"Wuying Qi is truly crazy!"
Li Yao also mumbled, "Today is different from the past. The crust of the capital planet changed drastically ten thousand years ago and is now in a man-made unstable state. If he makes things worse, it is very possible that the whole continent will sink into the ocean, and the bottom of the ocean will rise by hundreds of meters and become a new continent.
"It remains to be seen whether or not the residents living in the cities on the surface can survive such a drastic change on the surface of a planet. At the very least, the billions of residents living below the ground, including those in the Great Iron Plants, will certainly die an unnatural death. Can Wuying Qi really do that?"
"Of course he can."
Li Jialing gnashed his teeth. "With Lei Chenghu's cruelty as an Immortal Cultivator, the casualties of three to five hundred million people will certainly be considered an 'acceptable price' or even a 'necessary sacrifice'. It's not a big deal at all. However, Wuying Qi does not dare to tell Lei Chenghu the truth. It is obvious that the number of people who are destined to die in his plan will be far more than three to five hundred million, if not more than ten billion!"
Such an appalling number silenced all three of them.
The regular quakes that happened every now and then in the underground crevices gave them the extreme fear that the rocks were about to close and bury them at any moment.
Thankfully, whenever the intense quakes happened, they did not need to worry that Wuying Qi's alarm magical equipment would detect them. Li Yao was able to move forward boldly with the drill of mystic rays. His speed was much higher than before. After only a couple of hours, they reached the spacious and flat tunnel that they visited last time.
Up ahead was the tunnel. Judging from the sound, heavy trucks were rumbling past now and then. Li Yao and his companions lurked in the corners of the crevices and released a few crystal cameras the size of flies to explore.
A few crystal cameras flew out of the crevices without a sound and happened to see an overwhelming team that stretched from one end of the tunnel to the other. It was impossible to see the head and the tail of the team clearly.
Most of the vehicles that made up the team were super heavy trucks with a capacity of more than a hundred tons. They looked like moving hills.
The back of the truck was covered with tarpaulins. Judging from the tracks that were deeply embedded in the ground, they were all fully loaded and had been running for a long time, leaving clear impressions on the ground.
Li Yao held his breath and released his telepathic thoughts, controlling a few crystal cameras to crawl into the gaps of the tarpaulin.
"It's crystal stones. So many high-purity top-grade crystal stones?"
Li Yao was slightly dazed by the picture sent back by the crystal camera.
Under the seemingly ordinary tarpaulin were carriages of colorful, high-purity crystals. They had all been refined repeatedly and could be directly absorbed by the cultivators without any problem.
Li Yao even found quite a few marrow crystals, which were all priceless treasures!
It was obvious that both the crystals and the marrow crystals came from various sources. They had been packed in a hurry. Many of the crystals were not stored in standard storage boxes but simply scattered in the open.
In such a way, not only would the quality of the crystals be affected, which could lead to combustion or even explosion, but tremendous radiation could also be released, which would hurt the carriers.
Also, Li Yao felt that several of the crystals had been polished in a very weird way. They had all been polished into octagonal shapes that looked like shuttles, with almost a hundred attack rune arrays carved on the surface.
Li Yao thought for a long time. What kind of purpose would the crystals be polished into such a shape and carved with so many attack rune arrays?
Three minutes later, it finally occurred to him that the high-purity crystals should be used to power the large anti-air bases and empty the ammunition for the crystal cannons or the mystic ray cannons!
Since the capital planet was the capital, it naturally boasted a perfect defense network and anti-air facilities. The entire planet was densely packed with anti-air cannons that were aimed at space. It was almost like an enormous iron hedgehog.
The various types of crystals and ammunition stored in the Imperial Capital were naturally astronomical in number, and they were innumerable.
But right now, Wuying Qi had unloaded the crystals and even marrow crystals that powered the anti-air bases and shipped them to the underground world.
Manipulating the crystal cameras, Li Yao selected a few trucks randomly and crawled into them. The result was the same. A lot of crystals used in the anti-air positions and even on the starships had been dismantled and shipped to the underground world.
"What's the meaning of this?"
Li Yao blinked quickly. "The ace fleets of the four families are approaching and will launch a general attack on the capital planet in a few days. At such a critical moment, the anti-air bases should've been deployed the most, but Wuying Qi has destroyed the wall and shipped the crystals for the anti-air defense to the underground world. Does he not want the atmospheric defense anymore?"
Li Yao shared the pictures and questions he saw with Long Yangjun and Li Jialing. The three of them discussed for a moment and reached two conclusions.
