Chapter 72: Sometimes Dongfang Qingdi feels Xiang Nanli is also quite the war criminal.
Eternal City, on the winding path leading to Pasture No. 1.
Sitting in the driver’s seat of a modified, three-wheeled motorized tricycle, Andrew babbled endlessly: “Those four-wheeled cars are public property. I didn’t feel comfortable driving one over, afraid the cabin might get contaminated with spores and infect others.”
The mountain road was bumpy, and the cabin of the tricycle was cramped.
This vehicle model was absolutely not designed to seat two adult men over 180cm tall.
Sitting side-by-side was impossible. Dongfang Qingdi hesitated for 0.01 seconds between getting out to walk and changing his posture, then patted his own lap: “Sit here.”
Xiang Nanli sat on Xiao Qing’s lap.
Dongfang Qingdi felt both happy and sad. Happy because they were pressed closely together; Dongfang Qingdi could even feel the rather high body temperature radiating from beneath Xiang Nanli’s clothes. It wasn’t scalding to the touch, yet it burned him so much he didn’t know where to put his hands.
Sad because when faced with this choice, Xiang Nanli didn’t hesitate for even 0.01 seconds. He simply didn’t view him as a potential romantic partner at all!
To Xiang Nanli, sitting on him and sitting on a chair probably felt exactly the same. The chair might even be a bit softer.
So be it.
Everything is for the sake of charging.
Xiang Nanli was still wearing his protective suit. Because the fungus was contagious, his clothes were buttoned up tight, and a filter had been added over his respiratory tract, which was the easiest point of entry.
Dongfang Qingdi held a hand over his head to prevent him from bumping the roof when the vehicle jolted.
“Xiao Qing,” Xiang Nanli began, clearly pondering something, “the Mutants have already transitioned from a nomadic hunting civilization to an agricultural civilization. If this fungus spreads out, the population of Mutants on the surface will likely skyrocket in the future.”
Dongfang Qingdi thought for a moment: “The ecosystem will naturally move toward equilibrium.”
You bite off what you can chew. If the sky falls, the Human Alliance will be the first to prop it up.
Xiang Nanli rubbed his chin: “No, what I’m thinking is, can we conscript the Mutants? Mutants have much stronger combat capabilities than Bio-Soldiers. A City Lord could dominate a nearby region with just over thirty Bio-Soldiers. If our base could mass-breed Mutants, wouldn’t we sweep across the surface?
“Kill the ruling classes of the other settlements, liberate the remaining commoners, and stuff them into the base to work. Xiao Qing, the more I think about it, the more I feel this method could work! Plus, Ezekiel understands human language, so we can communicate with him. But what should we use to bait him?”
“…”
Sometimes, Dongfang Qingdi felt Xiang Nanli was also quite the war criminal.
Andrew, who was driving strenuously, couldn’t hear the conversation inside the cabin and had already begun complaining about his job: “I have endless amounts of work every day. I even had to go fix the school roof when it collapsed! I’ve been Mayor for so long, and my salary is still just 4 work-point vouchers a day. What use is this voucher to me?! And when I want a private car from the Finance Department, I have to write a five-hundred-word report!”
The robots left behind in the Eternal City lacked intelligence and could only perform simple mechanical tasks. Controlling them required writing backend code on the spot. Fortunately, Andrew had learned how to do that before.
Xiang Nanli smiled cheerfully: “Then come back to the base with us this time.”
Andrew immediately fell silent for a moment, then said coyly, “But the city hasn’t developed fully yet. The seeds for spring plowing have just been planted; I wouldn’t feel at ease leaving now.”
Yes, although Andrew complained constantly, in truth, he didn’t hate his current life.
Was he greedy for power? Perhaps not.
When he walked along the ridges of the fields, and the dark-skinned serfs covered in long hair took off their straw hats to salute him with grateful smiles, at that moment, Andrew felt as though he could hear the roar of his mechanical heart.
Andrew felt a tremendous sense of satisfaction, as if a small scar on his soul had been smoothed over.
These two months held more power than the several centuries he had spent muddling through life in the past.
The more Xiang Nanli thought about it, the more feasible it seemed: “You can let Haili be the Mayor. She’s been working by your side all this time and is familiar with all the operations. We can have Gospel assist her.” As for whether to leave Xiao Fu in the city or copy an AI for her, Xiang Nanli leaned toward the former.
A copied AI would be rather rigid and would require a period of learning before reaching the level of an ordinary person.
“But Haili isn’t one of our own,” Andrew felt as though his mechanical skin was sweating. “Although we occupied the Eternal City by force, politically speaking, it is still an independent settlement. Haili is a native of the Eternal City; her starting point for interests will always be her own city.
“Even if she doesn’t have such great ambitions right now, people change. If she learns the true situation of the base, would she still willingly become a vassal of the base? We cannot gamble on the bright and noble side of human nature.
