Chapter 426: Striking Cognition with Truth

A massive warship hovered in the air. Four electronic pulse emitters continuously radiated energy toward the surroundings, maintaining the warship's own balance before slowly descending.

Ye Nan sat inside the warship, looking out the window at Zion, known as the holy land of humanity.

If the outside world was a garbage dump, then this place was an abandoned mine, filled everywhere with discarded steel.

Zzzzt!

The warship landed slowly on the ground, and the four electronic pulse emitters shut down.

"We have arrived at Zion." Su Weiqi walked over reluctantly to say this, then immediately walked back.

"Let's go, Ilis. Let's have a good look around this human city. For the next period of time, we will likely be living here." Ye Nan beckoned to Ilis, trying hard to make himself look more energetic.

Ever since Ye Nan had lectured Neo, the atmosphere had been very awkward. Cui Nidi and Su Weiqi always ignored them, while Morpheus was inside lecturing Neo.

Others, such as Cypher and his group, were quite enthusiastic, but Ye Nan himself did not like this kind of enthusiasm, so he dismissed them all and remained with Ilis, inseparable.

Perhaps noticing that Ye Nan did not like the city of Zion, Ilis followed his wishes and said, "Once we arrive in Zion and make things clear, we can just leave."

"No." Ye Nan shook his head, stroking Ilis's delicate nose, and said, "I know you are doing this for my own good, but since we have decided to stay, we must see it through."

Some things cannot be based on one's own preferences. Unless things go wrong or there is no hope left, one must persist, because giving up halfway will become a habit.

With a bang, Mouse rushed in and said, "Mr. Morpheus wants you all to come down."

"Let's go." Ye Nan rose to leave, pulling Ilis along as they walked toward the control console.

At the control console, Morpheus was watching the image in front of him with full concentration. He only stood up when Ye Nan entered.

"Mr. Morpheus, do you trust me?" Ye Nan asked first. "Whatever I say or do later, will you unconditionally support me?"

Morpheus pondered for a moment and said, "It depends on the situation."

"As expected."

Snap!

An African-American woman dressed extremely coldly threw a stack of photos onto the table.

"These geothermal sensor images confirm the signal sent back before the Osiris was destroyed. The machines are drilling."

After the African-American woman finished speaking, the others began to discuss it one after another. The chaotic and noisy voices made the room unbearable.

Ye Nan walked in with the members of the Nebuchadnezzar, and as soon as he entered, he heard them discussing it.

"They are going to dig from the surface to Zion," the African-American woman said.

"Digging to Zion doesn't matter. After all, this place is just a virtual world," Ye Nan said nonchalantly, immediately attracting everyone's attention.

"What did you say?" Only then did the people present notice Ye Nan walking in and discover this stranger.

"Morpheus, who is this person?"

"I am the one who will lead you to the true reality," Ye Nan said with an arrogant expression.

"What's wrong?" Ilis stepped forward and whispered. Ye Nan's sudden change made her realize that he must be planning to do something.

"Don't worry," Ye Nan whispered back, then his voice suddenly rose, "I will lead you out. You must obey my orders."

As he spoke, his aura was overwhelming.

Since getting off the Nebuchadnezzar, Ye Nan had been considering the arrangement of these personnel after leaving the virtual world. In his mind, these humans should all become members of the Space-Time Empire, but he knew that getting a group of people accustomed to so-called freedom to accept non-free rule would be a very difficult thing.

Therefore, Ye Nan planned to shock them, to use the truth of this world to shock them, to make their ideologies collapse, and at that moment, propose his own demands and re-establish a relatively correct worldview: that they needed an emperor, and that emperor could only be Ye Nan.

This was why the scene just now occurred; in everyone's heart, people who are arrogant and domineering always make others believe them involuntarily.

"Who is this person?"

"Could he be a madman?"

"Perhaps he is the savior; look, Morpheus is with him. But such a savior is not good."

