by <unknown>
"Hiss…" Mouse Bai pretended that he was in pain. But the smile on his face told everyone that the pain was actually nothing for him. "Brother Hong, as I have repeated carefully to everybody three thousand two hundred and twenty-five times, you can beat me or curse me at your will, but can you please stop calling me… Mouse Bai?"
Brother Hong burst into laughter. "Why don't you look at your reflection in your pee? What are you if not Mouse Bai?"
Mouse Bai blinked his eyes and said, "Please call me… Bo—Brother Bai."
All the crew members were laughing hard. Brother Hong mocked him. "You're a lazy kid who can't drag or carry anything. Every time we ask you to do anything, you always have excuses. You even mocked our martial arts. What, we are now worthy to be your brothers?"
Mouse Bai yawned and said, "I have explained many times. I was born for something big. Of course, I'm not interested in the trivia such as repairing the ventilation rune arrays, cleaning the toilets, or dredging the sewer."
Brother Hong sneered, "What is 'something big', B—Brother Bai?"
Mouse Bai tilted his head and thought carefully. "Caught in a cosmic storm, engaged with space pirates, visited by the extraterrestrial devils… Should such incidents occur, I will certainly show up and help you handle everything well in return for your favor to save my life."
Everybody was laughing even harder. Brother Hong was so amused that he curled his fingers which were thicker than Mouse Bai's wrists and snapped Mouse Bai's big forehead. "Stop bragging about yourself. If you really want to return the favor, just get the hell out of here as soon as possible. You are not only a nuisance for us but also a waste of the food on the carrier!"
"Rest assured."
Mouse Bai smiled and tapped the rusted secondhand crystal processor on his wrist. A mottled light beam was projected.
It was a virtual application form displayed on the light beam.
"I'm feeling rather embarrassed myself that I've troubled you for so long. Besides, it's too peaceful and boring here. Since I have had enough rest, I'm thinking of doing something more interesting that I've never done before."
The glittering two words 'Burning Prairie' on the light beam dazed all the crew members briefly, who looked at each other in bewilderment, only to laugh so crazily that the small carrier seemed to be exploding!
"The Burning Prairie Fleet?"
"The wrinkled Mouse Bai is going to join the Burning Prairie Fleet?"
The Burning Prairie Fleet was a new fleet currently being planned in the Flying Star Sector. The purpose was to break the traditions of the sects and the Exo Societies and to gather all the young elites of the Flying Star Sector who would be trained from scratch. It was estimated that they would become the most influential forces of the Flying Star Sector decades later.
When the expedition army of the Imperium of True Human Beings arrived in the Flying Star Sector, the Burning Prairie Fleet would give them a great welcome gift!
In short, it was a fleet targeting the expedition army of the Imperium of True Human Beings and a future fleet established for the war a hundred years from now!
'Burning Prairie' was named after the proverb 'the smallest spark can set ablaze an entire prairie', with the hope that the two tiny sparks that were the Flying Star Sector and the Heaven's Origin Sector would raise a furious fire of humanity in the dark forest!
The Burning Prairie Fleet might decide the fate of the Flying Star Sector.
Therefore, all the sects devoted a lot of resources and sent their most distinguished disciples to join it.
The Burning Prairie Fleet was also recruiting students from military schools in the entire Flying Star Sector. All the children from six to fourteen were allowed to apply.
A hundred years later, those people would be slightly more than a hundred years old. For Cultivators, it was the perfect balance point of spiritual energy and life experience. They would be at the peak state of their life and work as the pillars of the Flying Star Sector.
The Flying Star Sector was all shocked by the news. The disciples of the noble families were all cramming to apply for the fleet.
Because of the fierce competition, the pass rate of the first test was just 1 in 13,000.
The entrance test of the Burning Prairie Fleet was extremely rigorous even for the students from military schools. It was said that one of Luo Xingzi's great grandsons were eliminated during the test.
And now this wrinkled mouse was planning to apply?
Was there a greater joke in the world?
Brother Hong laughed so hard that he was burping. "What makes you think that you are qualified to apply for the military school of the Burning Prairie Fleet? Ha. You've even changed your name into… Bai Xingjian? The name sounds awesome enough, but it does not seem to match your magnificent appearance!"
Mouse Bai smiled and shook his head. "Wrong. I'm not going to apply for the Burning Prairie Fleet; I'm going to… command the Burning Prairie Fleet."
Everybody was literally rolling on the ground in laughter. Holding his belly, Brother Hong laughed so hard that he almost could not catch his breath. "Hahahaha. You are trying to murder me with laughter, aren't you? Since when has Mouse Bai become such a man of justice? Are you planning to defeat the expedition army of the Imperium of True Human Beings as the commander-in-chief of the Burning Prairie Fleet one day?"
Mouse Bai opened his mouth and planned to explain, but after thinking for a moment, he shut his mouth with a self-deprecating smile, before he retreated to a corner.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the countdown has begun. Our warriors will be off in ten seconds!"
The host on the light beam was shouting desperately, catching all the crew members' attention. Nobody bothered with the fanfaronade any longer.
