640: Chapter 640: Affairs Within and God’s Indifference (Double-Length Chapter, Monthly Ticket Request) 640: Chapter 640: Affairs Within and God’s Indifference (Double-Length Chapter, Monthly Ticket Request) “Hmm?”
A husky chanical voice emanated from the giant chanical Giant as it gazed at He Ao, its tone carrying a hint of emotion,
“I originally thought that no one could ever guess this matter, even I was shocked and unable to comprehend when I knew this thod.
However, if the one to guess all this is you, I’m not surprised at all.”
“The end of the ritual, is it the real world?”
He Ao calmly looked at the towering robot.
“The lives of us from the main world, in our intense longing for ho, will eventually converge into sothing that could guide this ship to the real world.”
He paused, then continued, “Is it the spaceti coordinates?”
In fact, everything that happened to He Ao and his team after arriving on the Navigator, including their arrival on the Navigator itself, wasn’t without any clues.
The most crucial clue was actually sothing that A02 had ntioned inadvertently, “Every device capable of traversing spaceti can read the spaceti coordinates of its location.”
This sentence, in fact, revealed a fundantal clue.
The ‘spaceti coordinates’ were the thread that linked all the major events He Ao had encountered so far, connecting the Boss, Velora, and the current ‘Painter’, David.
With this clue, by incorporating all past events, a clear and obvious thread erged.
Firstly, the Bull of Daybreak, a subordinate of the Boss whom He Ao first ‘encountered,’ intended to kidnap Liu Nan to Xidu in order to secure an entry spot for the Boss into the ruins.
Although He Ao ultimately foiled this plan, the Boss still activated the inside man ‘Tomb Guardian’ buried within the Research Institute and entered the ruins.
The reason the Boss wanted to enter the ruins was quite simple; he wanted to take the ‘Spaceti Beacon’ now in He Ao’s hands from the tower.
Back then, this Spaceti Beacon was damaged.
To obtain this Spaceti Beacon, the Boss even forged the tower’s administrator privileges and spent over a decade preparing.
Of course, his goal was certainly not just to obtain a damaged Spaceti Beacon.
The Navigator had the equipnt to repair the Spaceti Beacon, and so too did the ruins—just likely not near the tower, and the ti to get there might not be sufficient.
The Boss just needed to wait for one more opening of the ruins, which is this ti, to enter the ruins again and repair the Spaceti Beacon.
Of course, due to so mishaps, he ultimately couldn’t wait for this opening of the ruins.
During the period between the two openings of the ruins, the Boss also got involved in another affair, ‘the scramble for the Velora’.
The Velora, a device able to traverse spaceti, unexpectedly transited back to the main world from the ruins, seeming sowhat abrupt and random.
But reconsidering this event within the whole context reveals that the occurrence of the Velora in the main world was not random at all.
Only after the Boss had the capability to obtain the ‘Spaceti Beacon’ did the Velora appear in the main world.
This train was deliberately returned to the main world.
Of course, this also involved the machinations of an Angel whose na He Ao did not yet know.
If it had not been for He Ao’s involvent, the train would have followed the original plan and fallen into the Boss’s hands through Jin Ya.
At this ti, in a world line where He Ao did not appear, the Boss would have simultaneously co to possess both the ‘Spaceti Beacon’ and the ‘Velora’
Then, he would just need one normal opening of the ruins, arrange for people to find the Spaceti Beacon Corrector within the ruins, repair the Spaceti Beacon he held, and then record the coordinates of the ruins.
At this point, with the Velora capable of traversing spaceti, and the correct coordinates to the ruins, the entire ruins would beco his backyard; he could freely travel between the ruins and the main world and would rapidly utilize the resources of the ruins to grow stronger and achieve greater success.
But considered from another angle, what if the Boss himself was being pushed forward by soone else?
The Boss had no power to influence the Velora to cross spaceti and enter the main world at just the right ti.
At this point, the situation beca interesting.
If the Boss successfully possessed both the Velora and the Spaceti Beacon, he would surely prioritize inscribing the main world’s coordinates into the Spaceti Beacon in order to return to the main world.
Then, he would enter the ruins with the Spaceti Beacon bearing the ‘main world coordinates.’
In essence, he would then have personally delivered the main world’s spaceti coordinates to the ruins.
If there truly was soone manipulating all the threads of fate from behind the scenes, then they would have long since determined the Boss’s fate.
The Boss himself had already fallen to the brink of madness due to the loss of control over his self-perception.
