Free Web NovelChapter 1188: Chapter 187: Meaning
AIM had difficulty believing his auditory sensors: "...What?"
"Do you really think that after you’ve wasted so much of my time, energy, and spiritual power, you can just have a duplicate appear, sincerely and humbly concede and surrender, and I would just accept it happily and return you to the real world?"
Li Ang frowned slightly and said, "Wouldn’t it?"
"..."
AIM was momentarily at a loss for words, unsure of how to respond, "Is conceding and surrendering not enough?"
"Of course it’s not enough."
Li Ang said, "Without you, I could simply release the one-click hacker intrusion system I bought on the black market to cripple the missile defense systems of many countries in this world,
then slowly erode one city after another with the Pale World, minimizing the losses.
And because of your existence, I’ve incurred the following losses:
A large amount of spiritual power spent on ultra-long-distance teleportation technology;
Extensive repairs needed for multiple damaged heavy mechas;
Three bottles of potions to enhance the efficiency of spiritual power recovery;
And the exposure of my weapon of mass destruction known as World’s Evil.
All these losses are to be counted on your head."
This... Where is the logic in this world?
Fortunately, the unmanned scout drone doesn’t have the projection feature, or AIM’s expression would certainly be very unpleasant.
"Ah,"
He coughed to calm his emotions, "Mr. Li, isn’t there some misunderstanding here?
I’ve also invested energy, material resources, and finances in this battle, and used consumable items and scrolls.
Moreover, the rule in the Sky Arena is that both parties are responsible for their actions..."
Li Ang interrupted, "The defeated side pays compensation to the victorious side, signing unequal terms—isn’t that what you Americans are best at? Is there a problem?"
"..."
AIM paused at the remark, quickly calculating his losses and gains, and gently said, "If you want me to pay all the post-war compensation, I can’t comply.
Personally, I can’t represent the Supernatural Accident Place under the Federal Bureau of Investigation, besides,
Technically, I can surrender to the Sky Arena and teleport away from here..."
"If you dare to teleport away directly, I will return to the real world and launch long-range attacks on the United States of America."
Li Ang said calmly, "I have many methods for trans-horizon attacks, capable of destroying one or several city buildings before the US military can react in the real world.
Or even, wipe out 1/3 of the population.
The US military’s saturation nuclear bombardment or large-scale attacks by high-level Transcendents may force me to retreat, but can never catch up to or kill me.
And as long as I don’t die, I have plenty of energy and time to gradually erase the name of America from the map.
Under such circumstances, the only plan for the Federal Bureau of Investigation is to proactively assist me in capturing you.
Balancing the pros and cons, isn’t it?"
"..."
AIM’s expression vanished, and he softly said, "Are you threatening me, threatening the entire United States of America?"
"Yes."
Li Ang said lightly, "As many on the gaming forums agree, destruction is always easier than construction.
I find that, perhaps being one of the strongest players on this planet, you still lack proper reverence for me.
Maybe it’s because I’ve been too mild, too kind in the past,
to the point where you overlook the fact that I can annihilate species numbering in ’tens of thousands’ at any time."
He paused for a moment, overlooking the hints of Bugman habitats occasionally revealed in the rolling volcanic clouds below.
"In the past, I indeed didn’t want to destroy the human society I was familiar with."
Li Ang’s gaze was calm, his tone peaceful, "As the game of slaughter steadily progresses, I feel troubled,
as familiar peaceful life is gradually disturbed by abnormal events, I feel annoyed,
and when my identity is revealed, making it impossible to return to mundane trivialities, I feel... anger and resentment.
I dislike the derailment of order, hate destroying things I see as beautiful, and sometimes, I don’t even think about destroying things I dislike—
it’s like staying in your hometown for too long, even the unremovable black stain on the kitchen counter, after seeing it for so long, evokes a certain sense of nostalgia and fondness.
But.
The world has changed."
Li Ang snapped his fingers, releasing an invisible force that tore open a corner of the volcanic clouds, revealing the prosperous yet desolate city street scene in the distance.
