Chapter 59: Humans with No Escape
Translator: 549690339
“Can’t you grasp causality? Find out where the library is.”
The Yin Yang Heaven Seal shook its head: “I can only grasp the causality of people and events in Jiuzhou. I cannot see the causality of this world.”
Mastering the language of this world wasn’t too difficult – Jiang Li from the Mahayana Realm and the sentient Immortal Artifact didn’t find it a challenge. But even though they could speak the language, nobody took any notice of them.
Jiang Li stopped a passerby to ask questions, but he didn’t frown or show any surprise. He simply sidestepped around Jiang Li, not bothering to respond at all.
Jiang Li managed to grab him, but even as he stood his ground, the man continued walking, ignoring Jiang Li.
Answering Jiang Li’s question wasn’t his duty.
Jiang Li thought about approaching the police for help, but nobody committed any crimes in this world, hence there were no police. “Aren’t you an Immortal Artifact? Think of something.”
“Aren’t you the Human Emperor? Think of something.”
The two looked at each other helplessly. Confronted by emotionless people who knew not fear and only sought to fulfill their duties, they were at a loss. “If there’s nothing pressing, would you like to chat with me?”
The emotionally charged voice sounded like music to their ears. They saw a cheerful middle-aged man standing by the road, waving at them.
Jiang Li had noticed the man with his Divine Sense, but he hadn’t realized he was capable of expressing emotions.
“Who are you?” The Yin Yang Heaven Seal asked.
Despite the surprised by the man’s capacity for emotions, The Yin Yang Heaven Seal did not feel threatened. It did not believe anything in this world could pose a threat to it.
Jiang Li, however, didn’t let his guard down. He had many theories about the situation with the Dao ancestor, one of which was that the Dao ancestor was imprisoned. He needed to be cautious in a world that could hold the Dao ancestor captive.
“Nice to meet you, off-world visitors. You may call me President No. 506, although I’ve given myself a name – Ming Zhong. Calling me by that name would make me very happy.”
“My name is the Yin Yang Heaven Seal, but you can call me Tian Yin.”
“Jiang Li.” Jiang Li only paused briefly before asking, “Do you know our origins?
This world was filled with electromagnetic waves. The light brain did not need to be physically held, but existed within the waves. Everyone could form their own light brain in the air. Ming Zhong pressed the air lightly, and a holographic screen appeared before them.
The screen displayed Jiang Li and the Yin Yang Heaven Seal’s sudden appearances, their cries in the sky for five days, and eventual descent to the city.
Jiang Li suddenly understood – surveillance was everywhere in this world.
“Where did the two of you originate? Are you from another planet?” Ming Zhong asked eagerly, very interested in the two outsiders.
Both Jiuzhou and the Heartless World were part of the Continent World, which consisted of planets; however, these planets lacked spiritual energy and oxygen and had harsh environments. Their extreme day and night temperature differences of over a thousand degrees made it impossible for life to flourish there.
Unlike the Star World, where at least a few planets had hospitable environments, the Continent World did not have a single such planet.
Ming Zhong, obviously unaware of that, believed that even though the planets observable to them lacked life, life could exist on unobservable planets.
This could ostensibly explain the existence of these two visitors – a carbon-based lifeform and a robot of unknown construction.
“Can you introduce us to your world before we introduce ours?” Jiang Li said.
Ming Zhong took them to a restaurant. Considering that nutrient meals might not suit their palates, he personally cooked up a meal that was even more unappealing. He also served a plate of nuclear batteries to the Yin Yang Heaven Seal, leaving it utterly befuddled.
When Jiang Li politely tasted the food, he was grateful that he had cultivated the art of Fasting.
“As I said earlier, my name is President No. 506. I’m the 506th president. Our careers are determined by our genes before our birth. We differentiate each other by a combination of our careers and a number. I’m an exception; I didn’t like the name ‘President No. 506’, so decided to give myself a name.”
Ming Zhong answered seriously: “Because we want to survive.”
“Does having emotions mean you can’t survive?” The Yin Yang Heaven Seal found this reasoning bizarre; all beings in Jiuzhou had emotions, and he hadn’t seen anyone die as a result of having them.
“I note that the two of you merely flew around our human territory and didn’t venture to the other end?”
“There are no humans on the other side of the continent?”
Ming Zhong activated his holographic screen again, displaying hundreds of bizarre creatures. Some had wolf heads and deer bodies, others resembled rhinoceroses but had eight eyes, while enormous snakes coiled around bolts of lightning. “These are the things that live on the other side of the continent. We call them ferocious beasts.”
“Currently, more than half of the continent is overrun by these beasts. Humans only inhabit a small part of it, and our territory is gradually shrinking.”
“In the beginning, these beasts weren’t too strong. We held our own against them by using missiles. We thought as long as our technology advanced a step further, and our weapons became more powerful, we would eventually eliminate the beasts.”
“But we were too optimistic. Our technology indeed advanced, but the beasts evolved quicker than us! In the end, even after using thousands of nuclear bombs, we still found our efforts futile in the face of these beasts!”
Jiang Li thought these “beasts” may be the equivalent of magical beasts in this world, and their cultivation speed was extremely fast.
“If things continue like this, mankind will ultimately be devoured by the beasts.”
“We believe that technological advancements are an outcome of continuous accumulation. Pursuing immediate results alone is not enough. Hence, we decided to let several generations live without feelings, focusing all their energies on the accumulation of knowledge. The next generation will be born with emotions, using the accumulated knowledge of their predecessors, such as miscellaneous scientific experiments, films, novels, TV dramas, etc., to drive scientific advancements. You can’t simply rely on technology to develop technology because it’s a slow process. Entertainment often contributes to technological inspiration.”
“During the era of accumulation, a president with emotions will be chosen.
During the era of utilization, a president without emotions will be chosen.”
“We saw rapid technological advancements under this strategy, leading to inventions like Mecha, Light Brain, Solar Bullets, and the Annihilation Cannon among many others.”
“As you can see, we are in the age of accumulation.” Ming Zhong said these words with a proud glint in his eyes, but his expression promptly turned powerless, his tone desolate.
“However, despite our rapid development, we can’t catch up with the evolution speed of the beasts. Our defense line recedes every year.” Ming Zhong’s lamented, with a touch of despair, “They evolve too fast.”
“In reality, everyone knows that at this rate, humans will go extinct. But if we do not do this, our extinction will come even sooner.”
“Can you… can you save us?” Ming Zhong pleaded.
“Why don’t you leave the continent and fly to other planets?” Jiang Li asked. Judging from the technological level of this world, they were fully capable of migrating to other planets. Issues like day and night temperature differences of a thousand degrees or kilometers-high sandstorms could be overcome.
Ming Zhong froze, then asked in return, “Didn’t you know? The further away from the continent, the stronger the gravitational pull. How can one possibly fly out?”
On hearing Ming Zhong’s words, Jiang Li came outside the restaurant and leaped into the air. He hadn’t noticed the increase in gravitational pull when he and the Yin Yang Heaven Seal were flying low earlier. But, as he jumped higher, he indeed felt an increasing gravitational pull. At its strongest, even a Tribulation Crossing Cultivator couldn’t resist that force with his physical body alone. It was only when he was ten million meters high in the sky that the
gravity tmallY disappeared.
“So, it is indeed not easy to fly out.” Jiang Li landed.
Ming Zhong watched, utterly gobsmacked..