Chapter 1300 - 1048: Stopping Your Progress

"First, let’s refill this planet, and then we’ll visit the Balance Church," Long Yi exhaled and said, pausing for a moment before he continued, "I think we should take some time to thoroughly discuss everything that has happened to you since you arrived on this planet."

Isrile and Ruosha exchanged glances, and they both saw the same realization in each other’s eyes: "This time, we screwed up."

The powerful forces had always made Isrile and Ruosha believe that things were going smoothly for them, but clearly, they were unaware of how cunning their opponent, the Divine Worm, was: they had always excelled at disguising themselves, always using the most insidious means to defeat you. You would never get to see them in person until the very last moment.

After the internal structure of the Hong En Empire had disappeared, Long Yi spent a great deal of time exploring underground, where he found intense traces of Divine Power. Clearly, that false deity had operated here for a long time, the patience of these Divine Worms proving sufficient. Long Yi did not blame the Emperor of Hong En; clearly, the Emperor was merely bewitched by the Divine Power—not that blaming him would change anything; it was better for him to honestly rebuild his homeland.

Then, the dragon-shaped Giant Monster that threatened the entire plane simply disappeared, having not shown up despite a long wait.

Thus, Long Yi finally had time to have a detailed chat with Isrile and Ruosha. This time, they no longer recounted their deeds seeking commendation, but honestly narrated everything that happened to them after they came here.

"Let me see your Whitestar," Long Yi said to Ruosha.

Compared to Isrile and her Giant Beast subordinates, Long Yi was more puzzled about Whitestar because its birth method was almost the same as that of the Hong En Empire!

At that moment, Ruosha also thought of this. Whitestar was an empire secretly constructed inside, modeled after the core of the Giant and emulating the Golem, with a complete mechanical processing structure. And so was the capital star of the Hong En Empire, secretly constructed inside the planet. If she had not been on that planet at the time, perhaps the capital star of the Hong En Empire would have turned into cosmic dust due to the collapse, right?

However, Whitestar was just right to fill the void left by the capital star of the Hong En Empire, which seemed a bit too coincidental.

Guided by Ruosha, Long Yi entered the interior of Whitestar. There were complex passages inside; walking through these passages, Long Yi looked at the vastly large various mechanical structures on both sides, the retro-styled structures giving him a feeling of observing ancient Giant products. Long Yi had once studied the mechanical products of the Giants for a period, and the style inside Whitestar clearly wasn’t of the later Giants.

As they walked, they suddenly saw a troop of Nightmare Knights neatly walking toward them and then surrounded Long Yi and Ruosha.

"What are you doing?" Ruosha asked, frowning.

"By the creator’s command, stop you from proceeding further!" the leading Nightmare Knight said.

Ruosha’s face immediately flushed; she had guessed that something like this might happen on the way here, yet she had been secretly praying it wouldn’t. Unfortunately, the worst still happened!

The leading Nightmare Knight wore special insignia, a Group Leader personally appointed by Ruosha who usually handled tasks for her.

"You big fools, I’ve always been good to you, is this how you treat me?" Ruosha said indignantly.

"Even though we are only mechanical beings, we still feel ashamed—but an order is an order," the Nightmare Knights Group Leader said.

"I know you Nightmare Knights possess some intelligence, I’m just asking you once, do you really think you can stop me?" Ruosha said, drawing out her giant anchor fiercely.

"Our chances of defeating you are zero, but this is a command from the creator, and it has absolute priority, so, step back!" With that, the group of Nightmare Knights took a step forward together.

But Long Yi felt something was amiss, because if the order giver’s intent was to be followed, these Nightmare Knights should have attacked already, not continued talking here.

Could it be that they didn’t want to attack?

"Wait, is your creator currently inside this planet?" Long Yi suddenly asked.

The Nightmare Knights Group Leader shook his head and said, "The creator is not here; she has been gone for a long time."

Ruosha had once checked the interior of Whitestar numerous times, never finding any suspicious place. Of course, Whitestar was vast, and Ruosha couldn’t be certain she had been to every corner.

"Then, how was her command issued?" Long Yi asked.

"The creator left behind her communication Array, and the Array is linked to our neural nexus, so we can receive her commands," the Nightmare Knights Group Leader answered.

"So, if there’s no communication Array, you don’t need to obey her commands, right?" Long Yi suddenly thought of something.

"Yes, that’s right."

Clearly, the Nightmare Knights Group Leader couldn’t accurately distinguish what should and should not be said, or maybe it genuinely wanted to express these details, so it chose to reveal this confidential information, giving Long Yi a simple hint.

"What exactly are the creator’s commands to you?" Long Yi suddenly asked.