Mouse Bai narrowed his eyes. Lights and shadows were alternating on his face. Glimmers polished after hundreds of years of time were spreading in the eyes of the extremely ugly young man.
Two lumps suddenly protruded on the back of Mouse Bai's neck. Two little mice crawled out of the lumps soon.
The two mice had smooth skin and looked more appealing than himself. There was wisdom in their eyes as if they were intelligent creatures. The tail of one of the mice had a hint of bright gold.
Mouse Bai snapped his fingers. Two peanuts flew into the air, only to be caught by one of the mice with its tail, which then shared the food with its companion.
"You understand me, don't you?" Mouse Bai said to the mouse with a golden tail in a smile.
Weird brilliance was blinking in the mouse's eyes, as if it did understood what he had just said.
Mouse Bai threw another peanut to the mouse and said causally, "You must know why I am going to command the Burning Prairie Fleet and confront the expedition army of the Imperium of True Human Beings, don't you?
"Of course, it is not for the Flying Star Sector, or for the future of the civilization of mankind, or for other crap like that.
"It's only because… I want to taste the feeling of failure."
Chapter 825: Breaking the Cocoon |
"Activation of the super space jump array of Ice King, countdown!"
Inside the control center, hundreds of the best starship experts and astronomers all held their breath. The air was so intense that sparks were almost bursting out. Si Koulie, the leader of the Star Fighters' Alliance, entered a stream of spiritual energy into the activation rune array with a solemn face.
Hum!
For a moment, deep down Ice King, something seemed to have exploded, triggering a minor earthquake. Something unfathomably strong appeared to be erupting from the core of the planet crazily!
"Ten! Nine! Eight!"
The countdown of the last ten seconds began. The entire Flying Star Sector was enshrouded in silence. Everybody held their breath, gritted their teeth, and counted the time in their heart.
Deep below the two enormous ravines, both hundreds of kilometers long, bluish colors were soaring like tides and soon dashed out of
the ground. They darted toward the sky like a rising tower!
"Seven! Six! Five!"
The power rune arrays in the rear of the thirteen crystal warships at the bottom of the 'tower' were glittering. The bodies of the crystal warships turned transparent. Thousands of runes overlapped and seemed to be rushing out at any point.
"Four! Three! Two!"
There was no atmosphere on Ice King. Naturally, there was no blue sky. The high tower of mystic colors extended to the endless stars toward the edge of the universe.
It was no longer a high tower but a highway and a bridge that connected two worlds!
"One!"
"Zero!"
"Launch!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The exhaust flames of the thirteen starships were blown dozens of kilometers away along the ravines. The blast of energy was so intense that the frozen ground ten square kilometers nearby was all unfrozen. The ice blocks were vaporized directly before they were heated into liquid, turning into glamorous bluish ice crystals in a hazy mist.
In the middle of the bluish mist, the thirteen starships rushed out like arrows released from a bow on the universal bridge formed by the space jump array. It took them only three seconds to break out of the gravity of Ice King and accelerate to their maximum speed!
Right now, only the large crystal cameras that had been set in the orbit of the planet earlier could capture the shadows of the thirteen starships.
At the end of the universal bridge, the bluish colors spread out into a splendid nebula that was fluctuating mysteriously as if it were alive.
The thirteen starships dived into the nebula unstoppably!
Inside the nebula, electric arcs were shining, and sparks were spluttering. A moment later, the entire nebula abruptly condensed into a blue spot, before it exploded into billions of blue beams that blossomed in various directions like unprecedented fireworks.
When the fireworks died down, the thirteen starships and the universal bridge had vanished, raising a round of exclamations from the audience.
The thirteen starships had run to a new world across the universal bridge!
Their battles in the Flying Star Sector had come to an end for now, but new battles were awaiting them elsewhere!
…
Inside Firefly, Li Yao sat cross-legged and kept his body steady with the restriction of the gravity rune arrays, while he gritted his teeth to endure the side effects of the space jump.
He had entered the four-dimensional universe again and experienced the uncanny phenomena that could never be felt in the three-dimensional universe for a second time.
He 'saw' that his body had turned transparent. Not only could he 'look internally' and watch his internal organs and every vein and nerve, he could even unfold and stretch out all the veins and nerves with a telepathic thought in order to examine his body structure more carefully.
Even his brain could be unfolded into a plane. His brain cells were like watery grapes hanging inside his brain waiting for him to taste.
Time seemed to be fully at his control in this place, but it all seemed meaningless, too. All of the episodes of his life had been piled up like a heap of cards and could be sorted in any order.
Training. Training. Don't forget your training!
Li Yao took a deep breath, or rather, he felt that he took a deep breath, and forced himself to enter the training state.
In the four-dimensional universe, he could clearly see that a new organ the size of an egg had grown out on the end of his spine. It was gray and divided into two halves. There were bumps and dents everywhere on the new organ, making it looked like a small cerebrum.
Li Yao knew that it was the second new organ for a Cultivator after the 'spiritual root'—the 'second brain'!
The first brain was mainly responsible for the body of flesh and blood, including all the activities of the cells and nerve endings.
