Am I going to be controlled by the players too?

Chapter 34, I Want to Have a Child with You

Behind the army formation, in the central command tent.

A woman is sitting in a huge chair.

The chair was made of the bones of a magical beast and covered with thick animal hides, barely able to accommodate her massive two-meter-tall body; she wore a dark red suit of armor, and her red hair, like burning flames, was draped over her shoulders, making her angular face look even more ferocious.

She held a piece of dried meat in her hand, enjoying it with a pot of cloudy wine, her eyes fixed on the ancient, immortal tree in the distance, unblinking.

The legendary general of the Elven Empire, wielding the "Chariot" card—

Peng Longteng.

She has been sitting here watching for seven days.

The authority of the "Chariot" allows her to share the vision and abilities of everyone in the army, communicate with every soldier at any time, distribute damage to the army, or gather the full power of a million-strong army into herself, and even share the legendary power with all her subordinates.

Even so, she was still hindered by the demon of immortality and had not made any progress for seven days.

The curtain was lifted, and the adjutant walked in.

He was a young elf, handsome with refined features and a slender build, but his face was extremely pale, and his eyes were dark-rimmed, clearly indicating that he hadn't slept well for many days. He carried a stack of documents, walked up to Peng Longteng, and bowed respectfully.

"General."

Peng Longteng didn't look at him; his gaze remained fixed on the distance.

"explain."

“News from the Kingdom.” The adjutant handed over the parchment. “The Claire family is developing a secret weapon. These are the blueprints. The Imperial Academy of Sciences is trying to replicate it. Strangely enough, despite it being a weapon we’ve never heard of before, the academy has produced hundreds of similar blueprints in a short period of time. It’s like an apocalypse.”

Peng Longteng took it and glanced at it.

Then she froze.

On those parchments were drawn strange things—long-barreled weapons, complex mechanical structures, bullet design diagrams, the construction principles of artillery, the cutting methods of rifling, and the methods of ammunition loading...

firearm.

Despite being a weapon she had never heard of before, it gave her an inexplicable sense of familiarity, as if she had not only seen it before, but also used it frequently.

When? Where?

She couldn't remember.

She stared at the blueprints, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper, forgetting to chew the jerky she was biting into.

Images flashed through her mind—smoke, fire, roar, countless missile-laden fighter jets sweeping across the grassland, and a steel torrent stretching for dozens of miles on the ground—they flashed by in her mind like fragments of a dream, elusive and indistinct, vanishing without a trace as soon as they appeared.

“…Alvira,” she whispered.

That little girl.

Only she can use the source matter to erase memories worldwide, making something disappear completely from human history.

Queen Konoma, Alvira, the legendary wielder of the "Empress" card.

“There’s a second piece of news.” The adjutant’s voice pulled her back to reality. “It’s already on the front page of the kingdom’s newspaper.”

He handed me another piece of parchment, which had only three words on it.

"There is an illness above."

Peng Longteng stared at those three words for a long time.

Then she smiled, a complex expression on her face—a mixture of sarcasm, helplessness, and a barely perceptible hint of admiration.

"It seems that the reappearance of firearms is due to the girl's impending death and weakened power."

She tossed the parchment aside, grabbed the wine jar beside her, tilted her head back, and took a large gulp. The wine dripped down her chin, onto her dark red armor.

"General, Queen Alvira has no heir. Why don't we take this opportunity to have our own person run for queen?" the adjutant suggested. "Then, as long as the new queen submits to His Majesty, we can avoid a war. Why not?"

“It’s useless.” She put down the wine jar, wiped her mouth, and said, “The new queen can directly inherit the ‘Empress’ card and become a legend—what an incredible opportunity… But guess what? Why did that little princess try to escape? Why didn’t the kingdom’s remaining two legends—the Claire family and the Sword Saint family—send their own offspring to seize it?”

"Could it be that there's a trap for the Queen's position?" The adjutant was stunned. "...This subordinate truly does not know. Please enlighten me, General."

"Of the nine Primal Beings... three died a thousand years ago." Peng Longteng tapped the wine jar, his eyes glazed with drunkenness. "The three portions of Primal Essence remained in the mortal realm as a result. One portion, the 'Kingdom,' was witnessed by the Amber God and ascended to the throne. The other two portions reside in the Empire and the Kingdom respectively, and no one can witness their existence."

"But can't Her Majesty the Queen and Queen Alvira both use that authority?" the adjutant asked, puzzled.

"Everything comes at a price... Legendary rank beings have unlimited lifespans and are immortal, yet the emperors of the Elf Empire and the queens of Kornoma have changed generation after generation. Can you guess why?"

