Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“L.. naturally knew the existence of the pictures and the significance of my creation!
Chu Zhixiao bit his lips so hard that they were almost bleeding. He breathed hard and said, “But—but somebody has to bear the burden in order to maintain the most important order!”
“Ha. Order. Hahahaha. What kind of order?”
‘The puppet king held his stomach with his hands and laughed exaggeratedly. “Is it the ‘worker bees’ who work in silence in the depths of the mines until they die, or is it the ‘soldier bees’ who work in the bottom level of starships that are full of heat, radiation, and venomous gas without any protection
and have an average life expectancy of fifty to sixty years, or is it the same as the citizens of light in front of us, who live in their man-made dreams muddle-headedly like pigs and are being studied as experiment subjects generation after generation? Even if the so-called ‘order’ can be maintained for
thousands of years, so what? Don’t you feel that it is the greatest sorrow for mankind to live in such an order forever?”
“No, I don’t need thousands of years!”
“In the near future, the gods will wake up and give us all the ultimate answers!”
“Haha. Gods. Do you really believe in the gods, Major Chu?”
The puppet king was more and more proud and scornful. Sharp brilliance beamed out of his eyes, which looked like black holes, and pierced into the depths of Chu Zhixiao’s soul. He shook his short and thick fingers faster. “No. Your eyes tell me that you don’t believe the bullsh*t. You are full of doubts,
pain, and fury about your birth, but you don’t know how to resist or whom to turn to. You don’t know what will happen if your resistance succeeds.
“Therefore, you can only fool yourself and sedate yourself with Master Zhi Shan’s lies, so that your battered, bleeding soul will be scabbed. As long as it is scabbed, it will be less painful, won’t it?
“It makes sense. Even though you are as strong as a Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivator and the ultimate weapon known as ‘Slaughter Goddess’, your struggles and resistance are insignificant and ridiculous in front of the five great masters and the state machine that they control. So many of your
brothers and sisters have been killed by them, and you are the only one left. What can you do?
“If resisting is impossible, then the only thing you can do is to obey and keep anesthetizing yourself, forcing yourself to believe that obedience is the only right and even the most sacred thing in the world. Only in such a way can your soul not be in so much pain that it is on the verge of destruction. Only in
such a way can you barely survive, live like a worm, and live like a machine. Am I right?”
“He was absolutely right!”
‘The mental devil said to Li Yao excitedly, “That’s what I thought, too. The puppet king—Lu Qingchen—is simply my confidant!”
“What’s your stance?
Li Yao said, “Don’t be fooled by the big villains so quickly, will you?”
Chu Zhixiao’s face was pale.
Her soul was shivering violently. She could barely condense her body in the illusion. Her body was melting and dispersing like chimneys.
Her face was full of pain. Thin, long red lines appeared on her snow-white skin, as if her soul had been scarred and broken into countless pieces.
“Tm sorry that I have to tear open your newly-created wound in such a way. It must be very painful, isn’t it?”
‘The puppet king apologized. “Only in such a way can you face your true self. So, I’m sorry.”
“But—”
The red lines around Chu Zhixiao were getting denser and denser. The color in her eyes was gone, too. She smiled bitterly. “Since you know that Master Zhi Shan is too strong for ordinary people to resist, what can you do even if you wake me up?”
“Allow me to repeat, ‘If you learn the Dao in the morning, you can die in peace at night.”
The puppet king smiled. “In the long run, everybody will die, and every civilization will be destroyed. The key is how we live and how we leave an indelible mark in the sea of stars.
“It doesn’t matter whether or not the citizens of Light City can escape. Similarly, if you can awaken, it doesn’t matter whether or not you can overthrow the reign of the five supreme masters. What matters is that the fact that you have awakened your self represents the victory of humanity. This is enough!
“If Major Chu, one of the most distinguished experiment subjects of the ‘Devil’s Child Project and a major who has been brainwashed and educated loyally for countless years, can blossom with the brilliance of humanity, who in the entire Sanctuary can’t?
“As long as I can retrieve the ripples that burst out of your soul the moment you were awakened, it is possible that I can develop something that you call a ‘brain virus’ and spread it to the nerve endings of the entire Sanctuary so that all the people of the Sanctuary will feel that you’ve broken out of your
cage and found yourself again!
