by <unknown>
Li Yao's eyes were shining brighter and brighter. He pondered, since it included all the memories, the memory of the previous couple of months when he was captured and secretly interrogated would be there, too.
The files from the Blood Demon Sector that Li Yao had carried and the videos and audios that he had recorded in secret could be fabricated easily. They were not very persuasive.
However, if he could get the Jade Crystal Disc, which contained most of the memory pieces of a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator, it would certainly be undeniable proof!
As long as the Jade Crystal Disc was publicized to the Cultivators, the federal army, and all the citizens of the federation, he would be able to prove that Elder Nether Spring had been captured by Lu Zui a long time ago and that Lu Zui was researching with other Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators such as Shou Yuxuan and coercing Elder Nether Spring to confess the secrets about the Demon God Virus.
Moreover, they even mentioned Chaos. It meant that the same-origin theory was not a secret for Lu Zui and Shou Yuxuan!
Then, why did they not release it to the public?
Why did they pretend that they knew nothing when they had confirmed the name list of all the Children of the Nether World, and why did they simply wait and watch the Speaker's attempted assassination?
They would not be able to explain themselves!
Li Yao's heart was beating faster and faster. After all the trouble, he finally got his hands on the critical part of the scheme!
In the sterile room, after examining the Jade Crystal Disc, he said to the scar-faced man, "Prepare a clean communication room for me. I'll inform Director Lu of the matter."
Li Yao's heart was pounding again.
Shou Yuxuan was a virologist and appeared to be the supervisor of the secret base, a higher position than the scar-faced man's.
His relationship with Lu Zui should be an upgraded version of that between 'Mad Medic' Lu Wuxin and Elder Nether Spring.
Their conversation would certainly involve a lot of clandestine things.
He had to hear it!
However—
It was too risky to continue following Shou Yuxuan. His conversation with Lu Zui would be highly confidential. Before the communication was established, he would certainly scan all the magical equipment in the secret room to make sure that everything was safe.
By 'a clean room', they meant a place that would not be eavesdropped.
Besides, Li Yao needed Neltharion to observe where the Jade Crystal Disc was located and even steal it when there was an opportunity. It was another reason he could not let it follow Shou Yuxuan.
Then, how could he eavesdrop the conversation?
Li Yao thought quickly about the structure of the undersea mining base.
This place was thousands of kilometers away from the capital city. If the two parties wanted to talk, they would have to resort to the wireless Spiritual Nexus established by the 'spiritual towers'.
However, the undersea base was blocked by the deep, surging seawater. It was obviously unfeasible to build the spiritual towers at the bottom of the ocean. They were usually floating on the surface of the ocean on platforms.
Yet, a superstorm and a tsunami were sweeping across the ocean right now. It was impossible for the spiritual towers to resist such natural disasters. Even if they managed to, the conversation would be intermittent and subject to high interference.
There must be some other way. Such an undersea mining base far away from the coast cannot be only connected through the wireless Spiritual Nexus, which is too unstable.
Suppose there is a superstorm that lasts a few days, will they not report anything to Lu Zui during that time? It's clearly impossible!
Right. The undersea cable!
Li Yao's eyes shone, and he decided to take his chances. Like a sea snake, he swam out through the gaps of the magical equipment. Covered by the dirty seawater, he crawled out of the base through the damage in the shell again.
The fight outside the base was still going on. A large area of the seawater was polluted by the Nine-Headed Ocean Monster's blue blood. It appeared that the animal was exhausted and would be executed soon.
Having no time to care about the Nine-Headed Ocean Monster, Li Yao quickly swam to the very bottom of the undersea base.
[Hurry up. I must find the undersea cable before the communication begins!]
Li Yao perceived the feeble spiritual waves nearby. He was certain that, to ensure that the undersea cable was not bitten apart by the fish around, defense rune arrays must have been deployed around the cable.
