Chapter 922: Negative Emotions |
Among the extreme stellar bodies, the larger group still remained on full alert, while on this side, the fierce war had not ceased in the slightest. The fleet of the Blue Specter Civilization was quietly observing this scene from the side. Under such a bizarre scene, that ethereal singing continued to drift over.
“You say that the meaning of life lies in constant discovery, but I know that this meaning exists only for you. Aside from you, no one will care about such things. You will eventually die. You are searching for meaning, yet meaning is leaving you.”
“You say…”
“Weary traveler, what exactly was it for that you overcame the mud beneath your feet, overcame the wind and rain filling the sky, overcame this piercing cold wind? For what did you persist? And what was your persistence for?”
“Stop and rest for a while. Look, here the stars are twinkling, here it is tranquil and peaceful. Rather than continuing onward and wasting your life on this endless pursuit, it would be better to remain here. Sleep here forever, and you will be with the stars. Rest here, and you will gain eternal life…”
Within this ethereal singing was contained a strange meaning that could not be clearly described. Suddenly, Xiao Yu felt an inexplicable irritability begin to spread from the depths of his heart. Xiao Yu suddenly felt that everything before him was deeply annoying. These warships were annoying, these stars were annoying, everything was annoying. Xiao Yu had the urge to destroy every single thing before his eyes.
But Xiao Yu adjusted himself in an instant. Suppressing that wrong feeling deep in his heart, Xiao Yu looked at all this with some shock, and in an instant understood many things.
“So it really is like this, so it really is like this…” Xiao Yu sighed inwardly. “The music civilization was not bragging. Sure enough, when they make a move, I really am better off being a spectator… Fortunately, their attack target is not me.”
“Stop now. Stop pursuing those illusory, meaningless things. I know you are very tired. You should stop and rest for a while…”
During this continuous chanting, Xiao Yu saw a shocking scene. Those extreme stellar bodies that had originally maintained strict defenses gradually relaxed their defensive formation for some unknown reason. Later on, these extreme stellar bodies completely lost all organization. They just remained there loosely scattered about. At first they still made some movements, but later on, they stopped moving entirely. If not for the gravitational shielding instruments still functioning, Xiao Yu would have almost believed these extreme stellar bodies were natural stellar bodies.
From the moment the music civilization began singing to the moment these extreme stellar bodies completely ceased all movement, less than three hours had passed. During this process, no intense battle occurred, space showed no fluctuations, no weapons were fired. The music civilization merely sang for a little while, and then everything was over.
“Xiao Yu, our civilization has finished the battle. How is your situation there? Do you need help?” At this moment, Xiao Yu received another message from the music civilization. Although he had already more or less guessed this result, when the music civilization said it out loud, Xiao Yu was still deeply shocked.
“Three hundred thousand extreme stellar bodies… and the battle ended just like that?” Xiao Yu said, almost as if muttering to himself.
“Yes.” the music civilization replied. “All intelligent lifeforms hiding inside these extreme stellar bodies are already dead. But their technological creations, these extreme stellar body war stars, are all still completely intact. You can recover these extreme stellar bodies and arm your own fleet with them. The intelligent lifeforms of our civilization are all without physical bodies, so these things are of no use to us.”
“All right, all right.” Xiao Yu muttered. “I still need about three months to finish the battle… Of course, if these enemies lose their fighting spirit, then the time may be even shorter…”
“We will wait for you.” the music civilization said.
At this moment, Xiao Yu had the urge to smash his head into a wall. Upon discovering that this music civilization, which he had always doubted, actually possessed such terrifying combat power, Xiao Yu’s worldview had almost undergone a complete overturning. Xiao Yu had never doubted his own imagination or his ability to accept new things, but at this moment, he still suffered a serious shock.
“In this universe, what is there that is impossible? An interest-based civilization actually destroyed a war-related civilization without taking any losses at all… Has everything in this universe been turned upside down? If this music civilization were to attack me, how would I resist this kind of attack?”