“By then, even if everybody on Eternal Brightness is dead, you are dead, and I am dead, the spirit of mankind will be passed on for all eternity. The brilliance of humanity will illuminate every corner of the evil kingdom. Thousands of people will stand up and carry on our legacy. They will love, grit their
teeth, hate, fight, and live a wonderful life!
“Such a world is what the future should be, isn’t it?
Chu Zhixiao was rendered speechless.
But the long, narrow red lines all over her body were crawling toward her face, especially her eyes, as if they were trying to swallow her.
“Human nature can’t be stopped. Neither the greatest master nor the deities and devils in the universe can. Look at your companions.”
While talking, the puppet king snapped his fingers again.
In the raging flames of blood around him, other than the pictures that he had stolen from the database of the ‘Devil’s Child Project’, there were more than ten new pictures of Chu Zhixiao, who had been strictly modified since childhood.
The protagonists of the picture were Yuankou the Titan and Guan Qixing the Seven Star!
However, the Yuan Kou in the picture was no longer the super strong man who was as tough as a bear and as strong as a tiger. He was crying and holding his head like a thin and terrified child.
In the pictures nearby, the little boy was lying on the operation bed and undergoing all kinds of terrifying modifications.
Even Li Yao was secretly shocked by the bloody and cruel modification.
In another picture, Guan Qixing, on the other hand, was splitting into seven people who looked exactly the same at first glance. They were gritting their teeth and staring at each other.
He seemed to have fallen into a maze of mirrors. There were mirrors everywhere on the walls and in the sky. New mirrors were installed inside the mirrors, reflecting, refracting, and diffracting. The seven stars became seventy, seven hundred, and seventy-seven thousand.
“Abhh, don’t come over. Don’t come over. It hurts, it hurts!”
The little boy on the operating table was so scared that he even peed his pants.
In another picture, Yuan Kou, as a super giant, was crouching and crying in fear, too.
But Guan Qixing said to himself in the mirror and in the mirror, “You are not me. I am me. Who am I exactly? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?”
He suddenly crashed into the mirror, breaking it into thousands of pieces, only to add a new version of himself to each piece.
The confusion in his eyes made him more confused than ever.
“You invaded their brains at the same time and cast them into illusions!
Chu Zhixiao found it hard to believe. “How is it possible? Your capability—”
“You still don’t understand. It’s not about how strong I am or how skilled I am at creating illusions.
“It is them,” the puppet king said. “You have your own mental devil.
“If you are absolutely loyal to the Great Sage and all the deities in the universe, I won’t be able to invade your soul however good my narcotic ability is.
“It’s a pity that mental devil is hidden inside every member of the Star Glory Federation. The name of the mental devil is ‘human nature’.
“At first, ‘Titan’ Yuankou was just an ordinary little boy, if not weaker than his peers. It was because he went through a refinement that was unimaginably harsh and hundreds of times more rigorous than yours that he ended up like this. It was both his luck and not his misfortune. The super self-healing
ability that he was born with forced him to endure decades of torment. He could not enjoy eternal peace like his companions who had passed away early.
“Although his internal organs turned into an iron beast that looked like a black iron tower, he was still the little boy who was scared of pain and blood in the deepest part of his soul. He was scared that he would be sent back to the operating table for ‘repairing’ after every battle. Therefore, he tried his best
not to be wounded and blew up all the enemies with the craziest firepower before he shed even one drop of blood!
“This is his mental devil. Can you say that such a mental devil should not exist?
“Same goes for Guan Qixing.
“On the surface, he is an expert who is obsessed with technology and extremely calm. He never cares about anything other than crystal processors and the Spiritual Nexus, including the question of who he is.
“However, hehe, how can anyone not be interested in the question of ‘who am I? The calmer he appears to be, the more intense the torment in his heart will be. This question is like a python that is filled with venom that has entangled his soul, causing his soul to split into seven pieces of mutual hatred
without him knowing. Each piece wants to swallow the other six pieces and become the unique ‘Guan Qixing’.
“Nobody desires to share memories, emotions, and bodies with other people. They are the human beings who value their ‘self highly!
“Tm sorry. I didn’t mean for you to fall into the illusion. I just wanted to tear open the shell that covered your soul and let you face your true self. I wanted to wake up your human nature that had been sealed for a long time and let you taste the taste of a real human being… Even if I could only do it for half
a day, for an hour, for a minute, or for a second, it would be fine!”
