Chapter 417: Tug of War in the Soul

Meng Chao licked his loose teeth and spat out a mouthful of blood.

A smile bloomed on his lips, and he said, “I knew it!”

“Do you have a few screws loose from the beating just now?” Lu Siya asked worriedly.

“No way.” Meng Chao stared at Gao Ye and whispered, “Big Sis Ya, don’t you find it strange? We’ve been talking here, but Gao Ye didn’t launch a follow up attack at us.”

Lu Siya was slightly stunned.

Once Meng Chao pointed it out to her, she found that Gao Ye’s fighting style was a little strange.

During the two exchanges, Gao Ye would only attack once before he stopped.

That made no sense.

Even the Gao Ye clone they ran into in the underwater tunnel had chased after them once it fired its acid or stone rain. It used its destructive teeth to launch chain attacks.

The tunnel they were in was not large, and Gao Ye practically blocked it entirely.

If he came at them like an out-of-control train, aside from running with their arms covering their heads, Meng Chao and Lu Siya would be unable to do anything else.

But he was like the beads on an abacus. He would only make a move once he was commanded to do so.

Or rather, he was like a machine carrying out orders. He was like a puppet who was resisting the orders in the dark and gradually awakening to his own will!

Lu Siya narrowed her eyes. Just like Meng Chao, she carefully observed Gao Ye for a while and noticed something.

“He’s trembling, but it’s not due to pain from his wounds. It’s like his nervous system is rejecting something. He’s in pain, but... it’s his soul that is in pain?”

As a Spirit Sensor, Lu Siya could sense more things than Meng Chao.

“What about the abnormal beasts’ mastermind?” Meng Chao asked. “I’m willing to bet that its temperature has risen a lot more compared to earlier, right?”

“Yeah,” Lu Siya said in shock. “Its temperature is rising nonstop. It has already become twice as high as the normal temperature of Demonic Air Ripping Eyes!”

“We’re on the right track, then. That’s the effect we want,” Meng Chao said. “Gao Ye got controlled by the abnormal beasts’ mastermind, but this control should have been a subtle influence that led his thoughts down the path it wanted. But now, Gao Ye’s mind is partially clear. If the mastermind continues to forcefully control him, it will need to use up a lot of spirit energy, and the burden will grow heavier.

“It’s just like a processing system that has been working over max capacity for an entire night. Each computing unit is already about to go up in flames, but now, they have received a task that will require them to compute at ten times over the maximum capability. If the mastermind continues forcing itself to work, it’ll end falling apart completely!

“But it can’t stop controlling Gao Ye. We’re already on them like superglue, and Gao Ye and it are both so huge that it’s impossible for them to shake us off.

“It can’t leave Gao Ye behind to serve as a rear guard while it runs off alone, either, because it’s personal fighting power is low and most of the escape paths should be monitored and controlled by us. The mastermind can only rely on Gao Ye’s tunneling abilities to create a new escape path.

“That’s why it only has one choice, and that is to forcefully control Gao Ye and have him kill us.

“But I believe from the bottom of my heart that Gao Ye does not want to do that. So the more the mastermind forces Gao Ye to attack us, the more it will drain its energy, and Gao Ye’s will will become even more averse to its commands.

“The more damage it causes to me, the more damage it will bring to itself. In the end, it will either break down or Gao Ye will wake up!”

Lu Siya was dumbfounded.

Theoretically, it sounded logical.

But the problem was...

“Can you last?” Lu Siya asked. “What if you die before it wastes away or before Gao Ye wakes up completely?”

“You’re around,” Meng Chao said.

“What?!” Lu Siya cried out.

“Just a joke. I won’t die so easily.”

Meng Chao wiped off the blood at the corner of his mouth.

He licked the loose teeth and found that new flesh was already growing at the gums. His teeth were sturdy, and he could bite an Iron-armored Rhinoceros to death now.

He checked the depths of his mind and spent nearly twenty thousand contribution points in exchange for a Middle Stage Healing Skill. It flowed through his entire body in the form of golden light. Not only did it heal the wounds caused by Gao Ye during the two attacks, but some of it also fused with his branch meridians, which filled his entire body with warmth. He felt indescribably comfortable.

Meng Chao could not help but moan at the pleasure.

Lu Siya shuddered.

She thought that he had some kind of fetish that made him really love being beaten up.

“In simple terms, my strategy is to get injured while injuring it. We’re in a war of attrition!”

Meng Chao sneered in his heart while saying those words.

He was a returnee. Not only did he have contribution points that he could exchange for healing, he had also developed all of his branch meridians. His peak fighting strength might not be able to compare to those at the top, but when it came to endurance in terms of holding someone back, he would be hard pressed to find any opponent in the whole of Dragon City.

He was Prince Endurance, and it was not an undeserved name! Come! Let the storm rain on him even more violently than before!

