"Spirit!" Saladin said. "Although I have mastered certain methods of controlling Mental Power, I still cannot grasp the essence of spirit. And I know that spirit is the other half of the universe, the foundation that supports a consciousness. Without a vast Mental Power, even if my consciousness could spread throughout the entire universe, I would not be able to control it. At that time, it might split into countless versions of myself, drifting to some planet and evolving into a new civilization."
I don't want to see myself turn into a bunch of Monkey and then slowly evolve into humans!
The current quantum channel cannot support my clones as a single entity. Even on Earth, due to communication delays, I often face the risk of losing control. Therefore, I need you, I need your Mental Power, Sangni, let's cooperate!
"Why don't you take advantage of your new partner's strength? Kitano Masatake also possesses powerful Mental Power," Qingmu said.
"You're trying to trick me again!" Saladin twisted his face. "Fine, I'll tell you. My partner is indeed from the Kitano Clan, but not Kitano Masatake. As far as I know, Kitano Masatake is long dead. That's all I can tell you. You should know I'm a man of my word."
Do they know who you are?
"I don't know. But ever since you and Mei Yiqiu discovered the existence of Internet Consciousness, I can no longer hide many things from you. If you think about it for a little while, you can guess that I did it."
"For example, Cat-Killing Order?"
Saladin didn't answer, only smiled noncommittally. Then he returned to the previous topic. "There are two reasons why I prefer to cooperate with you."
Firstly, you are the person I have ever met with the strongest Mental Power and the most perfect control over your mind. Moreover, every time you disappear and return, you have made great progress in this aspect. I don't know where you went; perhaps you are not even on Earth, or in another universe, such as the Third Space, the Fourth Space, or the Original Space that Nanke conjectured. In any case, I know that it must be a place where you can directly contact the spiritual aspect of the universe.
Secondly, we understand each other better, we know each other inside and out. Even if I don't contact you today, one day you'll find out I'm still alive and know my purpose. Rather than becoming enemies and fighting to the death, it's better to just be friends again. I made this decision the moment you met Liu Huaian again, and I've laid a lot of groundwork for it."
Qingmu understood what Saladin was talking about. From the moment Liu Huaian recognized him, the Internet's tentacles had reached Mei Laboratory, and it's possible that it had been monitoring Mei Yiqiu's every move for a long time. High-level laboratories, scientists, and Tushu should be its main focus. So even without Liu Huaian, Saladin would have discovered Qingmu's existence sooner or later.
Judging from the series of events that followed, Saladin did not intentionally harm Qingmu or the Mei Laboratory, and the appearance of the Ghost confirmed his long-standing intention to cooperate.
In the past, Qingmu would have flatly refused such a request; it was too uncontrollable for him. He couldn't imagine what an Internet world filled with Mental Power would be like, and he couldn't control such a world. Moreover, he didn't trust Saladin; cooperation was based on the premise that you had value to him. Once Sardin fully grasped the essence of the spirit, or once he learned about the Awakening Sacred Land and extended the tentacles of the internet into Ramla, what would happen next would be unpredictable.
However, now that Qingmu has witnessed Ramla's immense Mental Power Field and experienced the Itza People treating him like a god, he is not so worried anymore.
Just like Saladin said, since we can't kill the other side, we might as well cooperate to obtain the greatest benefit.
Since returning from Ramla, his memories have been gradually returning, making him increasingly certain and convinced of his feelings—he is falling into a trap. Moreover, this trap began a long time ago, and it was only when he entered Ramla this time that he was able to see the clues, only to find that he was already deeply, deeply trapped, to the point that he could no longer judge right from wrong in many of his actions.
His intuition told him that there was a huge conspiracy behind this, a giant hand manipulating everything in the shadows. None of the events were isolated incidents; everyone was involved. Whether it was the Internet, Parasitic Consciousness, the Third Space Foundation, or any other force, they were all just pawns on this chessboard.
He wanted to find this chess player.
He had suspected Ronald Cohen, Arthur Stone, Kitano Masatake, the legendary Nanke, and the Saladin before him, even Mei Yiqiu and the deceased Lester, but none of them seemed to fit the bill.
He couldn't even see the shape of the chessboard, let alone find the player. Now, his only chance was to cooperate with the pieces and not follow the player's strategy in order to expose the player.
Therefore, he did not intend to reject Saladin's cooperation proposal. However, he had some concerns about the Kitano Clan. After Ramla's confrontation with the wizards of the three major tribes, he was well aware of the power of Group Dream. Once their Second Space Joint Project succeeded, the entire world might fall into another dimension, where the human body would slumber, while consciousness would spend countless eternities in the new world.
Saladin seemed to sense his worry and said, "Don't worry about the Kitano Clan. To be honest, I won't terminate our cooperation with them. If their Second Space Joint Project succeeds, it will slow down the process of entropy increase in this universe, which will not harm us. Moreover, even if we stop cooperating with them, they won't stop; on the contrary, they might take even more drastic measures."
Qingmu understood that Saladin's words were also a warning: if he refused to cooperate, Saladin wouldn't give up his efforts to master the essence of the mind; on the contrary, he might resort to even more drastic measures. The Internet had already been able to interfere with human consciousness through human chips and had already mastered certain methods of mental interference. Coupled with the mental training methods he obtained from Qingmu through Ghost, it was only a matter of time before he came into contact with the spiritual aspect of the universe. Furthermore, Qingmu wasn't the only one in the world who had mastered Mental Power; many descendants of the Awakeners' Alliance were still alive.
Qingmu thought for a moment and said, "But you must control their ambitions and not jeopardize the survival of all humanity, otherwise, I will destroy them at all costs."
His words were also a warning to Saladin: You must control your ambition. If it threatens the survival of humanity, I will destroy you and the Internet at all costs.
They looked at each other and laughed heartily.
Saladin said, "So you agree to cooperate?"
Qingmu wasn't about to give in so easily, saying, "But you haven't made it clear what benefit I would get from this cooperation."
"You can become the ruler of the universe with me!" said Saladin.
"That's too far away." Qingmu showed no interest in it.
"Okay, something closer," said Saladin. "You can get all the information you want that I know; you know I'm best at getting information. From now on, all the information on the Internet will be open to you. What I know, you'll know too. Hmm... to show my sincerity, I can tell you some big news first—I think you'll definitely be interested—"
Ronald Cohen is back!