Firstly, Wuying Qi truly trusted the secret weapon that was deeply buried below the ground. He firmly believed that as long as the secret weapon existed, all the other defense measures would be unnecessary. He would be victorious as long as the secret weapon was activated.
Secondly, the activation of the secret weapon would consume astronomical energy. That was why Wuying Qi spared no effort in collecting crystals and marrow crystals everywhere.
A few months earlier, he had probably drained the entire capital planet. All the crystals in the arsenals, the magical equipment warehouses, and the civilians had been looted by him. That was why the crystals came from all kinds of sources and did not have the time to store and transport them properly. In the end, he did not even let go of the anti-air positions and simply moved all the crystals down.
Of course, not all the crystals could've been used for the secret weapon. Some of them must've been used to blow up the most vulnerable parts of the geological structure so that the crust would be torn apart so that the secret weapon could be raised.
"What level of magical equipment is it exactly? Why would it consume the crystals of an entire planet?"
Li Yao couldn't imagine it at all. "Is it the legendary 'stellar-level magical equipment'?"
After checking the assets in the wagons, Li Yao paid special attention to the soldiers who carried out the secret mission to transport the crystals.
It was because Li Yao had always been puzzled by who helped Wuying Qi to do the heartless, appalling things.
It was true that Wuying Qi's base was the Imperial Guards and the militarists who craved to restore the glory of the Imperium in the past such as Lei Chenghu.
As long as Wuying Qi proved his identity as "Blackstar the Great", most of the Imperial Guards would certainly follow their ancestor.
However, there had to be a limit however inhumane they were, right?
The capital planet was the hometown of most of the Imperial Guards. Their ancestors had lived on the capital planet for dozens of generations. Right now, most of their wives and children lived there too. The planet was their home and their everything!
If Wuying Qi asked them to fight the four families, Li Yao believed that most of the Imperial Guards would've had the courage to fight to the end.
However, if Wuying Qi asked them to blow up the entire capital planet, their home that they had lived in for almost a thousand years, and blow up their wives and children by the way, they wouldn't have obeyed the order even if their brains had been damaged!
Li Yao did not believe that Wuying Qi could've fooled so many Imperial Guards into working for him wholeheartedly, even at the cost of destroying their homes and families.
It was highly illogical that so many crystals had been transported to the underground world and even abandoned the anti-air bases on the ground.
Most of the Imperial Guards were Immortal Cultivators who were more or less smart. Who would've charged forward stupidly without figuring out what was going on?
Therefore, Li Yao focused his attention on the Imperial Guards who were escorting the wagons.
It was especially so on the officers who had flowers on their shoulders and were emitting a rather intimidating vibe.
Scanning the vibe and look of those officers carefully, Li Yao, however, had a very weird feeling.
How should he put it? Although soldiers were supposed to be solemn and meticulous, the Imperial Guards who were wearing the uniform of the first generation of the Imperium in black seemed too lifeless.
Their eyes were determined, and their movements were synchronized. Except for their even breathing, they were almost no different from machines.
Li Yao could not say that they were devoid of human feelings, but 90% of their feelings were occupied by a certain zeal and devotion.
"Come and take a look. What are they?"
Li Yao shared the picture that the crystal cameras scanned with Long Yangjun and Li Jialing.
"They seem to be …"
Li Jialing observed for a long time and said, "They are very similar to the Nepenthe believers of the Great Iron Plants."
"Exactly. The magnetic fields of their brains that they released are very weird. There must've been some sort of artificial intervention. They have all been adjusted to the same frequency and are in some sort of 'resonance'."
Long Yangjun said, "You can say that they have been collectively hypnotized. You can also say that they are in a certain state of collective unconsciousness. Of course, it is not a problem to say that they have been brainwashed."
"So, this is exactly how Wuying Qi manipulated the Imperial Guards to work for him!"
Li Yao recalled the riot of the captives of the Holy League in the Godly Might Prison. The magnetic fields of the Holy League people were indeed similar to those of the Imperial Guards in front of him.
Wuying Qi had tried to brainwash him in the Seven Seas Grand Market. It was a pity that he did not succeed, but it also proved that the guy was in possession of a certain terrifying brainwashing technology. He was essentially a replica of the people of the Holy League!
It was not easy to brainwash Li Yao, but it was certainly not a problem to hypnotize and control a few Imperial Guards who had trusted him deeply in the first place.
"However, we cannot draw any conclusions easily just by observing from a distance."
Long Yangjun said, "It will be best if we can secretly control a few Imperial Guards and scan their brains from all directions in order to know what is going on with them."
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