Just a small nudge of contamination from the outside was needed to tip the scales, he might plunge directly into the distortion of insanity without the need for battle.
And it was clear that the loss of control over his cognition was a problem triggered by the Talent Sequences he possessed.
If the person who gave the Boss the information on this Talent Sequence knew in advance that there might be this problem but deliberately did not inform the Boss, and further intentionally guided the Boss towards losing cognitive control, it would then be possible to manipulate the Boss’s madness and sanity at any ti.
Like controlling a marionette, they would be controlling the ‘Boss’s’ destiny.
Indeed, He Ao later discovered several indications that the Boss had noticed so traces and had taken certain asures.
However, he probably still couldn’t resist the temptation of exclusive access to the ruins and in his dance with the Devil, t his end.
Of course, due to a series of unanticipated events, neither the Spaceti Beacon nor the Velora ended up in the hands of the Boss, leading to the indirect failure of this plan.
Hence, the mastermind behind had to make new arrangents to regain the main world’s spaceti coordinates.
And at that ti, He Ao had already noticed the anomalies on the Navigator and quickly realized that this event might very well be that new arrangent.
Combined with the ‘prophecy’ from the Research Institute’s prophetic Transcendent item: “Those who enter the ruins normally will return.”
Clearly, this entrance into the Navigator was not a normal entry into the ruins.
By then, He Ao had already known they likely wouldn’t be able to return to the main world under normal circumstances.
However, he still hadn’t fully grasped how the mastermind intended to obtain the main world’s spaceti coordinates this ti around.
At this mont, he connected the doubts he had encountered since entering the Navigator with the conclusions of his current analysis.
These doubts could be sumd up quite simply: starting with the Transcendent from the polluted World Tree and up to Ivier’s dying monts, they all repeated the sa thing—’going ho’ or rather, ‘hosickness.’
What they missed was different for each, but the underlying feeling was the sa, that of hosickness.
Of course, the biggest doubt was actually ‘David’ disguised as ‘Ye Yun’.
This guy would occasionally remind He Ao of ‘going ho’ by his ear.
By then, He Ao had already understood that this ‘Ye Yun’ was a disguise, but after seeing through the disguise, it was more important to understand the purpose behind the disguise.
In fact, without the ‘fake Ye Yun’, He Ao’s entry into the core area wouldn’t have been affected at all, David only needed to provide so guidance behind the scenes, rather than stepping into the lilight.
Unless he had a reason he had to step into the lilight.
This reminded He Ao of rituals that must fulfill specific procedures.
Those involved in rituals, or rather these chosen ‘sacrifices,’ must die amidst a kind of hosickness to complete the ritual.
This kind of longing could be induced through contamination and illusions in those with weak resistance to contamination, but for soone like He Ao, who has a relatively high resistance and isn’t so sentintal, it was troubleso.
The appearance of ‘fake Ye Yun’, other than to close the distance for a sneak attack.
Had another important purpose—to use this persona that was close yet not too intimate, to indirectly provoke He Ao’s longing from the side, thereby making He Ao a qualified ‘sacrifice’.
This could also be seen from the fact that David was still trying to elicit his feelings of hosickness.
Of course, the speculation about the ritual and the previous analysis of the mastermind behind the curtain were initially separate.
At that ti, these two clues had no common ground, so He Ao did not think of them together.
However, eventually these two lines naturally ca together.
And the thing that linked these two lines was very simple, that was the ‘Velora’.
An undeniable fact was that Velora had actually returned from the ruins to the main world.
But theoretically speaking, to go from the ruins to the main world, one would need spaceti coordinates.
But if the person behind the scenes knew the spaceti coordinates of the main world, they would not have to go through so much trouble.
So, there must be sothing that could replace spaceti coordinates or was interchangeable with them.
And this was an inherent property of Velora itself—it is a travel train, a train originating from the main world, and eventually, travel trains are supposed to return to their point of origin.
In a certain sense, this is also a ‘return ho’ which, in the field of mysticism, must have its special aning.
Of course, as living beings, He Ao and the others could not be equated with Velora, an extraordinary object, but there might be similarities at the root of mysticism.
At that mont, He Ao knew that all the killings inside Navigator were actually part of a ritual, a ritual using their lives and longing for ho as sacrifices.
And the ultimate thing obtained from the ritual was most likely the ‘coordinates’ of the main world.
When faced with He Ao’s query about ‘spaceti coordinates’, David did not give a direct answer.