"The universe is vast and boundless.
On this planet, the Bugman civilization, besides being fundamentally Brain-eating Worms, is indistinguishable from the real world?
They build skyscrapers, develop technology, explore alien worlds, pursue universal truths. In the future, they might conquer the Moon, establish colonies on Mars, construct kilometer-long space battleships, and plant the flag of Bugman civilization in every corner of the solar system.
Creating a magnificent civilization epic.
The only problem is, all of this happens only on a trivial temporary backdrop constructed at random by the slaughter game."
Li Ang looked at the fast-moving unmanned scout drone, "Infinite worlds, infinite futures,
in this supremely vast universe, so vast that even gods, Immortal Species, Forever Species cannot explore it,
everything is meaningless.
In the face of absolute vast prospects,
morality becomes a rope for the weak to bind the strong—within seven days, I can completely destroy America and then, on the ruins of North America, build a new America exactly like what I remember.
Even the total population of 326,766,748 of America, if I wish, I can reproduce.
I can manipulate every citizen of New America like puppets,
having billion-dollar rich men play saxophone in subway stations for one or two US dollars daily,
turning any forty-year-old, inexperienced African American woman from a slum into a super giant sought after by all fashion magazines in an instant.
Let all 326,766,748 Americans become extras in The Truman Show, performing every scene I wish to see.
Whenever I want.
Do you think,
do you, or any of you, have any significance to me now?"
"..."
Listening to Li Ang’s words, AIM’s face grew paler, not because of fear towards Li Ang’s talk of destroying America,
but because of fear towards the terrifying implication behind Li Ang’s expressed ability to rebuild America.
In the internal assessments of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and many large organizations, "Cataclysmic Expert" is indeed one of the planet’s most unstable and hardest-to-control factors.
Every Cataclysmic Expert is an independent entity, a moving, emotionally volatile humanoid nuclear bomb that each power must diligently cope with, or even fawn over.
But in terms of threat level, the rampage of Cataclysmic Experts is not as severe as the interdimensional warfare brought by the Star Gate World.
The reason is simple.
Violence, even extreme violence, is inherently meaningless.
No one cares about the explosion of a supernova millions of light-years away, even if the gamma-ray burst it emits is enough to destroy its entire stellar system.
Violence only holds significance within civilization.
Cataclysmic Experts, too, are individuals with self-thinking. They require the support of human society, needing thousands of organization employees
to collect game currency, equipment, and items produced by battlefield games for them.
However, what happens if someone steps beyond human civilization and even has the ability to independently rebuild civilization?
They would no longer need seven billion humans, would no longer care about the entirety of human civilization, surpassing the gods— even gods need mortals to sing their stories and remember their existence.
AIM gazed into Li Ang’s calm eyes. At this moment, he finally believed in the possibility of Li Ang’s words about destroying America.
If I teleport away now... I will become the catalyst for America’s downfall.
"What... exactly do you want?"
AIM asked harshly, even refraining from attempting to voice the lines he had previously rehearsed—for instance, "How similar are the Bugman civilization and human civilization! Do you have no sympathy for them, to be able to casually annihilate them?"
If the human civilization of the real world has already begun to make Li Ang lose interest,
then attempting to awaken empathy through words would only invite humiliation.
"When you used electronic information technology to control the Bugman civilization from launching nuclear missiles, resulting in the countdown ending,"
their chance of survival was personally terminated by you."
Li Ang lowered his hand, and the plant vine clock he constructed in mid-air disappeared. "Congratulations, you’ve become a civilization killer.
Now, continue your blockade of the Bugman civilization’s nuclear launch system,
and wait here."
"Wait?"
"Wait for volcanic ash to scatter farther away with the wind."
Li Ang lifted the sphere named [World’s Evil], still emitting unknown toxins,
and silently faced the distorted yet familiar face on the sphere.
