CHAPTER 321: CHAPTER 318 "I’M THE ONE?

Chapter 318: [I’m the one?]

"According to our reporter, yesterday, a suspected unidentified flying object reportedly fell near White Horse Mountain in the MQ neighborhood of the JN District in our city, causing tremors. Based on clues from local residents, the local government has organized survey personnel to investigate the scene. As the incident occurred in a remote area, no casualties have been reported so far. In response to this incident, the Zijin Mountain Astronomical Observatory has dispatched an expert survey team to the site. They stated that they do not currently rule out the possibility of a small meteorite fall."

"For further news, please follow our subsequent reports..."

BZZZT...

"Morning rush hour, morning news, FM XXXX... bringing you the latest traffic updates for today..."

In the small woods at the base of the city wall, elderly men and women from the nearby residences were doing their morning exercises.

It was unclear whose radio was playing the news from the broadcast station.

Old Jiang stood with his hands on his hips, chest out and head held high, slowly walking step by step around the periphery of the small woods, cultivating his qi within.

In the northwest corner of the woods, near the base of the city wall, a pair of martial brothers were slowly practicing pushing hands on a patch of open ground.

Four arms entangled, advancing and retreating. The two young men stood in irregular stances, their knees slightly bent.

Zhu Dazhi was fully focused on circulating his qi, seemingly in a state of self-forgetfulness.

Zhang Linsheng’s breathing gradually became heavier. Although he managed to keep the rhythm steady, his arms were slowly being overpowered.

Suddenly, with a loud thud, Zhang Linsheng stumbled several steps backward. However, he couldn’t fully dissipate the hidden strength and, with a PLOP, he actually sat on the ground. Fortunately, he braced himself with his hands and promptly stood up again.

However, when he looked up at Zhu Dazhi, Zhang Linsheng’s eyes showed surprise.

Zhu Dazhi was also a bit stunned. He first raised his hands to look at them carefully, as if he couldn’t quite believe what he had just accomplished.

...

...

After the two young men locked eyes for a while, Zhu Dazhi scratched his head. "Uh, Senior Brother, are you okay?"

"...I’m fine." Zhang Linsheng swallowed hard. "You... your internal energy has improved this quickly?"

Zhu Dazhi chuckled a few times. "I don’t know what happened either. Whenever I practiced, it just naturally became like this."

Zhang Linsheng silently looked at his junior brother.

Is he some kind of monster? How long has he been cultivating his energy, and he can already overwhelm me? Doesn’t this senior brother have any pride? It was one thing not to be a match for Chen Nuo, but Zhu Dazhi hasn’t practiced for very long, and his internal energy has already surpassed my own?

Gritting his teeth, Zhang Linsheng felt he was losing face and took a deep breath. "Let’s go again."

Hmm... it must be because I’ve been with Xia Xia recently... Master said that indulgence damages a young man’s body. No, no, starting today, I must practice abstinence! Otherwise, will even this junior brother, who has only recently started training, surpass me in strength? Abstinence! I must start abstinence tonight!!

Old Jiang finished his stroll around the grove with his hands on his hips. When he returned, the two martial brothers had already separated, each practicing their qi circulation in a horse stance.

He looked with satisfaction at the beads of sweat on his two disciples’ foreheads and saw that their undershirts were soaked and clinging to their backs. Yes, that’s good. Looks like they weren’t slacking off.

Glancing at the time, Old Jiang waved his hand. "Alright, that’s enough for today."

The two young men breathed a sigh of relief and then slowly straightened their legs, vigorously rubbing their sore thighs.

"With all that sweat, you two hurry home, take a shower, and change your clothes. The weather is getting colder; don’t catch a cold," Old Jiang said, pointing at the two lads. "Put on your jackets. Put them on, don’t be tempted by the cool air."

He left the grove with his two disciples and headed towards the No. 8 Middle School residential area. At the entrance of the staff dormitory area, Zhang Linsheng handed Old Jiang the small stool he was holding, and Zhu Dazhi quickly presented Old Jiang with his thermos.

"Alright, go on back. Oh, I have class tomorrow morning, so don’t come looking for me in the grove. Just practice at home."

