CHAPTER 22: CHAPTER 21: THE STORY OF THE PSEUDO-GOD AND THE SPECTATOR

This sky is the sky of the desert, radiating scorching heat.

The blazing sun shines down, baking the ground until it steams with heat.

Zhu Zhengwei had been busy outside searching for animals and attending exams. Although he hadn’t truly stepped onto this land during this period, he hadn’t anticipated such a drastic transformation.

In this four-dimensional "Rational World," he was already over a hundred years old, which could be considered as part of the Immortal kind.

He blinked his eyes.

Crash!

The entire world seemed to become virtually transparent before his eyes.

Ultimately, it was the root world based on his dreams, and in dreams, he was omnipotent.

When establishing the animal database, Zhu Zhengwei modified the fundamental programs of the world for easier viewing, creating an interface.

Animal database: 12,518 species.

Number of servers: 1,000

...

He walked in the desert, with a few simple virtual words appearing before him.

Clicking on the animal database, he could see detailed pages, with specific life data of each animal and plant.

"It seems like the collection over this half month is quite decent. After all, covering a few hundred meters could instantly draw in a large number of insects and plants... It took quite a bit of effort to project these in, they didn’t come easily!"

"And the physical and various constants of this world are actually the same as reality, it feels like another real world! Perhaps this four-dimensional world, Dream World, is already standing atop Earth, atop the gathering minds of humanity in some higher dimension?"

He visited many zoos.

There were various fish, and also ocean plants.

"However, introducing the foundational biological cell gene database is basic, but it’s also the beginning of the future. Starting from the modern human ecological circle, perhaps there will be different changes and developments."

Zhu Zhengwei took a few glances, walking in the desert, approaching the Giant Stone City.

"Move aside, lowly slaves."

In the distance, an elephant draped with a delicate red woven blanket, with a small square house on the blanket. Inside seemed to be aristocrats hurling insults, while stepping through the city gate.

Poof!

Zhu Zhengwei stepped aside, yet still got a pile of yellow sand blown onto him.

"I see." Zhu Zhengwei was somewhat slightly angry, but he suddenly glanced at the elephant, burst into laughter, and arrived at a cloth tent outside the city gate.

An old man was selling tea.

A few desert merchants wearing headdresses took off their face-covering windbreakers and drank tea beneath the tent.

Among them, a middle-aged traveler saw Zhu Zhengwei, gestured him over, and said, "Come sit here, young man. The current nobles are getting more and more repulsive. Shake off that yellow sand on you, where are you from?"

Zhu Zhengwei approached and sat down, "Bronze Kingdom."

"Oh."

The traveler sized him up and couldn’t help but laugh, "You indeed look like a scholar. Are you here for research? It can be dangerous here, shouldn’t you bring two attendants?"

Zhu Zhengwei shook his head, pointing into the distance and asked, "Why are they riding elephants in the desert?"

Elephants are heat-resistant animals, but you don’t see elephants in the desert.

Because the desert is quicksand, elephants would be directly submerged.

The middle-aged man laughed, "The Stone-light Emperor Changheng of yore paved countless kilometers of desert stone roads, exhausting countless people, just because the woman he loved wanted to ride elephants in the desert."

"That man, although he possessed countless fertile lands, oases, forests, plains, he chose to establish the capital at the most forward desert front line, building the [Hundred-Stone City]. He said: Other capitals are built at the rear; he insists on building on the front, to guard the front-line national gate with his capital. As long as he guards the frontline, no one will ever be able to destroy his kingdom."

The middle-aged man showed a trace of admiration, "It is said that back then, there were a hundred thousand slaves, more than a decade to build the city, countless slaves died of exhaustion, even hundreds of elephants died of exhaustion, only then was this legendary royal city built."

Zhu Zhengwei nodded, yet said, "But he didn’t lie; he held onto it. No one could break through his Hundred-Stone City while he was alive. It’s easy to defend and hard to attack here."

"Yes indeed."

The middle-aged man drank a cup of tea, saying, "A hundred years ago, during the battle of the Gurbantungut Desert, Bronze Kingdom and You Kingdom joined forces to attack for several years, but in the end, they couldn’t withstand the harsh desert environment, their national strength exhausted, they had to retreat. He alone, leading the army, held the entire royal dynasty’s frontline."

"But he still died."

Zhu Zhengwei listened quietly, but interjected with a sentence.

"Yes, he was assassinated in the palace, the man who claimed to be a god was betrayed by his beloved woman, dying at the hands of a ridiculous slave. That slave dared to call himself Shiguang, Emperor Changshou? He claimed he was not as foolish as the tyrant before him, and he would trust no one."

"He has become the next tyrant, now merely an old man clinging to life, craving wealth and luxury. People say he is already over a hundred years old, and the end is near."

