Chapter 2480: Have You Ever Heard of “Witchcraft”?
“The bottom line is, let’s forget for now how Fellow Cultivator Long and I came to the Imperium, why I joined the reformists and worked for Queen Li Linghai, or the details like why I am wearing a battle robe that is in exactly the same style as Boss Bai’s—”
Deep inside the Blue Sky Market, in the secret office that belonged to Zuo Tianying in the beginning, Li Yao spoke to Boss Bai and the Fist King passionately, “The most important thing is—listen up, the most important thing is that Blackstar the Great is back to life! He is now residing inside Queen Li Linghai’s body! Right now, they have occupied the entire capital, and the great scheme they’re up to inside the capital may eventually turn the center of the cosmos upside down!”
Boss Bai listened expressionlessly. His eyebrows did not shake at all even when he heard the news that Blackstar the Great had been revived. In the end, he simply said casually, “Okay.”
“Okay?”
His eyes popping out, Li Yao looked at Boss Bai in disbelief. “Hey, hey, hey, Boss Bai, what’s your reaction? I’m serious and not kidding. Wuying Qi, Blackstar the Great and the ancestor of the Immortal Cultivators, has been revived and may resume his peak combat ability anytime! Why are you not surprised at all?”
“There’s nothing to be surprised at.”
Boss Bai looked at Li Yao and said, “Since ‘Vulture Li Yao’ was involved, it was only natural that infinite schemes and trouble were caused. It appears to me that ‘revival of Blackstar the Great’ is already the slightest damage that you can possibly cause, isn’t it? To be honest, I’m already grateful since you haven’t triggered the super events such as ‘revival of the Mad Armageddon’.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Li Yao felt wronged. “It’s not like I brought Wuying Qi back to life…”
“I’m more interested in the two kids here than in the revival of Blackstar the Great.”
Interrupting Li Yao’s self-defense, Boss Bai turned to Xiaoming and Wenwen curiously and grinned at the kids as a greeting.
Boss Bai jumped to the center of the cosmos immediately after the battle to resist the Black Wind Fleet in the federation without any delay. So, although he had heard Long Yangjun’s name before, he did not know that Long Yangjun activated the Nuwa warship in the Ancient Sages Sector, looted an escape capsule, and broke all the defenses before she escaped.
He was unaware of Long Yangjun’s real identity yet, although he could tell that Long Yangjun was certainly not a regular Divinity Transformation Stage expert. However, the people qualified to team up with such a monster as Li Yao could only be other monsters. It was not something to be surprised at.
On the other hand, Boss Bai, as a fleet commander, keenly perceived Xiaoming and Wenwen’s corruption and sabotage on the Flying Rainbow Fleet’s battle network a while ago. Plus with their looks that were greatly similar to Li Yao and Ding Lingdang, he couldn’t help but grow curious about them.
“Well, their origins are rather sophisticated and can’t be explained in a few words. I can tell you, but you’d better be prepared.”
Now that Li Yao had brought Xiaoming and Wenwen to the public, he did not intend to conceal their identities. Strengthening the fleet required the cooperation of Boss Bai too. So, he summoned his courage and said, “They are my children, but it is also not wrong to say that they are the descendants of mankind and the children of the Grand-Unified Spiritual Nexus. They are brand-new lives that originated from artificial intelligence but surpassed artificial intelligence…”
“Okay.”
Boss Bai interrupted Li Yao again. “Got it now. They are lives that are similar to the Fist King.”
“Huh?”
This time, it was Li Yao who was dumbfounded. He had imagined Boss Bai’s ten thousand possible reactions to the matter, including fury, confusion, rejection, hate… But he never expected Boss Bai to be so calm. Besides, Boss Bai had learned about the Fist King’s essence? Those two guys seemed to be too close to each other!
“Another ‘okay’?”
Li Yao found it hard to believe. “Boss Bai, can’t you stop being so cool? That’s too calm a reaction, so calm that it makes me wonder if you understood what I said at all!”
“Of course I did, but there is no need to be surprised at anything that happens around you however strange it is. I’m already prepared for everything.”
Boss Bai extended three fingers and said, “Even if they are… super artificial intelligence, so what? Firstly, you know where I was born and raised. In my long and complicated life, I’ve seen the evilest, ugliest, sleaziest, and most terrible people of my own kind. I may even be one of such people myself. Human beings can reach the extremity of evil on their own. Even if there are other lives and civilizations in the universe, I don’t think they can be more evil and horrible than mankind.
“Secondly, before you came, I had just communicated with the Fist King in depth and learned about his essence. Lives are never isolated but always grow exponentially.
