Chapter 764 - 485: A Question to Ponder

As the saying goes, there are three sacred sites for a date:

—the movie theater, the aquarium, and the Ferris wheel.

The classic trifecta.

As a veteran who'd been on countless dates, Zhou Chen felt absolutely no pressure in this department. He was an old pro, handling it all with practiced ease and effortless skill. The romantic atmosphere he created was simply sublime. He could even conquer a Hell-Level boss like Jiang Che, so an innocent girl like Tang Ling stood no chance. After just one round, she was happily clinging to Zhou Chen's arm and refusing to let go, the two of them all lovey-dovey.

"The Soul is truly a wondrous thing. Its existence has fundamentally changed my very nature." Tang Ling was about as tall as Zhou Chen. She turned to look at him and said softly, "This kind of intimate contact wouldn't have elicited any reaction from me before, because I was a machine. But after gaining a Soul, everything is different. My heart is operating at an accelerated rate, and my energy transfer speed is fifteen percent faster than normal, just like the physiological reaction humans have when they're happy... I can feel the excitement, exhilaration, relaxation, and happiness welling up in my Soul... Having emotions is wonderful."

"Speaking of which, did you awaken any Extraordinary Abilities after you gained a Soul?" The thought suddenly occurred to Zhou Chen.

'Every Soul, upon awakening, gains Extraordinary Abilities based on its own characteristics. This was true for humans, Beastmen, animals, and even Abyssal Demons, so Tang Ling should have one too.'

"Oh, that," Tang Ling said. "The Adaptive Evolution Array merged with my Soul and became my Extraordinary Ability. I call it 'Super Evolution'."

"Super Evolution... Are you some kind of Pokemon?" Zhou Chen quipped.

'But to be fair, "Evolution" has one of the highest potential ceilings of any Authority. You could tell just by looking at Tang Ling's combat power—she was completely invincible among those of the same tier. Once she becomes a God, her combat power will be terrifyingly strong; taking on several opponents at once probably won't be a problem.'

"How are you adapting to your Soul?" Zhou Chen asked again.

"It's going quite smoothly. Once I've experienced the full spectrum of human emotions, and after I have a major breakthrough, I should be able to become a God." Tang Ling knew what Zhou Chen was really asking.

"You make it sound so easy."

"Of course it's easy. You already helped me through the hardest part~" Tang Ling hugged Zhou Chen's arm tighter, giving him a sweet smile before tilting her head and resting it on his shoulder.

The sickeningly sweet stench of new love assaulted everyone on the street indiscriminately. Even dogs took a detour when they saw them.

The two of them chatted and laughed as they walked to a park, where they found a bench and sat down.

Leaning against Zhou Chen, Tang Ling suddenly stretched out her hand, pointing to an exceptionally brilliant point of light in the night sky. "See that? That's the halo from the outbreak of the Divine War."

A few days ago, when the Divine War broke out in Centaurus, the entire night sky was affected. The war erupted with a light countless times more brilliant than a supernova, overshadowing the light from most other celestial bodies. As a result, it became difficult to see the stars in the night sky anywhere in the world; only that one shimmering point of light was particularly eye-catching.

This not only led to a dramatic upheaval in astronomy but also caused tremendous turmoil in the fields of Mysticism and Extraordinary Studies. The most significant impact was that all abilities related to the starry sky, such as astrology, completely lost their effectiveness. Even the Spirit Realm was affected, leading to numerous incidents.

Tang Ling looked at the starry sky and asked, "Zhou Chen, have you ever considered something?"

"What is it?"

"Have you ever wondered why humanity has been able to develop so rapidly?"

"In the eons since the Cosmos was born, many races have evolved. But ninety-nine percent of them failed to make much progress on the Extraordinary path before going extinct. For them, mustering their entire race's strength to produce a single Tier-Five individual was their absolute limit. Only those high-level intelligent races could go a step further, allowing Demigods or even True Gods to emerge among their people."

'The existence of other intelligent species beyond Earth was no longer shocking news. The Light Abyss alone was full of bizarre-looking races. High-level Ascenders had discovered plenty of alien civilizations and their ruins while exploring the Cosmos. Many of these civilizations were billions of years older than humanity, but in the end, they couldn't escape their fate of fading away in the long river of time.'

"In the Cosmos, a Demigod is already a Creator-level being. A True God's Status is even higher, touching upon the very origin of the Cosmos. If a civilization can produce a True God, the entire race can ascend, becoming a top-tier race in the entire Cosmos."

Tang Ling continued, revealing a top-secret, sealed record. "Actually, while exploring the stars, the Star Association has encountered some Demigods and True Gods from deep space. Guess what happened to them in the end?"

Zhou Chen froze for two seconds, his eyes widening in astonishment. He made a slicing motion across his neck. "Don't tell me the Star Association killed them all?"

"Uh-huh."

Tang Ling said with a sigh, "Those ancient alien civilizations evolved over countless ages and finally gave birth to a God. The entire race ascended along with their new God, thinking they could become rulers of the Cosmos, only to be casually wiped out by a race that had been developing for less than a thousandth of their own time...

Don't you find that dramatic?"

"Ah... I suppose so. But when you consider the vastness of the Cosmos, it all makes sense."

'Zhou Chen was a sci-fi fan, after all. He knew that the laws of the Cosmos were cold and unforgiving. Even the most powerful race could encounter an even stronger one and face annihilation. While it would undoubtedly be devastating for that race, it was insignificant to the Cosmos as a whole.'

"Makes sense? It doesn't make any sense! It's completely insane!" Tang Ling poked his cheek with her finger. "Other alien civilizations spend hundreds of millions of years and exhaust their resources just to produce a single God. But look at us! It's only been a little over two hundred years since the new era began, and we've already produced nine Gods and a whole bunch of Demigods. In the old era, Demigods were a dime a dozen and True Gods were practically everywhere. The Abyss is ancient, as old as the Cosmos itself. And yet, not counting the two True Gods who defected, it only has seven Abyssal Kings to this day. Does that sound reasonable to you?"

"I guess it is a bit unreasonable... But isn't this all because of that skeleton? It's probably just that humanity got lucky that the skeleton ended up on this planet," Zhou Chen said.

'That mysterious skeleton possessed an unimaginable number of Authorities. Earth's entry into the Extraordinary Era was directly linked to it, whereas other alien civilizations didn't have such fertile soil.'

'It's like they say: all roads lead to Rome, but some people are just born there.'

"That's only one part of it. Having fertile soil isn't enough; you also have to consider the crops." Tang Ling possessed the Authority of Mind Reading, so she heard every one of Zhou Chen's inner thoughts clearly. She continued sharing the top-secret intelligence. "During an alien civilization exploration mission, someone discovered a planet teeming with all sorts of resources—a fertile ground for Extraordinary development. The race living on it possessed abundant Essence in their bodies. You could say that civilization was naturally suited for the Extraordinary path, and they did indeed walk it."

"Let me guess, here comes the twist," Zhou Chen chimed in. ℯ𝕝.

"...And the result was that their progress on the Extraordinary path was extremely slow. After forty million years, they were still stuck in a primitive, barbaric society, right up until technology began to rise. After this race took the path of technology, they left their planet in just three thousand years.

There are other similar examples. From the experiences of those races, you can see that the Extraordinary path is not an easy one to walk. And yet, humanity's journey has been exceptionally smooth—we've even been blazing a trail at full speed.

This is the question I often ponder."