Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

”Huh? Huh!”

Panicked, Tang Ka felt that he was on fire. He bent his back like a lobster, so overwhelmed that he didn’t know where to put his hands.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

His crystal processor buzzed earsplittingly again, indicating that his purity had fallen to below 95% again. He was no longer pure!

”God Pangu, save me!”

Covering his groin, Tang Ka thought in desperation. What’s wrong with me?

”Mr. Tang Ka, you are too weak.”

Chu Zhiyun frowned. Every time she addressed Tang Ka with ”mister”, it meant that she was very dissatisfied with Tang Ka’s performance.. ”If you can’t tolerate such minor temptations, how can you fight billions of extraterrestrial devils in the future? I doubt that you can really become a Purger.

”I don’t understand what you’re scared of. Open your eyes and see clearly. These are just two balls of fat. Why are you so overwhelmed by two balls of fat?

”Don’t run away. It’s not going to help. You should face them until you can see through their essence without being disturbed. Otherwise, if you encounter a female warrior of the Imperium in a battlefield and she takes off her clothes, you would be at her mercy, wouldn’t you?”

Tang Ka couldn’t say anything, but his crystal processor was buzzing even more loudly and hastily.

His purity was plummeting to below 80%, indicating that he was less and less pure and would be sentenced to death at any point.

”Forget it. You can’t win a war against the extraterrestrial devils overnight. Just take your time!”

Chu Zhiyun picked up a thin red dress and put her legs into it before she pulled the dress up somewhat clumsily, finally covering her body.

Like a woman of the Imperium, she grabbed the hem of the dress and took a spin in front of the dusty mirror. She was pretty, but there was still no sign of feelings on her face.

”I’ll train you and help you resist more extraterrestrial devils, so that you will be polished into a qualified Purger.”

Looking at herself in the mirror, the girl said coldly, ”In the meantime, I’ll seize the rarely-seen opportunity to train myself into a real Lurker!”

Tang Ka took long breaths for half a minute.

He even bashed his erected extraterrestrial devil hard. He grimaced and sweated in pain, but he finally got himself under control before he hit the purity threshold.

”Cut! Cut! Cut!”

The messy feelings were executed, and his purity went back up fast and steadily. Tang Ka got himself under control, at least for now.

”Monitor, I think you’ve… crossed the line. You can’t become a Lurker however you train yourself.”

Controlling his throat, Tang Ka tried to make himself sound calm and rational. ”Don’t you see? You don’t have the talents to become a Lurker. If you do, you would’ve been identified by the Ultimate Benevolence Masters before you were six and sent to schools that groom Lurkers for professional training.

”But you weren’t selected. You ended up in the Holy Light Academy that grooms the Purgers. It means that you can’t become a Lurker!”

The girl was combing her short hair in front of the mirror. Her fingers turned rigid when she heard Tang Ka, but she was soon back to normal.

”What if…”

Chu Zhiyun sounded as casual as clouds that were drifting in the sky, but what she said was most shocking. ”What if the Ultimate Benevolence Masters were wrong?”

”W—What?”

Tang Ka was so astounded that his brain was halted for ten seconds. ”W—What did you say?”

”You heard me.”

Chu Zhiyun said, ”I said that the Ultimate Benevolence Masters made a mistake and did not see my talents clearly. I should’ve become a Lurker, but they sent me to the Holy Light Academy and asked me to be a Purger. That’s a waste of the talents that God Pangu gave me.”

”You’re saying that the Ultimate Benevolence Masters are wrong?”

Tang Ka could barely believe his ears. He mumbled, ”How can the Ultimate Benevolence Masters be wrong? That’s outrageous. You—You’ve been corrupted, Monitor!”

”Shut up and listen to me. Oh, help me do up my zip at the back. Why is the zip designed at the back? How inconvenient!”

Chu Zhiyun said calmly, ”I’m very sure that I’m not corrupted. I’ve only conducted a simple but irrefutable deduction with the wisdom that God Pangu gave me.”

”The logic is very simple, and you will understand it the moment I tell it to you. First of all, only God Pangu is always correct and never makes mistakes, and nothing in the whole universe can compare to God Pangu, right?”

