Odd Containment Specialist.

Chapter 870 King Among Men (4K)

Spreadt raised a finger and flicked it lightly in the air. Before Carter could react, one of his arms had already flown into the air. He stared in astonishment at the arm that had fallen to the side, the shock in his heart overpowering the excruciating pain from the wound.

Sprite said, "Just because you think you're useful to me doesn't mean you can talk to me as an equal. If that's what you're thinking, you're probably mistaken about something."

People like you will come to my palace in an endless stream.

As for me, I can choose anyone.

Originally, you should have died if you had such thoughts, but you are the first person from the future to do such a thing. I have to praise your vision. Although your actions were much slower than I predicted, you are still remarkable compared to people of your time.

Now you can tell me, what do you want me to do?

Carter paused for a moment, then quickly lowered his head again. Blood was still gushing from his severed arm, as if the arm, which lay a meter away with its fingers still twitching, was not his. He said respectfully, "I hope Your Majesty can help us capture someone."

As he spoke, Carter took out a portrait of Xia Shou and presented it to him.

The reason it's a portrait is because a photograph couldn't capture Alice's essence, so a photograph wasn't used.

Sprite's gaze fell on the back of Xia Shou in the portrait. When he saw Alice, a smile appeared on his lips. He then handed the portrait to Adel beside him.

“It is truly fate,” Adele said calmly, then spoke on Sprite’s behalf, “Since you want His Majesty to capture him, it means that he has already arrived in this era.”

"Yes."

Sprete nodded, not giving a direct answer, but instead changing the subject: "How strong is the strongest person on your side?"

"I don't know."

“Is that so?” Sprete nodded, then held up Xia Shou’s portrait. “You want to capture this person, right? You have no way or ability to achieve your goal in the present world, so you came to me for help when he arrived in this era. And the reasons why people from your past come to our history are nothing more than a few.”

To solve things that transcend time, for knowledge, for objects, for some unknown secrets, and because history keeps repeating itself, there are countless opportunities to try, especially in our era where time flies by.

So if the people who come here do not achieve their initial goal, they will not leave easily unless there is another alternative. Even if they temporarily retreat, they will return here after everything is reset to continue their original plan.

"It's not difficult for me to catch this person for you, but how do I know that after I help you fulfill this wish, you'll still be willing to work diligently for me?"

Carter was surprised; Spreadt's way of thinking gave him a "scientific" feeling.

The fact that Spreadt could say these words shows that he was able to view the past from the perspective of a modern person and to reasonably deduce the subsequent political interactions between people from the two eras.

It's important to understand that there was no such organization as the Control Bureau before. No one considered the conflict with the old residents as an event that could be explained by established procedures. It was the Control Bureau that used scientific methods to transform such abnormal events into natural disasters like wildfires and earthquakes, making them something that could be handled using common procedures.

The fact that Sprite, born in the past, has this kind of thinking proves that he has been deeply influenced by the Bureau of Control's mindset, and has even been learning from those Bureau members who have fallen from power for so many years.

After a moment's thought, Carter said, "We ants are of no help to you, so the master I serve wishes to meet with you."

"..."

Sprite's silent smile sent chills down Carter's spine as he sat on the throne.

"You won't be disappointed. Time is just a toy in his hands. Even the Rift Kings who have preserved that stone for thousands of years probably don't understand it as well as that lord... That gem called the Heartbreak Egg can freely cross the gate of the Seven-Forked Tree, right?"

Spreadt narrowed his eyes and smiled slightly. "I await his audience."

Carter was caught off guard by Spreadt's reaction. He thought that bringing this up would surely shake Spreadt's composure, since it was a secret that the Heartbreak Egg could pass through the door. But Spreadt remained calm and aloof.

Carter initially thought he hadn't explained the meaning of playing with time clearly.

Manipulating time in a localized way can only be called manipulating speed.

