence! Why share this profit with others?" Phoebus’ tone grew agitated.

His authority of prophecy had already shown him fragmented glimpses of the future—gods frantically creating magical films and uploading them to Interconnected Film, snatching away what should have been his Source Essence.

"We? Monopolize?"

Yu Sheng'an narrowed his eyes and looked at Phoebus.

The moment the words left his mouth, Phoebus froze. When he met Yu Sheng'an’s unreadable gaze, a chill shot through his spine, sending a wave of icy dread straight to his brain.

He suddenly realized—he had overstepped!

The Internet God’s consistently mild demeanor had misled him into thinking he was lenient.

Little did he know, perhaps it was simply because he had never crossed the man’s bottom line.

"What I meant was—" Phoebus scrambled for an excuse to justify his overreach, but the more he searched, the paler his face became.

Because the Internet God also wielded the virtual Prophecy Godhood—any argument Phoebus devised through his own Prophecy Godhood would inevitably fall within the Internet God’s judgment!

It was an inescapable trap.

Deserves to die!

Cold sweat beaded on Phoebus’ forehead.

"The development of the Internet is my decision. You may offer advice, but you may not question. Understood? Do not use your narrow perspective or your overreliance on the Prophecy Godhood to judge my intentions! If you have ambitions, keep them hidden—wait for the day I show weakness."

Yu Sheng'an ruthlessly chastised Prophecy God Phoebus.

This old fool had shown impure intentions ever since joining his ranks.

Now, he was even reaching for the helm—utterly deserves to die!

As a passenger, he should know his place!

Phoebus’ face flushed red with humiliation, his heart boiling with anger—but even more so, with terror.

After a long pause, he lowered his head and said meekly, "I have overstepped. I beg for your forgiveness, sir."

Yu Sheng'an stared at Phoebus coldly, remaining silent for an excruciatingly long time.

That emotionless gaze made Phoebus feel as though he had been plunged into an icy abyss, his entire body trembling with fear—so much so that he nearly bolted from the room.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Yu Sheng'an spoke calmly:

"Keep your vision long-term. Don’t always think about making money—learn to lose it first. Lose money to dominate the market, drive out competitors, and then slowly raise prices to reap the rewards."

"Now that the Dark Web can't compete with me, they'll inevitably resort to copying the same old tactics."

"I can produce TV series and trailers to keep users hooked, making them eagerly await new releases. But under the God of Death's copycat strategy, he'll still carve out a slice of the pie."

"But if we open up Interconnected Film, things will be different. Once the gods participate in film production, they’ll naturally turn against the God of Death—because his plagiarism would be stealing their share. If it were you, wouldn’t you ban your Believers from accessing the Dark Web?"

Yu Sheng'an's words left the Prophecy God wide-eyed in shock.

This—this was nothing short of driving away a wolf only to invite a tiger!

"The benefits don’t stop there. Once the gods taste the rewards of Interconnected Film, they’ll grow dependent on it—eventually unable to leave us. Tell me, what do you think will happen then?"

Yu Sheng'an’s follow-up made the Prophecy God’s heart clench in dread.

A terrifying realization surged uncontrollably from the depths of his mind.

What a ruthless scheme! By sacrificing half the profits of Interconnected Film, he not only enriches the content and counters the God of Death’s plagiarism but also gradually gains control over the gods of the multiverse!

A single move that kills three birds with one stone!

Aphnora, sitting nearby, watched Phoebus’ horrified expression and allowed a faint, amused smile to curve her lips.

She had always known—Yu Sheng'an never made a losing deal.

Every step he took, seemingly absurd, concealed great wisdom—just like the movies he produced.

This was what they called Great wisdom appears foolish!

"But what if the God of Death copies our strategy?" Aphnora suddenly thought of something, her voice tinged with nervousness.

"It won’t work. We already have the first-mover advantage. As long as we keep releasing works that crush the Dark Web’s offerings, and with the multiverse’s masses enriching our library, once a positive cycle forms, catching up will be nearly impossible," Yu Sheng'an declared confidently.

There was one crucial point he didn’t mention.

With the virtual Prophecy Godhood in his grasp, he effectively possessed a big-data intelligent recommendation system.

This thing might seem insignificant, but its lethality was terrifying—as a man of Blue Star, he understood its power better than anyone in the multiverse!

Even if their content libraries were comparable, the God of Death still couldn’t beat him.

His video creators, as long as their works were excellent, would continuously receive targeted recommendations through the big-data system—even without recommendation slots—ensuring a steady flow of Source Essence.

But the God of Death?

If he dared copy this strategy, the exposure of works on the Dark Web would be limited to recommendation slots—or he’d have to mimic Yu Sheng'an and create his own "personalized recommendation" window.

But while copying the surface is easy, replicating the core is hard.

Without a big-data intelligent recommendation system, this so-called "personalized recommendation" would just be a rigid, random suggestion box.

The chances of users clicking through would be far lower than on his internet.

In other words, the recommendation efficiency would be abysmal.

At that point, once a work on the Dark Web lost its recommendation slot, its traffic would vanish. Who could tolerate that?

The contrast would make it crystal clear who could truly deliver benefits.

Yu Sheng'an didn’t voice this for two reasons:

First, explaining it would be too tedious—he couldn’t be bothered.

