CH 124

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

Whether or not the topic had taken a strange direction midway, the fact that Tang Ying was temporarily unable to come over to the Sweet and Sour Pork Star had become a given.

“In that case, there is no way out, so come back next month when you are done,” Bai Li said.

It was almost the end of the month, and according to Tang Ying, he still had a good period of time to be busy.

“Whatever. It doesn’t matter when you come over,” Wen XingYao also replied dispassionately, but his tone took on a bit of imperceptible ease and brightness.

However, as soon as he finished speaking, the other two people in the parlor turned their heads to look at him. It was clear that Wen XingYao was the main character of this conversation, and Tang Ying had come over to take him back, so why was he the calmest one in the room? The fact that he had such an attitude could easily give people the illusion that he was not willing to leave.

Tang Ying looked at Wen XingYao with suspicion, trying to read something from his expression. However, Wen XingYao was as steady as an old dog. In this situation he could still turn his head to look at his adjutant, with the same suspicion in his eyes. As if he were asking, “Why are you looking at me like that, is there something wrong?”

Tang Ying was defeated by such a look, and even doubted his sixth sense. Did he really just feel wrong? Otherwise how could he think that the other party didn’t want to come back at all? After they exchanged the most important things, Tang Ying did not stay at Bai Li’s house, said that he had things to do and left the place.

After Tang Ying left, Bai Li looked at Wen XingYao with a smile on his face and said, “I haven’t thanked you for helping me so much.”

Wen XingYao subconsciously pursed his lips, with an unnoticed little joy inside, as he said, “Even without me, the number of players would have been filled up quickly by the netizens who applied for the game through Mo Song’s post.”

He just had a head start, and luckily entered the game at the same time as Bai Li, so he got to see the scenery of Carefree Farmstead earlier than anyone else.

“Haha!” Bai Li laughed. The body that was sitting upright changed its posture, and leaned on the small coffee table, as he held his cheeks and joked, “Your answer is too serious. I just played a little joke with you, you don’t have to be so nervous. But what were you thinking at that time? You actually went to talk to Tang Ying about this game?”

In Bai Li’s perception, what an Interstellar Admiral and his Lieutenant usually talked about should be the kind of topics that rose to the level of the Empire and have great significance to Interstellar peace? How else would the game of peace be played?

When it comes to this, Wen XingYao really had something to say, “At first, I just thought this game was very special, and the other virtual reality games on the market were different. The gameplay was very new. But after that, I was glad I recommended this game to Tang Ying, so that many soldiers in the military could enter this game. You probably wouldn’t know that staying in the world of Carefree Farmstead for a long time is good for Therian’s Genetic Collapse Disorder. According to Tang Ying, a lot of warriors have recently reported that they are falling into psychotic mania for shorter periods of time and less frequently. That means their Genetic Collapse Disorder is slowly recovering. Although we can’t just jump to conclusions without testing, there are already many fighters who believe that playing this game will become their hope to cure Genetic Collapse Disorder. Not to mention that the game is really fun, isn’t it?”

Bai Li, who had heard people talk about Genetic Collapse Disorder but didn’t know much about it, took this opportunity to ask his questions. “This Genetic Collapse Disorder, in the end what causes it, ah? It is said that playing virtual reality games can alleviate the outbreak of this disease, but is there any science in it?” He felt that this disease appeared strangely, and the treatment for it was also strange.

After listening to Bai Li’s question, Wen XingYao paused imperceptibly. Reasonably speaking, this cause was something even a three-year-old child in the Empire could say a little about. Bai Li…he shouldn’t be that ignorant?

Unless he hadn’t received relevant education since childhood, and there was no one around him to talk about it. But, was that possible? Even if children were orphans of the battlefield, they would be properly adopted by the imperial orphanage, and the knowledge they should be taught wouldn’t be neglected until the children become adults, and then they would be released to live on their own.

Bai Li, in reality, was a grown person, and had a space button that the average person simply could not afford, a large amount of delicious food stored in the space button, and he could also grow vegetables with his own hands. The vegetables grown from the special agricultural stars did not cultivate such delicious vegetables and fruits. Moreover, he couldn’t even tell the difference between ordinary small animals and Therian cubs, so his common sense seemed to be lacking a bit too much.

He was a person with a secret.

Wen XingYao looked away to hide the light of thought in his eyes, and when his gaze raised again, he had returned to normal. He told Bai Li all the information he knew about Genetic Collapse Disorder.

