Chapter 13
"No, impossible. I've been in this world for nearly two hundred years. Back in my world, with the body I had, never mind living to two hundred-even making it to eighty would have been a question. How could my body still be alive? This has to be false. Your Majesty, have you made a mistake?"
Liu Dajun shook his head frantically, disbelief written all over his face. Yet for some reason, part of him had already begun to believe it.
Lately, he had been writing the history of the Ultra Empire in Chinese characters, but every so often, his older brother's figure would surface in his mind.
At first, he had thought using simplified Chinese characters was bringing back memories of his days on Earth.
But whenever he thought about those things, he could only smile helplessly. He had already lived in this world for two hundred years.
Never mind the fact that he had been in a car accident back then-even without the accident, he probably couldn't have lived this long.
Sometimes, he even wondered where his brother had buried him, and whether he had been cremated or buried intact.
Had his brother married and had children? Would his children burn incense for him?
How tall was the grass on his grave now? Was anyone weeding it?
Two hundred years had passed. Surely his grave hadn't been dug up...
But now Ultra V was telling him his body might not be dead. No, not might-it definitely wasn't dead. Not only was it alive, it was calling out to his consciousness.
But it had already been two hundred years.
Why...
Disbelief covered his face, and even his mind kept rejecting it, yet a voice deep inside him was telling him this was the truth.
"Have you considered that time flows differently in the two worlds? Perhaps one day there is a year here, or perhaps one day there is ten years here. These two hundred years of yours might amount to less than a year over there, so there's nothing strange about it.
"Actually, when I first learned this, I was shocked too. I even envied you-envied your long history, envied your long lifespans.
"Hundreds of years could pass here, while perhaps only a year would pass for the people over there.
"Our civilization could even perish before a single person over there had finished their life.
"Just thinking about it feels rather sad and laughable. The span of our civilization cannot even compare to the length of one person's life.
"But after thinking it over, I came to terms with it. Although you seem able to live for a very long time, time flows very slowly for you too. When you work it out, it's actually all the same. We even have lifespans of over five hundred years, while yours are less than a hundred."
Looking at Ultra V, who was now almost at the end of his life, his face weathered yet bearing a smile of acceptance, Liu Dajun hurriedly explained, "Your Majesty, no, I didn't..."
Ultra V smiled and shook his head, interrupting Liu Dajun. "There's no need to explain. I know everything. Have you forgotten that we can connect through brainwaves?
"We believe you didn't deceive us, because our civilization has no word for lies.
"What happened back then is already in the past. Without you, our civilization might never have experienced another technological explosion.
"Although there was destruction at the time, we have now not only repaired it completely, but made things even better. So you needn't blame yourself for what happened before."
At this point, Ultra V suddenly stepped back and bowed deeply to Liu Dajun. This was not a custom of the Ultra Civilization.
Their customs were closer to Western military salutes. They usually placed a fist against their chest to show respect.
But this time, Ultra V bowed deeply to Liu Dajun.
Having lived in this world for nearly two hundred years, Liu Dajun failed to register what was happening for a moment.
He stood stunned for quite some time before hurriedly helping Ultra V up, saying repeatedly, "Your Majesty, what are you doing?"
Yet Ultra V remained bowed as he said, "This time, I have something to ask of you."
"Your Majesty, whatever it is, just tell me. There's no need for this."
As Liu Dajun spoke, he tried to help him up.
"I have a feeling that our civilization may not survive this world-destroying calamity, so..."
Before Ultra V could finish, Liu Dajun interrupted him. "Impossible. With our Ultra Civilization's technology, a mere flood can't possibly do anything to us. Our civilization will definitely pull through."
"All right, let's say that's true. But regardless of whether our civilization survives, I hope that after you return to your world, you will spread the history of our civilization.
"If our civilization survives the great flood, then consider it a way of spreading our culture to the outside world.
"If... then I still hope that at least... someone will remember our civilization's history, so it won't vanish into the river of history, so people will know that our Ultra Civilization once existed!"
Hearing this, Liu Dajun shook his head firmly. "No! I'm not going back. I'm staying here.
"I've lived here for two hundred years. I've spent most of my life here.
"Even if I went back to my old world now, I couldn't possibly continue..."
Ultra V straightened and looked Liu Dajun in the eye. "That is precisely why you must go back!"
"Why?"
"I know you've spent more time here than you did in your original world. You've accepted our civilization, and that makes me very happy. We, too, recognize you as one of us.