With a tinge of helplessness in his voice, he said, “He Ao, you should know that this is for the future of the world, for the survival of our holand, so things are necessary.”
“The ‘future of the world’ you speak of, does that an bringing back the Evil God’s power and contamination to your holand?”
He Ao withdrew his chanical broadsword and calmly watched him.
“He Ao, I believe you must have seen related materials in the Research Institute as well.”
David laughed hoarsely,
“The relics are getting close to the real world, pollution is gradually becoming stronger, while the number of Transcendents is not increasing anymore.
You, the Research Institute, the World Tree, and even the upper echelons of various Transcendent organizations are all very clear about the future we are facing.
“Soday, the pollution in our world will break through a certain limit, strangeness and madness will completely transcend the control of the Transcendent organizations, and uncontrollable hazardous knowledge will spread explosively like a blast.
An eternal night will suddenly fall on us so night.
“When that final mont of destruction cos, no one will be able to escape.”
He lowered his head, and his enormous crimson eye focused on He Ao,
“It’s only a matter of ti before our world’s coordinates are exposed.
You’ve seen the ‘now’ of the relics, and the ‘now’ of this ship.
In a way, you’ve also seen our future.
Look at the dried blood on the floor, the marks of claws on every inch of the wall—they are all the desperate cries of those dying in destruction.
“Do you wish for such a future to arrive?
To avoid such a desperate and dark future, we need the salvation of a great Divine Being.”
He raised his hand, and a huge chanical cannon extended from his palm, aid at He Ao, “I believe with your intelligence, you can understand .
For the coming of this great salvation, necessary sacrifices are justified.”
The chanical cannon fired, hurling projectiles toward He Ao.
“Are you saying your God will redeem our world?”
Almost simultaneously with the firing of the cannon, He Ao, carrying a chanical broadsword, hurled the weapon forward.
At the sa ti, he leaped into the air, following the blade.
The blade, glowing with fierce brilliance, rapidly sliced through the shell, and a booming explosion blossod into a fiery flower in the sky.
Bathed in blood, He Ao burst through the flas, grasping the chanical broadsword that had pierced the explosion, and as he dodged the laser coming relentlessly from David, he flew toward David’s gigantic head, intertwined with machinery and flesh.
A huge chanical palm struck at He Ao’s face; He Ao affixed Divine Sense onto the bone sword, building a Strengthening Circuit.
He stabbed the sword into the massive chanical palm.
Then, holding the hilt, he exerted force in his arms and swung himself into the air, rolling once more toward David’s giant head.
The fiery red blade cleaved towards the giant’s crown.
At that mont, the chanical giant opened its mouth, and a piece of orange-yellow sheepskin scroll spewed forth.
The scroll unfurled quickly, revealing a briefly outlined drawing inside.
It was an image of an illusory hand.
Imdiately after, the hand seemingly burst out of the sheepskin scroll and struck at He Ao.
The blade of the chanical broadsword collided with the illusory hand, and with a brief ‘crack,’ the hand crumbled, and He Ao was sent flying backward from the recoil.
Behind him was a towering tal wall.
Retrieve objects from the air!
He Ao raised his hand, and the bone sword forrly embedded in the chanical giant’s palm appeared in his grip.
Then, he thrust the bone sword back into the tal wall behind him.
After briefly securing his position, he exerted a slight force in his arms, and his body flew upwards, his feet stably landing on the hilt of the bone sword.
There, he steadied himself on the smooth wall that offered no footholds.
He looked up at the chanical Giant; at this height, he could already see David’s head without having to tilt his head too high.
The Sheepskin Scroll that flew out swiftly retracted into the giant’s mouth.
He glanced at the Sheepskin Scroll; it seed its ability was to sohow turn falsehood into truth, probably the Transcendent artifact David used to deceive others’ identities.
“He Ao, you should understand that God is omnipotent,”
David closed his mouth.
“If your God is indeed omnipotent, and your faith most likely cos from the relics, then what about those who worship Him in the relics?” He Ao asked calmly, gazing at him.
“If He truly can protect His followers, then where are His followers in the relics?”
The relics were a desolate land, a desolate land devoid of people.
Without waiting for David’s response, He Ao continued, “There are no followers of your God in the relics; could it be that there are none on this ship either?
This ship is filled with the contamination of your God, and His footsteps once marked it.
Couldn’t your omnipotent God make any desperate mortal believe in Him?”
“If there are any followers of His on this ship, where are they?”
