It was coincidental that Lille’s enemies also harbored similar ideas, and their manufacturing capabilities were not lacking—
Human industrial capacity was strong; if entirely devoted to the military, it posed a threat to the survival of most people, yet the production capacity was enormous.
According to Lille’s estimates, if the 250,000 nuclear weapons they manufactured were any indication, globally, almost one million nuclear weapons had ultimately been deployed in the war, nearly depleting all known nuclear material resources.
From then on, a true total war ensued for many years, with the sky covered by dense smoke and ashes, the sun unable to penetrate these particles, plunging Earth into prolonged darkness and cold.
Radiation dust drifted with the wind, and every so often, vast lands would rupture open, nurous missile defense systems erging abruptly, iron rain firing from the ground to the sky, followed by terrifying fireballs lighting up within the dense dust clouds.
Lille was certainly not the type to think, "It’s just war, why the fear, let’s annihilate them," but he ended up becoming even more extre than that.
Deep inside, he also knew, no matter what things had beco now, but tomorrow... tomorrow there really would be a change, maybe just endure a little longer?
But in his dreams, he no longer cared about such things. The so-called beautiful future was no longer what he yearned for; he had no attachnt whatsoever.
Besides...
People often say the only lesson humanity learns from war is that humanity never learns from war.
His frenzied brain, however, felt he was already learning from it, that he was the chosen one who would learn.
The lesson was: the wars were not fierce enough, they hadn’t taught everyone a lesson; the lessons were not profound enough, they hadn’t sent every deserving person into the ground.
His brain battled wildly, but the mont he pressed the button, he had already made his decision.
The all-encompassing total war brought down those hiding in the skies, making them breathe the sa air and enjoy the sa mud on the surface, and eventually, even the ground had no hiding places left, forcing people into underground cities carved out by mining.
What followed were various advanced tunneling super bombs, crushing those hiding underground, with many born underground seeing the real sunlight for the first ti.
When Earth beca inhospitable for life, people began shifting their gaze to outer space again, focusing on outer space...
Even the Moon couldn’t avoid the bombardnt and even beca a candidate for morale-boosting deterrence plans.
This battle was more thorough than that among corporations, because once Lille chose to attack, the world’s direction shifted completely from pursuing profit—
It shifted to pursuing destruction.
Hate was only a small part of Lille’s madness; more so was his belief from deep within that he should continue the fight, regardless of the reason.
This was also the source of terror that Martin felt: he had seen madn before, but a sane madman, a capable madman, a madman who rationally led people toward clear destruction, and moreover, already had succeeded, was utterly terrifying.
Fortunately... it was just a dream.
Martin reminded himself: fortunately, this was just a dream, perhaps this was Lille’s miraculous encounter, just like him, although hard, he also gained so superpowers.
However, he soon heard Lille murmuring distractedly, "...The automatic agenda should still be operational, both ours and the enemy’s."
Martin, who had been about to drink water, paused, "...With this level of warfare, no one should have survived, right? Is it even necessary?"
"No." Lille shook his head, the negative energy flas on his skin flickering, "Early in the preparations for war, there was a project initiated called the ’Compulsory Q Atmosphere’, the population problem had solutions long ago.
The subsequent radiation dust swarming the atmosphere, people even deployed many things into it, one type of virus we called the Compulsory Evolution Virus, the population... was never a problem:
It wasn’t a problem until the attack had thoroughly destroyed the industrial facilities to a certain extent; all these were part of the automatic agenda."
Martin beca slightly frightened: he thought Lille had finished telling his story!
Then he cautiously put down his teacup, thinking Lille had finished, so he increased the infusion of negative energy toward Lille.
He saw Lille, after finishing speaking, grabbing his head with both hands, like a schizophrenic patient reliving a hallucination, continued to recount in a low voice:
Since entering the warti state, I’ve never contacted anyone outside our own people. What I could hear, what I could convince myself of, was that we had to win!
We needed to eliminate those who had plunged the world into darkness, we needed to remove every person who didn’t think like us, we should—
Then, on the ruins, create an ideal state, a... Utopia..."
Suddenly Lille looked up, staring straight at Martin:
"But when I say this, you should understand, there’s no such future there, how can sothing that’s continuously sinking suddenly appear at the top?
And I... I have nothing left, only regret, confusion, fear, anger...
