Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 1253
Li Yao agreed with the mental devil.
Neltharion's every action consumed a lot of fuel. Having entered the Divinity Transformation Stage only recently, he could not control his models of spiritual energy very well, either.
Should he make any error in the construction of attack models at the critical moment in the middle of a danger, one ultimate attack would drain all the energy of the device.
Besides, as a piece of high-precision tiny magical equipment, Neltharion was too eye-catching, with too many traces of the Star Glory Federation's style on it, which would be hard to explain once the Immortal Cultivators discovered it.
Moreover, he had come to the planet to search for intelligence, resources, and maintenance magical equipment. It was certainly not a good idea to act stealthily all the time. He was desperately in need of a body that could easily integrate into the local environment and had a huge storage space.
Naturally, Li Yao did not intend to 'possess' a new physical body, which was in violation of his belief.
Besides, possession could be very dangerous. One moment of carelessness, and he could be swallowed by the soul of the original owner of the body, like how Li Yao's soul had swallowed Ou Yezi's in the past.
Since it was only a temporary operation of infiltration, he did not need to possess anyone else's body but only needed to find an artificial body designed for spectral Cultivators.
After all, the Cultivators whose souls had left their bodies were like a strengthened version of the spectral Cultivators.
If he could not even find an artificial body, then spiritual puppets, beast puppets, or any kind of magical equipment with embedded crystal processors that could control the limbs to make complicated movements would suffice.
In the past couple of years, Li Yao had basically grasped the techniques to hack the crystal processors and the Spiritual Nexus that Professor Mo Xuan had left for him.
He was not a specialist of crystal processors. Naturally, he was not as good as Extraterrestrial Devil Mo Xuan, but it should not be a problem for him to hack and control a common spiritual puppet.
Neltharion hovered in midair for a long time and finally selected a city that had been half demolished by an enormous crater. It then quickly descended.
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
Before they reached the skyline of the city debris, feeble alarms were immediately ringing inside Neltharion, reminding Li Yao that it was a heavily-polluted radiation area down below.
When he scanned the area with his new eyes, the previous gray, rusty area of remnants became a colorful swirl that was flowing slowly.
Dust that contained tremendous radiation was waving crazily like the tentacles of devils.
Although not as high as the radiation spurted out of the nebula of the Devilish Scorpion Galaxy, the radiation here is still quite shocking.
If the ordinary people enter the radiation area recklessly without any protection, while they might not get killed on the spot, their mitochondria and gene strands will certainly be seriously warped, resulting in all kinds of weird mutations.
No wonder the place is utterly desolate and nobody tries to rebuild the civilization on the ruins.
Li Yao sighed and strained his eyes.
As far as his eyes could see, all the enormous craters that occupied the land were emitting radiation waves of different colors.
At first glance, they appeared to be as vivid and glitzy as fire.
Only the Divinity Transformation Stage Cultivators such as Li Yao could sense the foulness hidden below the fancy brilliance.
Before, Li Yao only had a basic knowledge about the evilness of the Immortal Cultivators.
But everything that had happened to the main planet of the Martial Meritocrats Sector showed him in the most sensational way what kind of monsters the Immortal Cultivators were.
Seeing the picture before his eyes, Li Yao was more confident about finding 'Starlight', the resistance organization of Cultivators, and 'the lost Cultivator'.
Where there was oppression, there was resistance. This was indeed a world that had been most oppressed. If there was a resistance organization, this must be where it was based.
Neltharion dived into the debris of the city and moved forward on the zigzagging main roads. The rundown buildings on both sides looked like tombstones that rose to the sky.
Having not been frequented by human beings for a long time, the ruins were covered in a thick layer of dust of radiation. Many places looked like they were coated in fluffy snow.
Weird noises came from the skyscrapers that had been burnt down, leaving only the framework left. Roars of ferocious animals could vaguely be heard, too.
It seemed that some wild beasts that had mutated because of high radiation levels and luckily survived had claimed the city of tombstones as their territory.
Li Yao had no time to bother with the ferocious, mutated beasts. He simply unleashed feeble mystic rays and searched for the reactions of crystal processors in the depths of the ruins.
To his disappointment, after a long search, he did not even find a control chip of the lowest level, much less a crystal processor.
With Vulture Li Yao's abundant work experience in the magical equipment graveyard, he could tell that the ruins of the city had been searched time and time again, not by the same group of people but by hundreds of groups who had different styles. The place was like a piece of gum that had been chewed for ten days and ten nights. Not the slightest juice could be tasted again.
Li Yao was both slightly upset and delighted.
Since the place had been explored countless times during the past hundreds of years, a lot of settlements of human beings must be somewhere nearby.
Pondering for a moment, he moved toward the enormous crater.
The closer he was to the crater, the more intense the radiation became. The mini crystal processor on Neltharion beeped nonstop.
Finally, he reached the edge of the enormous crater.
Looking down from there, he could not imagine that it was a crater at all. The slopes on his left and right were endless, making it look more like a bottomless abyss.