Old Jiang spoke, waving his hand. Clutching the small stool in one hand and the thermos in the other, he shuffled into the dormitory area with his feet turned out.

"Senior Brother, are you going back to the Daming Road shop?" Zhu Dazhi asked with a smile. "How about we go have breakfast together first?"

Zhang Linsheng thought about it; it was still early... At this hour, Xia Xia was probably still in bed. It would be nice to go for breakfast and then bring her a portion back. He was about to nod in agreement when his phone in his pocket started vibrating.

Taking it out and looking, Zhang Linsheng smiled. "It’s Chen Nuo."

He answered the call and had just said "Hello" into the phone when his expression turned serious.

"...Okay, Dazhi and I are together. We’ll head over now."

After hanging up, Zhang Linsheng said to Zhu Dazhi, "Chen Nuo is back in Jinling. He wants us to go over now... Brother Lei is on the way too."

「」

The place Chen Nuo had summoned them to was even further east from Daming Road.

This used to be a small military airfield. In recent years, as the city expanded, the airfield had moved to Jiangbei, leaving this land temporarily vacant.

After the government reclaimed the land, its specific use was still under long-term planning. In the short term, it had been turned into a warehousing base.

Consequently, many car 4S dealerships near Daming Road rented warehouses here for vehicle storage.

Chen Nuo and his group also leased a small warehouse here, drawn by its proximity and cheap rent, to store some of the electric vehicles sold in their small car dealership.

When Zhang Linsheng and Zhu Dazhi arrived, Brother Lei was already there.

Then they walked into the warehouse—it was newly rented and still empty. The new vehicles from the order agreed upon with the supplier hadn’t arrived yet.

In the warehouse, Zhang Linsheng saw Chen Nuo, as well as Chen Nuo’s wife, whom he had seen before—that unbelievably beautiful woman.

Then, surprisingly, he also saw a foreigner standing by the window, smoking.

Chen Nuo saw the two of them enter, waved them over, and then led them to the door of a small office inside the warehouse, gently pushing it open.

The room had originally been set up as a resting place for the warehouse overseer.

On the bed lay two women; one appeared older, the other quite young, but both had their eyes closed as if in a deep sleep.

"I have a task for you," Chen Nuo said to Zhang Linsheng. "Take these two home—I’ll send the address to your phone immediately. The keys are in their bags. Hmm, remember to be discreet. Once you’ve returned them, come right back."

Zhang Linsheng was a bit confused. "These two, they?"

"It’s okay, they’ve fainted. It’ll probably take them about two hours to wake up."

Chen Nuo sighed. This was about cleaning up yesterday’s mess. Fang Lin and her daughter were just ordinary people. Encountering something like this... To them, it was almost like being kidnapped, and then being rescued by Captain... And then... Forget it, those memories aren’t important anymore. When I first brought them here, Fang Lin and her daughter were very agitated, so I had to use a little trick: hypnosis. I sealed away the mother and daughter’s memories of being kidnapped at the cemetery yesterday. Though hypnosis has its risks, it was the only method available for now. It was best to prevent any further complications.

"Hmm, send them back, and then?"

"Then... you two will have to put in some effort. Stay near their home and protect them secretly," Chen Nuo sighed. "There’s a room ready in a small motel across from their house. This is the key to the motel room. You two go there and secretly protect the mother and daughter for now. I estimate it won’t take long, just a day or two should do."

Zhu Dazhi was full of questions, but Zhang Linsheng patted him and proactively took the key Chen Nuo handed over, nodding. "Alright. Rest assured, we’ll handle it well... If anything comes up, we’ll call you."

"Good," Chen Nuo nodded.

Having the two martial brothers protect Fang Lin and her daughter was just an extra precaution.

After all, the Electric General’s men were still in Jinling. If those guys couldn’t find the Electric General and went after Fang Lin and her daughter, it might lead to some unnecessary trouble.

Brother Lei drove the van over, helping Zhang Linsheng and Zhu Dazhi lift Fang Lin and her daughter into the vehicle.

Opening the van door, Zhang Linsheng was surprised to see another person inside.

On one of the seats in the van, a foreigner with a bruised and swollen face rested his head, askew.

"?" Zhang Linsheng glanced at Brother Lei.

