Chapter 582 - 553: Axis of Good and Evil

It was coincidental that Lille’s enemies also harbored similar ideas, and their manufacturing capabilities were not lacking—

Human industrial capacity was strong; if entirely devoted to the military, it posed a threat to the survival of most people, yet the production capacity was enormous.

According to Lille’s estimates, if the 250,000 nuclear weapons they manufactured were any indication, globally, almost one million nuclear weapons had ultimately been deployed in the war, nearly depleting all known nuclear material resources.

From then on, a true total war ensued for many years, with the sky covered by dense smoke and ashes, the sun unable to penetrate these particles, plunging Earth into prolonged darkness and cold.

Radiation dust drifted with the wind, and every so often, vast lands would rupture open, numerous missile defense systems emerging abruptly, iron rain firing from the ground to the sky, followed by terrifying fireballs lighting up within the dense dust clouds.

Lille was certainly not the type to think, "It’s just war, why the fear, let’s annihilate them," but he ended up becoming even more extreme than that.

Deep inside, he also knew, no matter what things had become now, but tomorrow... tomorrow there really would be a change, maybe just endure a little longer?

But in his dreams, he no longer cared about such things. The so-called beautiful future was no longer what he yearned for; he had no attachment whatsoever.

Besides...

People often say the only lesson humanity learns from war is that humanity never learns from war.

His frenzied brain, however, felt he was already learning from it, that he was the chosen one who would learn.

The lesson was: the wars were not fierce enough, they hadn’t taught everyone a lesson; the lessons were not profound enough, they hadn’t sent every deserving person into the ground.

His brain battled wildly, but the moment he pressed the button, he had already made his decision.

The all-encompassing total war brought down those hiding in the skies, making them breathe the same air and enjoy the same mud on the surface, and eventually, even the ground had no hiding places left, forcing people into underground cities carved out by mining.

What followed were various advanced tunneling super bombs, crushing those hiding underground, with many born underground seeing the real sunlight for the first time.

When Earth became inhospitable for life, people began shifting their gaze to outer space again, focusing on outer space...

Even the Moon couldn’t avoid the bombardment and even became a candidate for morale-boosting deterrence plans.

This battle was more thorough than that among corporations, because once Lille chose to attack, the world’s direction shifted completely from pursuing profit—

It shifted to pursuing destruction.

Hate was only a small part of Lille’s madness; more so was his belief from deep within that he should continue the fight, regardless of the reason.

This was also the source of terror that Martin felt: he had seen madmen before, but a sane madman, a capable madman, a madman who rationally led people toward clear destruction, and moreover, already had succeeded, was utterly terrifying.

Fortunately... it was just a dream.

Martin reminded himself: fortunately, this was just a dream, perhaps this was Lille’s miraculous encounter, just like him, although harmed, he also gained some superpowers.

However, he soon heard Lille murmuring distractedly, "...The automatic agenda should still be operational, both ours and the enemy’s."

Martin, who had been about to drink water, paused, "...With this level of warfare, no one should have survived, right? Is it even necessary?"

"No." Lille shook his head, the negative energy flames on his skin flickering, "Early in the preparations for war, there was a project initiated called the ’Compulsory Q Atmosphere’, the population problem had solutions long ago.

The subsequent radiation dust swarming the atmosphere, people even deployed many things into it, one type of virus we called the Compulsory Evolution Virus, the population... was never a problem:

It wasn’t a problem until the attack had thoroughly destroyed the industrial facilities to a certain extent; all these were part of the automatic agenda."

Martin became slightly frightened: he thought Lille had finished telling his story!

Then he cautiously put down his teacup, thinking Lille had finished, so he increased the infusion of negative energy toward Lille.

He saw Lille, after finishing speaking, grabbing his head with both hands, like a schizophrenic patient reliving a hallucination, continued to recount in a low voice:

Since entering the wartime state, I’ve never contacted anyone outside our own people. What I could hear, what I could convince myself of, was that we had to win!

We needed to eliminate those who had plunged the world into darkness, we needed to remove every person who didn’t think like us, we should—

Then, on the ruins, create an ideal state, a... Utopia..."

Suddenly Lille looked up, staring straight at Martin:

"But when I say this, you should understand, there’s no such future there, how can something that’s continuously sinking suddenly appear at the top?

