Chapter 109: Contact

"Kill a deity... Mr. Huang, we certainly want to do that too, but it is easier said than done."

Liu Weihan shook his head with a wry smile and said, "Those deities aren't fools. They are cunning; there is no way they would just stand there and let us hit them with a mushroom bomb."

"Can't we do what we did last time... try another sting operation?"

"It's difficult."

Liu Weihan continued to shake his head. "Not to mention that we don't have suitable bait to lure those deities, the distance of over a thousand kilometers alone is enough to give us a headache."

"After all, a mushroom bomb isn't like a laser. We have to find a way to deliver it into the sky to pose a threat to the deities."

"Given our current technological level, to launch a 50-megaton yield 'big mushroom' to an altitude of over a thousand kilometers, it would take at least ten minutes. Such a long duration would certainly give them enough time to react."

"Therefore, the only feasible approach right now is to find the divine kingdoms of those deities—the laws and trajectories of the stars in the sky—and then see if we can use predictive modeling to destroy their divine kingdoms with a mushroom bomb. That is the only way to truly deal them a significant blow."

"This is also why we are so anxious... to have you, Mr. Huang, make a trip to the sky. Only by understanding the first-hand, real data can we make the correct judgment!"

......

"...After nearly two months of bloody conflict, the tension between the Silver Moon Elves and the Night Elves has escalated once again, formally entering a state of war. The Xia side expresses its sincere regret regarding this."

"According to informed sources, this is the eighth war between the two races in the last hundred years. The reasons go beyond the sovereignty of the Moon-Hidden Lake, involving ethnic conflicts and matters of faith."

"The Silver Moon Elves worship the Goddess of the Moon, while the Night Elves follow the Goddess of the Night. Legend has it that these two goddesses are at odds with each other, so the conflict between the idols has naturally evolved into a conflict between their fans."

"...The construction of the Xia-New Railway is currently in full swing. Nearly eight hundred Minotaur workers, wearing liberation shoes and hard hats, are chanting slogans in unison, sweating profusely at the construction site."

"The person in charge of the First Construction Company happily stated in an interview that the project is proceeding very smoothly and the entire schedule is expected to be significantly shortened. The Minotaur workers are extremely hard-working, diligent, and down-to-earth; they are the best labor force he has ever seen!"

"...A large-scale drought has occurred in the northern grasslands. Many Orc tribes have begun frequent personnel movements and material collection, with signs indicating preparations for a southward invasion."

"In response, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a stern warning to all major Orc kingdoms: keep your subjects in check and do not provocatively challenge the Xia State beyond your means. Any military force that enters the safe zones designated by the Xia State without permission will be regarded as an invasion, will become an enemy of the Xia State, and will be subjected to focused strikes by the Xia military. Do not say you were not warned!"

"..."

Huang Ze was watching the news on television using his secondary body while sipping iced cola. In reality, his secondary body was quite lackluster and lacked the ability to taste, but he still enjoyed doing it—after all, Pepsi was a faith, and one could not lose the sense of ritual!

After watching for a while, Huang Ze boredly turned off the TV. He had seen this kind of news too often, so he was no longer surprised.

However, he found some of the things behind the news quite interesting.

For instance, the Xia Academy of Sciences seemed to want to take advantage of the war between the Silver Moon Elves and the Night Elves to see if there was an opportunity to import a few World Tree saplings from the Night Elves... This had successfully captured some of Huang Ze's attention.

After all, something like a World Tree sounded very imposing and prestigious. If they could succeed, combined with the scientific research technology of the Xia State, they might even be able to breed an entire race of elves themselves!

Or take the issue of the northern Orcs planning an invasion. In reality, that wasn't the case at all. Many Orc tribes had heard that their relatives were doing well on this side, and suddenly encountering a natural disaster, they couldn't help but want to head south to look for work.

It was just that the scale of this "job-seeking" team was a bit large, conservatively estimated at over a million Orcs. The Xia State's control and management of the safety zones were actually still relatively weak; if so many Orcs were to flood in at once, it would certainly turn into a chaotic mess.

Therefore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had to specifically remind the high-level officials of those Orc kingdoms to manage their people and keep them from running into their territory.

...These matters were still quite distant from Huang Ze, so he didn't pay much attention to them. Instead, he took out his phone and chatted with his parents for a while, which counted as reporting that he was safe.

Then, his phone suddenly received a call—from an unknown number!

...It’s here, it’s here!

Huang Ze reacted almost instantly. This call must have been from that... so-called Saintess of the Love Goddess from before. That person had given Freya a hundred catties of gold as a referral fee, just to date him!

Hmm... why does this feel so familiar? It seems the red dragon's tactics were almost the same...

I didn't expect to be so popular!

Huang Ze's mood was inexplicably pleasant. Admiration and affirmation from female biological entities were a natural stimulant for a male biological entity. If there were none, that would truly be a bad thing!

However, he did not answer the call because he felt that the dim-witted Saintess seemed to have something wrong with her brain, and he might get infected if he talked to her!

Yet, the next scene stunned Huang Ze. He clearly tapped "decline," but the phone connected anyway!

