That figure was ZhuiKong. He walked out from the behind the tree and laughed, “Hehe. I was worried the kids would hear us. Does that mean my little sister has gotten stronger again?”
YinKong also laughed. “That’s not something to be happy about. It’s more dangerous the stronger she gets. Do you wish for her to fall to the inner demon?”
ZhuiKong gently smiled at her. He walked over and stroked her hair.
YinKong slightly blushed and slapped his hand away. “You lolicon. Don’t touch me. We are discussing serious matters.”
ZhuiKong laughed delightedly as he took back his hand. He then said in a serious tone, “The investigation — it’s unbelievable. The ‘Kong’ project began twenty years ago, which confirms what we knew. However, the strange thing is barely any of the clan elders know of its origin. All they know is the Kong project is the first step to something bigger. We are the experimental subjects.
“The clan elders could not hide anything under my sister’s psychic ability. I extracted the information of the Kong project from their memories. We are all experimental subjects in this project. Throwing kids to uninhabited islands has long been a tradition in the clan but the majority of an assassin's strength came from assassination technique practices and physical training. However, a large gap exists between us and those assassins. Kong means nonexistent. The Kong generation are people who do not exist in this world.
“Information from the head and second elders says that a member of the clan mysteriously disappeared thirty years ago. The rules of the clan dictate an eternal chase after people who escape from the clan. However, this member’s disappearance was utterly bizarre, as if he was erased from the world. The clan found no traces of him no matter how thorough the investigation was. Three years of searching later, he was put on the dead list. People eventually forgot about him.
“Twenty years ago, he suddenly reappeared in front of the elders and displayed strength unimaginable to any humans. However, this person suddenly died a few minutes after he erupted his power. Information retrieved from his body showed that he was fighting in a world called God’s Realm for the past ten years.” ZhuiKong stopped.
YinKong and Zheng were absorbed in the story and were unhappy with him pausing.
YinKong said, “Hey, continue. What happened next? And what’s with the evolving genes in our bodies?”
ZhuiKong sighed. “That man’s genes were fused into our bodies before we were born following a technique taken from the information. The genes act similar to an inductive agent to unleash a power called the Genetic Constraint. There are five stages to the genetic constraint. The fifth stage reaches the power of gods from mythologies. That man unlocked the fourth stage. The information he left behind says God’s Realm can revive the dead, including those who have reached the fourth stage. Genes are part of our bodies so the genetic constraint should be a power that comes from the physical body. He believed he could give other people copies of his genes to unlock their genetic constraint. We are the victims of this experiment.”
“Not exactly victims,” YinKong laughed coldly. “Our strength is authentic. As long as we don’t get consumed by our heart’s devil, the two assassins clans of the east and west would become a mere joke to us… The elders might be more ambitious than just creating us. If we can stabilize, they can keep producing people like us because they have the original genes. Even if one out of a hundred reaches the stage I am in, this is a power that can take over the world. You probably know that I can survive the shockwaves and radiation from a nuclear bomb as long as it doesn’t hit me directly. Ten thousand of us will have the force to take over this world. Those asshole elders are ambitious.”
Zheng was shocked to hear. The biggest question he had regarding God’s Realm was revival. Revival could be God saving a person’s consciousness before his death and then fusing it with a cloned body. However, the existence of Team Devil signified that both the consciousness and body could be cloned. Then why didn’t the Saints and Cultivators cloned themselves? No enemies could rival a mass of Saints and Cultivators. Or was the cloning limited to people under a certain power level?
This man’s genes were cloned numerous copies which enabled these kids to quickly unlock their genetic constraints. Then the problem came as they reached the fourth stage — the heart’s devil was an obstacle that one must overcome. Failure led to death or losing oneself. The man was probably lost in his mind when he returned to the real world.
(Could the consciousness be cloned? Or does the consciousness become too firm to clone once it overcomes the heart’s devil?) Zheng put his question away as he couldn’t find an answer. He had access to free mental labor in the team after all. He would be nice if he didn’t break Xuan’s jaw the next time they meet.
ZhuiKong smiled bitterly upon hearing YinKong’s words. YinKong saw his smile and said, “Damn you, always showing this idiotic smile. Don’t you know it looks ugly? Stop smiling. Look at me. See this gentle but unapproachable smile? The heart has to remain calm at all times and so the eyes will look cold.”
ZhuiKong suddenly embraced her. She was way stronger than him but the shock dazed her. It wasn’t until ZhuiKong lowered his head toward her face did she cried. It wasn’t for a kiss as she expected. He leaned his head on her shoulder and remained there.
YinKong blushed. “What are you doing? Idiot. This looks ugly. Get up! If they see us, you better prepare your coffin. I will make sure your death is quick. Hey! Get up from me!”
“YinKong —“ ZhuiKong said in a low voice. “My strength is far from you and I can’t know how powerful the heart’s devil is. Whenever I saw my sister enter the fourth stage lately, I could see a sense of disregard toward life through her eyes. It felt that all living beings are nothing more than a piece of meat to her. She lost the emotions of a human.
“I am scared. I am scared she will one day forget me. I am scared she will become an empty shell. YinKong, promise me. Promise that you will protect her at all times. My strength is too far away from you. I can only entrust my hope to you. Promise me to protect her.”
“I will…” YinKong sighed. She wrapped her arms around him and muttered, “Don’t worry. She’s also my sister. I will protect her. I will protect all of you. I will overcome my heart’s devil!”
(Overcome the heart’s devil… It’s easier said than done. Or there wouldn’t be so few people who reached mid-fourth stage. All the stages up until this point can be unlocked through training and experiencing life and death — So the man who returned died in the middle of early and mid-fourth stage? Furthermore…
(The players can return to the real world just as I thought. Is it because of the return of the previous generation of players that triggered a drastic change in the real world with the secrets they brought back? The real world might be enveloped in an unknown danger which caused God to increase its selection rate and difficulty. Has the change begun already in the real world? Or was it — the enemies of the Saints and Cultivators breaking free from their seal?)
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