Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 553
"Growing more and more suspicious, I started to observe those around me in secret.
"I thought that, if my soul was invaded or infected by foreign forces, they might jam my senses in a certain way and make it difficult for me to detect their existence.
"But my abnormal behavior would certainly trigger abnormal reactions from those around me.
"Then, as long as I considered those around me as 'mirrors', I would be able to deduce my situation.
"As it turned out, I found that Wu Mayan and Xie Anan, my disciples, changed their attitudes to me.
"In the past, they were quite at ease when they were with me. I was more like a training partner than a master to them.
"But now, they were very cautious and in fear.
"One day, I even discovered a very deep mark on Wu Mayan's neck which seemed to have been left after somebody grabbed the neck hard for a long time.
"During those few days, Wu Mayan had only been training with me and did not fight anybody.
"Besides, if the mark was left by somebody else, he would have certainly told me.
"Since he did not mention anything, it indicated that it was done by me.
"However, I remembered nothing of the matter. It was quite strange.
"There were two possibilities. Firstly, it was done by not me, but another 'being', a 'foreign intruder', or a 'second personality' that was lurking in my body.
"Secondly, it was done by me, but then something wiped out, or at least disguised, the memory.
"Whatever the fact was, I finally ascertained after the incident that my soul had been infected.
"I meditated for a long time and recalled my battle experiences, trying to find out the perpetrator.
"Skeleton Dragon? Yan Xinjian? Xiao Xuance? Star child?
"Those enemies all boasted tremendous soul power, but could they have infiltrated my brain without alarming me and corrupt my soul slowly but surely?
"I did not think that they were as capable.
"Finally. I found the answer.
"The Blood Stripe Virus!
"The Blood Stripe Virus is a mysterious alien foreign species. It is invisible and unpredictable, but it can live inside the brains of living creatures, influence their behavior, and feast upon their killing intent!
"Billions of years ago, the Blood Stripe Virus took the Titan Warriors as their puppets. When the Sector of the Titan Warriors was destroyed, the virus came to the Flying Star Sector through the apocalypse and landed on Iron Plateau, planning to modify Iron Plateau and the Iron Plateau natives over tens of thousands of years and change the latter into their new hosts.
"During their invasion, the essence of the Blood Stripe Virus even invaded Yan Xibei and bewitched him into building the 'apocalyptic body' in order to accelerate the Bloody Stripe Virus' erosion.
"When I fought Yan Xibei, we engaged in close-combat. Blood was spluttering everywhere. Although I was very cautious, it is possible that one drop of blood or two touched my body. Maybe the Blood Stripe Virus was lurking inside the blood and snuck into my body.
"However, the Blood Stripe Virus did not see it coming that my soul was ten times more solid than Yan Xibei's and that it could not find an entrance at all. Therefore, it kept lurking until it found an opportunity when my soul was blown apart by the star child. During my one-year coma, it infected me with the bloody nightmares and finally successfully got into my soul and my brain!
"If that was the case, there would only be two questions left.
"Firstly, what was the purpose of the Blood Stripe Virus? Secondly, how deeply had I been infected?
"Walking in the virus' shoes, it is not hard for me to guess its purpose. It wanted to go to the Heaven's Origin Sector with me.
"Although the Heaven's Origin Sector is not large, the population is concentrated on one planet. It is like a public square packed with people and perfect for the parasites to spread out.
"Besides, the Heaven's Origin Sector is at war with the Blood Demon Sector and has to resist the minor apocalypse of the Imperium of True Human Beings later. The Blood Stripe Virus consumes lust for killing as food. Such a world is perfect for its appetite!
"As to how deeply I am infected, and how badly my brain has been corrupted… Those appeared to be questions whose precise answers I can never find.
"I could only make deductions based on the information I know.
"The most important piece of information was that I proposed to build 'Firefly' and train alone during the space jump.
"After I found out about the infection of the Blood Stripe Virus and looked at the 'Firefly' project in retrospective, I noticed a lot of suspicious points. It was not like a proposal that I would make under normal circumstances at all but like a scheme that the Blood Stripe Virus bewildered me to put forward in order to swallow my soul during the space jump.
"Then, it at least indicated that the Blood Stripe Virus hasn't taken full control of me yet. There is still a critical step.
"Maybe, it could trigger the fear, fury, hatred, bloodthirst… and all the other negative emotions deep inside my brain and slightly manipulate my behavior when I am at the mercy of those negative emotions.
"It could also eradicate or cover part of my memories and relieve my doubts when I am strongly suspicious in a certain way, similar to hypnotization.
"However, I believe that neither manipulation or coverage can be used unlimitedly.
"The reason is simple. On one hand, the strength of the Blood Stripe Virus was limited. Otherwise, it would not have lurked for so many years.
"On the other hand, and more importantly, if it twisted my will and wiped my memory by force frequently, an entirely different me would definitely be shaped. I, and those around myself, would certainly be skeptical.
"It is the last thing that it would like to see.
"Therefore, there is still a slim chance of winning for me.
