Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 752 - 007

Chapter 752: 007

After learning that the "Liberating Emperor forcibly canceled the interstellar migration plan for the border forces," Yawgmoth once again realized something.

The Liberating Emperor was not Xiang Shan.

The emperor of liberation was not the Xiang Shan of those years.

For the Liberating Emperor, "peace," "stability," and "efficiency" were above everything.

For the Liberating Emperor, "development" was itself the meaning. The purpose of development was development. Even if humans had to be sacrificed to "science and technology," it was worth it. Human existence was for development.

Two hundred years of incremental changes had twisted Xiang Shan’s goals and means completely.

From "developing for the sake of humans" it had become "humans existing for the sake of development."

As Yawgmoth pondered, a light appeared directly in front of the spacecraft. Soon, the light source grew larger.

"Guardian Area’s exit three." Zhu Xinyu said, "You go out from here, pass through ’Bifrost’, and then you can reach ’Eden’. I have temporarily modified the workflow of a drone. You will transfer at the edge of ’Eden’. In ’Zion,’ you can meet up with the team of the Border People."

"A team?" Yawgmoth was somewhat pleased, "They’ve broken in?"

"Uh... well, you’re too optimistic, Yog." Ingrid sighed again, "They have come to trade... you might understand it as... tribute."

Yawgmoth thought he had misheard, "What?"

"Of course, it’s not officially called ’tribute,’ but everyone knows what it really is," Ingrid said, "The Liberating Emperor certainly wouldn’t pass up the Border People’s work capability... For decades, the Border People have exchanged various types of data with the Liberating Emperor for resources. Literary works, digital models, genetic data, scientific data, anything is possible. Of course, the Border People don’t have the privilege to bargain with the Liberating Emperor."

"But Xiang Shan also knows not to drain the pond to catch all the fish, so far he has been somewhat... fair."

Zhu Xinyu scoffed at Ingrid’s assessment, "A trade where only one side can set the price is bullshit fair."

Yawgmoth felt it was unreasonable, "Didn’t he destroy the Border People’s emigrant fleets? Isn’t that a great enmity?"

"The Border People still need to survive," Ingrid said, "With Jupiter and Saturn rich in nuclear fuel, terrestrial planets abundant in solar energy, and the Asteroid Belt rich in mineral resources and lower mining difficulty, all have the Liberating Emperor’s defending armies stationed. If the Border People don’t want to hibernate entirely, they can only accept the trades of the Liberating Emperor. Moreover, if it wasn’t for this trade, we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to rescue you."

Yawgmoth was somewhat despondent, "Damn... can we still win this?"

"Yes," Zhu Xinyu’s answer was firm.

"With such a disparity in combat power, can we still win?"

"Of course, we can," Zhu Xinyu said, "The Tyrant might not be overthrown by external forces, but his greatest enemy is himself."

"The resources the Liberating Emperor uses to maintain the Illusory Realm are climbing year by year. One awakened person can consume a massive amount of his computational resources. An unhandled flaw can trigger a chain reaction among the populace. And those ’Limited Researchers’ he specifically banned can generate new neural circuits over and over in their struggle against the seals, bypassing mechanical limits and reawakening as system destroyers."

"The Liberating Emperor must rely on continual technological breakthroughs to maintain this state."

Yawgmoth pondered, "So, he just needs to freeze part of the brain..."

—No, this alone, Xiang Shan would not do.

The Liberating Emperor no longer fights for humanity but rather sacrifices humanity for "development"...

So he would not stop the march of development because that is now his goal.

Forcing the Liberating Emperor to freeze part of the brain would be forcing him to deny his current thought process.

How much Xiang Shan loved humanity before is how much the current Liberating Emperor clings to efficiency.

"The Liberating Emperor must rely on constant technological progress to offset the continually rising costs of governance. Those Nameless Ones who serve as parts in the emperor’s private machinery are unknowingly undermining the rule of the Liberating Emperor," Zhu Xinyu said, "And what we need to do at this stage is to continuously steal such brains as yours, sabotaging the Liberating Emperor’s research plans."

"The Liberating Emperor just updated some data of the Illusory Realm today and went for an inspection. That’s why Zhu was able to lock down his visiting address and sent me there," Ingrid said, "Xiang Shan has high privileges. And he has been the emperor for two hundred years. In his subconscious, all humans should have ’that attitude’—you know what I mean. Because he visited that address, the virtual space tailored for you was significantly distorted. Xiang Shan noticed this quickly, so he left directly. And I guided you further into awakening. As the system fights against your awakening, it will request more computational resources, and we monitor the nearby sections for a sudden surge in computational resource demands, which helped us locate you."

"But even before Inga stepped in, you had already broken through the system’s limitations several times," Zhu Xinyu chuckled, "The Liberating Emperor... haha. Alright, pay close attention now, Yog. We are about to enter the Bifrost area. This will be the last scene you see before you depart. After entering ’Eden,’ the camera will be turned off. This next area might be quite interesting to you."

"Aegis, Bifrost, Eden... what a mess of names," Yawgmoth sighed, "His naming taste is still as bad as ever..."

As the three conversed, the spacecraft had already turned and was flying into a realm of brightness.

Reflected in the camera was the light... immense light...

Around them, light and colors spilled in all directions. Utterly dazzling.

—Poor taste in names, but quite picturesque...

Yawgmoth asked, "What is... this?"

"This thing, each unit is a hexagonal prism, supported by materials with the highest transparency, with a refractive index almost identical to the internal solution," Zhu Xinyu explained, "Each hexagonal prism contains a dense, porous foam made of high-molecular materials... Most of the voids inside are close to the average diameter of Earth’s biological cells. The liquid contains rich substances such as nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, methane, ammonia, inorganic salts, etc. Then, part of the hexagonal prisms are directly irradiated by lasers, part have constant electric currents passing through, and some are directly heated by electricity..."

"It’s said that this was conceived from your brain."