Brother Lei shook his head. "One of Master Nuo’s men, he’s with us. Got a bit hurt. You take the mother and daughter back; I’ll take care of this guy."

Zhang Linsheng didn’t ask any more questions. He and Zhu Dazhi lifted the women into the van, and then the vehicle slowly drove away.

At this time, after seeing them off, Chen Nuo turned around and closed the warehouse door.

Lu Xixi glanced at Chen Nuo, then slowly said, "Is the aftermath dealt with?"

"Yeah," Chen Nuo nodded.

Chen Nuo walked directly to the other side of the warehouse, opened a door, and revealed another small, empty room.

Inside the room, on the floor, lay the Electric General in tattered clothes.

The Electric General hadn’t woken up yet; he was still unconscious.

Chen Nuo went over to check the Electric General’s condition. His pulse and heart rate were stable. However, when Chen Nuo probed his spiritual power, its activity was very low.

"It seems like some force sealed him here..." Lu Xixi said, raising her head and pointing to her temple.

Behind her, the Son of the Sun had already entered. He looked at the couple with a grave expression. "Alright, I’m losing my patience, brat! Can we have a proper talk now? What on earth is going on?"

"Are your injuries okay?" Chen Nuo looked at the two of them.

"I wasn’t even hurt! I just got teleported into the sea and choked on a few mouthfuls of water," the old man shook his head.

Chen Nuo turned to Lu Xixi, who coldly replied, "I’m fine."

Chen Nuo stared at the Empress for a couple more moments before nodding tentatively. Lu Xixi looked like she was fine. This battle was much shorter than the last one, and the injuries were all minor. But there was one detail that made me feel vaguely uneasy. After the boy left and everyone had been transferred here, I had tried to check Lu Xixi’s injuries, wanting to check her pulse or something. But at that time, Lu Xixi quickly brushed my hand away and gave me a cold glare, forcing an embarrassed me to step aside. This... she’s still giving me the cold shoulder. Well, alright, at least she didn’t want to kill me on sight. That’s a small improvement, right?

The three powerhouses finally had a chance to sit down and talk properly.

Since all three were unpretentious people and the room was empty without even a chair, they simply sat on the ground, next to the unconscious Electric General.

"Spit it out, kid! Don’t test my patience anymore," the Son of the Sun grumbled.

"Alright, actually... I don’t have much information about this matter. Here’s what happened: During the great battle in the South American Rainforest, we all thought we had killed the Seed, but he actually survived and fled..."

"Cut the crap! I know he didn’t die without you telling me!" the Son of the Sun shouted angrily. "He gave the three of us a good beating yesterday!"

"Let me finish," Chen Nuo sighed and slowly continued, "Not only did he survive, but he also changed his appearance. Moreover, just a few days ago, he came to Jinling, sought me out, and we met."

Upon hearing this, the Son of the Sun looked shocked. "He? Came to see you?"

But Lu Xixi immediately furrowed her brows.

"Yes, he came to see me, and it seemed he had no intention of fighting... Otherwise, with his current strength, I would have been killed by him long ago," Chen Nuo shook his head. "He sought me out, it seems, just to talk."

"What did you talk about?" Lu Xixi asked.

"...We talked about some things," Chen Nuo pondered for a moment. "Firstly, I can confirm one thing: he’s much stronger than he was in South America..."

"That’s obvious without you telling me!" the Son of the Sun was impatient again.

"No, you don’t understand," Chen Nuo took a deep breath. "From our conversation, from what he personally told me... He’s practically no longer a Seed now."

The old man fell silent, staring at Chen Nuo and taking a deep breath.

Lu Xixi also frowned. "Not a Seed? Then what is..."

"A Mother!" Chen Nuo didn’t give them any false hope and bluntly delivered the bad news. "He has become almost indistinguishable from a Mother, or rather, he has evolved into a new Mother!"

"Motherf—" the Son of the Sun muttered dazedly in a low curse, trailing off.

Lu Xixi’s gaze flickered, but she pursed her lips and said nothing.

