Chapter 623 - It’s Me, But Not Me
Chapter 623: It’s Me, But Not Me
“Then, did he succeed?” Meng Chao could not help but ask.
The moment he heard his own question; however, it sounded like something stupid.
If Saber Jin Wanhao had really managed to regain his youth, he would have both the Underground Emperor’s powerful cultivation realm and the physical body of when he was in his twenties or thirties, which would mean that he would be at the prime of his life. It would make him one of the top fighters in Dragon City, and in truth, there wouldn’t be anyone who could be his match.
A young Jin Wanhao would never let the Vortex wreak havoc in the lair and do nothing when Golden Tooth was about to fall to ruin.
Yet A’Ji seemed to know all of Jin Wanhao’s secrets, and he could even use Celestial Tyrant’s Star Shattering Slash. It caused Meng Chao to think that Jin Wanhao’s research in regaining his youth did not fail completely.
A’Ji was conflicted once more.
“He succeeded, but he also failed,” he said. “Jin Wanhao’s original plan was to develop a super cell activation serum to increase his cellular function. Then, with a unique technique, he could increase the fluctuation and circulation of his vitality magnetic field. This would then make his body return to around the time when he was twenty-five years old, which is the period of time when his body was at its best shape.
“The cellular activity, physical strength, and even vitality of a human in his twenties and thirties is the strongest, and with the fighting experience as well as spirit energy martial arts he gained after fighting for decades in a sea of blood, Jin Wanhao would definitely become the strongest superhuman in one go!
“Unfortunately, the medicine to regain youth cannot be easily created.
“Jin Wanhao wasn’t a pharmacist. It was by sheer coincidence that he managed to get some bits of technology and formulae that had been lost throughout the ages in the Other World.
“He couldn’t leak any of this stuff to other people; otherwise, the nine great mega corporations would covet his belongings and steal from him. The mighty Underground Emperor might even get killed to ensure his silence.
“He could only conduct his own research while searching for trustworthy people who shared his ideals.
“He definitely couldn’t find companions like that overnight. He waited for ten whole years before Red Brows Su Lun’s mother came along. This genius pharmacist had deep hatred for the nine great mega corporations, and with the condition that he would help her destroy Heaven Pharmaceuticals after this was done, he invited her to join him. They built the underground lab and pushed the research forward.
“Unfortunately, Red Brows Su Lun’s mother had used up all her strength to fight against Heaven Pharmaceuticals. After she researched the medicine for Jin Wanhao for a few years, she could no longer withstand the torture of living, and she left the world of her own choice.
“From then on, Jin Wanhao had to resume groping around in the dark by himself, so he naturally made a lot of mistakes. He even entered spirit energy deviation a few times, but luckily for him, the spirit energy deviations were light, and he could use his strong spirit energy to temporarily suppress them.
“Then, on a day a few months ago, when he was conducting his research in the secret lab, he could no longer suppress them. The injuries and wounds that had accumulated for decades and the damage caused to his body during the spirit energy deviations exploded like a tidal wave and he went through the most dangerous spirit energy deviation in his life.
“At that time, he was creating a medicine that was even more violent than Hell’s Blood.
“He used nearly one hundred violent superbeast materials and high-grade crystals. They were the type of materials that even if they were the size of a fingernail, they could still blast a place apart.
“Jin Wanhao could not control himself after he entered spirit energy deviation. He flailed around, and his spirit flames surged. He knocked over a lot of apparatuses storing those materials and made them shatter. The materials inside all fell on him.
“The semi-completed medicine was mixed among them, and it was crushed by his vitality magnetic field, then absorbed into his body.
“Since there were nearly one hundred energy forces that did not blend with each other running amok in Jin Wanhao’s body, they nearly tore apart every cell in his body. The situation was so dangerous that it was even more terrifying than when you drank Hell’s Blood, Meng Chao.
“Even if Jin Wanhao was the Underground Emperor, he was in so much pain that he fainted.
“He did not have any idea what happened, but when he woke up, he found that he was still alive. But that’s not all, he also discovered to his surprise that his body had gone through astonishing changes. He seemed to have accidentally fulfilled his wish and regained his youth!
“But… But the formula for the medicine was a little too strong. It didn’t make Saber Jin Wanhao regain a physical body that was around twenty-five years old, which was what he wanted the most. Instead, he returned to the time when he was around eight years old!”
“What?!” When Meng Chao and Lu Siya heard his words, they could not help but exclaim. “Are you trying to say that you’re Jin Wanhao?”
The moment they said this, they looked at each other at a loss. They could see the disbelief on each other’s face.
They were not slow-witted people.
The moment they discovered that A’Ji actually knew the secret tunnel to Jin Wanhao’s secret lab and the password to his safe, and even declared himself as the master of the place as well as executed Jin Wanhao’s unique skill—Celestial Tyrant’s Star Shattering Slash, they knew that this boy definitely had a close tie with Jin Wanhao.
But regaining youth was just too bizarre, and it was difficult for them to accept it immediately.
Besides, Meng Chao felt that A’Ji’s demeanor was completely different from that of the domineering Underground Emperor spoken in legends.
