Chapter 78: Am I Kindhearted?

The effects of Lan Yi’s time reset continued to ferment and spread throughout the main world.

A single reborn individual could already bring countless complications.

But a group of reborn—enough to turn the world upside down, shattering the old order and plunging it into chaos.

Even just the future knowledge these reborn brought with them was more than enough. Setting aside Lan Yi’s world-ending rampage, the secrets of who would do what in the future, who would betray whom, who would defect, who would undermine the interests of the Jianghe civilization in secret, who would prove to be utterly irredeemable, unforgivable, or gravely derelict in duty, who would preach one thing and practice another, who would be unworthy of their position or unable to keep pace with the times, causing unnecessary serious losses—these alone would give many people much to contend with.

In the initial twenty-four hours after rebirth, these individuals couldn’t do much; their reports were thorough, and soon after, the battle spaces arrived, and the trials of the Artificial Divine Realm began.

Now, with the trials concluded, the returned reborn naturally poured out most of the critical information they held. In this respect—so long as it did not involve themselves—most psionic cultivators were fairly credible. After all, to qualify for rebirth, one had to be a person of some dignity and strength, not some shameless cur; a blatant lie would invite only the scorn and derision of their peers.

Besides, most reborn did not, upon returning, immediately seek out Lan Yi for a deadly confrontation, nor did they entertain the fanciful idea that he could be slain with a single bullet.

Their choice was to quietly amass wealth and power—to first use the initial trial of the Artificial Divine Realm to strengthen themselves as much as possible, then gather intelligence, observe the unfolding situation, and make choices that favored their own interests.

In other words: if Old Devil Lan had also been reborn but did not immediately launch into Apocalypse 2.0, the other reborn would not be in a hurry to fight him to the death.

Not to mention the frenzied chaos of the Oceanic Civilization, even within Jianghe itself, the reborn were far from united.

Some, like Ji Ning and Zhang Shouzheng, already held official positions and enjoyed inherent advantages—they could mobilize vast resources and manpower. Their approach to Lan Yi was to make contact first, to guide him as much as possible, to avoid triggering him into a rampage, to fully accommodate his demands, and to proceed with utmost caution and deliberation.

After all, someone who might end the world over a disagreement was too terrifying to provoke.

Beyond Ji Ning and his ilk, there was another faction within the bureaucracy making even more extreme preparations. For various reasons, they harbored intense malice toward Lan Yi, believing a life-or-death struggle inevitable, and so abandoned any attempt at communication or understanding, focusing solely on war preparations.

As for those at the top—

Both groups of reborn were to be used; no one was pinning all hopes on a single approach. In fact, compared to the currently stable, not-yet-deranged Lan Yi, they were more wary of colleagues who might, overnight, transform completely. Fierce struggles had already begun, silent and unseen.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that Ji Ning and Zhang Shouzheng could still communicate with Lan Yi—who knew what might happen the next moment?

And as for the reborn scattered among the populace—

They were even more diverse and unpredictable.

Compared to Old Devil Lan, these grassroots reborn had clawed their way up through hardship—whether by birth, by wealth, by education, or by personality, each had suffered at the hands of society’s rules, endured suffocating grievances, been cheated to the point of spitting blood, even forced to swallow their pride and put on a smile after being slapped in the face.

These psionic cultivators, brimming with pent-up rage, held a simple philosophy: “Let’s kill you all first before we go for Old Devil Lan! We’ll never be fools, bleeding and weeping for nothing!”

It was not hard to imagine—before their rebirth, these were people who, having mastered martial arts and the mystic arts, stood atop the Jianghe civilization. They were not ones to bow their heads; they forced others to bow before them.

Now, with a second chance, their actions after returning from the Artificial Divine Realm were far more explosive and ruthless than Lan Yi’s.

“I can hardly believe it—who exactly is the world-ending demon here?” Ji Ning muttered, clutching his head as he scanned the urgent intelligence streaming across his personal computer. He was truly at a loss.

Revenge, humiliation, gathering underlings, grand construction, exploiting information gaps—the methods of the grassroots reborn were wild and bold.

These unbending psionic cultivators were already staking out their spheres of influence, hoarding power, and preparing for their meteoric rise! They cared nothing for the bureaucratic reborn, who were bogged down by inefficiency, passing the buck, and mutual sabotage, nor for the non-reborn, whose wild schemes were driving them to the brink of collapse.

Ji Ning even found himself looking upon Lan Yi, quietly eating fried rice in a shabby little diner, with a newfound appreciation.

“Be grateful—we’ve just received the latest news,” Zhang Shouzheng said coldly from beside him.

On Zhang Shouzheng’s personal computer, a newly highlighted message had just arrived:

A majority of the nuclear missile silos in Amariken had been activated, and at the same time, numerous senators, judges, and generals—including their leader—had all been sent skyward by mysterious explosions.

A global nuclear alert had already been sounded.

“So soon?” Ji Ning’s brow furrowed tightly.

“The Engrays can’t wait any longer—they, too, have reborn among them, and they’re moving ahead of schedule,” Zhang Shouzheng replied with the emotionless cadence of a machine.

The so-called Engrays was Jianghe civilization’s term for the sprawling super-corporations—such as Umbrella, Titan, Trauma Team, and Military Technologies—that flourished atop the carcasses of Amariken and other former superpowers within the Oceanic Civilization.

There was evidence these Engrays had long existed, known as the shadow government, but their meteoric rise and unstoppable expansion only began with the arrival of the battle spaces.

The corporate wars they ignited had shrouded the world in smoke and gunfire.

Ji Ning’s frown deepened. The direction of this world had fallen into the hands of madmen—madmen who cared nothing for the upheaval and crisis caused by the drastic population drop after the first trial of the Artificial Divine Realm.

“I truly envy you—your Fate Cluster locks away all your emotions. Without a neural assistant or brain expansion, my mood is in shambles,” Ji Ning confessed, for once tempted to simply give up.

“You waste too much time on surface matters. For a psionic cultivator, strength is always the foundation,” Zhang Shouzheng criticized his friend.

“But the ultimate questions this world must answer are right there! And humanity is tearing itself apart—can strength alone resolve that?” Ji Ning couldn’t help but gesture toward Lan Yi.

Sensing their attention, Lan Yi looked up as he savored his meal, his sharp gaze piercing the darkness beyond the bulletproof car window.

“The world grows more insane because of you,” Ji Ning murmured to himself.

“Why must you always look for the cause of all ills in me?” Lan Yi’s slightly distorted electromagnetic voice reverberated inside the car.

“Very well, then.

“I plan to work with you all in depth. We’ll start with the Oceanic Civilization, killing every named powerhouse. Then I’ll wipe out the non-human elites, purge all reverse racialists, and bestow overwhelming power upon everyone in the main world—thus solving all problems, once and for all.

“So, my friends, does this not make me seem a little more benevolent to you?”

Such benevolence could hardly be surpassed! Even Zhang Shouzheng, whose emotional fluctuations were currently at zero, felt compelled to applaud—if this slaughter went ahead, who knew how many would be left standing, but the problems would certainly be wiped clean!