Genetic Collapse Disorder appeared after the war with the Zergs, and even before that, there were omens. In the beginning, it was Therians who would always lose control of their temper. During that time, they would always somehow fight with people and then it would escalate to physical contact. However, when they finished fighting, they would be verbally confused and r and had no enmity, so how could they somehow wrestle?

The robot police responsible for mediation judged their explanations as sophistry, and didn’t report the fights as anomalies.

Until a Therian, in the course of the fight, suddenly turned into a huge beast and began to wreak havoc in the vicinity. A lot of people were injured, even an Ancient Blue star person was seriously injured, so finally someone realized that something was wrong and started an investigation. The Imperial Research Institute also conducted a study, and finally found that behind these incidents, it was not man-made trouble, but the Therian’s bodies that had problems. Their genes had actually become unstable, and the deep-seated pain caused them to be unable to control their tempers, which led to the bloodshed again and again.

The Imperial Research Institute named this newly discovered disease “Genetic Collapse Disorder.” Later, the disorder was further refined and divided into early, middle and late stages. In the early stage, a Therian would feel a splitting headache, weakness and a vague desire to destroy. The symptoms were the lightest and could be controlled. The refreshing candy developed by the Imperial Research Institute had a good effect on this stage.

In the middle stage, the mania and destructive desire increased rapidly, and every few days, the body became uncontrollable, confused, and unrecognizable. Currently, more than 50% of the Therians in the Empire were in the middle stage, and the only way to alleviate these symptoms was to let them vent their desire for destruction.

Since it was easy to cause casualties in reality, virtual reality games had become the most suitable place for them to vent.

In the later stages, Genetic Collapse Disorder was theoretically no longer possible to cure. At this stage, Therians would revert to their infancy, lose their aggression, lose their memories of being human, and be sent to Hope Star to live like ordinary animals until they grew old and died.

As for why “theoretically,” wasn’t there now an existence beyond theory?

“The Imperial Research Institute hasn’t found a reasonable explanation for the specific cause of Genetic Collapse Disorder. However, it is a fact that some virtual reality games can alleviate the aggravation of Genetic Collapse Disorder to some extent. Today, the Imperial Research Institute has a sophisticated detection mechanism. They can analyze the therapeutic effect of each game on the disease, and then recommend the sick Therians play the game. Of course, if a Therian finds a game that they feel is effective, but it hasn’t been tested, they can also recommend it to their friends and family.”

For example, the three hundred warriors who entered the game at the time were also considered to be there under his recommendation.

Bai Li understood what Wen XingYao said, and thought that “virtual reality games could cure Genetic Collapse Disorder” must be a basic operation of the Interstellar era, and didn’t think deeper. He might have guessed that the matter was related to his mixing of grass and wood clear spirit into the game design, but did not think that its invisible presence would be detected by the Imperial Research Institute. At most, the treatment effect was better.

“Okay, I get it.” Bai Li smiled faintly, and once again expressed his gratitude to Wen XingYao.

Wen XingYao opened his mouth, but didn’t say another word of thanks.

That day’s conversation, in the opinion of the two, was that Genetic Collapse Disorder science, which cited how a Therian would suddenly revert to a beast of destruction, was very far away from them. The last time Bai Li went out, it was to take Supreme, who didn’t know his true identity, out of the house.

No one expected that such a “disaster” would suddenly fall from the sky one day.

Really – from the sky.

Since the end of the Village Chief’s Residence mission and the Corn Master event, the exchange of prizes and a friendly participation in a live broadcast, Bai Li had been idle for a while. He didn’t rush to add new ways to play in the game, nor add new items to the mall shelves, but only recorded some of his own inspirations, as he waited for the next month to give the players a new wave.

Since he knew Supreme’s true identity, he also dared not pet the cat. While Supreme remained in a juvenile state, he was consciously distant from him, and although Supreme gave aggrieved little milk mews in defeat, he thought his behavior was still a bit effective. When Wen XingYao’s consciousness woke up in Supreme’s body, they began to communicate in a question-and-answer style, and they got along well.

The feeding of Wen XingYao with grass and wood clear spirit energy also became more frequent. Sometimes Bai Li even fed him three times a day, more actively than eating. As a result of this, Supreme’s body size was growing rapidly, and he was now the size of an adult Golden Retriever. When he first picked him up, he could hold him up with one hand, but now… It’s too sore to hold him even for a few minutes.

What Bai Li didn’t notice was that sometimes Supreme’s cat eyes, as they looked at him, would gradually deepen in color, become dark and dull, with only a tiny golden glow occasionally emerging from them, without revealing a trace of the emotions possessed by their owner.