A group of people discussed it one after another. As elites within the Zion base, they naturally understood what Morpheus had gone out to do.

Hearing the discussion, Ye Nan frowned, and his voice grew even louder, "I am not a savior, but I am your monarch. Everyone should listen to my orders and obey my will."

Ye Nan's words stunned everyone present. In their hearts, Ye Nan was already equated with a mental patient.

"You should all be clear about the truth of this world. Your holy land, the so-called Zion, is actually a virtual world." Ye Nan's voice grew louder and louder, becoming deafening by the end.

"Someone, drag this madman out!" the African-American woman screamed.

"I think the one who should be dragged out is you," Ye Nan sneered. "Knowing the situation here but not thinking about how to get rid of it, blindly deceiving yourself, is simply ridiculous."

"Morpheus, who is he?" the African-American woman asked Morpheus.

"Him?" Morpheus was just about to speak when he remembered what Ye Nan had said at the control console, and he immediately closed his mouth.

"No need to ask him, I'll tell you," Ye Nan stepped forward and confronted the African-American woman, "I am your emperor, the emperor of humanity, the emperor of the Space-Time Empire."

"You really are a lunatic," the African-American woman said with disdain.

"Is that so?" Ye Nan smiled, "Indeed, I look like a lunatic, and not only do I look like one, in your eyes, I am one. I imagine you will have people grab me and stop me from telling the truth."

Ye Nan bit hard on the word 'truth'. "I know you have completely rotted. You only want to live in the lies you have woven and deliberately refuse to see the truth of the facts."

"You would rather repeat in front of people that Zion is real, while secretly living in constant fear, fear of the facts you know."

"You are afraid. Afraid that if the truth is revealed, you will collapse, so you forbid talking about Zion being virtual. Anyone who says this will be detained for spreading rumors until they give up their fallacies. Of course, these fallacies are also what you have forced upon them."

"But I tell you, you can no longer hide it, because I have arrived. As the emperor of humanity, I have the right to lead my people to the true reality."

Ye Nan's voice was high, causing everyone present to fall silent.

"Morpheus, arrest him!" the African-American woman roared in desperation.

"Sorry, Commander, I cannot arrest him. He is our hope." Morpheus directly refused the commander's order, even blocking others who wanted to step forward to take action.

"You cannot touch him."

Morpheus's pupils held a dangerous quality; although bewildered and in pain, he blocked it, that ray of strong light.

"Are you going to betray us?" The commander's pupils shrank sharply. She was somewhat incredulous. As the captain of the Nebuchadnezzar, Morpheus had always been the most outstanding captain, and his achievements were countless. Yet such a high-ranking official was going to betray them, which made her feel incomparably angry.

Yes, betrayal. In her view, not obeying her command was betrayal.

"No, I have never wanted to betray anyone." Morpheus stood out, standing behind Ye Nan like his most solid backing, "But I cannot execute your order. He is very important, and he is our only hope of getting out."

Originally, Morpheus had intended to go slowly, to change people's mindsets using time, so that it wouldn't be too intense and wouldn't lead to all sorts of accidents. But he hadn't expected that as soon as Ye Nan arrived, he would expose everything and be so arrogant, which forced him to bite the bullet and stand out to support Ye Nan.

For him, the most important thing was liberation, so no matter what absurd actions Ye Nan took, how arrogant his attitude was, or what he wanted, Morpheus would try his best to satisfy him. Nothing was more important than liberation.

"Hope of getting out? Why should we get out? Just based on the ramblings of this lunatic?" The commander looked at Morpheus with a smile, "You haven't gone stupid, have you?"

"Do you really think so?" Ye Nan walked up and circled the commander, "Actually, you aren't stupid. You are very clear, and you know what you are thinking in your heart, but due to some concerns, you refuse to admit it."

