Chapter 603: The Price of Transmigration
The Imperial Guard captain, now in battle-ready posture, nervously scanned his surroundings.
Ten seconds prior, he had received a warning. After learning that someone was rapidly dismantling the palace's defensive array, he rushed to the King's side with the utmost speed.
"An interesting array." What was truly terrifying was that Bai Mo appeared directly in front of the Imperial Guard captain almost simultaneously.
The array system independently developed on Mars, though appearing quite crude compared to the crystallized wisdom of countless individuals on Earth, still contained elements of independent thought, which made Bai Mo's eyes light up.
Unfortunately, it was merely a fleeting flicker of interest; the disparity in cultivation levels between the array setter and the array breaker was too vast, rendering the dismantling utterly effortless.
"You... what exactly are you!" The two hands gripping his blade trembled slightly, and his four legs involuntarily quivered. He forced himself to remain calm and roared.
Looking at this Four-Armed Centaur, whose height barely reached his chest, he felt a profound sense of life-level suppression.
Every cell in his body unceasingly sent signals of 'run!' to his nervous system.
Instinctive warnings flurried like snowflakes, urging him to flee immediately, yet his loyal and dutiful will demanded the exact opposite action. His will clashed fiercely with his instincts.
Bai Mo ignored the Imperial Guard captain's questioning, and like a true ghost, passed directly through the heavily armored Four-Armed Centaur, arriving instantly before Qiu Yi.
The moment he was passed through, the Imperial Guard captain, beneath his heavy armor, felt an illusion of his body being flash-frozen and hollowed out. Then, his four legs gave way, his vision blurred to black, and he nearly collapsed on the spot.
...
"Transmigrator." Bai Mo spoke in standard Huaxia Mandarin.
The instant he heard those three words, Qiu Yi's heart felt as if it had been violently struck by lightning.
Over the decades on Mars, to alleviate his profound loneliness, he had gradually introduced Huaxia Mandarin to various tribes. However, he knew very well that the Martian tribes, whose civilization remained in a semi-slavery, semi-primitive state, could absolutely not comprehend what those three words – "transmigrator" – meant, let alone utter them.
"Are you truly from Earth?" Qiu Yi, meeting someone from his homeland in a foreign land, was so agitated he nearly lunged at Bai Mo for a bear hug, completely forgetting that the other party had forcibly intruded into the palace.
Bai Mo, like a wandering spirit, did not reply. Instead, he casually tossed a stone tablet inscribed with text to Qiu Yi.
"Qiu Yi, thirty-five years old before disappearance. Disappeared in Dao Yuan Year -27, one year after the Spirit River Autumn. Before his disappearance, he had one son, Qiu Zhiping. His wife remarried after his disappearance. His parents are still alive. His parents, wife, and child have all since relocated to the Moon..."
The stone tablet was filled with information, akin to a personal dossier, which made Qiu Yi, who had initially been ecstatic about meeting a fellow Earthling, feel a chill run down his spine.
He had absolutely no idea what kind of turn this was.
"What is the meaning of this?" Qiu Yi, being the lord of a city after all, quickly regained his composure.
"Nothing." Bai Mo calmly regarded him. Having drifted further and further from humanity, he didn't realize at all that casually presenting someone with their family's full summary was no different from a gang threatening someone with their relatives.
...
"Who exactly are you?"
"You will know."
"..."
"How strong are Earthlings now?" After a moment of silence, Qiu Yi proactively opened a new topic. He had far too many things he wanted to ask.
"This is Mars."
"What?! This is Mars?!!!!!!!!! " He had never dreamed that he was so close to Earth.
Though this so-called 'closeness' was merely in an astronomical sense, for the vast majority of individuals, it remained a distance they could never reach even in death.
"Then... then that's the Moon?!"
"Perhaps you should refer to them as Moon people instead."
"Wait, why 'them'? What about you? And why 'Moon people'? What about Earth?"
Bai Mo merely smiled, remaining silent.
"You...!" Qiu Yi was about to erupt in a furious rage, but in a flash, he realized he didn't have the leverage for an outburst. The phantom before him possessed overwhelming power.
Bai Mo, unconcerned, this time tossed a ball of light towards Qiu Yi.
"A Transformation Dao? Such a thing actually exists?!"
Upon learning that there was a chance to return to Earth, he had pondered this question: with his current Four-Armed Centaur body, it would be impossible for him to gain much acceptance after returning to human society.
Even his own son would be frightened by this appearance.
"It's been over twenty years since I last saw them, my parents probably think their son is dead. She did remarry, as expected. I just wonder how my son is doing..."
After his transmigration, Qiu Yi had more than once imagined his elderly parents discovering his sudden disappearance, and how heartbroken they must have been.
As for his wife, whose affections were rather lukewarm and whose marriage was almost entirely a union of convenience, he had little lingering attachment. Qiu Yi only cared about his son.
When he disappeared, his son was still a month shy of turning four. Now, over twenty years later, perhaps even the concept of 'father' had blurred for him. Thinking of this, Qiu Yi couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness.
...
"What do you want?" Qiu Yi knew there was no such thing as a free lunch in this world. For the other party to appear proactively and even offer these things, they must surely have ulterior motives concerning him.
"Nothing."
"I know, what's free is always the most expensive."
...
"You call them 'Moon people,' so you're from Earth? What exactly happened between Earth and the Moon?!"
From the information Bai Mo had provided, Qiu Yi learned that only a little over twenty years had passed. Logically, within such a short span, nothing truly earth-shattering should have occurred...
Bai Mo remained noncommittal.
...
"I owe you a favor." As a high-ranking lord of a city, Qiu Yi naturally understood the immense value of the Transformation Dao in his possession.
If all the Four-Armed Centaurs under his command were to cultivate this method and transform into human form, then they, along with him, could gradually integrate into human society.
Returning (or surrendering) to the Federation with thousands of loyal followers was entirely different from returning to human society as a solitary individual.
Having grown accustomed to the taste of power, universally acclaimed, returning to the human side with nothing felt far from pleasant.
Going further, if he were to spread the Transformation Dao throughout Mars, allowing humanity to 'liberate' Mars through more peaceful means, then perhaps, with such immense merit, he could even advance further within the Federation.
At this moment, Qiu Yi, after clearly realizing that the invaders of Mars were Earthlings, had completely skewed his allegiance towards the invaders. Now, all he could think about was how to sell the resources currently at his disposal for the highest possible price.
PS1: Promoting two books: "Dangerous Apocalypse" (The author is a beauty), and "A Certain American Comic Anti-Hero" (We just mutually promoted each other).
PS2: Come to think of it, behind every transmigrator enjoying themselves in another world, lies the tragedy of a family in their original world, ha ha ha.
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