Li Yao's soul fluctuated for a long time, but he still could not figure it out. "Did the guy set up a trap on purpose to lure the yaksha squad to Eternal Light when in fact, he has already turned Eternal Light into a perilous battlefield?
"But that doesn't make sense. The yaksha squad is just a special troop that belongs to the Heresy Inquisition. There are not too many of them, and they are not the core forces of the Holy League. They are even 'test subjects' that are monitored in the first place. Even if the yaksha squad is annihilated, they won't be able to hurt the five Ultimate Benevolence Masters at all. There is no reason for the King of Puppets to go through all the trouble and sacrifice himself as bait just to annihilate an insignificant yaksha squad, right?
"Therefore, if everything is going according to his plan, he must have a deeper purpose!"
"Maybe. There's one more thing that I need to remind you of. Think about it carefully. What are we talking about exactly when we talk about the 'King of Puppets'?"
The mental devil said, "You and I both know that, if the King of Puppets is really Lu Qingchen, he would've completely gotten rid of his shell a few years ago and turned into a pure extraterrestrial devil of the Spiritual Nexus. Or rather, according to him, he is a 'Spiriter', the third form of human beings after human beings and demons!
"The fleshly body that he brought out of his mother's womb was long lost in the war when the Black Wind Fleet attacked the Xing Yao Federation. It was blown into smithereens on 'Black Swirl', the flagship of the Black Wind Fleet. Ever since then, he has been granted absolute freedom and is no longer bound by any shell.
"Therefore, it is very possible that the King of Puppets, or Lu Qingchen, does not have a 'King of Puppets' that the yaksha squad can capture at all!"
"That's right!"
Li Yao said, "Lu Qingchen is a Spiriter without a shell. Or rather, the entire Spiritual Nexus is his shell … Speaking of which, his consciousness cannot exist without material objects for a long time. Even if he is in the form of information life like us, he has to rely on something to unleash the power of his soul!
"Just like we have to rely on the mainframe crystal processor and the iron limbs of the Spider tank, Lu Qingchen has to rely on something in order to carry out his strength!"
"That's right. But in that case, Lu Qingchen's real appearance may very well be completely different from what the yaksha squad imagined."
The mental devil said, "To this moment, the yakshas, the Inquisition, and the Ultimate Benevolence Masters all thought that they were capturing a person. But in fact, it is very possible that Lu Qingchen does not exist, or that he has more than one body of a human being. His real body may be the mainframe crystal processor of Eternal Light, a fast shuttle in a starship city, or … anything else."
Li Yao pondered for a moment. "Damn it, why do I feel that the more we discuss, the more difficult it is to capture the Puppet King? Should I think of a way to remind Chu Zhixiao and the others of the Puppet King's true form? "
"How?"
The mental devil asked back. "Are you going to tell Chu Zhixiao directly that the Puppet King is not a human being but some sort of Spiriter, Hyper Spirit, or extraterrestrial devil? What? How did you know that? This is very simple. Because you and the Puppet King are old acquaintances, you are his elder. You watched the Puppet King grow up. You even rubbed the Puppet King's hair and kindly encouraged him to study hard and improve himself every day. You even saw his wet behind the ears and his bird feathers not fully grown. He even served you tea and handed you water and was very respectful to you! "
"Fine."
Li Yao surrendered. "Just pretend that I didn't say anything. It seems that we have to play it by ear again. Thankfully, playing it by ear has always been our specialty!"
While the two of them were talking to themselves, the assault warship experienced another four-dimensional jump as fast as lightning, extricating itself from the Golden Lion Sector and arriving in a brand-new world.
It was a barren world far away from the frontline. Most of the space around that was suitable for a space jump was covered in stone belts and high-energy nebulas. It was as blocked as a basin on a planet.
Apart from a dim star that was struggling at death's door and a few lazy planets that were on the verge of death, there was nothing here. There were no celestial bodies of value.
The Eternal Light was stationed at the orbit of the largest terrestrial planet in the world.
The Holy League lied to the ignorant residents living inside the Eternal Light that their 'circulator' had absorbed incessant, inexhaustible resources from the terrestrial planet and that they could live a carefree life for at least tens of thousands of years before the star entered the decline phase.
As a matter of fact, the planet with an extremely harsh environment was full of brittle rocks. Even if they dug tens of thousands of meters into the ground, they would not be able to find a single crystal the size of half a fingernail, much less an atmosphere and an ecosystem.
Even if all the residents on the Eternal Light were awakened, it would be impossible for them to escape with the resources of the planet.
Li Yao had thought that the people of the Holy League were absolutely cold and heartless machines.
