Iron Bull taucht wieder auf

Kapitel 73

I lost consciousness—

I am dead—

I regained consciousness...

Time no longer mattered. As my body gradually regained sensation, I found myself standing next to the sphere. The sphere was no longer glowing, the wall of swords in front of me was gone, and the scalpel stood there blankly, expressionless, and without any momentum to continue its advance.

In his hand, there was still only a golden sword.

"You really aren't from Earth. When your energy was unleashed to infinity, it even surpassed the speed of light... This is truly perplexing. Who are you? Where did you come from? What level of technological civilization has your planet reached?... So many questions. Energy... Energy... I'm out of energy... Even if I manage to see the 'Great Seven,' I won't be able to return to the base..."

The golden-armored man's voice grew increasingly low, and his body began to shrivele on the golden chair.

Youlian retrieved the golden sword from the scalpel, reinserted it into the keyhole, and smiled gratefully at me: "Thank you. The illusionary demon shadow that invaded the scalpel's mind is dead, buying us some more time. Before the 'Great Seven' arrives, we will go underground. If you could stay, that would be great. With your extraordinary energy, you can activate this spacecraft and fly to Saturn together..."

The scalpel remained motionless, like a lifeless wooden sculpture.

I was utterly uninterested in her suggestion: "What's the point of flying to Saturn? I'm an Earthling, of course I want to continue living on Earth, I have no interest in becoming an alien immigrant."

I walked towards the man in golden armor, suppressing the convulsions in my stomach, and placed my left hand against his chest.

The way they transferred energy was very similar to the "internal energy infusion" in Chinese martial arts. So I simply concentrated my own internal energy and transferred it to him—I had many questions that he needed to answer, and I didn't want him to die so soon.

As the sphere slowly landed, its multicolored light faded, and it looked like a giant, charred soccer ball—utterly unsightly.

The golden chair shone brightly, as if a light bulb with a weak current had suddenly received enough voltage to shine again.

Getting so close to a monster with a crocodile head is definitely not a pleasant experience.

"No matter where you come from, I know you have something to ask me... I see your question..." The golden-armored man sat up straight in the chair, the stars on the back of the chair flashing at an increasingly rapid pace, causing Youlian's astonishment to deepen. I only knew that my internal strength was profound enough, but I never imagined that my own energy could actually help aliens.

"The first question you want to ask is—who am I? Where do I come from? What is my purpose in coming to Earth?"

Indeed, there are so many legends about the god Tu Liehan, and I need to know the truth behind them.

"I have no name, because all Saturnians have no names, only a unique number from a complex base-361 encoding system. Our planet uses a base-361 system of calculations, which is why we used 'nuclear cube' technology to build this pyramid as a 361-unit architectural pattern... You can call me 'Saturnian' like all Earthlings do. I come from Saturn—of course, in Earthlings' minds, Saturn has no humans, because there's no oxygen or water there, so humans can't survive..."

I heard everything he said, but I couldn't fully understand it. I could only memorize it in my mind like a stenographer, trying my best to record it all. There is no doubt that there can be no life on Saturn, and with current space technology, it is impossible for a manned spacecraft to break through Saturn's rings and enter its interior.

"Here, you need to understand one thing: the Saturnians exist a million years into the future according to Earth's calendar. That is to say, you are currently in the year 2005 of Earth's calendar, while I came from a time period of one million plus two million years of Earth's calendar. Our space technology is a million times more advanced than that of Earthlings, so many things that seem inconceivable to Earthlings are entirely possible, such as your other question—the transformation of the pyramid structure..."

Yes, I still find it baffling that the interior of the pyramids could transform from a structure of "361 burial chambers of equal size" into a "plaza with a deepened pool." I can only dismiss it as "illusion, illusion, or hallucination," and I simply cannot imagine how this was accomplished.

