Chapter 149: Chips

In the Artificial Divine Realm of 2055, thirty days passed in the blink of an eye.

From the perspective of the world's survivors, the Age of Myth was about to usher in a significant historical milestone.

In ancient times, demons controlled all things in heaven and earth, while the common people struggled in a sea of suffering. Unbearable at the sight of this, the gods struck down the demons by the riverbanks, eradicating them completely. After the great war between gods and demons, heaven and earth gained freedom. The gods, severely wounded, descended to the land of Pu. By day, the goddess rode a golden chariot to survey the realm; by night, she donned moonlight to conceal herself.

The goddess's golden chariot was actually a bicycle.

Well, to this mentally handicapped race of humans, it was indeed a golden chariot—quite a reasonable interpretation.

This myth reflected two historical events.

One was the earth-shattering battle between Lanyi and Ghost Face.

The other was Juno's protective reconnaissance.

As for the loops, ghostly entities, the old era, the new era, psionic cultivators, and the like, they were not entirely unrecorded; rather, such records inevitably distorted and deformed over the long passage of time into various myths or exotic texts akin to the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Viewed from a broader perspective, the severed loop still seemed to exist within an even larger cycle.

Yet...

At least everything was turning for the better.

For the sake of hope.

Then it was all worthwhile.

Thirty days flashed by. The regal goddess, acting just like an ordinary mortal, pedaled the golden chariot deeply revered by the primitives, strolling leisurely along the flat, compacted avenue to the edge of the Great Void. Parking her bicycle against an upright wooden post, the unlicensed older sister let out a soft grunt of exertion and unleashed her psionic energy toward the Great Void before her.

The psionic energy in her palm pierced into the hollow sphere like a probe.

Juno was interfacing with Lanyi’s dreamscape, communicating with Lanyi.

With her Destiny Cluster [Constellations], it was quite convenient to communicate with Lanyi at this moment.

Inside the Great Void.

Resembling a chaotic, primordial battlefield, mythic-grade beasts thousands of meters long were tearing each other apart. Floods and heavenly fires raged endlessly; the entire world was turned upside down, blurring the boundary between pure and turbid. The dreamscape of this Great Void frequently linked with nearby human populations in their sleep, spreading concepts such as totems, descendants of the dragon, and great rivers in its wake.

Juno, cutting straight into it, was immediately targeted by numerous blood-laced, frenzied mythic beasts.

If it were merely Old Devil Lan's dreamscape, it certainly wouldn't have had such a massive impact.

It was the ultimate cause and underlying logic of this world, the bestowals of the Heavenly Dao, coupled with Lanyi's own sweat and effort, that created the miraculous spectacle of the Great Void.

"Lanyi! You definitely did this on purpose!"

Torn by several dream-dwelling jiaolong, her gorgeous and breezy white goddess dress of Athena tattered, a disheveled Juno could not suppress her underage physical reactions. Her almond-shaped eyes widened in anger, and she pouted her red lips as she complained to Lanyi.

At this moment, Lanyi's avatar took the form of a thunder-feathered Dragon Sparrow.

His body was curled up like an egg, resting at the absolute zenith of this dream world—the apex of the Slaughter Heaven.

"Time's up?"

There was no concept of time here; Juno acted as a timekeeping bird, reminding Lanyi how much longer he had before returning.

"It's been thirty days. Given your contributions, extending the time a bit certainly wouldn't be an issue, but I have to return. I've got a mountain of messy business back in the primary world waiting for the Pantheon to handle." Mentioning the primary world, Juno couldn't help but sigh.

England.

This malignant tumor of the Oceanic Civilization simply could not be excised.

After the first Artificial Divine Realm trial, the internal affairs of the Pantheon and England—the Oceanic Civilization—became extraordinarily lively. The overt and covert battles among the reincarnators manifested on the surface as terrorist attacks, vicious exterminations of entire families, out-of-control nuclear missile silos, and even the prelude to an American civil war.