"To stop you from proceeding further," the Nightmare Knights Group Leader replied.

"So, your creator didn’t tell you to attack us, right; she only let us not go further, is that correct?" Long Yi suddenly asked with a smile.

"Yes," the Nightmare Knights Group Leader responded.

"So, what if we do this?"

Speaking of which, Long Yi and Ruosha turned around simultaneously and began walking backward towards the Nightmare Knights.

"You have not progressed... we have no reason to stop you," said the group of Nightmare Knights, who then dispersed!

Ruosha almost wanted to laugh out loud at this moment, wondering if that could actually work? You tell me not to advance, so I’ll just go backward!

Obviously, there were many ways to interpret a command, and the leader of the Nightmare Knights chose the interpretation that favored Long Yi and Ruosha, meaning the leader fundamentally was still on Ruosha’s side. The only reason it appeared to stop Long Yi and Ruosha was due to the creator’s orders.

"Nicely done, big guy, my care for you hasn’t been in vain!" Ruosha said, pleased.

Long Yi and Ruosha rapidly retraced their steps until they were out of sight of the Nightmare Knights, and then the two immediately started sprinting.

As they ran, Long Yi said, "I suspect that this Whitestar is the first creation left by a false god, abandoned for some unknown reason. Yet, she still left a remote control interface, so we must hurry. If she realizes her command hasn’t been carried out, she will soon issue a more direct killing command."

However, Ruosha pouted and said, "Are you joking? Am I supposed to be afraid of them?"

Long Yi patted Ruosha’s head and replied, "You’re definitely not afraid of them, but these Nightmare Knights are your own team. Wouldn’t you be heartbroken if you had to destroy them all by yourself?"

Heartbroken! How could she not be? Even as toys for so long, she had grown attached to them, not to mention that these Nightmare Knights possessed a certain level of intelligence.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Ruosha.

"Find the communication device that controls them as fast as possible, destroy it, and let you regain the title of the leader of the Nightmare Knights," Long Yi said.

Ruosha’s eyes lit up; after all, she had been the leader of the Nightmare Knights for so long before a mysterious creator suddenly stripped her of the role, leaving her completely aggrieved. Now, having a chance to take back control of the Nightmare Knights was undoubtedly exciting for her.

"It would be better if there was a way to directly strip her of control," Ruosha said.

Directly strip control?

Long Yi came to a sudden stop.

"Tell me honestly, Ruosha, do you think those Nightmare Knights like you a bit more, or do they like that creator more?" Long Yi asked.

"Although it may sound presumptuous, I think they like me more. That so-called creator disappeared after creating them, but I have been with them conquering the world! If they were just simple machines, that would be understandable, but they aren’t. They possess a certain level of intelligence, enough to make a judgment and choice between me and that creator," Ruosha proudly stated.

"The problem of a birth mother and a foster mother," Long Yi laughed.

"What do you mean?" Ruosha was puzzled.

"I remember you once said that these Nightmare Knights use Giant technology’s autonomous learning core, right?" Long Yi said.

"Yeah, that’s what they themselves have said," Ruosha nodded.

"That’s right; do you think these Nightmare Knights have become a bit smarter than when you first met them?" Long Yi asked again.

"Smarter? Hmm, I hadn’t noticed until you mentioned it. Now that you bring it up, these big guys are indeed sharper than before," Ruosha acknowledged.

"That’s right," said Long Yi, as he took out a Giant tablet, stopped, and stated, "Look, this type of core, though an early work of the Giants, was an exploration of machine intelligence. Due to a technology explosion later, the Giants directly abandoned further development of this core, but the real core part had already been completed. And the greatest advantage of this autonomous learning core isn’t just in combat, but in learning more knowledge and acquiring more wisdom!"

"Do you mean they will become smarter and smarter?"

"Exactly," Long Yi confirmed.

"No wonder they only blocked us earlier and did not attack."

"Given this, we don’t need to run anymore," Long Yi was saying when a group of Nightmare Knights came rushing up from behind. Their received command was to stop Long Yi and Ruosha’s progress, and the ambiguity of the command allowed them many options. This was exactly why the Nightmare Knights’ leader let Long Yi and Ruosha go—instinctively, it loathed the creator, an unseen figure hidden in a corner and forcibly taking command.

However, the order had to be obeyed, so they still chased after them, but strangely, Long Yi and Ai Lin were not continuing forward.

"I have a question," Long Yi started.

"What question?" the Nightmare Knights’ leader responded.

"If I have a way to make that creator stop controlling you, would you cooperate with me?" Long Yi asked very directly. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, we welcome you to recommend and vote at qidian.com. Your support is our greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to continue reading.)