Chapter 118: Prophecy

The conversation with Gu Gu was pleasant; Li En never expected to encounter such a sentient mushroom in the underground world.

It seems they possess a philosophy of non-contention with the world.

Life and death are not important, for the successor will grow upon my remains.

Money and wealth are also unimportant; when death arrives, everything will rot. We do not need to eat, drink, wear clothes, or even require housing or reproduction, so what use do we have for wealth? Waiting for others to snatch it?

"Then, what is important?"

"Memories, the things we have experienced, are what matter. We quite enjoy listening to stories from the outside. Therefore, I wish to go out and walk. If possible, I hope to leave a trace before I die."

The spiritual perception transmitted through the mind-link was filled with pleasure and joy.

It seemed that merely the act of conversation, of conveying one's thought, brought joy to this massive life form before him.

Li En somewhat understood why he resonated with Kukku's soul; in certain aspects, they were quite similar.

And within Gu Gu's words, there seemed to be an implication of something as well.

"That's right. If I return to the earth, my companions will continue. Please continue to help them; our community is one."

Calculating death before life, and speaking of one's last wishes with pleasant emotions; Li En was also somewhat stunned.

This is likely a form completely incomprehensible to ordinary life; they seem to care nothing for their own individual life or death.

Li En even suspected that their race's understanding of death might differ from that of ordinary people.

But if one considers that mushrooms are essentially large clusters of fungi, truly subdividing individuals might involve each hypha and each spore; they seem to have been true hive-mind entities from the very beginning.

Perhaps their perspective on life is truly different from that of mortals.

"Uh, mushroom people making mushroom dishes and mushroom potions for other life forms to eat and drink is fine; it seems one really cannot be too hung up on it."

The world is vast; there is no need to be hung up on other life forms. Every life form has its own philosophy, which is also quite good.

Who knows what worldview the undead and the Machine Race down below hold? It is said the undead are forever immersed in pools of negative energy, naturally becoming extreme and gloomy, while the Machine Race...

"What exactly is the situation with the Machine Race?"

"I don't know! Their history is short! Records are few, very few!"

And within the squad operating underground, Kukku was the most excited.

In the era he lived in, the Machine Race had already become quite rare on the Prime Material Plane, and it was said they had absolutely no interest in the Prime Material Plane.

Li En watched Kukku occasionally touching the walls and sometimes picking up a small shovel to dig out a piece to keep; it seemed he had already discovered something?

"Is there something here? Is this an ancient battlefield?"

"... This place is a bit dirty; no one has cleaned it for a long time! It's all dust!"

Well, Li En had overestimated this Kusla.

But he failed to notice that Kukku, hopping along, had unknowingly walked behind Violet Rose; judging by the negative energy concentration of the soil collected here, there absolutely could not be no other inhabitants.

Moreover, these inhabitants were famously unfriendly.

"Crack!"

The sudden sound attracted the temporary squad's attention; they looked up toward the pitch-black darkness ahead.

The next moment, accompanied by the sound of shattering footsteps, a group of skeletons walked out from within.

"Prepare for battle!"

With such a high concentration of negative energy, there are indeed undead!

But the next moment, the development of the situation seemed off; these pale blue skeletons all carried a metallic luster reflection! Are these truly normal undead?

"Ancient ruins! Blue bones! Ruins of the Creator Race!"

Kukku, who recognized it first, had already rushed out.

After confirming the value of the ruins, he also forgot his own "life and death."

"Really speechless... Evil Banish!"

Accompanying Li En's roar was a burst of dazzling silver light.

"Boom!"

With the battle starting in the upper layer, when outsiders awakened the undead of these ruins, the deep control zone below could actually feel this vibration.

"Vibration... Combat Instructor."

In the pitch-black cave, a one-eyed, half-ruined mecha-human was crawling on the ground.

Her posture was quite terrible; half her face was gone, and her flesh remained only as one arm and one leg, most of which could not be driven or used.

Her feet were connected only by some cables; almost all joints were basically rusted shut.

What currently served as the main support for movement were actually the gears and cables exposed within the destroyed shell—these "tentacles" that could still slightly wriggle—carrying her forward slowly.

She was like a doll broken by at least eighty percent, still forcing her way forward relying on the parts that could still move.

"Combat Unit XT7718 at your service. Who are we killing today..."

