Dimensional Hotel
Chapter 424: Parasite

Chapter 424: Chapter 424: Parasite

The "Yun Qingzi" who is "attached" to the Crystal Heart appeared muddled and disoriented, with thoughts breaking and resuming intermittently. He often needed a long time to understand Yu Sheng’s questions and respond, but undeniably, at least for now, he was communicating with the world with the rationality of a "human."

It’s just uncertain how long his rationality can last.

And in Yun Qingzi’s fragmented memories, Yu Sheng finally learned what really happened on this planet a thousand years ago.

A crystal-like "meteorite" descended on Guard-3 without any warning—according to Yun Qingzi’s description, its initial size was much smaller than the current "Crystal Heart" in the cave, appearing at first like a mundane grayish stone, with no sign of activity.

But just moments after landing, that "stone" began to exhibit characteristics of a living entity.

It started to penetrate into the interior of Guard-3, swiftly assimilating and devouring all surrounding materials in the process.

At that time, Yun Qingzi just happened to be on this planet—though today he no longer remembers why he came here then.

"...I do not know its origins, but after confronting it, I saw many things," Yun Qingzi slowly said, as if plunged into memories, "It...has been to many places, and wherever it goes, it parasitizes the planet, and once the parasitism starts, no one can stop this process. It was originally meant to land on Shuji, but deviated from its course when descending. I thought, I mustn’t let this evil thing leave, yet I never imagined I would not be its match..."

Yun Qingzi paused again, his thoughts seeming to interrupt once more, and after a moment he lifted his head again, slowly looking around.

"At the last moment, I buried myself and this thing underground, hoping to suppress it forever, but...this thing’s malice exceeded my imagination.

"Every ’Yun Qingzi’ you saw on your way here is the result of us mutually devouring and balancing each other—the original Yun Qingzi died during the first encounter many years ago, but before dying, I refined a strand of my soul into this evil thing’s ’heart,’ breathing and growing with it...whenever it transformed, I was resurrected once, and by now I have lost count of how many times."

As Yun Qingzi spoke, his face made entirely of crystal unexpectedly smiled, a hint of pride in his smile.

"Indeed I couldn’t defeat it back then, but it hasn’t won until now either!"

Yu Sheng listened to this account dazedly, myriad pieces of information and clues rapidly connecting in his mind, but he quickly discovered doubts from past clues and unconsciously spoke: "Wait, you mean to say, you have been here the whole past thousand years? Then which ’Yun Qingzi’ were the black-clothed cultivators of Shuji following? And what about the ’Yun Qingzi’ I saw in the ’illusions’?"

Saying this, he suddenly paused, recalling another detail: "And also when we fought fiercely with the Crystal Jungle on the surface before, the jungle also had crystals transforming into your appearance, muttering about ’Emperor’s Legacy’...how much of that was you?"

He noticed that as he finished speaking, Yun Qingzi’s expression immediately changed—serious, grave, mixed with a touch of regret.

"That was also I, any ’Yun Qingzi’ you saw, was ’Yun Qingzi’—all evolved from the strand of essence I initially left behind," the crystallized old man slowly said, "I thought the prohibition back then could be effective, at least lasting more than a thousand years, yet unexpectedly this thing found a way to break loose early...once unaware, it found a loophole in one of the ’iterations’ to escape its true form...and took away a ’Yun Qingzi’ completely polluted and controlled by it, leaving behind a bunch of ’empty shells’ here.

"I know what you’re talking about, the ’patron’ in the mouths of Shuji’s followers, the person you saw in the illusions, and those ’Yun Qingzi’ that grew out of the crystals—we are all linked together, endlessly entangled in a chaotic dream. I often dream, in this thousand years, the thoughts and memories of each Yun Qingzi have mingled together and it is long impossible to tell us apart...

"In fact, if you hadn’t appeared suddenly today, eradicating more than half of the ’iterations’ with overwhelming force, I wouldn’t even have this moment of clarity—you would only see another muddled monster on this ’heart’."

Saying this, the crystallized old man seemed to suddenly remember something, exerting effort to prop himself up, straining to look outward, seeming to search for someone, and after a good while, his gaze finally landed on Hu Li.

Currently, Hu Li had returned to human form, but her distinctive nine tails remained particularly eye-catching.

Yun Qingzi looked fixedly at her for a good while, then tugged at the corners of his mouth into a smile: "For so many years, I have been dazed, finally awakened by that earth-shattering strike, truly magnificent, magnificent! If only I had that strike assisting me back then, perhaps, perhaps...alas, perhaps still not enough, as that evil being seems invincible to ordinary force..."

