Eternal Night

Chapter 15: First Hearing of Bad News

The so-called master in Chinese martial arts is someone who has strong hidden power.

Ming Jin, An Jin, and Hua Jin, the three major levels of external strength, each level has a huge gap in combat power.

A Ming Jin master has hands and feet with a force of two to three hundred kilograms when he explodes. If an ordinary person faces a Ming Jin master, one punch or one kick will take his life.

Those who possess hidden power can unleash enormous force in a small space. It may seem like a light palm strike, but the force contained in this palm may be able to explode to seven or eight hundred kilograms. Therefore, just now when Wu Xianxiao and the tiger claw practitioner just touched each other, their tiger claws were directly twisted. This force is actually equivalent to a ramming hammer hitting their hands. Not to mention human flesh and bones, even armor and steel would be dented.

The only flaw is that this explosive power cannot last long. Now that Wu Xianxiao's basic physical qualities have been improved, which is equivalent to the physical qualities of an all-around Olympic champion, he can only explode about ten times in a battle. If he explodes more than that, it will damage his foundation and cause a lot of hidden injuries in his body.

Those who have achieved Hua Jin are almost back to basics. They don't need to explode with their punches or palms. Their whole body has the power of explosive Hidden Jin, which is continuous and lasts for a long time. There is even a saying that mosquitoes cannot land on them. Any mosquitoes will be instantly shocked to death once they touch the skin of a Hua Jin practitioner. This way, they don't have the defect of Hidden Jin that it cannot last for a long time.

Ming Jin is for warriors, masters in the martial arts world, while An Jin is called a master, often the leaders of certain forces. The red flower double sticks are An Jin, and as for Hua Jin, they are like a dragon that is hard to find from head to tail, and are often the world's top strong men with legendary colors. It is estimated that there are only four or five such people in the world today.

As for the more advanced third level of internal strength, Dan Jin, Gang Qi, and indestructibility, these are mythological levels beyond mortals. For example, the legendary Buddha Shakyamuni is an indestructible being, and these are land gods that appear only once every many years.

Knowing that Wu Xianxiao was a master of dark energy, the dozen or so followers, the woman in red, the two half-wasted martial artists, and even the young master who was so arrogant before, all lowered their heads and answered whatever was asked, not daring to hide anything.

"I came to Xuanhua Prefecture on my father's orders to meet with the eldest sister of the Red Lantern Society to discuss the plan of supporting the Qing Dynasty and destroying the foreigners." Young master Xu Rongyu said with some pride.

Support the Qing Dynasty and destroy the foreigners, this was the Boxer Rebellion's external propaganda slogan. The patriotism was indeed an opportunity for these black horse bandits and gangsters who could not be more evil to whitewash themselves, especially since the Qing court was in the honeymoon period with the Boxers. If all went well, they could even be incorporated into the Qing court and eat the emperor's food.

Wu Xianxiao was indeed disdainful of this. He sneered and said, "If it was Lin Heier, I would still look up to you. But who do you think you are? And who is your father? Forget it. There is no point in talking to you so much. Take out all the money you have now."

Xu Rongyu's face flushed red. Normally, he was the only one who led people to rob houses, but now he was being robbed. However, since he was under someone's roof, he still obediently took out the silver, silver dollars, and a stack of silver notes on his body, as well as the silver change from the two martial artists and the women in red.

There are probably several hundred taels of silver here alone, but Wu Xianxiao, Yamade, and Xu Shilan all look calm and don't care at all.

After receiving the silver, Wu Xianxiao picked up Xu Rongyu with one hand, and said to the martial artist and the woman in red: "I have kidnapped him. You must pay the ransom within five days. The price is ten thousand taels of silver. If you don't receive the money within five days, I will kill him."

Xu Rongyu didn't dare to say a word. The two martial artists hesitated for a moment, and the tiger-shaped warrior said, "Where can we find the master?"

Wu Xianxiao thought about it and asked Xu Rongyu, "Where do you think would be a good place for you to be buried?"

Xu Rongyu was shocked and angry, and finally couldn't help but said: "You want to blackmail me!?"

Wu Xianxiao smiled and shook his head, saying, "No, I just thought they probably wouldn't be willing to part with ten thousand taels of silver, so I made it clear in advance. Tell me, where do you want to be buried?"

Xu Rongyu stared at Wu Xianxiao, and said to the two warriors: "Please tell my father that the funeral home is located on the side of the official road thirty miles outside the city. If I die, it will be easier to die in this funeral home!"

The two warriors looked at each other and bowed. The crane warrior said to Wu Xianxiao, "Master, you are a master, so you can't go back on your word. Please spare the young master's life. We will definitely tell the boss."

After saying that, the two of them left without looking back.

More than a dozen believers were injured or disabled. They all knelt down and dared not speak. Only the women in red did not have as fierce an attitude as Xu Rongyu or the two warriors, because Wu Xianxiao had just said that if Lin Heier came, he would still look up to him.

A woman in red performed a cult salute and said, "Master, are you old friends with the elder sister? Or are you brothers and sisters in the cult?"

Wu Xianxiao waved his hand and said, "What history do I have with her? It's nothing more than seeing her being a hero and brave enough to not fear death. Although her path is wrong, her consistent heroic spirit is really admirable. If you have time, it would be nice to meet her. Okay, go ahead."

