Volume Six: What She Lost, What I Gained - Trister Star
"As for Ye, the core of your team, she's arguably the most enigmatic person. She consistently adheres to the bare minimum of human morality, though she sometimes performs acts that resemble acts of kindness, but these are merely superficial gestures... Can anyone truly enter her heart? Her deep-seated madness, her extremism, her self-will—she's rational when she should be emotional, and emotional when she should be rational. She's always unconsciously influenced by her environment, yet she also unconsciously influences others. At first glance, she appears the most normal, but she's actually the most dangerous element hiding within. If left unchecked, she's capable of anything. I'm sure you're already aware of this, aren't you?"
"..."
"Think it over carefully, Xiao Wu,"
Trister's expression turned somewhat melancholic, a sadness tinged with sincerity.
"Is it really okay to be around people like that? If we, the Extra Weapon, are a group of madmen who treat human life like dirt, then they—especially Ye and Haoyue—are the same, or even worse. And from the very beginning, our main target has only been Ye, and President Yu only wants Ye, so why can't we... be friends?"
Faced with the 100% sincere Trister, Xiao Wu scratched her messy hair, and then--
"... tsk."
She straightened up completely, her tall, slender figure, over 1.8 meters tall, towering over Trister by a head, and her eyes looking down at him were filled with disdain.
"Have you forgotten? Before I became the 'only good person' you mentioned, I had the persona of a 'delinquent girl'."
So,
Xiao Wu reached out her hand to him, the hand that wasn't holding the gun.
Then raise your middle finger high.
He spoke in a very rude and impolite tone--
"Get the hell out of here! You've wasted so much of my time just spouting this bullshit? They certainly deserve criticism, but it's never your place, you androgynous eunuch!"
Trister was speechless.
The gentle smile on his face vanished, replaced by a moment of astonishment, finally settling into a bitter smile mixed with disappointment.
"Oh dear, my attempt at civilized communication failed. I was being very sincere, what a pity."
Since that's the case--
"It seems that in the end, we'll have to resolve this by force."
Trister reached out, about to conjure something, but before he could, Xiao Wu's sweeping leg was already aimed at his side waist. If he took the full force of the kick, he would probably be cut in half at the waist! But Trister reacted extremely quickly. The moment Xiao Wu approached, he took a big step back, and although he was in a sorry state, he barely managed to dodge Xiao Wu's attack.
However, his clothes weren't so lucky.
It was as if the outer garment of a temple priest's robe had been struck by a fierce leg gust of wind, the seam of which was torn to shreds, and the entire garment flew into the air.
What was revealed was Trister's body.
He was wearing unremarkable trousers on his lower body, while his upper body was bare.
"Hey, what are you doing?!"
Xiao Wu, who was about to give chase, froze on the spot when she saw Trister's body.
Xiao Wu has met many strange and unusual people with superpowers.
But this guy in front of me, whose gender is indistinguishable even when shirtless, is far more bizarre than anyone I've ever seen before.
"What... is this...?"
It's roughly where the heart is located.
It's round, it rotates, and it has many patterns of intersecting blue, white, and green colors on it...
No matter how she looked at it, Xiao Wu felt that this thing was... really, really similar to...
"... Planet?"
The people on Trister Star are also very busy today.
Huge factories occupied two-thirds of the human settlements, with the remainder mostly consisting of facilities for production and resource gathering.
One day, people all over the world will suddenly hear the voice of a god at the same time. The voice is indistinguishable in gender but is very gentle. The voice will assign them a task, a supreme task. From that day on, a new project will begin.
In research institutions around the world, countless senior scholars have devoted themselves to pondering one difficult problem after another, arguing heatedly over the most trivial details, and integrating the wisdom of many through several global academic conferences. It takes several years, or even decades, to finally arrive at the best solution that is recognized by everyone.
In the bustling mining area, countless huge drilling rigs pierce through thick rock layers. Miners shout in unison as they load countless mineral deposits onto mine carts. People on shifts bustle about, and trucks that have been waiting for a long time transport tons of mineral deposits away. The cycle repeats itself endlessly.
In the noisy and jarring factory, all the resources transported from neighboring regions are gathered together for large-scale smelting. Batch after batch of high-purity gold, silver, copper, and iron are continuously produced, then cut and processed by various machines, and finally transformed into countless complex parts by the precise operation of human hands. The smaller ones are smaller than a grain of rice, while the larger ones are as big as a tall building.
In front of the Great Temple of the Central Continent was a vast plaza—or perhaps a plain would be more appropriate—of the size of a city, named Oracle Plaza. All the finished parts were transported here, along with cranes, forklifts, and other utility vehicles from around the world. Countless engineers and architects oversaw the project, and under the watchful eyes and blessings of the temple priests, they completed this colossal work.
