The confidence on Lei Chenghu's face that he had everything under control and deterrence was peeling off like a mottled wall in a sandstorm.
"Are you crazy?"
His face was filled with shock as he looked at Li Yao in disbelief. "You are actually … giving the ultimate weapon that is capable of destroying the capital to two monsters simulated by the crystal processors!"
"Watch your mouth, General Lei."
Li Yao said solemnly, "They're my children. They're a life form that exists in reality, not virtual or monsters! On the contrary, when they were faced with complicated and difficult situations, they could be more rational and calm than us. In a short moment, they could make the most correct decision after comprehensive processing with big data.
"It's important to have self-awareness. You said that I'm too soft-hearted to be a qualified 'deterrent'. I admit that. I've been considering who I should transfer the control of the Gold Crystal Pyramid to since the very beginning. Long Yangjun and Boss Bai are more suitable candidates than I am, but they're certainly more suitable for the job!"
"How can you trust them?"
Lei Chenghu almost jumped out of the light beam and roared thunderously, "Whatever they are, I won't trust them, and I won't let the Gold Crystal Pyramid fall into their hands!"
"They're my children, and they were born based on the data of the Xing Yao Federation. Should I trust you instead of them?"
Li Yao smiled and said unhurriedly, "All in all, the control of the Gold Crystal Pyramid is still in my hands, but I know that I can't shoulder the responsibility, so I made an agreement with Xiaoming and Wenwen. You can consider it as a trigger condition in their logic circuits.
"They will monitor my brainwaves, heartbeat, breath, pulse, secretion of adrenaline, and other biophysical parameters twenty-four hours a day. Once they determine that I can't bear the pressure of being a 'deterrent' and that my mind will collapse, they will automatically take over the highest permissions of the Gold Crystal Pyramid.
"Also, if I die accidentally, say, in a fierce battle against General Lei's landing troops, they will immediately take over the highest permissions of the Gold Crystal Pyramid and become the new 'master of the Gold Crystal Pyramid'.
"I didn't ask them to do anything with the Gold Crystal Pyramid, but I asked them to defend the interests of mankind with the Gold Crystal Pyramid. As for how they understand the interests of mankind, I'm sorry, but I don't know."
"You don't know?"
Lei Chenghu's eyes seemed to have turned into two bloody mouths that were about to swallow Li Yao. "You don't know what they will do after they get the Gold Crystal Pyramid?"
"Yes. Although I believe that Xiaoming and Wenwen are two innocent and kind children, we are two completely different life forms after all. Guessing their way of thinking with our way of thinking is like … It's like a dinosaur guessing the fighting style of a naked ape. It's impossible."
Li Yao opened his hands and said, "I don't know how they will understand 'defend the interests of mankind', and I can't predict what they will do after they get the Gold Crystal Pyramid. But I'm certain of one thing. In terms of cruelty, you are a hundred times crueler than I am, but they might be a hundred times crueler than you, because we have different understandings of life. Perhaps the billions of creatures in the capital are nothing more than billions of numbers and billions of commands in their eyes.
"If you insist on landing on the surface of the capital planet or even invade the demilitarized zone near the Gold Crystal Pyramid, your troops will have fierce conflicts with Xiaoming and Wenwen's puppet army. Well, I really don't know what kind of impression you will leave on them, what decisions they will make to defend the Gold Crystal Pyramid, and whether or not they will regard you as an enemy of mankind. After all, they are still children!"
Lei Chenghu collapsed on his chair and glared at Li Yao.
"You can't do that. You can't give the fate of mankind to two lives that are completely different from each other!"
His voice was hoarse, and there was a hint of weakness in his toughness.
"Then you'd better not irritate me."
Li Yao pointed at his head. "I'm sick. I can't take any provocation. Right now, I'm hesitating whether or not I should give the Gold Crystal Pyramid to Xiaoming and Wenwen. If you irritate me, chances are that I'll make up my mind."
This time, it was Lei Chenghu's turn to be silent.
"Look, gambling with the lives of billions of people in the Empyreal Terminus Sector is indeed not my style or my deterrence."
Li Yao said, "My real deterrence is to give the position of 'deterrent' to somebody else. I'm too softhearted to be a qualified deterrent. That's the biggest reason why all the forces accept me as the deterrent. Otherwise, do you want Boss Bai, Long Yangjun, or Xiaoming and Wenwen to be the deterrent?"
Lei Chenghu lowered his head and thought for a long time.
"What if —"
He struggled to ask, "If you had an accident on other battlefields, such as the one against the Holy League, would the Gold Crystal Pyramid have fallen into the hands of the two information lives?"
"I don't plan to go on adventures for the time being. I'm not made of iron. It wasn't easy for me to kill Wuying Qi and save such an enormous Imperium. I need to take a break and enjoy myself!"