"Any architectural structure built by Earthlings must consist of two parts: a foundation and a superstructure. Without a foundation, it's impossible to build anything suspended in mid-air, right? In Earthlings' lexicon, there's a unique term like 'castle in the air,' which describes this physical phenomenon. This architectural method, which has permeated human history, is caused by the special 'gravitational state' existing on Earth. As long as Earth's gravity exists, this kind of architectural structure must and will inevitably exist. Imagine what the form of a building would be if gravity no longer existed? Wouldn't it be able to suspend itself in the air and be constructed arbitrarily—I'm not entirely sure what I'm saying; it's just an approximate analogy. What I'm saying is that 'Saturnians' architectural structures exist in the form of a Rubik's Cube,' and a Rubik's Cube with 361 faces, definitely not the nine-sided cube you commonly use, much less the spherical cube you imagine…'"

He saw right through me, because I was smugly imagining the "361 faces of a Rubik's Cube" as being like the "nuclear Rubik's Cube sphere" in front of me. In his presence, all my thoughts were laid bare.

"The structure of the Turkham Pyramid is that of a Rubik's Cube-shaped building, centered on a single central axis, which can be transformed at will. Of course, that was before my core Rubik's Cube lost its power; now it can no longer be transformed and can only exist in a fixed form. Therefore, there are many ingenious variations that I cannot show you one by one."

"My purpose in coming to Earth is because all the prophets on Saturn received a shared, mysterious instruction: in the year 2007 of the Saturnian calendar, a great calamity will befall Saturn, causing the planet to disintegrate and shatter into pieces throughout the universe. When the prophets consulted cosmic records, they discovered that the same prophecy and the same calamity had occurred in your time, but Earthlings escaped unscathed and have continued to develop smoothly..."

"So, as a member of the Saturn Resource Conservation Organization, I volunteered to pilot my spacecraft through time to Earth, intending to gather enough information to avert Saturn's catastrophe. Unfortunately... alas... unfortunately, my spacecraft experienced a huge deviation when it entered Earth's 'timeline,' and ended up in the 5000s BC period of the Earth calendar..."

I was frantically taking notes of what he said, and I didn't have time to laugh. Of course, it's a huge joke that the Saturnians, with their advanced spacefaring technology, would make such a basic mistake.

"With no other options, I could only use the energy of the 'Nuclear Cube' to accelerate the Earth's rotation and try to shorten the straight-line distance from 5000 BC to 2007 AD. Our theoretical calculations on Saturn were out of sync with the actual propulsion process in many places, which led to a large amount of energy being consumed by the 'Nuclear Cube'—especially the appearance of the 'Illusion Demon' seventy years ago, which exacerbated this disaster."

"What exactly are the Illusion Demons? Are they also extraterrestrial visitors? Why do they want to destroy Earth—"

My questions kept coming in one after another. Actually, I know that the Earth God isn't omnipotent. If he knew everything, he wouldn't have been forced to retreat underground by the enemy. He couldn't even withstand the shadow of a mere illusion demon and had to rely on the energy within my body.

"Illusion Demons? Like me, they are strange and dangerous aliens to Earthlings, and they truly want to destroy the planet—and I exhausted all my energy, only able to seal them in the 'Crystal Coffin.' Their methods and energy far surpass mine, and their sole mother entity, under certain special circumstances, can infinitely replicate itself, body and mind, through the power of the mirror. So I lost this war from the very beginning. The only saving grace is that I desperately concentrated all the energy of the spacecraft to seal their mother entity. Although I couldn't completely eliminate her, it greatly slowed down the speed at which they gained complete control of the situation—"

The mention of the "Crystal Coffin" immediately brings to mind the image in the electronic notebook Tina once showed me—a six-armed monster encased in a sealed container. And the tall, crocodile-headed humanoid figure in another image undoubtedly refers to the great god Tu Liehan standing before me.

"There are prophets on Earth, and there are prophets on Saturn; there is the monumental work of prophecy, *The Centuries*, on Earth, and there is one on Saturn as well. When the prophetic moment of 'King of Terror 1999' arrived, I thought it referred to the illusion demon breaking free and shattering Earth. But for some reason, the expected disaster has not materialized. Unfortunately, my energy is exhausted, and I can't see what's happening inside the 'Crystal Coffin' at this moment. So I've been wondering what force is preventing the illusion demon's eruption? I understand that the seal, from its inception to its breaking, can only be maintained for a fixed period, up to 1999… Alas, things on Earth are getting stranger and stranger. What kind of immense force could postpone the illusion demon's eruption again?"

