Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

With his keen senses, Li Yao perceived that Lei Yuqin’s brain was like a forest that had been burnt down by fire. Her brainwaves were so feeble that they were almost like the vague ashes in the ravines. Her soul and vitality were both fading away, yet sacred brilliance was beaming out of her hideous face that was full of wrinkles. Her eyes that were gradually losing focus were filled with the deepest pity, too.

Lying in midair unable to move at all, she did not turn back to look at Li Yao at all although she heard Li Yao’s reproach. Instead, she raised her head and looked into the distance, mumbling, “I am a doctor. I am saving people.”

“Saving people?” Li Yao was slightly dazed. His anger was raised, too. “Do you look like you are saving people? Who are you saving?”

“You, her, the old, the children, the Star Glory Federation, the Imperium of True Human Beings, the Covenant Alliance, and every living being in the entire universe.” Lei Yuqin’s neck was dangling down now that she had lost all her strength. She said feebly but clearly, “There are limited resources in the universe, but humans’ desires are infinite. Some people have to die, some have to struggle in pain, and some can never be satisfied. Only we can save people. Only we can save everyone. Only we…”

“You…” Li Yao frowned hard. He sensed that Lei Yuqin’s brainwaves were becoming feebler and feebler. They were dying out like sparks in the ashes of a forest.

It seemed that the mental recoil that she had suffered just now was too grave. She was already on the brink of death.

It was quite understandable. Lu Yuqin’s level publicly was the peak of the Core Formation Stage. Even if she had concealed part of her capabilities and was actually at the beginning level of the Nascent Soul Stage, despite the enhancement of the weird crystal processors, the targets whom she had chosen were two experts at the peak of the Nascent Soul Stage.

It was only natural and her own fault that she was so heavily wounded by their counterattack.

Li Yao, on the other hand, did not dare increase the mental pressure because Lei Yuqin’s soul was so feeble that it was like a candle in a storm that could perish at any moment.

This place was obviously Professor Mo Xuan’s nest, but the professor himself as well as a thousand combat-type vegetative people had gone missing. Time was limited, and Lei Yuqin was the only lead. She could not die.

While Li Yao was stumped, he suddenly heard a cry for help that was as inaudible as the hum of a mosquito. “Help me…”

Li Yao looked at the source of the sound, only to discover that bluish brilliance was beaming out of one of the shrines at the bottom of the cylindrical room. It slowly condensed into an unsubstantial image of human, which gradually became clearer with more detailed. It turned out to be a middle-aged man who gave every impression that he was a scholar.

‘He’ seemed to be struggling in a deep ocean, trying to swim upward. But bound by the deep blue brilliance around him, he was unable to free himself from the water.

Li Yao and Long Yangjun looked at each other. While suppressing and monitoring Lei Yuqin with their spiritual energy, they flew to the emerging blue shadow together.

Li Yao observed carefully. The ‘new crystal processor’ in the shrine behind the blue shadow was glowing in a particularly brilliant way and even slightly vibrating, indicating that it was running at a high speed.

“Who—who are you?” Li Yao failed to distinguish what kind of weird being the newcomer was after a long observation. He simply said, “Don’t be scared. We are here to rescue everyone, but you need to tell us how you ended up like this first. Don’t panic and tell us everything calmly and systematically. Are you… locked in this place?”

The blue shadow that looked like a wandering ghost was already more than thrilled when he saw that Li Yao and Long Yangjun had defeated Lei Yuqin instantly.

But he was obviously a very resolute man with great self-control, which implied that he must have been occupied in a certain job that involved precise studies. He immediately calmed himself down after hearing what Li Yao said, except that his lips were still slightly trembling. “My name is Liu Wenshan. I am a refiner, and my specialty is crystal processor automation. As for why I am here…”

He looked at Li Yao hesitantly.

Li Yao immediately understood what he meant. “We don’t know the first thing about the whole event. So, you may start from the very beginning. Leave out the unimportant details. I’ll give you three minutes!”

Liu Wenshan pondered for a moment and said, “As a specialist in crystal processors, I am a minor celebrity in the federation. My main job is the automation of the fire control system and the defense arrays on starships. My purpose is to devise a powerful artificial intelligence that can replace as many crew members on a starship as possible so that the starship can adjust the intensity of its spiritual shield, calculate routes of attack and evasion, and even perform attacks on the enemy automatically even if the number of crew members on-board has been halved!

“I remember… I can’t tell you the specific time and model, but before long, I was involved in the research, installation, and debugging work of the crystal processor system for a new model of starship. Perhaps because I overworked myself for too long and exploited my brain cells too much, I heard a ‘bam’ in my head, as if something was broken. Then, I fainted and don’t know what happened next.

“When I woke up, I found myself on a white sickbed, surrounded by my family members. The scenery outside the window was the hometown where I grew up, too.