"He talked to me about some things, including information about the Mother... He mentioned a flaw that is related to the destruction of the Mother’s civilization. In the Mother’s evolution pattern, there is an innate major flaw, and this flaw led to the destruction of the Mother’s civilization. This Seed, his goal is not to awaken the Mother that took refuge on our Earth. It’s not to awaken the Mother. His actual goal is to kill the Mother... and take its place. Currently, it seems he has already..."

"It seems he has already achieved it?" Lu Xixi asked.

"Yeah, he’s infinitely close," Chen Nuo said with a bitter smile. "However, he still has one limitation: he hasn’t found a way to solve that flaw in the Mother’s evolution pattern. So, he kept telling me that the time hasn’t come yet. Let me put it this way, based on my deductions: Although he has come infinitely close to becoming the Mother, he should still be at the Mother’s most primitive stage. And the Mother’s evolution requires spiritual interaction with life forms to continue evolving. But he, before finding a solution to the flaw in the evolution pattern, dares not start evolving, because once he does..."

"Once he evolves, he will follow the old Mother’s path. Although he may become powerful for a while, he will eventually perish due to that fatal BUG? Is that what you mean?" Lu Xixi asked.

"Yes, that’s exactly what I mean," Chen Nuo nodded.

Then the three of them looked at each other.

"This BUG, how exactly can it be resolved? No... What I mean is, can he resolve it at all?" The Son of the Sun, the old man, sighed, cradling his head in his hands. "Are we really just supposed to sit here and pray to God, hoping that he never finds a solution? Is that the only way we’ll be safe?"

"Given the existence of the Mother... I highly doubt the so-called God you’re talking about even exists," Chen Nuo said with a wry smile.

The old man glared at Chen Nuo but didn’t offer any rebuttal. After all, they were all Controllers, beings at the top of the ecological chain on this world. The more they understood and controlled the essence of power, the less devout their religious faith actually was.

"So, what about the methods previously used against the Mother?" Lu Xixi said softly. "After coming back from Brazil, I talked to Vanel. You should have some special weapons to fight the Mother! Can’t we use those things to deal with this little boy?"

The Son of the Sun fell silent—this matter concerned the core secrets of Noah’s Ark, and the old man was very tight-lipped.

"I may have a slightly different opinion," Chen Nuo shook his head, looking at Lu Xixi.

Lu Xixi looked back at Chen Nuo with confusion.

"I highly doubt... that those things... would work on this guy."

Actually, Chen Nuo had already figured this out after yesterday’s battle ended.

Did the little boy hold back during yesterday’s battle? One could say he did, but one could also say he didn’t. Did he really intend to kill? Chen Nuo wasn’t sure; he had no certainty.

So, when did the little boy stop? Chen Nuo remembered this very clearly: it was when he saw Lu Xixi injured and, in desperation, was preparing to use the "Sword of Killing Intent"! That is, the special weapon against the Mother.

Whether it was the Sword of Killing Intent or the Tree of Misfortune, both had been proven to be effective weapons capable of killing the Mother. The little boy obviously sensed something then, and he chose to back off.

But... was he really afraid of the "Tree of Misfortune" or the "Sword of Killing Intent"? This... Chen Nuo had another idea about it.

The former Mother feared these weapons. Because these weapons might have been caused by the backlash from the universe’s rules due to the flaws in the evolution mechanism of the former Mother! The former Mother had flaws, had weaknesses. This weakness was... that legendary, strange virus that specifically targeted spiritual life forms.

In fact, during that conversation with the Seed in the cold drink shop near the school that day, the Seed had inadvertently revealed many clues. For instance... emotions! The Seed seemed to care a lot about emotions... both positive and negative. He even talked about how having a physical body, with organs that could secrete special hormones—things produced physiologically and physically—was what gave living beings emotions. Like hormones, like dopamine.

If there were no physical body, no organs, no nervous system, just pure spiritual power life—then wouldn’t it be understandable? In the Mother’s civilization, all spiritual life forms would lack that rich spectrum of "emotions"?! Cold life forms? No, not cold. Because cold is a relative term; the concept of cold only arises in comparison to heat. For spiritual life forms, if emotions didn’t exist, then perhaps their consciousness would be like computers or AIs. They would lack feelings and emotions, relying purely on calculation and judgment to form mechanisms and choices...

So, when such life forms suddenly gained emotions... it might have become a unique... virus for them?