For centuries, people around the world have never stopped studying "The Centuries," and its translations in various languages have spread rapidly throughout the globe.

If I had the chance, I would love to see what the Saturnians' "Centuries" is about.

"Another question—Tengjia… Hmm, is that girl named Tengjia? The strange device on her is actually the necessary step for ordinary people to impart energy to Saturnians. Our science and technology, in the application of gold, have reached a level unimaginable to Earthlings, and according to our refining methods, we can obtain more gold from the same mineral. Your Earthlings' research on the properties of gold is truly far too backward… You heard the summons, and all the extraordinary people who know of my existence and covet the Tulihan Pyramid tomb will receive the brainwave information I emit. I must apologize, because I summoned people like you here simply… to absorb the energy from your bodies…"

I cursed under my breath: "If all the energy is absorbed, won't the lives of Earthlings also end?"

He patted the back of the chair uneasily, because it was certainly not a glorious thing.

"I had to do this. When I first arrived on Earth, and discovered that I couldn't find any of the components needed to synthesize energy on this blue planet, I tried to absorb energy from animals, like the Bengal golden-line viper you see... Snakes have inexhaustible energy because their vitality and ruthlessness are unparalleled, especially the golden-line viper I found, and of course, the serrated crocodiles from the Nile River—unfortunately, the consequence of doing this was that it forced my survival genes to merge with animals, turning me into this ugly creature. Before arriving on Earth, my appearance was exactly the same as that of Earthlings. Scientists on our planet once deduced that Saturnians are descendants of Earthlings. About 200,000 years before the appearance of Saturnians, Earthlings launched a 'humanoid species origin generator' to Saturn, and after 200,000 years of reproduction and evolution, the Saturnians we know today were formed."

"If I can't absorb energy and can't synthesize it artificially, I can only close my eyes and wait to die. When I discovered 'him,' I was almost ecstatic because the energy he possessed far exceeded yours. I even dreamed of using his energy to restart the solar-powered communication system and reconnect with our planet..."

This "he" most likely refers to my older brother, Yang Tian. I mentally cursed three or four times in a swear word that Saturnians wouldn't understand, and asked in a low voice, "So, what happened next? You didn't find him?"

The golden-armored man shook his head, utterly bewildered, and replied, “No, I almost succeeded. Once, I clearly sensed he was close to the Tuli Khan Pyramid; just a little closer and he would have entered my capture range. But his energy aura suddenly plummeted, becoming almost undetectable. Even today, when you appeared, I had the illusion that ‘another him’ had appeared. Of course, his faint energy aura is still there, right here in this desert…”

My head was throbbing and I felt like it was about to split open.

"If my brother is here, what danger has he encountered? What should I do?"

"Let me explain the girl's problem—her body is very strange. When I started absorbing her energy, I didn't gain anything; on the contrary, my own energy was correspondingly depleted. That's why you were able to breach the protective layer that should have been impossible to break through. Until you took her away, my energy was being consumed by her... Alas, perhaps the Saturnians' technology is already too backward within the Milky Way, leading to so many uncontrollable accidents..."

"Her becoming a vegetable has absolutely nothing to do with me. I've absorbed the energy of so many people, including the latest and last few—"

Among the images on the stone wall appeared, in turn, those of Bancha, Master Dry Butterfly, and Cheney. As their living bodies transformed into layers of mummies, my stomach once again experienced rapid spasms and clenching.

Human desires are endless. If one is unrestrained in pursuing these desires, one often falls into traps set by others. Before they became mummies, were they still dreaming of "ascending to heaven and becoming gods"?

He stood up and pointed to the now-glowing sphere, his voice filled with profound sadness and despair: "That's the 'Eye of Luna,' a gem that Earthlings dream of in the real world. It was actually the energy source for the Saturn spacecraft I piloted. Now that its energy is depleted, it can only revert to an ordinary stone. You know how insignificant it will seem in the real world without its halo. Perhaps it can serve as a souvenir of this mysterious journey!"

