Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 1273
Talking and smiling miserably, Zhao Lie looked at the spiritual puppet that rolled over slowly, as well as Gu Zhengyang, Han Te, and Liu Li, who moved out from behind the puppet.
None of them expected Zhao Lie to be so cruel that he would give his son a quick death after seeing that there was no hope of escape!
"Captain Zhao…" Gu Zhengyang said gravely.
"Cut the cr*p, leader. If you win, you are the king; if you fail, you are a rebel. Such things happen in the Land of Sins every day. What's there to be surprised at?" Weird green brilliance beamed out of Zhao Lie's face as he spoke. "If I say that everything I've done is for the continuity of the Village of Peace, would you believe me?"
Gu Zhengyang was silent.
"Also," Zhao Lie said, "if you had adopted my suggestion a few years earlier, we would've conquered all the villages in the hundred square kilometers around us, and the Village of Peace would be three to five times stronger than it is. In that case, I would never have taken the Red Fire Gang or the Black Water Gang's side, instead fighting side by side with you against the bandits to establish our own enterprise. Do you believe me?"
Gu Zhengyang sighed and nodded. "I do."
Zhao Lie was slightly dazed. His eyes were frozen as he breathed his last breath and said, "Forget it. It doesn't matter now. Do you know that living is really f*cking exhausting, leader?"
The moment he stabbed the dagger into his son's head, he had bitten the poison capsule inside his teeth.
The poison had taken effect, and his whole face seemed to be on fire. His muscles and his soul withered at the same time, and he slowly collapsed onto his son's body, not moving anymore.
Chapter 1982: Right or Wrong |
Before the dawn came, the last bandit that was hiding in the mud at the bottom of the lake was found out and killed. The battle to defend the Village of Peace finally came to an end.
Countless dead bodies whose guts had been blown out in the explosions were floating on the surface of the lake. The furious flames also illuminated the previously dark sky into a burning inferno.
The fascinating Flower of the Other Shore in the sky, however, had long disappeared. Those noble angels living inside Manjusaka did not seem very interested in the battle of the insects of the bottom level in such a remote region.
The dead had staggered to the other shore, but the living had to struggle in the scarred land.
Although the short yet fierce battle did not cause too much damage to the Village of Peace due to Li Yao's help, a lot of valuable ammunition and backup energy had been consumed.
Several iron-shelled boats had been destroyed by the cannon fodder. One of them even stored the water-cleaning cartridges that were of paramount importance.
In the Land of Sins, almost all water sources were heavily polluted. Drinking the natural, unpurged water was equivalent to suicide. Even boiling it at a high temperature might not necessarily eliminate all the impurities and poison. The filtration process was mandatory.
The thousands of people of the Village of Peace needed tons of water in their everyday life. Without the water-cleaning cartridges, it would mean their doom.
Also, Li Yao had saved a large batch of sinners who were driven by the Black Water Gang to fight against the Village of Peace. Having been soaked in the cold water for a long time, the effects of the excitants had run out, and they were struggling and crying for help due to their survival instincts.
Their families, who were not even armed, had also been driven by the Black Water Gang to this place for the suicide mission. They were hugging, weeping, and shuddering under the threat of the firearms and blades in the Village of Peace.
Many people in the Village of Peace wanted to leave them alone and let them drown in the lake.
However, they could not violate Gu Zhengyang's order and had to pick up most of the sinners, however unwillingly.
Right now, those people had become the captives of the Village of Peace. They were locked in two iron-shelled boats that did not have engines, waiting for their final ruling in desperation.
Their outcome would not be good.
Even if Gu Zhengyang was lenient enough to not execute the thousands of sinners that included elders and children, they would still die all the same after they were banished, considering that the few resources they had were looted by the Black Water Gang, and they had neither weapons nor food.
It was even be a slow and painful death, like torture, as Zhao Lie had said previously.
However, the Village of Peace had a population of several thousand in the first place. If they accepted another several thousand people, the population would double, and it was certainly beyond the capacity of their food, energy, and other resources.
