Chapter 344: Sister, I'm Cold

Thinking it through, Baichuan swiftly judged how to handle the current situation.

First and most urgent was the lowest Tier 4 Desolate King here; besides himself, there was probably no one else who could take this Desolate King down.

Therefore, he could not possibly leave.

At the same time, he also planned to obtain some information he wanted from this Desolate King, or simply take it down and make it his second puppet.

Making it submit was absolutely impossible, judging from the Calamity's performance — they would rather die than be eroded and controlled by him. After all, dying in this body wouldn't affect their true bodies, but being controlled by him meant even their consciousness would be thoroughly eroded, and their true bodies wouldn't escape either.

So Baichuan now leaned more toward simply taking it down and turning it into a puppet. With humans around, as long as he refined the control console a little more, it wasn't impossible to bring out Desolate King-level power.

In that case, he could only send the Calamity to investigate the caravan disappearance. A Tier 4, even one driven by a Phantom Knight captain — though for various reasons its strength might not match a true Tier 4, it should still be able to resolve the caravan matter, and at worst could escape back to report.

At the same time, the Calamity's figure absolutely could not be discovered by this Desolate King that had come. Who knew whether they had some special perception methods to sense each other's existence, so letting it out was fine too.

With that thought, Baichuan turned his gaze back to the man before him.

You're the one!

As Baichuan's gaze fell on him, Gu Ying couldn't help but shiver, yet grew excited — this was a perfect chance to perform!

……

A few minutes later, a cyan figure leapt out from behind the great city of the Extreme West Alliance and vanished. Shortly after, Baichuan slowly walked out through the main gate, heading toward the direction from which the Desolate King Jin Du had come.

Just as he reached the main gate, he saw the overwhelming, sky-covering toxic miasma surging forth in the distance. Even without approaching, wisps of poisonous fog drifted on the wind, causing the flowers, plants, and trees along the way to slowly wither and die, and anyone who breathed it began to show symptoms of breathing difficulty, dizziness, and vertigo.

Baichuan's gaze shifted, and a clear breeze rose from flat ground behind him, sweeping the faint toxic fog that had been carried by the wind away from the great city's direction, shielding the people within the city.

If even wisps of drifting toxic fog caused such terrifying effects, one could only imagine the true path of the miasma's erosion.

Looking across the path it had taken, Baichuan saw at a glance that the earth had completely turned a strange black tinged with grey, not a blade of grass remaining — only swarms of various insects seemingly accustomed to the toxic fog still buzzing about.

Within that dense toxic fog, a reddish-gold figure appeared and disappeared intermittently. As it moved, its savage, steel-blade-like feet clanked sharply, and its long, lethal golden scorpion tail whipped the toxic fog into howling gusts, appearing all the more mysterious against the miasma.

This was the Desolate King named Jin Du.

Moments after Baichuan looked over, Jin Du also stopped walking, no longer advancing, gazing with some vexation at its own toxic fog that seemed to act on its own.

Even It knew how exaggerated the toxic fog It stirred up was. This area was fine, but advancing further would count as provocation, and a fight would be unavoidable.

Combat — combat was what It liked least. And It wasn't foolish either; which being that could enter this Zhenyu was weak?

For creatures like them without the shelter of any super-civilisation, survival was already difficult enough, and their kind especially so — so unless absolutely necessary, it didn't want to provoke enemies.

Not seeking merit, only seeking no fault.

This time, their entire civilisation had sold land and territory, even mortgaged a hundred years of future population and labour, before finally obtaining this chance. It couldn't waste it carelessly.

Jin Du recalled how their clan matriarch grandmother, after fawning and bowing and scraping to sell off a great pile of various resources, had excitedly taken Its hand and told It this good news — to go to the super-civilisation's resource star and give it a try, to see if It could fight for an Earthly Immortal Realm.

Of course, whether It succeeded depended on fate; don't put too much pressure on yourself. As long as It lived, that was the greatest hope.

But looking at those newly-hatched younglings, the moment they were born they suffered darkness, desolation, and the bitter cold of winter — never knowing what true light was, never having experienced the beauty of all things reviving beneath the warm radiance of a star — Its heart ached.

Before a small bonfire, a child of only a few years had once hugged Its hand and said, "Sister, I'm cold."