The red-dressed ladies didn't understand, but they all remembered it in their hearts. The leading red-dressed lady raised her hand and said, "I will definitely tell the master what he said to the senior sister."

After that, several red-dressed women also left, leaving only a dozen believers trembling. Wu Xianxiao ignored them and continued to carry Xu Rongyu and the two newcomers to the city. The three of them were already very hungry.

Although it was a provincial capital, it was not very prosperous at that time, especially at the level of the Qing Dynasty. The three men carried one person and randomly found a decent restaurant and walked in. Then they sat down in the private room upstairs and waited for the food to be served.

At this time, Yamade asked: "You seem to be very familiar with this place?"

Xu Shilan also looked over. Wu Xianxiao had nothing to hide, so he nodded and said, "Yes, I am a frozen future person from the 21st century. This era is not far from where I am. I learned about it in school, so I naturally know a lot."

Yamade and Xu Shilan were both stunned, and then the expressions on their faces became complicated.

Wu Xianxiao's heart skipped a beat, and he saw that puzzled expression again.

During the 156 days since he woke up, there were still seven or eight predecessors when he woke up. When he said that he was a frozen future person from the 21st century, these predecessors all showed the same expression. He asked many times but to no avail, which really became a worry for him.

At this time, the waiter and several helpers on the ninth floor began to serve the dishes. Because the three were extremely hungry, especially Wu Xianxiao and Yamade, both of them had big bellies, so there were more than twenty dishes, all of which were big fish and meat. For this, Wu Xianxiao even paid three dollars in advance and put it on the counter.

Seeing the dishes coming, Yamade laughed and said, "Eat, eat. We are very hungry."

Xu Shilan also nodded silently, but Wu Xianxiao felt more and more uneasy.

Before, he was facing seniors. Those seniors helped him a lot and saved his life several times. Otherwise, he would have died in the first few dream worlds he entered. He naturally couldn't force others if they didn't want to, but these two were newcomers, and now he was saving their lives.

Wu Xianxiao's face darkened and he stretched out his hand and flicked the table. A hidden force burst out and the hands of the two people who were trying to pick up the chopsticks were bounced away as if they were electrocuted. The meaning was very clear.

Both of them sighed. Xu Shilan looked at Yamade, who nodded and said, "Okay, I told you not to regret it... All the people from the future before the three wars, they will go crazy and die not long after waking up, uh, about a year or so, without exception... All the people from the future before the three wars are like this."

Wu Xianxiao felt a chill in his heart. He looked at Xu Shilan, and Xu Shilan nodded.

Wu Xianxiao immediately said, "Why? On what basis? Haven't all my diseases been cured? Or has the Unified Human Government installed something in my body? Like a micro-bomb or something like that!?"

Both of them shook their heads. Yamade looked at Wu Xianxiao with helplessness and sadness and said, "He is crazy, not dying of illness or explosion... Do you know what the original purpose of creating the dream network was?"

Wu Xianxiao said, "After fifty years of being in a frozen hibernation state, consciousness will begin to awaken. Even in a frozen state, it is impossible..."

At this point, Wu Xianxiao was speechless. Xu Shilan gently poured a glass of wine for Wu Xianxiao and said, "You actually already knew the answer, but you just didn't dare to face it."

"During the Third World War, technology developed virtual reality. So the future people who have been frozen since the Third World War all have their own virtual reality of consciousness. When their consciousness is revived, they can continue to sleep in the virtual reality without being locked up in a small dark room. But before that... all the future people were trapped in a small dark room for a hundred years, two hundred years, five hundred years, or even seven or eight hundred years like you. Do you know what this means?"

Wu Xianxiao picked up the wine glass in silence and drank it all in one gulp. Xu Shilan then slowly reached out her hand to pick up some food for him and pour him some wine.

Yamade also said at this time: "Ordinary people who are locked up in darkness without any perception will probably collapse in a dozen hours. Even those with strong wills will go crazy after a few days. This is the most terrible torture. And you... I'm afraid you have been in it for hundreds of years. Do you know? In the era when I was born and grew up, you people from the distant future were actually all regarded as dead people, or some kind of "things" covered in human skin, monsters in consciousness, because no one knows why your consciousness has changed. After hundreds of years in the small dark room, it is possible that you have become some kind of non-living things."

Xu Shilan took over the conversation and said, "In my time, thirteen Singularity Technology companies thawed the future people of the twenty-first and twenty-second centuries. The original purpose of this experiment was to pursue the limits of life consciousness, but when you woke up, you seemed like ordinary people. Some scholars believe that this is a self-protection mechanism of the brain, that is, to completely forget the unspeakable pain, so you can behave like ordinary people, but... all the future people before the third world war became crazy and died in about a year, without exception. That's when we found out."

"You, all of you, have actually gone mad a long time ago, or your consciousness is dead. The you now are just some kind of appearance. You may not even be the original Wu Xianxiao, but an appearance composed of fragments of Wu Xianxiao's consciousness. The torture accumulated over hundreds of years of nothingness has actually always been there, it's just that it hasn't erupted yet. But as you wake up, these horrible tortures will emerge little by little. In a year... after a year, you will be gone."

"Without exception!"

(End of this chapter)