The passengers lingering in the metro station hardly came to the ground too. They were not sure what was happening on the ground, and they were all crouching in the corners waiting for the latest news.
A team of armed police officers set up checkpoints in the metro station, but judging from their shaking hands and their panicked faces, it could easily be told that they were not any elites.
The capital consisted of an assortment of forces. In name, all the police and troops were under the direct command of the emperor, but nobody knew who really controlled them. Li Yao did not intend to alarm those police officers and get involved in even greater trouble.
Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!
Under the boost of his telepathic thoughts, the lamps on the ceiling of the metro station died out one after another, and the entire metro station immediately fell into darkness.
Although the emergent illumination rune arrays were activated one after another in only a few seconds, Li Yao already jumped over the door of a checkpoint into the tunnel taking advantage of the few seconds of darkness and flurry.
He rushed along the rail at his high speed. The dim light of the metro station was gradually swallowed by the darkness. It was so shadowy around that one would not be able to see their own fingers.
Li Yao came to a stop. Suddenly falling on one of his knees, he reduced his breath, his heartbeat, and even the flow of his blood to the minimum as he placed his hands on the rail and sensed the movement of the high-speed metro.
His eyes were staring at the darkness in the front even though there seemed to be nothing at all.
The darkness was like a mirror, but something crawled out of the mirror slowly.
Li Yao put his hands into his pockets. When his hands came out, each finger had put on a Cosmos Ring. All kinds of marvelous weapons, crystal suits, and even the Colossus were set for a life-and-death battle!
“Come on!”
Li Yao narrowed his eyes. With overwhelming fighting will beaming out of his eyes, he shouted, “Show yourself, Long Yangjun!”
“Okay.”
Long Yangjun’s faint laughter came over from the darkness. “As you wish. Don’t regret what you said. I’m about to show myself.”
“No, please don’t. Let’s just talk nicely!”
Li Yao said in a hurry, “We’ve known each other for years, and we used to be life-and-death comrades. In fact, I cherish our friendship very much. Why don’t we sit down and talk everything through in peace? Don’t show yourself. Don’t show yourself at all. If you show your true self, thousands of Immortal Cultivators of the Imperium may attack you together to slice and study you, right?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Long Yangjun said casually, “If a certain irresolvable crisis happens someday and I am forced to deal with it with my true self, only to be caught by the Imperium and sliced for studies, I’ll certainly confess dutifully everything that I know before I’m sliced.
“For example, I perhaps will tell the Imperium that the Black Wind Fleet’s conquest at the edge of the cosmos is long over, and that the Black Wind Fleet has in fact been crushed and merged into an ambitious, rising superpower named ‘Star Glory Federation’. Although the Star Glory Federation is an insignificant weakling right now, it boasted tremendous legacies of the primeval age. It’s almost another version of the Alliance of the Holy Covenant from a thousand years ago!
“Right, I also have the accurate jump coordinates of the Star Glory Federation, as well as the detailed files including military, economy, politics, etc. I’m scared of pain more than anything else, and I’ll certainly tell them everything before they interrogate me!
“Oh, I almost forgot. There’s also the brilliant deeds and the enticing stories of Vulture Li Yao, who is the legendary founding father of the Star Glory Federation, the dominator of three or maybe seven Sectors, and the unparalleled expert from the edge of the cosmos. I’ll be sure to compile the stories into three volumes and tell them everything that I know.
“It can’t be helped. It will be too lonely if I am incarcerated or sliced for studies alone. As you said, we’ve known each other for years. We should go to prison or be sliced for studies together. That’s what good friends should do, right?”
“Wow!”
Li Yao exclaimed, “You can’t be that shameless, can you?”
“Why not? I’ve always been so shameless.”
Long Yangjun said matter-of-factly, “Ever since my identity as ‘Lead Eunuch Wang Xi’, I have always been so shameless. This isn’t the first day you know me, is it?”
“It is the same the other way around.”
Li Yao sniffed, “If my identity is exposed or my life is at risk, I’ll certainly expose your secrets and make sure that we die together! So, I’m truly confused. Why did you perform fatal attacks at me the moment we met, not fearing that we might’ve killed each other?”
“Fatal attacks?”
Long Yangjun sniffed and said, “Tsk, tsk, tsk. What an ungrateful man. It was only a minor joke with you a moment ago. If I had really performed fatal attacks at you, do you think that you could be standing here in one piece right now?”
“Enough of the nonsense!”
Licking his sharp teeth, Li Yao sneered, “You are free to try my current strength!”