As he expected, a moment later, he found a few thick cables that were buried deep beneath the sand and mud by tracing the feeble spiritual waves of the defense rune arrays.
Li Yao narrowed his eyes and took out a tiny drill that was barely visible from his Cosmos Ring. He operated on the undersea cable carefully.
The undersea mining base was a civil one in the first place. The cable that led to the continent was several thousand kilometers long. It was impossible to set up barriers of the highest level on every meter of it.
With the skills of a master of refining and an expert of peeping, Li Yao bypassed the defense rune arrays and dug a hole the width of hair on the cable. He then extended a crystal wire into it, with the other end connected to his crystal processor.
Naturally, too many complicated data streams were being transmitted through the cable at the same time.
However, Li Yao had collected Shou Yuxuan's and Lu Zui's voiceprints. So, he only needed to search for the data that had the features of their voiceprints.
Very soon, Li Yao heard their conversation after a while of blurred background noises!
He heard Lu Zui saying, "You shouldn't have woken me up. Over the past half month, in order to deal with Li Yao, Jiang Hailiu, and the rest of them, I have overly drained my computational ability. My head is in the most terrible state right now, and I cannot maintain a clear mind. I'm busy recovering.
"It is estimated that my head will be keen enough again in five hours, twenty-three minutes, and twenty-two seconds. After your interruption, it will take at least another one hour, seventeen minutes, and forty-three seconds."
"Elder Nether Spring is dead," Shou Yuxuan said.
"Okay," Lu Zui remarked casually. "A brain has its limits. He should be dead anyway. Has the critical information been retrieved?"
"Yes, everything. Our research progress won't be affected," Shou Yuxuan said. "I can guarantee that we will be able to provide enough Demon God Virus and the corresponding antidote, both of which can be utilized in field battles, within half a month after we march into the Blood Demon Sector!"
"Excellent. Then, Elder Nether Spring's death is not important. With the Demon God Virus and the antidote that can be manufactured, we will be able to control the plague and thus the outcome of the war!"
Pausing for a moment, Lu Zui continued. "Since I've already been interrupted, I might as well say something more. The research on the 'Type-A Virus' can be put on hold for now. Please accelerate the production of the 'Type-B Virus'. I will need the dose to infect a hundred thousand people in one month!"
Shou Yuxuan was dazed for a moment. He asked, "The 'Type-B Virus' that specifically targets people of the Flying Star Sector? Why?"
"Bolstered by the soaring fighting will in the federation, the Cultivators of the Flying Star Sector are changing their attitude," Lu Zui explained. "It is very possible that they will be persuaded and send Burning Prairie, their flagship, to the Blood Demon Sector with us.
"However, they still refuse to march into the Blood Demon Sector but only promise that they will help us guard the wormholes between the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector. They will also release the Grand Illusionary Soldiers to observe the Blood Demon Sector closely first.
"Hehe. It appears that those people have been influenced by Li Yao anyway!
"However, they are too naïve after all!
"When w
e are in the Blood Demon Sector, the battle will be changing vastly every second. Will they be able to make the call?
"Tough men must be given tough drugs. Right now, the compatriots of the Flying Star Sector haven't clearly seen the vileness and brutality of the demons. Let's sharpen their vision with the 'Type-B Demon God Virus'!"
Chapter 1112: Lu Zui's Belief! |
Li Yao felt that his blood was freezing when he heard that part, as if billions of tons of seawater were pressing his body. He was almost suffocated!
He was finally certain that Lu Zui had gone mad!
Before, the guy had assassinated the Speaker of Parliament and killed tens of thousands of innocent people in order to raise the fury of the Heaven's Origin Sector.
Now, he was trying to kill at least a hundred thousand citizens of the Flying Star Sector through the Demon God Virus in order to trigger the Flying Star Sector's hatred of the demon race that was thin if not nonexistent. He hoped to disrupt the collaboration between mankind and the demon race in such a way!