And I... I have nothing left, only regret, confusion, fear, anger...

Martin, this is the source of your feeling: I was always conscious in my dreams, I even wished I had died in the initial nuclear explosion, but I didn’t.

I destroyed the world, and what disgusts me the most is, in the last part of my dream life, I also developed thoughts similar to those I dragged into the mud:

Maybe I could leave something behind, I could achieve something, maybe there still was a future, maybe we should stop, and turn our gaze to the universe.

With that feeling of disgust, I forced myself to continue the plan of total war while fantasizing that someone might stop it all, killing us all.

"But there’s no future for me, at least not anymore,"

Negative Energy began to subside in Lille’s body, but the black and white divide on his body became even more pronounced:

"It was just a dream, and the dream is over."

Martin wanted to speak, but his throat was too tense, so when he opened his mouth, he found he couldn’t make a sound.

He quickly realized this and subtly adjusted before speaking again, "But it was just a dream."

"Yes, but it was just a dream," Lille nodded, "So you see, if a nuclear bomb exploded beside me tomorrow, the one who would die could be the old me, so I restrained myself.

But if I restrained myself to the point of hiding in the lab, doing nothing, fantasizing about creating some super advanced technology, only caring about myself, then others like me could only watch as war profiteers freely destroyed their lives. Therefore, they also have to be radical.

I restrained, I was radical, both styles of actions stemmed from one reason, a kind of regret."

A kind of fear, a kind of regret.

[Evolution Heart: Negative Energy contamination detected.]

[Evolution Heart: Your emotions are stable.]

Lille didn’t know whether Negative Energy counted as an artificial substance, but clearly, its influence on emotions was a side effect, not its main function.

Its main function was to reverse one’s concept of good and evil in the heart. Consequently, a different emotion occurs because of the altered views on good and evil concerning the actions one has taken or is about to take.

Thus, those with firm moral convictions are more easily influenced; in comics, morally strong heroes like Spiderman nearly have to tiptoe around Martin.

The ability to alter good and evil also triggered some significant events, a power unique to comic settings.

However, there are some people, or rather a few, who still maintain high consistency in their actions after their perception of good and evil has changed:

Because "morality" was never a guide for their actions, they have transcended morality, which more resembles an abstract toy they use to amuse themselves.

This was Martin’s first encounter with such a person.

Lille’s sense of good and evil had already endured a painful transformation during the "dream"; he actually...

Completely resisted the influence of Negative Energy.

It was as if the concepts of good and evil didn’t even exist in Lille’s mind—or perhaps they each held equal parts in his heart.

Because he had powerful and evil enemies that needed him to use radical methods to defeat, and a beautiful and warm world that required him to show restraint in order to preserve.

Because reality had not yet completely spiraled out of control.

Martin looked at Lille, sensing his changes, and saw the Negative Energy gradually subside in him.

He then closed his eyes, the black and white fading from his body.

[Unique Trait Acquired: Axis of Good and Evil]

[Description: Due to your ambiguous moral views, you are freed from the troubles of multiple personalities, gaining further analytical abilities in conscious changes.]

[Special Energy Infusion: Negative Energy]

[Description: Your diseased cells will be transformed into normal and healthy cells.]

This energy grew strong when it encountered extreme views of good and evil, extreme internal conflicts, but when it flowed into Lille’s body, it calmed as though without any fluctuation.

This energy drew from Martin and waned in Lille, as if he too had become calm.

Truly calm: Kind Martin Lee, and the evil Mr. Negative, were now one and the same.

"I guess, keeping this ability is unnecessary, and moreover, wasteful. This is what I owe you,"

Martin opened his eyes, regaining his usual appearance, though now there was an added sharpness between his brows.

He picked up his tea and took the first steady sip since coming into the room.

Lille’s sincerity was so real it made him grasp that feeling.

To become a complete tyrant, clinging to a world destined for ruin, then telling oneself: Revenge is a beautiful and exhilarating thing...

That was a bit too delusional.

After revenge, there was still a world where he could carry the hopes of the deceased and embrace it; that was the best outcome.

This was also what Lille had done for him. Now that his last doubts were cleared, it was time he did something in return for Lille.

Martin set down his tea, the Negative Energy completely faded from him, looked at Lille, and remembered an often-repeated phrase from his parents before speaking:

"You deserve this from me, let’s do this together, let good things happen."