The word "time" represents the changes of the entire world. If it can be regarded as a toy to be played with, it is a law that transcends all laws of the present world, the highest priority among all forbidden knowledge and all the extraordinary.

A person who can do this must be an existence that transcends time, residing within a divine kingdom in the Origin Sea.

As a king, Sprite possesses the world's largest library, containing secrets and knowledge that ordinary superhumans could never finish reading in a lifetime. Does he not know the significance of manipulating true time?
“You may leave now,” Spreadt said.

Carter bowed in agreement, picked up his fallen arm, rose and bowed according to the court etiquette of the time, and then took his leave.

When he left the palace, he randomly entered a hotel, closed the door to the room he had booked, and then opened the narrow wooden wardrobe. The wardrobe led to another, larger room. He went inside and found Li Mingzheng, Kanae, and the Six-Eyed Cult priest sitting on the sofa, playing a card game.

"Your Highness Carter, is it not going well?" Kanae asked, noticing Carter's severed arm.

"Not going too well. Spread doesn't seem to care much about me, and it seems like he doesn't care about our help." Carter casually tossed his arm aside, showing no intention of reattaching it.

Sprite's severed parts can be reattached, and she'll be fine once she returns to the modern world, so there's no need to bother with reattachment.

Li Mingzheng asked, "Your Highness, did you emphasize to him that Xia Shou should be captured alive?"

Carter glanced at the other man with disgust. Although Li Mingzheng's tone and expression were perfectly in line with the style of his current attire, very elegant and composed, Carter could still guess his inner thoughts from the content of the other man's questions.

But this disgust was only emotional; rationally, he even began to admire this man. Carter completely understood why that person would keep Li Mingzheng around—this clown, this sycophant, this insecure man, who perfectly matched the desires of the thirsty teeth.

Thirsty teeth, lungfish solidified beneath cracked earth, the sky yearning for rain, the lungfish underground waiting...
Fish yearn for rain, and rain yearns for it to fall, but thirst only arises before the rain falls. Just as the sea yearns to drink, so too does thirst. The key lies in the expansion of desire, and in the insatiable nature of it.

Although Li Mingzheng's thirst was laughable, a part of him was indeed undergoing a silent change, a change that the great man had hoped for and brought about.

Carter had a vague feeling that what this man was chasing now was no longer that idol girl, but rather that thirsty feeling, though he himself hadn't realized it yet.

Furthermore, he fails to realize that if the lungfish in the ground knew that what it wanted was not raindrops hitting the parched earth, but rather to enjoy its silent, endless waiting in the cracked soil, then it cannot be said that the fish is thirsty. Similarly, if a person drinks seawater not because they are thirsty, but because they know that drinking seawater will temporarily moisten their mouth while simultaneously making them even thirstier, then that person cannot be considered thirsty either.

In this light, those who are favored by the thirsty teeth are not necessarily driven by desire, but by the environment. Ascetics are merely clumsy imitations of thirst. Only by pursuing it with all their might, like Li Mingzheng, yet failing to obtain it, can that "correct" desire continue to expand.

Looking at this man from this perspective, he was incredibly lucky. He chose a good target, and that target was indeed difficult to achieve, which allowed him to continuously evolve and evolve...

In the short time since arriving in the Scar Era, Li Mingzheng has been constantly thinking about Xia Shou's body, and his superpowers are also evolving.

The funny thing is, this guy doesn't seem to realize that the evolution of his superpowers doesn't come from talent and hard work, but from that distorted desire.

Carter observed Li Mingzheng's physical appearance. His "Skin Actor" could now wear multiple skins on his body. The skin on his head and body came from two different people, yet the connection was flawless.

He inherited some of the traits of the two skin owners, speaking elegantly and calmly, and behaving generously and decisively. Even the superpowers he imitated had some of the drawbacks and costs removed.

To be honest, Carter was a little upset, but he had no choice but to admit defeat.