Is she that powerful... to be able to remotely control my phone?

"Huang Ze, Huang Ze, I've finally reached you!"

The voice on the other end rang out; it was indeed that woman from before.

"..."

Huang Ze didn't make a sound, still curious about the mechanism behind this—how on earth did this woman find him?

His phone actually didn't even have a SIM card, and it used the military's secure, encrypted signal lines. Logically speaking, it should have been very difficult to control remotely!

That woman... no, Freya's technology was actually so advanced. Could she be using legendary quantum communication?

"Huang Ze, Huang Ze, I know you're there. Say something!"

The woman on the other end said cheerfully, her voice sweet, soft, and pleasant, making it easy for one to develop expectations and favorable impressions.

However, Huang Ze still didn't respond. He was very cautious; he had an inexplicable intuition that if he actually spoke to this woman, she might stir up some kind of trouble!

After all, since Freya was so persistent in trying to find him, there was clearly something very important at stake. Who knew if she would go all in, use all her divine power, and trap him completely!

Thinking of this, Huang Ze acted decisively, crushing the phone with a claw. His thoughts finally cleared up quite a bit!

Hmph, a mere woman thinks she can control and dominate me?

Huang Ze almost couldn't help but laugh, but considering there might actually be something suspicious behind this, he told Academician Ding and the others, asking them to help analyze it.

"...Mr. Huang, I think perhaps you really should make contact with that Love Goddess."

Academician Ding pondered for a long time and suggested, "After all, judging by her actions and methods, she likely holds no malice toward you. On the contrary, she is very likely in need of your help."

"You will be embarking on the Dragon-Carried Space Travel in a few days. You can take this opportunity to glean some information about the situation in the sky from her, so you can be more composed when the time comes."

"...Is that so?"

Huang Ze was slightly stunned, then couldn't help but say, "But I can't contact her at all right now!"

"My 'traitorous' heart seems very wary of me coming into contact with the deities in the sky. It has already fully engaged the firewall on my soul, preventing the will of those deities from influencing or sensing me..."

"I suspect Freya must have tried to contact me many times, but was blocked by my heart. Since she couldn't connect with my consciousness, she had no choice but to use this clumsy method and create that dim-witted Saintess..."

"That is not impossible..."

Academician Ding agreed, then said solemnly, "Mr. Huang, how much trust do you feel you have in your own heart? Is it worthy of your true trust?"

"How much trust..."

Huang Ze pondered. He didn't know how to answer this question right away.

To say the heart was untrustworthy... that wasn't quite right. At least lately, it had been getting along quite well with his brain, being honest and conscientious, as if it wanted to live a steady life with the brain.

But to say it was trustworthy... that didn't seem right either. After all, it still hadn't been open and honest, submitting its true file, or explaining its past organizational affiliations!

To put it mildly, it was unorganized and undisciplined; to put it strongly, it didn't take the brain seriously at all!

"I feel... maybe there's about sixty or seventy percent trust!"

Huang Ze thought about it and finally gave this answer.

"Sixty or seventy percent... that's actually not low. It shows that in your heart, Mr. Huang, you are still inclined to believe it!"

Academician Ding said, "Then, Mr. Huang, I suggest you communicate well with yourself and ask it why it won't let you come into contact with Freya."

"It's useless."

Huang Ze shook his head. "Actually, I feel that my heart doesn't possess its own consciousness. It's more like a program, a database, or a library of information. Only when the corresponding keywords are retrieved does the relevant answer automatically appear in my mind."

"I have asked about this before, but it remained completely unresponsive. I don't know if the relevant data is missing or if my authority level is insufficient."

"..."

Academician Ding hadn't expected Huang Ze's perception of his heart to be like this. After thinking for a while, he said, "Then, Mr. Huang, have you asked it... whether you will be in danger when you go to the sky in a few days?"

"Of course I asked that."

Huang Ze nodded. "At the time, my first feeling was very conflicted. I was first a bit expectant, then a bit apprehensive. I was clearly worried about gains and losses, but overall, the sense of crisis was not strong."

"That's good..."

Academician Ding breathed a sigh of relief. With those words, they could obviously send the black dragon into the sky with more peace of mind.

"However, I still suggest... Mr. Huang, you should make contact with Freya."

Academician Ding continued, "Don't be fooled by the fact that she is only a weak-power deity; in fact, her origins are far from simple. She is the daughter of the Goddess of Fate... or rather, she is fundamentally a part of the Goddess of Fate herself!"

Many deities reproduce asexually. Calling it reproduction is actually just separating a portion of their own power and divine office, to avoid their volume becoming too large and developing 'occupational diseases'... no, to avoid becoming too powerful and then having to fall into a deep slumber to avoid being dismembered by the world's will!

Freya is actually a part of the authority of Fate!

Huang Ze was first stunned, then suddenly realized. No wonder no other deity had sought him out; it was the Love Goddess who had come to his door, and with such high accuracy—it was as if she had turned on cheats!

"Believe her... I'll go back and try."

As soon as Huang Ze said he would try, he really did. He withdrew his consciousness from the secondary body, returned to his main body, and began to play a battle of wits with his heart.