by <unknown>
"That does explain a lot of things." The Fist King's voice was still devoid of all feelings and as calm as a cluster of ice. "So, my war is just one of their games."
"Cr*p!" After a long daze, Han Te suddenly jumped from the mud and bellowed as if crazy. "My sister! My sister went to Manjusaka! If-if Manjusaka is not a heaven, how is my sister now?"
He was so anxious that he was moving about and gritting his teeth hard. Smashing his fist at the metal tube heavily, he shouted, "I must save my sister. I have to rescue my sister from Manjusaka!"
"I—I'll go with you!" Liu Li grabbed Han Te's bleeding fist, warming her own hand with the hotness. "It's too wicked. Those people are too wicked. Master Fist King is right. If such bad people live on, even if the entire Land of Sins is covered with Gold Barley, it will be useless. Besides, they will not allow us to pave the entire desolate land with Gold Barley without interfering!"
"What do you say, Fist King?" Li Yao looked at the Fist King. "Are you willing to come to Manjusaka with us?"
"Yes." The Fist King calculated quickly. "The world is closely monitored by them. Besides, the resources here are inadequate, and the materials are all garbage. However I upgrade myself, it is already the limit to grow into the form of Great Iron City, which is still worthless in front of the City in the Sky.
"Perhaps, if we sneak into Manjusaka to find more advanced materials and magical equipment to build up myself and to sabotage the place from the inside, there will be a better chance to knock down the City in the Sky!
"However, since the Battle of Liberty City is a focus of the angels' attention, they must've imposed a dragnet in all directions. How on earth are we going to escape Liberty City, and how should we sneak into Manjusaka?"
"About that…"
Li Yao's soul released the ripples of a smile and shot out a bright-green, 3D light beam, which was a translucent hologram of Liberty City.
Li Yao enlarged the picture quickly. Below the skyscrapers were the dilapidated buildings, below the dilapidated buildings were inconspicuous alleys, and below the inconspicuous alleys were the interconnected tubes where they were hiding.
The indicator on the Fist King's chest flashed quickly, expressing his appreciation for Li Yao's shocking scanning ability.
They saw that a glittering spot was moving quickly inside a tube not far away from them like a stealthy rat.
"What is that?" Han Te asked curiously.
"It is Xin Xiaoqi," Li Yao replied with a smile.
"Her?" Han Te and Liu Li both bulged their eyes. They did not expect Xin Xiaoqi to be so sturdy that she was not killed on the bloodstained battlefield. Nor did they expect that Grandpa Yao had long placed a gadget that was similar to a tracker on the mysterious woman!
Chapter 2024: Mission of the Highest Difficulty |
"Her?" the Fist King said. "Xin Xiaoqi is a famous broker and intelligence dealer on the Bloody Plateau. She is capable of accomplishing what other people can't and finding the bizarre items and people. She helped me find a lot of spiritual puppets of ancient models before, and she persuaded many gangs and bandits to join my army in the Battle of Liberty City. It never crossed my mind that she might actually work for Xiahou Wuxin.
"However, betrayals and defections are anything but unusual in the Land of Sins. What's special about the woman?"
"The woman is nothing special herself. I only feel that her ability to survive must be particularly remarkable."
Pointing at the light point that was glittering and moving quickly, Li Yao said, "Look. Despite the chaos right now, she is not moving randomly like a headless fly but zigzagging at a fixed pace. It's almost like she knows where she's going and what she will find."
The Fist King, Han Te, and Liu Li observed for a while. They indeed found that, while the trajectory of the light spot was twisted, it did not show any hesitation but had an obvious destination.
"She is going somewhere, perhaps to meet someone." The Fist King calculated Xin Xiaoqi's route quickly. "That place or that someone is right below the tower at the center of Liberty City!"
"Even a blind person can tell that Liberty City is a dangerous warring zone right now. Xin Xiaoqi does not strike me as a ferocious warrior who is fearless of death, either. If she wants to save her life, she should be running away," Li Yao said with a smile. "Running to the central area of Liberty City in such a rough environment like a moth darting toward the fire, where exactly is she going, or rather, whom exactly is she looking for?"