Jin Tuyi was quite right. Lu Zui had been completely swallowed by his own hatred, selfishness, and ambitions and turned into an enormous Abyss that was even more dreadful than the Broken Vein Trench several hundred kilometers away!
Everything makes sense now.
Elder Nether Spring was a smart guy, too. After the Spore Stratagem failed, he must've considered and inferred the goals of me and Jin Tuyi.
Then, after he fell into the hands of the Patriots Partnership, my intention was immediately learned by Lu Zui!
He knew that I would certainly return to the Heaven's Origin Sector. He also knew that I was here to submit the 'instruments of surrender' of the demon race and to realize peace. But such peace is absolutely unacceptable for Lu Zui and the Patriots Partnership!
Therefore, he set up a flawless trap with the Patriots Partnership, the Children of the Nether World, the military, and some of the ignorant workers in the Secret Sword Bureau. As long as I appeared on the Grand Desolate Plateau, the trap could immediately be activated!
The elements such as the memorial park for Martyr Li Yao and the existence of Duanmu Ming were perhaps arranged by Lu Zui carefully in advance and were nothing more than his chess pieces. Their sole purpose was to shock me so that I would trust nobody. Eventually, I was led to the final stage step by step according to his pace, namely the Federal Square, where I assumed the role of 'assassin'!
He almost succeeded!
If Ding Lingdang hadn't trusted me and supported me without any complaint, I might've turned into a real Blood Devil at this moment and completely become his chess piece!
Li Yao took a long breath in cold sweat.
He basically understood Lu Zui's intention right now. The tremendous Demon God Virus and the antidote that were under the control of the Patriots Partnership could indeed change the intensity and the outcome of the plague.
For example, if a few elite squads of the Patriots Partnership were hidden among the troops that were to march into the Blood Demon Sector and sprayed the virus there, their efficiency would certainly be much higher than Elder Nether Spring's Nether World Watch.
The Blood Demon Sector was at its weakest in its thousands of years of history in the first place. It would be difficult for them to resist the triple attacks of the federal army, the warship of the Flying Star Sector, and the Demon God Virus.
As soon as the main force of the coalition army of demons was crushed, Lu Zui would be able to control the plague with the antidote and get a lot of demon slaves.
He could even conquer the demon race with the antidote as a lure!
Those who were willing to be his slaves would be given the antidote and live. Those who were not would turn into the walking dead and uncontrollable mutants, dying the most miserable death!
In such a way, he would have a high chance to occupy the Blood Demon Sector without paying a high price. Also, after seizing the Blood Demon Sector, he would be able to keep a lot of demon slaves who could be sent to the resource planets for mining.
It was truly a very enticing plan.
However, how was Lu Zui's Patriots Partnership able to manufacture the antidote earlier than his Skyfire did?
Li Yao thought quickly and realized that the reason was too simple!
The so-called 'antidote of the Demon God Virus' was in fact the synthesized Divine Blood of Chaos, which Skyfire had duplicated by studying Jin Xinyue's blood.
There was only one Jin Xinyue, and it was impossible for Skyfire to have pumped away all her blood for research. They could only take a syringe occasionally. Naturally, their progress was slow.
But the Patriots Partnership had more than a hundred Children of the Nether World under their control, all of whom had transformed by swallowing the original Divine Blood of Chaos. Therefore, their blood had exactly the same effect as Jin Xinyue's!
Lu Zui would definitely not be courteous toward those Children of the Nether World. He would not hesitate even if half of their blood was to be pumped out.
Li Yao had no doubt that Lu Zui would not even bother to blink if the blood of the Children of the Nether World, who were too obstinate to betray Elder Nether Spring, had to be drained!
Li Yao's confusions were resolved one by one. He was more determined to stop Lu Zui than ever!
Voices came over from the cable again. Shou Yuxuan was asking, "To expedite the production, I have to know where the 'Type-B Demon God Virus' will be released. City, wilderness, underground, or sealed space? In the Heaven's Origin Sector or the Blood Demon Sector? The virus must have minor adjustments according to the environment to maximize the effect with the minimal dose."