I still have many questions in my mind, and perhaps a large part of them are also beyond his explanation. In our universe, so many unanswered questions are piled up; where can we find a true sage who can answer them all without hindrance?

"We're leaving—perhaps the next time we meet will be at the moment of catastrophe when the 'Big Seven' arrives. If no miracle occurs, when the orbits of Alpha Lyra and Alpha Aquila intersect in 2007, Earth will be destroyed into billions of fragments and cease to exist. At that time, everyone will float in the vast universe..."

The main star of the Lyra constellation is the Weaver Girl star in Chinese mythology; the main star of the Aquila constellation is the Altair star in legend. The straight-line distance between the two stars is closest on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month in the Chinese calendar. — "You mean, 'the big seven' refers to the Qixi Festival in the Chinese lunar calendar?"

The Great God Tu Liehan no longer answered, sadly shaking his head and pointing to the scalpel: "Take him away—he's an ordinary Earthling now, the illusionary demonic shadow that possessed his mind has been killed, and we should... say goodbye..."

I cried out anxiously, "Don't go! Don't go! There's still Fujika's soul—give her soul back..."

The light in my vision suddenly dimmed, as if I were watching a still, frozen scene. In the blink of an eye, the stone platform, the gemstone, and the small knife that had just touched the gemstone reappeared before me. The Great God Tu Liehan and that mysterious stone chamber were gone. Perhaps when I could no longer help them, they stopped wasting time talking to me in depth—of course, there were many things that even Tu Liehan himself couldn't explain, such as why the "King of Terror 1999" hadn't descended.

I will always remember that terrifying and enigmatic passage in *The Centuries*—

July 1999

To resurrect King Angorumoa

The King of Terror will fall from the sky

At that time, Mars will rule the world.

It's said to be for people to achieve a happy life...

As Tu Liehan said, the Illusion Demon is the "King of Terror" who will destroy the earth. So what about now? Five years have passed since 1999. Why has this "King of Terror," who should have appeared long ago, postponed the time to destroy the earth for no reason?

Part Six: The Divine Appearance Revealed

— Chapter 14 — Epilogue: Not the End, But Only the Beginning —

"Mr. Feng, is there a problem?" It was Tina's voice, waving vigorously at me from the poolside.

I snapped out of my reverie, and the tip of my knife touched the gem. With just a flick, the gem fell silently to the ground beside me.

This was truly unexpected. I remember when I tried to pry it out of the snake pit last time, it was embedded very firmly. I held it in my hand, puzzled; it was cold and unremarkable. The stone pit where the gemstone had been embedded was simple and rough; I couldn't understand why the gemstone had been embedded so tightly before.

It turned into a light brown stone, devoid of any luster, making it hard for me to connect it with the previously dazzling "Eye of the Moon" gem. Of course, when it stops emitting light, shouldn't the intense rays within the gem have completely disappeared as well?

I stood up, and the people by the pool cheered in unison, especially Tina's voice, which rose high from the crowd, full of admiration and praise.

The process of retreating back to the pool was uneventful, with nothing noteworthy to be recorded.

I saw the scalpel again, standing motionless at the northernmost end of the tomb's north-south axis, facing the stone wall. If the phantom demon that had been corrupting his soul had been killed, shouldn't he now be the same master tomb raider he once was?

The gemstone was passed around among everyone, becoming the focus of the excited crowd, while my gaze remained fixed on the back of the scalpel, until Suren squeezed next to me and whispered, "Brother Feng, something seems a bit off—"

She raised her left wrist, staring intently at the black dial, her expression hesitant, mixed with a hint of fear and unease.

I smiled at her: "It's okay, he's completely normal now, I guarantee he's found his old self again—" As if to echo my words, Scalpel suddenly turned around, strode towards us, chest puffed out, spirited.

Suren bit her lip, her eyes wide as she watched the scalpel move, her right thumb constantly rubbing the left watch face. The watch wasn't an international brand; it was just an ordinary Swiss Enicar, an old brand almost obsolete.

"Brother Feng, look at his lower body! Something's wrong! Still wrong! Absolutely wrong..."

