NABC Chapter 702: What He Seeks
Chapter 702: What He Seeks
Lin Yu’s acting skills were excellent, so he could keenly detect that “Zhu Qiansi’s” “essence” was a nonexistent “character” constructed by the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord.And the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord hadn’t used “performance” to build this character. This spider, incapable of understanding human emotions, simply didn’t possess the ability for “acting” or “performance.”
But it had used something akin to “acting skills,” or rather... the primitive form of “performance.”
“Imitation.”
Lin Yu could roughly guess how the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord had done it... by reading others’ pasts through “Causality Silk,” then directly selecting “reactions” that matched or approached the current situation from those “pasts” and applying them onto Zhu Qiansi.
Because she held the “pasts” of thousands upon thousands—or even, by now, nearly a million—human beings, it was enough to sustain “Zhu Qiansi” living in Willow Town with almost no flaws revealed—she was even quite popular.
If not for encountering Lin Yu, perhaps anyone else who came here would have been deceived.
Unfortunately, Lin Yu wasn’t about to fall for it.
“In a way, this thing is a lot like a big data learning model...”
“If she really ‘ate’ more people, tens of millions as ‘samples,’ maybe even I wouldn’t be able to tell her real from fake.”
Lin Yu grumbled inwardly.
But grumbling aside, after confirming that the Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Silk Demon Lord indeed had no emotions, Lin Yu couldn’t help pondering another question.
If the other party had human emotions, a thought process close to humans’, and had proactively come to find him—and found him alone—then there would be many possibilities. Whether it wanted to revive Willow Town, revive its younger sister, persuade him, or something else, all would have reasons.
But...
Without emotions, that meant its thinking was entirely based on “benefit.”
Since it was based on benefit, the action of “finding him alone” became extremely strange.
If it wanted to win him over, it should have targeted all the players together.
If it wanted to ambush and kill him, it wouldn’t need to go through such trouble, and it wouldn’t even have given him a chance to meet it.
So...
Lin Yu looked at Zhu Qiansi.
“What exactly do you want from me by finding me?”
“I just wanted to see you... I admire you, I’m curious about you—”
“No. ‘Admiration’ and ‘curiosity’ are emotions only humans have, and you clearly don’t possess them,” Lin Yu interrupted Zhu Qiansi. “You should have noticed by now that this performance—at least this level of performance you’re putting on—doesn’t work on me.”
“So... what’s your goal?”
Lin Yu stopped beating around the bush and directly, in the most efficient way, sent a communication request to the demon before him—this emotionless being with an extremely high rank and level.
Sure enough, upon hearing Lin Yu’s words, the expression on Zhu Qiansi’s face instantly vanished.
“Indeed, choosing to call you here was the right move.”
“You’re smarter than the usual Otherworldly Ones. Although I lack emotions, I do have an urgent need to communicate and cooperate with you.”
Zhu Qiansi spoke calmly, mechanically waving the palm-leaf fan in her hand like a machine.
“It’s more than that.”
Lin Yu continued.
“Yes, it’s more than that, but I first want to know your ‘what you seek.’”
Zhu Qiansi said again.
Lin Yu looked at Zhu Qiansi, thought for a moment, and said, “Telling you won’t hurt. My goal probably doesn’t conflict with yours either. My purpose in coming to this realm is to make ‘Willow Town manifest in the world.’”
He spoke, but Zhu Qiansi shook her head.
“I know that most of you Otherworldly Ones, when you appear, have a ‘must-do task,’ a mission bestowed upon you by the Great Dao. What you said about ‘Willow Town manifesting in the world’ should be your ‘must-do task’ this time. But I’m not asking about your ‘must-do task’; I’m asking about your ‘what you seek’—that is, your ‘what you want to do.’”
Although Lin Yu had prepared to communicate with the other party in the most efficient way possible, Zhu Qiansi’s sudden question still caught him off guard.
“‘What I want to do’... what does that mean?”
He didn’t know what Zhu Qiansi was suddenly asking, let alone why she was asking it.
But Zhu Qiansi saw Lin Yu’s confusion and answered.
“It’s what you’ve been pursuing for a long time. Like the Taiqing Sect disciples who sealed me—what they sought was a world without demons.”
“And what I once sought was to live forever in this world, to transcend the Great Dao... to ascend to godhood and immortality in this realm.”
Zhu Qiansi said calmly, looking at Lin Yu.
“What do you seek?”
“What’s the point of asking that?” Lin Yu frowned. “Isn’t it enough for you to know that I plan to make ‘Willow Town manifest in the world’ this time? If you want me on your side, just name a price for that.”
“In this matter, you’ve already made your choice in your heart, and I can’t compete with the Taiqing Sect,” Zhu Qiansi said, then paused. “So I need to add weight on top of your ‘what you seek.’”
“You already know my innate divine ability is called ‘Causality Silk.’ So, as you’ve been active, I’ve gradually been able to glimpse a thread of your past and causal entanglement. You seem to want to reach the pinnacle in some field... and at the same time... there’s someone you want to bring back from the dead.”
Lin Yu, who from the beginning hadn’t really intended to seriously listen to what Zhu Qiansi would offer and was only trying to extract information, finally sat up straight.
Every failed negotiation was just a mismatch of chips—not necessarily a mismatch in weight, but possibly also a mismatch in direction.
“Your divine ability is more interesting than I imagined.”
Lin Yu said, and Zhu Qiansi nodded.
“It seems I was right.”
“I can’t do the former, but the latter... I’ve proven it to you many times already. Although I can’t completely defy the Great Dao and truly bring the dead back to life, you understand that with my help, you’d likely have another path to walk.”
Lin Yu looked at Zhu Qiansi, again meeting the deep, pool-like darkness of her eyes.
“How do I know you’re not lying to me?”
“Asking that question means you’re already moved,” Zhu Qiansi said bluntly. She leaned forward slightly, and in an instant, she resumed the emotional, feminine appearance, her tone turning gentle. “That person must be very important to you... Losing her must have left you very lonely, right?”
“I know all about it. Maybe you think I have no emotions and don’t understand any feelings... but I’ve seen too many joys and sorrows, too many partings and reunions. Even if I can’t feel them, I’m certainly not ignorant of them—right?”
“Besides, if I could resurrect that person who’s so important to you, what does it matter whether I understand or not?”
Lin Yu looked at Zhu Qiansi, listening to her words that were like the whispers of a devil, and asked quietly, “But... why me?”
Zhu Qiansi looked at Lin Yu and spoke softly again. “Because you are my only hope of escaping this cage, escaping these shackles.”
“What I once sought was eternal life, to ascend to godhood and immortality.”
“And now, what I seek is... freedom.”
Lin Yu looked at Zhu Qiansi and slowly spoke.
“Then you shouldn’t be looking for me either. Those two from the Taiqing Sect outside, and the Otherworldly Ones traveling with me, are all stronger than me and could more easily help you break your seal or rewrite your sealed past.”
“What’s the matter? Is it because you think they’re too righteous and hard to win over?”
Lin Yu said mockingly.
Zhu Qiansi shook her head. “That’s not it. You misunderstand. The freedom I speak of isn’t about breaking this seal and being free within the Prison Mountain Realm.”
“I have now come to understand that the true shackles... are the Prison Mountain Realm itself.”
“I want... to leave this realm.”