Chapter 892
Chapter 892 - 878: The Great Designer
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8 min read
"A grim joke, how do you get a flesh and blood creature to refuse to be transformed into an energy creature?"
"After turning into an energy creature, does that mean no more eating or drinking?"
"That’s indeed a bit distressing, but many life forms’ eating and drinking mechanisms are actually punishment mechanisms, not needing to eat or drink is actually a reward."
"So, what could make this universally hard to accept for living beings?"
"After transformation, regardless of your previous gender, you’re destined to be gender fluid, neither male nor female, neither female nor male."
"...Isn’t that the same as saying both male and female are okay? Wouldn’t that be a reward for some folks?"
"No, no, no, when it comes to that, you won’t have any desires. When an existence pursues eternity, it naturally loses the yearning for offspring, and life naturally loses the longing for other lives, even other energy bodies getting too close might induce fusion, interfering with your independence..."
No life form is perfect.
When Lu Ping’an saw the Luka people donning "Hammer-man shells" busily preparing for his group, he too was lost in thought.
Perhaps, for them, a mutated individual in their ethnic group is too important.
In the eyes of the Lord of Myriad Changes, an energy state is a fine form of life, but in the eyes of life systems including the Beast of Pure Love, this is blatant deviation and heresy.
In the eyes of the Radicals, known as the "Evolutionary Faction," pursuing eternity is a heresy, abandoning the flesh is also a heresy, and energy state beings that combine both are the heresy of heresies.
"It’s precisely because life cannot be eternal that living beings invest the need to continue into more competitive offspring, sexual reproduction, mutations, aging elimination mechanism—they are all for generating better offspring..."
"A race all equipped with the same module carries high risk that is unacceptable, a single targeted disaster or attack (plague, environmental change, memetic assault) can wipe out a species, too low risk resistance..."
"Maintaining the ’energy state’ of life at a stable cost is too high, such life fears change and thus also fears growth and evolution, has extremely low growth in supernatural powers as well, and even every fundamental structure change requires a lucky one’s successful mutation template, might not have a single change in a hundred years, pfft, what a cowardly civilization..."
While Lu Ping’an was doing his real work, the constant grumbles and complaints of Big Cat filled his ears, seemingly utterly disdainful of the Luka people’s form of life.
For some peace and quiet, Lu Ping’an retorted with just one sentence...
"...You look down on eternity so much, but if you had succeeded in your Ascension back then, wouldn’t your Life Mother Tree form also be eternal?"
In an instant, silence fell on the other side.
Then, after about fifteen seconds, another burst of "emotion-filled" speech erupted.
"I am not the same as them, totally different! Even if I were the only individual, I’d still be evolving constantly, you simply don’t understand, with your level you can’t grasp the differences among us..."
Big Cat seemed truly rattled, now indignantly attacking the one who raised the question.
"Although all pursue the eternity of individual existence... no, I’m not pursuing eternity, is there something wrong with the life system trying to live a bit longer? I am not a Corpse Monster, I pursue the individual’s lasting constance, but not eternity..."
What’s the difference? In the wording? Are you in such a rush? What a laughable show, brother.
"Certainly, in that form, I couldn’t possibly have offspring, but can you blame me? At that time, my form didn’t need offspring or to split, nor did it need meaningless mutations..."
Uh, wasn’t that the same argument you were spraying at energy creatures just now? Isn’t the boomerang hitting back a little too fast?
"...***...according to the Life system...Seventh theory....."
She began to spout alien languages and technical jargon that Lu Ping’an couldn’t understand. Had she completely lost her composure?
"I, I, I..."
Finally, having her defenses breached, she blurted out a barrage of words, but after a long silence, she sighed and retreated into herself entirely.
It seemed that Lu Ping’an’s casual remark had truly hit a nerve with the Big Cat.
He smiled to himself; her quietness made it easier for him to continue working. Hunting the Energy-devouring Evil Sunflower was by no means a stress-free task.
More than two hours later, just when Lu Ping’an thought she had retreated into her shell again and wouldn’t speak to him for days, she suddenly said something out of the blue...
"Was I really wrong..."
Pursuit of Evolvers? No, from the very beginning, she was merely seeking the survival of herself and her ethnic group amid Doomsday.
But at some point, the ethnic group became meaningless (having all died), and this so-called evolution and the survival of just oneself... wasn’t it just pure fear of death?
"Hey, hey, hey, I’m not qualified to answer that question."
Evil path? Righteous path? Who can dialectically discern in a Multi-universe, who can judge? Who is superior, and who is stronger? These questions never had answers from the beginning.
Did Lu Ping’an truly have no answer? No, he did, and not only did he have one...
Those beings who had reached the "Twelve-Pillar" stage, Lu Ping’an had heard about them. Some of their paths had transcended the concept of evil in the moral sense of humans; they were beyond the destruction of one’s Three Views and ethics... but those beings succeeded because they never considered their path evil.
"...Belief is the premise of practice. How can one follow a path they don’t even believe in themselves?"
Not long ago, those were the words spoken by Big Cat, which Lu Ping’an now returned to her.
If she could utter such words, she already had the answer. She was just afraid to face it.
"What others say doesn’t matter. If you doubt yourself, question yourself, or can’t even convince your own logic, forcing yourself to continue might lead to inevitable failure but perhaps it is also a form of release."
Big Cat managed to say this after all.
Following another period of silence, she spoke again, this time about something trivial.
"Your design idea is good, but there are some minor issues, some technical ones. Blood and flesh should be separated, even if both are materials from the Energy-devouring Evil Sunflower, they should all be piled in the Bone Flesh Foundation, start with classification..."
"If you consider the Energy-devouring Evil Sunflower as a plant, its mouth and skin, which absorb ’nutrients,’ are actually its base. Then, the tissue fluid flowing within is its blood. If you strip its skin and feeding system to serve as the carrier for the Blood Essence, you can turn it into the vascular system of Tree-man diagrams..."
"Infinite growth is a good concept, but in some ways, it’s also like a logic-defying tree without roots. Instead of infinite expansion, wouldn’t the transformation between energy and volume (matter) be simpler and more feasible? You happen to have some god-level materials for this..."
"I know, an energy body is stupid within an energy creature, basically useless... Don’t you know how to adapt a bit, to make it become a Child Body separated out? When necessary, fuse again. Not only does it add versatility to abilities, but it also facilitates Infinity Evolution."
"Don’t rush. Let’s go over the thought process again and see what other possibilities there are... You can ask Hua Xueyi for some blood cells. Her ’structure’ is very suitable for this type of Life form. Her Ability Contract Scroll is also some kind of ’supernatural item,’ right? Use it as the Blood Essence."
"Xia Qin’s Abnormal Ability is also very useful. Newborns need a sturdy defense. You need to use your Abnormal Ability to peel features more effectively. You previously wasted it..."
For the first time, Big Cat put her heart and soul into her work, and as a true Expert got involved, Lu Ping’an realized just how crude and underdeveloped his previous designs were.
Finally, after twenty-seven hours, the Hunting Team brought back the prey, and Lu Ping’an collected another round of materials while the blueprint for the Newborn had become several times stronger than before.
— End of Chapter 892 —