readbooksol Chapter 659 The New Era of Humanity Begins!
Chapter 659 The New Era of Humanity Begins!
Faced with Wu Wang's quick wit, Qinglong's face flashed with apology.
He said helplessly, "I'm sorry, but I underestimated them before I saw them."
"The relationship between your two closest relatives and [Zhile] is more complicated than I imagined, and even now I cannot directly separate it."
“But I can preserve their souls and selves from being swallowed up by [bliss], and even gain more benefits in the process.”
"However, they will probably have to stay in the tower for a while."
"I will take them away as [Supreme Bliss], and also try to get [Supreme Bliss] to stand on the side of humanity."
"Do you... still believe me?"
Upon hearing Qinglong's words, Wu Wang's breathing quickened slightly, but it only lasted a moment before returning to normal.
He sighed heavily and said with a sigh, "So, they won't die, right?"
He looked at the Azure Dragon and nodded solemnly.
Wu Wang slowly loosened his grip on the "People Gone, Tea Grows Cold" item, put it back in his backpack, and looked up at his second sister, who was still unconscious, muttering to himself:
"That's good... It's good that you're alive..."
He then turned his gaze back and nodded earnestly, saying, "Of course I believe you have shown me the greatness of humanity today, and I will remember this kindness."
Without Qinglong's sacrifice, I would be completely cut off from the real world now, and I wouldn't even know if I could save my second sister and eldest sister from their passing lives.
It was precisely because Wu Wang had a clear self-awareness.
He understood that he was not a great person and could not truly care about the future of humanity.
Therefore, we have even greater respect for martyrs like Qinglong.
The Xie Zhi showed Wu Wang what true justice and heroic character are, while the Azure Dragon revealed the true nature of a great sage when humanity suffered disaster.
He himself may not think that way, but his actions certainly deserve the title of saint.
This Bureau of Strange Events has some interesting aspects; it supposedly randomly refreshes hero-level units.
However, there was one thing Wu Wang didn't understand.
He asked, "But could you explain what it means to stay in the tower for a period of time? What exactly is this 'tower'?"
Qinglong did not answer immediately, but instead raised his hand and made a lifting motion towards Wu Xiaoyou.
The next second, the familiar pure white light enveloped Wu Xiaoyou, forcibly compressing the huge tree wings behind her into her body.
Finally, it carried Wu Xiaoyou into the sky and disappeared into the horizon.
He then said, “Now, they are negotiating with me as vessels of Bliss, together with all the Venerable Ones. You will soon know what the Tower is.”
"This negotiation won't take too long, or rather... we've already reached an agreement, we're just informing [Zhile]."
"A new era has begun."
No sooner had he finished speaking than a strange phenomenon occurred in the sky.
The colors that had just left the real world returned, instantly painting the sky in a strange new hue.
However, the calmness on Qinglong's face and the fact that the changes in the sky were less oppressive and destructive than before made Wu Wang and the others less nervous.
The next second, the sky transformed into nine distinct beams of light descending upon all parts of the world.
Qin Shusheng narrowed his eyes, took out a device that could observe the real world in real time, and projected the images of where these beams of light landed.
One of them fell into Chinese territory—
That's a location far away on the north slope of Mount Everest.
A towering, greyish-white pagoda descends into a mountain crevice, resembling an upside-down stalagmite extending from the earth to the sky.
The tower's form is completely unlike anything any human could build; countless gray-white threads intertwine, forming a texture that exists somewhere between organic and inorganic.
From a distance, it looks like a flattened giant bone, or a wisp of frozen smoke.
However, upon closer inspection, one will find that the surface of the tower is covered with extremely fine dents.
Those dents are not carvings, but fingerprints.
Countless fingerprints are layered all over the tower, but they all maintain the same posture—a hand reaching forward, trying to grasp something.
[Tower of Desire]
The moment anyone sees this tower, by any means, that name will appear in their mind.