The time came at noon on February 25. Bai Li had closed the gaming pod and dragged a sleepy Supreme out of it, when suddenly he felt a shaking of the floor, and the whole building seemed to be trembling. There was a wild howl of some kind of beast outside, and it was getting closer and closer. He subconsciously looked out the window, and found that not far from the building there was a huge black animal rushing toward him…and the floor he was on was not the first floor of the building.

In other words, an unknown black beast was flying through the air, swooping towards them like a cannonball, with its black tail fluttering behind it..and there was more than one tail!

Bai Li didn’t have time to see what kind of animal this black beast was. He grabbed Supreme in his arms, although because of his weight, he couldn’t hold him high, and made sure that he wouldn’t let him fall when he ran, then rushed out of the house.

Interstellar era elevators were much safer than the 21st century. Bai Li took Supreme into the elevator with confidence, quickly got to the first floor, and ran to the nearby open space. It was only then that he had time to look up.

This time, he couldn’t help but be grateful.

The floor-to-ceiling glass window of the room that belonged to him and Supreme was smashed through with a large hole, and thick glass shards as well as some construction materials fell with a crash. He allowed his consciousness to enter the room through the broken hole, and it was already a mess, including the gaming pod, which had just been bought recently. That was damaged the most, seemingly by something that sliced through the middle, and half of it was sparking dangerously.

He didn’t have time to feel heartache for the most expensive equipment of the family, as he peeked further in, because he was keenly aware of the giant beast that was manically walking around the house. It howled and flew out of the broken hole while using its senses, and at once found its target, its tails swinging wildly behind it, a pair of large fox eyes penetrated him with a bloodthirsty light.

Not far away, the nearest robot patrol police was quickly approaching and its “beep beep beep” sounded throughout the area. However, when looking at the situation, it seemed to be a little too late.

Bai Li’s place was really isolated. Even after such a big noise, besides him and Supreme, there were no more people running out of the building. He couldn’t be the only occupant of the building now, could he?

The hand that held Supreme tightened slightly. He thought about it, then squatted down and put Supreme on the ground, patted him on the back and signaled him to go to a safe corner to hide first.

After that, regardless of Supreme’s reaction, he stood up again and prepared for battle.

Bai Li calculated the difference between his current faith value and his full strength, and knew that he probably wouldn’t be able to defeat his opponent. However, he didn’t need to fight the beast to the death. He just had to protect himself and Supreme until the robot patrol police arrived. Unfortunately, he underestimated the speed of the beast, and even as he put Supreme on the ground and stood up again, the beast quickly moved in front of him, its sharp teeth close at hand. Bai Li hurriedly stepped back as he raised his hand to block.

The opponent’s strength was so great that he felt a vague dull pain in his arm bones.

After a jump to avoid the beast’s attack, an inconspicuous metal tube suddenly appeared in his landing spot, but when Bai Li spotted it, it was too late to temporarily change directions. He stepped on it, and the metal tube slid forward while Bai Li fell backward, and he soon hit the ground.

The beast noticed this rare chance, and lunged with force.

However in the moment of this lightning bolt move, a winged beast with a burning fire on its back rushed between the two, in a protective position so that the prone Bai Li was entirely under its own body, and it carefully controlled its own fire, so as not to hurt him.

Unlike the normal temperature beneath it, the fire behind it grew hotter and hotter, and the black beast, which accidentally came into contact with it, screamed. The intense pain made the other party’s eyes regain a trace of clarity, and the beast struggled to escape the place.

However, before it could flee, it took another long look in Bai Li’s direction, with a strange reluctance and entanglement in its large fox eyes. In the end, it was still better to run for one’s life, the big tail waved and waved, then it slipped away before the robot patrol police arrived.

Having suddenly switched from orange cat form to lion form, Wen XingYao carefully protected Bai Li, but then suddenly hit with pain, he didn’t have time to say anything. Bai Li watched as the huge animal shook, and then slowly morphed, from a large hairy lion into the appearance of an adult man.

Wen XingYao’s long silver hair poured down. His skin was a cold white, and the insignificant vertical line in the middle of his forehead not only didn’t destroy his overall looks, but made him more recognizable. His dark golden eyes were slightly narrowed, as he returned Bai Li’s gaze with gratitude and unexpected delight.

Author note: For reasons not allowed on the JJWXC platform, he was fully dressed and not exposed in any way.