Taking this a step further: Could the so-called "virus" that supposedly killed the former Mother’s civilization be, precisely, some "negative emotions"?

For instance... Misfortune!

For instance... Killing Intent!

For instance... Perhaps something else!

This would also explain why Chen Nuo himself was able to use the Tree of Misfortune to kill the Mother! Why the ancestor of the Qingyun Sect was able, back then, to use the Sword of Killing Intent to take down the Mother! Because these things might be the very virus that obliterated the Mother’s civilization!

As for how these things came to Earth... they might have been brought by the Mother—Chen Nuo wasn’t certain about this yet. But it could be deduced: The Tree of Misfortune and the Sword of Killing Intent were these terrifying viruses. They were the special-effect weapons capable of wounding the former Mother and destroying its civilization.

But! Were these things effective against the little boy?

The former Mother could be harmed by these things because: the former Mother possessed evolutionary defects! Like an immune deficiency.

So, did the little boy have them? For now, no! Because he hadn’t started evolving yet!

Having not started evolving, he wasn’t yet ensnared by the Mother’s evolutionary BUG. In other words, before he began to evolve... the little boy was perfect! He had no defects!

Thus, during yesterday’s great battle, when the little boy sensed that Chen Nuo intended to use the "Sword of Killing Intent"... he suddenly stopped and chose to retreat!

Reflecting on it afterward, Chen Nuo suddenly found a complete line of logic!

The Tree of Misfortune and similar weapons can deal with the [defective former Mother]—the little boy has no defects—how to make the little boy defective—the answer: make him start evolving! Even if he evolves just once, he will go from a perfect being to a defective one! Then, the Tree of Misfortune or the Sword of Killing Intent might be able to harm or even kill him!

So here’s the problem: The little boy won’t evolve on his own because he hasn’t found a way to remedy the defects. What to do? In this world, apart from the little boy evolving voluntarily, is there any other way to make him evolve "passively" and break his perfect state?

Chen Nuo thought it through to the end and found the answer.

This answer... was himself!

Interaction! The Mother’s evolution is completed through interaction! In the entire world, the only two possessing the ability to interact were the little boy... and Chen Nuo himself! Since the little boy wouldn’t actively interact with others... then, the only one who could interact with him was Chen Nuo!

This line of logical deduction ultimately led to an answer, a way to kill the little boy: Chen Nuo actively interacts with him—the little boy passively evolves, shattering his perfect state and incorporating the defect mechanism—then use weapons like the Tree of Misfortune and the Sword of Killing Intent to kill him!

All logic, traced to its conclusion, pointed to this as the only viable method.

But the problem was, finding the answer brought a new question: If he could deduce it, then the little boy, who possessed more information than him, naturally could too! Even Chen Nuo himself knew that he was the only person in this world capable of killing the little boy.

So, for the little boy, the course of action could be much simpler: He just had to kill Chen Nuo, and it would all be over! He would be completely Invincible!

Why... why didn’t he kill him?

Moreover, yesterday he actively chose to retreat, to stop, and then to leave.

Chen Nuo suddenly realized something that might have been a misconception... or perhaps not.

"It seems like... he’s really afraid that I might die? Why is that..."

「」

"Can I board now?" At the airport boarding gate, the little boy smiled as he handed his ticket to the airport staff, then walked into the tunnel, still smiling.

A minute later, sitting in a window seat, the little boy smiled and said to the flight attendant in very fluent Huaxia, "A cola, please. Thank you."

Then, he turned his head to look out the window at the airport terminal and the runway beside it.

A short while later, the airplane sped down the runway, its nose lifting, and gradually ascended into the sky.

The little boy pinched the bridge of his nose, looking out the window at the city receding into the distance below.

"Goodbye, my dear Chosen One. You must... grow up quickly. However, we won’t meet again until you have. Because... you should have figured out many things by now. The only one who can kill me, yet also the most promising Chosen One. This... is really very interesting..."

「」

In the warehouse office, Chen Nuo smiled, then looked at the Son of the Sun and Lu Xixi beside him.

The smile on his face was calm, but his heart felt as if it were being tossed by tumultuous waves!

(So, according to this deduction... I... am... "the one"?)