Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 390 - 350 Moonlight City

Chapter 390: Chapter 350 Moonlight City

Nilu had severely wounded Lila, which led to Lila being remodeled and experimented on by the company, eventually being disassembled and sold off. This hatred was etched deep into her bones, so Lila was obsessed with defeating the Reality Manipulator.

"There will come a day when you can take your revenge with your own hands," Xu Yang promised, "I will definitely help you exact this vengeance."

Within Lila’s chip, fragmented memories were continually being read, these memory files covered with multiple labels awakened a strong reaction in the emotional linkages, affecting her control efficiency over her other modules.

"She possesses three kinds of magic powers," Lila said after overcoming the abnormal reactions from her emotional module, beginning to report calmly, "terrain manipulation, vacuum blades, and energy erasure. She can alter the geographical nature of large areas at will, creating and replacing snowfields, sandfields, mudfields, grasslands, rocky terrains, and artificial terrains; she can fire space-rending blades with tremendous penetrative and destructive power; she can also instantly erase energy shields. Verified effects include rendering ion swords ineffective, extinguishing flames, etc. If used properly, it can also erase a person’s life energy, achieving an instant-death effect. Currently, 140 years old, a Dominator Level Reality Manipulator."

"Only Honma Noriko could have asked her to come from far away to protect them," Xu Yang nodded, "They were able to retreat all in one piece."

By evening, the news constantly reported the latest developments, putting an end to the day’s chaos.

As expected, Honma Noriko had run away.

Although she couldn’t fight her way out and return to Shangjing, she still managed to wait until the fleet loyal to her arrived, and now she, along with Kanako, had left Zhonggui Town for the vast ocean. Zhonggui Town was subsequently struck by tactical nuclear weapons; had they been any slower, they would have been engulfed by the nuclear flames.

Having narrowly escaped death, they would regroup overseas.

"Are you alright?" Xu Yang sent a message to Kanako using a secure channel.

"I’ll contact you when we’re in a safe place!" Kanako responded, "We’re now fleeing to the Near East Region."

Heading to the Near East? Xu Yang analyzed the situation silently.

They were going to the great desert in the Near East, an area rich with spice minerals and black mountains filled with the scent of death.

That was strange since there was conflict between Honma Noriko and Near East Providence. Xu Yang thought to himself.

Honma Noriko’s investment foresight was extraordinarily sharp. She had established the Evelyn Company early on, making it invest in, manage, and control a large number of spice enterprises, exploring and mining spices. 90% of the world’s spices came from the Near East, and of that, 60% belonged to the Evelyn Company, providing longevity spices to Honma Noriko and significant benefits to the Xisheng Group.

Near East Providence had attempted multiple times to confiscate the Evelyn Company and reclaim the sixty percent of spices, but they dreaded the military of Xisheng. Now that issues with Honma Noriko and her children had erupted, Near East Providence wouldn’t miss this opportunity to seize the chance to absorb the Evelyn Company.

But still, Honma Noriko went to the Near East. Xu Yang pondered. Why was that?

—The technical equipment provided by Near East Providence. He suddenly thought about this. The people of the Near East could help Honma Noriko achieve a higher level of eternal life. Yes, she, too, wanted to upload her consciousness into the cloud for backups, just like the other rich people in the world, to avoid death.

Globally, the companies capable of consciousness recording surgery were roughly located in the Northern Archipelago, Taixi Continent, Xia, New Taixi State, Greeny City, and the Near East Region.

The Northern Archipelago and Taixi Continent had the military presence of rebellious children, definitely not an option.

Xia was tensely preparing for a strategic decisive battle with Black Fire Innovation, thus not safe.

New Taixi State had erected high walls at its borders, closed off entry and exit for a long time. In their eyes, the so-called noble Honma Noriko was also a member of the inferior external life forms, unlikely to open their borders for her.

Greeny City was the last stronghold of the Corporate Alliance, but it was the capital groups represented by Xisheng that had shattered the Corporate Alliance’s order of rule. With poor relations between the two, Honma Noriko couldn’t go to Greeny City either.

That left only the Near East Region. Since she had chosen the Near East Region, she would probably have to hand over the Evelyn Company. Earlier, a large share of the company’s stock had been gifted to Kanako by her, and now she had dug deep to give it to Near East Providence, effectively cutting flesh from Kanako.

Once Kanako lost the Evelyn Company, her situation would worsen significantly, but now that they were thousands of miles apart, who knows when they would see each other again. Xu Yang could only manage the Nestor Company for now, making a profit by selling Type B Synthetic Humans, slowly maintaining operations, and wait until Farosa finished the ritual before making any further plans.

Later, Xu Yang went to sleep and was soon visited in his dream by Lunar Fire Mond.

"Respond to me," Mond said, "or you can sleep forever, I have no power to compel you."

"Long time no see," Xu Yang responded to the summons.

"So she has started her Ascension," Mond spoke as he led Xu Yang onto the Moon in the dream, into the courtyard of his palace.

"We’ve been preparing for a long time," Xu Yang said, genuinely astonished upon arriving at such a mystical and exquisitely beautiful realm for the first time. Although a vision within a dream, he saw pavilions and lofts as white as jade snow, trees, flowers, houses, and buildings dazzling like stars, a moon perpetually clear, flowing water reflecting heavenly brilliance.

In the dream’s illusion, Mond appeared as an old man with a dragon’s head, his beard hanging low. He led Xu Yang along an extended stone stairway, ascending towards the upper levels.