The bottom of the abyss was enshrouded in black fog. The stinky smell of steam could also be vaguely sensed, which must have been caused by the pools of rainwater in the past hundreds of years.
However, at the edge of the crater close to the ground, black holes could be found, like a honeycomb that had been half dissected.
Li Yao's guess was correct. Judging from the scale of the city, it must have been built in the most glorious years of the civilization. At that time, the locals of the Martial Meritocrats Sector must have grasped the technology to build underground towns.
The more developed a civilization, the higher their efficiency in the utilization of the space within the atmosphere. Like the Heaven's Origin Sector, the Martial Meritocrats Sector had constructed enormous, delicately-made underground cities.
The terrifying weapon tests that the Imperium of True Human Beings conducted had destroyed the cities both on and beneath the ground.
However, the underground parts were blocked by thick rocks and soil after all. It was possible that something could have been left behind.
Naturally, the radiation intensity there was the highest, too. Li Yao's soul could sense blasts that felt like surging tides even though it was at the Divinity Transformation Stage.
It was a good thing. The radiation had probably prevented the survivors from searching the area, and he might find something of value.
Along an enormous sewer that had long dried, Neltharion flew into the underground city.
The environment in the underground city was much more complicated than on the ground. The collapses and landslides in the past hundred years had turned the place into a messy maze.
Li Yao's guess was correct. The powerful radiation and the complicated environment were enough to stop most of the explorers. He found a lot of objects that were suspected to be spiritual puppets.
It was a pity that the glorious days of the civilization there dated back to a thousand years ago, which meant that most of the magical equipment there had a history of a thousand years.
Having been seriously wrecked in the explosion before being ravaged by time ruthlessly for hundreds of years, they were all rusty and riddled with holes, and their crystal processors had been melted into scrap metal, making them barely suffice as a temporary body.
Li Yao scratched his nonexistent hair and searched for three hours, only to discover one body that could somehow be put into use. But it was actually a…
"Universal Janitor? What the heck is this thing?"
Staring at the remnant of the spiritual puppet that he had dug out of the ruins, Li Yao was at a loss.
The remnant before him was about one meter tall and in the form of a cylinder.
At the beginning, it was probably a futuristic silver color. However, after the torture of the explosion and the passage of time, it had turned into a hideous gray, with brown spots of rusts all over the surface, as if it had skin lesions.
It looked like a garbage can at a distance and a bucket up close. The most unbelievable part was that it did not move in an anti-gravity way but had two tracks installed right below the body.
The cylindrical body was in a very simple structure. There was a tool compartment that could automatically open or close on each side. Inside the compartments, more than ten different mechanical limbs—including pliers, drills, and scissors for gardening—were folded and stored. However, most of the tools were too rusted to be moved anymore. Even those that could be moved had a suspicious hardness. After a tiny quake of Li Yao's soul, one of the scissors directly broke apart!
An enormous metal plaque was nailed to the bottom of the 'garbage can'. From the obscure handwriting on it, Li Yao managed to confirm the identity and usage of the spiritual puppet.
It was a puppet for cleaning and maintenance that was very suitable for underground cities.
It could enter the complicated, stinky tubes beneath the ground to eradicate the dirt on the wall; drive away cockroaches, rats, and other pests occupying the area; and perform simple maintenance on the damaged parts.
Of course, after different parts were replaced, it was also good at jobs such as cleaning the road, gardening, garbage collection, and so on.
All in all, it was a multipurpose spiritual puppet designed for cleaning and maintenance in the city. That was why it was named 'Universal Janitor'!
"Are we going to carry out a highly-dangerous operation of infiltration and intelligence-collection with such a thing?" Li Yao was quite skeptical.
"It can't be helped," the mental devil said. "The hundreds of spiritual puppets we found are all garbage. Only this one has crystal processors and energy circuits that are not entirely beyond rescue. We can use it first and change to something later after we find a settlement of human beings!
"Also, I think that the 'Universal Janitor' is not bad at all. Look. Its crystal processor is not very complicated. Even we can easily hack and control it. Also, the multipurpose mechanical arms it has been installed with can help us perform all kinds of complicated movements. It is sturdy and robust, with great room for maintenance and upgrade. Most importantly of all, it carries a tiny garbage compressing cabin in itself, which is the best place to store Neltharion.
"We are not going to use it in a fight anyway. In an emergency, we still have Neltharion and our souls. Isn't such a low-profile but luxurious configuration ideal for us right now?
Chapter 1949: Han Te and Liu Li |
"Makes sense. Let's try to upgrade it after we find a settlement of human beings," Li Yao mumbled, not entirely satisfied. His soul turned into hundreds of golden streaks of light, flowing out of Neltharion into the 'Universal Janitor' and entangled its crystal processor, which was riddled with holes.
Infiltrate, control, and melt!
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
The spiritual puppet shivered slightly, as if it had been endowed with a new life. Sparks spluttered out of all the mechanical joints, and the indicators on the surface of its body that were polluted by dust and mud were blinking, too. A mysterious beast seemed to be awakening slowly.
However, the sparks and the glittering light lasted only a few seconds before they dimmed again.