"But if our civilization is unfortunate enough to be destroyed in this great flood, then you will be the last spark of our Ultra Civilization!
"So you must live on for our Ultra Civilization, carrying my hopes and those of the entire Ultra Empire!"
"But..."
"No buts. That is an order! And consider it a request from me and every person in the Ultra Empire."
Liu Dajun hesitated, wanting to say something, but ultimately remained silent, mainly because he didn't know what to say just then.
Ultra V seemed to notice Liu Dajun's hesitation and explained, "Are you trying to say that our civilization is so powerful that a mere flood couldn't possibly cause us much damage, or even any damage at all?"
Liu Dajun nodded without speaking, waiting instead for Ultra V to continue.
"Originally, I thought so too. Even twenty years ago, I still believed that. Our technology had undergone another explosion then, greatly boosting our confidence.
"Afterward, we even sent large numbers of Giants of Light to storm the Starry Sky Giant Mosquitoes' nest. But do you know what we discovered?"
"What?"
"The Starry Sky Giant Mosquitoes, and the monsters that appeared before them, were all artificially created."
Liu Dajun started violently. "What! That's impossible!"
"Nothing is impossible. Something like you transmigrating into our world has already happened, so there's nothing strange about monsters being artificially created."
"But, but, but monsters that powerful-just who..."
Ultra V shook his head again. "At first, I didn't want to believe it either, but our discoveries left us no choice.
"According to our scans, the mosquitoes appeared out of nowhere near our galaxy. Before that, there had been no trace of them in the universe, and they couldn't have migrated from another galaxy.
"Their intelligence and speed simply wouldn't allow it."
Hearing this, Liu Dajun asked, "But that alone isn't enough to conclude that those Starry Sky Giant Mosquitoes were artificially created, is it?"
"Of course that isn't all. As I said earlier, we discovered all this when we led large numbers of Giants of Light to wipe out those Starry Sky Giant Mosquitoes.
"At first, we killed many Starry Sky Giant Mosquitoes, but later, when we tried to kill more, we discovered that someone had protected them.
"Afterward, they vanished outright. We didn't think much of it at the time, assuming that all the Starry Sky Giant Mosquitoes had been eliminated. But before long, they appeared again, out of nowhere, just as before. Do you know what that means?"
"It means someone doesn't want us to wipe out those Starry Sky Giant Mosquitoes!"
"Yes. Then who do you think could possibly have such power in this world-not only to protect those Starry Sky Giant Mosquitoes right under our noses, but even to create them out of thin air!"
Ultra V placed particular emphasis on the words "create them out of thin air." Liu Dajun immediately recalled the image that had been designated taboo in the Ultra Empire's highest laboratory.
It was an arm-a god's arm!
It had suddenly appeared beyond Blue Star just half a month after he arrived in this world, then left again after taking a look at Blue Star.
They hadn't thought much of it at the time, but putting Ultra V's words together with all the earlier coincidences, he understood. The god had always been there, and had always been watching them.
"Even if... even if all of this was created by that god, but, but why do you say our civilization won't survive the great flood? This is clearly..."
"I hope I'm overthinking it too, but with all these things put together, I can't help thinking further. So I hope you..."
Their conversation went on for a long time, and Su Mo watched with great interest.
As for Ultra V's deductions, all he could say was that the fellow really did have some ability. But sometimes, knowing too much wasn't a good thing.
At the same time, he felt there were indeed many shortcomings in what he had done. As a god, a god of creation and destruction, he had actually been discovered by mere mortals.
That was indeed his mistake, but some things were fine to keep to yourself. Saying them aloud made you the one at fault.
What was more, with things like this, not only could you not speak of them, you even had to pretend not to know when you did.
Perhaps this was the tragedy of a civilization without lies. What a pity.
But since you've already said all that, wouldn't I be letting you down if I didn't send an army of monsters when I destroy the world?
Looks like I'll have to visit the vegetable garden again. With that thought, Su Mo took a shovel and went out.
This time, his target was an ant nest in the vegetable garden. For something like an army of monsters, he only needed to dig into the nest with his shovel, and there would be at least several hundred, or even a thousand ants inside.
Along with the soil, he would throw the ants down as a meteorite when the time came. He believed it would be very interesting.
"So, people really shouldn't be too clever."
As he spoke, Su Mo drove his shovel into the ant nest, then dumped the ants, mixed with a large amount of soil, into a bucket.
Then he tossed the bucket straight into his Microcosm and sealed it to keep the ants inside from escaping.
By the time he finished all this, the year had reached 999.