Otherworldly Desert Dust

Chapter 290 - 245 Another Deadlock

Li Feng was silent for a long time.

He lowered his head to look at his palm, which was dark but showed no sign of the Death Omen line that Wu Hen had mentioned, let alone seeing the imprint of the Death Omen Butterfly on his forehead.

"Since it’s a matter of absorption, risk is inevitable, and everyone will fall in battle. It’s only logical for me to be among them," Li Feng said.

If that were the only reason, then he couldn’t possibly terminate the plan.

Wu Hen was very surprised by Li Feng’s response.

How would this shattered homeland move forward should it lose such a remarkable strategist and explorer?

Even though everyone from the Old Faction regarded themselves as the spiritual leader, Wu Hen was very much aware of his own character.

If there were a huge explosion that threatened their homeland one day, he would certainly flee with his family, indifferent to the fates of the masses.

The greater the ability, the more cautious the living.

Li Feng was the faith figure of the Old Faction; his death would render the homeland no different from an empty shell of a planet.

Seeing the determination in Li Feng’s eyes, Wu Hen knew that this reason would not convince him to give up the operation.

"What about the others?" Wu Hen asked.

"They are only in the deployment phase."

"What I mean is, what if the others are going to die as well?" Wu Hen pressed.

Li Feng fell silent again.

Without waiting for his answer, Wu Hen walked out of the command center and took a tour around the entire base.

Outside the door was Li Feng’s adjutant, a top-tier expert with well-concealed strength, clad entirely in leather, exuding an icy, machine-like aura.

Wu Hen glanced at the leather-clad adjutant and then reached out his hand.

With a confused face, the adjutant did not know what Wu Hen intended to do, but he still took off his leather gloves and shook hands with Wu Hen as a sign of respect.

Soon, a strange scene unfolded before Wu Hen’s Spiritual Vision, like a mini Purple Emperor Butterfly made of deathly aura hovering above this tall adjutant’s forehead, forming another Death Omen Butterfly mark.

After releasing the hand, Wu Hen randomly selected some of the scientific researchers within the base.

These researchers in white lab coats were mostly responsible for analyzing data and handling logistics.

Yet, as soon as they made contact with Wu Hen’s "hand of death omen," the same scene appeared: a Death Butterfly was perched on the forehead of each person...

Wu Hen’s brow was deeply furrowed. Everyone within this secret base shared the same fate, as if the hands of impermanence had locked onto their throats, slowly dragging them towards Huangquan Road!

Being somewhat of an inheritor of the qualities of an Underworld Priest, Wu Hen’s instinct told him that these people’s names were already carved on the Book of Life and Death, marking them for death, though their hour had not yet come.

"I will return shortly; you must not take any action before then," Wu Hen directed Li Feng.

Li Feng was also filled with confusion, but he still nodded his head.@@@@

...

After Wu Hen left, Li Feng paced around the base.

By his side was a Mechanical Mouse with an almost sentient presence, quietly watching Li Feng with its head tilted.

What a magnificent law of Divine Skills! Wu Hen could even imagine how he might use this law to run rampant in Otherworldly Dust in the future.

But now, the Death Omen Law seemed more like a death row inmate in a prison to Wu Hen, where even if a jailer told you the day of execution, there was not the slightest resistance one could offer, only waiting for the hour of execution to arrive!

...

Within the secret base on Deserted Island, Li Feng was still waiting quietly.

The hatch slowly opened, bringing with it a variety of metallic sounds. The young man, recently full of fervor, walked in with steps heavy like shackles and chains, each step echoing with the invisible weight upon his feet. Experience tales at novelhall.Côm

There was no longer any luster in his eyes, only deep confusion and the dullness that comes after shock.

But his will was strong. He hadn’t curled up in a corner of his homeland. Instead, he made his way here, seeking a way to break the deadlock.

"Conquered the ocean, only to find the world is round;"

"Looked up at the stars, only to find the starry sky is nothing but a texture, with no other life in the vast universe;"

"Explored the virtual, only to discover that the virtual is reality, and this reality is another Human Circle, trapping us again in the vat..."

"The path to knowledge has always been so hopeless and hard to accept."

"Isn’t it always so?"

"Either stay comfortably in one circle after another, only to be thrown into the slaughterhouse by our keepers at the end, ending this meaningless life, or be a brave breaker of circles, disguising, enduring, thinking, taking risks, and making valiant sacrifices on the path forward, leaving bloody markers for the next generation with the same persistence."

"Wu Hen, like me, you are ultimately unwilling to be that life waiting to be slaughtered. You crave to control your own destiny. But the road to controlling destiny is so dark and so hopeless, it cannot be achieved by discovering some groundbreaking new energy, by every student excelling with perfect scores, nor can all of humanity collectively break out of the three-dimensional prison with combined wisdom and strength..."

Li Feng spoke these words calmly to Wu Hen.

Months ago, in the Tropical Pavilion, it was Wu Hen who, with calm and composure, comforted Li Feng, igniting hope in this leading human life explorer.

Now, it was Li Feng consoling Wu Hen, telling him that failure on this road is the reasonable outcome.

Perhaps this was not the first time humanity had failed. After annihilation, they return to primitiveness.

In Otherworldly Dust, there were mechanical Ascension, physical Ascension, technological Ascension, and many chain gates evolving towards higher-dimensional life; who could guarantee that humanity hasn’t chosen other evolutionary paths?

Zhenwu, Cultivation, Mutation, Magic, Xuan Power, Saint Transformation... Whether it is the revival of Spiritual Energy, the descent of the strange, or even global evolution, will they ultimately also turn to dust, buried deep within the heart of their homeland?

Just dig into the ground, and what’s found is not just the fossils of once-dominant lifeforms on this planet, but also the ashes of countless grand civilizations that have risen. They, too, have failed in the end.

Perhaps they didn’t perish at the hands of high-dimensional insects, but they didn’t reach the Human Holy Realm, didn’t pass down the Evolutionary Method. Instead, they allowed the surviving spark to start from zero, searching for a more hopeful path of life.

From beginning to end, Li Feng never gave up on technology, even as humanity was engulfed in waves of mutation, evolution, and cultivation...

Because Li Feng firmly believed that each path has its strengths and drawbacks.

Different people are suited to different evolutionary routes. Otherworldly Dust is mysterious and complex, and different crises require different abilities to face them.

Like the Holy Sect, being merely strong in Combat Power does not guarantee dominance in Otherworldly Dust. They can still become livestock enclosed by high-dimensional life.

"Calm down. Let’s analyze this step by step."

"It’s like a game of chess. Our current situation is just about stepping into a dead-end."

"But that doesn’t mean we’ve lost!"

"There has to be something we haven’t seen yet. Find it, smash it, turn defeat into victory!"