At that moment, that bone-chilling, nearly temperatureless little hand froze not only Its palm but the depths of Its heart, like a biting frostbite.

How could It let the chance the matriarch grandmother had finally obtained be wasted in vain?

It too wished for a day when It could truly change the environment of Its home star — even without the warm radiance of a star, to have just a sliver of warmth, no longer bone-chillingly cold, so that those clansfolk would no longer tremble all day, and the younglings, pale and colourless, would not say to It, "I'm cold."

And all of this could only be initially changed by an Earth Immortal. Now It was only one step away.

Jin Du, you must not fall here.

Silently cheering itself on, the Desolate King named Jin Du cautiously looked toward that exceptionally fine-looking bixi.

……

Dongguo.

"…My lord, these are the things you require."

On a grand and imposing plaza, a man wearing a crown and draped in a golden cloak, looking extremely dignified, bowed and spoke. A closer look revealed a hint of reverence on his face.

Yet if Gu Ying were here, he would surely be extremely shocked. The most esteemed Emperor of Dongguo — that colossal nation where he had been sent by his grandfather's connections to study in his youth — was actually showing such respect to a short, small, faceless figure in armour, respect that even carried a trace of fear!

Who on earth was this?!

"…So this is that little Laoshu's method?"

The red-clad, black-patterned armoured figure paid no heed to the Emperor of Dongguo, as if standing before him were not an extremely esteemed sovereign of a nation but any stray cat or dog one might casually meet on the roadside. Muttering to himself, he lightly leapt down from atop the Mechanical War Tiger, and in a few steps arrived beside those dead Desolate Species.

"Truly pitifully weak." Zi Da rubbed his chin, circling the Desolate Species corpses and examining them closely, occasionally kicking them a few times, producing crisp thuds. "However—"

Zi Da left the Desolate Species corpses, came to the side of the only Desolate Beast corpse, and gazed at the male who had died inside the cockpit on the beast's back. "To actually discover the true use of a Desolate Beast, and even succeed — especially in this kind of environment. This little Laoshu is rather interesting, quite a fine talent."

"Let me see just what ability you have, daring to sneak into the sacred ground of my Spirit Clan! If you can't satisfy me, hmph hmph…"

Saying so, Zi Da crouched down, his gaze suddenly turning cold, and pressed one hand onto the Desolate Beast's body. Immediately, a faint grey fluorescence emanated from his palm.

This grey fluorescence, like flowing water, swiftly sank into the Desolate Beast's body, spreading out in all directions.

In an instant, an immensely vast and complex stream of information surged into Zi Da's mind, transforming into image after image:

The first: a muffled roar sounded, then with a soft thud a pale, slightly flattened giant egg landed on the ground, leaning against the other already-hardened giant eggs. Soon, a steel creature with a loving expression gently nuzzled its massive head over…

The second: a small, dog-like young beast broke out of its shell, fighting with its similarly hatched siblings for the scarce mother's milk…

The third…

Zi Da paid no heed to these original memory images of the Desolate Beast. With a shift of consciousness, the flashing images sped up and switched rapidly.

The last: a large group of fierce-looking humans, accompanied by over a dozen powerful Desolate Species, pursued the Desolate Beast relentlessly as its stamina gradually ran out, launching attacks from time to time. Amid the beast's huge, resonant roars, a weakness that could no longer be hidden showed through…

Finally the Desolate Beast crashed to the ground and was transported to a massive city. In the crisscrossing shadows of darkness, a bixi wreathed in endless arcs of electricity slowly walked out, its golden pupils like searchlights fixed on the Desolate Beast that had lost all power to resist, its expression utterly impassive.

Streams of agile liquid crept out from beneath its feet, silently spreading upward, transforming on its body into various exquisitely precise tools. Through constant motion — cutting, separating, linking, embedding… under techniques that looked incomparably complex — when the Desolate Beast stood once more, it had become a "biological mecha" capable of linking consciousness with another!

"Hiss!"

The next second, Zi Da opened his eyes, stumbling back several steps, his eyes full of shock, staring at the crude biological mecha in disbelief. Where was his earlier contempt? His lips trembling, he spat out: "Unfilial wretch! Hand-crafted modification successful?!"

