Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Of course, these facilities were not oil rigs. The Ark Foundation probably did not need them, nor could they exploit oil to earn a ‘resistance fund’. However, for a moment, Li Yao was not sure what use they had. He could only see that dozens of similar facilities surrounded the entire Ark Island, and most of the facilities did not seem to be completed yet. There were scaffolding all around, on which many workers were working in full swing. The sparks of welding were everywhere, and the sounds of steel were echoing nonstop.

Li Yao narrowed his eyes and observed carefully. He discovered that the vast majority of the workers had peculiar appearances. If they didn’t have wings growing out of their ribs, then they had a stocky build. Some of their limbs were deformed and swollen. A fist the size of a clay pot could be used as a hammer. They could even float in the air without relying on any external force. Presumably, they were all awakened.

The grey mist lady confirmed Li Yao’s speculation. She told Li Yao that more than ten thousand awakened Cultivators had gathered on the entire Ark Island, which was apparently a world of superpowers. Those people boasted dazzling techniques and abilities, and the laws of gravity inside the ‘space folds’ were slightly different from those in the outside world. Together with the Red Pole’s control over the sea near the island, the workers were able to get rid of the restriction of gravity temporarily and improve their efficiency.

However, the grey mist lady was not clear what they were actually making, either. It was a secret that only Red Pole knew. It was said to be the deciding weapon in the ultimate war.

Lucky Star gradually drew close to the dock. After another thorough search and test, it was not until more than half a day later that Li Yao and Zhang Daniu were allowed to go to the command room of Red Pole.

It was a cluster of buildings that looked like fortresses half below the ground. The dome of the buildings was like skulls scattered on the ground that were emitting grey colors. The grey mist lady told Li Yao that the dome of the buildings was covered in a thick lead shell, mainly to prevent the brainwaves of the Red Pole from leaking out and being perceived by the apocalypse and the will of the earth.

Such cautiousness was the reason why Red Pole was not locked onto or destroyed after dozens of cycles.

The underground channel leading to the command room was blocked by an iron wall that was as thick as the door of a vault. Standing in front of the door, Li Yao sensed that almost ten rays of different attributes passed through his body. Then, dull mechanical noises echoed deep inside the door, and a gap was opened slowly.

The grey mist lady gestured for Li Yao and Zhang Daniu to go in alone. This was as far as she could go. After the two of them squeezed in with some difficulty, the door was immediately closed, leaving them in darkness.

For a moment, Li Yao felt his heart tighten. He wondered whether or not everything was a lie. Was the so-called ‘Ark’ and ‘Apocalypse’ the same thing? Were they all traps set up by the will of the earth in order to catch all of them?

However, soon, a series of arrows lit up on the ground in front of them, indicating that they should take a few turns and go deeper and deeper. Finally, they reached a relatively spacious underground space.

The space was enshrouded in a hazy mist of light. The intense brightness stung Li Yao’s pupils, making it difficult for him to open his eyes, even though he had been groping in the darkness. He was dazed for a moment before he realized that it was a screen that had been installed on the walls and the ceiling.

The large and small screens displayed the disasters everywhere in the world, as well as the complicated figures and reports. An astronomical amount of information was rolling together with the mist of light. Many pieces of information were floating in midair, giving the feeling that the place was decades ahead of its time.

Other than the screen, the spacious room was empty except for a ergonomic computer chair that had its back to the two of them. They could not see the person sitting on the chair clearly. They could only see that he was wearing a very funny helmet that seemed to be made of lead, too.

“Slither. Slither.”

Right then, weird noises came from the front of the chair, followed by even weirder noises.

“The ‘Red Pole’, the leader of the Ark Foundation and the most dangerous prison breaker in the past ten reincarnations?”

Li Yao and Zhang Daniu looked at each other in confusion.

Hearing the footsteps of the two, the clicking sounds came to an abrupt end. The computer chair slowly turned around.

Li Yao and Zhang Daniu held their breath and gazed at the leader of the Hell Breakers.

However, the appearance and style of the Red Pole Star surprised them.

The man looked like an Easterner. He had a baby face whose age was hard to guess. His facial features were decent, but there was an air of cunningness lingering around his face. The most eye-catching part about him was the star-shaped birthmark on his left eye. Li Yao had never seen a birthmark with such a clear edge, such a regular shape, and such a bright red color. It was like a red star that had been branded on his face.

Presumably, the nickname ‘Red Pole’ came from this birthmark.

His face gave Li Yao a strangely familiar feeling. He had the same feeling when he met ‘Master Zhang Jiashu’ a few days ago, but the feeling right now was hundreds of times more intense.