It was needless to mention the huge fight between the two parties during the Bliss Ceremony. The deep grudge against each other meant that they absolutely could not accept each other.
The heads of the captives had already sent a message. Since they had been defeated, they were willing to be executed by the Village of Peace without any complaint according to the tradition of the Land of Sins.
However, they asked the lords in the Village of Peace to show mercy to the children below the age of fourteen. It did not matter even if they were going to live as slaves at the bottom level of the Village of Peace as long as they could live!
Gu Zhengyang had not come to a decision yet.
He had enough reasons for his hesitation. The Village of Peace had merely defeated two teams of vanguards from the Black Water Gang and the Red Fire Gang, which were far from the main forces of the two gangs.
In the eyes of the gangs, swallowing the Village of Peace was probably not a mission that required the whole crew, and they had shown enough respect for the Village of Peace by sending out a few tough bandits.
Dawn was about to come. If no news was sent back to Double Dragons Valley by sunset, the ferocious bandits would definitely take action.
Gu Zhengyang did not feel that either the Red Fire Gang or the Black Water Gang would let go of the Village of Peace after such a great humiliation.
The Village of Peace was still in peril and short of hands. There were still vigorous adults among the captives, and their families were kept in prison there. Naturally, he could not be more prudent about the arrangement of those people.
However, when the first beam of the morning sun illuminated the deck of the iron-shelled boat, Gu Zhengyang's attention was neither on the captives nor on the tough bandits of the Double Dragons Valley but focused on Li Yao.
He was pacing for the 137th lap around Li Yao and raising the same question for the 52nd time. "Was everything last night… really done by you?"
"Yes, village leader," Li Yao replied casually.
Then followed another sentence that had been repeated fifty-two times. "Tell me how you did it!"
"Nothing can be told," Li Yao said calmly and indifferently. "The database is not installed with plugins to explain complex battle missions to civilians. With your level, battle experience, and comprehension ability, it is impossible to explain to you reasonably and adequately."
Gu Zhengyang was dazed. Looking at the indicator on Li Yao's chest for a long time, he finally raised a new question for Han Te and Liu Li, who were secretly chuckling. "Have the two of you never thought of dismantling its crystal processor to check what its core processing chip looks like?"
"Negative," Li Yao answered peacefully. "My crystal processor is a military secret of the highest level. As per the twenty-second clause of martial law, only the general commander of the 'Special Combat Squad under the Highest Command Center of the Northern Space Zones' or the refiners with 'Azure Double Diamonds Certification of Maintenance and Modification' are qualified to open my shell. Other people, regardless of their side, will be treated as the most serious enemy once they try to pry into my crystal processor, and they will suffer my instantaneous countermeasure."
"Instantaneous countermeasure?" Gu Zhengyang was confused.
"Like last night," Li Yao explained,
"…"
Gu Zhengyang gasped hard and could not have looked more awful. He finally understood it. "So, you can obey Han Te's orders, but you cannot allow him to dismantle your structures or perform maintenance and modification on you?"
"Basically, yes," Li Yao said coldly. "I have just activated a brand-new database for automatic maintenance and upgrade. As long as I am provided with enough energy and materials and the expected battle environment, mission, and targets are set, I will be able to automatically maintain, modify, and upgrade myself."
"What an incredible fellow!" Looking at the drill and the jigsaw in front of Li Yao's mechanical arms, Gu Zhengyang sighed with mixed feelings again. "I have never seen a war puppet like it."
Han Te tried to hold back his smile and said, "Master, the Land of Sins is too vast a place for anyone to find all its secrets. Perhaps we were lucky enough to pick up the most awesome military crystal processor from the Martial Meritocrats Sector before Judgment Day, right? All in all, had it not been for the help of Fiend Star last night, the Village of Peace would've been doomed! Isn't it great that everything worked out?"
