Chapter 1949

After careful consideration, Li Wuyou finally deduced the greatest possibility: perhaps there are no weapons in the underground palace at all; it is very likely just a scheme, a scheme beneficial to the Phantom. Perhaps the Phantom intends to use this opportunity to eliminate Hu Xiaotian. Upon thinking this, Li Wuyou immediately sent Liang Da Zhuang to the prince's mansion again to inform Hu Xiaotian that it was already too late, and they could only wait for his news.

Upon hearing Hu Xiaotian's return, Li Wuyou felt a surge of joy; no matter what happened in the underground palace, at least he had returned safely.

Seeing Qiqi in Hu Xiaotian's arms, Li Wuyou was also startled: "What happened?"

Hu Xiaotian wryly said, "We fell into a trap; there are no deadly weapons in the underground palace at all, only a sealed light ball." He briefly told Li Wuyou what had happened after going to the underground palace.

Li Wuyou showed no surprise; in fact she had already guessed this was a trap, though what actually happened still exceeded her imagination. Gazing at Qiqi's pale face, she saw the blue network already crawling up her neck and continuing to spread toward her face, and she whispered, "You mean that light ball is draining her life force?"

Hu Xiaotian nodded and said, "That should be the case."

Li Wuyou gave Qiqi a quick check, then gestured for Hu Xiaotian to help lay her on the bed and remove all her clothing. Hu Xiaotian was still facing a naked Qiqi for the first time; the girl had fallen into a deep coma, her whole body covered with the blue network, and on the sole of her right foot were seven bright red moles—literally "treading the seven stars," the bearing of an emperor who can settle heaven and earth.

At a matter of life and death, Hu Xiaotian dared not conceal anything, revealing that Qiqi might be the daughter of Ling Jiazi and Chu Yuanhai, and the secret that Ling Jiazi had carried her for seven years before giving birth to her.

Li Wuyou took out a palm-sized instrument and began drawing blood from Qiqi for testing. Watching her every move, Hu Xiaotian felt slightly reassured; it seemed Li Wuyou still possessed many high-tech devices, and perhaps Qiqi could still be saved.

Li Wuyou said, "She indeed possesses the Heaven's Mandate One's genes, and there are still some things I need to monitor, but it can be determined that her body contains no human genes."

Hu Xiaotian said, "She must be the offspring of the Phantom and the Heaven's Mandate One!"

While conducting the test, Li Wuyou said, "To be precise, she is a life form created by the Phantom using the Heaven's Mandate One's genes..." She paused, then suddenly said, "If I'm not mistaken, that light ball is the Phantom itself!"

Hu Xiaotian actually had the same thought, but he could never figure out one point: "The Phantom clearly escaped, and the Heaven's Mandate One personally stated this fact, and Ling Jiazi is the Phantom—could there be two Phantoms in this world?"

Li Wuyou said, "The form of life is not limited to what we know; the Phantom likely lacks a human form. Let us liken it to a soul—such a life can even exist independently of the body, and the body is merely one manifestation of life. Do you understand?"

Hu Xiaotian nodded, lowered his head, and saw a red earthworm wriggling not far beneath his feet; yet in his heart it felt as if a window had suddenly opened.

Li Wuyou also saw that earthworm and softly said, "Life's reproduction is also diverse; perhaps the Phantom reproduces like cell division, or perhaps there is only one Phantom, but when attacked she can discard part of herself while preserving another part, just like it."

Hu Xiaotian whispered, "This world is not suitable for the Phantom to survive, so she tries every means to leave here. Her body is incomplete; one part was captured and sealed by the Heaven's Mandate One during their battle. To depart, the Phantom must meet two conditions: repair the spacecraft, and find and release her other part." Having said that, he raised his head and looked at Li Wuyou in disbelief, asking, "Could the Phantom reintegrate her divided parts and return to her former self?"

Li Wuyou said, "It is very likely; the light ball you released is probably a part of the Phantom's main body."

Hu Xiaotian said, "Old bastard Liu Yuzhang, truly harmful to others and himself; it turns out he has always been on the Phantom's side, helping the Phantom deal with us."

Li Wuyou shook her head and said, "The greatest difference between clones and real humans is self-awareness; to make them controllable, we tampered with this point when creating them, following the notion of bicameral mind in this regard."

Hu Xiaotian was naturally familiar with bicameral mind; this theory originated from the renowned psychologist Julian Jaynes, who once explained the origin of human consciousness from a historical perspective, believing that humans only acquired self-awareness three thousand years ago; before that, humanity relied on bicameral mind, whereby whenever encountering difficulties, one half of the brain would hear instructions from the other half, which were usually regarded as the voice of God. With the progress of human society, bicameral mind eventually collapsed, and human self-awareness gradually awakened, giving rise to a more flexible and complex way of coping with daily life.