At this point, Peng Longteng leaned back in the huge chair, looked at the tent ceiling, and murmured to himself:

"The 'glory' of the empire lies deep beneath the capital, requiring the self-immolation of generation after generation of emperors to nourish it with their blood, flesh, and soul, thus sustaining the empire's millennia-long foundation."

"And the kingdom's 'understanding' is even more significant. Each queen, upon ascending the throne, becomes a vessel for the source matter, donning armor to become a saint, bearing divine authority in a mortal body—the price being the gradual loss of her own personality and memories, and a lifespan of no more than fifty years."

"Such a legend, though of noble status, is not as carefree and happy as I am."

The adjutant was shocked and dared not ask any more questions. He bowed his head and left the tent.

Peng Longteng closed his eyes, and in his ears, he seemed to hear again the Imperial High Priest's advice to Her Majesty the Empress, and sighed softly:

"The Crown of Immortality... What Your Majesty seeks, in the end, is nothing more than the four words 'immortality'?"

She opened her eyes and looked at the immortal Jianmu tree in the distance.

So many people are chasing after this.

Emperors, generals, wealthy merchants, and ordinary people—who doesn't want to live forever?

But what does true immortality, true eternal life, look like?

Peng Longteng had seen it—those soldiers who fell into demonic darkness, those madmen who turned into trees, those beings who lost consciousness, lived forever, and suffered forever—that was immortality.

That's why humans fear the demon of immortality—not because immortality is terrifying, but because those who pursue immortality will eventually become like that.

She closed her eyes and murmured to herself:

"But the Three Realms and Six Paths...aren't they ruined by these four words?"

…………

Cheng Cheng opened his eyes.

The ceiling was a familiar white, sunlight streamed in through the gaps in the curtains, the computer screen was still lit, and the crown icon lay quietly in the lower right corner of the desktop.

He sat up, stretched his neck, and opened the system panel.

"The Judgment of the End of Light, Sylvia de Claire"

"Intimacy: 25 (55% attribute sharing)"

Level: 28

Combat Power: 3500

"Inherent Talents: Collector, Baki"

"Sparks: Burning at the stake, puppets, injustice, plane crash"

Cheng Cheng raised an eyebrow.

Injustice was the spark Cheng Cheng gained in reality, but in the game it's also considered Sylvia's. What does that mean?

Marital property is jointly owned?

Forget it, considering how much Sylvia gave me, I won't make a fuss about it.

Sylvia is currently level 28 with a combat power of 3,500.

按游戏世界的算法，白银阶战斗力标准是1000到5000——初期1000到2000，中期2000到3000，后期3000到4000，巅峰4000到5000。

Sylvia is currently in the late Silver tier, while he himself—

He opened his attribute panel.

"Cheng Cheng, the One Who Never Dawned"

Level: 18

Combat Power: 1925

"Inherent Talents: Collector, Baki"

"Sparks: Burning at the stake, puppets, plane crashes, injustice"

1,925, approaching the mid-stage of Silver.

The numbers have inflated again.

Cheng Cheng clenched his fist, feeling the power surging within his body. The feeling was strange—even though his muscles hadn't changed at all, it was as if he had a never-ending engine installed in his body. Every muscle, every bone, and every blood vessel was trembling slightly, ready to unleash astonishing power at any moment.

With his current fighting power, he should be able to go to the set of Demon Slayer next door and take on Muzan single-handedly.

If you throw a punch with all your might—

He shook his head, not wanting to think about it any further.

I checked the time; it was only 5 a.m. I went to the bathroom, then came back and went straight to sleep.

…………

When I opened my eyes again, the sunlight had filled the entire room.

There are three messages on my phone:

"Mu Yuan: Call me back when you wake up."

"Mu Yuan: Before 10 o'clock"

Mu Yuan: Never mind, just come straight to the lab when you wake up.

Cheng Cheng glanced at the time—10:40.

He replied "Coming right away," got up, washed up, changed his clothes, and went out to hail a taxi.

Mu Yuan's laboratory was located deep in the affluent suburbs of Dongshui City. The taxi traveled along the overpass for forty minutes before finally stopping in front of the Victorian-style mansion. Cheng Cheng paid the fare, got out of the car, and rang the doorbell.

The door opened.

Mu Yuan stood at the door, wearing a white lab coat, her hair casually tied in a ponytail, her expression not good—not angry, but more like she had stayed up all night playing PUBG and still hadn't gotten a chicken dinner.

When she saw Cheng Cheng, her eyes lit up for a moment, then quickly fell silent again: "Let's go in and talk."

Cheng Cheng followed her in, through the hall, up to the second floor, through the antique-style corridor, and finally into the pure white laboratory. Mu Yuan sat down in front of a piece of equipment and pointed to the chair next to her: