Chapter 597: No Longer Human
Meanwhile, in the strange city the bearded intelligence officer had been thinking so much about, such a scene was unfolding.
"Your Majesty, the Ceremonial Jade Slip." A blue-clad attendant knelt on one knee, raising a peculiar jade-like object over his head with all four hands.
"You may withdraw." From atop the throne, the unique, purple-robed being used a thought to actively draw the jade slip before him.
"Yes."
After a moment.
"How unlucky! The divine oracle actually indicated that aliens were going to invade this planet... and they're already on their way." After "reading" the divination results on the jade slip, the purple-robed being felt his head throb.
...
Qiu Yi was originally an Earthling.
Decades ago, one day, on a whim while browsing the internet, he mimicked a classic line, shouting to the heavens, "I reject my humanity!" He was then struck by a lightning bolt that appeared out of nowhere.
If one had to describe it, he now looked like a centaur from legends, but with an extra pair of arms attached to its horse-like body.
But crucially, everything that constituted his body structure was inorganic matter!
Spirit qi imparted the miracle of life to the sand and dust that was originally ubiquitous on Mars, causing them to gain sentience and gradually form a civilization.
However, he was lucky. He directly transmigrated into the body of the patriarch of what he called the Four-Armed Centaur race, and after a battle between their two consciousnesses, Qiu Yi ultimately won dominance, devouring the original patriarch's memories.
Thus, he also inherited everything from his original self.
Qiu Yi became the leader of the Ash Hoof Tribe.
Stranded in an alien world with no other choice, he could only use all the knowledge from his memories to lead the Ash Hoof Tribe forward.
Under the leadership of the transmigrator, a primitive tribe spent over twenty years becoming the Ash City-State, a dominant regional power.
If he were given another hundred years, there might truly be a chance for him to truly dominate Mars.
...
Unfortunately, all peace was shattered by a certain omen.
Most races on Mars naturally devoutly believed in an entity called the Spirit of Nature. From super-powerhouses who could punch out a meteorite crater with a single blow, down to Ash Rabbits, a Four-Armed Centaur could stomp several to death with one foot—all had a large number of believers of the Spirit of Nature.
Where there is faith, there are naturally priests. Just a few days ago, the priests of all races received a warning from the Spirit of Nature: Beware of invaders from beyond the stars!
This news instantly shook the entire Mars.
...
"I wonder if I'll ever have the chance to return to Earth in this lifetime?" Looking up at the two small "moons" in the sky—Phobos and Deimos—Qiu Yi couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion.
Stranded on this unknown planet for decades, he ultimately still yearned to return to Earth. His parents and relatives were there, while here there were only monsters, all sorts of monsters.
Even though his aesthetic sense had changed after fusing with the old patriarch's memories, his view of the Four-Armed Centaur race wasn't too bad. Yet, that sense of solitude always lingered.
Because he still couldn't accept the idea of mating with a centaur.
Unfortunately, Qiu Yi, who had never studied astronomy, had no way of calculating from observing the celestial phenomena at night that this was, in fact, Mars, Earth's neighbor.
After all, when he transmigrated, the spirit tide had only just appeared, and Martian life was merely a subject for science fiction stories, so he naturally wouldn't have thought in that direction.
...
As the Moon drew closer, various phenomena brought by its gravity began to appear more frequently, and Mars became increasingly chaotic.
Living beings, especially those sensitive to changes in gravity and magnetic fields, felt extremely uncomfortable under the Moon's gravitational disturbance and became restless and agitated.
Qiu Yi knew that he had tried to organize an alliance meeting against the extraterrestrial enemies in the name of the Ash City-State, but his influence was still far too weak; he simply couldn't rally anyone to attend.
The strongest monsters on Mars, who even possessed the power to uncover the truth behind the Spirit of Nature, simply didn't believe the claim that the extraterrestrial invaders were absolutely unbeatable.
They, too, once devoutly believed in the Spirit of Nature, but their continuously expanding power ultimately dispelled the veil of piety and gave rise to greater ambitions.
...
"A third moon?!" Before actually seeing it, Qiu Yi had never imagined that the so-called extraterrestrial visitors would actually arrive piloting a planet.
Over the past week, whenever he had a spare moment, he would stare at the sky, pondering how the enemy would launch their attack.
He mostly guessed a spatial passage, but he was wrong.
Recently, a very conspicuous star had appeared in the sky, and it was growing larger every day. By today, it already looked similar in size to the smaller "moon," Deimos.
"The other side just came with a planet-sized warship... What's the point of even fighting?" Qiu Yi estimated that this spaceship must be as large as the Moon once was.
His side hadn't even managed to escape their homeworld; they were on a completely different level from an interstellar civilization whose very ships were planet-sized.
The only hope might be that the opponent was a purely technological civilization, and aside from their advanced technology, their individual power wasn't great.
In that case, those monsters on the homeworld who were itching for a fight might still have a chance to carry out a decapitation strike.
...
"What did the higher-ups say about how to deal with him?"
"..."
Two black-clad men conversed in hushed tones in a dim room.
The bearded man, tightly bound by spirit energy restraints, arrived at an unremarkable grayish-white building, escorted by several Federal covert inspectors.
The infamous special interrogation room, whose mere mention changed countless people's expressions, lay at the bottom of this ordinary building.
"You can't do this to me! I've shed blood fighting the Sea Race! I've rendered services to the Federation! I demand to see Councilman Xiestu!" The bearded man panicked as he looked at the countless torture instruments hanging on both walls, hastily invoking his powerful backing, attempting to gain their attention.
Late last night, while the bearded man was still groggily asleep, his door was suddenly broken down by a group of black-clad men who directly dragged him from his bed, leaving his two wives trembling with fear on the bed.
The security guard outside couldn't utter a word. The leader of the group simply produced credentials from the Federal Internal Affairs Department, immediately silencing him.
No one had ever attempted to impersonate the Internal Affairs Department, because those who had tried had all vanished from this world.
...
"You have five minutes to explain what happened to us.
The timer starts now.
Three hundred.
Two hundred ninety-nine.
Two hundred ninety-eight.
..." Inside the interrogation room, one of the black-clad men pulled out a stopwatch and calmly started a timer.
It wasn't hard to imagine that if he didn't get the desired answer after five minutes, many of the torture instruments glimmering with the eerie glow of spirit energy would begin to speak for him.
"What did I do wrong! My loyalty to the Federation is absolute, Heaven and Earth can bear witness!"
"Two hundred.
One hundred ninety-nine.
One hundred ninety-eight.
..."
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