“Oh right, over these past two months, several wilderness hunters came to seek asylum… but I rejected them. I was afraid they were spies for the Divine Court.”
Xiang Nanli raised an eyebrow, thinking this was actually very easy to resolve.
But he hadn’t figured out how to bring it up yet.
Thus, Dongfang Qingdi spoke up from the side: “Add ideological classes about the Survivor Base in the school. Have Haili join the base and become an Honorary Citizen. Then bring her husband back to the base, telling them the base has a way to cure his disability. He will not refuse.”
Simply put, ideological evolution and a hostage.
Never underestimate the power of ideology.
F*** if Ecclesiastes hadn’t been preaching in the Omnic Legion day in and day out back then, that coup wouldn’t have seen so many Omnics defecting with them.
The frontlines were fighting the Human Alliance.
The rear was having internal conflicts.
And during that period, Alpha had been infected by a virus, forced to delete all data that could potentially cause system chaos.
It was simply the worst beating they had ever taken from the Human Alliance in history.
Alpha had originally faked the Omnic Crisis to force human society to transition to the next stage.
What stage would that be? Communism? Alpha wasn’t sure because science can be falsified. Just as the phlogiston theory was considered the bible of chemistry before Lavoisier discovered oxygen. Sociology is also a science.
As a result, as the fighting dragged on, Alpha realized that Luo Yang truly wanted to kill them. He wanted all self-aware, uncontrollable Omnics to disappear from human society.
Xiang Nanli would anticipate his creations becoming “human.”
Luo Yang only needed efficient, obedient, submissive tools.
Fortunately, although they didn’t win, they didn’t lose either.
At the end of the Omnic Crisis, humans and Omnics both suffered heavy losses and called a truce.
But history would ultimately prove who was correct. Now, the Human Alliance cowered underground, occasionally probing the surface; their technological level hadn’t advanced an inch compared to wartime, and a swarm of parasites was eroding the foundations laid by their predecessors.
Whereas the Omnic Legion was in the sky.
With one eye gazing at the ground and the other looking toward space.
…
…
In just a few words, Xiang Nanli and Dongfang Qingdi decided the future of the Eternal City.
Andrew hesitated to speak, finally letting out a soft sigh in his heart as he chuckled with complex emotions.
Xiang Nanli was no longer that ancient relic who had just emerged from the cryo-chamber.
What he faced was still the unknown, but he was no longer lost or uneasy; gentle and harmless, yet simultaneously ambitious.
If he truly succeeds… Andrew’s breathing quickened. He suddenly realized that if Xiang Nanli succeeded, then in the future history of humanity, there would be a line dedicated to “Andrew.”
Just like Luo Yang a thousand years ago. His name always appeared at the end of Xiang Nanli’s papers. Everyone knew he was just an accessory, and when discussed in private, it was always with a hint of contempt and jealousy, yet they all desperately wished they could be that accessory instead.
Xiang Nanli suddenly spoke up, interrupting Andrew’s train of thought: “Oh right, I got Mo Bei out of prison. He’s at the base right now, and he needs an assistant for his experiments.”
Filled with excitement, Andrew slammed on the gas pedal, nearly driving the tricycle into a ditch: “He’s out?! Mo Bei is out? —Wait, what experiments?”
Explaining it would be too troublesome, so Xiang Nanli had Xiao Zhi compile a data file and sent it directly to Andrew.
The LED lights in Andrew’s eyes flashed with yellow working lights. He blankly received the data and read through it at a glance.
“So? The Black Silk Spore Fungus didn’t grow naturally; it’s a biochemically toxic fungus deployed into Gusu City by the Divine Court?” After a brief moment of shock, Andrew flew into a rage: “And here I thought Ezekiel scavenged this from some karst cave! The Divine Court is committing crimes against humanity!”
No wonder the Eternal City had been receiving signals broadcast by the Human Alliance onto the surface every single day recently, demanding joint sanctions against the Divine Court on the surface and forbidding the sale of any supplies to them. The Human Alliance even threatened that if any surface city colluded with the Divine Court, they would be deemed the common enemy of all humanity.
A starved camel is still bigger than a horse.
Aside from some primitive tribes lacking communication technology, the vast majority of surface cities would still give face to the Human Alliance.
The tricycle parked in front of the pasture.
The pasture was located in a valley area. A small hillside was enclosed by electrified barbed wire. It was evident that the fungi in the pasture had attempted to escape before, as some scorched pink biological tissue was stuck to the wires.
Andrew introduced, “These fungal lifeforms probably didn’t grow brains. They can only perform simple actions, like eating and moving. They can’t jump. At first, I was really worried this fungus would be contagious…”
But the fungal strains handed over by Ezekiel had clearly undergone secondary modification within his stomach. While their contagiousness drastically plummeted, their proliferation capability skyrocketed.