If there had been a living person aboard this ship who had beco a follower of David’s God, A02 wouldn’t have had to wait for David and He Ao’s arrival to break her seal.
From the ring-shaped chamber to the core area, in the scenes reconstructed by He Ao, there was only madness, desperation, and mutual slaughter aboard the ship.
And before the cataclysm of the Copy World, there certainly could have been people who attempted to worship the Evil God in hopes of preserving life and civilization.
But in the end, the apocalypse still destroyed everything.
Even the apocalypse itself might have been brought by the Evil God.
Faced with He Ao’s questions, David fell into a brief silence.
He had co this far with He Ao, witnessing everything on this ship.
Eventually, the grotesque, intertwined face of flesh and machinery on his face revealed a hideous grin, like madness with its mask ripped off,
“I know, God doesn’t care.”
He raised his hand, slapping towards He Ao; madness twisted in his fleshly eye, while fresh red tears flowed from the chanical one.
He Ao calmly watched, his dark pupils reflecting the profound vastness of space beyond the glass do.
He had guessed long ago that David had gone insane, that he had been insane for a long ti, and that he was just deceiving himself, fooling himself into believing that he was on a mission to save the world with the help of a Divine Being, sustaining his false sanity.
He Ao suddenly leaped, dodging the palm strike, and at that mont, David’s other hand also reached for him.
With no obstruction, the chanical Giant’s attacks beca fiercely brutal, each one lethal.
Countless red glows flashed across the sky, and writhing tentacles extended from the giant’s flesh.
From the steel rubble on the ground erged tallic birds with outstretched wings, soaring toward He Ao.
He Ao, now in mid-air, stepped off the back of a bird, leaping away before David’s hand could strike; he was now even closer to David’s head, reaching out, and a bone sword appeared in his hand, embedded into the wall.
At that mont, a superimposed pattern of gears appeared on David’s body, his montum rapidly rising, breaking through the B-rank limit and approaching Ivier’s previous strength.
He once again sought power from his Divine Being.
At the sa ti, he quickly withdrew his hand, attempting to catch He Ao.
But it was already too late; with the aid of montum in the air, He Ao had drawn even closer, arriving in front of David’s forehead.
Crossing blades like a pair of scissors, he swiftly cut through the flesh of the chanical Giant’s right forehead, then sorsaulted upwards, landing on the bald crown of David’s head.
This was the first energy convergence point.
Countless writhing tentacles extended from the flesh on David’s head, attempting to entangle He Ao.
anwhile, the giant chanical hand also struck down at the head.
David’s chanical Giant form had five energy convergence points in total.
These points did not form a network, but each was filled with raw, surging power.
Once the energy convergence point on the forehead was destroyed, the remaining energy rapidly transferred to the other four points.
He Ao didn’t hesitate facing the fleshly tentacles attacking from above; he directly fed an Energy Block into the chanical broadsword and then fitted both the bone sword and the broadsword with Strengthening Circuits.
The blades sank into the chanical Giant’s scalp, flying past, severing the tentacles at their roots.
Then, in the last instant before the giant hand struck down, he leaped from the top of the chanical Giant’s head.
As the giant hand hit the top, it made a thunderous ‘bang.’
By that mont, He Ao had already rolled and landed on the giant’s back, stabbing the bone sword into the back to stabilize his position.
Then he gripped the hilt of the bone sword and swung out.
This ti, he landed firmly on the chanical Giant’s left shoulder and without hesitation, thrust the sword into the giant’s shoulder.
The second one!
At that ti, the coiling Sheepskin Scroll was once again spat out from the chanical Giant’s mouth.
This ti, the image within was an exquisitely detailed portrayal of Ye Yun.
That ‘Ye Yun’ swiftly stepped out of the painting, landing on the giant’s left shoulder and swinging a blade at He Ao.
It was too late to dodge at this mont.
He Ao reached out his hand, summoning the bone sword back into it, then gathered his strength in his arms following the Strengthening Circuit, reinforcing the bone sword with Divine Sense, and struck at the broadsword.
Bang—
The broadsword shattered instantly, and He Ao’s sword light persisted, severing ‘Ye Yun’s’ body with one stroke.
The broken body transford into a scroll of painting, then scattered into dust.
He Ao shattered the image, but in the next mont, the giant’s other hand also ca smashing over,
The arm, covered in flesh and blood, moved with incredible speed.
He Ao, who had just fended off ‘Ye Yun,’ was caught off guard and was directly hit, sent flying through the air.