However, what surprised Li Yao the most was not his appearance, but his appearance—a T-shirt with coconut trees, beach, blue sky, and white clouds printed on the upper half, a pair of beach shorts made of cotton linen that was both loose and comfortable, a pair of cheap flip-flops clipped to his feet, a cup of Tropical Comprehensive Fruit Juice in his left hand, and a bag of cucumber-flavored potato chips in his right hand.

It was not until this point that Li Yao realized that the slurping sound just now was the sound of him drinking juice through a straw, and the cracking sound was the sound of him eating potato chips!

“Are you serious?”

Li Yao asked himself in his heart, Is this the attitude of the leader of the resistance who has persisted for countless cycles? Is there a mistake somewhere?

However, deep down his heart, he had an urge to drink juice and eat potato chips!

At the same time, Zhang Daniu exclaimed in surprise.

Li Yao came back to himself and immediately realized what Zhang Daniu meant. No wonder the man looked so familiar. Wasn’t he the ‘Pirate Potentate’ Boss Bai in the novel ‘Forty Thousand Years of Cultivation’?

No, that’s not right. This flowery T-shirt, beach shorts, flip-flops, and a combination of fruit juice was indeed Boss Bai’s unique classic style in the beginning. But when the “Cultivator Li Yao” in the novel saw it, he was envious and had the idea that a man should be like this. Later, he shamelessly copied this style!

And right now, this figure had appeared on Red Pole’s body, and it was dressed so… just right. It completely matched his temperament. He simply looked like a character from a novel.

So, who was he exactly, and who was he exactly?

Li Yao was completely lost.

Just like that, Li Yao, Red Pole Star, and Zhang Daniu stared at each other for a long time. The more they looked at each other, the more familiar they felt. The more they looked, the more uncomfortable they felt. The more they looked, the weirder they felt.

In the end, the Red Pole Star broke the silence.

“Do you want some juice?”

The leader of the Ark Foundation asked with a smile.

His voice was somewhat hoarse. It sounded completely different from Li Yao’s and Zhang Daniu’s. But for some reason, Li Yao felt that it was strangely familiar—it was as if he was hearing his own voice from a tape recorder.

At this point, no matter how strange things were, there was no need to be shocked. Li Yao and Zhang Daniu looked at each other and nodded.

A small refrigerator was hidden behind a few screens in the corner of the room. Red Pole Star took out three cans of fruit juice and threw two of them to Li Yao. She then opened one of the cans and took a sip, before she exclaimed in satisfaction, “I’ve been cooped up on this island all day and can’t go anywhere. This is all that’s left. Try it. It’s not bad.”

Taking a deep breath, Li Yao opened the bottle and drank half of it.

How should he put it? The sour, sweet, and cold feeling had connected his entire neural network. He seemed to have… never tasted such a feeling for hundreds of years!

“Right? Not bad, right?”

The Red Pole Star looked at them with a smile and opened her hands. “What do you think? Do you have any questions? Let’s hurry up. I promise that I will tell you everything I know.”

“You…”

Li Yao glanced at Zhang Daniu and asked the Red Pole Star, “Who is it exactly? Why do I feel that you are so familiar even though we’ve never met before? You are so familiar that I feel that we are twins or that I am looking at myself in a mirror. Our appearances and voices are so different. This is too weird!”

“Good question.”

Red Extremity tilted his head and thought for a moment. The expression on his face was exactly the same as Li Yao’s. “What if I say that my name is also ‘Li Yao’? What do you think?”

“Well—”

Li Yao was even more confused.

“A name is just a code name. There are many people in the world with the same name and surname. Among the six billion people, there are at least thousands of people with the name ‘Li Yao’, right?”

The Red Pole Star continued, “In order to distinguish between you and me, just keep calling me ‘Red Pole’. Besides, even if I am really called ‘Li Yao’, it doesn’t mean anything. I know that you are suspecting that you are somehow related to the novel ‘Forty Thousand Years of Cultivator’ or that the protagonist of the novel, ‘Cultivator Li Yao’, has been teleported to Earth. Congratulations. Your guess is very close to the truth, but you can’t say that you are ‘100% Cultivator Li Yao’, or even ‘50% Cultivator Li Yao’.

“50% of the Cultivators?

Li Yao was even more confused. “Yes or no, what do you mean by percentage?”

“It’s simple. You’ve met Master Zhang Jiashu and taken something from the depths of his soul, right?”

Red Extremity smiled. “Master Zhang Jiashu clearly carries part of the features of ‘Cultivator Li Yao’. Although he is not willing to admit it and is trying his best to resist, you and I are very clear that part of ‘Cultivator Li Yao’s soul fragments are embedded in the depths of his brain. What percentage of ‘Cultivator Li Yao’ do you think Master Zhang Jiashu is?”