Volume 1, Rebirth of a Prodigy, Chapter 256: The Fruit Fly Flying on a Sword
"Little princess?"
Zhou Ziwei was slightly startled by the shouts from inside the cave. He temporarily stopped the attack on the cave with his new cross-shaped darts, then quietly channeled a large amount of his soul power through the darts, sensing the scene inside the cave.
When Zhou Ziwei saw that the Storm Mercenary Group members were actually holding the little girl they had seen during the day who had been forced to kill someone, his brows furrowed slightly.
Seeing the little girl, Zhou Ziwei couldn't help but think of Xiao Mei again, and once again a nerve in his heart trembled uncontrollably.
Zhou Ziwei sighed inwardly. He knew that he couldn't completely ignore this little girl, even though countless people had died at his hands since his rebirth, and he had refined countless souls.
If people knew about his experiences, they would probably think he was a more terrifying being than the devil. However, he usually only killed people who threatened his life. As for ordinary people and innocent people, he really couldn't ignore their lives.
The little girl looked pitiful, and Zhou Ziwei couldn't bear to let her be killed by those thugs. Although he knew that saving the little girl would inevitably add another burden to his life, he had no choice but to make the decision...
"..." In the next moment, a silent roar, like a surging wave, swept through the huge cavern. With each wave of the silent tide of soul power, all the surviving members of the Storm Mercenary Group, plus a few children, felt a tremendous shock in their heads and then fell backward.
Trying to threaten me with hostages? Idiot... I'll definitely turn all of you into Soul Beads later.
Zhou Ziwei deliberately expanded the coverage area slightly with his soul roar, so the people in the cave were only stunned by his soul roar, and none of them died.
However... after Zhou Ziwei finished dealing with the rest of the Storm Mercenary Group members, he naturally wouldn't let those who had fainted get away with it, and he could also take the opportunity to rescue that cute little girl who looked like a porcelain doll.
As for those little boys... that's really a bit difficult. Zhou Ziwei had already sensed a cold killing intent emanating from those three little boys. It could be said that even if he rescued them from here, they would never be able to reintegrate into society and live ordinary lives again. Having experienced such a tragic life, their lives had been completely distorted. If they were placed in society, unless someone constantly guided and cared for them, they would only become a social cancer.
However... even though Zhou Ziwei thought so, he would never kill all three little boys and the members of the Storm Mercenary Group just because of this reason or a guess.
No matter what, they are just three children, and it's not their fault that things have turned out this way.
It seems there's really going to be a lot of trouble ahead.
Zhou Ziwei certainly didn't have time to look after these kids, but... it seemed like he could leave them with Yelü Xiaosu. That guy was a complete martial arts fanatic, with an abundance of energy. If he could find a few disciples to teach them when he had free time, it would probably calm him down a bit!
After resolving the issue in the cave on the left, Zhou Ziwei was no longer worried about anyone escaping there. He also didn't need to rush to have the new cross-shaped darts continue killing the unconscious mercenaries, so he first recalled the new cross-shaped darts from the cave.
However, just as he was about to add this new cross-shaped dart to the cave on the right to speed up the process there, he suddenly felt a small fruit fly fly into his sensory range, and then it transmitted a memory image to him through soul connection.
Sure enough, there were not only sentry posts at the entrance of Storm Valley, but also people stationed on the cliffs on the three sides of the valley. When the members of the Storm Mercenary Group who were left on the mountaintop saw that something had happened below, only the sentry on one side was at a loss for what to do, while the sentries on the other two sides had already begun to flee for their lives.
Zhou Ziwei naturally couldn't allow any of these Storm Mercenary Group members to escape alive. However, since they were escaping from the mountaintop, although he was fast, he wasn't confident he could climb up the sheer cliff face quickly.
Therefore, he definitely couldn't hunt down the Storm Mercenary Group's sentries on the mountaintop by himself.
