If something really happens and you fall from the sky... then even if you're driving slowly, you'll still be smashed to pieces...
Zhou Ziwei didn't take it seriously. He waved for Ross to come over, and then explained that flying a plane wasn't that difficult. He could control a smart program to control the flight, so he usually didn't have to do it himself. He just needed to sit here and watch, and make sure nothing went wrong.
"What...this plane...can be piloted unmanned?"
The group of people were completely bewildered upon hearing this, their faces filled with confusion.
I'd only ever heard of cars being driverless before, but I'd never heard of airplanes being able to... That thing is so dangerous! Letting an intelligent program drive it is terrifying!
Zhou Ziwei laughed and said, "Of course it can. Not to mention that airplanes can be piloted without human intervention, even space shuttles can be operated without human intervention, right? Those things are much more complicated than our old helicopter. Don't worry, airplanes are actually not difficult to fly. Moreover, the biggest advantage of intelligent programs is that they are operated with precision. There is basically no possibility of errors. In fact, it is much safer than humans operating them themselves."
Without waiting to see if anyone understood, Zhou Ziwei sealed all the helicopter windows. Then he seemed to be busy with something complicated on the control panel, but in reality, he was just entering a simple command program into the control panel, which allowed Xiao Xin, who was still hiding on him, to take full control of the aircraft.
So, to the astonishment of everyone on board, the plane, which was not being piloted at all, slowly took off, then performed a beautifully executed large tail swing, flying straight southeast.
"Shoot...shoot it down! You have to shoot this plane down!"
Smith was going crazy. He watched as the helicopter calmly took off right in front of him, and he was powerless to stop it. The thought of the severe punishment he might face if the mission failed sent chills down his spine. In desperation, he mustered his last bit of courage and issued a frantic order to his men.
After all, the other party was only piloting an ordinary helicopter, and it hadn't even reached a normal altitude yet. Under these circumstances, it should have been very easy to snipe it.
Even with ordinary automatic rifles in the hands of those soldiers... as long as the bullets are accurate, a barrage of shots could still have a chance to shoot down that plane.
Besides... there are heavy machine guns and cannons on the armored vehicles behind, as well as a dozen or so surface-to-air missiles and man-portable rocket launchers. With that kind of firepower, shooting down a helicopter that has just taken off is not an too difficult task.
However, to Smith's utter surprise, after he had been shouting wildly for a long time, not a single gunshot was heard from the surrounding area. A large portion of the survivors were still staring blankly at the pile of dust that the two missile vehicles had turned into, clearly not in a clear-headed state.
As for the few who seemed relatively clear-headed... basically, these people were all rather cunning. Seeing that most people hadn't obeyed orders to fire their snipers, why should they be the ones to stick their necks out? What if one or two shots angered those two fiends in the sky, and they casually unleashed a couple of powerful attacks, wouldn't they immediately kill them to pieces? Uh... now it seems that dying by having their heads chopped off by that fiend from before is a relatively humane and gentle way to die.
If someone were like that Chinese boy… able to turn anything into a puddle of powder with a single finger… just thinking about it sends chills down my spine… Now that those two freaks are finally about to leave, why are we provoking them? Let's go! Let's go! The farther the better. At least we'll be spared. Otherwise, if we open fire here and provoke those two freaks to land again… then… will these remnants of our army have any chance of survival?
Smith could probably understand what these people were thinking, and seeing that most of them were still in a daze because of Zhou Ziwei's magical finger strike, it seemed that even if he shouted into their ears, they might not be able to hear him.
After a slight hesitation, Smith had no choice but to give up and immediately reported what had happened to his superiors.
Anyway, he felt that he had done his best. If he really couldn't stop them, there was nothing he could do. So many people had died here, and there were so many physical evidences and videos to prove that these were superhuman beings that two ordinary soldiers could not deal with. He figured that the higher-ups couldn't really do anything to him, Smith!
Zhou Ziwei sat leisurely in the pilot's seat, with Ross sitting next to him in the window seat. He looked down at the vast expanse of corpses below, and the many newborn souls hovering above them, and couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.
Just now, Soul Chaser killed thousands of people in one go. In addition, it is nighttime now, so the souls will not be damaged by sunlight for the time being, and they are still perfectly intact.
Thousands of new souls can generate at least tens of thousands of soul powers, which is a considerable income... It would be strange if Zhou Ziwei wasn't tempted... However, recently, Zhou Ziwei has inexplicably offended some powerful figures because of reciting the Six-Syllable Mantra, to the point that Zhou Ziwei now has a bit of phobia. Seeing so many souls floating in front of him, he is a little hesitant to open his mouth and collect these souls.
