Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 649 - 588: Boundless

CLACK.

Two pairs of feet stepped onto the deck.

Xing Hechou and Thousand-miles Sealing Blade looked around at the empty ship and the gruesome bloodstains that covered the deck, their expressions grave.

Xing Hechou loosely clenched his fist, a green stream of air swirling around his knuckles, while Thousand-miles Sealing Blade placed his hand on his sword scabbard, quietly pushing the sword guard with his thumb to reveal a section of the blade.

THUD, THUD, THUD.

The sound of footsteps grew louder, coming closer. A figure wearing a windbreaker, hands in pockets, slowly emerged from the shadows of the bridge, calmly gazing at the two men.

"Li Ang?"

Xing Hechou, who had already obtained information on Li Ang through various channels, was extremely astonished. "Aren’t you still in Tokyo?"

"Just a clone."

The Mo Si Clone spoke calmly, "Judging by your voice, you must be the Special Affairs Bureau Director, Xing Hechou, right?"

"Yes."

Xing Hechou nodded, scanning the surroundings once more. "All the people here..."

Before he could finish, an explosive roar came from the depths of the sea.

Dozens of submarines were forced to surface, their exteriors wrapped in dense Mo Si. The robust hulls, designed to resist deep-sea pressure, were now slashed and damaged. The strategic missile silos on the submarines were also severely destroyed, rendering them unable to retaliate even in their dying moments.

The entire Pacific Fleet had gone silent, and even the more distant Multi-National Joint Fleet was under attack by the Mo Si.

"Director Xing, did you manage to retrieve that meteorite?" Li Ang suddenly asked.

"We did."

Xing Hechou, fighting to keep his emotions in check, nodded. "It’s already been sent to the lab for analysis. Your parents and friends, including Miss Li Leqing who lives next door, have been taken into our protection. They won’t be in danger.

"And we haven’t let them know what’s happening in Tokyo right now."

"Thanks."

Li Ang paused for a moment, then asked, "Did you bring a satellite phone? I’d like to give my parents a call."

"Yes."

Xing Hechou took the satellite phone from his waist, entered the number, and handed it to Li Ang. He silently gestured with his fingers for Thousand-miles Sealing Blade, who was standing by with a serious and vigilant expression, to remain calm.

"Hello?"

Li Ang took the satellite phone, turned away, and spoke in a hushed tone, "Mom? I’m at the embassy in Tokyo right now... Yes, I’m safe, and I’ll be able to come back in a few days... Mhm, I know... Oh, by the way, please thank Miss Li Leqing who lives next door for me..."

Li Ang spoke to his mother in a warm tone, the conversation contrasting eerily with the thick scent of blood on the deck and the rising smoke.

After ending the call, Li Ang turned and handed back the phone.

Xing Hechou took the phone back, hesitating. "Brother Li, will you come back with us now?"

"Go back?"

Li Ang said calmly, "No, I can’t go back anymore."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Xing Hechou was taken aback for a moment. Li Ang’s strength alone had broken through the Tokyo Superpower User army, decimated tens of thousands of US Forces in Japan and the Self-Defense Force, and destroyed an entire fleet of aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines. Considering this, there seemed to be no force that could suppress him.

Even the United States, if they didn’t want to trigger a nuclear war, could only swallow this bitter pill and watch helplessly as Li Ang swaggered away.

"My brain is no longer functioning normally."

Li Ang pointed to the side of his forehead and said calmly, "Once Elemental Material is activated in the brain, it starts to spread and diffuse, and it cannot be disrupted by any method.

"It reconstructs my neurons, permanently altering the source of my consciousness, my personality, my thinking pattern on a physiological level.

"After all, what truly defines a ’person’ is, in essence, the electrical currents hidden among the 13 billion neurons.

"When the neurons that constitute a person are reshaped, and the electrical currents that determine what a person is are altered, I cease to be myself."

Having said that, he glanced at the damaged and bloody deck and continued calmly, "The former me was not a cruel and bloodthirsty person.

"Even if it was necessary to clear enemies in my path, I preferred strategies that knocked them down or stunned them, rather than outright killing them.

"I can clearly feel my own transformation. With every passing minute and second, I find myself moving further and further away from the baseline that defines humanity.

"What will happen next?

"Most likely, my moral compass will completely change. I will no longer care about my former ’Li Ang’ identity, acting solely for my own existence and continuation.

"Just like looting Tokyo, pillaging the resources of the planet beneath my feet,

"Extracting every gram of rare metals from the rocks, the Earth’s crust, and the mantle."

Xing Hechou pressed his lips tightly. "... We have professional scientific teams that can help you with your physical and psychological problems."

"Mr. Xing, hope it’s okay to call you that?"

Li Ang said, "You underestimate the gap between human and non-human. The transformation has already begun, and it has surpassed my original expectations.

"Right at this moment, beneath the waters off Tokyo, sixty-six drills are furiously digging downwards.

"These drills are powered by the entire Tokyo City, and they have now penetrated the seafloor, drilling down to a depth of 18,000 meters.

"There lies a vast amount of crustal hydrothermal fluids, especially sulfide-rich and low-sulfur, high-salinity, high-temperature fluids, which contain considerable quantities of gold.

"The mere hundred-plus tons of gold beneath the Japan Bank, along with the city’s electricity, have enabled me to reach this level of power.

"If Elemental Material continues to consume more crustal gold, it will inevitably evolve again and completely subsume all my consciousness."

After a moment of silence, Xing Hechou asked, "... Can’t you stop?"

Li Ang shook his head. "I can’t. It’s like a 996 worker who comes home exhausted and hungry after a long day, suddenly finding a steaming-hot Crazy Thursday family bucket on the dining table.

"Even though they have set a diet plan and keep reminding themselves not to give in, their body still can’t help but start eating."

"’Can’t give in,’ why does that sound so odd? Got pregnant by KFC, huh? Besides, if you come home and suddenly see a family bucket that you didn’t order, shouldn’t you first suspect that a thief has entered?"

Thousand-miles Sealing Blade unconsciously quipped. When Xing Hechou and Li Ang both turned to look at him, he shrank back, waving his hands sheepishly as if to say, "Don’t mind me."

"The general situation is this: I’m gradually losing control of the increasingly expanding Elemental Material, and I have no confidence in continuing to preserve my humanity or suppress it," Li Ang continued.

"From all the information I’ve gathered, combined with the calculation results from the Fusang Tree computer, there is no method on this planet that can stop the Elemental Material.

"The greatest possibility is that it will feast crazily on the mantle, which contains seventy-four trillion tons of gold, or even penetrate into the five-thousand-degree Earth’s Core, drawing from a total mass exceeding forty quadrillion tons of gold. And in the process, it will conveniently wipe out humanity.

"The only solution is for me to leave."

Xing Hechou couldn’t help but press on, "Leave? Where would you go?"

Silence.

Li Ang looked up at the night sky, as if trying to see through the clouds for a clear view of the myriad stars.

"To fly into the cosmos, vast and boundless."