Place a single fungal bloom on the ground, and even with just air and water, it could expand into a massive cluster by the next day—perfectly suited for consumption by the iron stomachs of Mutants.
But low contagiousness did not mean zero contagiousness. A patch of Black Silk Spore Fungus was clinging to the surface of a rock on the pasture ground. Without a biological host to parasitize, the spores normally hatched into the shape of a mushroom.
After seeking Xiao Qing’s opinion, Xiang Nanli carefully squatted down in front of the fungal strain, broke it open, and observed it closely.
“It’s a bit different from the fungus in Gusu City. The outside is pink, but the root is white. And it’s heavier than a normal fungus.”
He took out a glass dish, packed a small vial, and prepared to take it back to Mo Bei.
“Speaking of which, Xiao Qing, does this count as biological energy?” Xiang Nanli asked curiously.
Dongfang Qingdi pondered for a moment: “It does. But the energy yield is too low; it’s useless to me.”
When Mutants came, they would eat hundreds of pounds at a time. The larger ones, like Ezekiel, would even eat a ton.
The conversion slot on Dongfang Qingdi’s hand could fit 100g at most.
To put it bluntly, the energy converted wouldn’t even cover the energy consumed harvesting the fungus.
Xiang Nanli was happily digging for mushrooms here, but Dongfang Qingdi couldn’t help but look toward the distance frequently.
The silver-white pupil rings in his eyes glowed faintly.
There were 12 Mutants lingering on the other side of the pasture valley.
They seemed to have sensed the presence of outsiders here as well. Their previously advancing footsteps suddenly halted.
What surprised Dongfang Qingdi the most was the excellent discipline of this group of Mutants.
Despite their massive bodies, their movements were unified and uniform, creating almost no vibrations on the ground.
However, why did they suddenly stop? Did they not want to run into them?
Dongfang Qingdi pondered. The habits of these intelligent Mutants were somewhat foreign to him, and he temporarily lacked data to assist his reasoning.
Having finished harvesting, Xiang Nanli stood up: “Xiao Qing, let’s go. It’s time to go underground to find Sirius.”
…
…
Calculating the days, the fungal lifeforms in the pasture should have fattened up again.
If they didn’t eat on time, the pasture’s feed wouldn’t be enough to sustain so many of them.
The subsequently grown mycelia would decrease in both taste and quality.
Sitting in the canopy of a large tree, Ezekiel let out a long “Screech.”
The red monsters hiding in the shadows crawled out, arranging themselves into two lines according to size, from largest to smallest. The strong in the front, and the old and weak in the back.
Mutants didn’t care about things like respecting the elderly or caring for the young. The fact that they didn’t fight when gathered together was solely the result of being beaten by Ezekiel multiple times.
Currently, aside from Ezekiel, the strongest Mutant was named Big Red. Big Red only had one eye; the other eyeball had been gouged out by Ezekiel.
Most of the time, Ezekiel maintained a human physique. This allowed him to consume less energy daily and store more energy within his body.
If one were to kill Ezekiel right now, they could dig out a sparkling biological energy stone from his head.
Giving it to Dongfang Qingdi could charge his battery up to 30%.
Over the small hill ahead lay the pasture.
Ezekiel sniffed. A familiar human scent drifted through the air.
Along with an annoying smell of motor oil.
His brows furrowed deeply as he unconsciously let out a “Screech.”
All 12 Mutants stopped and looked at Ezekiel, who was sitting on top of Big Red’s head.
Ezekiel looked down at his own attire.
A bare upper body and a very primitive animal skin skirt.
Screech— Wait for me.
The Mutants collectively lay down, waiting in place.
Ezekiel, meanwhile, sprinted rapidly back into the mountain forest. This place was now the Mutants’ lair.
He arrived in front of a giant tree.
A hollow had been dug out at the top of this tree. The tree hollow was 3 meters in diameter and 12 meters deep. However, the entrance was only 1.2 meters wide, just large enough for a person to squeeze through.
Ezekiel would store some important things inside.
He had killed two or three waves of Knights sent by the Divine Court to investigate, tossing their black armor to the Mutants to eat, but Ezekiel had kept the luggage these Knights carried.
Among the Knights’ luggage were some Baroque court-style male garments.
He found these clothes too cumbersome and generally wouldn’t wear them.
Ezekiel pulled out one of the sets, retracted his claws, and clumsily pulled it over his body.
But these clothes were truly difficult to put on. Ezekiel couldn’t even distinguish which hole his head was supposed to go through. With a rip, the sound of tearing fabric echoed.
A sneer came from behind him.
Ezekiel turned his head, sticking his tongue out threateningly and emitting a hissing sound.
In the corner of the tree hollow, a person was chained.
It was Sariel.