"My judgement was that, when my soul was blown apart by the star child's self-detonation, the Blood Stripe Virus probably pried into most of my memory pieces and knows clearly about my past. It even hid some 'backdoors' inside my soul, possibly.
"But I didn't think that it could know my every movement or thought.
"It's like a person with 'dual personality' who would have two personalities appearing in turn. One of the personalities would not know everything that the other personality knew.
"Since I am not aware of the thoughts of the Blood Stripe Virus, there is no reason why the Blood Stripe should know what is on my mind every second. At least, I hope so.
"I began to consider how to deal with the Blood Stripe Virus.
"At first, I thought about telling everybody of the matter and cope with the Blood Stripe Virus with everybody's help.
"But I gave up the idea immediately after I thought of it.
"The Blood Stripe Virus is mysterious and fickle. You might not have any solution even if I told you. If anything, you might have been alarmed.
"I was most worried that the Blood Stripe Virus would run away from my body.
"When it is in my body, I can think of something to deal with them. But if it flees into somebody else's body, or even a snake, insect, rat, or ant, and lurks for another hundred years before it stirs trouble again, nobody will be prepared for them.
"Therefore, I could not ask for anybody's else. I had to address it myself, and I had to do it in the least eye-catching way without giving myself away.
"The most critical point was that I did not know whether or not the Blood Stripe Virus could see what I saw and heard at all times.
"Without any options, I could only have a try.
"At first, I ran a minor experiment.
"On my training journal, I recorded my anomalies and stated that I was strongly suspicious that my soul had been invaded and that I must have it tested in a certain way.
"When I wrote the article, my mind was very clear, and I was certain that I was not affected by anything.
"It suggested that the Blood Stripe Virus' interferences were not real-time. They could not learn my every thought immediately. Otherwise, they would not have allowed to write such an article.
"Then, after I wrote the article, it was even less likely that it would manipulate me to delete it, because deleting an article would leave even more traces. When there were too many traces, I would be bound to be suspicious.
"The Blood Stripe Virus could only avoid my test in a certain other way.
"Following that, I started to study the magical equipment on the examination and the attack of souls.
"A year ago, to deal with the 'reincarnated' 'Bai Xinghe', the Immortal Cultivators produced a lot of magical equipment for mental attacks, but they had already lost the war before most of the devices got to be utilized.
"I borrowed a large batch of them and studied them carefully. In the end, I crafted a tiny piece of magical equipment that could examine the soul. I named the magical equipment 'Soul Monitor'.
"As long as I put the Soul Monitor on the back of my head, it would automatically scan my brainwaves and my soul waves to examine whether or not my soul was pure and unaffected.
"Of course, I knew that the Soul Monitor had zero effect.
"Since the Blood Stripe Virus had allowed me to produce the Soul Monitor smoothly, the device must have no effect on it at all. It were confident that it could get away from the Soul Monitor's detection and therefore ease my alert once and for all.
"However, it might not have known my true purpose for building the Soul Monitor.
"I was not meaning to detect the Blood Stripe Virus. I was merely taking a gamble that, when I scanned my brain with the Soul Monitor, the Blood Stripe Virus would enter a certain 'idle' state and hide deep inside my brain in case any abnormal waves were detected.
"It meant that I would be granted temporary 'absolutely safe time' by the Soul Monitor. I could do whatever I want during the time without worrying that the Blood Stripe Virus might find anything.
"I could use the Soul Monitor for an hour every time, and I could not use it too many times. If I detected nothing after three to five times, I should stop the experiment by logic. Otherwise, the Blood Stripe Virus would suspect that I had other plans.
"Three to five times, an hour every time. Together, that would be three to five hours.
"What could I accomplish in such a short amount of time?"
Chapter 830: Doom of the Blood Stripe Virus (End of Volume II) |
"The production of Firefly had already begun, and I could not stop it because I could not stay in the Flying Star Sector. However, I could not go to the Heaven's Origin Sector for real, either.
"Both the Flying Star Sector and the Heaven's Origin Sector have billions of human beings. There are my family and friends as well as countless compatriots. It would be a complete tragedy if the Blood Stripe went on a rampage in either Sector.
"Perhaps, I could adjust the coordinates of Firefly and made it jump to a desolate, unpopulated Sector?
"But technically speak, it was difficult to achieve.
"Firefly was designed for the short-distance space jump between two neighboring Sectors. By no means could it jump to millions of lightyears away.
"Besides, the adjustment of such a scale would likely have been found out by the control center and the Blood Stripe Virus.
"I began to think. Was there a place that was devoid of human beings and within my reach as long as I changed one or two parameters in the thousands of coordinate settings?
"Hehe. You must have guessed it.
"Exactly. The Blood Demon Sector!
"The Blood Demon Sector has been preliminarily merged with the Heaven's Origin Sector. They are like twin worlds. The parameters of the Blood Demon Sector and the Heaven's Origin Sector in the four-dimensional universe are 99.9% identical and have only a 0.01% difference!
"I made the decision!
"The Blood Stripe Virus meant to completely corrupt my soul and take control over my mind during the space jump. Then, I would tempt it with 'Firefly' as the battlefield and start a final battle!