The other eight beams of light also landed at the same strange locations.
The [Order Disaster Tower] that landed in the Alps looks like a precisely nested geometric structure, with countless cubes of increasing size unfolding outward from the center, each cube rotating around its central axis at the exact same angular velocity;
The Chaos Tower in the Mariana Trench of the Pacific Ocean has a constantly changing appearance. Sometimes it looks like the stem of a giant deep-sea kelp, sometimes like a flattened hexagonal prism, and sometimes like a knot made of countless tentacles, connecting the seabed and the sky.
The Tower of Pain stands slightly tilted, like a spear that has been broken and barely stuck back into the ground. It is located in the Balochistan Mountains and its surface is covered with a disturbing texture, or rather, scars, that are constantly cracking and healing.
The Tower of Ecstasy near the Polynesian Islands is made up of countless spheres of varying sizes. The color of the tower gradually changes from coral pink at the bottom to cherry blossom pink in the middle and then to a very pale pink that is almost white at the top. This gradient is also slowly moving, like the tide, and undergoes a complete cycle every once in a while.
The Tower of Eternal Calamity on the east coast of Greenland is like an infinitely tall silver mirror standing on the ice field, reflecting all the scenery and recording it eternally;
The Twisted Tower in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, is spiral-shaped, with the entire tower extending upwards from its base to the top like an excessively twisted crystal pillar reaching into the clouds;
The Tower of Hope stands on the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Madagascar. It is a burning golden pillar of flame that slowly burns and reaches the sky.
In the southern part of the Andes Mountains, a pitch-black tower of despair rises from the ground, its massive obsidian surface remaining silent and unchanged.
Nine towers.
Nine colors.
Nine dungeon passages, each bearing the mark of a revered figure, have simultaneously taken root in reality.
From that moment on, all the dungeon passages related to the Venerable disappeared from the special map in Wu Wang's backpack.
They all have found their own home.
【Ding--】
[Announcement of the S1 Season of the Spirit Disaster Game Open Beta - Supreme Evolution Version Update]
[Opening up the opportunity for players to choose their own Disaster Tower to players affected by the Disaster]
Before finding their own Disaster Tower, each player can freely go to any Disaster Tower to start the corresponding dungeon.
Once a Tower of Calamity is found, it will be rejected by other Towers of Calamity.
May everyone find their own kind of death.
[For more details, please check the Lingzai APP.]
The notification for the Spirit Disaster game also sounded at the right time.
At this moment, Wu Wang understood what the "tower" that Qinglong had mentioned was.
They are a collection of replicas containing the power of the Venerable One; they are a kind of incarnation of the Venerable One in the real world; they are a testing ground for filtering different human beliefs.
Unexpectedly, Qinglong was able to achieve this much so soon after reaching the Venerable level, and even influence the progress of the Spirit Disaster Game.
No wonder he said that even a single moment could change the future of humanity.
It's just unknown whether what he mentioned, which cannot be told to humans at present, is related to more of the "divine covenant."
Wu Wang had always had a premonition that there was some special connection between the Venerable One, the Divine Messenger, the Divine Covenant, and the Spirit Disaster Game.
This time, when the Venerable One invaded reality, no divine messenger reacted, and Wu Wang even found almost no record of divine messengers in any of the dungeons.
Where does their power come from? How can they be on the same level as the Venerable One?
This is probably due to some special reason.
If you want to know the truth, you still have to keep climbing...
Qin Shusheng gazed at the images reflected in his props.
His gaze suddenly sharpened, and he turned to look at Qinglong with a puzzled expression:
"Azure Dragon, you should know what the consequences of this will be, right?"
"I'm afraid it's not as simple as just corrupting a few people as you say!"
"All of humanity will become..."
Earlier, Qin Shusheng addressed the other party as Chen Xi, just like the witch, which was their private relationship.
Now that he refers to the other party as Azure Dragon, he is standing in the position of the acting director of the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs, analyzing and questioning the decisions of the current director.