The bicameral mind Li Wuyou spoke of is actually the control of clones—closing off their creativity and self-awareness, so the guidance clones receive is merely the creator's orders.

Li Wuyou said, "The Trans-space Plan lost control presumably because the Phantom replaced my commands; judging from that light ball, although the Phantom took over my instructions, her greatly weakened ability and her insufficient understanding of clones caused the clones' self-awareness to awaken prematurely—Xu Mingying, Lin Chao, and Fu Zhuo all gained consciousness, and they each developed ambitions and desires, falling outside the Phantom's complete control; otherwise she would have long used them to open the underground palace and take the skull."

Hu Xiaotian nodded: "Ling Jiazi tried that back then, but given the circumstances she failed to grasp the situation, causing those who had gathered because of her to each fight on their own."

Li Wuyou said, "Ling Jiazi is merely a shell created by the Phantom; Qiqi should be another one." Her gaze fell on Qiqi's pale face, and she softly said, "From a genetic standpoint, a life form like the Phantom cannot engage in sexual reproduction with the Heaven's Mandate One, with anyone in this world, or with us humans; the Phantom likely optimized and recombined Chu Yuanhai's genes to create a perfect shell, intending to keep it for herself."

Hu Xiaotian shook his head and said, "Qiqi is not a shell."

Li Wuyou said, "In my view, she is no different from the clones I produce; to be precise, she is a life form created by the Phantom modeled after the Heaven's Mandate One. Of course, because Ling Jiazi was attacked at the time, she did not have the chance to finish all the work; if not for the joint assassination by those people back then, this body might have already been used by the Phantom, and precisely because of this accident, the life form created by the Phantom gained independent consciousness."

Hu Xiaotian's concern was not about Qiqi's origin or any cloned life; he cared only whether she could survive, looking expectantly at Li Wuyou and asking, "Can you save her?"

Li Wuyou said, "It will take time; according to what you just said, that light ball has already drained part of her life force, and the blue network spreading across her body is likely a sign of her weakening vitality. To save her life, we must decipher her genetic code and reactivate her cellular regeneration ability."

Hu Xiaotian said, "In other words, there is still a chance; I'll leave this to you."

Li Wuyou nodded, her beautiful eyes fixed on Hu Xiaotian, and said, "You intend to stop the Phantom?"

Hu Xiaotian smiled and said, "Do I still have a choice?"

Wuyou said, "If Mirage regains its optimal form, she will become unprecedentedly powerful; you may not have the strength to stop her."

Hu Xiaotian said, "No matter what, we have to try."

Wuyou said, "Even the Heaven‑Chosen cannot completely destroy Mirage, I'm afraid…" She sighed, turned her wheelchair around, after a moment took off a necklace from her neck, the pendant being a diamond‑shaped purple crystal, then turned and handed it to Hu Xiaotian.

Hu Xiaotian said, "What is this?"

Wuyou said, "This purple crystal is a gravity source; once a vessel exceeds light speed and undergoes a spacetime jump, it takes effect, allowing the ship's instruments to malfunction, altering the ship's spacetime coordinates, and sending the ship toward the sole target, the Dark Epoch."

"Dark Epoch?"

"A black hole! Once one enters the gravity range of the Dark Epoch, nothing can escape." After saying this, Wuyou bit her cherry lips hard, her beautiful eyes filled with reluctance and sorrow.

Hu Xiaotian immediately understood her meaning; if they could not stop Mirage, they would have to activate this purple crystal, but the precondition for activating the crystal was that the vessel must have already exceeded light speed—in other words, one must have the determination and courage to perish together with the ship. Wuyou handed the purple crystal to herself, clearly intending to also entrust herself with this arduous task.

Wuyou said, "This was originally meant as a last resort to prevent bringing danger back to our world, but I never got the chance to use it."

Hu Xiaotian looked at the purple crystal and whispered, "Does this thing not have a timer switch or something like that?"

Wuyou sighed.

Hu Xiaotian laughed heartily, put the purple crystal necklace around his neck, and Wuyou told him how to activate the gravity source.

At this moment, Qiqi suddenly opened her eyes again; her pupils were filled with a Lan‑colored net‑like pattern, her **** chest rose high, her legs straightened, using the tips of her feet and her hands for support, her body formed an arch, and her throat let out a terrifying howl.

Hu Xiaotian hurried forward, intending to knock her out, but heard Qiqi say, "Mother…… I have come……"

Wuyou timely spoke up to stop Hu Xiaotian, saying, "Don't!"

But then Qiqi actually got off the bed, stood upright, staring blankly ahead, walking barefoot, Hu Xiaotian grabbed her shoulders, and Qiqi murmured, "Let go of me, Mother is calling me, Mother is calling me."