"Even if I failed the final battle, I would not allow them to go to the Heaven's Origin Sector to enslave my family, friends, and compatriots!
"Therefore, I pretended that I was fooled and joined the production of Firefly actively. I even read a lot of books on the technology of space jumps and learned the methods to reset the navigation system and to manually control the starship.
"Firefly would be piloted by me alone. Should there be a fault, I could only fix it by myself. It was only natural that I learned knowledge on those topics. The Bloody Stripe Virus would not have been suspicious about my behavior.
"During my studies, I grasped the coordinates of the Blood Demon Sector as I planned. I also learned how to activate the emergency maintenance mode and manually adjust the coordinates of the destination.
"In the four hours of precious 'absolutely safe time' while I had the Soul Monitor on, I gathered all the mental attack magical equipment that Xiao Xuance had prepared to deal with Bai Xinghe and extracted the most valuable core units. I then built them into a piece of unprecedently powerful magical equipment for mental attacks. The immense spiritual waves released from the device were enough to tear apart the soul of an unparalleled expert!
"To avoid the suspicion of the Blood Stripe Virus, after I refined a 'soul bomb' four times, I stopped using the Soul Monitor.
"Everything was peaceful again.
"I pretended that I was relieved and dedicated myself to my training and the production of 'Firefly'.
"The Blood Stripe Virus stopped messing around with me for a long time, too.
"From the virus' perspective, now that the host was walking on the 'right' path and everything was going on as it had planned, it was indeed unnecessary to ask for more trouble by interfering with or prying into the host's soul. If the host was suspicious again at the last moment, it would be the victim of its own scheme.
"Or rather, maybe the Blood Stripe Virus was accumulating its strength in secret, too, preparing to possess my body during the space jump!
"Today is the last day before our departure.
"I activated the Soul Monitor and received an hour of 'absolutely safe time' during the last examination on Sparkle. Then, I slightly adjusted the parameters of the destination of Sparkle and hid the 'soul bomb' inside the control panel before I connected the bomb to the self-destruction rune array.
"Right now, the usage of the self-destruction rune array on Firefly has changed.
"Only after the self-destruction rune array is triggered during the space jump will the starship be shifted to the correct route and return to the Heaven's Origin Sector with everybody.
"If the self-destruction array is not triggered, Firefly will remain its trajectory toward the Blood Demon Sector and detonate the 'soul bomb' when the space jump is about to be completed!
"Do you understand?
"If I haven't triggered the 'self-destruction rune array' before the space jump is over, it is indicative that I have been controlled by the Blood Stripe Virus. It will be the Blood Stripe Virus that occupies my brain and soul. My own soul will perhaps be lurking in the deepest part of my brain, completely overwhelmed by the intruder.
"As a result, when the soul bomb is detonated and the blast sweeps across Firefly and pierces through my brain, it will be the soul of the Blood Stripe Virus that takes the blow!
"Its soul will be the best shield for my soul!
"I will launch the last counterattack when its soul is ripped apart and try to suppress, swallow, and purge the Blood Stripe Virus!
"This is my whole plan, one whose success rate is close to zero, because the entire plan is based on the presumption that the Blood Stripe Virus does not know what I am thinking at all times.
"Maybe its strength far exceeds my imagination, and it has learned everything.
"Therefore, I strongly suggest that, if you find Firefly next to yourselves after you arrive in the Heaven's Origin Sector, you must impose the strictest quarantine upon me. You must not believe anything that I say, even if I tell you that I've successfully suppressed the Blood Stripe Virus. Do not believe anything!
"In such a case, I'm very likely to have been fully controlled by the Blood Stripe Virus like Yan Xibei used to be.
"If you do not find Firefly, don't be worried. It is a piece of good news that suggests that my plan has succeeded… at least partly.
"I'm already back home; I'm just landing on the other side of it.
"There are too many burdens and concerns in the Heaven's Origin Sector and the Flying Star Sector. I would worry that the Blood Stripe Virus might infect my family, friends, and compatriots all the time.
"It is very likely that the Blood Stripe Virus will do insane things while they are manipulating my body. For example, killing one of my family or friends, as a way to shake my belief.
"When I ask myself if I can be unwavering when one of my close friends is killed by me, I do not have the confidence to say yes.
"The Blood Demon Sector is different.
"I have zero concerns there. I can fight the Blood Stripe Virus however I want without worries. Even if I am blinded by bloodthirst when I am occasionally manipulated by the Blood Stripe Virus, it will not matter because there will be no friends but only foes.
"Alright. I'm running out of time. This is about everything.
"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you the truth earlier. It is not because I didn't believe in you, but because the battle had to be fought alone.
"I'm sorry, Wu Mayan and Xie Anan. There were days when my attitude was bad. You must have been frightened.
"In the end… I'm sorry, Ding Lingdang.
"I promised you that I would reunite with you in ten years, but I'm afraid I will be delayed in the Blood Demon Sector for a few years to purge the Blood Stripe Virus. Therefore—"
There was a rigid smile on the corner of Li Yao's lips when he said sorry.
