Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“That’s just my speculation. After all, I can’t scan all the surveillance cameras and chips nearby because I’m too insensitive in your body. If I were here in person, I would’ve known everything instantly.”

Li Yao said carefully, “However, I suspect that your monitor and your deputy monitor are ‘special targets’. Just now, I observed quite a few classes, and I noticed that the monitors and deputy monitors of all the classes are all different from other students.

“Take your deputy monitor, Liao Meng, for example. He is rash and reckless, and he can be as emotional as fire. However, there seems to be a high wall in the head of your monitor, Chu Zhiyun. Even when she has strong feelings, outsiders might not be able to notice anything at all.

“It might only be a coincidence that two kids with special features were appointed as a monitor and a deputy monitor, but something must be wrong when all the classes are the same.

“Therefore, I suspect that people like your monitor and your deputy monitor are ‘special experiment subjects’ that were carefully selected, and they must be watched over ten times more rigorously than common students like you are. Do you really think what you did in the supermarket could’ve avoided the big guys’ attention?”

“That explains a lot…”

Tang Ka was greatly enlightened.

“Of course it does. That’s why I asked if you did anything outrageous with your monitor in the supermarket!”

Li Yao said angrily, “I was only trying to find out if they would upgrade their surveillance measures when you crossed the line. Did you really think I was an old pervert who liked prying into the privacies of young people?”

“Sorry, Grandpa Yao, I wronged you.”

Blushing, Tang Ka said in a low voice, “Those people asked the people who were either unstable or seclusive to lead us, and they gave up so many temptations, but why?”

“It’s more than temptations.”

Li Yao said coldly, “They intentionally released the message that you could change your fate if you escaped, and they encouraged you to turn each other in so that you would be wary of each other. Just look. Someone will definitely flee in a day or two.

“It doesn’t matter what their purpose is. What matters is that, when a germ experiment is over, every petri dish will be completely cleansed and even destroyed no matter how it looks.”

Tang Ka fell silent again.

“Does that mean I can never become a Purger?” said the boy gloomily.

“That’s not necessarily true. Don’t be so depressed.”

Li Yao tried to comfort Tang Ka. “As I told you yesterday, the real Purgers do not need independent self-will and keen senses. All they need to do is to complete their jobs according to the list of dangerous items.

“So, chances are that when the ultimate test is over, you will be sent to a holy temple where your memories and your feelings will be wiped out, and you can still become a glorious Purger after you turn into a machine of flesh and blood. Don’t lose your hope yet!”

“… Is that consolation?”

The boy was almost crying. “I don’t want that. I don’t want to lose my thoughts, my feelings, and my memories. I don’t want to forget my monitor and myself in the past decade.”

“Even if it’s an order from the gods?”

Li Yao intentionally asked, “Aren’t you always most faithful? If this is your destiny that the gods give you, will you still refuse and even resist it?”

Tang Ka was silent for a long time, and tides were surging in his head.

“But…”

The boy thought for a long time and finally gritted his teeth. “Who can say for sure that it’s the destiny that the gods give me? Even if the Ultimate Benevolence Masters tell me that, who can guarantee that everything that the Ultimate Benevolence Masters is true? I… I don’t believe it!”

“Very well. It seems that you’re finally awakened.”

Li Yao said in comfort, “Then, you should try to change your destiny and prove that you can be a bigger man!”

“Help me, Grandpa Yao.”

Clenching his fists determinedly, Tang Ka declared, with the tides in his head gathering into sharp blades, “I… I need power. I need to know the truth!”

“I would love to help you, but I need more preparations and information.”

Li Yao sighed and said, “Supposedly, you were only a platform for me, and I was only hoping to find your director or the commander of the purge troop through you. But now that you’re asking for my help, I do not know how neat our cooperation can be and what power we can unleash since I’m only here as a projection and not in person.”

“That’s alright. You can develop and utilize my body however you want.”

Tang Ka gritted his teeth. “I can hold it back. I only want to know the truth!”

“It’s not a matter of tolerance.”

Pondering for a moment, Li Yao said, “It’s true that if I develop your every nerve and every brain cell, the synchronization rate between my soul and your body can be above 99%, and I would be able to perform destructive techniques as if I were here in person.

“However, your body is too weak, and I’m too far away from your place, and the most likely outcome is that you would die three minutes after we go on a killing spree, and I would end up as a shattered ghost that is going to be torn apart by the solar storms.”

“Well…”

Tang Ka did not expect such dire consequences.

“Of course, that is the worst-case scenario. I don’t think I would be so unlucky…”

Li Yao’s soul stretched out in the young man’s neural network again like an octopus, helping him dredge his nerves and his veins. Scarlet air popped up from his acupoints before it flowed into the back of his head. “In any case, I’ll help you with your training and try to strengthen your body as soon as possible!”

The following days were exactly as Li Yao described. Everybody was caught in a weird and panicking atmosphere.

As the purging work went deeper, the students were separated more and more often. Sometimes, they had to purge a plaza or a street alone while facing all the bizarre temptations.

The students were more and more abnormal. Some were getting impetuous and fighting their fellow students against the Path of Ultimate Benevolence now and then, and some became more and more taciturn, often staring at the horizon that was in the direction of the unoccupied area.

Although the defectors who ran at the beginning were caught, the rumors about them did not stop.

Someone said that a lot more kids had escaped, but fearing that a massive escape would take place, the commanders only asked the purge troop to search for them. As a result, some kids really fled into the unoccupied area.

Someone said that a guerrilla troop was active not far away from New Joy City and was ready to pick up the kids. They would be safe as long as they ran to the unoccupied area.

Someone also said that the guerrilla troop controlled an enormous underground warehouse that could sustain them for a couple of years.

Nobody knew who started those rumors, but it was true that the students had fewer and fewer partners. Some of them were banished because of their emotional turmoils, some were whipped and sent to holy temples after violating the Path of Ultimate Benevolence, and some uncannily went missing after a night of sleep. Even their beds were cleaned up, as if they had never existed in the first place.

The remaining students were getting more and more panicked. They were all hoping to report other people so that they could be rewarded by the academy.

However, that state of mind made it even less possible for them to control their feelings. They were like a bunch of injured and hungry dogs that were biting each other.

When everybody sank into the abyss, Chu Zhiyun and Tang Ka actually became abnormal.

Tang Ka followed Li Yao to train himself without being distracted. As his nerves and muscles were built up, it was easier for Li Yao to control his body.

On the other hand, he paid special attention to the terrain of New Joy City. He even built an imaginary map in his head, which contained the tiniest details of the town.

Chu Zhiyun, on the other hand, had been learning how to be a vigorous person under the excuse of cleansing the supermarket.

They had watched plenty of TV series and movies from the Imperium in the past days, and they dressed up and copied the classic parts in those shows.

The smile on Chu Zhiyun’s face was becoming purer and more natural, and she imitated how the Imperium people talked and acted vividly. She was probably really talented as a Lurker. After only several days, nobody could tell that she was a girl from the Covenant Alliance anymore.

Even Tang Ka and Li Yao did not know whether Chu Zhiyun was merely playing a role, or if she had awakened her real self in this treacherous “ultimate test”.