CH 307

Ten Years Later…

Bai Lixin returned to the surface alone.

The god of love was nowhere to be found, and even Dijia was not beside him.

Bai Lixin, covered in bruises, fell to the edge of the forest not far from the artificials…

Shortly after Bai Lixin left for the void ten years ago, a third species led by a blond child suddenly appeared in the world.

They appeared out of nowhere, with a myriad of beautiful winged angels, destroying base after base, reuniting the artificials who had been working separately. They formed the Kingdom of Artificials, of which the blond child became the leader. They called him-The God-Emperor.

They built a city of iron armour in this kingdom, impervious to sword and spear.

A ring of precision steel several meters thick and a hundred meters high enclosed the kingdom. In the centre of the kingdom was a 300-storey tower where the Artificials lived.

Artificials without powers were left to live scattered on the ground with the tower at the centre, becoming the lowest ranking people in the kingdom. They were denied the right to have children, were denied status and dignity, and were left to fend for themselves.

Every day they had to work themselves to the bone to get a mere scrap of food.

The tower’s three hundred floors were manned by an army of artificials, and the tower covered all economic and educational activities. The tower relied on electricity for its entire operation, with the electrical system on one of the floors.

It was already impossible for an outsider to enter the Kingdom of Artificials, and it would be even more fanciful to enter the gates of the Kingdom and then enter the tower.

If someone wanted to enter directly from above, it would be even more of a fantasy.

Around the kingdom was an energy field that was held up all year round. This energy field held the kingdom in a semi-circle so that not even a tiny fly could enter.

The God-Emperor’s residence was on the 300th floor, the highest level of the tower, while the angels, on the other hand, were settled on the 299th floor.

These angels were known as the hope of the nation and were called divine sons.

Artificial human beings were born through test tubes so they couldn’t procreate. But with the advent of the divine sons, conception had created a hierarchy.

The divine sons had the best mother bodies. In a way to reward those who had made contributions, the God-Emperor would give them a divine son for the conception of offspring. These divine sons were physically fragile but genetically powerful, and the babies born through their bodies had increased combat power.

The gestation cycle of a divine son was only two months, after which the divine son would return to the 299th floor for replenishment, rest for two months, and then wait for the next gestation, and so on.

The purpose of the God-Emperor was to eliminate incapable artificials and create more powerful warriors, thus completing another evolution of artificial humans.

……

There was a violent noise when Bai Lixin fell, but in there was dead silence from the forest. No birds took wing at the shock of his landing, and no beasts ran in fright.

The forest was dead.

Bai Lixin sat up with difficulty and froze for a long moment when he saw that the life that had been bursting forth when he left, was now devastated.

At a far distance stood a huge city of iron, while the forest behind him was withered and lifeless.

Ten years had left deep traces of age on Bai Lixin’s body. What had previously been a young boy now looked almost thirty years old. His eyes were downcast, his face pale, and his lips dry and cracked. His forehead was scarred, and his clothes ragged.

His calloused hands braced against the ground as he struggled to stand up, a blank expression on his face.

On the ground, a strip, invisible to the naked eye, was slowly approaching Bai Lixin. It slowly slid towards his back, and as it was about to close behind him, Bai Lixin’s eyes flashed, and he gave a sharp jump. A dagger appeared in his hand, skillfully piercing the object.

The ground beneath his feet suddenly shook violently. Bai Lixin gritted his teeth, plunging the dagger even further down.

The tremors lasted for a few dozen seconds and then gradually stopped. Only when it stopped moving did he withdraw his dagger. He plunged his other hand into the earth and pulled the body out of the ground.

A mechanical snake with a grotesque head appeared in front of him. It was covered in simulated python skin, and underneath the head where Bai Lixin had stabbed was silvery black machinery and the stinging sound of electricity.

Bai Lixin suddenly let out an “eh” after staring at the snake for a few seconds and threw the snake into the air.

The moment he threw it up, the snake, which he thought was “dead,” opened its eyes and spat out a stream of mucus from its fanged mouth.

Bai Lixin leapt backwards to avoid the slime and threw the dagger in his hand into the air.

The dagger instantly pierced the snake’s head, splitting it to the tail.

