Chapter 1140 – Negotiation
The elderly man continued to mutter strange terms that Ye Qingyu had never heard before.
Ye Qingyu suddenly realized that this elderly man was behaving a little too maniacally.
His earlier impression of that elderly man immediately started to change.
This elderly man behaved like an elderly child and his endless muttering was at complete odds with the ancient Immortal vibe he gave off when he had first appeared. This was especially so when it came to the aura he initially exuded and now Ye Qingyu thought that his aura seemed to have plummeted from the skies. After he screamed for a while, he seemed to have completely forgotten about the destruction of the civilization on Earth, as though that had nothing to do with him.
Ye Qingyu was more inclined to think that this elderly man's behavior was a little odd.
He might not actually be a supreme expert from Earth but rather a… hmm, how should he put it, a hologram or a mental image.
Ye Qingyu was a little doubtful.
"Sir, I don't fully understand what you are saying. Could you let me know if you are the last survivor from the civilization on Earth?" he asked.
"Ah? Survivor? I guess you could put it that way…" the elderly man continued to rub at his chin as he continued, "When I was first created, I guess my creators hoped that I would become a spark of the Earth's civilization and preserve the knowledge of the Star Empire? However… the situation now is a little odd… I remember that I scattered several seeds many years ago… Let me see, it has already been a great many years since, probably a few million years, so these seeds should have evolved into new Human civilizations… But now you're telling me… why is that so? This doesn't fall with the calculations from my core optical computer…"
Then, he continued to act like a man possessed and muttered a string of nonsensical words.
Ye Qingyu couldn't make much sense of what he was saying.
"There must have been an accident. There must be some things that even a black-hole-level optical computer will not be able to predict…" the elderly man muttered as a fascinated expression crossed his face. "I guess optical computers can't calculate everything after all. In reality, the world is far too complex… Oh yes, kid, what did you say… those people were again?"
Ye Qingyu thought for a moment before he said, "Black-haired Dark Ones."
"Oh oh, yes, yes, yes, the black-haired Dark Ones you mentioned, are they seen as slaves in this world?" the elderly man asked with some disbelief and looked a little doubtful.
"Yes. They are frail and weak, and their civilization is underdeveloped, so they can't defend themselves when faced with a formation martial artist," Ye Qingyu said frankly.
"How strange, I saw a black-haired Dark One, as you called them, around a hundred years ago… I let him take several weapons away from the ark and this man had been very clever, so after he figured out how to use the powerful weapons, wouldn't that have ignited the advancement of their civilization?" the elderly man said incredulously, looking like a kid who had lost a bet.
A hundred years ago?
Ye Qingyu immediately thought of Li Qing's grandfather.
This validated his theory that the ark had brought Li Qing's grandfather to this place and it hadn't been down to luck at all. He deduced even more information from the elderly man's words and wondered if by 'scattering the seeds', was the elderly man trying to say that he had created the black-haired Dark Ones on Earth Province?
This information was a little astonishing.
According to legend, even Martial Emperors did not have the ability to create intellectual lifeforms.
If this elderly man had indeed created the black-haired Dark Ones, it must mean that he was incredibly powerful. Did this elderly man have abilities that surpassed even Martial Emperors?
"Since you had received a visitor before, why aren't you familiar with the situation outside? Did the visitor not mention all these to you?" Ye Qingyu asked.
"Uh, I probably didn't think that the situation was so bad outside, so I had only evaluated various physical aspects of that man and after confirming that there hadn't been any mutations in their evolution, I did not bother to ask anything else. After all, that man had already taken many weapons that belonged to the civilization on Earth, so this would cause their civilization to advance. It would have also resulted in the unequal development of the world and skew the normal rate of development…" the elderly man said sheepishly. He also realized that he had been too careless the previous time and made some missteps that had exceeded his expectations.
Ye Qingyu felt like this elderly man reminded him of Old Fish. Did all those who lived for countless years behave in the same manner?
"I guess I'll need to know more about this world," the elderly man looked at Ye Qingyu and said, "Kid, I'll have to peer into your memories. You won't mind, right?"
Ye Qingyu immediately rejected his proposal and said, "This is impossible."
"Ha ha ha, now that you're in my ark, I'm afraid that this is beyond your control," the elderly man said proudly and looked triumphantly at Ye Qingyu as though he was an animal that had walked into his trap. He was full of confidence and laughed very craftily, taking pleasure in Ye Qingyu's predicament.
"Why don't you try then?" Ye Qingyu said with a smile.
He wanted to see how powerful the most powerful person on Earth was as well.
"Ha ha ha ha, don't regret this…" the elderly man laughed very arrogantly.
Then, there were some changes in the control center.
Rumble! Rumble!
There was a series of strange sounds.
The rumbling sounds stopped fifteen minutes later.
"What's going on?" the elderly man exclaimed exasperatedly, "What kind of freak are you? A demon? A ghost? It doesn't make sense. How could a human like you be so powerful? Was our Operation Soar a success? But you aren't wearing the machine armor…"
Ye Qingyu smiled but did not respond.
