3479

“A universe full of… stars.”

Gus looked at the dark sky.

It was strange. He had never thought that there was anything wrong with such a sky. The night was always as dark as an abyss. There was no light at all. He did not care about the stars or the lightning at all.

However, since the ‘hell’ where the devil taught him how to use the storm bolter, after seeing the brilliant world of stars, the vast galaxy, and the burning cantilevers, he had been intoxicated and desperate to swim in the sea of stars.

He could have endured the darkness—as long as he had never seen true light.

“What—what do you want me to do?”

The young man swallowed a mouthful of saliva and asked in a coarse voice to soothe his dry and painful throat.

“It’s simple. I just need you to believe in me one hundred percent and open your heart to me so that I can pour my strength into your body willingly.

Lu Qingchen paused for a moment and said, “In a sense, I want you to be my believer, my disciple, and even… a lightning-like life like mine.”

Gus hesitated. “Become—become your believer?”

“That’s right.”

Lu Qingchen pondered for a moment and said, “I’m afraid that it is difficult for you to understand it in the terms of crystal processors and data. Let’s put it this way. My current situation is that a virus has invaded my body and is trying to replicate and infect my entire body until it controls the central nerves and the brain.

“But the first obstacle that I’m faced with is the body’s own immune system. Once it discovers my existence, it will certainly attack me together.

“Viruses are the strongest and the weakest life forms. If they are discovered by the immune system before they are infinitely duplicated, they will certainly be eliminated without any chance to fight back.

“Therefore, I need to sneak into a normal cell, analyze the structure of the normal cell, and find a way to replicate it infinitely. In the meantime, I need to fool the aggressive immune system with the disguise of the normal cell.

“In the meantime, I need to find the place where the body is the most fragile, the most chaotic, and the body is festering in the first place where the immune system is weak and the immune system is the weakest. That’s where I can replicate and corrupt the body infinitely. That’s where my odds of success will be the highest. That’s why I need to go to the battlefield where the flag of the Steam Legion is held high.

“Although the insurrection of the Steam Legion is very likely within the expectations of the Fist King, he cannot monitor every battle of the Steam Legion after all. We have a lot of opportunities to let the Fist King play with fire.”

Gus still seemed to understand.

He could only understand that the devil needed the most vulnerable point, just like the wounds of the hunters in the town who would fester, inflame, or even bleed if they were not careful.

He was the ‘wound’ that the devil needed.

Gus swallowed again and asked in a shivering voice, “Are you going to turn me into… a lightning creature, too?”

“What else can you do? If you really want to ‘fly’ to the Pangu Universe, what life form is more suitable for you than a lightning-type life form?

Lu Qingchen smiled and said, “Although the lightning creatures are fast and have unlimited possibilities for evolution every second, in fact, they do not have the ‘soul’ and ‘free will’ of human beings. As for the virtual humans that you imagined, although they do not have a real life form, they do have some free will miraculously.

“If a large batch of virtual humans and lightning creatures can be combined, tsk tsk tsk. They might be able to create a new miracle of life. I’m looking forward to the marvelous story when such an army of lightning with free will appears in the Pangu Universe.”

“…”

Lu Qingchen was so straightforward that Gus did not know what to say.

The new concepts that he was faced with were beyond his understanding. Faced with the fear of the unknown, he subconsciously wanted to refuse.

Besides, even though the World of the Fist God was a big lie, Lu Qingchen did not deny that he was a devil.

What was the difference between cooperating with a devil and asking a tiger for its skin? He would certainly be swallowed whole without even a scrap left.

The young man hesitated.

The devil saw his hesitation, too.

“Don’t be hasty. Think about it slowly. Don’t force yourself.”

Lu Qingchen said, “I took a huge risk in such a gamble, too. There is still room for negotiation right now. But if I really entrust all the ‘power of lightning’ to you, and you are even 1% regretful, I will be embarrassed.