After pondering for a moment, the Fist King replied, "Xiahou Wuxin!"
"Exactly," Li Yao said. "Xiahou Wuxin has governed Liberty City for decades and is known as a cunning and meticulous person. A dozen of attacks targeting Liberty City and himself previously were all resolved without any trouble. Now, he's been killed after being punched several times by you? I don't think he's so fragile."
"He is not dead," the Fist King said casually. "I could clearly sense that the several punches at that time were not enough to kill him. However, my interests were all attracted by the mysterious angels and the City in the Sky. I did not care whether he was killed or not."
"That's right. Think about it. Some of the angels who were known as 'players' were introduced into your army by Xin Xiaoqi. Xin Xiaoqi naturally couldn't have known that they were 'players' or that the war was merely a 'game'. She only knew that they were assassins from the Valley of Thorns, and she did everything according to Xiahou Wuxin's instructions."
Pausing a moment, Li Yao said, "Then, as the employer of the 'assassins' or 'mercenaries', Xiahou Wuxin certainly knows part of the truth. He knows that the Valley of Thorns does not exist.
"In other words, his mission was to entertain the players from the sky so that they could have as much fun in the war game as possible!"
"It does make sense," the Fist King said thoughtfully. "During his decades ruling over Liberty City, Xiahou Wuxin issued and pushed forward countless missions for Manjusaka. He also sent a lot of people into the City in the Sky. It is said that he knows a lot of angels and has received gifts from the sky. With his cunningness and sordidness, how can he know nothing about the sky?"
"Then, he is the angels' accomplice to help them exploit the sinners," Han Te shouted angrily. "Damn, we are not 'sinners' at all. He helps them to exploit us from the ground, doesn't he? My sister was deceived by the rulers of the Elysian Worlds like him to go to the sky!"
"All in all, Xiahou Wuxin should know some ways to go to the City in the Sky. At the very least, he knows more about the City in the Sky than we do," Li Yao analyzed calmly. "Also, as the saying goes, a clever rabbit always has more than one burrow. Having served the 'angels' for decades like a dog, he must've accumulated tremendous wealth. The wealth in the Land of Sins cannot be gold or jewelry but is more likely to be high-purity marrow crystals, powerful magical equipment, and all kinds of elixirs, which are all what we are most in need of right now.
"Let's follow Xin Xiaoqi and track down Xiahou Wuxin. Then, we will interrogate them for the secrets of the City in the Sky and loot the resources that he has saved for decades to create a stronger artificial body with his precious materials for the Fist King. After that, we will figure out how we are going to escape from Liberty City and leave for the sky. Do you have any opinions on my plan?"
"We will do whatever you say, Grandpa Yao!" Waving his fists, Han Te gritted his teeth and said firmly, "I have to learn from Master Fist King. One day, I will shoot down the goddamn Manjusaka from the sky!"
"In that case…" Liu Li's big eyes were glittering. "Nobody will ever monitor us, manipulate us, or play with us. Besides, a lot of assets must be hidden inside such an enormous City in the Sky and so many Heavenly Rails. Chances are that we will be able to build a new home with those assets!"
"So, you are named 'Grandpa Yao'," the Fist King said. "Such a weird code name?"
Li Yao coughed. "You can call me 'Fiend Star'. However, how should I call the real you?"
"You can still call me
'Fist King' Lei Zonglie," the Fist King said. "I am already used to the data output model."
While speaking, his man-made eyes got brighter and brighter. The air around him was focused into swirls and attached to the metal shell like glimmering flames. Even the swamp was burning and uttering weird noises.
"Nobody can ever fool me like this. Nobody." Clenching his fists, he laughed in a deep voice. He was no longer a cold machine but the ambitious, arrogant, and dominating 'Fist King' Lei Zonglie they met last now. "Manjusaka, the City in the Sky, I will make you pay a price that you cannot bear!"
