Chapter 1-1
The black mist corroded YinKong’s arm in a blink of an eye. There was nothing left to one of her arms. However, on the remaining hand, she was holding onto Sauron’s broken arm tightly. The One Ring lost its vicious aura that it had when Sauron wielded the ring. The black glow was still visible, much different than the dullness it had when the Hobbit possessed it.
“God, give everyone a full…” As Zheng was going to speak the last word, he saw Xuan drew his pistol. Several shots fired at HaoTian’s head. His head busted like a watermellon. No amount of healing could save him.
Everyone was shocked. Zheng ignored his burn as he grabbed Xuan at once and roared. “You gone mad? Or controlled? Do you want me to bust your head too?”
Xuan slid the pistol back into his sleeve then calmly said. “I will explain the situation later. There’s also something I am quite interested in… Put the questions away, you should give everyone a complete heal first. The corrosion is spreading to YinKong’s heart.”
Everyone looked to YinKong. The corrosion continued moving toward her chest after taking her arm away. The clothes near her arm was gone already. Zheng was scared and dropped any attempt to reason with Xuan. He yelled to God. “Give everyone a full heal! Deduct the points from me!”
Beams shot down from God and enveloped everyone aside from HaoTian, who was totally dead from a busted head. The beams on most only lasted for an instant. While the beams on Xuan, Zheng and YinKong were more intense. The three of them floated up the beams.
The next time Zheng opened his eyes, his skin was restored. Both him and YinKong had completed the healing but Xuan was still floating. They walked out of the beams. The platform grew noisy as their women also came out.
Zheng chatted with Lori for a bit then he held her hand and sat on the floor. The group began a conversation.
Xuan’s healing took five minutes, longer than any that they had experienced. As he descended from the beam, Zheng leaped from the floor and punched him on the face before Xuan got a hold of himself. It sent him flying six meters.
Zheng rushed over and picked him up. “What did you think comrades are? Answer me! Your weights? Or chess pieces? Answer me! I admit we don’t possess your intelligence. I admit your plans acquired benefits for us. I don’t know how you did it or what you did, but I know it was all for your scheme that none of our veterans died in this five way battle with team Celestial and the others. But! Do you think we should thank you?”
Zheng did not feel that was enough and punched Xuan again on the chin. The first punch already came with a bone fracturing sound. This one basically crushed the bones of Xuan’s chin. He was not sent flying as Zheng was holding him by the collar and shouted. “We are comrades! Not robots used by your to obtain victory! Not parasites leeching on you! We fight together!” Zheng breathed heavily, pondering if he wanted to give Xuan a few more punches.
Xuan’s chin was deformed at this point but there was no sign of pain on his face. He uttered strange sounds to God. A beam landed on him again and pushed Zheng away. Ten seconds later, Xuan came out of the beam.
“I could not speak due to fractured chin. Needed to restore first.” Xuan said.
Zheng was speechless. That was when he remembered Xuan did not have a sense for pain. Beating him up would not served no purpose other than wasting points. The realization depressed him. Nothing felt more discouraging than going against Xuan. Hitting him was useless and arguing… he had no chance. For a moment, Zheng felt he didn’t know what to do.
Xuan ignored the fact of getting hit. He sat down on the floor and said. “There was intention to let you know part of the plan in the beginning. However, HaoTian brought too much uncertainty, especially since he had over 50% chance of betraying. I couldn’t know for sure if he carried an audio transmitter. If any part of my plan was leaked, Adam wouldn’t give up such a good opportunity and the chance of us being wiped would be over 70%.”
Zheng took a deep breath. “Fine. I will let them pass. Now tell me what actually happened in Lord of the Rings? Why did you feign death. Wait, you really did die and we heard the notification at the time. I have a lot of questions. Why did you have to die? How did you die? How could you continue to exist afterward? What was the point? Secondly, HaoTian was part of our team. Where could he go if he betrayed us? Wouldn’t he also die if he betrayed us? Thirdly, what was the conversation between you and team Celestial? What about team East America? Tell me all of them!”
Xuan explained the process in details slowly. It started with HaoTian’s origin. He was sent the U.S. and raised by an undercover family. Then he grew up to become a top special agent for the country. Then he formed the God and Xian Thieves with Adam. Xuan explained a few unusual actions he took after HaoTian entered the Lord of the Rings world. Such as how he quickly accepted the mission to lead Zero and the other veterans to surprise attack Isengard.
“Based on his impression of me, it was unlikely that he would cooperate without huge pressure. Furthermore, this cooperation was him acting as my subordinate. I became suspicious at the time and gave him the hypnotizing device. The hypnotizing device was also a mind controlling device. If he betrayed me, I could gain control of him. If he didn’t, the device would be used to control the Nemesis. Given his personality, he would use the device for certain once he confirmed my death. He would not let the other members gain control of the Nemesis.
I began to consider the possibility of faking death. However, there was a critical flaw. If HaoTian betrayed us, a fake death would make him become alert. He would at least know that I was suspicious of him. Gandalf also died and revived in the movie. That was why I seeked Galadriel. Her blessing bestowed the unique attribute of elves to my mind, which was preventing the mind from dissipating after death. My body died at the time but my mind remained in the body. An attempt to explain it with science is electrostatic resonance. Fluctuations in our minds cause our brains to emit electrical signals. Theoretically, information and the mind can be converted into an wavelike or electrical existence. However, the complexity of such existence cause it to rely on physical forms. If technology reaches a higher level, particles in the air can be tuned similar to electrical signals of the brain. Which meant the mind could separate from the brain and exist using the particles as carrier… This is merely my speculation. My body was indeed dead at the time but my mind remained conscious. The state could not last long and does not allow the mind to use the body nor could the mind come into contact with the outer world. That was why the leaf of Telperion was necessary.”
Zheng looked at him with surprise. “The leaf of Telperion?”
Xuan nodded. “Yes. Galadriel described it as an aggregation of higher level energy, which grants the body the energy it required. Even after the body died, one could move given the leaf of Telperion. Of course, a mind was needed to control this body. Thus, the gift you received from her was the leaf.”
Zheng interrupted him. “Wait. Why didn’t she give the gift directly to you? What if I couldn’t remember to give you the leaf?”
Xuan glanced at him and said calmly. “I made the plan with the assumption that we were being monitored. If that was the case, Galadriel giving me two gifts was abnormal. Such abnormality would mean we had lost. Therefore, that item must be given to you, the leader. Of course, I could also get the item in secret. However, how could anyone take it out and feed it to me under surveillance? Someone was bound to discover the act. Comparing the two scenarios, giving the item to you then had you feed me without knowing the plan… was the start of the plan.”