"What kind of monster is this?!"

It wasn't that Zi Da was overreacting — what he had just witnessed was too shocking. This was a Desolate Beast, its entire surface formed from Desolate Gold, one of the ten hardest and most precious metals in all the starry sky. Such hardness — yet someone could cut through that metal with ease, without any large tools. What kind of monster was this? How could they be more overpowered than even their Spirit Clan!

And that technique of modifying Desolate Beasts into Mechanical War Beasts—even a crude version—could really be done this simply? No need to enter the stellar furnace of a large-scale laboratory, first grind away the Desolate Beast's original consciousness, then soften every part, then begin the modification—those exquisitely clever circuit-neural structures, can they really be operated on by the naked eye?

Even among their Lingneng Clan, the race most skilled in machinery, the most outstanding genius couldn't perform such a feat of uncanny craftsmanship, could they?!

Perhaps only that one person could do it, but what realm has that one reached? There's simply no comparison between the two!

He had assumed this poor, green little Laoshu had merely obtained some crude technique from somewhere, and because he lacked resources, decided to sneak into this world to steal Desolate Beasts and precious Desolate Gold, cobbling together an experimental modification platform by hand just to test the technique.

After all, this kind of situation had happened before.

It was the story of a greenhorn who had just left his home planet and gotten a little lucky; Zi Da only thought about it briefly before dismissing it.

But unexpectedly, he had still guessed too conservatively—the other party actually needed no external aid at all, relying purely on hand-crafting!

This was even more outrageous than cobbling together an experimental modification platform by hand—this was simply a born genius of mechanical technology!

Where on earth did this monster pop out from?!

"But that method, why does it feel a little familiar?" After finishing his sighing, Zi Da narrowed his eyes and savored the feeling. He kept feeling that method seemed somewhat familiar, and the technology used seemed like something he had seen before?

Was it someone from a sub-civilization under their Lingneng Clan?

But whether it was or wasn't, it no longer mattered.

In any case, in his eyes, the other party was already a dead man!

No other reason—the other party was too monstrous. If it were an ordinary genius, that would be fine; his clan would certainly try to win them over. But the other party was too monstrous, their talent too outrageous—such a monstrous being from an outside race was precisely the existence that one of theirs most craved to devour alive and dissect!

Sometimes, being too extraordinarily gifted is also a kind of sin.

Any living being, once targeted by that one of their clan, what chance of survival could there possibly be—even a super powerhouse like a True Immortal would be the same!

Zi Da lamented hypocritically for a few lines, "sorrowing as the rabbit does at the death of the fox," and was also so delighted that his brows and eyes beneath the mask were all crooked with joy.

He, Zi Da, was finally going to render a great service!

He had thought it was a thankless task, but unexpectedly it had let him stumble into a stroke of great fortune.

Presumably after this, Sister Zixiu would surely look at him in a new light, perhaps even be smitten with him, and their union would succeed!

Sister Zixiu~~I'm coming!

Just thinking of Sister Zixiu's alluring body, Zi Da's heart was also ablaze with passion.

Hehe, for the sake of my Sister Zixiu, little Laoshu, you'll just have to be sacrificed!

Let me probe your true body a little, can't let you get startled and run away.

Thinking of this, Zi Da gave a light cough and said loudly: "Hey, you, come here!"

"My lord, are you calling me?"

The Emperor of Dongguo, who had been waiting cautiously at the side, not daring to look around carelessly, not even daring to take a single deep breath, was startled, and also asked somewhat cautiously.

He could not afford to be careless. As one of the longest-living humans in the entire world today, he had personally witnessed that terrifying great battle of the distant era... In the end, their world had lost everything; the lofty gods had died, the demons had been destroyed, the great powers of their clan had all gone mad, and even the supreme Tongtian Wood God had vanished without a trace.

Now, if their human race wished to continue surviving, they could only bow and scrape! Hatred? Showing even a sliver of it would make one a sinner.

"Nonsense," Zi Da unceremoniously rolled his eyes, "If I'm not calling you, who am I calling?! Get over here, quick!"

"Yes!"

"You lot will send people later, first do this this... then do that that..."

Watching the Emperor of Dongguo lean in, Zi Da kept whispering instructions to him.

……

(End of chapter)