"M—Master Fist King…" Frightened, Han Te and Liu Li both stammered. "You—You look horrifying right now. Are you sure you are not a human being?"
"No. This is a reasonable reaction that I have simulated with the comprehensive data of the character and action pattern of the real Lei Zonglie."
The Fist King's voice became extremely peaceful and cold again, as if the thing that had just released infinite fury and bellowed like an animal was not him.
"I do not have a life, a soul, or self-consciousness. I am just a machine and a puppet driven by the highest instruction.
"During our conversation just now, I ran 352 deductions and calculations. My conclusion is that if I want to be stronger, I will have to work with you, at least until Manjusaka is shot down. So, you can trust my sincerity."
"Well…" Han Te and Liu Li looked at each other in bewilderment. They had barely seen any spiritual puppets that boasted automatic learning and upgrading functions before. They wondered if the other spiritual puppets were the same as the Fist King.
Li Yao was stunned for a while, too. He could not help but think of another problem.
He thought of the artificial intelligences in the virtual worlds on the Grand-Unified Spiritual Nexus in the Star Glory Federation.
When the extraterrestrial devils backed off and the virtual worlds were shut down, could the artificial intelligences have realized that they were not human beings but a paragraph of code, a cluster of data, a puppet, and a machine that did not have a real entity?
"Can we go now?" the Fist King said calmly. "I can't wait to taste the feeling of the broken brains, shattered bones, and bleeding bodies of the high and mighty 'angels'."
"Alright, let's go." Calming himself down, Li Yao looked at the Fist King and suddenly said, "Right. You mentioned that there were a lot of stories of the natives of the Martial Meritocrats Sector in your database, including the journals and last words of the Cultivators?"
"Yes," the Fist King replied.
"After we escape from Liberty City, when we have more time, would you like to tell them to us, especially the two little fellows here?" Li Yao asked.
The Fist King glanced at the two little fellows. "Yes."
"Well, this is just my random thought, but for your information… Actually, I think that the Cultivators' theory sometimes makes sense. Maybe the Cultivators represent true strength. Now that you have tried a lot of paths that did not work out, why don't you try the Cultivators' path when you have the chance? Maybe it will be a pleasant surprise."
"How is it possible?" the Fist King said. "Although I am just a spiritual puppet, do not think that you can fool me. To be honest, I think that the Cultivators' theory is silly."
"Silly… Of course it is somewhat silly, but why don't we think it in the opposite way?" Li Yao said. "To put it simply and straightforwardly, the Cultivators' ideal is to protect the world while the ideals of the other myriad of experts are basically to reign or sabotage the world, right?"
The Fist King tilted his head and thought for a while. "It is indeed simple and straightforward. Fine. Let's say that it is true, so what?"
"Allow me to make a metaphor," Li Yao said quickly. "The two of them are about to have a match, with me holding a shiny, fragile vase in my hand and you waving a giant hammer weighing more than a hundred kilograms in yours.
"The requirement of my victory is to keep the vast from being smashed by you, whereas the requirement of your victory is to break the vase. Which of the two of us has a higher difficulty?"
The Fist King said, "Of course, your difficulty is higher. So what?"
"So, as a real expert, shouldn't you try to challenge the highest difficulty?" Li Yao said solemnly. "It is apparently much more difficult to protect than a world than to destroy one. Since you have been born with the destiny to be the strongest, how can such a lowly mission like killing and destroying worlds be worthy of your supreme destiny? It is only reasonable for you to take the heavy world unhesitatingly and challenge the mission of the highest difficulty in history, which is to protect world peace!"
Chapter 2025: Beginning of the Complete Loss of Control |
The Fist King's metal brain began to hum quickly as he thought hard. In the end, he said, "You do seem to have a point."
"Of course I do," Li Yao said seriously. "Even if you smash the vase in my arms a hundred times brutally, you will not prove yourself stronger than me. It only proves that you have chosen a path that is easier to walk on.
"Real experts always go against the difficulties and walk on the roughest, most dangerous, and least possible path, don't they?"