Private matters are private matters, and public matters are public matters.
Since the Azure Dragon is about to leave the real world, Qin Shusheng, as one of those who remain, should also consider the future of humanity from his perspective.
But before he could finish speaking, Qinglong interrupted, saying:
"You will become a follower of the Venerable One, is that right?" Upon hearing this, Qin Shusheng took a deep breath and nodded, indicating, "That's right."
In his view, what difference is there between this consequence and agreeing to the original judgment?
It is still the same: all of humanity is divided up by the venerable ones to become their followers.
Seeing his doubts, Qinglong smiled and nodded, saying, "Very good, scholar. I hope you will always remain vigilant so that you can make the best judgment at any time."
"Don't worry, there's a difference between acquiring this power and becoming a true believer. Otherwise, wouldn't all my efforts have been in vain?"
"Didn't you and Shi Hui also obtain the powers of [Nullness] and [Order]? And didn't you also not become their followers?"
"The power obtained from the Tower of Calamity is also like that; it will be the purest power of law, and it will not contain the contamination of the Venerable's will."
"Humans are still human beings; the essence of the soul has not been changed."
"The superior man is not born different, but he is good at making use of things. These laws will become the tools for mankind to climb. Making full use of them and turning them into our own power is the next step that mankind should take. Those who climb to the top of the Tower of Calamity will also have the same qualifications as me to touch the level of the Venerable."
The burning intensity in Qinglong's eyes never subsided.
This is the path he paved for humanity.
On this path, humanity will not become a plaything of the venerable, but will instead transform them into quantifiable and visible goals.
As you climb the tower step by step, you will also come to understand the essence of the laws.
That was something the Azure Dragon couldn't explain to anyone in words, but he used the method of climbing the tower to encourage humans to actively explore and understand it.
"Of course, possessing these laws of power will bring people closer to the corresponding Venerable Ones, which is also unavoidable."
"But at least this belief is free. Rather than saying that the holder believes in a certain venerable one, it is more accurate to say that he or she simply believes in that law."
“I admit that some people will inevitably be tempted to completely fall into the fold of the Venerable One and willingly submit to him. Isn’t that part of the struggle?”
At this point, a hint of reluctance and emotion appeared in Qinglong's eyes.
He raised his hand, patted Qin Shusheng on the shoulder, and said with a smile, "It's up to you now."
These four words carried such a heavy weight; what patted Qin Shusheng's shoulder was not just the hand of the Azure Dragon, but also the pressure and responsibility as heavy as a mountain.
Seeing Qin Shusheng's face turn somewhat bitter, Qinglong sighed and said:
“Besides external intrusions like the Venerable One, after I leave reality, there will also be many hidden threats lurking within humanity that will be ready to strike.”
"The Xie Zhi is not yet fully grown, so please help it out, scholar. And Wu Wang..."
"Could you lend a hand to the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs?"
Since Wu Wang became a player of the Spirit Disaster, the Bureau of Strange Events has never stopped inviting him, from Baili Dao to Xie Zhi, and now from Xie Zhi to Qinglong.
This time, he wavered.
The reason Wu Wang hadn't chosen to join the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs before was not only because he was worried about his "immortality" being exposed, but also because his second sister, Wu Xiaoyou, as the embodiment of the past, would also find it difficult to integrate into such an organization.
After all, joining an organization means coming into contact with more players, and you'll be doing missions and living together.
If she were to go berserk while interacting with her comrades in the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs or while carrying out a mission, causing irreparable casualties to friendly forces, then the relationship between the siblings and the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs would likely immediately become delicate, or even hostile.
This was a scene that Wu Wang absolutely did not want to see.
Therefore, he always acted alone with his second sister. Even if the other party's power went berserk, it was impossible for them to kill him, right?
The situation now appears to have changed.
The second sister is probably unable to contact other players now that she is inside the Tower of Supreme Bliss, and her immortality has long been known to the Azure Dragon.
