He and It Chapter 123: Utopia (19)

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Chapter 123: Utopia (19)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

“The Prismatic Corridor.” He raised his arm, stretching out a pale and slender finger, gently tapping on the corridor around Sissel, “To the current human race, it should be an ancient and lost, yet mysteriously advanced alien technology. Through the energy transmission method of refractive reduction, it can consume the firepower of the star annihilating weapon into a harmless beam as big as the tip of a needle.” 

Tian Yuan raised his eyes, his lavender pupils, like two ice-transparent crystals, staring directly into Sissel’s face.

“But later on, this device was gradually replaced by a more superior version.” As Tian Yuan spoke, a slowly advancing white line coalesced at his fingertips, like the sunlight jumping on the ice on a winter’s day, “because it had an Achilles’ heel: through not too many calculations, and a stable source of energy output, it was possible to find the path that consumed the shortest amount of energy, and at the smallest possible cost, to break through the protection of the Prismatic Corridor.” 

Sissel tried to leap from his seat, but the fortress that had once been so strong now made him a turtle in a jar. In the heat of the moment, he unlocked the guards of the Prismatic Corridor in a lightning-quick move, gambling on a change of scenery, a chance to get out.

It was a bold move, full of the courage to go for broke. At the first moment when he dodged the beam, Sissel sheathed the cutlass at his waist, the light from this cutlass was like thunder and fire, in fact, it cut through the alloy like thunder and fire cut through butter.

Tian Yuan looked straight ahead, as if he hadn’t even considered the thunderous strike.

His eyes flickered, and just beyond the blast of light, in the window that the Emperor had used for decoration, he caught a glimpse of a beautiful damselfly, sealed in amber, dancing on its wings in the snowy white of the dolomites, as if it were still facing the crystal-clear surface of the lake that had been so blue that day.

He inclined his head with interest, and one of the exoskeletons lifted up and quickly transformed into a piece of luxuriant and dense ogi flowers, as if supporting the delicate wings of the damselfly to support the human emperor’s heavy downward slash.

At this moment, the force of the rebound cracked Sissel’s hand. In the splatter of blood, his cutlass split apart, and he was like an insect being preyed upon by a giant spider – the sharp exoskeleton reverted back to its original form, penetrating his body in the chest, and pinning him to the ground in a blink of an eye.

“Aah!” Sissel hissed in pain, grasping the culprit of his grievous injury with all his might and attempting to pull it out of the wound. Throughout, the creature in front of him never moved a muscle, not even in a standing position.

This caused him not only fear, but also a deep sense of shame and confusion.

Sissel couldn’t understand, there was always a reason for misfortune, and what was the reason for him to have suffered such a heavenly misfortune? 

“In the end, you won’t die, and you won’t be hurt in the slightest, isn’t that lucky?” Tian Yuan still opened his mouth, his voice seemed to be like an ancient well, “In the culture of the Origin Star, there is always the saying that those who are in power are ‘destined by heaven and blessed by the heavens’, even though I don’t agree with it, however, you have provided me with a very good positive case.” 

Foaming blood had spilled profusely from Sissel’s mouth. His fine body armor was as thin and brittle as paper against the exoskeleton of the unknown creature, and the repair machine particles in his blood used for emergencies were no match for the devastating destruction caused by his enemy.

He hissed, “What do you…? What the hell do you want…” 

“I heard what you said about him,” Tian Yuan said calmly, “but of course, I will honor my promise to him and stay out of your business. Therefore, I cannot address the ignorance that disgusts me, nor can I articulate myself to your remarks, nor can I retaliate towards you in any way. I am merely curious.” 

The appendage was inserted into Sissel’s body, lifting him up to Tian Yuan’s level.

This was already an unbearable torture, but if a sharp sword was used to hang a piece of tender tofu in the air, everyone must know what would happen.

Sissel tried his best to hold on to the sharp limbs, and hanged himself upward from the blood loss. This was the worst pull-up in the world, and he didn’t want to die, let alone let this monster split him completely open from the chest!

“–Do you have any memories about him?” Tian Yuan stared at him curiously, “After spending so much time with him, what does he like, what does he hate, what are his hobbies or specialties, what are his unrealized dreams… you should know all these by heart.” 

Sissel was confused.

Him? Who was this “he”? 

No, in conjunction with the previous words, “I heard what you said about him,” “staying out of your feud,” “spending so much time with him”…

Sissel’s brow twitched, and he blurted out, “… Xingqiao?” 

In the next moment, his ears buzzed, his eyes felt like hundreds of thousands of shooting stars, and his lips were too numb to speak.

“Do not call his name.” Tian Yuan’s tone was still without any ups and downs, calm and mechanical, “Since you have nothing else to say, I’ll take a look for it myself.” 

The mechanical being raised his index finger, a long silver-white needle condensed out of his fingertip, and without half a moment’s hesitation, he probed into the emperor’s forehead.

Just like a sudden rotation of a walking lantern, Sissel’s mind instantly exploded with countless fragments of memories that had been forcibly evoked.