He mumbled to himself, his thoughts seemingly chaotic again, but shortly regained clarity, staring straightly at Hu Li.

"Fairy, Fellow Daoist—does your strike have a name? I’ve lived in vain for thousands of years, witnessed the ultimate techniques of many renowned sects and clans, yet never have I seen such a move descending from close orbit, I’m truly curious...under which move are ’we’ ultimately defeated?"

Hu Li looked dumbfounded at the crystallized elder before her, seemingly never pondering this question, she subconsciously glanced at Yu Sheng, then scratched her head and turned honestly to say: "Fox Radish Shock."

Yun Qingzi: "..."

The entire cave was silent, even the flickering glow on the surface of the Crystal Heart seemed to freeze, no longer shimmering. Standing behind Xu Jiali, Lingdang almost dropped the Mechanical Ball she was holding — and then the first to break the silence was Luna.

The Artificial Saintess nodded, "Mhm, right."

Yu Sheng now understood, Luna saying those two words was essentially equivalent to hitting the spacebar after the computer entered screensaver mode, its main function being to exit standby mode in reality...

Yun Qingzi finally reacted at this moment, but still looked steadily at Hu Li: "... What name?"

Hu Li honestly repeated once more, "Fox Radish Shock."

Yun Qingzi was stunned for two seconds, and then suddenly burst into laughter.

For a moment, Yu Sheng even wondered if this old man was too shocked — after all, not everyone can accept the fact of being defeated by a move called "Fox Radish Shock".

But Yun Qingzi seemed genuinely delighted, with an exhilaration that others could not understand — he laughed heartily, even the crystals in the cave resonated with his laughter, "Hahaha, good, good! Wonderful, wonderful! This old man didn’t win, and it didn’t win either, in the end what won is the return to simplicity, the Great Way to Simplicity! Truly a magnificent move, truly a group of wonderful people... Come, come, is there anything else you want to ask, do it quickly while this old man still has some time — before long, there will be no more ’Yun Qingzi’ to communicate with you, only a monster controlled by the evil being!"

As his words fell, a disquieting cracking sound came from within the Crystal Heart, and its shimmering glow suddenly flashed chaotically.

Listening to Yun Qingzi’s words, and watching this scene unfold, Erin’s eyes widened suddenly, "Ah? Old man, you..."

"Can’t you see? This old man is having a momentary clarity before death," Yun Qingzi raised his head, speaking as if it had nothing to do with him, "Don’t dilly-dally, those who can make it here should know how to distinguish priorities — this old man doesn’t quite know what it’s like outside right now, but you do, so if there’s anything you want to ask, speak up quickly!"

Erin opened her mouth, but quickly swallowed unnecessary words back down, while subconsciously grabbing Yu Sheng’s hair.

"What exactly is the deal with the Emperor’s Legacy?" Yu Sheng asked without hesitation, "From what you’ve said, this Yun Qingzi obsessed with seeking the ’Emperor’s Legacy’ shouldn’t be on your side? He was controlled by the ’Crystal Body’ that escaped from here back then, so do you know what exactly he’s trying to do?"

"This old man doesn’t know what that ’Yun Qingzi’ intends to do, nor how the ’Emperor’s Legacy’ popped up, but one thing is very clear, all his ideas must be influenced by that evil being," Yun Qingzi replied, "The evil being’s abilities are quite strange and complicated, it can split itself, disrupt thoughts, and parasitize on planets, but essentially, it has no ’intelligence’, it only acts on instinct, however, it affects those intelligent beings in the process, unconsciously making them help it achieve its objectives..."

"So from this line of thinking, the controlled ’Yun Qingzi’ likely wants to do things to assist that evil being’s actions, unconsciously helping it achieve its goals."

"Helping it achieve its goals..." Yu Sheng frowned deeply, already having a vague guess in his mind, "Then the biggest goal for this ’Crystal Body’ is..."

Hu Li suddenly spoke up from beside, "Parasitize another planet?"

Evidently, she and Yu Sheng had the same thought.

Yu Sheng continued to follow this line of thinking, "Then the connection between the ’Emperor’s Legacy’ and ’parasitizing a planet’ is...?"

Erin, sitting on his shoulder, surprisingly had a moment of clarity, "What if the so-called ’Emperor’s Legacy’ is actually a planet?"

Yu Sheng felt a shiver in his mind.

All the previously vague guesses were finally illuminated by this sudden realization.

"Taixu Spirit Hub!"

The real target of the "Dark Angel" is to parasite the Taixu Spirit Hub!