The elderly man had employed several techniques earlier and summoned many strange weapons that were all terrifyingly powerful. These weapons were all very powerful and were comparable to a blow from a Quasi-emperor but they couldn't harm him at all. Instead, Ye Qingyu had destroyed many of his weapons and left the elderly man staring at him in astonishment.
"Is this truly what the eleventh era of the sun looks like? Humans have given up on technological advancements but instead, have refined their own bodies to further develop their own individual strengths? Uh…" the elderly man quickly figured out what had happened and disbelief was written all over his face as he said, "How could this be. This was something that the civilization on Earth had given up on back in the days and this was aborted during the era of the Star Empire…"
A while later.
The elderly man was absolutely certain that he couldn't do anything to Ye Qingyu.
"Now I know why I could only get a partial reading on your physical stats and this must be why your stats were so odd and incredibly powerful. Ha ha ha, this is very interesting. I can't believe that the civilization of this era has evolved to such a state. I really want to extract your DNA for testing. I'm just too curious…" the elderly man looked at Ye Qingyu like how the martial artists of the Vast Thousand Domains greedily eyed Emperor weapons, and his eyes burned brightly as he continued, "You are the perfect test subject, the perfect specimen…"
His excitement quickly waned because he realized that he could not control his test subject at all.
"Kid, let's make a deal," the elderly man's eyes twinkled and he smiled craftily as though he was a wolf holding out a carrot to a rabbit.
Ye Qingyu smiled and his eyes narrowed as he replied, "Sure."
"Let's discuss the terms of our deal."
“”Sure. Tell me, who exactly are you? Are you an invincible expert who lived on Earth?"
"Ah? What? Invincible expert? Me? Uh… I'm only a universal-level optical computer that has evolved to form a consciousness of my own.. Oh, right, you don't know what an optical computer is… Forget it, you could form your own understanding of it. There are no limits to my power, and I'm as powerful as the 'gods' that you mentioned."
"I want to know more about what the civilization on Earth was like and how it was destroyed…" Ye Qingyu said and went straight to the point.
"Sure, no problem. I have several neutron hard disks with me and the information you wish to find is recorded in these disks. Ha ha, I'll also give you a reader so that you'd be able to browse through these hard disks whenever you like. It will be like watching a movie… Oh, I don't think you know what a movie is… I want to know what the world today looks like, in particular, this formation martial way that you have mentioned. Even better, why don't you give me a drop of your blood or a strand of your hair? Then, I'll be able to carry out further investigations…"
They started to discuss their terms like two businessmen.
This was completely different from what he had imagined the underground civilization of Earth to be like. He had thought that he would be having a serious discussion that would span across civilizations but now… he couldn't help but be reminded of his first meeting with Old Fish at the Underground Moonlight Immortal Palace of Clear River Domain.
His approach might be different, but he managed to obtain the information he had been after.
Li Qing had been waiting patiently outside the white metal door.
Time slowly ticked by.
Every two hours that passed felt as long as several centuries to Li Qing.
He was tempted to give up waiting here and continue exploring the other parts of the ship, but he ultimately stopped himself from doing so because Ye Qingyu had explicitly told him to remain. There was a strange but authoritative voice in his head that repeatedly reminded him to obey Lord Ye Qingyu's words and that he couldn't go against Lord Ye Qingyu's instructions.
He reined in his curiosity and waited outside the door.
One day passed.
Then, one night passed.
Soon, two days and nights had passed.
In a blink of an eye, two weeks had flown by.
Li Qing waited until he could no longer bear his hunger, then he went to retrieve some food and water from the storage cabins and returned to wait outside the door.
Twenty days later.
A milky-white light twinkled suddenly at the doorway just as Li Qing was nodding off and he looked up in excitement. Ye Qingyu emerged from the door with a flash of silver light. He had emerged in the exact same manner as he had entered.
"My Lord, are… you alright?" Li Qing immediately went to greet him.
Ye Qingyu nodded and he still looked astonished and deep in thought, as though he had yet to fully recover after hearing some kind of amazing secret inside.
Li Qing tried to tamp down his excitement as he looked at Ye Qingyu but he couldn't help himself as he blurted out, "My Lord, what's behind that door? Did you come across the true treasury of this divine palace?"
Ye Qingyu was pulled out of his reverie and he looked at Li Qing as he said, "Yes, I did see the treasury of this divine palace and the treasures that were stored in there were absolutely incredible and completely overturned all that I've known so far. The ancient civilization's power and prosperity were indeed astounding…"
"My Lord, what kind of treasures did you see? Could… could you let me know?" Li Qing could no longer rein in his curiosity.
Ye Qingyu looked at him with a smile and said, "I won't tell what it is. If you really want to know, go on in and take a look for yourself. In any case, everything here will be completely beyond your imagination."
"But, I…" Li Qing said a little dejectedly.
He couldn't go through that door.
"Why don't you give it another try?" Ye Qingyu said with a smile.
Li Qing was a little doubtful when he tried going through the door once more, the white metal door no longer blocked him from entering and he could easily pass through it to enter the corridor.
"Uh…" He was extremely astounded.
