CHAPTER 373: CHAPTER 370 [SEED: I EAT TOMATOES...]

Chapter Three Hundred and Seventy [Seed: I eat tomatoes...]

All men must die.

This was Corot’s theory.

It cannot be said to be wrong, but Chen Nuo considered it to be nonsense.

People like Corot, for things they firmly believe in, could sacrifice themselves without caring about their own lives.

But at the same time, they could also sacrifice others’ lives without any hesitation.

After all, everyone is going to die.

That was terrifying.

Chen Nuo believed that Corot harming him and attempting to seize his body was definitely not for personal gain. It was not just to escape from here, not just for his own survival.

Corot certainly had a "nobler" purpose.

But that did not mean he had the right to take the lives of others.

This was Chen Nuo’s conviction.

The closest to success?

Success in what? What success?

Chen Nuo naturally asked.

Corot’s reply was:

"You’ve gained the ability to interact!"

Chen Nuo was stunned.

Corot’s statement contained some underlying messages.

First, Corot had seen other Chosen Ones.

Secondly, Corot believed that the difference between the other Chosen Ones and Chen Nuo was that the others did not have the "interaction" ability, while only Chen Nuo possessed it!

"Interaction... is it very special?" Chen Nuo asked.

He had always thought that the ability to interact with spiritual power was something he naturally acquired after contacting Mother.

It should be some kind of unexpected gift granted to everyone who had been in touch with Mother. Perhaps each Chosen One received something different, but it shouldn’t be so rare, right?

"Interaction means the ability to break through the ceiling. To become something you cannot currently be."

"Become what?" Chen Nuo asked, his heart already starting to pound.

"Become what Mother most needs."

Naturally, Chen Nuo suddenly remembered the fatal flaw that Mother lacked.

What Mother most needed.

That... "one"!

The two of them were confronting each other like this in Chen Nuo’s Consciousness Space.

Chen Nuo tried his best to digest what Corot had said, then he asked, "If you succeeded in seizing my body, what do you plan to do with it?"

Corot hesitated for a moment before responding, "I would seek out Mother, and then, interact with Her!"

"Hmm?"

"Mother has a very special flaw, one we never discovered in our millennia of conflict!

"Mother came to our world and could have become its ruler outright, but She chose to divide Herself, to slumber, and even created the Seed and the Chosen Ones.

"Only because, Mother has yet to resolve Her own flaw."

As Corot spoke, a thought formed in Chen Nuo’s mind:

It matched! Everything matched! It all matched with what Seed had originally told him!

"So, my interaction with Mother..."

"You’re only close to success, not yet successful. If you had been successful, I would have killed you immediately! I absolutely could not let you have any contact with Mother!

"But since you haven’t succeeded, then, I can take your body, find Mother, deceive Her into acceptance, interact with Her... and then, completely destroy Mother’s plan to perfect Her own flaw! Completely eradicate the threat Mother poses to us!"

After some thought, Chen Nuo countered, "Is it necessary to eliminate Mother in this way?

"Haven’t you from Noah’s Ark made certain progress over the millennia? As long as you continue the worldwide search and find those..."

Corot interrupted Chen Nuo, his voice tinged with a strange emotion.

"Do you really think Mother can be eliminated like that?"

Hmm?

These words, coming from a member of an ancient family from Noah’s Ark, someone who had followed Noah’s Ark for hundreds or even thousands of years and held it as their belief, were indeed peculiar.

"So Mother can’t be eliminated?"

"At least not with our previous methods," Corot said with a cold laugh.

"Find one, eliminate one. We have the Seed of Misfortune, the Sword of Killing Intent—the negative emotions that Mother fears the most, the deadliest thing for a Spiritual Life Form.

"Just like pests trapped in a house, although they hide well, we can find them one by one if we search slowly, and eventually, annihilate them all," Chen Nuo said.

Corot’s answer was simpler and more decisive, "Previously, the people of Noah’s Ark believed the same."

"And then? Isn’t that right?"

