Chapter 183: True Transcendence

He is right; I hate humans in reality, and I was never a saint. This image was merely a trick to deceive the world, and occasionally to deceive myself—Yang Yi admitted this in her heart.

"They have disappointed you too much, haven't they?"

Lin Mu had been observing her, not through expressions or movements, but through a certain aura she emitted, like a woodlouse extending its antennae to sense humidity in the air.

"Disappointment after disappointment... They are so greedy. With the ability to create more value for society, they instead use it to profit themselves. They indulge in their innate pursuit of power and lust. Look at this Red Building; this is proof!

"Their nature is to admire the strong and bully the weak! Towards the strong, they worship and follow; towards the weak, they instinctively despise them, gaining satisfaction of their desire for power and proof of their own strength from bullying them. You think they truly thank you for saving the world? Do they worship you? No! They only worship strength itself!

"When you were weak—yes, I mean before you awakened, how did they treat you? How did your relatives abuse you? As the most ignorant and weak ordinary people, unable even to defeat slightly stronger members of their own kind, they still gained the pleasure of torment from you, who was then just a child! Is this not enough proof?"

Yang Yi's breathing became heavy and coarse. She lowered her crossed arms and silently looked at Lin Mu.

"Humans are merely a group of the most ordinary lowly creatures, accidentally born on Earth, like a cluster of mold accidentally born on a rotten apple. The mold considers itself great, but measured against the entire universe, they are nothing.

"Their nature is ugly, greedy, shallow, and impulsive... They are foolish lambs that need a shepherd to whip them constantly before they will obey! They are born slaves, naturally submissive to the strong, needing someone to lead them to see the way!

"Humans are not worthy of respect and have no value. Most humans are merely ingredients, a culture medium, just a breeding ground for elites and the strong!

"And you! You are the only precious treasure born on this culture medium—this is the meaning of human existence! Those ingredients can be replaced at any time, but you are naturally unique, you are irreplaceable, you are the true master of humanity!"

His voice, now sharp and now hoarse, echoed through the vast experimental hall, as if causing resonance, with sound waves stirring up waves of reverberation.

In a world that had been temporarily suspended, only Yang Yi and "Lin Mu" stood facing each other, gazing silently at one another.

"Are you saying I should rule humanity?" After a while, Yang Yi asked in a dazed tone.

"More accurately, to raise them as livestock," Lin Mu said meaningfully, "if you wish to save them."

"You specifically attached yourself to Lin Mu and guided me to the Red Building; your purpose is to persuade me to become humanity's master?" Yang Yi had a glaring question mark on her face; she was puzzled: "What benefit does this bring you?"

"My loyal master, your gaze is my direction!" Lin Mu crossed his hands over his chest. This was originally a ritual towards gods in a certain religion on Earth, yet he cleverly used it here, containing something more mysterious and sublime than its original meaning.

Yang Yi's heart suddenly stopped, then suddenly beat violently, faster and faster. She felt her enormous heartbeat echoing throughout the entire experimental hall.

"You are a follower of the Evil God." After a long time, she said in a low voice, her tone affirmative.

"I am your follower," Lin Mu smiled slightly.

"But you are not respectful towards me."

"Because you have not yet completed the true transformation." A cunning look appeared on Lin Mu's face, making him look more human: "A small pasture cannot grant you true transformation."

He knew!

Yang Yi's mind buzzed; all oxygen vanished instantly, as if she were placed in a vacuum. Her heart felt stifled, unable to breathe.

In an instant, she acted, pinching Lin Mu's neck and lifting his entire body up.

Layers of telekinetic force bound him; not even a single soul, let alone anything else, could escape her imprisonment.

"Why are you so angry?"

Lin Mu, unable to speak with his throat pinched, still wore a strange smile on his face and silently asked with his lip movements, "Are you afraid I will expose this matter? Are you afraid they will know you are the Evil God, the cause of the disasters befalling Earth? Are you afraid they will know that saving them time and again was merely due to your ridiculous guilt?"

"I-AM-NOT-THE-EVIL-GOD!" she said, word by word, syllable by syllable.

"Even if you were not before drawing from the pasture, what about now?"

His smile was repulsive. Yang Yi truly wanted to snap his neck to stop his more poisonous words, but the last thin nerve reminded her that this body was not a follower of the Evil God, but an innocent human.