"They do."
"That's what I'm talking about!" Li Yao extended his drill-like arm to pat—well, to jab the Fist King's shoulder. "Destroying the world is what third-rate experts do, dominating the world is what the second-rate experts do, and such a difficult mission as to protect the world is what the ultimate experts should do.
"Of course, even I feel that the ideals of the Cultivators are too difficult to be implemented and are more like fantasies. So, it is perfectly normal that you feel that they are silly.
"If your logical thinking circuits find the path of the Cultivators untravelable after countless calculations, at least so for you, it won't matter. I'm only reminding you that there is such a criterion to gauge strength."
"In my logical thinking circuits, there is no 'possible' or 'impossible, 'travelable' or 'untravelable'," the Fist King said solemnly. "I want to know what the 'strongest' is exactly, and I will walk in that direction. As for if the path is going to work out or not, that is not my concern.
"However, I do feel that something is wrong with your logic. I need to take some time to think carefully if the 'strength' you defined makes sense."
"Of course!" Grimacing, Li Yao rubbed the jigsaw with his drill, raising a circle of sparks in the darkness. "Take your time. I have high hopes in you. You will certainly grow into the strongest someday. As for right now, let's find a way to give a big surprise to the 'angels' in the City in the Sky and knock Manjusaka down from the sky!"
…
In Manjusaka, the 3D light beams floating everywhere were still displaying the fierce battles on the ground. But the wine party was already over. All that was echoing in the room was the screams and explosions.
The trials of the rookies would take days if not weeks. The big shots and experts from everywhere in the Imperium of True Human Beings naturally would not focus their attention all the time.
Meeting the big shots in other fields and their partners of shared interests under the pretext of leading the new people of their families to the trials in order to discuss secrets that must not be known by other people was the main reason for them to gather there from every corner in the sea of stars.
The Imperium of True Human Beings boasted very advanced four-dimensional communication abilities, which could allow the big shots and experts in different Sectors dozens of lightyears away from each other to communicate without lag. But the Spiritual Nexus was always prone to surveillance and infiltration.
Nobody could be active on the Spiritual Nexus without leaving any trace.
Nobody could guarantee that the certain someone on the light beam who was supposed to be hundreds of lightyears away was unmistakably the guy.
Nobody could guarantee that when they were discussing big businesses that were worth hundreds of billions with a certain
someone, planning to kill a dozen Core Formation Stage experts, ten times more generals, and their own fathers, the words would not be heard by a third party.
A face-to-face meeting was always the safest and most stable means of communication.
Manjusaka was exactly a club and a secret bureau of the big shots.
In the past decades, countless superstorms that affected the military, politics, economy, and other fields of the Imperium of True Human Beings had actually been caused by a flap of wings of certain butterflies in this place.
Compared to 'magical equipment testing', 'trials for the rookies', and 'live stream games', this was actually what made Manjusaka worthy.
Wuying Lan, the owner of the place, only clung to the feathers of the big shots and rose unstoppable into one of them, qualified to speak on equal terms with the universe-renowned Sector Masters, family leaders, generals, and Divinity Transformation Stage experts, because of his special role as a 'broker'.
The Battle of Liberty City and the subsequent missions constituted the intriguing, soul-stirring 'epic quest', which was a big operation that Wuying Lan had prepared carefully for quite a few years. It also attracted the experts of an unprecedented scale to come to this place for clandestine deals.
Whether or not the deals succeeded, those experts had formed a small interest group around Wuying Lan. Although the interest group was headed by Li Lingfeng, the future leader of the Li family, on the surface, Wuying Lan would be able to earn the greatest benefits.
Up to this moment, everything seemed to have been going very well.
Two big shots of the military were very satisfied with the magical equipment projects that had been entrusted to Manjusaka. They were also interested in a biochemical weapon developed by Manjusaka on its own.
Several big sects also reached a series of deals with Manjusaka, allowing Wuying Lan's tentacles to reach further realms beyond media, entertainment, and lottery.