It's just that the range of the Six-Syllable Mantra has now become extremely wide. As for what's within this range, Zhou Ziwei has no way of knowing. What if he takes in another soul that he shouldn't have, or attracts one or two more terrifying enemies? Wouldn't he be asking for trouble?
However, seeing so many souls right in front of him, it was not in Zhou Ziwei's nature to give up and not collect them. Although he had just refined over a hundred souls into soul beads in one go before destroying those two missile vehicles, the remaining souls still made up the majority.
Although Zhou Ziwei had concerns, he couldn't let a minor setback deter him from continuing his studies. Helpless, he closed his eyes slightly and carefully began reciting the magical six-syllable mantra in his sea of consciousness...
Perhaps because Zhou Ziwei was preoccupied with whether reciting the Six-Syllable Mantra would cause any further trouble, his mind wasn't fully focused on the six syllables. As soon as he finished reciting the first syllable, he suddenly felt a strange spiritual power attach to the "Om" syllable. He then felt his soul consciousness expand countless times in an instant, spreading out in the air and dissipating into a huge halo of light.
The halo was simply too enormous, as if it could expand to infinity without any limit. Zhou Ziwei didn't know how his soul and consciousness had become stuck to this halo. He was extremely anxious and worried that if the halo continued to expand without limit, his soul and consciousness would be stretched thinner and thinner, and in the end, it might really collapse and disappear completely...
"Stop it...it can't be allowed to spread any further."
Zhou Ziwei was screaming wildly in his heart, while at the same time, the soul consciousnesses attached to the halo were also struggling desperately.
Finally... Zhou Ziwei didn't know if he had experienced a short moment or a long century. His soul trembled, and finally... he used his soul consciousness to firmly bind the huge halo that seemed to be expanding endlessly.
At that moment, Zhou Ziwei finally realized that in such a short time, his soul consciousness had spread out to a radius of more than ten kilometers along with that huge halo.
At this moment, Zhou Ziwei felt even more strangely that everything within a radius of more than ten kilometers centered on his body seemed to have become a part of his own body. He... he suddenly felt as if he had integrated his body into the space within this radius of more than ten kilometers.
There is no need to use the syllable aperture formed by the remaining five characters to purify and decompose those souls one by one, and then photograph and extract the soul power within them.
At this moment, Zhou Ziwei's sensitivity to souls in this vast area was incredibly powerful. With just a thought, he automatically extracted every soul within a radius of several kilometers. After quickly scanning the soul memories contained in these souls, he transformed them into clusters of pure soul energy and absorbed them into his sea of souls.
The entire process took less than a blink of an eye.
However, after dealing with those soul entities, Zhou Ziwei felt that his control over this vast space was still immense. At least he could clearly see everything happening within this vast area, and he also had a subtle feeling that... he could seemingly appear in any corner of this vast space instantly...
Unfortunately, this mysterious feeling did not last long. The huge halo formed by the "Om" syllable of the Six-Syllable Mantra began to shrink rapidly inward. As the halo shrank, Zhou Ziwei's soul consciousness was inevitably pulled back as well.
In just a moment, the light circle was completely absorbed into Zhou Ziwei's sea of souls, and Zhou Ziwei's soul consciousness was also completely returned to his body.
As soon as Zhou Ziwei's consciousness fully returned, he was immediately struck by a splitting headache, as if someone had cleaved his head in two with an axe while he was momentarily lost in thought, and now someone was sticking a stick into his head and vigorously stirring his brains.
"Ah—" This pain from the depths of his soul caused Zhou Ziwei to cry out in agony. The last few characters of the six-syllable mantra he was about to recite were interrupted, and he was unable to recite them.
The intense pain caused Zhou Ziwei's whole body to convulse, and his face instantly turned extremely pale. Large beads of sweat fell from his forehead like rain, soaking most of his shirt in an instant.
"Ah... what's wrong with you... don't scare me!"
Ross, who was sitting next to Zhou Ziwei, was terrified when he saw this. He quickly reached out and hugged Zhou Ziwei, then took out a fragrant handkerchief from his pocket and hurriedly wiped Zhou Ziwei's head.
The others were also taken aback by what they saw, and they asked anxiously and concernedly, but Zhou Ziwei only had his eyes closed and seemed to be unconscious.
Robert's father-in-law's face turned ashen upon seeing this, and he kept muttering, "God help... what are we going to do... it's not a big deal if this kid dies, but... we're flying in the air right now... if he dies, will the plane... will it just crash?"
When Zhuihun saw Zhou Ziwei's strange condition, he was also startled. Just as he was about to go over and check what kind of injury Zhou Ziwei had suffered, he suddenly heard Robert's father-in-law's words. He couldn't help but slap the old man's shoulder lightly and said fiercely, "Shut up and stop talking nonsense, or I'll throw you off the plane right now."
