Chapter Ninety-Four: What Plan?

Chapter Ninety-Four: What Plan?

After Pan Zhen left, Rouge thought for a long time. She turned over countless possibilities and began to wonder whether she had learned something she was never meant to know.

The Earth had been divided up by the gods. What would become of its future? Where was humanity on Earth supposed to go? Was there a better way to fight for Earth’s rights, for the right of humankind to survive?

That night, Rouge did not sleep at all. Her brow remained tightly furrowed, and her eyes were filled with an inescapable gloom.

Far away in Heavenly City, the two angel queens also learned, for reasons unknown, of the meeting of divine authority.

"Old Tomboy, there wasn’t any divine council for us angels. What do you think?" Hexi asked with a teacup in hand, smiling at Kaisha across from her.

"I’m just a retired old angel now. What does a divine council have to do with me? Let the current queen worry about it," Kaisha said indifferently, unlike her usual self. She knew exactly what Hexi wanted to see, but she was unmoved.

"Really retired?" Hexi asked again, still a little doubtful.

"Really." Kaisha nodded.

"Then come stay with me. We’re not in Merlot anymore, and there isn’t even a sunset here." Hexi’s tone became slightly excited.

"And my sacred body?"

"No problem. I’ll move it over for you." Hexi set down her cup and took Kaisha’s hand at once.

"Welcome to my star 520." With her back to Kaisha as the latter stepped out through the heavenly gate, Hexi spoke as if making some kind of proclamation of thanks.

"The scenery on Wulin Star is truly beautiful. I’m almost regretting having been the Angel King for so long." Kaisha gazed at the distant mountains, the birds in flight, the rivers, and her expression gradually emptied as a trace of envy surfaced in her voice.

"No, no, no. It’s 520, not Wulin." Hexi turned around and wagged a finger.

"520? The number 520?" Kaisha said with surprise.

"Yes. To welcome our retired Angel King, I, Heavenly King Hexi, specially renamed Wulin to 520. How about it? Do you like it?" Hexi’s tone, once high and bright, slowly turned expectant.

"You..." Kaisha did not quite know what to say. She knew what that number represented.

She felt sisterly affection for Hexi, and she felt the bond of comrades in arms as well. But turning those feelings into love was truly not easy.

Watching Hexi tug her along and fly ahead, Kaisha was suddenly reminded of a child, a child she had once led by the hand through the air.

Just as her thoughts drifted and she slipped into memory, a clear female voice abruptly cut them off.

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you thinking about? We’re here." Hexi looked at Kaisha, whose eyes had gone unfocused at a glance, and immediately understood she had drifted off. She waved her right hand in front of Kaisha’s face.

"Hm? Oh. Ah! We got here this fast?" Kaisha, pulled back from her reverie, blurted out.

Those three sounds of "ah" carried three layers of meaning. The first was surprise at who had spoken. The second was dawning awareness. The third was surprise that they had already arrived.

Earth, the Seventh Skyblade.

Yun Yang had just changed clothes and was now devouring a bag of potato chips like mad, with a pile of trash bags on the ground beside him.

Anyone could tell he had been eating for quite a while.

Indeed, Yun Yang had already finished seven or eight bags of chips. After more than three months without eating anything, he could not help thinking, man, why are potato chips so delicious? I have never eaten anything this good in my life. He nearly cried as he thought it.

After eating his fill, Yun Yang rubbed his stomach, which still showed no sign of bulging, then slipped into the dark plane to check the data after his upgrade.

He discovered that not only had his body been strengthened, but his quantum field seemed to have undergone a major enhancement as well.

He could now induce quantum-state collapse by marking an object. The collapse, however, required time. The greater the mass of the object, the longer the collapse would take, roughly like the after-cast delay of a skill.

For living beings, however, he would first have to analyze them, and only after analysis could he cause the collapse, which was more like a skill’s wind-up time.

In other words, Yun Yang seemed to have gained another attack ability. Though it was not instant, it had the advantage of being silent and unseen.

For example, if he marked a star and then induced its destruction, that star would undergo a period of probabilistic collapse. During that time, the star would change toward the worst possible outcome.

There was a high probability that the hydrogen within the star would be consumed at extreme speed, leading to a helium flash, or perhaps a supernova explosion and collapse into a black hole.

The above outcomes would be the star’s own evolutionary result. If Yun Yang injected energy and exerted control, however, he could accelerate the process or steer the result toward a particular outcome.

The energy consumption for that would be enormous, of course. Unless necessary, Yun Yang felt he would not use it.

For living beings, it was another matter entirely.

After linking and analyzing a target, he could directly induce destruction and, according to his will, inject energy to collapse a certain probability.

For example, if he wanted a marked person’s genes to collapse, as long as he collapsed the probability of genetic breakdown to one hundred percent, this absurd ability would activate and cause the enemy’s genes to collapse instantly.

But the energy required would certainly be far greater than simply killing that person outright.