“I know that you still have a ‘Gold Bird’ that you have not revealed yet. It’s really a name as lousy as ‘Tartarean Skeleton’. However, the time and location today are not appropriate. Maybe next time!”
Long Yangjun said lazily, “Your operations over the past month were too blatant. The Association of Demon Hunters is not Dongfang Wang’s only intelligence force. The Dongfang family’s own intelligence department figured out that you had a major operation in White Stone Municipality. As the president of the Association of Demon Hunters, can I turn Dongfang Wang down when he asked me to take action? I have to do something to trick him!”
“Speaking of which—”
Li Yao asked suspiciously, “It is quite incredible of you to have grown into a trusted subordinate of the Prime Minister of the Imperium in only a couple of years and the head of the most powerful secret intelligence organization, just like how you established ‘Ghost Character’ in the Ancient Sages Sector. Your life here is thriving again! What do you want exactly?”
“Monster Li, are you complimenting me or yourself? I thought that I was already good enough to climb the ladder upward whenever possible, but I did not know that you would be even better. How long have you been in the Imperium? Two years? One year? Half a year? You have become Queen Li Linghai’s trusted subordinate, the most popular super warrior of the reformists. Rumors even have it that you are an expert from the royal family, and your ancestors have protected the emperors for generations? Hahahaha. You have no idea how hard I’ve been trying to hold back my laughter these days!”
Trying not to burst into laughter, Long Yangjun said, “Don’t be so nervous. I do not have any clandestine schemes. However, after I came to the Imperium by myself, I had to count on a powerful force in order to retrieve sufficient training resources and to maintain my Colossus. It couldn’t be helped. However strong one’s bloodline is, it will soon run dry without the refill of incessant resources, won’t it?
“As it happened, I ran into Dongfang Wang by accident and helped him to settle the multiple factions within the Association of Demon Hunters, allowing him to gain full control over the secret organization, which was not under the influence of other big shots of the Dongfang family anymore. Is it strange at all that I became his trusted subordinate after that?”
Li Yao observed, “Simple as that? I don’t buy it! I’ve been fooled by you once in the Star Glory Federation. You appeared to be an elite warrior of the Nuwa Clan but were actually corrupted by the Pangu Clan! I’ll be an idiot if I believe you again!”
Long Yangjun sighed and said, “It appears that you are strongly biased against the Pangu Civilization.”
Li Yao said coldly, “Those who are not my own kind always think differently!”
“You human beings can be very hilarious sometimes.”
Long Yangjun chuckled. “While you claim ‘those who are not my own kind always think differently’, you are never united against alien species. Instead, you always stab the sharpest blades into the people of your own kind.
“You describe the extraterrestrial devils, the demons, or the Pangu Clan as your sworn enemies, and you are all determined to remove the evils. But how many human beings were actually killed by the extraterrestrial devils, the demons, and the Pangu Clan in the past ten thousand years? How many evils have human beings killed? And how many human beings were killed in the slaughters against each other, and how many most prosperous planets were destroyed by human beings themselves?
“The example is right before our eyes. The Tribunal of Extraterrestrial Devils and the Association of Demon Hunters are supposed to deal with alien species, but where have their claws and blades been landing?
“Oh, I almost forgot. ‘Those who are not my own kind always think differently’ is not an idiom that describes the relationship between mankind and other alien species in the beginning. Instead, it refers to the different ‘people’ within mankind.
“It means that even if you are all human beings, as long as your culture and custom are slightly different, you will not belong to the same kind, you will always ‘think differently’, and you must be removed as soon as possible!
“From that point of view, between you, a human being, and me, a ‘half Pangu and half Nuwa’, who is like a leviathan, who should be wary of whom? My dear friend Monster Li, can you answer my question?”
After a long silence, Li Yao’s spiritual energy and tone both softened. “Hey, is there any chance of cooperation between the two of us?”
“Maybe.”
In the darkness, Long Yangjun gave neither approval nor disapproval. “However, for two people who each have their own malicious plans to cooperate, at least two prerequisites are mandatory.
“First of all, you cannot be too much weaker than me. If you are too weak, you will only be my burden. Will there be any necessity for cooperation?
“Secondly, you cannot be too strong than me, or you may kill me at any moment. Such cooperation will be too worrisome and exhausting.
“I know that although you look shameless, cowardly, and very good at running, you certainly have your greatest trump card in your hands and an ultimate skill that you have never shown yet. Hehe. When I figure out what your final trump card is, chances are that we can really cooperate again. After all, I feel very pleased with our cooperation last time!”
Long Yangjun chuckled like wind chimes, and her laughter gradually disappeared in the depths of the darkness.
