Chapter 296: The Body was Dead, but the Soul Survived
Translator: Cucumber Strips Editor: Jacky
Han lied on the bed with his eyes closed, relaxed.
Han wasn’t sleeping. Once one gets to his level, sleep was not necessary anymore. He was only trying to relax, to soothe the stress that came with thinking too much. Lying on the bed while listening to soft music helps.
Suddenly—
Han’s consciousness arrived at a planet that was shaped like a half-moon. Why it was in such a shape was because most of the planet’s main body was destroyed, and the remains of battleships now floated around it, just like a graveyard, while the faraway planets formed an eerie black-and-red solar eclipse.
A dark shadow figure sat on a spiked rock a metre away from Han, facing the eclipse with its back towards Han.
Han frowned nonchalantly. Since consuming the Brain of Darkness, he had been having hallucinations like this, with the same eerily fascinating setting and shadow figure.
Han wanted to pinch himself to force himself out of the hallucination, but he couldn’t, as if there was a force drawing his consciousness to it.
“This universe, it’ll be destroyed one day.”, the shadow said, sighing.
“I agree. The stronger intellectual beings are, the stronger their destructive power. The universe will eventually be destructed by these beings.”, Han said darkly.
“You agree with me?” The shadow asked curiously.
“Of course, after all I believe in the theory of high intellect causing destruction.”, Han says.
“It’s all because of those spores.”, the shadow says darkly.
“Spores?” Han doesn’t understand.
“Yes, the universe had no organisms before some life-carrying spores arrived, life of all kinds—wise, reckless, greedy, sly ones.”, the shadow explains.
Han had heard of this legend before, so he was not surprised, only becoming more fascinated by this figure that only existed in his head.
“Who are you?” Han asked.
Swish—
Just as he asked the question, his conscious returned to reality, and the destruction caused by wars disappeared along with the shadow figure.
Han smiled lightly. He was not frustrated by that, only taking an electronic pen to record every detail he remembered, as accurately as possible.
If anyone reads Han’s e-notebook, it would be clear that this wasn’t the first time that he records his hallucination. The time it happens, the process, the changes in heart rate and blood pressure, up until the summary and conclusion, it was as if he was a scientist performing an experiment.
“Clearly, this is a being that lives in my conscious, a ninety-three percent chance that it’s an indestructible soul, and another seven percent that it’s some other life form.”
“Next time I’ll have to test out its reaction to emotions.”, Han muttered as he writes.
Ever since possessing the Brain of Darkness, there have been subtle changes in Han’s body. His intellectual potential had been fully developed; he not only studied science and martial arts, he was also studying everything in this world, including this being that existed in his brain.
“One day, even if you wouldn’t tell me, I will know who you are, where you are from, where you are going.”, Han muttered to himself, smiling.
What is fascinating about this universe is not only its breadth, width, or darkness, but the life within, the many different walks of life in the universe.
Somewhere in a corner of the universe, there is a temple built in empty darkness.
This place was somewhat like how legends documented the Temple of Heaven, only that it was not built on clouds but in the starry sky. All there is above and below are stars, even far away where there are colorful star clouds.
The two people who ventured near the human world to look for Han and the Brain of Darkness, and who wore black capes, returned to the corner of the universe, to this temple.
The warriors who guarded this place were not humans but beasts, monsters who were half-human-half-beast.
Han had seen these monsters before at the so-called border warzones of the All Gods Corporation. Powerful energy-walls divided up the universe; on one side lived the All Gods Corporation and other higher beings including humans; the other side was filled with these vicious half-human monsters.
Two figures wearing black capes entered the temple, reporting their discoveries to their boss, the “old man”.
And in a corner of this temple was this long corridor, where two girls listened closely to the conversation.
The two girls were very beautiful, in a way that was beyond the conventions of beauty; they both possessed an aura.
This aura, often found only in children under the age of five, made these two girls seem like fairies, their eyes bright, their smiles pure.
Unfortunately, this aura often disappeared with age.
Although these two girls were no longer children, their eyes still possessed that fairy-like sparkle, and even their ears were pointed.
The older girl seemed to be about twenty years old, while the other looked about fourteen to fifteen.
“Kill him! We have to kill him! No matter what!”
“This traitor! Even if we kill him his spirit will remain! This isn’t what I want!”
“I want him to die completely! Both his body and soul, everything!”
“Do everything we can! Even at the cost of offending the entire universe, I have to find his soul and destroy it! Completely! There can never be a chance for him to revive!”
The two mysterious figures seem to have predicted the old man’s fury, as they merely looked at each other before silently retreating from the temple.
At the same time, the two girls who were hiding also retreated to the backyard.
The older girl clutched her chest. She always had a fair complexion, but now she looked even paler. The younger girl was perplexed.
“Big sister, why do you like that traitor?” the younger girl asks curiously, “Is it because he’s good-looking?”
The older girl shook her head, “He doesn’t take care of his appearance, so he just looks messy. Even if he’s not bad-looking he’s still far from being good-looking.”.
“Then he must be very good to sister.”, the girl says innocently.
The older girl shook her head again, “He’s an ambitious person, always busy with his own stuff. Besides, we’ve only spent a few days together, it’s hard to say how well or not he treats me.”.
The younger girl frowns a little, “Then I don’t understand, he’s not good-looking, and he’s not that good to big sister, why can’t big sister forget him?”
“It’s not that I can’t forget, it’s that I don’t dare to,”, The older girl looked up at the sky, dark and full of stars.
“I don't know why I fell for that traitor either. Maybe it’s because he’s different—look at those stars—they are all bright and beautiful, but they all look the same.”
“Every day, these stars follow the same path; spring comes, it’s there; fall comes, and it’s there again.”
“Until one day, I encountered a shooting star.”
“A shooting star?” The younger girl blinked innocently.
“Yes, shooting stars don’t have a fixed path, they go wherever they want to. They glow brightly, never caring to stop for anybody, only fixated on reaching the end of their life.”
“I thought for a very long time, and realized that the traitor’s my shooting star in life. He speeds past me, so bright, so determined. Even though he didn’t stay by my side, I couldn’t forget the moment I saw him.”
The older girl was lost in her thoughts. The younger one cocked her head, perplexed.
She had seen shooting stars. It was different from every other star in the universe—it doesn’t follow a fixed path, only breezing by in your life, but you never know where it was heading to.
The older girl sighs and stood up, walking across the yard and out of the temple.
“Big sister, where are you going?”
“I’m going to look for him.”
“But he’s dead, only his soul is left.”
“Then I have to find his soul.”, The older girl’s voice was shaky but firm.
“Then I’m going too; I have to see this person that always on my sister’s mind, to see what kind of a shooting star he could be.”, the innocent girl didn’t understand, only blindly following her sister.
“Don’t follow me.”
“I’ll hit you if you keep coming.”
The innocent girl only smiled sweetly, taking no notice of her sister’s threats.
“Xiaoying, I really don’t know what to do with you.” The older sister shook her head, seemingly giving up on stopping her sister.
“Remember, we’re entering the enemy’s land. Even if we’re caught, we cannot disclose our identities.” The older sister said, stroking the younger girl’s hair.