"The Earth is only so big. Nowadays, places on Earth untrodden by human footsteps are almost non-existent.

"Even where human footsteps can’t reach, where it’s not suitable for human existence, at least technology can get there.

"So... why haven’t all the mother entities on Earth been found yet?"

As Corot spoke, he sighed softly, "You know, the disastrous battle in Africa three hundred years ago, the one that led to the fall of the great ancestor Corot and seriously injured your sect’s ancestor Yun He...

"That battle, while tragic, had glorious results. After all, even though humanity lost three top warriors, we managed to annihilate a fragment of Mother.

"We always wondered, how many mother entities could split off from the original one that descended upon Earth?

"There must be a number. Find one, destroy one, and there will be one less.

"We all used to think that way!

"But, that time in Africa, something unexpected happened.

"After the great ancestor Corot’s sacrifice, the family fell into a period of silence. Yet within the family, there was one with a unique way of thinking who always dwelled on the African battle and the fall of the strongest patriarch in family history, which led to the decline of the family. He felt that there was something amiss behind it all.

"Therefore, without the support of Noah’s Ark and against the family’s wishes, he conducted a thorough investigation into the site in Africa where a Mother appeared.

"Unfortunately, that area of Africa was primitive and ignorant. Many of the natives still lived in benighted tribal systems, lacking their own written language and records of their history.

"So, that ancestor went personally to that land in Africa, lived there for thirty years, visited countless tribes, delved deep into the history of numerous tribes, learning from their Wizards and Great Shamans, studying the languages of countless tribes to understand their history and even their most ethereal and vague legends.

"Then, from the history and legends of hundreds of tribes that he researched over thirty years, he pieced together a phenomenon that perplexed him.

"Next, through horizontal and vertical comparisons and historical validations, he finally came up with a shocking conjecture that he himself could scarcely believe."

At this point, Chen Nuo naturally asked, "What?"

Corot continued, "Right at the site of the great African battle where we annihilated a Mother!

"The history and legends recorded by the various tribes in that area...

"All seemed to suggest a fact that the issues began around eight hundred years before the great battle involving Mother!

"Eight hundred years ago, that place began to exhibit strange changes and supernatural phenomena, and the wars and legends of the local tribes began to include miraculous accounts.

"But! If we trace back even further in history, before eight hundred years, that place...

"Had no anomalies!

"The ancient legends of the tribes, the records passed down generationally by the Wizards, even the carvings and pictographs on some ancient artifacts showed nothing unusual!

"Which means..."

At this point, Chen Nuo felt a chilling sensation creeping deep into his soul!

He had already thought of a horrifying conclusion.

Indeed, Corot said slowly, "Unless... Mother could grow legs while asleep and move around, running from some other place to that spot in Africa!

"Otherwise, the Mother that we annihilated in Africa seems to have appeared out of thin air about eight hundred years ago!"

Even within the Consciousness Space, Chen Nuo felt a wave of chill, "So, you mean..."

"It’s likely that the Mothers are endless!

"They will keep spawning, randomly generating new Mother fragments on this planet!"

At that moment, Chen Nuo could only think:

What the fuck?!!

After a long silence, Chen Nuo seemed unable to accept this terrifying reality.

He spoke with difficulty, "Could it be possible... that the Mother destroyed in Africa wasn’t newly spawned, but has always existed, just without emitting any power... so the legends of the tribes didn’t record it early on, it went unnoticed..."

Corot spoke indifferently, "Your reaction is the same as everyone else’s when that ancestor first proposed this conjecture.

"No one wants to believe such a desperate fact and prefers to cloak this issue in a rationale that they can emotionally accept.

"If they believed this reality, it would mean acknowledging that the faith they’ve shed blood and tears for over millennia was all in vain.

"All a waste of effort.

"No one wants to believe.

"Moreover, that ancestor had no conclusive evidence; it was just a deduction.

"And furthermore, historical records in that part of Africa, inhabited by tribal civilizations, were extremely scarce and fragmentary, not enough to support that ancestor’s conjecture."