"And you all," Ye Nan faced the people standing in two rows, "You all understand very well. As warriors of Zion, as members who have defended against the Sentinels for years, you understand very well what the truth of this world is. But similarly, because of some concerns, you haven't spoken. But not speaking doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

Ye Nan's voice was high, his mood excited, "I know what you are thinking. You don't want the ordinary people to despair after learning the truth. But now I am here, and you don't need to despair at all, because I can take you out to the real world."

"Don't listen to his nonsense, he is just a madman," the commander cursed, "Someone, someone, drag him out for me."

She was afraid. Ye Nan had hit the nail on the head regarding her concerns, so she was afraid. In reality, she understood that this world was very likely a virtual world, because although this world looked real, there were many unreal aspects. These aspects were revealed in the details of life, but everyone knew it was one thing, and saying it out loud was another. Everyone was carefully maintaining this secret, even though this secret was already a secret everyone knew.

"No one will drag me out," Ye Nan shook his head, "Let me reintroduce myself. I am the emperor of the Space-Time Empire. If you are willing to join me, I will lead you out together. If you are not willing, then that is very regrettable."

Ye Nan was not a kind person. He would only take care of those who had a relationship with him, such as his friends and family, his subjects, etc. For completely unrelated people, if he was in a good mood, he would take care of them; if he was in a bad mood, he would naturally ignore them.

"Are you serious?" Ilis asked in a low voice in Ye Nan's ear.

"Of course I am serious. After leaving Earth, in order to unite the hearts of the people, I established the Space-Time Empire and became its first emperor." Ye Nan's voice was not loud, but he wasn't being careful either. His words gave the people in front of him a great shock, and at the same time, made him appear mysterious.

"Actually, after getting out, I could completely force you to become my subjects. But, I am a very democratic person. Just like when we were on Noah's Ark, I also used a voting method to determine the new system, and what everyone voted for was the establishment of a unified empire."

"Similarly, I give you a choice. It is you yourselves who make the choice. I will not interfere in any way."

Unlike when he needed to play tricks, this time he didn't need to play any tricks. He believed that as long as they were smart people, they would make their choice.

"Who exactly are you?" the commander asked in a deep voice. She felt that things were getting tricky; the current situation was completely controlled by this stranger who had suddenly appeared.

"Damn it, if it weren't for this guy Morpheus, I would have already arrested him." The commander looked at Morpheus fiercely, but what she saw was a complexion as deep as water.

Morpheus's reputation was too great, so great that even she, the commander, couldn't suppress him. Otherwise, she could have directly arrested Ye Nan and interrogated him for the passage to the real world. Unfortunately, this idea had now been completely shattered.

"My name is Ye Nan, and I am the monarch of the Space-Time Empire. As for why I came here, it is purely to subdue you all," Ye Nan said bluntly, "I don't have any hidden agendas, and I even have a bad temper, so I don't want to calculate back and forth with you. That is very tiring."

The commander's expression stiffened, and she didn't know how to respond.

"We will hold an election meeting and let everyone make their own choice," Morpheus finally spoke. After weighing it repeatedly, he felt that letting Ye Nan continue to cause trouble wasn't a solution, but he couldn't bring himself not to support Ye Nan. He finally understood why Ye Nan had asked him if he would support him while they were inside the warship.

"I'm afraid he has already thought of everything."

Morpheus thought to himself, his gaze involuntarily looking at Ye Nan. He only felt that Ye Nan was terrifying, because his original intention was that he wouldn't necessarily support him, but when things came to a head, he had no choice but to support him. His actions had been kidnapped by Ye Nan.

"No," Ye Nan shook his head, "No one can represent another person. At least, two unrelated individuals are like that. So-called voting is just imposing the will of the majority onto the minority. This is not fair."

Having played with elections before, Ye Nan knew there were many places that could be manipulated, so he didn't trust it.

"An open and fair choice. Let them write their choices on paper. Those who are willing to go, go; those who are not willing, stay," Ye Nan looked around and said firmly, "There is no room for negotiation on this matter."