Zhang Hao kept searching for ways to calm his soul. He knew all too well that if he was going to roam through time and space, not having a good way to calm his soul would leave him increasingly agitated. So he kept looking. For now, the methods he had were enough; painting and playing music were both good options.
Some skills had been collected by Mifeng and could be passed on to Zhang Hao, but there were plenty of things Mifeng couldn't do. For instance, Mifeng couldn't paint, carve, or write with a writing brush. There were many such skills, so if Zhang Hao wanted to master them, he had to learn them himself. Even though he had a photographic memory, that alone was nowhere near enough.
Zhang Hao needed an interesting soul to counteract the negative energy of wandering through time and space. He was increasingly convinced that being able to control one's soul was what made for the best kind of soul. Calming his soul was absolutely essential.
That day, Zhang Hao was practicing calligraphy, copying Yan Zhenqing's regular script. Since his soul had once controlled robots, his hand was exceptionally steady. Combined with his photographic memory, that meant his copies were almost identical to the examples. But a true expert could tell that his writing only resembled Yan Zhenqing's style in form, without capturing its spirit. He hadn't grasped the true essence of Yan Zhenqing's work.
Zhang Hao knew that. He had only just begun, and there was no need to rush. Nor could he rush it.
Mifeng came in and watched him practice without saying a word. Only after Zhang Hao finished writing did Mifeng speak. "After purification, the souls we got this time numbered quite a few, including no shortage of Elite Level souls."
Ever since Zhang Yihu, Zhang Erhu, and Zhang Sanhu joined them, Zhang Hao had understood how rare Elite Level souls were. "How many are there in total?"
"Ninety-eight Elite Level souls! The rest aren't very useful—mostly souls that can operate repair mechas, Engineering Mechas, and the like. There are over a thousand of them."
"Weren't there several thousand? There are only that few left after purification?"
"Many souls had already dissipated by the time we collected them. There weren't actually that many complete souls. This is already a very good haul, especially the Elite Level souls. I was surprised to find so many."
"Let's split the souls thirty-seventy, with you taking thirty and me seventy!"
Zhang Hao nodded. He already understood how valuable Elite Level souls were. He was very satisfied to get twenty-nine of them this time. That meant he had twenty-nine more Elite Level robots, and could control twenty-nine mechas.
As for the other souls, they could also be installed in robots after being processed by the intelligent program. They would be essential labor reserves for building the Bridgehead in the future.
Souls were becoming increasingly important to Zhang Hao. He had to stockpile a large number of them.
Zhang Hao now had quite a few Soul Crystals, as well as plenty of Soul Crystal Stones. He had exchanged the Soul Crystal Stones belonging to Zhang Yihu, Zhang Erhu, and Zhang Sanhu for smaller Soul Crystals. With their Soul Crystals combined with the intelligent program, the three had advanced beyond the level of Elite Level warriors. They were now Mecha Warriors!
Elite warriors could pilot mechas. On Slaughter Planet, they were called Mecha Masters, and a Mecha Master was already considered quite formidable. Mecha Warriors had even faster reactions and greater speed, and their combat abilities were far stronger.
But for people like Mifeng and Zhang Hao, they could basically reach Mecha Warrior-level control as soon as they began learning. Once they had absorbed the combat techniques contained in the souls, they could grow into master mecha pilots—an absolutely top-tier level on Slaughter Planet, one that those relying on Remote Control could never reach.
After changing their Soul Crystals, Zhang Yihu, Zhang Erhu, and Zhang Sanhu had essentially reached the limit of what they could control. In other words, no matter what, they would never reach Mifeng and Zhang Hao's level. The two of them were the true elite.
None of this had to do with their own efforts. It all came down to their souls, their Soul Crystals, and the intelligent program installed in them.
So Zhang Hao brought the purified souls back to the Bridgehead and transferred them into Soul Crystal Stones. Twenty-nine Soul Crystal Stones meant he now had twenty-nine robots. He brought the twenty-nine robots back to Yuan Mountain Villa, finally solving his manpower shortage.
Of the twenty-nine, twenty had male robot bodies and nine had female robot bodies. In truth, this had nothing to do with the original sexes of the souls: all purified souls were genderless, and robots had no gender characteristics either. Still, their appearance could be highly deceptive. The female bodies were indeed alluring, but in essence they were no different from the male robots. All of them were killing machines.
Zhang Hao kept four robots at the villa, two male and two female. Zhang Yihu and the other two also stayed there. The remaining twenty-five robots were sent to different parts of the world, to regions caught up in war. Their mission was simple: collect as many souls as possible, but never kill anyone themselves. They were only to collect souls from those who died in battle—in other words, while others fought, they were to hide nearby and gather the souls of the dead.
According to Mifeng, they should avoid repeating the kind of massacre they had carried out last time. Doing that too often could affect the course of history, which would be bad for Zhang Hao. In general, the more backward a region was, the less it could affect the course of history. The more advanced a country was, the more careful they had to be. If they accidentally killed an important Historical Figure, it could cause history to veer off course. Mifeng was doing his best to avoid that.
If they truly wanted to change history, they could just bring in the mechas and guarantee that the historical timeline changed rapidly. The Bridgehead would shift along the Space-Time Line, and once it broke away from the main timeline, it would trigger a Temporal Storm. If the Main Bridgehead wasn't ready to project a Branch Bridgehead, it could very well be torn apart by time and space. Of course, there was no Temporal Storm along a branch timeline. Still, most Bridgehead Masters chose to keep history on its original course, because they knew that disrupting the flow of time—even on a Branch Planet—was no good. There were too many unknowns, and they were difficult to control.
Zhang Hao was gradually beginning to understand the secrets behind it all. The main timeline was their home. As long as things stayed peaceful at home, it didn't matter what happened outside. At the very least, if they got into trouble out there, they still had a home to hide in.
This was an incredibly complex piece of Black Technology, probably technology from the very upper reaches of the timeline. If Zhang Hao wanted to join them, his soul had to be powerful. But the greatest limitation wasn't technology or the soul. It was the physical body that housed the soul. The body was the true constraint; the soul needed its help to keep its power from spiraling out of control.
Mifeng told Zhang Hao that when a soul without a physical body combined with an intelligent program, its emotions—joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness—would gradually disappear. It would take a very long time, but once all its emotions were truly gone, the soul would be completely finished. It would evolve into a central brain.
The Bridgehead's central brain!
Zhang Hao exclaimed in surprise, "Will you become the central brain?"
"Probably... But being with you during this time has affected me quite a bit. It should delay that for a long while. Those of us who own Bridgeheads have always been tracing our way toward the top of the timeline, all to verify one conclusion..."
Zhang Hao asked, "What conclusion?"
"Science ends in theology!"
"But so far, we still don't have an answer. Actually, if we entered Ancient Times through a Bridgehead, we would be gods. But we know that we aren't!"
Zhang Hao was left dazzled by what he heard.
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