“… Drink, Xingqiao, drink!” 

As the noisy cacophony of voices continued, Tian Yuan’s line of sight followed the memory of Sissel.

He saw that young boy, not as calm and sophisticated as today, the young Gu Xingqiao was still with a youthful sharpness, when he walked through the crowd, his body was like a dazzling light.

“Let Xingqiao come!” Sissel’s voice said, “Xingqiao is the best drinker!” 

Gu Xingqiao paused for a moment and said helplessly, “Wine is meant to be drunk slowly, I’m not going to spell it out for you, settle your own affairs.” 

In the daze of consciousness, Sissel heard the monster’s voice… He actually changed from his normal state, each word contained an almost gentle smile.

“Likes to drink, I know that.” 

“…Xingqiao, what are you eating? Wow, isn’t this the cafeteria’s rationed meal, why did you put so much vinegar in it?” 

In Sissel’s memories, Gu Xingqiao frowned slightly and glared at him in dissatisfaction.

For some reason, Tian Yuan’s chest suddenly stirred, as if his thoughts had been disorganized by this glare.

“It’s sticky and sweet,” Gu Xingqiao bared his teeth and grimaced, “I don’t like pure sweet things, I can’t eat it without vinegar.” 

Through the remnants of a fleeting vision, Tian Yuan simultaneously took in the book in his lap, notes scribbled in annotations.

“”Golden Branch”, doesn’t like it sweet, can accept sweet and sour flavors, has a strong desire to explore the myths of the origin star.” 

By the end of the sentence, Tian Yuan’s tone had already been rendered with a bit of quick impulse. He remembered, in the warship’s library, there were quite a few precious books. If they were wrapped in gold paper, with a passionate rose, as a surprise gift once a week… Wouldn’t that be nice? 

“… Calm down, it’s not like there’s no way to handle this, listen to me…” 

“I can’t calm down!” Gu Xingqiao glared angrily in Tian Yuan’s direction, “You know me, Sissel, I’ve always hated bullies, idiots who bully other people based on their birthright!” 

Tian Yuan was a bit weak, he observed the unconscious Sissel.

I’m not a bully, am I? He thought to himself, I’m only obtaining some necessary data from him, and since he refuses to cooperate with me, it’s perfectly logical to use coercive means.

“Teaching a man to buy fish is not as good as teaching a man to fish, you know, I teach, no matter what reason the instructors use to obstruct, they have no way to stop me and my classmates from communicating with each other.” Gu Xingqiao said, “I don’t believe that people who have been bullied once or twice, can’t stand up from now on!” 

“He has a strong sense of justice, and can be organized in his anger, using appropriate ways to unite the weak forces.” Tian Yuan made a judgment, “However, based on the current performance, on the battlefield, he does not skimp on strategies that would be evaluated as despicable.” 

In just a few moments, Sissel’s decades of memories were absorbed by Tian Yuan, taking the best and removing the worst – the best about Gu Xingqiao, the worst about Gu Xingqiao – and absorbed them cleanly. He finally let go of the exoskeleton.

He finally put down the exoskeleton, and in the archive space called “Gu Xingqiao”, he entered and cut out the memory fragments of other unrelated people in turn, and with his own analysis and notes, he finally perfected it to about 70% of its level.

Sissel’s body slid to the ground, he was already on the verge of death, hesitantly hovering back and forth between life and death.

Only after Tian Yuan had scrupulously preserved the file, he was willing to give a little extra glance to the Emperor of the Human Empire.

“Well, it’s time to fulfill my promise.” 

Tian Yuan reached out his hand again, just like the way he revived Gu Xingqiao, a fine and dense electric spark spread in the air, connecting every inch of Sissel’s skin.

The Emperor’s physique and foundation was more than a few times better than the Gu Xingqiao who fled at that time. At a speed visible to the naked eye, his bones gradually healed, his injuries intertwined, and his outer layer of skin returned to its polished state… Even his body’s armor and robe, the crown that had fallen off during the one-sided fight, was also returned by Tian Yuan to its original state without a scratch.

In the end, Tian Yuan erased this memory of himself, and the emperor sank back into his seat, seemingly having only slept.

A nightmare slumber.

“I didn’t break the contract,” Tian Yuan said quietly, “No.” 

His body cracked and reassembled again, and soon a snow-white spider descended onto the scarlet-soft carpet of the palace, running out of the complex as it had come, along a planned route to the airship that had landed on the ground.

As Gu Xingqiao stepped out of the doors of the banquet, he was just in time to see a crystal clear white spider jump across the street and hurry toward him.

“How’s the view?” Gu Xingqiao looked at it sideways, having gotten what he wanted, his mood lightened.

“It was quite rewarding.” Tian Yuan said, “Appreciated a lot of things I had not expected, very beautiful, I am very happy.” 

Hearing him say that, Gu Xingqiao couldn’t help but look at the sky in surprise, “Is that so?” 

“Yes,” the White Spider nodded anthropomorphically and affirmatively, “Let’s go.”