Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

Chapter 270: Rebirth as a Human

Suddenly looking back, Phaethon, who had been relieved from the pressure of losing her country, suddenly remembered what she had talked about with Shangluo at the beginning.

"Which one?"

"Just like I said before! My father's heart is in your hands!"

"Yes, I told you that from the beginning. I said, honest people don't do shady things. I told you everything clearly. You didn't believe it at first."

"Father God! This is true! You are not kidding me!"

Shangluo once again gave a clear answer: "No."

Bang, bang, bang, bang! She rushed back in a few steps and pushed Shangluo onto the sofa: "Give me back my father's heart! That was not within the scope of our agreement! It was me who broke the contract, not him! Give me back my father's heart!"

"Hey, calm down. Ask questions instead of hitting people. Have you forgotten the consequences of your last outburst of anger?"

"I don't care! Give my father's heart back! His cultivation, his vision, and the efforts of countless people all depend on that golden elixir! We can't just give it away for a mere Phaethon! What the hell was my father thinking? Why would he agree to you?!"

"Anyway"

"Anyway, only one of us can leave this door today!"

"Then we'll see each other in the next life!" Shangluo turned over and grabbed Phaethon's throat, using the momentum to throw her into the sofa. The sofa's cushions were compressed to the limit, the pocket springs inside bursting one by one, and Phaethon was pressed into it.

"I'm telling you, you can't beat me right now. I'm a celestial being, and you're just a mortal. My patience has its limits! If you don't calm down now, you'll really be letting your father down!"

"." Phaethon's throat was strangled and his face turned red.

"Do you understand? If you do, blink!"

She had been blinking, but now she stopped blinking altogether. She stared at Shangluo so intently that her bloodshot eyes were bulging.

Phaethon, a mere mortal, soon realized the difficulties of mortals—if a person is strangled, he will die; if a person does not blink, he will cry.

Tears flowed, but not just from physical discomfort. The few tears that remained were like opening a valve:

"Awww!!!!!!"

Tears flowed like a flood. Phaethon wept.

[Tsk, she's crying.]

"It's because she has a stubborn temper like a donkey. I received this gift from her father, so I have to educate his daughter for him."

Like a newborn's first cry, this was Phaethon's first cry as a mortal. Curled up on the sofa, she sobbed, tears streaming down her face: "Dad, I'm so sorry!"

The first thing she thought of was that she felt sorry for her father. She had settled her account with Shangluo, but she could never settle her account with her father.

Like a baby in swaddling clothes, she curled up on the sofa and couldn't cry enough.

"Alas." Shangluo sighed. He picked up the kettle and poured Phaethon a cup of tea. When she got tired of crying, this cup of tea would help soothe her throat.

After a long time, the crying stopped abruptly.

She slowly sat up and saw the hot tea.

After taking a sip, she took the tissue that Shangluo threw to her and wiped the tears from her face with it.

"Why don't you stop crying?"

"I just realized that if I kept crying my dad wouldn't be there to help me. He could only help me so far."

"That's not the case. Your father seems to still have retained a considerable amount of divine power."

"It's useless. That golden elixir is the source of his power. He's like a fish out of water, having to carry heavy objects over mountains and across rivers. He won't be able to hold on for much longer. The Lighthouse Project isn't over yet, and he'll sacrifice himself."

"But I have no choice. That power has helped me immensely, and now part of both our futures must be projected into the 'Infinite Universe in a Nutshell.' I also have a heavy responsibility. That object you call the 'Golden Pill' is mine, but it's more than just mine. I carry the wishes of countless people on my shoulders, and I can't just let them go."

"I know, I know. Then..." She looked at Shangluo: "Is it possible that at some point in the future, you can return it to my father?"

"You see, it's not a return; it belongs to me now. But if I no longer need it in the future, I can trade it with you—yes, it can only be a trade, because I don't have to give it to you for nothing. Don't you like trading? Then let's trade. What chips do you have now?"

"I..." She looked at the teacup. Her face and hair were reflected in it. The golden hair of a demigod, like the Mediterranean sun, had vanished along with the power itself. More precisely, it had been transferred to Shangluo's head. Using divine power as a cauldron, Shangluo gained the power of a celestial being, and the accompanying gray hair (and red eyes).

She herself was left with the usual Roman hair, black, slightly curly, and a bit messy.

She has nothing left.

"I don't have it now. But I will have it in the future. I will work hard to get the chips and will definitely make an equal deal with you."