Chen Nuo was stunned.

He didn’t think Corot was deceiving him on this matter.

He felt Corot was telling the truth.

Moreover, Corot didn’t seem entirely stable; he was cruel but also obsessive to the extreme.

"So, may I ask you for a favor?" Corot asked.

What the fuck?

Just as he thought this guy wasn’t all there, he was making a request?

"Don’t forget that I’ve just uncovered your scheme to harm me," Chen Nuo said somewhat peculiarly. "At this time, you actually want to ask me for a favor?

"...Tell me, what is it that you want to ask of me?"

"Please... commit suicide."

What the fuck???

Chen Nuo felt that this guy was probably insane beyond redemption!

"What did you say?"

"I said, please commit suicide!

"Please, for the safety and civilization of our mother planet’s race, take your own life!"

What was this nonsense? Asking an ancestor to sacrifice himself for the future generations???

"I..." Chen Nuo felt like he was about to suffocate.

"To hell with you!"

"Since I cannot take over your body and use you to kill Mother, then please, just commit suicide! Your existence is far too dangerous! Once you become a Chosen One of a successful entity, you will become the final piece Mother needs to complete Herself..."

"Go to hell, you son of a bitch!"

"For all of humanity..."

"Go to hell, you son of a bitch!"

"You are part of humanity too..."

"Fuck your mother!"

"Since everyone is born to die eventually..."

"Damn you!!!"

At this moment, Chen Nuo’s composure completely shattered.

He had seen people morally blackmailed, forced into donations, forced into marriages.

But he had never ever seen someone outright coerced into suicide!

Kill myself for the happiness of all humanity? Fuck that!

It was at that moment that Corot’s image in Chen Nuo’s mind plummeted drastically.

Although he had been tricked by him before, at least he used to think this guy was a fanatical believer.

Now... This bastard had fallen in Chen Nuo’s mind to the same level as those self-righteous people who say, "Why don’t you donate to children in the mountains with all your money?"

Just as Chen Nuo was about to burst with anger and wanted to hit someone...

He suddenly heard a strange sound.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..."

Chen Nuo had known Seed for quite a while. During their encounters, this powerful, almost despair-inducing Seed, this prospective Mother, always appeared calm and collected.

He had almost never seen him lose his composure or show any significant emotional fluctuations.

And even more...

He had never heard him laugh so happily, so unrestrained.

That fucker was even laughing like a honking goose!!!

Seed’s laugh echoed through the Consciousness Space, relentless, almost as if he was going to laugh himself to death.

Chen Nuo’s mind raced, but he suppressed his turbulent emotions and transmitted his thoughts coldly.

"Do you realize how terrible your laugh sounds?"

"...I know, which is why I hardly ever laugh," Seed responded calmly.

Chen Nuo sighed in resignation, "Since when have you been eavesdropping?"

Seed said, "Not for very long, probably around the time you were transported and he tampered with something. It was when he covered your face with a piece of dark cloth and then played out his own play to deceive you."

Chen Nuo: "...So that was practically from the beginning?!"

"Not exactly from the beginning... At least when you were fighting to the death inside the base, I was hiding far away outside and couldn’t see or hear anything that was happening inside."

Chen Nuo exhaled deeply, "That’s still a long time—why didn’t you warn me? Watching me get deceived by this guy for so long?"

"What do you think?" Seed’s voice still carried a hint of a smile, as if he was being gentle yet polite.

Chen Nuo suddenly felt a shiver in his heart, as a cold realization dawned on him!

This guy was... waiting for an opportunity!!

Waiting for what opportunity?

For me to become a Complete Being?

To watch as Corot and I schemed against each other for so long...

"Do you think it’s possible for me to evolve into a successful complete Chosen One trapped with this old bastard?"

Seed replied honestly, "I actually don’t know, and I’m not sure. Maybe it’s possible, maybe not; I just don’t want to interrupt the process."

After a pause, Seed continued, "If this guy finds a way to clear the Seed of Misfortune in your Consciousness Space, along with that Seed full of killing intent, I might even be grateful to him.