"This is a very dangerous matter," Mond said, "You must bring her in person to my Moonlight Garden after her Ascension, in her true form."

"Is there a difference with a dream visit?"

"Dreams are difficult to control," Mond said, "How can one discuss important matters under such circumstances? Who knows whether my present form is merely a figment of your mind. You can twist my words as long as you concentrate. Dreams are a reflection of your subconscious; I can only provide a guiding role, to prove my existence."

Xu Yang focused his attention and indeed, Mond’s appearance changed rapidly, and his voice distorted. When he released his concentration, Mond’s image slowly returned to normal.

"It’s quite magical," Xu Yang admitted, "Hmm..."

"You seem rather gloomy."

"It’s a long story." Xu Yang missed Farosa.

"The same for us, Mond spoke, "’Mack has been shattered.’ Another distinguished guest has joined the realm of demigods, the Witch Goddess. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen witches attempt such a thing, it happens in every era. The most powerful and wisest witches, who penetrate the secrets of history to find the method of conducting rituals, casting with Supreme or Empress-level Magic Power, finding seven witches intimately connected to their own lives... The entire process is so intricate; it’s not something the youngling Farosa could control."

"She is smart."

"Defending her won’t make her more or less successful; it will only make her proud."

Xu Yang sighed.

He did indeed feel proud of Farosa, seeing so many changes in her; Xu Yang understood the long road she had traversed. But it was not something to discuss with outsiders.

"She has had a hard time," he said.

"We taught her too much knowledge, she even mastered the arcane and elusive ceremony of the Seven Witches," Mond said, "Taking advantage of her memory, our original plan was to turn her into a library spanning the ages, to carry knowledge for us. Back then, data disks hadn’t been invented yet."

Mond trudged up the stairs.

"I feel... you might have some regrets?" Xu Yang kept pace.

"Regrets," Mond said, "Look, she didn’t become graceful and sensible from reading so many books. Even back when we handed her the Godslayer Weapon, she acted as if we owed her something. It’s the same now, as if she is the ruler of the world; this temperament will eventually lead to her regret."

"Moonfire" Mond led Xu Yang to its room, filled with server groups, black cases, and network kits, most of them products from the Ground from 50 years ago, thus big and bulky, emitting an ominous red light, indicating failure.

"Right, help me check this out," it said, "without your help, all of this would become very troublesome. I don’t want to kidnap a few people for this because they would definitely sabotage it or spread rumors about the Moonlight Palace."

Xu Yang in his dream instructed Mond to perform the checks in the real world, and then listened to its reports in the dream, finding that most of the motherboards had been burnt out by overload currents, requiring replacement.

"I knew it," Mond muttered, "someone did something very, very bad."

"This company went bankrupt and was acquired 20 years ago," Xu Yang observed the logo, "you have to install a completely new set. What do you use these devices for?"

"Watching the stars." Mond was reluctant to go into detail on this subject.

It then took Xu Yang to its vast nesting palace, spacious enough for its dragon form, making Xu Yang feel exceptionally small upon entering. The room spanned over a thousand square meters, with walls incredibly distant in every direction.

On one entire wall was an enormous smart screen, sixty meters in length and width, designed purely for the proportions of a dragon.

"Even the wealthiest people on Ground wouldn’t install such a huge screen," Xu Yang said.

"But it’s unusable now," Mond sat in front of the screen, "My most precious memories are stored in there, and the password has been changed."

Upon close inspection, Xu Yang found that the screen used technology 40 years out-of-date, with outdated encryption methods. If he were there in person, he could decrypt it using Digital Mind, not a difficult task.

After explaining this to Mond, its mood improved considerably.

"Then, when you are free, I will take you to the Moon. The only good news recently, isn’t it," it said, "Once we, the Moon Dragon Race, launch our own communication satellites, the network signal on the Moon will be exceptionally good."

"It definitely will be," Xu Yang said, "I can also help you set up things like firewalls."

"You are among the best of humans," Mond thanked Xu Yang, "Nowadays, most people aren’t as friendly as you."

After working, Xu Yang moved towards the window and saw clusters of buildings on the lunar surface, with Dragon Kind strolling on the streets, dressed in synthetic fiber clothes, with most of the recent generation being descendants of the great rhinos, hence their particularly small wings.

The city resembled the layout of an early industrial human metropolis, with massive temples and plazas at its heart. The Moon Dragon Race built apartments, huge dragon shelters, and high-temperature steam baths. Rubber cables crisscrossed, delivering energy produced from solar panels to every home. Technology from the Middle Ages, recent history, and the modern era were all blended together.

"I don’t allow them to profit from competition," Mond said, "They are mostly peaceful, their longevity makes them particularly sensitive, there isn’t much room for expansion on the Moon, and the scope of labor and production is limited, so they spend time pondering profound philosophies."

"They indeed seem graceful and gentle," Xu Yang noticed the dragon citizens’ calm demeanor, not using horns or flames to compete.

"Yes, my descendants are devoid of berserkers and samurai, always producing exceptionally fine painters, first-rate poets, and melancholic philosophers. I use teleportation portals to exchange technological products with the Ground, barely meeting their needs, but certainly, they won’t confine themselves to the Moon. Dragons need real living space; one day, we will return to our home on the Ground," It said.

"The city’s layout is very appropriate," Xu Yang observed, "You seem to know these technologies well."

"..." Mond turned to the smart screen in the room, one corner still bearing the logo of Daylight Science and Technology Company, "How could I not be familiar? This is the second time I’ve seen Ground civilization develop to this level of technology."