In essence, it was a mutual slaughter between two factions of psionic cultivators striving to cement their dominance.

The reincarnators of the Pantheon had not succeeded.

England proved far more difficult to deal with than they had imagined, with more thorough preparations and even pre-arranged contingencies. Coupled with the need to deal with Old Devil Lan, the world-destroying fiend...

"Jupiter, won't you come and help me? Both my virgin goddess and queen deity positions can be offered to you~"

The dignified and regal goddess flipped her golden hair, fully displaying the alluring and maternal charm of a deity. Her tone was half-joking, but her desire for Lanyi's help was completely real.

This unlicensed older sister harbored an intense, burning hatred for child-marriage enthusiasts and Lolita Island founders.

"You can't hold on anymore?"

Lanyi opened his eyes. The vertical pupils of the Dragon Sparrow, brilliant as starlight, were extremely intricate, as though the phantoms of battling and devouring mythic beasts flickered within every single fraction of a second.

"The American civil war is getting out of hand. Someone intends to play with nuclear wasteland, and England has hooked up with the parasite humans over in Europe. We are preparing to withdraw all forces from the Ice Fortress front line, seize South America, and capture the Divine Destiny Cluster information carriers."

"Hah, foolish."

Lanyi's light chuckle caused this dream world to tremble slightly.

Aside from the reincarnators, many people were still unaware of just how terrifyingly inflated the strength of psionic cultivators had become. Nuclear bombs and intercontinental ballistic missiles could no longer threaten the safety of the primary world after the second Artificial Divine Realm trial. Once this threshold was reached, psionic cultivators were bound to step completely and resolutely onto the public stage.

In this era of birth pangs, the collision between psionic cultivators and the old forces seemed destined to arrive earlier and become far more complex.

Dividing his mind to multitask, Lanyi diverted a considerable amount of cognitive processing power to ponder this seriously for a moment.

"What can you give me?"

Beauties, power, wealth.

Did psionic cultivators need such things?

Having experienced hundreds of playthroughs of Artificial Divine Realm scenarios, what kind of enjoyment had they not tasted? Even scenarios where immortals and heroes fell to corruption, with oneself as the only man in the world, or where one's word was unconditionally obeyed, were commonplace. Driven and progressive psionic cultivators always valued power above all else!

Therefore, the conditions Juno had mentioned half-jokingly were, in essence, merely the bravado of an unlicensed older sister trying to tease Old Devil Lan.

"In the battle for the Divine Destiny Cluster information, I can cooperate with you." Juno tossed out her bargaining chip.

Between psionic cultivators, especially those in positions of power, transactions were always this unpretentious.

Drop the chips.

If satisfied, negotiate; if not, fight.

Everyone was a transcendent entity ruling over a faction; there was no need to play petty tricks. Breaking one's word once might yield a small advantage, but if it meant all other psionic cultivators refused to play with you thereafter, you would soon realize your mistake.

"Not enough." Lanyi shook his head slightly.

The intent was far too obvious.

Juno clearly wanted to use Old Devil Lan's hands to clear out a batch of individuals from the Oceanic Civilization.

In the circle of psionic cultivators, everyone had sharpened their blades after the two trials. During the scramble for the Divine Destiny Cluster information, they would definitely seize the opportunity to deal fatal blows to each other's high-end combat forces.

Both major civilizations harbored the ambition to crush the other and unify the world under a single banner.

"A biological forced-evolution furnace blueprint, capable of manufacturing three hundred Destiny Clusters."

By inputting raw materials or scanning a physical body, Destiny Clusters could be manufactured according to the blueprints.

"Deal."

Lanyi nodded.

He really had use for this item in the early stages. Manufacturing Destiny Clusters directly would drastically lower the probability of contamination. Even if Lanyi couldn't use up the full quota, those close to him would eventually find a use for it. Juno's chip was sufficient.

With mutual intent verified and contact established, the wills representing the leaders of the Rivers and the Oceans reached an agreement.