"It will be released in a sealed space. Or more exactly, inside Burning Prairie," Lu Zui said casually. "The Heaven's Origin Sector alone cannot conquer the Blood Demon Sector at the minimal cost within the shortest amount of time. Therefore, the Flying Star Sector must get on the tank, too!
"What we need is more than a Burning Prairie and two hundred thousand Grand Illusionary Soldiers. What we need is thousands of warships of the Flying Star Sector, millions of Grand Illusionary Soldiers, and the countless warriors of the other world!
"It is a pity that the Flying Star Sector is unwilling to fight another war after the serious internal strife.
"Besides, the human compatriots of the Flying Star Sector haven't tasted the vileness, evilness, shamelessness, and brutality of the demon race for themselves!
"The forty-thousand-year-old bloody grudge between mankind and the demon race has been gradually forgotten over the past thousands of years. Faced with the demons, they are cowardly, timid, and full of impractical illusions!"
Shou Yuxuan sighed and said, "That's not entirely their fault. Human beings are a species that is good at forgetting and self-deception. Not just the citizens of the Flying Star Sector who haven't fought the demons for thousands of years, even in the heartland of the federation, haven't many of our compatriots of the Heaven's Origin Sector eased their wariness and fantasized the peace that will never come true, just because they haven't experienced the war for more than a hundred years after the Grand Desolate Plateau was conquered?
"Even the leader of the country, Jiang Hailiu, who has deep grudges with the demon race and has the future of the nation on his shoulders, chickened, softened up, and backed off. He was naïve enough to think that there was possibility of peace between mankind and the demon race!"
"That's the weakness of humanity," Lu Zui said coldly. "If they can't overcome it themselves, we will give them a hand!
"Right now, through the assault in the Federal Square, we have successfully awakened all the inert compatriots in the federation who were dwelling in the illusions of peace. We have ignited their pride and made them realize that it is their mission to slay evil as human beings!
"Now, it will the human compatriots of the Flying Star Sector's turn!
"Burning Prairie is the unique, dream warship of the Flying Star Sector. The countles
s marines responsible for manipulating the crystal behemoth are the best warriors of the Flying Star Sector, too. Their families and sects boast tremendous influence in their world!
"If the dream warship is assaulted by the demon race after it marches into the Blood Demon Sector, and the sordid demons kill most of the soldiers on board with the Demon God Virus while refining the survivors into biochemical weapons… hehe, how will the citizens of the Flying Star Sector react when the news arrives?"
Shou Yuxuan smiled. "The Flying Star Sector will certainly burst into fury. Instead of recovering the wounds of the civil war, they will march out without caring about the cost and annihilate the evil demon race together with us!"
Lu Zui laughed. "Exactly. As long as they have the tiniest dignity and pride as human beings, they will definitely fight side by side with us sparing no resources of the Sector!
"The Flying Star Sector wants to learn how to establish a country. Let me give them a lesson…
"Hatred!
"To establish a country, the easiest way is to find enormous hatred!
"Five hundred years ago, the common hatred against the demon race allowed the nine major sects of the Heaven's Origin Sector to join hands and set up the Star Glory Federation, our great motherland!
"Today, the common hatred toward the demon race will make the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Flying Star Sector collaborate. In the war against the demon race, we will be integrating at the highest speed. A new federation that is much more powerful will be founded!
"Hehe. The soft bone Jiang Hailiu and the little devil Li Yao want integration of the three Sectors, too.
"But Jiang Hailiu is too conservative. He wants everything to be done slowly through negotiations. How much longer will it take before the two worlds are finally assimilated?
"The little devil Li Yao is even more unrealistic. The participation of the demon race will add countless unstable factors to the federation later. Eventually, the country will collapse before the enemy arrives!
