Chapter 109: The Illicit Older Woman

No, it couldn't possibly be a god. It had to be a cosplayer suffering from delusions, or perhaps some kind of reality show.

Qian Yaoyao instinctively glanced around, trying to spot any hidden cameras amidst the crowd.

At this moment, the familiar riverside cityscape felt inexplicably alien. Posters and slogans about moon landings, like snarling demons, seemed to crawl out from every corner. An unexplainable sense of estrangement and déjà vu was slowly unraveling the defenses within Qian Yaoyao’s heart.

Meanwhile, the conversation between Lan Yi and Juno grew clearer in her ears.

“So, what’s the next step? Lord of the Rivers, should we keep waiting, or just resort to violent destruction to force out the source of the anomaly? With our power, there’s no force in this world that can stop us, right?”

“Kill off a million, ten million, a hundred million? You’re as brutal as ever.”

“I just don’t want to be judged by you that way, Lan Yi. If you want to talk brutality, even before the Great Cataclysm, the casualties you caused in our backyard were far beyond the scale of a hundred million.”

“A puppet without future or potential—can that be called human?”

“And what about them?” Juno’s gaze, filled with a compassionate yet maternal kindness, swept over Qian Yaoyao. Paired with her dignified and noble goddess-like visage, it sent chills down the spine.

She did not seem human.

She was a statue of a deity.

Her exterior was splendid, but inside, she was chillingly cold.

“As long as there is hope, then it counts as human,” Lan Yi declared firmly, voicing the creed of the Rivers. As long as there is hope, any effort to save is justified, even if it’s just saving one person.

Lan Yi opposed outright destroying an artificial divine realm simply for the sake of a mission, especially when this artificial god-world seemed to be progressing positively, striving toward the stars and seas.

Interrupting the natural progress of a civilization could leave psychological scars on psychic cultivators.

“I really can’t believe these words are coming from the mouth of an apocalyptic survivor. What happened during your absence?” Juno stepped back, signaling concession. She didn’t want to spark conflict with Lan Yi—especially ideological conflict—in this bizarre trial.

Without crossing any lines, the cultivators of the artificial divine realm 2055 currently heeded Lan Yi’s commands, cooperating to complete their tasks.

“Though, it’s not like we got nothing out of this,” Juno said, having made some observation.

“Indeed.” Lan Yi had noticed something too.

At some point, their gazes shifted away from each other, both settling on Qian Yaoyao.

Compared to this artificial divine realm, which showed no trace of the extraordinary, these two top-tier psychic cultivators of human civilization were akin to gods themselves. At this moment, amidst the turbulence of Qian Yaoyao’s emotions, certain traits she displayed were exactly what they had been hunting for.

She did not seem human.

She seemed like some kind of residue.

“Eh?!” Snapping back to reality, Qian Yaoyao saw the handsome man and beautiful woman staring intently at her, making her heart pound wildly and her happiness meter skyrocket!

If it were the two of them together…

Well, it wasn’t impossible.

“You have quite a fortune, don’t you?” Lan Yi was blunt.

“...I guess so. Not especially wealthy,” Qian Yaoyao replied instinctively, downplaying it.

“Then, with your resources, could you place this device around the world within forty-eight hours?” Lan Yi’s hand moved slightly, and a palm-sized atomic clock appeared in his palm.

What was this?

No, it had just appeared out of thin air in his hand.

“This is an atomic clock. Think of it as a standard measure for time. If you don’t understand, you can ask your elders if they have similar projects.”

“Alright, okay... I guess,” Qian Yaoyao said, somewhat struggling to keep up with Lan Yi’s pace, and instinctively agreed to his request.

With the logistics of the Azure Dragon Federation, delivering atomic clocks worldwide wasn’t a big challenge—just take a special channel. But the real question was: why?

Qian Yaoyao tried to ask further.

Suddenly, Juno’s silvery, melodious laugh rippled through the air. The large crowd that had gathered immediately became dazed, swaying like zombies as they staggered away, as if these two striking, extraordinary people didn’t exist at all.

Taoist Art: Three Purities Bell.

Its effect: dispersing onlookers.

Though cast by Juno, a reincarnated soul, and thus extremely effective, this wasn’t just about effectiveness. These people were like fragile paper figures blown about by the wind, unable to steady themselves.

Like…

“Embers without fire.”

Juno’s life constellation was the Constellation of Stars, allowing her to sense emotions and forcibly reflect her own feelings back onto opponents during combat, producing powerful quantum effects.

Because of this constellation, she was more sensitive than other cultivators to the abnormality of the humans in this world.

If normal humans were like torches,

then the torches in this world had all been extinguished. What remained were dead stars, only corpses as far as the eye could see—countless, boundless death.

That was why Juno had proposed to Lan Yi that they simply slaughter everything. No matter what the mission was, if they wiped out all life, the conquest space would consider the task complete.

This was the harsh, pragmatic nature of the conquest space.

The weak must be crushed.

“So, Lan Yi, are you ready to dig out the lingering flames from the thick ashes… Hey! Wait for me! You have zero gentlemanly charm!”

Juno, still playing the part, turned to look but found Lan Yi had already silently walked away.

Though Lan Yi hadn’t spoken a word,

his expression clearly conveyed disdain—“Enough with the delusions.”

This made Juno, who appeared mature and noble but was actually only sixteen, instantly lose her composure. She hastily lifted her long skirt, gritting her teeth as she hurried after Lan Yi, her white raven companion squawking loudly in tow.

“The Rogue Lady.”

That was the nickname of the first-generation Juno.

Looking mature and glamorous, but actually still a minor.

There were five psychic cultivators entering the artificial divine realm this time, including Lan Yi—four from the Rivers and one from the Ocean. All were the top-tier fighters of the main world; if they weren’t, they wouldn’t be drafted to accompany Lan Yi on this trial.

So many powerful beings.

The fact that they didn’t immediately fight upon meeting, causing the entire world—transformed into bloodthirsty spectators—to cheer in satisfaction, was already quite restrained. Since they weren’t battling, cooperation would come first. They had agreed to split up to gather information, and if they found critical intelligence or if time ran out, they would regroup at the designated meeting point.

The meeting point was…

“Hard to imagine what kind of mindset chooses a streetlight as a rendezvous spot,” Juno said with a sigh. “And why are you standing on the streetlight, Wang Ao Jia?”