The second brain, on the other hand, was solely in charge of manipulating the fickle spiritual energy so that the Cultivators could absorb and utilize the spiritual energy faster and more efficiently.
More precisely speaking, the second brain was a 'virtualized' and 'spiritualized' brain. It was a transitional organ in the process of transformation from a body of flesh and blood into an entity of pure energy.
Almost a hundred golden spiritual threads as thin as hairs extended out of Li Yao's second brain and formed a shining golden ball at the center of his stomach.
The golden ball was his core. More precisely speaking, it was a polymer of his subconsciousness and his spiritual energy.
The second brain was the real entity, while the core was the source of energy. They were indispensable to each other.
Li Yao controlled his second brain carefully and extended even more golden threads into the core.
His core started revolving rapidly. The halo surrounding the core grew more brilliant. With slight vibrations, the core was playing pieces of soul-stirring music.
Faster. Faster! The revolution speed of my core can be higher. If it can reach a hundred thousand revolutions per second, maybe I will be able to advance into a new level!
A hundred thousand revolutions per second. I'm going to make it!
Gradually, his core turned into what seemed to be a small bud that was about to blossom during the high-speed revolutions.
Li Yao was fascinated. He controlled his every vein and nerve while he poured all the spiritual energy inside his body into the core.
The core was everything for him now. He completely lost all sense of time. After nobody knew how long, the core slightly moved, and the 'petals' around the core all opened.
Li Yao was overjoyed. His soul dived into his body and flew next to the core.
Right then, an abrupt change took place!
His soul shook violently. In a trance, his core suddenly turned from a blossoming bud into a demonic cocoon. After a crack, the cocoon exploded, revealing a bloody shadow that darted out, then wreathed and swallowed his soul!
"Ah!" Li Yao exclaimed. He opened his eyes suddenly, only to find that he was sitting at the center of the training room as before.
There was nothing wrong except for the cold sweat on his forehead.
"Was it another nightmare?" Li Yao mumbled to himself. He raised his head and was dumbfounded.
He found that another person was sitting in front of him, his eyebrows furrowed, deep in thought.
He was on Firefly alone, and he was in the middle of a journey in the four-dimensional universe. There was no way that a second person could get on board.
But the stranger was indeed not a second person, because he was another Li Yao!
"Don't you find it very odd?"
The stranger sitting in front of him who had an identical appearance to Li Yao raised his eyebrow and said, "What exactly is the uncanny dream that we have been having ever since we knew things? In the dream, we came from a weird place named 'Earth'. Do you think that there is really such a place named 'Earth'?"
"What?"
Li Yao's mind was a mess. He could barely think properly.
Another voice came over from behind him. Li Yao turned around, only to find that another version of himself was calculating something quickly in front of the desk. The third Li Yao calculated while he said solemnly, "In the past, we always believed that maybe some space zone out there in the universe indeed had a planet named 'Earth' and that our soul was teleported and reincarnated in the body of an orphan living in the magical equipment graveyard in the suburb of Floating Spear City on the planet of Heaven's Origin after we were killed in a car accident on the planet named 'Earth'.
Li Yao could not help but nod. "Exactly."
"But think about it more carefully now. The theory cannot stand any scrutiny!"
A third voice came over next to Li Yao. A new Li Yao was scratching his hair and declared in pain, "From the uncanny dream we had in the beginning, we could tell that the so-called 'Earth' was a barren world that
was absolutely devoid of spiritual energy. Those living on Earth were all ordinary people, and their souls were the feeblest ones.
"In our previous life, we were a common car mechanic. Naturally, our soul was not very strong!"
"Here comes the question!" A fifth Li Yao held his arms and leaned against the wall, while he said, deep in thought, "The universe is full of peril. Even the Immortal Cultivators of the Imperium of True Human Beings could only be teleported after they refined their souls into 'star children'. If so, how could the soul of an ordinary person on Earth be teleported through the sea of stars?
"It is very possible that his soul would be minced apart by the radiations and the ionosphere before it floated out of the atmosphere, not to mention cruising across thousands of Sectors and tens of thousands of space zones!"
A sixth Li Yao suddenly showed up right in front Li Yao. He blinked his eyes and said, "Let's say that everything before is just a coincidence. But what happened later does not make any sense.
"I am talking about Ou Yezi's possession.
"Ou Yezi was the leader of the Hundred Smelting Guilt forty thousand years ago and a legendary master of refining. His Cultivation was too high for anybody to reach, and his soul was immensely strong!
"Even though his body was so seriously wounded in the time travel of forty thousand years that he could not avoid a regular high-speed crystal train, his soul could not have been hurt too badly with the protection of his body, could it?
"Then, why did his possession fail?
"In the past, I always thought that it was because I was an earthling reincarnated in this world. My body had been possessed once. Therefore, it could not be possessed again.
"But that theory barely makes any sense. The earthling Li Yao was just an ordinary person whose soul was extremely weak. It should have been more than simple for Ou Yezi to wipe out my soul, shouldn't it?"
Li Yao was hooked by the questions. He pondered for a long time. Then, all of a sudden, he and the ten or so of himself in the room asked at the same time, "The Vulture Plan?"
Chapter 826: Dark Reflection |