If Ladybug were here, it would be perfect for this kind of work, but unfortunately, Ladybug is currently monitoring the five leaders of the Storm Mercenary Group, so there's no way to bring it back right now.
While mosquitoes do have some killing power, their flight speed is too slow. They are only good for tracking sentries in one direction, but if you ask them to deal with people fleeing in two directions at the same time, they are definitely doomed.
The new cross-shaped darts are indeed very powerful, but the problem is that compared to ladybugs and mosquitoes, the independent souls inside the new cross-shaped darts are essentially low-intelligence, rudimentary souls that don't even have the ability to think.
Only if the dart doesn't fly out of Zhou Ziwei's soul perception range... that is, more than 200 meters away from Zhou Ziwei, can Zhou Ziwei control the new cross-shaped dart to attack various targets as easily as using his own arm through soul perception.
Once the new-style dart flies more than 200 meters away from Zhou Ziwei… then the dart will be like a one- or two-year-old child who has suddenly become separated from his parents, and the consequences are unpredictable. Zhou Ziwei had tried to let the dart fly more than 200 meters away before, and the result… almost caused a death. At that time, Zhou Ziwei could see with his naked eye how out of control the dart was… Damn… that was not a dart at all, it was more like a crazed bird, flying wildly in all directions. No matter if there were pedestrians, buildings, or trees in front of it, as long as they blocked the path of the dart, it would crash into them without hesitation, determined to make a hole in them. Therefore, Zhou Ziwei dared not let the dart fly out of his control again.
This is really a difficult matter to handle... It wasn't until this point that Zhou Ziwei realized he still had too few truly useful Kun pets around him. He should have made more ladybugs.
However... the ladybug wasn't this powerful from the moment it was created. It only became so monstrous after being strengthened by the power of the soul over a long period of time.
Perhaps... if we keep raising these little fruit flies, they might actually play a pretty good role in the future...
Besides creating Kun pets, if there were a way to enhance the intelligence of independent souls within non-living entities like the new-style cross-shaped darts, the effect might be even more powerful than slowly cultivating Kun pets.
If the intelligence of the new cross-shaped dart could truly reach the level of a ladybug or even a mosquito, its effectiveness would be greatly enhanced immediately. Without the constraint of distance, this thing would really be no different from the flying swords used by legendary sword immortals. Cutting off a person's head from a thousand miles away would not seem impossible. As long as the new cross-shaped dart could recognize the target to be killed, wouldn't it be a piece of cake?
However, this new type of cross dart is not a living being. He can already make this thing made of steel produce relatively low-level intelligence, which is already quite a heaven-defying ability. Yet he still wants something made of steel to be as intelligent as a human. Even Zhou Ziwei himself thinks that he is just being delusional.
Is it possible that Ju himself has no choice but to personally hunt down and kill those people?
Zhou Ziwei looked up at the steep cliffs all around and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
He can't fly, so he can't directly leap over such cliffs. Although with his agility and superhuman strength, it's not impossible for him to climb the cliff with his bare hands, his speed certainly won't be fast.
By the time we catch up with those people, we don't know how long it will take.
Moreover, once he leaves the valley, the two new cross-shaped darts that are still slaughtering the Storm Mercenary Group in the two caves will inevitably go out of control immediately.
Therefore, even if he insists on personally pursuing and killing them, he must first completely resolve the matter here before he can free up his time.
But by then, those who escaped will have gone much further.
Although as long as the fruit flies were tracking them, Zhou Ziwei didn't have to worry about losing sight of his target no matter where they fled.
However, Zhou Ziwei was somewhat worried that these guys might have other contact points nearby. If they had the opportunity to spread the news of what had happened here and let the outside world know about it, then all of Zhou Ziwei's previous efforts would have been in vain.
Zhou Ziwei was secretly having a headache, while the little fruit fly that came to deliver the message and the new cross-shaped dart that he had just recalled kept flying around his body.