Xiao Yu thought about these questions, but quickly realized that he had no way to resist it. This was a completely new kind of attack. Before understanding the mechanism of this attack, Xiao Yu could not possibly find a way to defend against it.
“Can you tell me how you did it?” Xiao Yu muttered.
“It is very simple… Intelligent lifeforms are all very complex things.” The voice of the music civilization was still like music itself, containing an extremely moving and beautiful melody, but to Xiao Yu at this moment, these sounds and messages felt eerie like ghostly crying in the middle of the night. “Deep in the heart of every intelligent lifeform, there are places not controlled by reason… Those are numerous negative emotions. They feel sadness, pain, sorrow, despair, fatigue, and doubt toward the things they have always insisted on… We merely use some methods to magnify these things without limit.”
“Have you ever thought about suicide?” the music civilization suddenly asked.
“When I was little, I did.” Xiao Yu said somewhat bitterly. “Who has not had thoughts of suicide pass through their mind a few times? I vaguely remember that I was in middle school then. It seemed to be because I lost ten yuan, or maybe because a teacher scolded me. I thought about suicide. I had even bought a small knife, but because I was afraid of pain, I ultimately did not go through with it.”
“That is exactly it.” the music civilization said. “Unless there are absolutely no negative emotions in your heart, our attack will be ineffective. As long as there is even a trace of sadness or despair in your heart, as long as you have ever had even a single thought of suicide, we can use music to stir those things up and ultimately make intelligent lifeforms put them into practice.”
“So, strictly speaking, it was not we who killed the intelligent lifeforms of this extreme stellar body civilization.” The music civilization spoke faintly. “There were thoughts of death in their hearts. They also had fear toward this endless starry sky. In their daily lives, they also had thoughts of being weary of life… What we did was merely remove the shackles of reason, allowing these negative emotions to flood their thinking organs without restraint. So, they killed themselves.”
“We generally do not use this method of attack, because while exerting this influence on them, we ourselves also truly feel that despair and sorrow. So, music is not entirely beautiful either…” They spoke as if sighing to themselves. “We sensed that inside these extreme stellar body warships, countless intelligent lifeforms abandoned their work and burst into tears. Despicable villains, out of guilt, sought out the people they had framed, expressing their apology by plunging sharp blades into their own chests. Promiscuous drifters cut open their own bodies to express guilt to those they had abandoned. Rulers, because they had failed to be impartial and selfless, threw themselves into power reactors. Pitiful cowards, out of fear of this endless starry sky, gouged out their own visual organs…”
As the music civilization spoke faintly there, Xiao Yu suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
“No, stop talking, stop talking.” Xiao Yu muttered. “I admit it, I admit it. You are very powerful, far more powerful than I imagined.”
The music civilization paused. After a moment, it said, “Sorry. Earlier, we were also affected by those emotions, which is why we unconsciously said those things. Now we have adjusted ourselves. This world, this universe, this starry sky is still very beautiful, right? There is no need for us to give up this precious life because of those things.”
“Yes…” Xiao Yu thought for a long while, then shook his head in his mind and sighed.
“Three months, is that it? We will wait for you.” After saying this, the music civilization fell silent once more. Xiao Yu, as if a heavy burden had been lifted, immediately threw all of his attention back into the war before him.
Xiao Yu no longer held anything back. Those warships that had previously been kept in reserve and had not joined the battle were now all thrown into the war as well. Xiao Yu knew that he too needed an outlet. This battle was the best way for him to vent.
When the number of participating warships rose to more than thirty billion, there was no longer any suspense in this battle. Across this chaotic battlefield, the light of exploding extreme stellar bodies was everywhere. The number of extreme stellar bodies began to drop rapidly, from two hundred thousand to one hundred thousand, then to fewer than ten thousand, fewer than one hundred…
When the final White Dwarf War Star was also destroyed by Xiao Yu, this battle finally came to an end.