From the moment humans receive the divine decree to the start of the design process, to the preparation of resources and artifacts, and finally to the creation of the finished product, each process takes decades or even centuries, yet people never complain. For everyone on this planet, responding to the expectations of the gods and carrying out the tasks assigned by them is the greatest happiness.
Once the final inspections are completed, people all over the world will anxiously await news, especially in Oracle Square, where countless people will eagerly anticipate the arrival of a miracle after the High Priest reports to the supreme and great god Trister that the work is "completed."
Less than an hour after the High Priest delivered his report, a dazzling golden light, shaped like a giant hand, appeared in the sky. The creatures, covering an area larger than the entire city, vanished without a trace under its glow. Simultaneously, a voice, indistinguishable as male or female, cried out, "Thank you for your hard work, my loyal people," reaching the ears of every human on the planet. At that moment, humanity worldwide was moved to tears, followed by days of global celebration.
"Don't you understand yet?"
Trister gave a mysterious smile, then pointed to his heart with his long, slender fingertips.
"This is my special ability, I call it 'Trister Star'."
On his chest, where his heart should have been resting on his left side, was a hollow cavity. Inside the cavity, a planet about the size of a heart was silently suspended and spinning rapidly.
A planet, a complete and genuine planet.
Even Xiao Wu was dumbfounded. She had seen strange things, but never anything this bizarre—a separate planet inside a person's body?
"... If this is some kind of weird plastic model, you must have a lot of free time."
"No, no, no, have you ever seen a plastic model that can replace a heart? This planet is real, not just a small lump of dirt. It has a complete ecosystem, all the geological features that exist on Spirit Star, and plants and animals that are not much different from Spirit Star. Most importantly... it has a highly intelligent primate race that has survived for tens of thousands of years, namely 'humans'."
"..."
Xiao Wu felt overwhelmed, not because she couldn't understand, but because she was about to get involved with that annoying guy again.
"Let me double-check... Aside from its size, your planet is exactly the same as a real planet? It has mountains, water, and life? It even has a mature Human Society?"
Considering what Trister said earlier... could the "more than 3 billion" "people" or "believers" Trister mentioned be referring to the human inhabitants of this planet?
And the strange shield and other items that appeared out of nowhere in Trister's hands... could it be...?
"Hey... maybe my thoughts are jumping around too much, but... those things you used before, were they made by your 'subjects'?"
"Correct answer," Trister said with pride. "They are my people, who have regarded me, their creator, as a god for generations to come. They will do everything in their power to fulfill all my requests."
"Stop talking nonsense!"
Xiao Wu pointed to the strange shield that Trister had dropped earlier, one that could absorb impact.
"Although I don't know the exact weight and size of this shield, it's definitely bigger than your planet, right? Even if they hollowed out the entire planet, the resources they could gather wouldn't be enough to build this thing!"
"Why not? Just convert the dimensions... and it'll be fine, right?"
"Convert 'size'?"
Before Xiao Wu could understand his meaning, Trister struck first—
"Come forth, my 'spear'!"
Xiao Wu only had time to see a blurry beam of light shoot out from Trister's hand.
Then, a stream of heat grazed Xiao Wu's cheek, and a deafening roar and explosion echoed from afar.
Rumble rumble rumble!!!!
A dazzling streak of light pierced through several buildings, only stopping at an intersection where a security team had just passed. The immense impact shattered the surrounding pavement into a spiderweb-like pattern. The security team, naturally on high alert, surrounded the object that had fallen from the sky and wreaked havoc.
"... spear?"
Emerging from the smoke was a short spear, about a meter long. The spear had a very classical and elegant design, and was engraved with religious patterns. Strangely, near the end of the spear was a small metal box with numbers jumping around on it.
5--
"Captain, what's this?"
4--
Was it fired by terrorists?
3--
"Oh no! Everyone, immediately—"
2--
"--Stay away from it!!!"
1--
The team members retreated as quickly as possible, but it was too late.
The metal box exploded violently in the night sky, without light or flame, but the surrounding space seemed to distort violently! The violent sonic wave blasted the team members away, and those closest to it were instantly turned into gruesome, mangled corpses! The sonic bomb had a very wide impact range; people in several adjacent blocks screamed and collapsed to the ground, tens of thousands of people had bright red blood flowing from their eyes, mouths, and noses, some vomiting on the ground, and most immediately losing consciousness!
Almost everyone's hearing was destroyed by this sonic bomb; the pain of ruptured eardrums was unimaginable to ordinary people, and the neighborhood instantly turned into a hellish place filled with cries of agony.
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Today is the last day of the month, and we've finally reached tenth place, but we could be overtaken at any moment. Everyone, please help us out!