“Although Professor Mo Xuan said that no real life of artificial intelligence could be born in the next few hundred years according to regular development, I always found him too conservative and childish. ‘Life’ is never something that is born after regular development; life is the inevitable collision of countless coincidences and will grow out of the most unbelievable and unimaginable gaps despite all the difficulties.
“Since the Fist King already exists, it means that such gaps are out there. What’s to be surprised at now that new super artificial intelligence has shown up?
“Thirdly, and most importantly, I know what’s on your mind. You are concerned that the new super artificial intelligence and the civilization of mankind will repeat the tragedy in the primeval age hundreds of thousands of years ago and be hostile to each other like the Pangu civilization and mankind were.
“I do not deny such a possibility. However, when a vaster world and a darker threat are gradually revealing themselves from the outside, the minor conflicts within our three thousand Sectors, be they the ones between Pangu and mankind or those between mankind and the super artificial intelligence, are nothing worth mentioning at all. I already showed you enough respect by saying ‘okay’.”
“Boss Bai, what are you talking about?”
Li Yao was completely confused. “What do you mean by ‘a vaster world’? What does ‘a darker threat’ refer to?”
“The Flood.”
Boss Bai said, “I have named the mysterious force that is likely to exist beyond the three thousand Sectors and capable of destroying all civilizations as ‘Flood’, which will rage and sweep across the entire three-dimensional universe, leading to the greatest catastrophe and the end of everything.
“Where should I begin? Let’s talk about ‘wizardly civilization’. Li Yao, do you know ‘witchcraft’?”
“Witchcraft?”
Li Yao repeated the word in a daze. He suddenly shuddered hard, his pupils constricted to the minimum.
Deep inside his eyes, countless bubbles the size of needle tips were popping up!
Those bubbles crawled into the depths of his brain and blew the gate on his soul brutally like the most powerful bombs!
Information—more information from Earth, which was mottled, intangible, and broken, spurted out of the gate of his soul, making him recall the incidents from Earth in a trance.
Witchcraft!
He had heard the word before, from Earth. Where was it exactly? Where?
He remembered clearly that Earth was a technological world, and that there shouldn’t have been any witchcraft, but he had no doubt that he had heard the word before. Where was it?
Got it!
Back on Earth, he had once seen a movie—”Harry Lotter and the Sorcerer’s Sword”, in which witchcraft was mentioned!
What was “Harry Lotter” exactly? Memories, memories, memories. Reorganized, condensed, analyzed, and combined. Tracing back to the origins and reaching the core. Found it!
“Harry Lotter” was a series of fictions created by J. K. Mowling, a UK female writer. It was about a boy named Harry Lotter who accidentally learned the existence of a school that taught witchcraft and who was involved in the bizarre, spectacular adventures in the magic world. It was made of quite a few independent but related books, such as “Harry Lotter and the Ball of Fire”, “Harry Lotter and the Phantom Island”, “Harry Lotter and the Dragon Curse”, etc. The fictions themselves and the movies and games they were adapted to were all a hit. It was one of the most popular fictional series on Earth!
Witchcraft was fake and nonexistent, but through the ability of “fantasizing”, the earthlings were able to create a vivid world of witchcraft with their imagination!
A UK female writer… UK, what was UK exactly? Come on, where were the memories?
Ah, got it! UK—the abbreviation of the United Kingdom of Enkland and Boton!
The United Kingdom of Enkland and Boton was an island country at the north of “Europena”, an ancient but developed continent on Earth in Li Yao’s previous life. Although it was remote and small, it had once created an unstoppable fleet and become a country that dominated the entire Earth, known as the empire where the sun never set.
The fictional concepts such as “witchcraft” were promulgated to the entire Earth because of the dominating culture of the empire where the sun never set, becoming common sense for everyone.
Many people did not even consider it as a fictional concept but believed that witchcraft, or even the world that J. K. Mowling described, existed in reality!
Witchcraft, UK, Europena, Earth!
Countless memory pieces danced crazily deep inside Li Yao’s brain, making him cramp and roll his eyes crazily. Hissing sounds were echoing from his throat too.
Everybody was rather shocked by his sudden reaction.
When Boss Bai asked if he had ever heard of “witchcraft”, it was merely a casual question. He did not expect Li Yao to really know the answer.
But out of his expectation, Li Yao’s reaction was so intense that it almost seemed that the word “witchcraft” triggered a certain seal deep inside his brain, allowing a certain weird but powerful force to flood out.
Boss Bai said in a hurry, “Are you alright, Li Yao?”
“I-I’m fine.”
Li Yao’s voice sounded from a place far, far away. He gagged for a while before he said in a trance, “I-I think I heard the term ‘witchcraft’ before.”