Zhu Zhengwei suddenly laughed, "You seem to admire the first Emperor Changheng of the Hundred Stones? Clearly a tyrant, building the Giant Stone City, leaving the people in misery."

"But indeed, he is worthy of admiration, because this city has become the world’s most invincible iron wall. That powerful man was an epic and great hero destined to be recorded in history!" The middle-aged traveler had unique insights, constantly expressing his own observations about the current dynasty and his dissatisfaction with the era.

"I have always believed that the despair of mortals mostly stems from their own incompetence."

The middle-aged traveler in front of him, with deep eyes, continued, "But the despair of the strong is mostly constrained by the powerlessness of the era."

"That hero-like man didn’t lose to that despicable villain, but to the entire era. He could have been stronger, but Heaven did not allow it, not allowed by the gods, he was bound by the entire world! How could a god be assassinated by an ordinary woman while sleeping? He could be stronger than this!"

"Perhaps so, people cannot see the road ahead, countless heroes drink their hatred, turning into yellow earth and white bones." Having heard this, Zhu Zhengwei suddenly laughed, "If there are Immortals in this world, he would certainly find another way."

"Then he must bear the hope of the entire land, he must carry the dreams of all heroes, and he must be extremely lonely." The middle-aged traveler spoke.

Suddenly, the traveler’s expression changed, saying, "I see that your background is extraordinary, as if we are old friends upon first meeting, we can delve deeper..."

"I will not participate."

Zhu Zhengwei shook his head, "The noble in that elephant must be one of your people, specifically passing by to anger some seemingly extraordinary people, giving you the opportunity to strike up a conversation nearby, taking the chance to curse the nobility, sharing a common cause, and then drawing them to your side?"

"You??"

The traveler seemed to be seen through, and was immediately stunned.

Zhu Zhengwei ultimately lamented that the world had changed.

The world was no longer the simple Bamboo Scenic Village of the past, the cities were full of schemes, there was even an ’Immortal Jump’.

"We are just not pedantic!"

"We do indeed need to attract a group of warriors and knowledgeable people with strong martial arts, this is a battle of mortals slaughtering pseudo-gods!"

The middle-aged traveler looked deeply at Zhu Zhengwei, a hint of heroism flashing in his eyes, pointing to the high city tower, "What do you say, what is our outcome?"

"Many people’s blood and tears will be shed on those giant stones."

"I know this, there has never been an era of revolution without bloodshed."

The middle-aged traveler stood up, looking at the travelers on the road, and said, "They all live in suffering. My parents, grandparents, all died at the hands of nobles. In the books of the old era, I read a sentence: ’With heat, give light, if there is no torch in the darkness, I will be the initial light.’"

Zhu Zhengwei nodded.

He calmly continued, "But after all, the legendary Witch Zhu, swallowing wind and drinking dew, descended from the heavens as a Divine Being, we are just mortals, killing a god as mortals is difficult! The opponent is currently old, we chose to act now. We not only need to win, but also find ways to stop his dying struggle."

Failure to stop him, letting him escape, would have too severe a consequence.

The royal families of the three dynasties all went through that long era of chaos lasting decades. They divided the ’qi’ of three hundred legendary women at the time, thus establishing royal authority, divinely ordained kingship.

If the second generation king is not killed and his ’qi’ seized, it means the new kingdom, our own country, lack the suppressive power to firmly hold the throne!

"Honestly, we cannot plot against him."

"Back then, it was when the first Shiguang Changheng Emperor fell asleep, that he succeeded in plotting. Sleep is the only opportunity for assassination. Now that fearful man has learned his lesson, locking himself in a stone chamber, not meeting anyone at night. If we attempt to break in, he will awaken in the stone chamber. We can only face him head-on."

So wily.

Like a turtle shell.

No wonder he called himself Changshou.

Zhu Zhengwei did not continue the conversation, instead looking upwards.

He saw a blade of grass taking root and sprouting on the rooftop, smiling, "The things you strive for are often right beside you."

The middle-aged traveler was puzzled.

And the grass on the rooftop was actually a newcomer, just logging into this PC game called "The World," with an expression of amazement.

"So beautiful, so beautiful."

He looked at the swirling yellow sand, a giant city towering, with elephants and camels passing from time to time, "Wow! Ancient desert city vibe, desert travelers coming and going, didn’t they say it was all wilderness? And there are hidden scenes bustling with travelers like this?"

He swayed on top of the big tent, watching the passersby below and the mottled giant stone walls in the distance, as guests whispered below the tent, he couldn’t help but be moved, exclaiming loudly:

"We are all ancient, eternal, solitary plants, spectators of this ’The World’!"