"That's what people say. I think your father would be pleased to see you now. Say goodbye to your life as a demigod, see the world with your own eyes, and feel it again with your own hands. If you feel sorry for your father, then repay him with your actions. I can't make up for it for you, but I can give you a chance to do so. Do you understand? If you do, blink."

Phaethon blinked.

"Drink some tea to moisten your throat."

Phaethon drank tea.

"Very good. The first lesson you need to learn is - don't lose your temper! Whether it's gods, demigods, or mortals, this world has its own rules and will not be shaken by your anger. You can't get what doesn't belong to you by losing your temper. If you want it, you have to use your own hands to get it: get it through hard work, or take it back through force. In short, you have to calm down and don't recklessly ignore everything. You can not care about yourself, but there are still others who care about you, understand? So this is not just for yourself, but also for your father. If you understand, just blink."

Phaethon blinked.

"Then I'll assume you've listened. Daozu sent you to me, so I'm giving you this opportunity. I'm shorthanded here. I'll assume you're willing to work: as an employee, you can make your own requests. What are your requests now?"

"I'm hungry." After crying for a while, she was indeed hungry.

"There's a mail order book in the mailbox outside the door. It should have a takeout order on it."

"."

"Why are you looking at me? Go get it! At the door, turn left, there's the mailbox. I'm treating you to dinner, why don't you just go get a menu?"

"Oh oh!!! I'll go right away, right away."

Chapter 271 The Meaning of Being Human

After taking the mail-order catalog from outside, Phaethon sat on the sofa next to him.

"Is it this one?"

"Well, just leave it there for now."

Phaethon placed the mail-order catalog in front of Shangluo and returned to her seat. She sat in the pit she had made earlier, curled up there, at a loss.

Her previous worldview based on being a demigod had collapsed. As a new person, she didn't know how to behave.

"I say." He looked at Phaethon, "Are you too nervous?"

Without saying anything, Phaethon just nodded.

"Well, let me explain: First and foremost, let's be clear: you owe me nothing. My debt to you is settled. Your father's debt to me is also settled. He promised me success in building my foundation, and we're done with him. He made the additional request of 'rescuing you,' atonement for your fault. You were punished for violating the law, and he repaid the law. This is the fault of the father who failed to raise and educate me. Although I am the beneficiary, he has repaid the debt."

"Hmm," Phaethon nodded, still saying nothing.

"So, we don't owe each other anything, right? There's no need for you to be so nervous. We're just collaborators now. Your father's life's work, the Lighthouse Project, now affects both of our 'destinations.' So, although I haven't made any promises to him, he and I are on the same path. So, don't worry about his mission; I'm on the same path."

"Um"

"So, that's the factoring. Setting aside axioms and responsibilities, what else is weighing you down and suffocating you? What's left is your father's own safety, right?"

She stopped talking. The answer was too much for her, and now she was a little afraid.

"Okay, do you want to make a call?" Shangluo asked, "Shall I call Mr. Helios for you?"

She shook her head violently.

"Homesick, huh? You're not ready to face your father yet? Fine. I'll call and ask for you, okay? And then we can both say hello. You take a look at the menu first, I'll go out and make the call."

He left Phaethon in the living room and went into the courtyard.

"Call, Apollonia."

【Well, you seem to have become more rational. 】

"My heart hasn't changed, so I can't possibly become more 'rational'. It's just that my celestial body allows me to gain more information. For example, I can clearly see Phaethon's emotions—not to mention that she's always been like a child, with her emotions clearly written on her face. With more information, I can naturally see things more clearly. It's what they call 'sharp ears and eyes,' though I only 'appear' to have become more rational."

【is that so? 】

"Well, that's probably why you don't look very smart even though you're a god. Because you don't have ears."

【I have no way to refute it.】

"Ha, call, silly Miss Apollonia."

[Beep beep beep] The voice was not very happy, but she still helped to transfer the call.

"Shangluo, how are you doing lately?"

Helios' voice came from the other end of the line. Shangluo wasn't sure if he was actually "answering" the phone, but compared to last time, his voice seemed much more normal. Not so weak anymore.

"Mr. Helios, Phaethon is awake. She's here with me now and we're ready for dinner."

"Well is she okay?"

"She has lost all her powers, but she is ready to rediscover the world in human form."

"That's good, that's good."

Shangluo was stunned for a moment—this seemed completely within his expectations. He felt no regrets at all, but rather felt fortunate that everything had gone as he wished.