"Somebody's here!"
Li Yao and the mental devil sensed new trespassers at the same time. They stopped the movement immediately and turned into cold, iron blocks again.
Hardly had the machine been shut down again when hissing sounds came over from the entrance of the deep, dark sewer.
Two people, one tall and the other short, jumped on the wall and dashed into the place in the most agile way.
They were two human beings wearing airtight, anti-radiation suits and respirators.
Their suits and masks were bright gray, stitched with rust-colored camouflage cloth. If they crouched in the ruins, they would melt into the environment perfectly.
Obviously, they were seasoned explorers. They should be the locals of the Martial Meritocrats Sector.
It was not until they reached the depths of the sewer where the natural light was little to none that their masks finally emanated four dim red lights, which formed four pillars of rays as they scanned the surroundings.
Air tanks of some kind were bound to their waists and backs, spurting out large clusters of air every now and then. With the counterforce from the jets, the two locals moved swiftly in the complicated underground environment.
"Huh?" The taller explorer's voice came over from below the mask. "I clearly heard something from here. Liu Li, you heard it too, didn't you?"
"Senior Brother, please lower your voice." The shorter explorer was barely able to keep up with the first person. Breathing quickly, she said, "This place is not far away from the territory of the Thunder Salamanders. It'll be a disaster if we run into the monsters searching for food."
"Hehehe!" The taller explorer stomped on the ceiling of the sewer heavily and sprinted a hundred meters ahead like an arrow. Then he laughed confidently. "What's the big deal about the Thunderous Salamanders? If they are really bold enough to show up, I'll teach them a good lesson about the awesomeness of my Lightning Strangle. It will be a great opportunity to cut off their tongues as tonics for our master. I'm told that the tongues of the Thunder Salamanders contain great nutrition, and they seem to be called 'Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures'. Master will certainly be recovered after he takes them!"
One of the two explorers was male, and the other was female. Their voices sounded very young, suggesting that they could not be more than twenty years old. But their Cultivation was rather impressive. At the very least, in Li Yao's senses, the spiritual waves spreading out of their body were very weird, as if…
The shorter explorer named 'Liu Li' suddenly pointed in the direction of the 'Universal Janitor' and said, "Senior Brother, something seems to be over there."
Li Yao was slightly dazed. He did not expect that the senses of the girl would be so keen that she would notice him when he only released a few telepathic thoughts trying to figure out the structure of the spiritual energy circulation inside her body.
It was truly as expected of the center of the cosmos. Even a common native girl of a doomed land like the Martial Meritocrats Sector had such extraordinary abilities.
Naturally, Li Yao was not scared by the juvenile brother and sister at all. He was simply very curious about the current situation in the Martial Meritocrats Sector and decided not to take any action so that he could elicit some information from the young man and the girl.
The two explorers were both experienced at what they were doing. Soon, they discovered the Universal Janitor, or Li Yao.
"Is this some sort of treasure? We're going to be rich!"
The taller explorer chuckled in amazement. Despite the blockage of his mask, Li Yao could almost see the guy's eyes glowing with greed.
The young man swallowed and picked out an iron ball that was full of spiritual stripes from a bag on his waist. He then pinched the ball hard.
After a while of cracking sounds, the iron ball immediately turned into an iron glove that covered his right arm from the elbow without leaving the tiniest gap.
Warming up his fingers that had been armed with iron, the guy cleaned up the collapsed ruins around 'Li Yao' and picked 'him' up.
"You've got to be kidding me! A garbage puppet?"
Seeing the rusted, cylindrical body of 'Li Yao', the young man was so greatly disappointed that he simply threw 'Li Yao' aside.
"What a pity. Why isn't it a battle puppet of the highest level or a military model that has been embedded with tens of thousands of battle programs? We'd be rich!"
"If it were a battle puppet, it would've been picked up hundreds of years ago. Do you think that there would be a chance for us at all?" The girl named 'Liu Li' stepped forward and fell on one knee, touching the body of 'Li Yao' softly.
Gentle spiritual energy flowed out of her fingertips, like a brook that had been warmed by the sunlight, and leaked through the broken shell into the damaged crystal processor, nurturing Li Yao's soul.
Li Yao's interest was aroused. The girl's brainwaves were rather weird. It seemed that she had some unique techniques that were worth studying.
"Huh?"
The girl named 'Liu Li' was confused by the feeble feedback from deep inside the Universal Janitor. After pondering for a long time, she said, "Senior Brother, I think that the spiritual puppet's crystal processor is not broken. It seems functional."
"Is that so?" Tapping his respirator for a long time, the taller explorer squatted, too, and dismantled the tool compartment of the Universal Janitor. Then he observed, "The arm replacements that it has seem rather abundant. If it can really be activated, we can sell it on the black market to get the money for master's medicine. Give it a shot!"
"Okay!"
The girl Liu Li kneeled on the ground and took out a weird plant in a pot from her backpack that had been stuffed.
It was a bare bud without a single petal, surrounded by almost five enormous green leaves, like a cabbage had been planted in a pot.