In Yun Yang’s view, using this ability against people would be like using anti-aircraft guns to swat mosquitoes—more trouble than it was worth.

By the same token, the ability could also be used to improve the state of certain things, though the energy cost would still be immense.

Just as Yun Yang was considering whether to test his new power, an encrypted message suddenly arrived in the dark plane.

When he saw it was Rouge, he answered at once.

"Rouge, miss me?"

But Rouge did not say what Yun Yang had expected. Instead, she told him to bring Ge Xiaolun and Liu Chuang with him to the old site of the Super God Academy to find her. Then, before Yun Yang could speak, she hung up.

This left Yun Yang somewhat at a loss. He could only call the other two and teleport to the coordinates Rouge had given.

When they arrived at the Super God Academy, decay was everywhere. Wild grass and vines had grown over everything.

Yun Yang looked around and spotted a pavilion. Rouge was sitting inside it, methodically plucking at the leaves of a vine.

He spread his wings and flew over, putting an arm around Rouge’s shoulder.

"What are you brooding over? You’ve gone and plucked the leaves bare."

Rouge looked up at him, felt his chest against hers, and suddenly her nose stung. Tears streamed down her face as she threw herself into Yun Yang’s arms.

"I... I’m very lost. I witnessed the gods divide up the Earth. I have worked so hard to fight for the interests of us Earthlings, for the interests and voice of the Hero Company, but they have never once put us in their eyes. I don’t know where Earth should go from here."

At that moment, Ge Xiaolun and Liu Chuang also came over and stood outside the pavilion, looking in at the two of them with some embarrassment.

Perhaps sensing their arrival, Rouge wiped her tears on Yun Yang’s clothes and motioned for the two outside to come in.

"Sit down. I’ve been rather unseemly, but something has happened these past few days, and I think we need to talk."

"It’s only been how long since we last saw you, and you’re already crying?" Ge Xiaolun teased her, seeing the tears still in the corners of Rouge’s eyes.

"You two sit down first and listen to what Rouge has to say." Yun Yang sharply sensed that today’s matter was not simple and frowned at them.

Once everyone was seated, Rouge began to recount yesterday’s meeting of divine authority, emphasizing in particular Pan Zhen’s view of Earth’s future.

After listening, all three felt a suffocating frustration. A so-called council dividing up Earth’s interests had not included a single god of Earth. Rouge had, at the time, been counted as part of the demon camp.

"This really is the height of absurdity," Yun Yang said with a faint smile.

"Damned it," Liu Chuang swore, punching one of the pavilion’s pillars.

"My power as the Light of the Galaxy will leave them very disappointed!" Ge Xiaolun seemed to have made up his mind. He struck his own thigh and declared loudly.

"This isn’t something you can just say. We’re all too young—so young that those great gods wouldn’t listen to a word we said," Rouge said quietly, glancing at Ge Xiaolun.

"If they dare come, we just beat them back, don’t we?" Ge Xiaolun said unwillingly.

"You... forget it. Even if I told you, you wouldn’t understand. I have a plan." Rouge sounded a little deflated.

"What plan?" Yun Yang said. The meeting of divine authority was not what concerned him most. Rouge was.

"I want to control the demons. That way, Earth’s future can be planned by us Earthlings ourselves." Rouge replied with a hint of longing.

"And what happened to the old saying about serving one’s captors in body but not in heart?" Yun Yang stepped forward and touched her forehead. She didn’t have a fever, so why was she talking nonsense?

"Isn’t it the same?" Rouge said, dodging his hand.

"How could it be the same? How exactly do you plan to control the demons?" Yun Yang was helpless. How could this girl go from sensible to foolish so suddenly?

"Hold on, hold on. Didn’t we agree to play along while keeping our true hearts elsewhere? Rouge, have you been brainwashed?" Ge Xiaolun felt that something was wrong and hurriedly stopped her.

"Exactly. Rouge, we can’t forget the blood feud between our homeland and our family," Liu Chuang also reminded her.

"No, I haven’t been brainwashed, and I haven’t forgotten. But Earth is truly in danger. I’m doing this so I can better protect Earth," Rouge said painfully.

Seeing Rouge crouched on the ground in distress, Yun Yang could not help but step forward, pull her into his arms, and gently pat her back.

"Me, you, Xiaolun, and Chuangzi—we’ll all be gods in the future. Who would still dare touch Earth? There’s no need for this."

"Let me try. Let me try, all right? What if it works?" Rouge stood up again and placed her hands on Yun Yang’s shoulders.

"Then how are we supposed to kill demons in the future? How are we supposed to avenge our fallen comrades?" Liu Chuang asked in a low voice.

That question left Rouge somewhat speechless. She did not know how to answer.

"The gods of the universe are beyond us. Stop thinking so much. Let’s work together to protect Earth, to protect humanity. Wouldn’t that be better?"

Ge Xiaolun sat back down, rubbed his brow, and asked quietly.