Zhou Ziwei glanced at the seemingly lifeless new-style cross-shaped dart, then at the lively little fruit fly, and suddenly a thought struck him: This new-style cross-shaped dart has a powerful attack, but it cannot generate high intelligence.
The fruit fly has almost no offensive capabilities, but its independent soul seems to be quite intelligent. Although it was only recently created and is far from being as cunning as a ladybug, it still has basic intelligence. At the very least, it can do some simple things that Zhou Ziwei asks for quite well, and it will never go out of control, regardless of whether it is within Zhou Ziwei's soul sensing range.
If... if the advantages of this little fruit fly and the new cross-shaped dart could be combined, that would be wonderful... It's impossible to truly merge two things that are originally biological and non-biological into one, but... if this little fruit fly could also control this new cross-shaped dart at will, then wouldn't that be... equivalent to merging them into one?
But... how can we make this new cross-shaped dart obey the fruit fly and willingly let it control us?
Zhou Ziwei scratched his head and pondered for a while, but couldn't come up with any practical ideas. So he could only try to convey a message to the new cross-shaped dart that it should temporarily obey the control of the fruit fly. Then he conveyed a message to the fruit fly that it should try its best to control the new cross-shaped dart and make it react according to its wishes.
Surprisingly, the little fruit fly did not resist Zhou Ziwei's orders at all. After understanding Zhou Ziwei's intentions, it immediately pounced on the new cross-shaped dart that was flying rapidly around Zhou Ziwei. It was probably because the little thing did not know how to convey its meaning to the new cross-shaped dart that it made such a move.
However, the new-style cross-shaped dart clearly didn't take the fruit fly seriously. As soon as it saw the fruit fly swooping down, it immediately turned around and stabbed at the fruit fly.
Fortunately, Zhou Ziwei stopped the new cross-shaped dart in time using his soul connection, thus preventing the poor little fruit fly from becoming a victim of the dart.
Damn, this won't do... I didn't expect that although the new-style cross-shaped darts lack intelligence, they are quite arrogant and cannot tolerate the slightest provocation. What should I do? How can I make this stupid, arrogant new-style cross-shaped darts obey the little fruit fly's commands?
It wasn't until Zhou Ziwei had almost scratched his scalp raw that he finally managed to sort out his thoughts.
He pondered that the reason why the new cross-shaped darts, fruit flies, ladybugs, and the like were willing to listen to him from the beginning was mainly because their independent souls were created by Zhou Ziwei.
This is similar to how children have an innate attachment to their parents; this obedience originates primarily from a feeling of kinship.
The reason why the independent souls within the ladybugs and the new-style cross-shaped darts showed no sign of betrayal, regardless of how they grew, was mainly because Zhou Ziwei infused them with soul power every day to sustain their lives.
It can be said that their souls depend entirely on Zhou Ziwei for their existence. Without Zhou Ziwei, they would vanish into nothingness in just one day. Moreover, they all possess some intelligence, and once they understand this, they would never betray Zhou Ziwei under any circumstances.
In other words, if Zhou Ziwei wanted the new cross-shaped dart to willingly submit to the fruit fly, he could only do so by focusing on these two points.
As for the first point, Zhou Ziwei had no way of dealing with it. The fruit fly's independent soul was still relatively primitive in terms of intelligence, so it was impossible for it to create another independent soul.
As for the second point... there are ways to address it.
Although the fruit fly's independent soul power is minimal, Zhou Ziwei can transfer it through the independent soul he creates. He simply needs to slowly infuse his own soul power into the fruit fly's body, and then, through the fruit fly, infuse that soul power back into the soul of the new-style cross-shaped dart. Given the new-style cross-shaped dart's extremely low level of intelligence, it will likely be unable to discern the ultimate source of this soul power, and will only believe that the fruit fly is prolonging its life. Therefore…
Thinking of this, Zhou Ziwei immediately began to experiment with it with great excitement...
