Let's be honest: although Yu Lian had put on an unprecedentedly resolute front, he really did feel as though he'd almost missed out on a fortune. Naturally, he was torn up inside.
But however conflicted he felt, once the words were out, he couldn't take them back. A real man's word was his bond. If he ended up arguing with himself inside his own head, he'd have to sit at the clowns' table.
Yu Lian looked straight at the other party. His mind began to settle, and his resolve grew firmer.
"You're right. The wisest and most efficient rule has always been built on having access to information, hasn't it? The so-called sage rulers of the Dawn Royal Family were all founded on that principle, weren't they? The Void Crown and the Grand Library's database together formed the tightest information network. It's an extraordinary network built in the psychic realm of psionics, unrestrained by science and technology, and dependent only on the user's mastery of the occult. So what Emperor Ilesel wanted was to turn himself into the network itself?"
The interactive interface nodded.
"And by then, the ruler would no longer be a ruler. He'd become the embodiment of the nation's will?"
The interface nodded again.
Yu Lian spread his hands. "Then forget it. I'm just a human being. I'd be too nervous and hesitant to even become a dictator who'd eventually be overthrown by the people, let alone take on some nonsense like embodying the nation's will."
The interactive interface looked bewildered.
"If I'd spent a hundred years sitting on the throne as an absolute ruler, maybe I'd think differently. But fortunately, during the past twenty-odd years of my life..."
All right, counting all three lifetimes, it must have added up to a hundred years. But the point