"Yes, Dad. Captain Liu seemed to be looking for you to discuss the issues about the injured." Liu Li blinked quickly. "Go now. We can keep an eye on Fiend Star. We will call you immediately if something goes wrong!"
"Fine." Gu Zhengyang indeed heard somebody shouting his name from another boat. He walked away for a few steps, only to come to a stop and turn around. "One last question, although I don't know if you can find an answer from your database. Last night… you intentionally went easy on the sinners, didn't you? Why? Judging from what you did to Ma Ku and Fei Zhong, you certainly could've slain all the sinners. If Han Te merely gave you an order to defend the Village of Peace, there was no reason for you to show mercy on the sinners, was there?"
Li Yao was silent for a moment. Then he said, "I don't know, but the 'law' inside the crystal processor demanded me to do that."
In the moment of epiphany, Liu Li clenched her fists and said, "Maybe it was a bunch of Cultivators who crafted Fiend Star a long, long time ago, right?"
"Is that so?" Gu Zhengyang was slightly dazed. Then he grinned and put on a genuine smile. "Got it. Don't worry about it. I'll certainly find a way to protect the Village of Peace!"
The middle-aged man who had fought fiercely for a whole night with his sick body waved his fists hard and rushed away like a vigorous young man.
Looking at his back that was moving further and further away, Han Te was somehow at a loss, with complicated feelings beaming out of his eyes.
Li Yao sensed the subtle waves in the young man's heart. "Anything on your mind?"
"Huh?" Liu Li batted her big eyes and looked at Han Te suspiciously.
"It's not anything important, but…" Scratching his hair for a long time, Han Te finally summoned his courage and asked, "Grandpa Yao, do you feel that my master is right?"
"Your master is right," Li Yao said.
"What are you saying?" Liu Li puffed her cheeks and said, "Of course my dad is right. We have to fight the wolves to the end. Look at what we have achieved. Isn't it great?"
Han Te shook his head hard. "No, Liu Li. That's not true. The reason the Village of Peace still exists is because we discovered Grandpa Yao by accident, and Grandpa Yao saved everyone in the village!
"Without Grandpa Yao, the Village of Peace would've been swallowed by the gangs. Perhaps a lot of blood would have been shed, and a lot of people would have been killed. Those lucky enough to survive would have been deformed and turned into inhuman, ferocious animals, like the sinners who were injected with exhilarants and charged at us with demolition shuttles.
"From that point of view, isn't Zhao Lie right? After all, not all the villages in the world can be lucky enough to find a Grandpa Yao!
"Last night, at the final moment, even master wavered and admitted that Zhao Lie was right, and he had to evade the dilemma with his death. No, I'm not blaming master. It was very understandable for him to think that. I'm just confused and cannot convince myself. Would everything have been better if we had listened to Zhao Lie's words earlier?"
"No," Li Yao said, "Zhao Lie was wrong, and your master is right."
"If my master is right, how exactly would everything have worked out without 'Grandpa Yao'?" Han Te asked stubbornly.
"It wouldn't. Neither your master's path nor Zhao Lie's can work out, but it does not mean that your master is wrong."
Staring at the direction of Manjusaka, the City in the Sky, Li Yao said softly, "Perhaps your master's determination is right, and it is the whole world that has been wrong!"
Chapter 1983: Double Dragons City |
"It is the entire world… that has been wrong?"
Han Te and Liu Li did not expect Li Yao to give such an answer. Complicated feelings beamed out of their eyes that had been bulged wide. Looking at the bloodstained lake, Han Te summoned his courage and said, "If our belief is wrong, we can change it. What are we going to do if the world is wrong?"
Li Yao smiled. "What do you think?"
Han Te and Liu Li both fell silent.
After the fierce battle, or rather, after spending half a month with Li Yao, the two little fellows had grown a lot. They had vaguely touched the truth of the Land of Sins, and they better saw the hope that they had been searching for and never given up on.
Han Te mumbled, "Can the world be changed?"
"Didn't Liu Li's mother try to change the world?" Li Yao said.
"But she failed."