The mechanical snake fell to the ground, twisting its body a few times before exploding with a “bang”.

Bai Lixin stared at the city of iron before picking up his dagger and turning back into the forest, where he soon disappeared.

In the middle of the tower, a whole wall was plastered with surveillance monitors, and one of the screens suddenly went black.

Bai Lixin walked for a long time in the forest. The trees had died at some point and were already grey and decaying. There was no hint of greenery around, like entering a field of death.

After walking for an unknown period, Bai Lixin’s excellent ears heard the sound of rushing water in the distance. After following this sound for most of the day, Bai Lixin did see a clear lake.

He was a little thirsty and bent over the lake to take a few sips of water. However, the moment he looked down, he noticed a small, pale green shoot struggling to support itself in a small, inconspicuous corner.

That body was nothing compared to the huge forest, but it attracted Bai Lixin’s full attention.

The forest was not yet dead.

Life was silently multiplying.

Holding a little water, Bai Lixin slowly walked towards this little shoot and carefully poured some on it before leaning against the tree behind it and closing his eyes to rest…

On the 201st floor of the Black Tower, Zhou Ping had already received the video that had just come from the video surveillance staff.

He watched the playback of the half-hour before the surveillance disappeared. Zhou Ping’s breath hitched when he saw Bai Lixin’s figure. Bai Lixin tumbled backwards and threw the dagger.

The dagger flew towards the mechanical surveillance snake’s camera, but to Zhou Ping, it looked like it was flying towards him, causing Zhou Ping to take two steps backwards.

The fear that Bai Lixin had once inflicted on him, the things he had once done to him in the laboratory, were like thorn after thorn, stabbing hard into his own heart, and with Bai Lixin’s appearance, these memories, which he thought had trampled under his feet, revived.

Zhou Ping fought back the fear of running away and pressed the pause button. The display was fixed on the image of Bai Lixin looking at him with an expressionless face.

Zhou Ping took a deep breath and called Zhou An into his office.

Zhou An’s face was still glowing red when he arrived. His eyes were slightly misty. At first glance, it looked like a good thing had just ended.

“Heh, what, are you planning to have children again?”

“There are special breeding facilities for children after they’re born anyway, so it doesn’t matter. I just can’t help craving those angels every two days. ”

“There’s an academic disease called ‘sex addiction’. If you don’t restrain yourself, you’ll be hollowed out by those angels sooner or later. In the past ten years, you’ve had angels give you eighty, if not a hundred, children, and you haven’t thought about where they’ve gone? ”

“Didn’t the God-Emperor say he was gathering these children in unison for collective education for the better of human evolution?”

“Heh, that’s his way of fooling little kids like you.”

Ten years had also left their mark on the two brothers. Zhou Ping and Zhou An were no longer the good-looking youths they had been ten years ago but had grown into more robust men. As they grew older, the two men’s physical appearance also changed.

Zhou Ping, due to being a brain power, sits in an office all the time. He had a lean body and a svelte appearance that made him look very harmless.

Zhou An, on the other hand, had become very strong and half a head taller than Zhou Ping due to his frequent outside assignments. His face was scarred from one of his outside assignments, and he had grown a beard on his chin.

If they were standing together, no one would think they were twin brothers, but rather that Zhou An was Zhou Ping’s uncle or something.

Zhou An shrugged at Zhou Ping’s words, “Whatever, I’m quite comfortable with my life now anyway. There’s no need to worry about food or clothing; it’s far superior to the days spent in those bases previously.”

Zhou Ping sneered at Zhou An’s vulgar appearance and brought the monitor over towards Zhou An. “Look who this is.”

Zhou An obediently aimed his eyes at the display and saw a magnified face.

Like Zhou Ping, this face had left an indelible memory in Zhou An’s mind, and that sense of fear rooted in his soul came out unannounced.

“Is…is that Bai Lixin?!!!” Zhou An took several steps backwards and braced himself against the wall so he could hold himself up.

“Yes. After ten years of disappearance, he has reappeared.” Zhou Ping saw Zhou An’s fear before he turned off the monitor, and said, “Only this time, it’s no longer him hunting us, but us hunting him. This man, who was once the strongest, has fallen from the altar of the gods. ”