Playing God

Hearing Old Wang out, Robbie frowned. "So you don't want money—you want the Darkhold?"

The demon inside him was growing increasingly restless. It seemed to want the Darkhold too?

So what exactly was the Darkhold? Could it be connected to that demon?

"That's only incidental. I actually came here for you. You're more important than the book."

Old Wang looked at Robbie as if he were an invaluable treasure. "I mainly came to help you. You want revenge, right? Wasn't the Fifth Street Gang responsible for what happened to you and your brother... Didn't you capture Peter yesterday? Didn't you get anything out of him?"

Robbie glanced at Old Wang's neck. Aren't you here for the necklace?

Well, he couldn't be sure. That necklace didn't seem particularly special.

At the mention of Peter, Robbie's brow furrowed even deeper. "He said someone hired the Fifth Street Gang to kill people. The target wasn't my brother and me, but my uncle. But I didn't believe him. I thought he was trying to mislead me so I'd let him go... so I killed him."

Young people shouldn't be so hot-tempered. The world was such a beautiful place... Besides, Peter wasn't even a Hunter. How could he mislead anyone... Even if he were a Hunter, he couldn't mislead a BOSS at Robbie's level. He was immune to it... Old Wang had no idea what to say.

Of course, he knew Robbie couldn't be blamed for this.

The flames of vengeance had an effect that "lowered intelligence." Angry people often couldn't think straight, and the Spirit of Vengeance itself was a major problem.

That thing was a genuine hothead, full of destructive urges. If it were allowed to run wild, the consequences would be terrifying. A Ghost Rider in that state was the strongest kind of Ghost Rider, one qualified to challenge first-tier Super Heroes.

Most of the time, a Ghost Rider had to suppress the Spirit of Vengeance's power and control it as much as possible.

Of course, that was difficult and mentally draining. That was another "intelligence-lowering" effect.

As they grew more proficient, adapted, and gained greater control over the Spirit of Vengeance, Ghost Riders became more powerful.

The First Generation Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze, had indeed become incredibly formidable later on. Though that was another parallel universe; it was unclear how things stood in this universe, but he probably wasn't weak here either.

As for Robbie?

He was still a complete rookie. His strength was average, his experience was practically nonexistent, his skills were practically nonexistent, and his intelligence... was average too.

Of course, that had its advantages.

Young, inexperienced, easy to fool, enormous potential, proper values, principles that would keep him from betraying others, and, most importantly, fatal weaknesses and vulnerabilities... Though that last part wasn't important. Old Wang was a good person; he would never threaten anyone.

Someone like that was quite suited to being raised and developed, but he was a little too old. And male.

Skye was better. Female, pretty, curvy, firm, and she had been raised since the age of sixteen. Their relationship was already excellent, with her favorability above ninety. Her potential ceiling was not low either, and she was a female student while Old Wang was her teacher.

They even had something in common: they were both orphans—

No, Old Wang wasn't an orphan.

Setting his soul aside, this body had been created by Azeroth Miss. It was essentially born of heaven and earth. Wukong and Shi Gandang were his kind.

Still not right. Skye wasn't an orphan either. Her parents were both alive!

"This is a long and fascinating story, the kind that could be made into a TV show... Long story short."

Old Wang didn't want to waste his breath. More importantly, after talking for so long, his mouth was dry and he wanted water.

If only he had chosen Mage back then. He could have conjured water whenever he wanted... But he was a Pandaren, and Monk was the proper path... Later, he had wanted to become Aegwynn's apprentice, but she didn't think much of him...

Old Wang sighed helplessly.

Skye was busy recording, while Robbie clearly didn't look like someone willing to serve tea and water. There wasn't even a water dispenser in sight. Old Wang could only endure it and quickly finish this topic that was torturing his throat.

"What the Power New Energy Laboratory studied was God's Forbidden Zone. Creating something from nothing. It has a very high-end name: 'Permanent Quantum-State Energy Storage.' I don't understand the specific principles either. In short, it creates things out of thin air." Old Wang searched his memories and recalled a few details.

"That's impossible. How can something be created out of nothing?"

"It's like a perpetual motion machine. It violates scientific principles!"

Skye and Robbie objected at the same time.

"Don't interrupt! Didn't your teachers teach you that in school? Wait until I'm finished before asking questions!"

Old Wang snorted, making no effort to hide his contempt. "One of you couldn't get into college, and the other dropped out of high school. What do you know?"

"Heh, as if you know anything. You probably didn't even finish middle school properly, elementary schooler..." Skye curled her lip.

Even an elementary schooler knows the law of conservation of energy. And I didn't fail to get into college—I just didn't want to go. My grades were great in every subject... Robbie thought to himself.

Neither of them interrupted again, and Old Wang was satisfied.

"Creating something from nothing is impossible. No one has broken the law of conservation of energy yet, but some people keep dreaming about it. Because if they succeeded, they would become gods. They would become God. The temptation is simply too great."

Old Wang explained unhurriedly. "Joseph somehow learned of the Darkhold, so he and Lucy kept searching for it. And they actually found it. Tsk, tsk. Neither Hydra nor S.H.I.E.L.D. could find it, yet those two did. How interesting."

"Following the methods recorded in the book, Joseph built some equipment. It really could create things out of thin air, and it could also make things disappear into thin air—at least, that was how it looked on the surface."

"What he didn't know was that the Darkhold came from another dimension, a dimension as dark as hell. So-called creation from nothing was actually drawing energy from that dimension, while making something disappear actually meant sending it into that dimension."

"Understand? It wasn't creation. It was theft!"

"Your uncle, Eli, wanted to possess that godlike power. He wanted to play God. He wanted that book."

"Joseph obviously wasn't willing."

"To obtain the Darkhold, Eli used the equipment Joseph had invented to turn Laboratory members from something into nothing, one after another. They became a special state, ghosts gradually falling into hell."

"Joseph became afraid and hired the Fifth Street Gang to get rid of Eli."

"Who knew you and your brother happened to steal your uncle's car? The Fifth Street Gang mistook the person driving for your uncle... and tragedy struck."

"Your uncle found Joseph and interrogated him. Joseph hid the Darkhold and refused to say anything no matter what. Then he fell into a coma and was hospitalized."

"Your uncle was arrested."

Old Wang shrugged. "That's what happened."

Skye focused on recording while searching online for relevant information.

Robbie remained silent, his emotions complicated.

Although Old Wang's story sounded bizarre, it was logical and supported by evidence. It also matched what he knew, leaving him with no way to refute it.

Was his uncle really the mastermind?

Was his uncle really a murderer?

More than ten minutes passed before he finally spoke, his voice hoarse. "I still don't believe my uncle would kill anyone. Maybe he wasn't a good person, but he wasn't a bad person either. He'd never even killed a chicken!"

"I'm sorry, but that was in the past. The Darkhold's temptation is beyond anything you can imagine. It also possesses the power to corrupt hearts and lead people into depravity. Mortals cannot resist that power, and neither could your uncle. Do you understand? That book was the real culprit."

Old Wang stared at Robbie—not at him, but at the presence inside him—with a faint smile. "Am I wrong, Spirit of Vengeance?"