He often thought: How could such a cowardly, clown-like fellow have gotten to where he is today? Without that lord's support, without Robert's favor, without the Mountbatten family's acceptance, this idiot would just be a pretty boy with erectile dysfunction.

But Carter thought about it again and had to admit that only someone like him could grow to this level.

To put it bluntly, aren't all those who frantically chase after desires but never achieve anything just clowns?
Carter thought of Alice, and for a moment, he felt a very subtle feeling.

"Everyone's here." A mature male voice suddenly appeared in the room.

"grown ups!"

Kanae stood up from the chair.

Carter snapped back to reality, stood up, and greeted him respectfully, "Sir."

The priest of the Six Eyes Cult also stood up and bowed. Li Mingzheng also stood up quickly when he saw this. When he realized who this person who suddenly appeared in the room was, he temporarily lost his acting skills and his expression returned to Li Mingzheng's unique expression.

Is this the esteemed person they were talking about?
Li Mingzheng's heart pounded against his sternum. He thought that the reason he had gotten to where he was today was entirely due to the other person's influence. Without this person, Director Robert probably wouldn't have made movies, and he would have never been able to achieve anything extraordinary in his life.

No, perhaps it's not just that he's destined to be extraordinary; maybe he's already dead because of what happened to his father.

Li Mingzheng carefully observed the person in front of him. William had already mentioned some things about this person to him. Physical form had no meaning to this person, nor did gender. The person appeared by simply using a random image.

This time, the adult was a woman, but her face was a blurry mosaic.

Carter recalled in his mind that when the other party appeared in this female form, the prefix she would use to refer to herself would be "Old Lady".

However, he felt it was still safer to address the other person by omitting the prefix.

"Carter, how did the talks with Spread go?" the mysterious man asked.

Carter frowned. "It didn't go too well, but I think he doesn't underestimate your power, but rather doesn't believe me. If you personally demonstrate that power to him, even Sprite will respect you."

“This is not your problem; it was expected,” the mysterious man said. “Do not underestimate a king. Before a king, everything is insignificant except for gods.”

Carter looked at the mysterious man with a puzzled expression, his eyes asking for an explanation.

"Why does cyclical history exist?" the mysterious man asked.

“When a proxy is born, this era will become a special time,” Carter replied, drawing on his knowledge.

"Also for those who are nameless, but even excluding agents, the nameless are not often the strongest of that era. Doesn't someone like Sprite have the potential to rise to the rank of nameless, or even become an agent?"
Of course not.

Sprite was indeed powerful, but not pure enough. His kingly dignity bound him; in his heart, ascending to heaven and being a true king were the prerequisites.

In his eyes, the human world was his territory. In his territory, apart from the gods, everyone, whether in name or in person, had to bow down to him, the king. And at his peak, he did indeed have the power to kill almost all human beings, because he was the pinnacle of this era.

Killing a named human host to demonstrate his power is as comical as a monkey smashing the moon's reflection in the water and declaring victory, but by the standards of a human emperor, no one is more like a king among kings.

Even if you sign your name, you will never get what you want if you don't bow down to him.

Spreadt should have been qualified, but he gave it up, abandoning the idea of ​​evolving from an ape to a human, resolutely choosing to spend his life as a monkey alpha.

"Then... what should we do?" Kanae asked softly.

"When did I say I minded dressing up as a monkey?" the mysterious man said casually, then raised his pixelated face and "looked" at Li Mingzheng. "If you were that monkey, would you become the monkey king, or would you become a human?"

"Me?" Li Mingzheng was flattered and even looked somewhat frightened.

"Yeah, what do you think?"

"I...I don't know, maybe I want to become human?" Li Mingzheng said uncertainly, but he felt even more scared after saying that.

Even if he were stupid, he would understand that he couldn't judge this "creature" by common sense.

Although the other party appeared to be human and was talking to them, they were not human!

"Really? Don't give an answer so quickly, think it over again," the mysterious man said. "I also have to go see the Monkey King."

(End of this chapter)