Suren was almost wailing helplessly, her lips were bitten until they turned purple, and she took a step closer to me, her shoulders trembling.

I went to meet him, disagreeing with Suren's words. If the illusionary demon in his mind had been completely eradicated, then he was now completely normal, having returned to his true nature.

The scalpel moved with large, rapid steps, and he already held a small safe key in his hand, quickly handing it to me: "Feng, this is the key to a safe in Villa No. 13. It contains all my information, including some clues about my older brother Yang Tian that you've been desperately seeking... My mind is still not working properly, and the shadow of the Illusion Demon hasn't been eliminated..."

He spoke faster and faster, and three or four winding blue veins throbbed on his forehead.

I reached out in horror to take the key, only to find it burning hot in his hand, and his right wrist pulse pounding wildly like a stampede of horses.

Suren leaped up from behind me, her eyes fixed on the scalpel, her expression a mixture of fear and pain.

"Feng, take good care of Suren for me... I'm entrusting her to you—" The muscles in his face began to twitch and tremble, as if an unknown evil spirit was buried beneath his skin, about to burst forth from his body. Yet his eyes remained deep and intense, the gaze of a true scalpel.

I grasped his hands, trying to infuse them with my inner strength to calm him down, but his hands were already incredibly hot, like a cup of freshly poured boiling water, making me want to pull my hands away.

"Suren, remember the plan we agreed on... Things have changed... I can't take it anymore, I need you to carry it out... to carry it out..."

The scalpel trembled violently, glanced at me sharply, then suddenly threw its head back and let out a wicked, eerie laugh. It lunged forward, snatching the gem from James's hand with lightning speed. More precisely, it snatched the stone that had lost its magic—in that instant, my heart sank. The scalpel with that look was still the embodiment of the illusionist, because no human being on Earth would possess such a sinister gaze.

"The Eye of the Moon Goddess, the Eye of the Moon Goddess... It's finally in my hands... I can..." he screamed hoarsely, his features contorted, his expression utterly insane.

Suren suddenly grabbed my arm, and in her extreme tension, her nails dug through my clothes and into my flesh.

Tina roared, "Mr. Scalpel, what are you doing? Put down that... gem!" She understood, of course, that once the gem's brilliance faded, it could no longer be treated as a gem, though its name could still be "Eye of the Moon." At her command, all the soldiers pointed their guns at Scalpel.

I couldn't help but let out a long sigh: "It's useless...it's useless..."

If the scalpel is still possessed by the illusion demon's shadow, unless the "nuclear cube" in the Great Mysterious Chamber of Tu Liehan can work again, Earthlings' weapons will be unable to withstand his attack.

Suddenly, the scalpel reached up and gripped his throat, exerting fierce force as if to strangle him.

Tina, who had initially stepped forward to confront the scalpel, involuntarily took two steps back upon seeing this situation and clutched her belt with both hands.

Suren gripped his hands tighter, muttering to himself repeatedly, "The plan needs to be launched... the plan needs to be launched... the plan... brother..."

I don't know what she's talking about, nor do I know what the scalpel and she had agreed to. As the only person in the know, I have no choice but to grit my teeth and step forward.

“Surlen…Surlen…Plan…” The scalpel uttered these words with difficulty, his right hand gripping his throat, while his left hand, holding the gem, was desperately pulling at his right wrist. His body twisted and turned strangely, as if two forces were rapidly battling within him.

“Plan…plan…plan…” Under the pull of his left hand, his right hand, which was choking him, was forcibly pulled away, but he repeated it with difficulty. It was clear that he could no longer control his body and was standing by the pool, twisting and turning in a strange dance.

Suren abruptly raised her left hand, revealing the jet-black wristwatch, and looked at my face with a desperate, resolute expression: "After my brother came out of the secret room in Villa Thirteen, he told me that his body had been taken over by an evil force and was on the verge of collapse at any moment. When the external force took control of his body, I detonated the electronic bomb planted deep in his heart—and now, that moment has arrived..."

Her right thumb pressed heavily on the watch face, her expression frozen like ice.