"Did she?"
Han Te and Liu Li looked at each other and descended into deep thought again.
Li Yao chuckled and changed the topic. "Let me ask you a question. If the truth about the Land of Sins is not as simple as it appears to be, just as Leader Gu said, and deeper darkness and evils are hiding behind the scarred Land of Sins, the world of the angels may not be the paradise that you imagine but a place even more dreadful than here. In that case, will you still search for Manjusaka?"
Han Te thought carefully for a long time. Then he clenched his fists and nodded heavily. "Yes. In any case, I will certainly go to the City in the Sky to find my sister and figure out the truth about Judgment Day and Land of Sins!"
"I'm going there, too!" Liu Li held her chest high and spoke determinedly. "I'm going to the City in the Sky to find a way to pave the Gold Barley across the entire Land of Sins. Also, I will ask the 'angels' what mistakes we have made for us to deserve the torture of such a fate. If they truly mean to help us, why do they have to choose such a cruel method? We are human beings, not sinners. Even if our ancestors once committed unpardonable crimes, it has nothing to do with us!"
"Therefore…" the two little fellows said at the same time, "we are definitely going to the City in the Sky to find out the truth!"
Looking at the two little fellows who were so solemn that their eyes had almost frozen into crystals, Li Yao could not help but feel amused. "Alright. After the issues in the Village of Peace come to an end, let's set off and find a way to go to Manjusaka together!"
"Grandpa, are you going to the City in the Sky, too?" asked Han Te curiously.
"Have you recalled something from your past and are looking for something in the City in the Sky?" Liu Li asked.
Li Yao was slightly dazed. Then he smiled and said, "Yes. It's true that I'm going to the City in the Sky to search for something. But more importantly, it is about making certain 'scumbags' pay for everything they did!"
Li Yao's killing intent pierced through the iron shell, condensing into tentacles with tusks and sharp claws around him. The two little fellows could not help but feel as if their internal organs were constricting. They shuddered in fear and said, "Grandpa Yao."
Li Yao's soul spread out feeble ripples. It appeared that fighting against the many tough bandits of the two gangs on his own last night had been too burdensome after all. His soul was somewhat exhausted, and he could barely control his killing intent.
Calming himself down, Li Yao said, "Let's go to Warehouse No. 3. You can give me a hand and help me strengthen the shell with the fragments of the crystal suits collected just now. Also, find a large, sealed cabinet that has tires or tracks below it and load it with crystal bombs and ammunition. Then, connect the cabinet to my body. Life's troublesome without Cosmos Rings."
Han Te and Liu Li were confused. "A mobile, sealed cabinet that is fully loaded with crystal bombs and ammunition? Are you going to war, Grandpa Yao? Where?"
"To solve the problems of the Village of Peace, of course," Li Yao said casually. "I need to pay Double Dragons Valley a visit."
…
The Double Dragons Valley, as its name suggested, was made of two mountains that looked like furious dragons.
The two mountains extended into countless branches. They were rough and steep. The highest parts were more than three thousand meters long and scourged by tempests all year long. The deep valley was as complicated as a maze and rife with interconnected caves, which allegedly led to the deepest level of hell. Those places were also frequented by the most ferocious mutated reptiles. Even if an unparalleled expert dropped into them, the only outcome for them would be becoming a pile of dry bones in the caves.
The two mountains, named Green Dragon and Red Dragon, were like two walls that rose high into the sky and separated the Thousand Lakes Area, where the Village of Peace was located, from the Bloody Plateau Area to the northwest of the mountain, which was more prosperous and competitive. At the joint of the two mountains, perhaps due to the conflicts of the tectonic structure, a narrow, long, and flat valley had been generated, which was known as Double Dragons Valley.
Double Dragons Valley was an important road that connected the Thousand Lakes Area and the Bloody Plateau Area. If anyone chose to climb Green Dragon Mountain or Red Dragon Mountain instead of taking the road, they would have to walk thousands more kilometers at much greater risk.