————
Due to the default state of the Sky Arena’s cameras being continuously locked onto both players,
the audience in the stands only saw Li Ang and AIM silently floating above the volcanic cloud layer,
not witnessing the changes in the Bugman planet under the effects of [World’s Evil].
The only certain thing is,
ten hours later, AIM teleported away, returning to the Sky Arena in an instant, and vomited.
He frantically vomited into an iron bucket he fetched from the void, as if desperately trying to empty the contents of his intestines.
No one knew the final fate of the Bugman planet, not even AIM himself—after vomiting, under Li Ang’s supervision, he partially formatted his brain’s hard drive, washing away all memories related to the Bugman civilization,
erasing the horrifying imagery caused by [World’s Evil].
"You completed the task of blocking the Bugman civilization’s nuclear launch system well, so now we’re even."
Li Ang nodded to AIM, who lay like a dead dog at the edge of the arena, and turned towards the audience seats.
Now, hours after the match started, much of the audience had already left, but Wang Congshan and others remained there.
Seeing Li Ang approaching, Liu Wu Dai’s face remained calm, Wang Congshan’s expression was subtle, and Chaichai... Chaichai was reclining against the seat back, mouth agape, snoring.
She wore a sleep mask with red eye patterns, noise-canceling Bluetooth earplugs, and hadn’t even noticed Li Ang approaching; she continued to snore leisurely.
"Is it over?"
Wang Congshan asked nervously, "Nothing unexpected happened, right?"
"No, everything’s fine."
Li Ang smiled, lowering his gaze to Wang Congshan’s slightly clenched fingers.
Liu Wu Dai also noticed this detail, said, "I have something to do, I’ll leave you to talk," and teleported away from the Sky Arena.
"Well, um..."
After Liu Wu Dai teleported away, Li Ang and Wang Congshan spoke almost simultaneously, interrupting each other’s words.
"Ha."
The two exchanged smiles, Li Ang pointed at himself and Wang Congshan, "Do you want to speak first or should I?"
Wang Congshan waved her hand, "You go first."
"Alright."
Li Ang nodded, "Part of what I just said to AIM in the arena is true.
I realized very early on that I’m not a normal person with rich emotions, and as my life’s essence grows stranger, my perspective on humanity is gradually shifting..."
"Your perspective on humanity wasn’t quite normal before, right?"
Wang Congshan instinctively interjected and only realized afterward, she stuck out her tongue, gesturing for Li Ang to continue.
She could understand the changes in Li Ang; indeed, many employees within the Special Affairs Bureau faced similar transformations, gradually stepping out of ordinary boundaries after becoming Transcendents.
Mid-level Transcendents have thought and reaction speeds that surpass regular humans, are stronger, more agile, more intelligent, and must carefully restrain their power when dealing with mortals, to avoid harming them.
High-level Transcendents can even see the mites parasitizing every pore on a regular person’s face, smell the scent within others’ nostrils, and see through the waste-filled intestines beneath their skin,
The very essence of life differs dramatically between them, making identical thought processes impossible.
"Cough, cough, even though, the longer I stay in battlefield games, the more I feel everything is insignificant and many things are meaningless.
But certain things are different in my heart."
Li Ang said seriously, "Maybe one day, I will become a stranger to myself,
perhaps one day, I will die, and the world will remember me no more, leaving no trace of my existence.
But as long as I am alive,
I still love the sound of morning reading at the Experimental Middle School, I love the meat floss rice ball at the school gate for 5 yuan—even if it went up to 5.5 yuan,
I love the old and run-down Wanhe Residential Area, I love my previous everyday life—with you."
"Eh?!!"
Wang Congshan’s face flushed red with visible speed, her arms instinctively struck a cross-shaped pose like Ultraman. "What kind of inverted sentence is this?
Is this a confession? How cheesy?!
"Hehe, it’s also... a kind of promise."
Li Ang smiled and waved his hand.
"Ah, this, uh, um..."
Wang Congshan tried to motion with her arms in confusion, muttering, "I, I will teleport home first, see you tomorrow," and teleported away.