Wu Wang seemed to have no reason to refuse joining the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs.
Even joining now would only bring benefits in the long run, with almost no drawbacks.
The Xie Zhi's understanding of talent awakening, and Qin Shusheng's knowledge of them as the Venerable's representative, especially why the [Void] has never appeared...
These things are unlikely to be revealed to someone who isn't a member of the Bureau of Extraordinary Affairs.
Of course, this doesn't mean that I don't have a good relationship with these two people.
It's simply because of their differing stances.
Even if they have a very good relationship, they are still organized and disciplined, and it is impossible for them to reveal everything to lone wolf players.
For example, in the previous Fire Seed Project, even though Wu Wang was selected as a candidate for the Fire Seed Project, Qin Shusheng could not reveal more relevant information to him before he chose to join.
Even disregarding these advantages and disadvantages, this olive branch was still extended by Qinglong.
Whether it was due to the other party's martyr-like great feat, or because they managed to salvage a situation they were powerless to change, they successfully saved their eldest and second eldest sisters from being devoured by [Supreme Bliss].
He couldn't refuse his request.
"Since the great Azure Dragon has extended an invitation, it seems I have no choice but to accept it."
"Okay, I promise you."
"After you leave, I will work with Qin Shusheng and Xie Zhi to help the Bureau of Strange Affairs stabilize the situation."
Wu Wang shrugged and said.
Then, somewhat curiously, he asked, "Could you also answer a question for me—how did you 'convince' the Venerables to send down the [Calamity Tower]?"
Wu Wang was well aware that the existence of the [Calamity Tower] was also an opportunity for the Venerables, and they certainly couldn't completely ignore the players who entered the tower's dungeon.
Theoretically, the appearance of the [Disaster Tower] is also reasonable.
However, these arrogant beings were just humiliated by the human Azure Dragon, so how could they have reached a consensus and chosen to forgive each other so quickly?
Wu Wang felt it was a bit unrealistic.
At least, the [Lord of Desire] he knew wasn't this magnanimous; this one was even more petty-minded.
As the god of amusement, how could He just swallow his disappointment?
In response, Qinglong raised an eyebrow and said, "It's very simple. I just told them—whoever opposes me, I will perish with them and help their opponent completely destroy them."
Qin Shusheng: "..."
Ash Witch: "..."
To be honest, as a group of venerable ones who personally witnessed the Azure Dragon's fearless charge against the established laws in its human form...
They truly saw the other's madness and resolve.
It is also clear that Qinglong's words were not a threat, but simply an objective statement of fact.
He really dares to do it, and he really will!
Moreover, each Venerable One is constrained by their opposite, and no one would truly help another Venerable One deal with their opposite.
At this stage, the Azure Dragon has no opposing side.
A truly free man who has reached the level of a venerable one.
He's like a suicide truck that suddenly appears; if he doesn't like someone, he can literally take them down with him.
From the Venerable One's perspective, the difference between the Azure Dragon now and a time bomb is probably that—it is unpredictable.
There was no forgiveness, no compromise.
They were truly out of ideas...
Wu Wang didn't show any helplessness. Instead, a glint flashed in his eyes, and he suddenly realized that he and Qinglong had a lot in common.
He revealed that long-lost sly smile and sighed:
"It seems we all have no choice but to climb the tower. Only by standing at the top can we see true freedom."
"Following the Age of Exploration, the Age of Tower Climbing has arrived, it is said."
"If I climb to the top of the tower, or at some point, will I be able to see them?"
The people Wu Wang was referring to were naturally Wu Xiaoyou and Wu Qing.
Qinglong nodded solemnly in response.
"It definitely will."
"The faster you climb the tower, the greater the chance they will regain their freedom. The power of the Disaster Tower is far more than what was just announced; you will have to experience it for yourself."
"Until then, I will protect your loved ones, just as I promised." (End of Chapter)