With that thought, Meng Chao went in front of Gao Ye again.

Now, he could clearly see that the dozens of eyes on Gao Ye’s head were shining rapidly with complicated emotions.

When he opened his mouth, the sharp teeth that could crush diamonds were trembling slightly.

Strange ripples rose in the air.

It seemed like he had received the order to kill Meng Chao from the Demonic Abyss Eye.

But there was something in his body that had been sleeping for half a year that was slowly waking up under the Demonic Abyss Eye’s simple and crude mind control. It was something he thought had died a long time ago, but it seemed like he had been wrong.

The Demonic Abyss Eye was so worked up that it started flailing its tentacles.

By the looks of it, it really wanted to personally go up and kill Meng Chao and Lu Siya.

But its fighting strength had always been weak, and it had already been injured by two veteran Heaven Realm superhumans.

Besides, the tunnel was not wide. If it wanted to personally attack them, it would have to squeeze its way past Gao Ye.

During the way it made its way forward, Meng Chao and Lu Siya might empty their ammunition, which would come at it like a flood. They might also retreat dozens of meters and keep it hanging while remaining neither close nor far away. They could kite it until the reinforcements arrived.

That would be really awkward.

If it were careless, it would end up losing completely.

Or maybe from the moment Meng Chao was able to predict the Demonic Abyss Eye’s target and Lu Siya, Ye Xiaoxing, Li Yingzi, Luo Wu, and plenty of other powerful superhumans and important people decided to trust him, the victor of the battle and the end of the Demonic Abyss Eye was already determined.

“Gao Ye, I went to the hospital you often went to in the past and more or less understood your determination and eagerness to help normal people gain power and change their fates,” Meng Chao shouted. “But look at what you’re doing! Let’s not talk about what you did in the past and just talk about tonight! How much destruction did you cause, how much blood did you spill, and how many innocents have died because of it?

“Don’t be like a coward and hide in that ugly shell, pretending that you can’t hear me! I know you’re still in there, Gao Ye! Tell me, what the heck are you thinking about?! What are you doing?! You’re going in a completely different direction compared to your original intentions!”

The light in the dozens of eyes on the Ultimate Sandworm’s head faded at the same time.

The Ultimate Sandworm roared and charged at Meng Chao again.

This time, Meng Chao did not choose to be passively hit.

He shouted even more passionately than Gao Ye, and his arms swelled up. Like two cannons, they delivered the power of a divine art, even though the Demon Subduing Pole was a spirit energy magnetic field that only had beginner-level damage.

Boom!

It was as if two trains had crashed against each other at high speed.

Gao Ye felt as if he had run into an invisible iron wall and was stunned.

Meng Chao was sent flying once again like an out-of-control kite. He crashed into Lu Siya and sent her flying more than ten meters as well. Even if she had the exoskeleton and fighting suit protecting her, the crash still caused her to grimace, and she could not say a word even after a long time had passed.

At the moment Meng Chao was sent flying, he healed himself again. The moment he landed on the ground, he clambered to his feet. He would not give the Demonic Abyss Eye time to recover its mental strength. He gnashed his teeth together and returned to Gao Ye.

“You said that monsters have endless strength and the consciousness transferring technology can let normal people master this power! I trust your views on that!” Meng Chao shouted. “But you’re only halfway through your research! You’ve only proven that consciousness transfer is possible and that the human soul can wear different physical bodies and possess power that can destroy the world! Such bodies are like the bodies of gods!

“But you haven’t proven that the human soul can control these god-like bodies! If the human soul is eaten by the monster or the god-like body after the consciousness transfer, there’s no meaning behind it! This sort of technology won’t bring a bright future to Dragon City, only tragic destruction!

“So, I’m begging you, Professor Gao Ye, for Dragon City’s future, please prove to me, even for one second and just one reason! Prove that the human soul can control the monster’s body to carry out its will!

“This is your project, Professor Gao Ye! No one else is more suited to complete this project than you! As long as you prove this, I trust that the consciousness transferring technology won’t die just like that! I believe— No, I swear that more people will throw in loads of resources and money into this project, and one day, the era when normal people can control a monster’s power will arrive!”

Gao Ye’s dozens of eyes shone with a completely different light again.

It looked like he wanted to release a certain crystalline liquid from his eye sockets.

Unfortunately, the structure of his visual system was completely different from that of mammals. He could not use tears to show his emotions.

Behind him, the Demonic Abyss Eye started twitching madly like the heart of a short-distance sprinter after an intense dash.

It screeched and released evil spirit flames.

This time, there was no need for Lu Siya to look at it. Even Meng Chao could see that there was a mental connection between the Demonic Abyss Eye and Gao Ye. It was like a cable, but also looked like a chain. It had no form, but existed.

The Demonic Abyss Eye used this mental control chain to send a killing order into Gao Ye’s nervous system.