The lift slowly ascended, as if it were pulling them up from the dark and suffocating abyss.
It was not until they returned to the top of the island and breathed the fresh air eagerly and sensed the warmth of the sunlight that comforted every inch of their skin that Li Yao finally got rid of the biting coldness.
"Aren't you usually a good talker? Why did you give up today?"
Long Yangjun looked at Li Yao with a smile. "Why don't you continue the competition of beliefs with this Colonel Song Guanghe? Have you convinced him with your hot-blooded, passionate high school students?"
"What kind of argument is that?"
Looking at the mental patient who was locked in the fence nearby, Li Yao said angrily, "You have to be reasonable when you meet someone who can be reasonable. For example, although the Immortal Cultivators' arguments are skewed, skewed arguments are still reasonable. Even Wuying Qi and the others can have a competition of beliefs.
"This Colonel Song Guanghe, or rather, all the people of the Holy League, did not intend to be reasonable at all. They were purely scoundrels. After all, everything was the god's arrangement. Even the god's being killed by me was the god's arrangement. Even the god's head being cut off by me was the god's arrangement. What else can I say when I've deceived myself to such an extent?
"It's like those mental patients are too immersed in their own little worlds to be freed. Is it useful to reason with them?
"Speaking of which, this Colonel Song Guanghe is a pitiful man too. I can basically guess why he believes in the Path of Ultimate Benevolence. If I were him, I would've done the same, wouldn't I?"
"Oh?"
Long Yangjun was slightly dazed. "Why do you say that?"
"Just read his files!"
Li Yao shook the crystal processor on his wrist. "Although this Colonel Song is from one of the four Kurfürst families, he is a marginal person in the core circle of the Song family. Such a position is the most torturous and anxious thing. It is more difficult than climbing to the sky to squeeze into the real core circle, but one moment of carelessness, he will be kicked to the secondary branches, where he will be discriminated against and hated by them.
"He struggled to survive in such an environment where he was bullied on both sides. There's no telling how many heartless things he did, how many friends he betrayed, and even how many of his own children were killed indirectly. That was how he was promoted to a colonel and a commander. But out of his expectation, he was ambushed by the Covenant Alliance and captured as a captive only a few days after he took the post.
"After he was a member of the Holy League for twenty years, he was captured by the Imperium again. When he returned to his hometown, he discovered that his wife had become a social butterfly who socialized with countless men every day. He also had two children, one of whom was crazy, and the other who was even more brutal than before. They were pure butchers. Also, both his wife and his son were determined to draw a line with him. He could only choose between 'traitor' and 'psychopath'.
"Tell me about it. If you were him, would you be willing to wake up from the brainwashing state and face such a miserable reality?
"Do you understand what I mean now? Colonel Song might not be 'unable to understand' but 'unwilling to understand'. The identity of a member of the Holy League had become Colonel Song Guanghe's last shield and shelter. Only by burying himself deeply behind the so-called 'glory of the gods' could he have the courage to continue living. If he had woken up and faced everything clearly, I'm afraid that he would've had a mental breakdown and committed suicide on the spot!"
Long Yangjun stared at Li Yao thoughtfully. "Huh. You are willing to use your precious computational ability to raise your IQ above the standard line again. Your analysis is so thorough!"
"Good steel should be used where the blade is needed. If your IQ is not online right now, when will it be online?"
Li Yao sighed and said, "In fact, the religions have always been the same. The key is not how reasonable the religious lies are but that the cruel reality cannot satisfy everybody. Most of the people are not satisfied at all. Under the pressure of reality, they have no choice but to seek refuge in the unpredictable 'arms of the gods'. It is sort of self-anesthesia and self-protection, isn't it? Otherwise, so what if they see the cold reality and know that there are no gods but only a dark universe? They will still suffer for the rest of their lives, won't they?
"Therefore, when you said that 'the Holy League and the Imperium are two sides of the same coin', I couldn't agree more.
"Although the Supreme Emperor banished the demon race and unified the universe, the legacy of the 'Great Dark Age' has never been completely cleared. The universe in the past ten thousand years is still a world of darkness where the strong oppresses the weak. Is it fundamentally different from the reign of the demon race? "The Imperium of True Human Beings, on the other hand, is exactly the symbol of the peak of such oppression. Under such intense pressure, not only do the oppressed such as the 'underground hominoids' live a life worse than death, even the oppressors such as Colonel Song cannot escape. As he said, 'Mired in the abyss of fire and venom', neither the oppressors nor the oppressed can find a way out. They live in infinite pain and desperation. Naturally, the anesthetic that is religion is born!"