"So...wait, so that's how it is!" Shang Luo suddenly understood. "The Daozu said at the time that he would arrange everything. So the Daozu's reward for giving you his heart is...a 'human'? He gave you a real human?"

"That's right. The so-called Triple Greatness of Hermes, one of the highest achievements of alchemy, is the transmutation of the human body—the human body, human identity, and human destiny are the most precious things in this world. When I took on the armor of Helios, Phaethon, as Helios' son, was also implicated by me and lost his human identity. If I had known this would happen, I should not have included her in my ritual. I should not have named her Phaethon in the first place."

"I can probably understand that. In our terms, being on the Conferred God List isn't necessarily a good thing."

"That's exactly the truth. As Phaethon, she inevitably faced the fate of being 'struck down by thunder.' Yet, from the very brink of her doom, it was Daozu who saved her. The highest achievements of alchemy, to Daozu, were but a minor aspect of the Way of the Alchemy. Only Daozu's 'Furnace of Heaven and Earth' could reshape her human form, in heaven and on earth. Compared to the eternity of humanity, power is but temporary.

Shangluo understood—though it seemed like a loss, Helios didn't feel it at all. Although there are billions of people in the world, human life can sometimes be as light as a feather, sometimes as heavy as Mount Tai. It's an ordinary yet most precious thing, just like time.

The Chinese poem "My youth has passed on horseback, my hair has turned gray in peace. Heaven has spared my broken body, how can I not be happy?" by Date Masamune is quite fascinating. Time is very different for people of different ages. As a child, a day would slip by while I dozed off in class. As an adult, finding this kind of leisure in the day requires "stealing a half-day of leisure."

For Helios, the same is true of human identity. Just like when we were little, no matter how much our parents told us, "Time waits for no one," or "You'll regret this when you grow up," it was difficult for us to truly experience such regret. Only when we grow older, when time suddenly speeds up, do we remember the many regrets of our childhood, the many things we could have done better. But by then, it's too late to regret.

Shangluo didn't fully understand the meaning of "humanity"; after all, he wasn't there yet. But judging by this transaction, even "gods" like them seemed to have realized the preciousness of "humanity," just as adults recognize the value of time.

"I roughly understand."

"But are you using that power well? Even though it's temporary, it's still a huge amount of power."

"It seems that my hair has become cool, but I haven't learned how to use the power yet." Apart from using magic tools, he has not officially started practicing.

Chapter 272 Birthday

"Being cool is also a part of power." Helios was in a good mood. He even had time to joke with Shangluo. "Temporary power is just a mayfly in her hands. It can only play the greatest role in the right hands."

"So..." After a pause, he asked, "Mr. Helios, have you ever regretted it? Although 'people' are the most precious, is it really worth it?"

"For me personally, it's not worth it. But as for Phaethon, you'll understand once you have your own child."

He froze mid-sentence. "Ah, I almost forgot. You inherited the power of the Hunting God, didn't you? Boy, the very fact of 'having a child' is probably what you'll regret. You saw Phaethon's fate, didn't you? The fate of the Olympians is unavoidable."

[Hey~~ The bad guy is warning you not to attack Phaethon, otherwise you will bear the consequences.]

"Scared. Scared."

"It seems like my ears are a little itchy. Anyway, everything is your freedom, just handle it yourself. I am an open-minded father."

[Ha, this guy's temper never changes. He says it's fair, but in reality, he doesn't give you any choice.]

"That's it, I'm going to hang up first. I have something else to do."

"Wait a minute, Mr. Helios. I have one more question—are you all right?"

"It sounds like you and my sister have learned some nagging skills. Tsk, I'm fine. Tell Phaethon to rest assured and take care of herself. And Apollonia, take care. If you have anything else, Shangluo."

He called Shangluo's name and became more serious.

"Yes, I am listening."

"Don't tell Phaethon what I just said. Just let him know she's safe. Human identity and destiny are too heavy a burden. She's never had a break since she was a child. She's exhausted. Please supervise her for me and let her rest for a while. This is my humble request. That's all. Goodbye, I'm hanging up."

[Beep~beep~beep~] Apollonia's mood improved a lot.

"I'm saying, is he really okay?" Shangluo put down the phone. "He hung up in a hurry and was trying to cheer us up, but I think there might be something wrong. What's the worst that could happen?"

[Nirvana. His heart, his immortality as a god, is already in your hands. The worst-case scenario is annihilation. Of course, I have faith in him. He has his daughter here, and he wants to take good care of his family. So he won't go to his death easily, and will definitely find a way to seek help. What will you do then?]