Tang Ka helped his monitor zip up with shivering hands. He could barely think with the mess in his head. After a long time, he nodded and said, ”Yes. God Pangu is almighty and supreme. Nothing can compare to God Pangu.”

”Very well, then…” Chu Zhiyun asked, ”Are the Ultimate Benevolence Masters God Pangu?”

After a brief daze, Tang Ka replied, ”No.”

”So, the Ultimate Benevolence Masters are not almighty, and they aren’t always correct. They will inevitably make mistakes, won’t they?”

Chu Zhiyun said, ”If you think that the Ultimate Benevolence Masters never make mistakes, you will be regarding the Ultimate Benevolence Masters to be parallel with God Pangu, won’t you?”

Tang Ka shook his head. ”Of course I don’t. The Ultimate Benevolence Masters are human beings just like us, except that they’re God Pangu’s envoys who interpret the will of God Pangu and carry out God Pangu’s power while God Pangu is asleep.”

”That’s right. Getting to the bottom of it, the Ultimate Benevolence Masters are humans just like us, and all humans are sinful and likely to be corrupted by extraterrestrial devils.”

Chu Zhiyun continued, ”But have you ever heard any mistake that the Ultimate Benevolence Masters made?”

Tang Ka’s eyes popped out. ”I don’t think so.”

”That’s right. The Ultimate Benevolence Masters is prone to mistakes, but we never heard of any mistake they made. So, the only answer is that nobody, not even the Ultimate Benevolence Masters themselves, has realized anything they did wrong.”

Chu Zhiyun said, ”If we’re really absolutely loyal to God Pangu, we will be obliged to help the Ultimate Benevolence Masters find their mistakes and correct the mistakes with all our wisdom and power.

”At the very least, I think the Ultimate Benevolence Masters are wrong about me. I should be a Lurker instead of just a Purger.

”Previously, when we had simulation training in the school, we were monitored by our mentors all the time, and I had no chances to show my talents. But in this ultimate test, we’ll be staying in this haunted city for seven days for purging. In the seven days, I will learn to pretend to be a person of the Imperium and prove that I can resist any temptation.

”I will prove that the Ultimate Benevolence Masters are wrong in such a way and urge them to show their loyalty to God Pangu by making up for their mistakes, and you have to help me.”

”Me?”

Tang Ka looked at the red dress with gold glitters on Chu Zhiyun and found that it was too small.

It seemed that all the clothes would be too small when they were worn by his monitor.

”Who else is here?”

Chu Zhiyun suddenly grabbed Tang Ka’s hand and dragged the ignorant young man to the entertainment section.

She turned on a projector of the latest model.

Shua!

Illusions were arising, changing them into a different place. They arrived at a beach under the blue sky from the supermarket that was plagued by the smoke of war.

It was probably the hometown of some of the colonizers, wasn’t it?

The frontline was arduous and monotonous. Black Castle, in particular, was no paradise since the Covenant Alliance burned it to the ground when they retreated. The colonizers who came here often carried photos or videos of their hometowns. Even if they didn’t carry any, relevant products could be bought in the supermarket for their nostalgia.

Tang Ka, however, was not used to such a… beautiful environment.

Ever since he had memories, he had been growing up around gray, black, and white colors, and what his eyes could see were mostly cold and thick walls.

Such a beautiful environment shouldn’t be the mortals’ privilege. It must be a place that belonged to the gods.

Chu Zhiyun, however, was not as concerned as him.

With her hands on her back, the girl paced on the virtual beach. Buried in the smooth sand, her toes looked like shells as well as delicate pearls.

”I will learn how to pretend to be a person of the Imperium here.”

Staring at the nonexistent crabs on the nonexistent beach, Chu Zhiyun said, ”You will cooperate with me and watch out for me until I prove that I can resist all temptations. Are we clear?”

”I—”

Tang Ka hesitated.

”Shut up. This is a great opportunity for you to train yourself to not say ’no’.”

Narrowing her eyes, the girl curled her fingers into a pistol and aimed it at Tang Ka. ”It’s decided then!”