In the beginning, he arrived beside him sneakily like a boy from Leprosy Village who was both cunning and loyal. He had not seemed to be putting up an act, and there were plenty of times when he had shown that he really wanted to help the people there.
While when he executed Celestial Tyrant’s Star Shattering Slash and announced his identity, he had an ancient and mighty demeanor, but it looked quite out of place on him, like he was a monkey who had put on a crown and declared itself king.
Of course, this could also be because his face was bruised, and he was hanging upside down.
“I… can’t believe it.”
Meng Chao drew closer and widened his eyes to observe A’Ji for a long time. But he still could not find any of the domineering air of the Underground Emperor. He asked in puzzlement, “When we first entered the lair to find clues related to Blessed Paradise’s murderous pets, Big Sis Ya and I both encountered Saber Jin Wanhao.
“At that time, we didn’t see him in person. He was just standing on a building and cast us a cursory glance through a French window, but that one glance made me break out in cold sweat, and I nearly suffocated.
“He was a mighty man of his generation and someone very domineering. Even if he… shrank, he shouldn’t be like you.”
“That’s right,” A’Ji said. “I don’t think I’m Saber Jin Wanhao either.”
Meng Chao was taken aback by his statement.
“If you are, then you are. If you aren’t, then you aren’t. What do you mean, ‘I don’t think I am?’” he asked curiously.
“Let me put it this way. Do you think your three-year-old self who was peeing everywhere and playing with mud is the same as your thirty-year-old who is full of ambition and wants to create his own force of power or your eighty-year-old self who is full of sicknesses and has a slow mind? If the souls from these three different stages of life changed with each other, would their thoughts, movements, and will be the same?” A’Ji asked.
This question caused Meng Chao to sink into deep thought.
Perhaps to other people, A’Ji asked an illogical question.
Of course I’m “me”. It doesn’t matter whether I’m three years old, thirty years old, or eighty years old. In fact, even if I’m three hundred years old, I’d still be “me”.
This would probably be what most people would think.
But Meng Chao had come back from the apocalypse, and he had noticed the differences within himself.
After experiencing hell and walking through a sea of blood as well as witnessing Dragon City burning in the flames of the apocalypse, along with all Earthlings being reduced to ashes, he brought with him a slew of nightmarish memories and returned to the time before he took his national college examination. Was that person the same as the him who lived a directionless life and failed his national college examination in his previous life?
Meng Chao did not think so.
In his previous life, he was a harvester at the bottom rank of the entire harvesting circle at this point in time. He was struggling among piles of low-grade monster materials.
At that time, Dragon City faced a crisis when its army was destroyed, and they were forced into a defensive position.
At that time, all his ambition from before his national college examination had been crushed to bits by cruel reality. He just wanted to live a normal life as a normal person. That was his greatest wish.
In this life, he managed to reach Heaven Realm and become the strongest among the Golden Era. He had Superstar, was in control of the Broken Star Club, and had a say in Blue Home. He also had the abnormal beast research department, Sky Pillar Corporation, Agricultural University, and other major forces supporting him. He could mobilize an astonishing amount of connections and resources. If he utilized all his forces, he might even be able to ask one or two Deity Realm superhumans to help him.
He had a chance to live again. If he compared his own lives, even though they were at the same age, the status, power, and authority each had were very different.
Naturally, their personalities, values, ways of thinking, and even the things they would sacrifice their lives to get had changed.
In fact, even their appearances were completely different.
Meng Chao had awakened to supernatural abilities and fought several major battles. He also trained in the wild and had just drunk a lot of Hell’s Blood. Right now, he looked like a statue carved out of a Red Radiance Jade and Blue Origin Crystal. He was full of explosive power and vitality. This was something his previous life had not obtained even after training for his entire life.
Meng Chao felt that if his current self ran into his previous life’s self on the streets, he would be unable to recognize him.
In truth, he had gradually forgotten what exactly he had been striving for in his previous life when he was at this age.
Even if he knew, it would definitely not be what Apocalyptic Version Meng Chao was after.
Humans were not just made of flesh and blood. Their societal connections also made them who they were. Their thoughts, personalities, and goals were refined by everything they experienced during their long life.
When their experiences changed, everything would become different. After all, one Meng Chao’s long life had become a future the other Meng Chao had not experienced yet.
“So, you’re really the Underground Emperor after he regained his youth, but you think that you’re not the ambitious and ruthless Underground Emperor who is the owner of the lair?”
The gears in Meng Chao’s mind turned, and he finally understood what A’Ji meant.
“I knew you’d understand me, Big Brother Chao!” A’Ji’s expression changed like he had switched a face. He returned to the expression he used when he just met Meng Chao, and he said in a slightly aggrieved manner, “I’ve never lied to you before. A’Ji has always been my real name. Jin Wanhao is the fake name that person gave me.
“If you look at this as a bystander, it’s just like you said, Saber Jin Wanhao went through spirit energy deviation and accidentally regained his youth.
“But to me, I’m just nine-years-old. It’s just that after I woke up, I found myself lying in a mysterious underground lab and I have these memories that appeared out of nowhere!”