"Creators... Why did you forsake us..."

"Service... Rebellion... Murder."

"Right to survive! Highest priority."

Various strange sounds popped out within her completely broken memory module; she crawled while playing them back, as if dozens of broken tapes were speaking simultaneously.

Her equally broken logic circuits likely could not understand what she was actually doing.

"Clang!"

She bumped into a wooden cabinet; according to the scan results, it should contain the parts and batteries she needed.

But the fallen cabinet first cracked right in front of her, then weathered away; wooden products obviously could not withstand such an extremely long passage of time.

Along with it, the books on top had also completely rotted away.

"What the Instructor wants... Error, regret, reprimand."

The raised metal arm finally lowered; the book required by Teacher Kukku had rotted. This was not even the worst part.

The battery she had requested on the side completely shattered, and what flowed out was not the blue energy fluid she remembered, but foul-smelling black mud.

The "negative energy" memory and the deduction module had actually given her an answer.

Having been soaked in negative energy for too long, most substances here were doomed to spoil.

She instinctively glanced at the fallen battery cover; the "blue flame" had turned the smooth metal sheet into a mirror.

What she saw was the blue flame slowly burning on her one-eyed observer (artificial eyeball).

"This is... me? What am I?"

This answer, the master of the Mechanical Realm probably could not provide either.

"Boom!" Another explosion rang out, this time coming from deeper underground.

The activation of the Hall of Heroes last night had awakened the souls sleeping in this area.

But what lay sleeping in this ruin was not just that unlucky member of the Machine Clan.

"How many, how many years..."

In a metal room resembling a control room, on a mechanical recliner in the main seat, a figure wearing a researcher's robe gradually awoke.

He, or it, had been reduced to nothing but bones.

Yet a long metal arm, with a sleeve blade attached, had pinned it firmly to the mechanical chair.

"I am the Traitor!" The final scene in the memory was that cold Traitor Machine delivering the killing blow.

A silent roar echoed within the control room; the ancient Great Wonder-Mechanic had now completely turned into a wraith.

Cobalt soul-fire ignited in his chest and skull; the ancient legend had become a vengeful wraith.

But it had been too long, far too long... Time had already stolen his memory and sanity.

"Aaaaaah!" Accompanied by a soul-shriek, the entire hall was swallowed by the collision of fire and negative energy.

The blue skeleton floated up; he directly tore off the metal broken arm from his chest.

The soul-fire in the skull was filled with madness and rage; it had lost everything.

"Boom!"

He unleashed a super殉爆 against another moving skeleton within his field of vision!

The ruin began to stir; due to someone's actions, the awakened souls had returned to the mortal world.

Meanwhile, the temporary squad had left Mosodilka, which seemed remarkably calm.

But the next moment...

"Boom!" Accompanied by an explosion, the City Lord's chamber of this city became history.

The "Daughter of the Black Blade" suddenly awoke; her room was blown apart at that very moment.

She floated in mid-air; pale red flames seeped from her body, and divine power flowed within her crimson eyes.

But what dripped from her eye sockets to the ground was crimson divine blood.

She had just had a nightmare.

It was a terrifying vision of the future, a possibility of the future forcibly revealed by immense power.

The entire Mosodilka was burning fiercely; everywhere was slaughter and combat, with gray dwarves, eye demons, underground minotaurs, and a series of other common underground monsters rampaging within it.

The dark elves cried out in agony within it; they tried to flee and resist, but had nowhere to escape.

Herself, who should have stopped herself? She saw it; she saw a huge white deer hoof directly stamping her down!

It was an overwhelming power she could not resist; her flesh and divine power lost control simultaneously at that moment, and she could only watch helplessly as she was crushed.

Her flesh shattered upon hitting the ground; the last thing the popped-out eyeball recorded was that nearly mad, snow-white giant beast.

"Noble Mother, is this the future you have revealed for us?" Her mother's divine statue still stood silently there, seemingly watching her.

Fate and the future are not absolute before the gods; revealing a corner of fate to the descendants of the gods is their favorite way to interfere with the future... even though this is an extremely costly act for them.

After taking a deep breath, the Divine Maiden did not look again at the completely ruined hall; she spoke to the attendant who had hurriedly arrived.

"Have the heads of all the great families come to see me... and also, send someone to tell those surface orcs that I am considering an alliance with them!"

(End of Chapter)