"Ah...ah...I'm sorry, I'm sorry...I...I was just talking nonsense..." Robert's father-in-law knew that this man was a ruthless killer. The thousands of M soldiers in the neighborhood just now were all slaughtered by this butcher. What else couldn't a man like this do? If he angered him, he might really be thrown down by him.
In a panic, Robert's father-in-law quickly offered a few words of explanation with a forced smile.
Zhuihun was too lazy to pay attention to this annoying guy and was reaching out to grab Zhou Ziwei's wrist when he suddenly saw Zhou Ziwei's trembling body pause slightly, and then he slowly opened his eyes.
"Hoo—" Zhou Ziwei took a deep breath, then wiped the damp sweat from his face, and said with lingering fear, "That was terrifying... This thing really wasn't fun!"
"What's wrong? What happened to you just now?" Seeing that Zhou Ziwei seemed to be alright, Zhuihun stopped investigating and asked curiously after withdrawing his hand.
"It's nothing, it's just... I just discovered something interesting and wanted to investigate it further, only to find that this thing is practically a time bomb. Obtaining it would certainly bring many benefits, but if one is not careful, one might have to pay an extremely heavy price!"
Zhou Ziwei gently shook his head. Thinking back to the wondrous feeling of controlling the light circle with his soul consciousness, a feeling akin to being a deity, he still felt a lingering sense of longing. Especially that final moment, when he felt he could move his body at will to any point within a radius of several kilometers… If that could truly be achieved, wouldn't it be… absolutely wonderful…?
Only now did Zhou Ziwei realize that the Six-Syllable Mantra was far more complex than he had imagined; it was not simply a ritual for liberating and purifying souls...
Volume 3, King of the City, Chapter 620: Imminent Fall
If the legend is true, and the legendary Guanyin Bodhisattva truly attained Buddhahood through reciting this six-syllable mantra, then this six-syllable mantra obviously cannot be used for something as simple as absorbing soul energy.
To be honest, Zhou Ziwei has never believed in any legends about gods or Buddhas. In any case, he has never seen any gods or Buddhas appear in this world.
Even Guanyin Bodhisattva, who is supposed to save people from suffering, did not come to his rescue when he was framed by wicked people.
However, if those legends are all false and just nonsense, then why is the Six-Syllable Mantra so powerful, and how can it absorb other people's souls? Moreover, Zhou Ziwei used to neither believe in gods nor ghosts, but... he himself had been a ghost for a period of time. So... do the gods that he firmly believed did not exist really not exist?
The Six-Syllable Mantra of Great Compassion seems to be truly extraordinary...
Zhou Ziwei realized that his previous method of reciting the Six-Syllable Mantra might have gone astray. It made sense... This Six-Syllable Mantra is also known as the Great Compassionate Avalokiteshvara Mantra, used by the Bodhisattva to deliver sentient beings from suffering. How could it possibly... absorb other people's souls and use them for one's own benefit? Such a method of deliverance... seemed too... something else! It just didn't seem to match the image of the legendary Great Compassionate Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva...
However, if the method of using the Six-Syllable Mantra that I felt today was correct... that is quite possible, but... the difficulty of reciting the Six-Syllable Mantra in this way is too great. At least so far, Zhou Ziwei can only recite the first syllable of the Six-Syllable Mantra at most, and can only stay in that wonderful and mysterious state for a short while.
It can be said that the effect on Zhou Ziwei was negligible, and it was not even as effective as when he recited it naturally like that. At least reciting the Six-Syllable Mantra in that way would not produce such terrible side effects, right?
Of course, the feeling of being able to instantly teleport anywhere within a radius of several kilometers under the entire mysterious aura would inevitably make Zhou Ziwei extremely itchy. However, he estimated that... he would only have the ability to teleport if he could recite the second mantra of the Six-Syllable Mantra while his soul consciousness was spreading in sync with the aura.
He had only uttered one incantation while under the influence of his soul consciousness and the mysterious aura, and it had almost killed him with excruciating pain. If he had uttered two incantations in succession, wouldn't he have died from the pain?
Just as Zhou Ziwei was unwittingly encountering the new power of the Six-Syllable Mantra and being tormented to the point of ecstasy, Dwight, Zhou Ziwei's clone, far away in China, also felt a faint, soul-deep pain. Although not as intense as Zhou Ziwei's main body's reaction, he was instantly in so much pain that he broke out in a cold sweat, his whole body trembled slightly, his hands and feet went numb, and his face turned deathly pale. The round-bottomed flask he was holding fell to the ground with a "clatter," and he immediately fell backward.
In truth, Dwight suffered this undeserved calamity due to the influence of Zhou Ziwei's main body. After all, he was Zhou Ziwei's clone. Although clones possess relatively independent thoughts and souls, in general, their souls are still one and the same as Zhou Ziwei's main body.
