Chapter 234: Speak Like a Human, or I’ll Kill You

’This is a disaster. Don’t tell me he’s actually going to become a being like the Blood Moon, the Golden Light Man, or the Red Blood Dragon.’

Qi Suian was pondering a question: ’Where’s the opportunity in all this?’

’Something this big can’t possibly leave me empty-handed. That’s not how plot armor works.’

His gaze then fell upon Bruce, who had just regained consciousness and looked a little dazed.

However, he quickly recovered and spoke up immediately.

"You have released the Demon Lord. He will destroy the entire world." Bruce’s words had the ring of a charlatan prophet, which Qi Suian found a bit hard to stomach.

’But the phrase "destroy the entire world" is a bit of an exaggeration. If he could wipe out the planet’s surface ecology, that would already be incredibly powerful. I doubt he could even shake the planet itself.’

"You seem to know something. I wouldn’t mind if you shared it with me," Qi Suian said, leading Bruce to a safe location.

’This guy might look harmless, but he’s actually full of malicious schemes.’

’It’s not like I didn’t overhear the conversation between Bruce and Yu Shijin.’

’More importantly, he was neither a pure-blood human nor a mutant, but a Corpse Eater.’

’A stable form of Corpse Eater, to be precise. One that didn’t need to consume pure-bloods and mutants to maintain its genetic and cellular stability.’

’He could also resist radiation and control black crystal—though that ability has now been stripped from him, of course.’

’So, calling him a Corpse Eater wasn’t quite right, since it’s a derogatory term.’

’In truth, he should be classified as a fourth type: an Evolver. Every mutation caused by radiation had been a benign one, ultimately leading to this evolution.’

’This was just Qi Suian’s simple observation. He’d have to dissect him later, but that would have to wait until after Bruce had given him the intel.’

From Bruce’s mouth, Qi Suian heard a different story.

The Demon Lord Yu Shijin, an entity from beyond the heavens, invaded this world with his domain, heroes, and troops.

Because he wielded the Extraordinary power of radiation, the world was no match for him and was ultimately brought under his rule.

However, in the process, Yu Shijin’s actions were punished by the Lord, causing his heroes and troops to die, his domain to shatter, and the power of radiation to wane.

Later, the Lord’s Warriors, having received His will, launched a Holy War against the Demon Lord.

And Bruce, as the leader of the Lord’s Paladins, used his charisma to bring the Twelve Victory Clans, who had been coerced and bewitched by the Demon Lord, back into the Lord’s embrace. He then had the Twelve Victorious Holy Maidens deliver the final, fatal blow to the Demon Lord.

In that battle, they vanquished the Demon Lord and sealed him away using a Fire Seed bestowed by the Lord.

But at the same time, the entire world paid the price, being reduced to a wasteland.

Fortunately, the Fire Seed gave them life. Using everything that had belonged to the Demon Lord, they created the Sanctuaries and the Holy War Armor—the original name for the Fire Seed Armor.

It all sounded very epic, especially with the way Bruce used a chant-like tone as he recounted the tale.

’The overall story isn’t that different from what I know.’ After stripping away the embellishments, glorification, and other fluff, Qi Suian found that it was practically the same as the version described by Yu Shijin—the one whose name had been muddled in Bruce’s memory.

Hearing this, a look of delight couldn’t help but cross Bruce’s face.

’I’ve seen Qi Suian’s combat prowess,’ he thought. ’If I can somehow get my hands on that miraculous armor, then even if I’ve lost the power of the lord and domain I usurped from Yu Shijin, I can still regain my strength.’

"The Lord saw your actions in stopping the Demon Lord, and He saw your deeds in saving the Holy Warriors."

"You must be a devout believer of the Lord," Bruce said hurriedly.

Qi Suian just shook his head. "Anything else to say? If not, I’m planning to kill you and see if you drop any good loot."

He suspected Bruce was a protagonist. ’After all, for someone to live so many years, it’d be a lie to say he isn’t one.’

’Will I lose out if he dies? No way. I can still dissect him.’

The joy on Bruce’s face froze instantly. ’This isn’t how things are supposed to go.’

’How many years has it been in the outside world? How could no one believe my story anymore?’

"You can’t kill me, I am... all right, what do you want in exchange for letting me go?" Bruce had been about to try his old tricks again, but he keenly sensed the atmosphere was off and immediately switched his tone.

"The truth of what happened back then," Qi Suian said.

’Bruce can talk, and I’ll listen. I can judge the truth of it later.’

"Immortality. Yu Shijin lived for over a hundred years without aging. He ruled the world but refused to share his immortality."

"So he died," Bruce said succinctly, no longer beating around the bush.

"Then what about the Fire Seed? Where did you get it?" Qi Suian continued to ask.

Bruce hesitated for a moment, then said, "I don’t know. The Twelve Victory Clans gave it to me."

"Whether it was the betrayal of Yu Shijin or the world war, they were the ones pulling the strings from behind the scenes."

"Though I did manage to break free from them later and even made them pay the price alongside Yu Shijin, the Fire Seed technology became an unsolved mystery."