"Can you still eat human food now?" His face was purple and swollen from holding his breath, yet he still formed the mouth movements, letting Yang Yi clearly see what he was saying, "Your self-proclaimed peers, are they not your food now?"

Clearly, it was he whose throat was pinched, but it was Yang Yi who breathed in great gasps.

"You are Him! Why not admit it? Just discard that shred of human cognition, discard that unnecessary human sense of belonging, break free from these constraints imposed upon you, and you can completely transform and return to the divine throne!

"Did you not want to save them? At that time, the survival or extinction of humanity will be in the blink of your mind!

"At that time, you will gain complete freedom!"

Freedom! Complete freedom! Ultimate transcendence!

Yang Yi's arm trembled; her hand loosened, and Lin Mu fell to the ground.

Yang Yi unconsciously stepped back two paces. A huge sense of absurdity attacked her. Did she, who devoted herself to saving humanity, find in the end that the crux lay within herself?

If she abandoned her human cognition, if she abandoned her human identity, could humanity be saved? Could she herself break free from the multiple constraints upon her and achieve transcendence?

Was it really this simple?

She looked blankly at Lin Mu, as if trying to get some promise from him, while Lin Mu rubbed his neck, coughing as he stood up.

"What are you hesitating about? Did you not feel that power when drawing from the pasture? Do you not feel that this is the position you truly deserve?"

Yes, that power, that feeling—the entire planet was just a grain of sand between my fingers, the entire solar system was merely a toy I could play with at will, the entire galaxy was just a backyard I could come and go as I pleased, the entire universe was just a forest laden with abundant fruits, waiting for me to pick those sweet fruits...

Freedom! That was freedom from all constraints! What truly tempted her and made her addicted was not the pleasure of drawing life, but this feeling—ultimate transcendence! Freedom not bound by anything!

She extended her hands, looking at them blankly and with wonder. A huge storm surged in her heart, the greatest of her life, causing her to forget where she was and when she was, with only one question filling her soul—Should I do this?

In the instant her emotions fluctuated, unimaginable changes occurred within her. Invisible, strange forces filled the entire experimental hall. She clearly stood there, yet seemed to have vanished from this world. In a daze, countless worlds overlapped, merged, and intertwined behind her, and she stood between these mixed worlds...

In those infinite, overlapping worlds, faint wails, desperate barks, and angry roars came through...

Lin Mu watched this scene excitedly, his whole body trembling. His expression could not carry his intense emotions, instead appearing numb, forming a great dislocation with his body's movements.

"Is this it?" Yang Yi suddenly asked. "Is this the power?"

"Yes, my supreme master. You have already ascended the divine altar; you only lack personally sitting on the divine throne. What are you still hesitating for?" Lin Mu cried out loudly, his tone filled with urgency and impatience, even containing a hint of hidden resentment that he could not forge steel into iron.

"Is this the freedom you speak of? At the cost of the annihilation and extinction of countless lives? Abandoning self-awareness to become a thing that only knows how to devour life by instinct?"

Yang Yi slowly raised her head, withdrawing her gaze from her hands to look at Lin Mu again, her tone light:

"You said humans admire the strong and bully the weak. Yes! But you Evil God followers are equally a species that admires the strong and bullies the weak.

"The law of conservation of energy: Energy cannot be created out of nothing, nor can it disappear out of nothing; it can only transform from one form to another, or transfer from one object to another, with the total amount of energy remaining constant. And your Evil God is precisely such a thing that draws the life of all things in the universe to use for itself.

"Rather than saying you worship a certain god, it is more accurate to say you worship power itself."

Lin Mu's body, which had been trembling due to excitement, gradually returned to calm. For the first time, he looked seriously at Yang Yi, rather than with the hidden expectation and scrutiny as before.

"You said that after I transform into the Evil God, the survival or extinction of humanity will be in the blink of my mind. Then I ask, once the transformation succeeds, will I still have self-awareness? Or will I become a blind, foolish, chaotic god acting only on instinct?

"At that time, humanity will probably welcome a true catastrophe of drowning..."

Yang Yi's voice gradually lowered.

She lowered her head and cast down her eyes, as if lost in thought.

Lin Mu did not refute, merely smiling as he said, "But you will attain true transcendence, will you not?"

"Can transcendence achieved at the cost of losing oneself still be called transcendence?"