Second, he didn’t want Phoebus to realize just how indispensable the Prophecy Godhood was to the internet.

Even less did he want him to know that the Prophecy Godhood could be used this way!

Otherwise, what if they fell out one day and he defected to the Dark Web?

So, suppression was still necessary—to instill in him the psychological suggestion that "his departure from the Internet would be a devastating loss, while the Internet could carry on just fine without him."

Utterly crush his bargaining power!

"That's good!"

Aphnora let out a long sigh of relief upon hearing this.

Yu Sheng'an glanced at her, feeling fortunate that the first ally he had found was the Music Goddess.

An ally with modest ambitions, content to stay behind the scenes—such figures were rare among the gods.

This was especially evident in contrast to Phoebus.

When he produced Young King and brought Phoebus on board, his intention had actually been to accommodate Phoebus’s feelings, not wanting to alienate a long-time subordinate.

After all, excluding someone from every major action would naturally breed resentment.

But he hadn’t expected that his deliberate consideration would only invite further overreach.

This guy had wielded such a powerful Prophecy Godhood for thousands of years yet remained on the fringes of the divine pantheon—clearly, there was a reason for it.

Not only did his ambition fail to match his abilities, but worse, he lacked self-awareness.

"If the two of you are interested in Interconnected Film, you’re welcome to produce movies as well! As insiders, I’ll naturally offer preferential terms—Source Essence split 30-70, with me taking 30 and you keeping 70. Plus, all new releases will be guaranteed recommendation slots."

After disciplining Phoebus, Yu Sheng'an dangled a carrot.

"Recommendation slots?" Aphnora asked curiously.

"You can think of them as front-page promotions on Interconnected Film. Given the creativity of the multiverse, movies are bound to explode in popularity. When that happens, how will audiences even find your work among the endless options? Word of mouth is one thing, but the most crucial factor will be recommendations."

Yu Sheng'an explained casually.

This was also one of his future methods for keeping the gods in line.

Defy his will? Fine—your work gets buried. See how obedient you’ll be then.

Aphnora’s eyes immediately lit up at this.

Phoebus, however, felt a tremor in his heart, growing even more awed by Yu Sheng'an. He frantically reined in his scheming, terrified of being seen through.

When he thought about it carefully, ever since joining the Internet divine system, the Internet God had only grown more dazzling—so much so that he stood out like a tree above the forest, drawing the siege of the Five Gods and even a direct assault from the God of Death!

Yet, time and again, the Internet God had turned peril into opportunity, emerging stronger than ever.

Now, with all manner of unfathomable methods, he was gradually eroding the multiverse—and the gods remained utterly oblivious.

By the time the net closed, the entire multiverse would likely be under his rule.

How could that not inspire awe?

Originally, Phoebus had just wanted to hitch himself to a powerful patron, securing a place among the multiverse’s elite.

But he never expected the patron he’d latched onto had such terrifying potential.

Thinking back on his own reckless behavior, Phoebus grew increasingly uneasy.

So much so that when the discussion turned to the war deployment against the beastmen of the Dofi domain, he didn’t voice a single opinion.

Truthfully, given the strength of the Internet divine system, the beastmen of the Dofi domain were hardly a concern.

The only real consideration was whether the gods might secretly support the beastmen to hinder their actions.

But now, with Interconnected Film open to the public, the gods’ attention was fully captured—perhaps this was the perfect opportunity to reclaim the Dofi domain.

As the meeting neared its end, Phoebus steeled himself and sent Yu Sheng'an a message through the Internet Social Platform.

Yu Sheng'an, upon receiving the message, naturally glanced at Phoebus but made no reaction.

After the meeting concluded, Yu Sheng'an teleported away from the Council Hall.

He did not leave the Dofi domain. Instead, his figure appeared in the Kuld Desert of the Dofi domain.

This had always been his testing ground for various weapons.

For this purpose, he had even artificially created an oasis as a place for rest and contemplation between weapon experiments.

Lazily reclining on a beach chair by the shimmering lake, Yu Sheng'an wore oversized sunglasses, enjoying the dappled sunlight filtering through the palm trees.

Several sand cats, noticing his arrival, came running over with meows.

These were Yu Sheng'an's pets, primarily kept to deal with scorpions, venomous snakes, sand rats… and other creatures that unsettled him.

As the sand cats rubbed against his calves, the sound of footsteps approached.

Phoebus had arrived.

"My overstep today was inexcusable. I hope you can forgive me, sir. I was blinded by the allure of Source Essence," Phoebus said nervously, standing nearby with sincere remorse.

"Let today’s matter pass. I hope it doesn’t happen again," Yu Sheng'an replied lightly, letting it go.

Ever since that day when he filmed the movie with Aphnora and had an epiphany under the waterfall, he had come to understand many things and had grown more carefree and unrestrained.

"It won’t, it won’t," Phoebus said, inwardly sighing in relief.

"Speak. What brings you here?" Yu Sheng'an asked again.

"I’ve discovered traces of the Appraisal God’s 'true form'!" After a brief hesitation, Phoebus revealed this piece of intelligence—one that could buy countless resources, even Source Essence, among the gods.

The moment the words fell, Yu Sheng'an's eyes behind the sunglasses abruptly snapped open.