Blood spurted from his mouth, and the wounds that already existed on his body were torn open even further.
“Why do you still have so much strength after fighting with Ivier?”
David looked towards him as his other hand reached out to grab him.
“Guess.”
By now He Ao had been sent so distance away, without a sword in hand, his hands empty.
He directly pulled out the Miracle Wand from his waist.
Mountain Collapse Tsunami!
In the invisible depths of space, a violent whirlwind appeared out of nowhere, causing the entire spaceship to suddenly begin shaking violently.
The folded tal on the ground let out creaking and groaning sounds as the howling tornado wrapped itself around the giant’s body.
Squeak—Crack—
Accompanied by the sounds of tal pieces being torn and twisted, the enormous chanical giant’s body began to contort.
The wind whistled through the crevices of the tal, emitting a shrill scream in the endlessly cold space.
Perhaps due to a disturbance in equilibrium, at this mont the entire Navigator trembled violently.
“What is this thing?”
David, whose body was being battered by the hurricane and torn apart, looked at He Ao.
He stretched out his hand, wanting to grab He Ao again, but the raging hurricane quickly took advantage of the opening and snapped off his arm.
He Ao landed on the edge of the wall, leaped fiercely, and lunged once more towards David, who was at the center of the tornado.
In the view of Divine Sense, at this mont, the energy focal points on David’s body were fluctuating violently.
Suddenly, the hurricane broke the steel giant’s left leg, also destroying the energy focal point on his left leg.
David’s body quickly toppled forward; at this point, he had no ti to care about He Ao, he extended his arm to hit the already shattered gate, smashing the gate with one blow.
But just as he was about to strike again and destroy the closest tal pillar to the hall, the hurricane twisted his body, destroying his fourth energy focal point.
At the sa ti, He Ao’s body passed through the violent hurricane.
Then he landed on the back of the chanical giant and directly leapt up, landing on the back of the giant’s head,
The last energy focal point was right there.
The furious hurricane indiscriminately assaulted He Ao’s body, shredding his wounds, letting blood sprinkle down like raindrops.
Standing amidst the howling wind, he raised the bone sword high in his hand and stabbed it into the chanical giant’s energy focal point.
In that mont, David finally realized where the familiarity of this storm ca from.
He opened his mouth, his voice hoarse, “You are…
you are…
”
But he never managed to finish his sentence; the palm he swung fell short, stopping just before the shattered gate.
The illuminated laser cannon pointing towards the hall’s interior also slowly extinguished.
The hurricane dissipated, and He Ao’s figure staggered.
The Miracle Wand was sothing he had kept specifically for dealing with David at this mont.
Because if David were to be frustrated here, he would likely switch to attack the energy circuit in the Core Control Room imdiately, so his actions had to be completed in one go, achieving a quick kill.
Therefore, he first destroyed two of David’s energy focal points, took advantage of being sent flying to put so distance between them, and then used Mountain Collapse Tsunami.
This way, he could quickly inflict severe damage on David before he had a chance to react and kill him.
The only downside of this plan was that, to maximize efficiency, he had to enter the hurricane before the full energy of the Mountain Collapse Tsunami dissipated and kill David.
Otherwise, he would give David the chance to destroy the energy circuit.
And the cost was that the indiscriminate attack from the Mountain Collapse Tsunami caused his wounds, which had largely healed, to tear open again.
Blood gushed from his body.
He propped himself up with the bone sword that was plunged into the chanical giant’s body, sitting on the ground unsteadily.
Fortunately, this ti his injuries were much lighter than after the battle with Ivier.
David was never as strong as Ivier, nor as cunning.
David might have died, but the bird made from the steel debris of the sky did not disappear; it folded its wings and landed on a piece of tal torn by the hurricane not far from He Ao.
Its lifeless eyes watched He Ao, and a gentle female voice ca from its mouth,
“Sir, you have caused considerable trouble, but everything should be over now.”
The power of the Mountain Collapse Tsunami had passed, but the trembling of the Navigator hadn’t stopped.
He Ao looked up to see, beyond the huge glass do, under the brilliant stars, several small combat spaceships vaguely appearing.
Following that, there was the sound of the gates closing from all around, and the huge glass do spread its wings like a bird, slowly opening to either side.
Behind that glass was the pure depth of space.
And at this mont, faintly, He Ao seed to hear the sound of a steam whistle echoing through the vacuum.
Reviews
All reviews (0)