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Chapter 462: Good Luck

Unfortunately, this horrific scene was entirely wasted, for it failed to frighten anyone and didn't affect their lives much.

Seres, tormented until only a breath remained, had completely extinguished any thought of observing the outside world, focusing solely on its internal affairs before considering external changes. It was still making its final efforts, attempting to escape the Master's shackles.

Even if it meant sacrificing everything to start anew, at this moment, it would absolutely embrace it. For a Zerg that had once enjoyed supreme power, to lose everything, even its very self, was no different from death.

Moreover, even if it had truly noticed the scene of the maiden removing her own head and roasting it over a fire, it would at most have felt a touch of surprise.

Seres was, after all, a Zerg, possessing a Zerg's aesthetic sense. To it, the headless maiden was no different from a human seeing a cockroach missing its head.

As for Bai Mo, long ago, he had almost ceased observing the world meticulously through the eyes of a normal person.

Because even with his divine sense closed, the light waves his eyes could capture were far too many compared to an ordinary person.

Infrared light, generated by thermal radiation, with most of its wavelengths beyond the normal human visual spectrum, was actually visible light to him. Precisely because of them, the image of humanity in Bai Mo's eyes had long since diverged greatly from the "human" form he remembered, making it difficult for him to feel a sense of kinship anymore, or to believe that they belonged to the same species.

Then there was ultraviolet light from the sun; it had almost completely altered Bai Mo's perception of what a "normal" environment should look like, distorting everything into a grotesque, motley dream world shrouded in variegated colors.

Although he understood clearly in his heart that he merely saw more than ordinary people, and that everyone perceived the same world, his sense of detachment from everything around him continued to grow daily.

Only a very small number of exceptional superhumans with outstanding power control appeared somewhat like the "humans" in his memory in his vision. This was also a reason why Bai Mo rarely interacted with ordinary people.

"This is... your token?" Bai Mo received from the headless maiden a statue that was identical to her form when she was whole.

The maiden, an avatar of the Zerg Master, used green Spirit Flames to quickly refine her own head into a small model, though the sculpted subject was herself.

The statue almost perfectly recreated the maiden's previous appearance, but holding a statue personally refined from a human head, it truly looked quite terrifying to outsiders.

Not only was the expression lifelike, even the details of its clothing were replicated without flaw, just like a collectible figurine.

"Within three hundred of your Earth years, should you wish to participate in the war, you may use this statue to contact me, but you will only have one opportunity to do so," the maiden said coldly after handing over the statue.

In her eyes, three hundred years was not an overly long period. The war between the Zerg and the Xiahe Civilization alone had already lasted for over a millennium. However, for Bai Mo, who was just an ordinary person thirty years ago, the three-hundred-year agreement still felt undeniably too heavy.

"Three hundred years, then? I'll be there. Thank you for the invitation." He didn't hesitate much and directly accepted the Zerg Master's invitation.

If Bai Mo's Daoization speed remained unchanged, he would likely have about three hundred years left.

If, by then, he still couldn't find a complete solution, he would have no choice but to try anything, even if it seemed futile, personally venturing to the locations of the two great civilizations to investigate, to see if there was any path forward.

After all, these two civilizations ostensibly possessed individuals significantly stronger than his current self, and perhaps there would be a glimmer of hope.

But Bai Mo knew he definitely wouldn't set off now. He still had a great many arrangements and hypotheses yet to complete, and his power was still a considerable distance from the Zerg Master's true form. There was no need to rush over now just to be high-level cannon fodder.

Insufficient power on the battlefield was simply too dangerous.

"That's good then." The headless maiden, with only half a body, used her psychic power to vibrate the air, producing sounds unlike those of a human.

"Merely curiosity." Bai Mo responded with the same air vibrations.

More than ten years ago, he had already researched the method of speaking by using psionic power to vibrate the air instead of his throat.

After years of research during his idle moments, his speech now was indistinguishable from that of a normal person, and he could even, like his former assistant Chen Xi, freely mimic the voices of others.

"Additionally, I still require three months to open a spatial passage wide enough for you to pass through. After contacting me, you will need to wait a while longer." Perhaps due to a request or an intention to recruit, the Zerg Master seemed relatively easy to talk to throughout the encounter.

Bai Mo nodded after listening, and thus, their first meeting smoothly drew to a close.

"I am the Master of Ten Thousand Zergs, Yi Xi Si." Perhaps forgetting to introduce herself at the beginning, the Zerg Master, who had regrown a phantom head and a transparent lower body, finally, before preparing to depart, spoke her name to Bai Mo.

"Bai Mo." He offered no further introduction.

"Before you leave, could you let me see that little bug again?" Bai Mo continued.

Yi Xi Si opened her left palm, slightly loosening the restraints on Seres's soul.

It naturally possessed a skill akin to reading minds, though it was a very vague ability, only able to distinguish simple good and evil, and some basic emotions. However, Yi Xi Si did not detect any intention in Bai Mo to snatch Seres away or to rescue it, so she allowed him to proceed.

"Farewell." A gentle breeze swept by. After completing his business, Bai Mo casually bid Yi Xi Si farewell.

"Farewell." The maiden, growing increasingly ethereal, transformed her remaining existence into fuel, preparing to commence a super-transmission spanning across space.

Blue flames similarly incinerated the maiden's body completely, leaving only a solitary right hand, roaming the cosmos with the artifact containing Seres's soul.

"Good luck." Gazing at the departing figure in the distance, Bai Mo, still in his Zerg form, gently waved his tentacles. It was unclear for whom he wished good luck.

...

"Where is this? My head hurts so much..." Upon waking, scattered memories suddenly appeared in Seres's mind. "Wasn't I taken away by the Master? Why am I waking up to find myself lying in a human house?"

"It's so dark around here, and not a single sound. What kind of godforsaken place is this?!"

P.S.: Recommending a book: "Apocalypse Programmer." The author is a coder (manual side-eye).