Martin, this is the source of your feeling: I was always conscious in my dreams, I even wished I had died in the initial nuclear explosion, but I didn’t.
I destroyed the world, and what disgusts the most is, in the last part of my dream life, I also developed thoughts similar to those I dragged into the mud:
Maybe I could leave sothing behind, I could achieve sothing, maybe there still was a future, maybe we should stop, and turn our gaze to the universe.
With that feeling of disgust, I forced myself to continue the plan of total war while fantasizing that soone might stop it all, killing us all.
"But there’s no future for , at least not anymore,"
Negative Energy began to subside in Lille’s body, but the black and white divide on his body beca even more pronounced:
"It was just a dream, and the dream is over."
Martin wanted to speak, but his throat was too tense, so when he opened his mouth, he found he couldn’t make a sound.
He quickly realized this and subtly adjusted before speaking again, "But it was just a dream."
"Yes, but it was just a dream," Lille nodded, "So you see, if a nuclear bomb exploded beside tomorrow, the one who would die could be the old , so I restrained myself.
But if I restrained myself to the point of hiding in the lab, doing nothing, fantasizing about creating so super advanced technology, only caring about myself, then others like could only watch as war profiteers freely destroyed their lives. Therefore, they also have to be radical.
I restrained, I was radical, both styles of actions stemd from one reason, a kind of regret."
A kind of fear, a kind of regret.
[Evolution Heart: Negative Energy contamination detected.]
[Evolution Heart: Your emotions are stable.]
Lille didn’t know whether Negative Energy counted as an artificial substance, but clearly, its influence on emotions was a side effect, not its main function.
Its main function was to reverse one’s concept of good and evil in the heart. Consequently, a different emotion occurs because of the altered views on good and evil concerning the actions one has taken or is about to take.
Thus, those with firm moral convictions are more easily influenced; in comics, morally strong heroes like Spiderman nearly have to tiptoe around Martin.
The ability to alter good and evil also triggered so significant events, a power unique to comic settings.
However, there are so people, or rather a few, who still maintain high consistency in their actions after their perception of good and evil has changed:
Because "morality" was never a guide for their actions, they have transcended morality, which more resembles an abstract toy they use to amuse themselves.
This was Martin’s first encounter with such a person.
Lille’s sense of good and evil had already endured a painful transformation during the "dream"; he actually...
Completely resisted the influence of Negative Energy.
It was as if the concepts of good and evil didn’t even exist in Lille’s mind—or perhaps they each held equal parts in his heart.
Because he had powerful and evil enemies that needed him to use radical thods to defeat, and a beautiful and warm world that required him to show restraint in order to preserve.
Because reality had not yet completely spiraled out of control.
Martin looked at Lille, sensing his changes, and saw the Negative Energy gradually subside in him.
He then closed his eyes, the black and white fading from his body.
[Unique Trait Acquired: Axis of Good and Evil]
[Description: Due to your ambiguous moral views, you are freed from the troubles of multiple personalities, gaining further analytical abilities in conscious changes.]
[Special Energy Infusion: Negative Energy]
[Description: Your diseased cells will be transford into normal and healthy cells.]
This energy grew strong when it encountered extre views of good and evil, extre internal conflicts, but when it flowed into Lille’s body, it cald as though without any fluctuation.
This energy drew from Martin and waned in Lille, as if he too had beco calm.
Truly calm: Kind Martin Lee, and the evil Mr. Negative, were now one and the sa.
"I guess, keeping this ability is unnecessary, and moreover, wasteful. This is what I owe you,"
Martin opened his eyes, regaining his usual appearance, though now there was an added sharpness between his brows.
He picked up his tea and took the first steady sip since coming into the room.
Lille’s sincerity was so real it made him grasp that feeling.
To beco a complete tyrant, clinging to a world destined for ruin, then telling oneself: Revenge is a beautiful and exhilarating thing...
That was a bit too delusional.
After revenge, there was still a world where he could carry the hopes of the deceased and embrace it; that was the best outco.
This was also what Lille had done for him. Now that his last doubts were cleared, it was ti he did sothing in return for Lille.
Martin set down his tea, the Negative Energy completely faded from him, looked at Lille, and rembered an often-repeated phrase from his parents before speaking:
"You deserve this from , let’s do this together, let good things happen."
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