Long Yangjun opened her hands and waved them in front of Li Yao's face. "My god. Is this really you? Your intelligence is truly shocking!"
Li Yao grinned. "Of course. After all, you are the 'dominator of nine Sectors' and the father of the Federation. How can you not be that good?
"All in all, after witnessing the life of so many people of the Holy League in person and communicating with the deeply poisoned 'Ultimate Benevolence' such as Colonel Song, I have a basic understanding of the nature of the Holy League.
"In fact, it is not difficult to completely solve the problem of the Holy League. Who wants to eat synthetic food when there is fresh lobster? Who wants to play with rubber dolls when there is a girlfriend who exists for real? Who wants to hide in the illusions of religion when there is a happy real life? As long as we accelerate the pace of the reform of the Imperium, deepen the ideology of the reform of the Imperium, and build a harmonious and beautiful new Imperium with the ideas of the Cultivators so that everybody can live and work in peace and prosperity, how can the trickery of the Holy League be attractive at all? "
"Fair enough."
Long Yangjun nodded. Then, she extended her hand to Li Yao. "Then, may I ask, where are your fresh lobster, your flesh-and-blood girlfriend, and the resources that can deepen the reform so that everybody can live and work in peace and happiness?"
"That's exactly the problem."
Scratching his messy hair, Li Yao said helplessly, "The Imperium is already too ill to be cured. Even if it is to be treated and nursed, it will not be done overnight. Also, according to the queen — no, the empress dowager's speculation about the opening time of the mausoleum and Colonel Song's prophecy about the arrival of the gods just now, a major event that hasn't happened in hundreds of thousands of years will certainly happen in a year and a half.
"To solve the problem of the Holy League quickly and neatly in a year and a half, it will indeed be more difficult than climbing to the sky!"
"It seems that your 'Sunspot Plan' will have to be implemented even if you don't want to."
Long Yangjun smiled and said, "In the eyes of most people in the Holy League, I am a minor god, and in the eyes of some of the sunspots, you are probably a minor god, too. I wonder, can the two of us compete with the real 'gods' of the Pangu who have hibernated for hundreds of thousands of years?"
"I don't believe in gods at all."
Li Yao shook his head and said resolutely, "So, I will not play tricks and deceive the sunspots in the name of gods. We are all human beings, just human beings. The identity of 'human beings' is already honorable and powerful enough. Is there any need to play the role of a groundless god?"
"I don't believe in the existence of a god with a specific personality, either."
Long Yangjun's eyes became deep and distant, and her voice gradually became hollow and transparent. "However, Colonel Song Guanghe's last words do have a point. The Pangu are not the real gods but just one of the billions of rays of the gods. They are even the mottled, broken reflection of one ray of light that is reflected into the three-dimensional world.
"If we do not call them 'gods' but the original creator, the first intelligent life to be awakened billions of years ago, and the reason for the awakening of the intelligent life and the ultimate law that shaped the entire universe, or rather, 'heavenly law', do you believe in their existence?"
Li Yao grew solemn. "Wait, I'm confused. Whose side are you on exactly?"
"I've always been in the middle."
Long Yangjun smiled. "Don't forget that I am a monster that is half Pangu and half Nuwa. Of course, I don't think that I or the Pangu are the real gods. However, if the Pangu have perceived part of the 'heavenly law' and become the emissaries of the 'heavenly law', it is not entirely unacceptable that they are melted into the billions of rays of the 'heavenly law' willingly!
"Tell me, Li Yao, if the 'heavenly law' does exist, will you obey it or defy it?"
The question silenced Li Yao for a long time again.
Under the blowing of the cold ocean wind, his eyes were brighter and brighter.
"Man's will can conquer nature."
Li Yao said, "If the heavenly law does exist, I will certainly do my best to study it, explore it, and eventually conquer it!"
Against the ocean wind, the two of them returned to their shuttles.
Zhuge Jinglun came to see them off and made an appointment with them. Li Yao was going to donate a batch of equipment to the Third Research Institute, mainly the crystal processors with super high performance. Of course, it was also to make it easier for him to study the Sunspot Plan.
"Black Wind King, you're too generous."
Looking at the list of donations that Li Yao gave him, Zhuge Jinglun couldn't help smiling. He winked at Li Yao and said, "Black Wind King, you're always welcome. Although this place doesn't look great, perhaps the mental hospital is the only normal and real place when the whole world is distorted. Isn't this the only place where you can find the answers that you want?
"Remember that. I think that you're destined to be a mental hospital. One day …"
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