A few minutes later, when Zhou Ziwei saw that the new-style cross dart was starting to ignore him, yet was still following the little fruit fly around like a shadow, he really didn't know whether to cry or laugh.
He never expected that the independent soul within this new type of cross-shaped dart would be so ruthless and heartless, truly a case of "whoever feeds you is your mother"... He had only transferred a little more soul power to the new cross-shaped dart during the previous experiment than usual, and yet the new cross-shaped dart had been completely bought off by the little fruit fly.
Fortunately, Zhou Ziwei had never seen anyone else in the world like him who possessed the ability to manipulate soul power; otherwise… the loyalty of these independent soul entities he had created would truly be a cause for concern…
Fortunately, this is exactly the result Zhou Ziwei had hoped for, so although he felt a little resentful, like he had been abandoned, he didn't really take it to heart.
He then eagerly gave Little Fruit Fly the mission to take the new cross-shaped darts and hunt down the Storm Mercenary Group's sentries on the mountaintop.
Although the little fruit fly's intelligence is not very high at present, it can still easily understand this kind of simple task. Then, the little fruit fly excitedly landed directly on the new cross-shaped dart, and then activated the new cross-shaped dart, disappearing into the sky like a white lightning bolt.
Uh... flying on a sword... this little fruit fly is absolutely the most awesome fruit fly in the world.
Gazing in the direction where the fruit fly and the new-style cross-shaped dart disappeared, Zhou Ziwei felt a pang of jealousy. Flying was something everyone longed for, and Zhou Ziwei was no exception. At that moment, a strange thought suddenly popped into his head: if he could create a super weapon a hundred times larger than the ordinary new-style cross-shaped dart, then…could he, like the fruit fly, step on the new-style cross-shaped dart and fly through the air like a sword? This thought made Zhou Ziwei's blood boil for a moment before he remembered the huge mess he still had to clean up.
In just a short while, more than twenty ferocious ghosts flew out of the deep cave and pounced on Zhou Ziwei with bared fangs and claws...
Volume 1, Rebirth of a Prodigy, Chapter 257: Inside the Mountain...
Seeing the newly reborn souls rushing towards him, Zhou Ziwei dared not chant the Six-Syllable Mantra carelessly any longer. He quickly used his soul power to conjure an invisible hand, grabbing each of the moth-to-a-flame souls one by one, and then began refining the Soul Bead...
Although Zhou Ziwei's recitation of the Six-Syllable Mantra almost burst his sea of souls, it also greatly enhanced his soul power. This enhancement was not just a simple increase in the total amount of soul power; it also improved his ability to use soul power. At least now, refining soul beads is much easier than before.
Zhou Ziwei didn't spend much time refining the dozen or so soul entities into a single soul bead the size of a bean.
Holding the jet-black soul bead lightly in his hand, Zhou Ziwei was filled with doubt. He wondered if this thing could really be ingested by ordinary people and increase their soul power, as he had imagined. However, this small soul bead was equivalent to the combined soul power of more than a dozen people. If someone ingested it directly, it would definitely be a deadly poison. So... what if the amount was reduced to one percent, or even less? But how could he break this small soul bead down into several parts?
After pondering for a while without finding a solution, Zhou Ziwei stopped focusing on it and soon noticed that some more souls were floating out of the three caverns.
However, not all of these souls flew towards Zhou Ziwei; instead, most of them flew towards the cave where the five leaders of the Storm Mercenary Group were located.
Something seems strange over there...
Zhou Ziwei sensed something was amiss, but he did not act rashly until the enemies in the three caves were completely wiped out.
Moreover, he had already noticed that the ladybug was slowly moving away into the distance, and now it was located inside the mountainside in front of him.
