[273] Salty and Sweet

"What?!" The "me" of this world killed this world's "Nora"?! "What?!" The "me" of this world killed "Zhang Kai," who was stationed to guard the city gates, along with a bunch of combat police—and Brother Kai died just like that?! "What?!" The "me" of this world even attacked an expedition venturing deep into the mountains, draining the blood of over thirty innocent people?! Curiosity aside, Yu Xian was fundamentally a rational person. He had not run off to wander Earth in this world in person, choosing instead to order Muse to hack into Earth's network. He had wanted to see how his alternate self was doing—whether he had married Nora, whether they were living happily together. Instead, his eyes nearly popped out of his skull. What kind of hellish parallel world was this?! His name in this world was slightly different: while he was named Yu Xian, the other was named Yu Tian—one sounding like salty, the other like sweet. A slight difference in name was acceptable enough, but he truly could not stomach what this alternate version of himself had done. "Don't hold me back—I'm going to slaughter him!" Looking entirely aghast, Yu Xian rolled up his sleeves and announced to the others. Yet as he turned to leave, he discovered that Nora and the rest had no intention whatsoever of holding him back. Niman and several others were even biting back laughter; only Nora couldn't smile, standing there equally dazed. "Big Brother, parallel worlds hold endless possibilities to begin with. If there are good endings, naturally there are bad endings too," Little Nora piped up with a beaming smile. "He isn't you, so why get angry?" After chuckling, Niman looked at Yu Xian and said, "Speaking of which, this world might actually be the primary world. Your world was too close to this one, so it fell under its influence." "This world is the primary world? You mean... Yu Tian is the original, and I'm the counterfeit?" Yu Xian froze. It took him a long moment before he stared at Niman in disbelief. Rather than consoling Yu Xian over his pained expression, Niman nodded. "Yes, that's more or less it. This world is clearly more powerful than yours, so its influence on surrounding worlds is stronger. Not to mention that your world and this world are parallel worlds, which makes that influence run even deeper." "Two worlds can influence each other?" Nora asked in surprise. Niman explained, "When anything grows strong enough, it exerts influence on the outside world. However, after the Abyss invaded, that influence began to gradually weaken. Perhaps that's why Yu Xian didn't end up like Yu Tian." "You mean if the Abyss hadn't invaded, I would have become just like that bastard?" Yu Xian asked, shocked. Niman shook her head. "No. If the Abyss hadn't invaded, you would have developed ALS and waited to die in bed." Having watched Yu Xian's film, she naturally knew how he had obtained his vampire bloodline. As she finished speaking, she even cast a glance at Nora. Yu Xian was struck speechless by her words, yet he truly had no way to refute them. "Big Brother, are you still going to Earth?" Little Huangquan asked curiously. Yu Xian nodded. "I'll still make a trip down. I can't just stand by and watch so many of my kind die." He said "of my kind" rather than "kinsmen." After all, these were different worlds; who knew what genetic makeup Earth humans here had? Besides, this world possessed inherent supernatural powers, something his own world couldn't compare to at all. Yet humans were still humans; at least spiritually and mentally, people weren't any different. Therefore, out of humanitarian concern, Yu Xian decided to give the spaceship previously gifted by Haolidu Company to this world's Huaxia. He had originally planned to gift it to the Qilin organization of his own world the next time he returned to Earth, but clearly this world needed it far more. With this ship, they could figure out a way to leave this world instead of being trapped here until the Abyss completely devoured it. As for his original world, Yu Xian decided he could simply buy another spaceship to bring back next time—or even command Aska to supply blueprints directly, which would be simpler and far more convenient. "Muse, head for the Moon," Yu Xian instructed. Acknowledging the order, Muse immediately steered the Aska toward Earth. Down on Earth, many Transcendents had been monitoring the Aska's movements; when they saw it truly moving toward Earth, countless people couldn't help cheering. Qilin Headquarters. Upon receiving the latest intelligence, Minister Xiao Cheng stood up immediately. "Yu Lie, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We must show our sincerity. Furthermore... warn all nations that they are forbidden to attack the starship before it displays hostility. Even so... if guests come, we have fine wine; if jackals come, we have hunting rifles. We cannot let our guard down either—we must make thorough preparations." "Understood. Minister, I will go coordinate with the other nations right away," Yu Lie said respectfully, rising to face Xiao Cheng. Xiao Cheng nodded sternly. "Go. Have Hua Qiang of the Support Division keep a close watch on that starship. There must be absolutely no mishap in this first contact." "Yes, nothing will go wrong," Yu Lie replied with a confident smile. In this world, cultivation had continued unbroken since antiquity. Huaxia's supernatural traditions were deep and ancient, boasting countless talented and extraordinary figures who had consistently dominated the other nations on Earth. Yu Lie was thus confident in keeping Transcendents from other nations in line. However, the factions on Earth clearly underestimated the Aska's speed. After accelerating to near-light speed, it executed a spatial jump in the very next second, appearing not far from the Moon—before Yu Lie had even stepped out of the minister's office. It was too fast, so fast that deployment was impossible. Gazing at Earth on the light screen, looking like a blue glass marble, Yu Xian pondered for a moment before speaking. "I'll go and be right back. Is anyone interested in coming along?" "Not interested," Little Nora replied, shaking her head while munching on a conjured cake. The others shook their heads as well. Only Nora harbored some curiosity about this version of Earth; after all, her counterpart here was already dead. She couldn't imagine what this Earth's Nora—no, Lano—had been thinking in her final moments. If it had been her... "Yu Xian, I'll go with you," Nora said, standing up. Yu Xian nodded, and the two immediately fused. In the next moment, Yu Xian intended to jump through space directly, but when he activated his ability, he discovered that using spatial powers in this world incurred not only greater consumption, but also much stronger resistance. "This feeling..." Frowning slightly, Yu Xian tried creating a spatial bubble. Sure enough, there was a difference. He wasn't in a hurry to make contact with Earth's Qilin organization. Having made this new discovery, he simply sat cross-legged on the floor at his leisure and began employing Stealing Heavenly Secrets from the Art of Grotto-Heaven to absorb this world's spatial energy. Maintaining the Aska in a fully sealed state consumed tremendous amounts of energy, so once they entered this world, that sealed state had ended. This was why Yu Xian could absorb spatial energy from this world; otherwise, inside the fully sealed Aska, doing so would have disrupted the warship's internal spatial stability. And while he was absorbing the spatial energy, Marcus, the Blood Clan Progenitor, arrived.