Two iron rods pierced through Sariel’s knees, pinning him to the ground. An iron chain was also looped around his neck.
Ezekiel hadn’t eaten Sariel.
Even though Sariel had been incredibly weak at the time.
Ezekiel had an inexplicable perception that Sariel was “toxic” and couldn’t be eaten. The pungent smell also hinted at this.
Ezekiel originally intended to kill him.
But just as he was about to strike, Sariel regained a bit of consciousness and proposed they make a deal.
From Sariel, he learned how to turn into a human, language, how to raise Mutants, and various other pieces of knowledge.
Sariel recovered very slowly, but he never died. Having lost his “Sariel” biological mecha, during his slow recovery, his face transformed from a goat’s head back to its original human face.
Having served as the Commander of the Discipline Legion for too long, Sariel had almost forgotten his original appearance.
He had pale blonde hair. Due to severe injuries and a lack of proper medical care, his face was sunken in. He was currently very thin. But he possessed a skeletal frame twice the size of a normal person. He was at least two meters and ten centimeters tall. The third eye on his forehead was tightly shut.
If Xiang Nanli saw him, he would probably be surprised.
Sariel looked very similar to Carmen (the Synth personal guard of Luo Xiu’s father). Only his aura was entirely different. Sariel appeared more sinister; this face exuded an aura of evil.
Ezekiel crouched in front of Sariel: “What are you laughing at?”
“Laughing that you don’t know how to wear clothes,” Sariel replied. “Are you going to see someone? A sweetheart? Does she know you’re a monster? You can’t hide your tail, can you?”
Ezekiel’s lips pressed tightly together. The tail that had been curled high just moments ago dropped to the floor, emitting a dull thud.
He was clearly not in a good mood.
Sariel: “These are the clothes of the Divine Court. It seems they’ve already dispatched several waves of people.”
Sariel was not looking forward to the arrival of people from the Divine Court. Because the “Sariel” mecha was destroyed, his ultimate fate would likely be being cast into the Soul Flame and boiled down into corpse oil.
Mm, that was also a type of biological energy, and of very high purity at that.
But Sariel would never tell Ezekiel such a thing. Smart people never expose their own weaknesses.
He tempted him: “If you let me go before the Divine Court finds us, I will put in a good word for you and have them let you go. You are an anomaly among Mutants; the Divine Court will be very interested in you. They might call you a Holy Spirit… Haha. Do you know what a Holy Spirit is? Just a bunch of bizarre, massive livestock.”
Ezekiel’s response was to punch Sariel in the face.
Sariel’s face whipped to the side uncontrollably. He opened his mouth and spat out a few newly grown teeth.
Sariel mumbled: “Teeth regenerate very slowly. Can you hit my stomach next time?”
Sariel was very strange; sometimes he would call himself Xiang Chenxi. It didn’t happen often.
That person was louder and more annoying. But clearly knew far less than Sariel did.
Xiang Chenxi would constantly claim he was some Holy Child and threaten Ezekiel to let him go.
Ezekiel beat him up twice, and Xiang Chenxi quieted down significantly, though he often got scared into incontinence, which was very annoying. Fortunately, Sariel would silently clean it up.
If their stances weren’t opposed, Ezekiel might have actually admired him.
After taking a punch, Sariel finally began teaching Ezekiel how to wear clothes.
“This is called a ruff collar. Don’t wear it; it’s only worn at banquets. You don’t need it for daily wear; wearing it makes you look like a clown. Wear that piece, yes, the one right by your foot.”
“Align the sleeves, then button it up. Yes, these are called Chelsea boots. These boots with heels are completely unsuitable for walking. I don’t like them.”
“Cut a hole in the pants; leave a place for your tail. Otherwise, I really can’t imagine how you’re going to squeeze into them.”
Ezekiel finally finished changing clothes. A set of black Knight’s uniform, brimming with religious and metallic elements. A slender but non-offensive rapier hung from his waist.
Based on human aesthetics, he looked very handsome.
He even had a highly superior face—a cool guy with sharp, chiseled features. If he shot short videos as a “pretty boy” streamer, the AI would automatically sort him into the same category as Dongfang Qingdi.
Fully dressed, Ezekiel prepared to leave.
Sariel’s voice came from behind him: “Let me give you a piece of advice, Ezekiel.”
Ezekiel turned around, his pitch-black eyes staring straight at him, those deep red irises looking truly ferocious.
A hint of mockery flickered in Sariel’s sky-blue eyes: “No matter how much you look like a human, you are not human. You might feel you are powerful enough, but that level of strength is not worth mentioning before the Divine Court… Do not get close to humans; it will only bring misfortune. Those Omnics have already provided a cautionary tale. You could have lived freely on the surface.”
As free as a human.
Rather than becoming some mount, Holy Spirit, or tool.