They are both two relative individuals and a relative whole.
If Zhou Ziwei only suffered some ordinary injuries and felt some physical pain in the United States, then Dwight here would not feel anything at all.
But this time, it was a pain that came from the soul. In a sense, Dwight's soul was connected to Zhou Ziwei's body. So even though the two were thousands of miles apart, Dwight could still clearly feel that indescribable pain.
In reality, the soul pain that Dwight felt was far less intense than that of Zhou Ziwei's main body. However, this clone's cultivation level was still too shallow, with a total soul power of less than a thousand, which was far less than that of Zhou Ziwei's main body. Naturally, its ability to withstand soul attacks was also incomparable.
For this reason, although the spiritual torment he suffered was less severe, it was still more unbearable than that of Zhou Ziwei, to the point that he almost fainted.
Seeing this, Susanna was startled and hurriedly helped Dwight up, asking, "What happened to you? Are you feeling unwell...? Are you... are you alright?"
Susanna originally had no feelings for Dwight at all. Of course, she knew that her old classmate was deeply in love with her, and that he had even joined that mysterious biological research base for her sake.
Susanna was not only intelligent and beautiful, but also a woman of considerable talent, and naturally, she had no shortage of suitors in the past.
However, Susanna was focused on her research and showed no interest in any man.
But while she may not care, what woman doesn't have a little vanity? Susanna will remember those men who are deeply in love with her.
Of all the men who were devoted to her, Dwight was definitely the most infatuated.
At least apart from Dwight, no other man would abandon everything for her, even his ideals and beliefs, just to be with her.
This touched Susanna somewhat, but only slightly.
Susanna would never give up even a fraction of her research time for some vague, unrealistic love.
But on this trip to China, when Susanna witnessed Dwight sacrifice himself to save the dozen or so people in the group, she realized that Dwight seemed to have changed a bit from the guy he used to be.
Not only have they become more capable than before, but their personality also seems to have undergone a significant change.
Although Susanna and Dwight had been classmates for several years and colleagues for many years, she didn't know much about this man who was so devoted to her. Therefore, although she had some feelings, she couldn't be sure.
Seeing that Dwight had been perfectly fine just a moment ago, but now suddenly appeared to be in a terrible state as if he had fallen seriously ill, I was so frightened that I was at a loss for what to do.
She remembered very clearly that Dwight had always been in excellent health throughout all the years they had known each other, and she had never heard of him suffering from any serious illness... let alone any acute illness. If he had, Susanna would have known all along.
Could it be... that because he absorbed all the poisonous energy that had invaded our bodies into his own body when he tried to save us last time, his health deteriorated and now... he finally succumbed to the poison?
It has to be said... a woman's imagination is indeed a terrifying thing. Anyway, Dwight clearly didn't do anything; he was just tripped and fell because of his own body and suffered some pain. As a result, the beautiful and kind Miss Susanna's heart seemed to have already begun to melt without her realizing it...
"Wait a minute... I'll go find you a doctor..." Susanna said, half-carrying, half-lifting Dwight onto the sofa in the lounge outside the lab. Just as she was about to get up to call a doctor, she suddenly heard a loud "bang." The lab's tightly closed door had been kicked open from the outside, leaving a large hole. Susanna then saw a group of men in black suits rush into the lab like lightning.
"Who are you? What...what do you want?"
Susanna was taken aback by what she saw, and instinctively pulled Dwight, who was lying on the sofa, completely exhausted and still sweating profusely, into her warm and broad chest.
"Enough nonsense, bring me all the research data on the water spirit, and then you'll come with us..." The burly man at the head of the group snorted coldly and stretched out a dark, ghostly claw towards Susanna.
It turns out that the water sprite was caused by the water sprite again.
Susanna couldn't help but smile bitterly upon hearing the burly man's words. She now understood why her life, which had always been as peaceful as a stagnant pool, had been disrupted. The culprit was neither Zhou Ziwei and his group from before, nor the group of mysterious men in black now, but rather those few beautifully colored water sprite seeds...
That's right, it was these few seeds of water sprites that dragged these researchers, who were indifferent to fame and fortune, into this bottomless abyss...
This is a biological research institute under Zhou Ziwei's private company. Susanna and Dwight are currently focusing on further in-depth research on the cultivation of water sprites.
The same project was also being carried out at a national biological research base, but the main role was played by two other colleagues who had been captured along with Susanna. Although those two were also rare talents in the field of biology, they were obviously much inferior to Susanna.
So even though they were working on the same research project and had the same starting speed, and even though the experimental equipment, technical support, and other hardware and software aspects of the National Biological Research Base where those two colleagues worked were much stronger than those of the Zhou Group, the presence of Susanna still allowed the Zhou Group's research results to far surpass those of the national research institutions.