"Unfortunately, he can’t do it and has failed."

"So you were actually planning to save me?"

"If he had cleared those two viruses in your Consciousness Space that are lethal to me, I wouldn’t mind killing him after he did it, and then saving you.

"If, by accident, due to your interaction with him, you undergo some kind of transformation, become a Complete Being...

"I wouldn’t mind devouring you, my friend."

Chen Nuo couldn’t help but retort, "Do you realize? My friend, using this term right after ’I’m going to eat you,’ is quite inappropriate."

"Sorry, I don’t have much experience being human, still getting used to your behavior patterns."

Thinking it over, Chen Nuo asked very directly, "How can I become... the ’successful complete Chosen One’ this guy talks about?

"In other words, what do I need to do to qualify to be devoured by you?"

"I’m not lying to you, I really don’t know. If I did, I would have figured out a way for you to do it already," Seed sighed. "However, my current guess is that when you fill up the final crack in your Consciousness Space, reaching 17/17, there will certainly be some significant changes.

"Then, maybe, you will have succeeded.

"But I’m not certain, this is just a guess.

"More likely, after achieving 17/17, you might die."

"Die?" Chen Nuo frowned.

"Yes, die.

"After the transformation, you might not be able to withstand the scope of spiritual ideas. Once perfected, these ideas break free from constraints, exceeding what the human brain can bear.

"Then, um... based on my understanding of humans during this time, your human spiritual consciousness is attached to the brain.

"So, it’s highly probable that your brain won’t be able to handle such a substantial upgrade and mutation. Your brain will then physically suffer from what you call ’lesions’ or ’pathological changes,’ which will kill your physical body.

"That is, you’ll end up in an awkward state between physical life and spiritual life.

"You can’t transcend the body, allowing the Spiritual Life Form to live independently from the body.

"And your brain, also unable to bear the rank of that level of spiritual life, will slowly disintegrate.

"Then... you will die."

Chen Nuo fell silent.

Well, actually there’s something he didn’t openly say to Seed.

You might not believe it, but that experience of his brain collapsing and then slowly dying from pathological changes... he’d been through it once before!

"If you think there’s a chance of success, why don’t you try to force me to test it?"

"I have thought about it," Seed’s tone was earnest. "I even thought, you have many weaknesses.

"For example, I could capture your family members, then threaten you with their lives to make you find a strong practitioner for a spiritual power interaction, thus achieving 17/17.

"I’ve read your memories from your dreams. Based on my understanding and assessment of your personality, I believe there’s over an eighty percent chance I could make you comply if I did that."

Chen Nuo fell silent!

Honestly, if Seed actually did something like that, threatening him with Xiao Yezi, or Sun Keke, or Lu Xixi’s lives, forcing him to achieve 17/17... He’d probably really kneel!

"Then why don’t you do it?" Chen Nuo asked with a heavy tone.

"I... can’t bear to," Seed sighed. "Because there’s a higher chance you’d die, so I can’t bear to risk it.

"Corot got one thing right; you are the Chosen One closest to success.

"And you are the closest one I could find.

"If I randomly attempt something and you die as a result... I would regret it for a very, very long time.

"And who knows how long it would take to find another Chosen One as good as you.

"Of course, there’s another very important reason...

"This time I awoke, roamed the world in human form, and encountered a small but interesting incident that made me think deeply."

"What is it?"

"Tomatoes," Seed said indifferently. "Artificially ripened tomatoes may look the same as the normal ones, but they always seem to taste a bit off.

"So, I don’t plan to interfere with your evolutionary process.

"I’m very afraid that if I meddle, force you into doing something, it might lead to a bad outcome.

"I’ve lived in your world for so many years, and I’ve learned a very interesting principle.

"Everything eventually flows in the direction it’s meant to go.

"Allowing things to develop naturally often yields the best results.

"And you, Chen Nuo, you are the tomato I’ve set my sights on...

"I don’t want to artificially ripen this tomato."