But at the very least, the person who named the world had a cruel sense of humor and named the place 'Well in the Well'.
Was the life of the residents on the Eternal Brilliance not like the moon in the well? No matter how beautiful it was, it was nothing more than a dream. With a gentle touch of the hand, it would immediately shatter into illusory ripples.
When the assault warship arrived at the 'Well in the Well in the Well', a rarely-seen meteor shower was attacking the Eternal Light. The spiritual shield of the starship was covered in colorful halos that looked like fireworks.
Naturally, it was the arrangement of the Holy League, too.
It was because the Puppet King's tentacles had probably infiltrated everywhere on the Eternal Light and hacked the mainframe crystal processor and the crystal cameras and sensors installed around the starship.
If the assault warships, hunting warships, and interferential warships, including the yakshas and the special forces of the Blessed Army, were allowed to jump to the 'Well in the Well in the Well in the next second, the Puppet King would probably notice them immediately. Then, the Puppet King would escape through the Spiritual Nexus or commit suicide to avoid punishment.
Therefore, such a meteor shower was arranged so that the pieces of the meteoroids would bombard the shell of the Eternal Light nonstop. Some of the larger meteoroids would even penetrate through the spiritual shield and the alloy shell of the starship precisely and pierce through the mainframe crystal processor.
As a result, the 'eyes' and 'ears' that were scattered everywhere on the shell of the starship would have to be shut down for a while. Even the mainframe crystal processor would have to be fully maintained and examined. It was believed that the Puppet King would not dare hide inside during the period.
It would be the best opportunity for the capture squads of the 'ghost hunting operation' to jump to the 'Well in the Well in the Well' without alarming anyone and approach the Eternal Light.
In the meantime, it was also the only way to implement the 'Spiritual Nexus' and lock the Puppet King in the small space.
The Eternal Light was divided into two zones, which did not interfere with each other.
Most of the crew members in the bridge and the outer zone who were responsible for the operation of the starship were from the Holy League.
They were either the Meditation Healers who had profound studies on humanity and the brain, the priests who were most devout to the gods, or even some of the spies in the trials. The first lesson for the spies was to try to fool the residents on the Eternal Light before they were engaged in real battles and tested by the Imperium.
The inner zone, on the other hand, was enshrouded in the 3D light beam and the Grand Illusionary Land. Those who lived in the starship cities and did not know where they were were were the real test subjects.
The inner zone and the outer zone were usually isolated. The residents on the starship had been told since they were little that the bridge and the cabins at the outer zone were filled with intense radiation and high-energy particles. Unless they received the harshest training and were injected with countless drugs, they should not go out easily, or they might suffer from incurable diseases.
Ninety-nine percent of the residents, after receiving such dangerous education for decades, often gave up the idea of exploring the bridge and the cabins at the outer zone. Instead, they enjoyed themselves in their little paradise.
Of course, a few of them, no matter how they were warned and educated, still held the dream of sailing in the vast universe and craved to become qualified starship operators who wanted to see the real bridge, the real thrusters, the real engine compartments, and the weapon platforms.
There was a school in the starship cities that was specially prepared for such brave people.
Ninety-nine percent of the brave people would be filtered out in the most rigorous exams. Their dreams would be cut off and their ambitions would be ground away in the sea of stars in the Grand Illusionary Land as a form of consolation.
Only one in ten thousand people would have the slim chance to break through the difficulties and become a glorious crew member. They would go to the bridge or the cabins at the outer zone and see the truth. Of course, before that, they had to go through a minor procedure called 'brainwashing'.
Therefore, the yakshas, the sweepers, the Purgers, and the special forces of the Blessed Army certainly could not sneak in with such an honorable appearance.
After three hundred years of living in isolation, the residents of Eternal Light had greatly changed their appearance from the people outside. Their clothes and manners were greatly different, too. If they broke into the forbidden area recklessly, they would certainly raise a riot, which would be tantamount to informing the Puppet King of their arrival.
Therefore, when the assault warships, hunting warships, and interference warships approached Eternal Light quietly under the cover of the meteor shower and connected to each other, the first thing they did was to disguise themselves with the help of the staff of Eternal Light.
The main purpose of the disguise was to stick certain soft, artificial muscles and fat, which were known as' biochemical muscles', to their bodies.
Chu Zhixiao and Yun Haixin finished their disguises very soon. They turned into two round, rosy, and translucent fat men.
Li Yao and Guan Qixing were quite simple. After all, there were spiritual puppets in the form of spiders and artificial bodies on Eternal Light. All they needed to do was to change their shells in the local style.
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