It seemed that things were indeed as he had predicted. There was indeed a secret passage leading out of the mountains in this valley. The five leaders of the Storm Mercenary Group were probably on the run. As Zhou Ziwei had instructed, the ladybug did not immediately kill the five leaders, but instead slowly tracked them to see if there were any other members of the Storm Mercenary Group waiting outside to meet them.
With the ladybugs following him, Zhou Ziwei didn't need to worry about the situation there, so he focused on speeding up the encirclement and suppression of the other two caves...
Half an hour later, after Zhou Ziwei had refined almost all the souls of the Storm Mercenary Group's dead into soul beads, the ladybugs, mosquitoes, and fruit flies all flew back from various directions, transmitting the information they had obtained to Zhou Ziwei through soul communication.
Suddenly, all sorts of images flooded Zhou Ziwei's mind, so chaotic that they almost drove him to a mental breakdown.
Damn it... can't you take it one at a time!
Zhou Ziwei was so angry that he almost strangled all the Kun pets. He then covered his head and sat down on the ground, slowly sorting out the information he had received from the images.
The fruit fly, combined with the new cross-shaped dart, was indeed a deadly weapon for silencing witnesses. In an instant, it covered a hundred miles, running back and forth in three directions, and killed a total of nine members of the Storm Mercenary Group. However, two of them were unlucky guys who had already been poisoned and knocked unconscious by the mosquitoes.
The new-style cross-shaped dart, adhering to the principle of "whoever feeds me is my mother," was almost completely obedient to the little fruit fly, showing no signs of losing control from beginning to end. Even now that all the flies have flown back, the new-style cross-shaped dart still quietly lands on a rock, letting the little fruit fly perch on it, showing no intention whatsoever of flying back to Zhou Ziwei's waist.
Zhou Ziwei shook his head, both amused and exasperated. He didn't know what to say about this outcome. It seemed that although the intelligence of the independent souls of the new-style cross-shaped darts was relatively primitive, they were still beings capable of emotions. It appeared he would have to coax them like children in the future, otherwise... they might really betray him...
As for the ladybug, there were no major twists and turns. When the leaders of the five Storm Mercenary Groups realized that things were going badly, they sent all their subordinates out to fight the enemy. Meanwhile, the ladybugs quickly opened a secret passage to escape. Little did they know that Zhou Ziwei had already sent a double agent to their side. The ladybugs were too lazy to fly themselves and just landed on one of the people, letting them carry them through the long secret passage until they emerged from a circular pit that looked like a sinkhole.
Inside that sinkhole, there was another small helicopter, and three members of the Storm Mercenary Group were guarding it. Everything was just as Zhou Ziwei had predicted. It seemed that this was the escape route that the leaders of the Storm Mercenary Group had left for themselves.
Seeing that these people were about to board the helicopter and escape, the ladybug naturally wouldn't give them that chance again. It instantly transformed into a dancing bullet, whistling and hovering in the air. With each circle, it would leave a transparent hole in the forehead of one of the people. In the blink of an eye, the five leaders and three mercenaries all died in a daze at the ladybug's attack.
It's hard to believe that when the five leaders of the Storm Mercenary Group fled, they not only carried that heavy box of gold, but also a large box of jewels and jade, plus a suitcase full of banknotes.
Zhou Ziwei was somewhat tempted and planned to take the helicopter full of treasure away no matter what. Even if he couldn't bring heavy things like gold back to China, he could pick out some valuable items like jewelry and jade. As for banknotes, that was even easier; he could just carry them. As long as the banknotes weren't counterfeit, there was no question of smuggling, right?
However, there was something else that puzzled Zhou Ziwei greatly. He had seen many souls enter the cave where the five leaders of the Storm Mercenary Group were located, but now they had all disappeared without a trace. He didn't know where they had gone.
Generally speaking, the souls that are reborn after death will instinctively be very attached to their former bodies and will linger beside the corpses for a long time. At that time, those souls were not necessarily newly reborn after death, so why did they seem so different? And what were those souls doing, rushing into that cave?