"Unless you can turn those monsters in the Black Crystal City back into humans, don’t even think about finding the source," Bruce stated bluntly.

’Holy War, Paladins... it was all just packaging.’

’When it was no longer useful, I was cast aside just the same.’

The structure of the Corpse Eater Organization, to a certain extent, actually originated from this.

"So you were just a puppet? And you don’t know anything?" Qi Suian was rather speechless.

"Pretty much. They needed a spokesman, and so I appeared," Bruce said, not minding that Qi Suian had called him a puppet.

"Then here’s a question: were you also involved in reassembling the domain and Yu Shijin, which were originally split into twelve parts?" Qi Suian asked.

"That’s right. I wanted all his power. As you saw, a Tier Five Lord from the Era of Lords isn’t so easy to kill. I lost spectacularly," Bruce did not hide his failure.

"And then? Why didn’t you leave? It looks like you were trapped inside," Qi Suian continued to ask.

"Yes, I was trapped. Because from the very beginning, I only obtained my power through usurpation."

"I never grasped its true nature. All he needed was to reclaim his head and one other body part, and he could easily defeat me." Bruce sounded very frustrated as he said this.

’I was the one with most of the remains, yet he was stronger. How does that make any sense?’

Furthermore, because the power he obtained was incomplete, he was completely unable to leave the Eden of Triumph.

Later, to ensure his own survival, he cut off the external supply, which then triggered a resource crisis in the Sanctuaries.

The Grand Elders of the Tier One Sanctuaries had once come in to investigate, but by that time, the Eden of Triumph was already overrun with Wasteland Kings, and everything had been swallowed by radioactive black crystal.

It was like Purgatory. The radiation levels on the visiting Sanctuary Grand Elder went straight off the charts. He died from radiation poisoning before he even had a chance to turn into a Corpse Eater.

It was because of that Grand Elder’s death that the subsequent Sanctuary War broke out, so that by the time Qi Suian arrived in the Wasteland World, only six Tier One Sanctuaries remained.

It was also at that time that a mutant happened to obtain a Tier One Fire Seed and entered the Eden of Triumph.

With both Bruce and Yu Shijin desperate to break the stalemate, this mutant took Yu Shijin’s head and obtained the legendary Fire Seed Source Fragment.

Later, this led to the creation of the Steel Brotherhood.

"Your story really is a winding one."

"It’s so melodramatic I can’t even bear to watch." After hearing the stories from before and after the wasteland, Qi Suian concluded that this apocalypse was indeed a man-made disaster.

’All I can say is that they deserved it.’

"By the way, you have Yu Shijin’s memories, so do you know what he plans to do after he recovers his power?" Qi Suian asked.

"Destroy the world," Bruce said calmly, uttering the three words.

"I can understand his resentment and his intentions, and I know his strength is indeed impressive," Qi Suian said. "But forget destroying the world, he can’t even destroy the planet."

"Huh? You’re a wastelander, yet you know about planets?" Bruce looked surprised. "Don’t tell me technology wasn’t lost?"

Bruce had only just met Qi Suian, so of course, he didn’t know about the Doomsday Game.

"It was, but it was re-established," Qi Suian replied perfunctorily, then continued asking, "What method does he plan to use for the destruction?"

"By using the nodes that were originally used to achieve immortality and create the wasteland, he’ll directly sacrifice the entire Black Crystal City and all the traitors... Oh, in the wasteland, I suppose they’re called Wasteland Kings."

"He’ll use that explosive power to turn the entire planet into a single, radioactive black crystal."

"That way, everything, whether person or object, will die from the high-intensity, high-concentration radiation that will erupt in a short period."

"However, that was the original plan. Your previous attack caused irreparable damage to his remains, so his strength will likely drop from Tier Five to Tier Three."

"Given his condition, he won’t be able to complete his original plan," Bruce said, not holding back. He hoped Qi Suian would be the one to finish off Yu Shijin.

It was for no other reason than that he himself had become immortal. Although he hadn’t obtained Yu Shijin’s power as a lord or his domain, he had gained the immortality he had always yearned for.

Unfortunately, without power, it only allowed him to live on forever; it couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t die or get sick.

If Yu Shijin’s plan succeeded, his own immortality would also come to an end.

"So what will he do instead?" Qi Suian certainly wouldn’t know, so he could only ask Bruce.

"He’ll most likely use the nodes to corrode the world slowly. The efficiency will be lower, but it also gives us time to stop him." Bruce thought for a moment before sharing his conjecture. He then added, "But don’t worry, we still have time. He’ll need at least fifteen days before he can execute his plan."

"Fifteen days, huh? That’s plenty of time," Qi Suian said, knocking Bruce unconscious on the spot.

When he said there was plenty of time, he wasn’t referring to stopping Yu Shijin, of course, but to studying Bruce.

’As for stopping him? Why would I do that? An opportunity to wipe out all the other survivors is rare. If worst comes to worst, I’ll just go hide out in space for a while.’