“However, both my family and my hometown turned—turned very strange, like they were just lifelike illusions. I don’t know if you can understand. Although many people and many things may be identical on the surface, you know deep down in your heart that they are different!

“It was not until a long time later that I learned that I was stranded in the Spiriters’ Realm, an extremely weird and treacherous virtual world!”

Li Yao and Long Yangjun looked at each other, knowing that they were very close to the truth.

Liu Wenshan pointed at Lei Yuqin, who was still floating in midair, and said, “Before I found out the truth of the Spiriters’ Realm, this woman showed up in my ward and told me that I was in a terrible state where I was neither dead nor alive because my brain had collapsed and my soul had been ripped apart after overloading and exploiting the brain cells for too long.

“While I was in a coma, I had been delivered to three major hospitals, but none of them had any solutions. All the brain doctors and Meditation Healers announced that I was in a coma, or the commonly known ‘vegetative state’. To wake up, I would need a miracle. Even if I was able to wake up with unbelievable luck, there would still be irreversible brain injuries, which would turn me into a… mentally-disabled person.

“Thankfully, I had purchased quite a lot of commercial insurance that promised high compensation for the sake of my family because I was aware of the danger of my job. Then, my family sent me to this place, Deep Blue Super Brain Hospital, with the money.

“In Deep Blue Super Brain Hospital, although they were unable to directly repair my head, they crafted a brand-new ‘external brain’ with the methods such as ‘molecular scanning by layer’ and ‘3D printing with super tiny materials’. Then, my broken soul was able to be transferred to the ‘external brain’ to be nurtured. Also, vivid Grand Illusionary Lands had been built to stimulate my soul. In such a way, my seriously damaged soul would slowly be repaired.

“Lei Yuqin claimed that they created the illusions of my family and my hometown in order to simulate my soul and help me wake up in the real world. She asked me not to overthink it and just live together with the ‘false people’ while taking them as a comfort.

“I’d heard a thing or two about the famous Deep Blue Super Brain Hospital, too. At first, I really didn’t think too much and thought that it was a special, mysterious treatment.

“However, there were too many loopholes in Lei Yuqin’s explanation. I soon figured out that something was not right. At this moment, she brought me plenty of very professional projects and asked me to overcome them. All the projects were related to artificial intelligence and starship automation.

“I couldn’t have been more astonished and horrified by the projects.

“After skimming through the files briefly, I could already tell that all the projects were extremely professional and sophisticated. The technology involved in some of the projects even surpassed the highest technological level of the federation!

“Let me put it this way. If all the projects were accomplished, it was highly likely that a virus on the Spiritual Nexus that was embedded with new artificial intelligence would be able to bypass the firewall on the starships of the federation, invade the mainframe crystal processors, and take control of the starships!

“Such projects were definitely not something that the director of a brain hospital could provide.

“At first, I thought that I was caught in a trap neatly set up by the spies of the Imperium of True Human Beings. Although I had nowhere to run to, I would rather die before I betray the federation. So, I threw away all the politeness and camouflage and berated Lei Yuqin on her defection.

“However, Lei Yuqin simply sneered and presented a lot of new projects, which were all about invading the starships of the Imperium and seizing the highest permissions of the mainframe crystal processor on them. I can guarantee with my professional reputation that they were of such a high level that none of the best experts of the federation in cyberwar had ever touched them!

“She said that she would never turn against the federation. If I was unwilling to study the crystal processors of my own people, it would be the same to study how to hack the starships of the Imperium. Of course, the projects were almost accomplished at that time, and there wouldn’t be much that I could do if I joined…”

Liu Wenshan paused for a moment, with disbelief on his face still to this moment.

Li Yao and Long Yangjun looked at each other, equally shocked. What was that supposed to mean? Did Professor Mo Xuan really find a way to hack the mainframe crystal processor of the Black Wind Fleet? How did he do it? Was he really a good guy or a bad one?

Liu Wenshan’s eyelids trembled a few times before he went on. “Flabbergasted, I naturally pursued the background of the projects. Lei Yuqin did not keep it a secret. Soon, she let me know the truth about the Spiriters’ Realm and everybody else who was trapped in it.”

“Is there anybody else in the Spiriters’ Realm?” Li Yao asked. “How many?”

Liu Wenshan shook his head and said, “I don’t know the specific number. The Spiriters’ Realm is divided into many zones. I can only get in touch with a few experts in the field of crystal processor automation. There are approximately a hundred of them. Of course, I am referring to the real people, not including the fake ones simulated by artificial intelligence. I asked them before and learned that they were all patients who had been transferred to Deep Blue Super Brain Hospital over the past few decades for treatment after falling into comas due to severe brain damage. They were all the experts and masters in our field in the past, but now, they are all trapped in the Spiriters’ Realm!”