Li Yao said, "I don't think anything can threaten my life if I stay on the capital planet dutifully. Besides, didn't you promise to protect the safety of the 'Black Wind King', General Lei?
"As for the future, like I said just now, we can establish a committee in the demilitarized zone to study the secrets of the Gold Crystal Pyramid together. The committee will control it.
"But the foundation of everything is our sincere cooperation, and in order to cooperate sincerely, I can only maintain the minimal deterrence. Do you agree?"
Lei Chenghu thought for a long time and took a deep breath.
"I agree."
The tiger who roared like thunder spoke in a feeble voice for the first time.
Hearing Lei Chenghu's reply, Li Yao took a long breath in relief and finally put on a smile.
"You won't demand the control of the Gold Crystal Pyramid by force, will you?"
He asked again.
"Yes."
Lei Chenghu gnashed his teeth and said, "But everything except the Gold Crystal Pyramid must be handed over to us immediately!"
"Of course. Then, the battle in the capital is over, right?"
Li Yao extended his hand to Lei Chenghu on the light beam. "We've won!"
"It's just a temporary victory."
Lei Chenghu extended his hand unwillingly, and the two of them held each other's virtual hands.
"A temporary victory is better than an eternal failure."
Li Yao blinked and said, "An unwillingly alliance can bring precious peace, can't it?"
…
No matter how many twists and turns there would be in the future, with the unremitting efforts of Li Yao, Long Yangjun, Li Jialing, Lei Chenghu, Boss Bai, and the rest of them, the light of victory and the hope of peace really arrived at the sea of stars that was almost swallowed by the fury of the star.
In the entire month that followed, the reformists seized every second to integrate their forces day and night, including Lei Chenghu's expedition army, the Business Alliance of Ten Thousand Sectors in the Seven Seas Space Zone, and the Imperial Guards and the Deep Sea Fleet that originally belonged to Li Linghai. The three different forces were combined into the main force of the reformists and the largest combat force of the civilization of mankind.
Of course, the Coalition Fleet of Pyromaniacs and other forces of the Cultivators also joined the reconstruction of the capital under the name of the "Black Wind Legion".
Regarding the existence of the Cultivators and the role they played in the battle, many Immortal Cultivators kept it a secret. Many Immortal Cultivators were worried, many Immortal Cultivators were embarrassed, and some Immortal Cultivators could not sleep at night because they could not accept it at all.
However, Li Yao had the legal title of "Black Wind King" after all, and his unparalleled strength beyond the Divinity Transformation Stage. Many leaders knew that it was he who completely blew up the remaining soul of Blackstar the Great. For the Immortal Cultivators who believed in "the strongest is the king", such a shock was enough to offset all the differences in their stance.
Also, with Lei Chenghu's reluctant support, the version that most of the Immortal Cultivators heard was that Vulture Li Yao, the new Black Wind King, conquered the Xing Yao Federation, a country of Cultivators at the edge of the cosmos, commanded the Black Wind Fleet, and absorbed most of the troops of the Xing Yao Federation. Then, he returned to the center of the cosmos and participated in the great cause of the reformation of the Imperium.
The Imperium of True Human Beings was born in the Star Ocean Republic in the first place. The first batch of Immortal Cultivators had evolved from Cultivators in the first place. Therefore, it was not so unacceptable that the Black Wind Fleet boasted a lot of Cultivators who were in the middle of their metamorphosis.
The transformation and absorption of the ace fleets of the four families were progressing rather smoothly, too.
Most of the soldiers of the ace fleets had been crushed in the Next Sun Plan. Even though their souls were gradually recovered, they did not have the will to resist anymore. When they realized that their fleet had collapsed, and the Deep Sea Fleet, the Astounding Thunder Fleet, the Coalition Fleet of Pyromaniacs, and the Imperial Guards had been completely united, they could not find the slightest fighting will to serve their family anymore.
What was particularly worth mentioning was that, after they learned that it was "Vulture Li Yao, the Black Wind King" who made the final decision in the battle of the capital, many of them were strongly requesting to join Li Yao and serve the Black Wind Legion!
Of course, not everybody was willing to surrender.
Many of the troops of the four families that invaded the capital fled back to their hometown in a hurry before the scourge of the solar storm, especially the troops that had been deployed at the edge of the Empyreal Terminus Sector in the first place.
A centipede dies but never falls down. The loss of the ace fleets did not mean that the four families would give up their resistance. The grand nobles were still lurking in their nests, preparing for the last struggle. The fiasco in the capital stimulated their unprecedented unity. They even abandoned the competition for the royal power and elected the new "emperor" of the Imperium as quickly as possible.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