“What I need is 100% trust in me. No matter what price I have to pay, I have to see through the falsehood in front of me. I have to be someone who pursues the truth at a higher level. If you are not sure that you are such a person, it doesn’t matter. I will absolutely not force you. Even if we have to hold hands and watch this world be destroyed, it doesn’t matter. In any case, after this world is destroyed, I will still have the opportunity to crawl into another virtual world and search for the Child of Destiny that I want. In magical language, it will be ‘The One’. Hehehehe!”

Lu Qingchen opened his hands and grinned, as if he really did not care.

Seeing that he was not bothered at all, Gus became anxious and said, “I—”

“Don’t be hasty, don’t be rash. Don’t be provoked by a few words of mine and agree in a hot-blooded manner. And when you are really faced with the wrath of the boxing champion, you will be so scared that you will pee your pants.”

Lu Qingchen stopped smiling and said solemnly, “What I need is a warrior whose soul is extremely firm and who knows what a difficult and dangerous road he is walking on, not a coward who pretends to be tough but is actually weak.

“If you haven’t heard the voice from the depths of your soul clearly and seen through your own heart, and you still don’t know what kind of path you are going to walk on, I suggest you don’t agree to it so rashly. Perhaps, the best ending for you is to be destroyed together with this world, because in the universe of a higher dimension, there are many challenges that are a hundred times crueler than death. They are worlds that are a hundred times more terrifying than hell, and not everyone can withstand them.

“After all, we still have a long journey ahead of us. Why don’t you take the time to think about what you want exactly? Do you want to ‘really live’? How much are you willing to pay for ‘really live’ and how unrecognizable you look?”

Lu Qingchen patted the young man’s shoulder and sent the coldness and pain into his bones.

Gus could not help but shiver and licked his dry lips.

“Is he… really alive?”

The young man hesitated and started thinking about questions that he had never thought about before.

The devil laughed and lay down on the deck. Looking at the starless night sky, he hummed a joke

“A universe full of… stars.”

Gus looked at the dark sky.

It was strange. He had never thought that there was anything wrong with such a sky. The night was always as dark as an abyss. There was no light at all. He did not care about the stars or the lightning at all.

However, since the ‘hell’ where the devil taught him how to use the storm bolter, after seeing the brilliant world of stars, the vast galaxy, and the burning cantilevers, he had been intoxicated and desperate to swim in the sea of stars.

He could have endured the darkness—as long as he had never seen true light.

“What—what do you want me to do?”

The young man swallowed a mouthful of saliva and asked in a coarse voice to soothe his dry and painful throat.

“It’s simple. I just need you to believe in me one hundred percent and open your heart to me so that I can pour my strength into your body willingly.

Lu Qingchen paused for a moment and said, “In a sense, I want you to be my believer, my disciple, and even… a lightning-like life like mine.”

Gus hesitated. “Become—become your believer?”

“That’s right.”

Lu Qingchen pondered for a moment and said, “I’m afraid that it is difficult for you to understand it in the terms of crystal processors and data. Let’s put it this way. My current situation is that a virus has invaded my body and is trying to replicate and infect my entire body until it controls the central nerves and the brain.

“But the first obstacle that I’m faced with is the body’s own immune system. Once it discovers my existence, it will certainly attack me together.

“Viruses are the strongest and the weakest life forms. If they are discovered by the immune system before they are infinitely duplicated, they will certainly be eliminated without any chance to fight back.

“Therefore, I need to sneak into a normal cell, analyze the structure of the normal cell, and find a way to replicate it infinitely. In the meantime, I need to fool the aggressive immune system with the disguise of the normal cell.

“In the meantime, I need to find the place where the body is the most fragile, the most chaotic, and the body is festering in the first place where the immune system is weak and the immune system is the weakest. That’s where I can replicate and corrupt the body infinitely. That’s where my odds of success will be the highest. That’s why I need to go to the battlefield where the flag of the Steam Legion is held high.

“Although the insurrection of the Steam Legion is very likely within the expectations of the Fist King, he cannot monitor every battle of the Steam Legion after all. We have a lot of opportunities to let the Fist King play with fire.”

Gus still seemed to understand.

He could only understand that the devil needed the most vulnerable point, just like the wounds of the hunters in the town who would fester, inflame, or even bleed if they were not careful.

He was the ‘wound’ that the devil needed.

Gus swallowed again and asked in a shivering voice, “Are you going to turn me into… a lightning creature, too?”

“What else can you do? If you really want to ‘fly’ to the Pangu Universe, what life form is more suitable for you than a lightning-type life form?

Lu Qingchen smiled and said, “Although the lightning creatures are fast and have unlimited possibilities for evolution every second, in fact, they do not have the ‘soul’ and ‘free will’ of human beings. As for the virtual humans that you imagined, although they do not have a real life form, they do have some free will miraculously.

“If a large batch of virtual humans and lightning creatures can be combined, tsk tsk tsk. They might be able to create a new miracle of life. I’m looking forward to the marvelous story when such an army of lightning with free will appears in the Pangu Universe.”

“…”

Lu Qingchen was so straightforward that Gus did not know what to say.

The new concepts that he was faced with were beyond his understanding. Faced with the fear of the unknown, he subconsciously wanted to refuse.

Besides, even though the World of the Fist God was a big lie, Lu Qingchen did not deny that he was a devil.

What was the difference between cooperating with a devil and asking a tiger for its skin? He would certainly be swallowed whole without even a scrap left.

The young man hesitated.

The devil saw his hesitation, too.

“Don’t be hasty. Think about it slowly. Don’t force yourself.”

Lu Qingchen said, “I took a huge risk in such a gamble, too. There is still room for negotiation right now. But if I really entrust all the ‘power of lightning’ to you, and you are even 1% regretful, I will be embarrassed.

“What I need is 100% trust in me. No matter what price I have to pay, I have to see through the falsehood in front of me. I have to be someone who pursues the truth at a higher level. If you are not sure that you are such a person, it doesn’t matter. I will absolutely not force you. Even if we have to hold hands and watch this world be destroyed, it doesn’t matter. In any case, after this world is destroyed, I will still have the opportunity to crawl into another virtual world and search for the Child of Destiny that I want. In magical language, it will be ‘The One’. Hehehehe!”

Lu Qingchen opened his hands and grinned, as if he really did not care.

Seeing that he was not bothered at all, Gus became anxious and said, “I—”

“Don’t be hasty, don’t be rash. Don’t be provoked by a few words of mine and agree in a hot-blooded manner. And when you are really faced with the wrath of the boxing champion, you will be so scared that you will pee your pants.”

Lu Qingchen stopped smiling and said solemnly, “What I need is a warrior whose soul is extremely firm and who knows what a difficult and dangerous road he is walking on, not a coward who pretends to be tough but is actually weak.

“If you haven’t heard the voice from the depths of your soul clearly and seen through your own heart, and you still don’t know what kind of path you are going to walk on, I suggest you don’t agree to it so rashly. Perhaps, the best ending for you is to be destroyed together with this world, because in the universe of a higher dimension, there are many challenges that are a hundred times crueler than death. They are worlds that are a hundred times more terrifying than hell, and not everyone can withstand them.

“After all, we still have a long journey ahead of us. Why don’t you take the time to think about what you want exactly? Do you want to ‘really live’? How much are you willing to pay for ‘really live’ and how unrecognizable you look?”

Lu Qingchen patted the young man’s shoulder and sent the coldness and pain into his bones.

Gus could not help but shiver and licked his dry lips.

“Is he… really alive?”

The young man hesitated and started thinking about questions that he had never thought about before.

The devil laughed and lay down on the deck. Looking at the starless night sky, he hummed a joke