Tomb Raider: I Am Hu Bayi's Cousin

Chapter 686 The One Who Frightens Me
His steps faltered, and for the first time, a look of astonishment appeared on the face of "His Majesty the First Emperor," followed by a sudden realization.

"Did I underestimate you, Hu Ming? Your observation skills seem to be beyond the norm. Over the years, I have worn countless different masks for myself."

"To this day, apart from my former companions and the First Emperor of Qin, you are the only one who has recognized my true face."

"I am indeed not that person. That person even sent a large army to capture me, but I escaped. However, many of my companions were captured, and I still do not know whether they are dead or alive!"

"Ying Zheng, a terrifying human..."

"The First Emperor" murmured in recollection, and the traces of "humanity" quickly vanished from this "His Majesty the First Emperor".

A cold, indifferent, ruthless, and absolutely rational aura, unlike anything inhuman, slowly rose up.

Like a cold, lifeless machine!
At this moment, standing before them, he tore away his disguise, revealing the true nature hidden deep within him…

this.
This is undoubtedly the form of the legendary [god]!
Lan Ting met the indifferent and ruthless eyes of the "First Emperor" and subconsciously shivered.

"As you can see, millions of years is far too long, long enough to erase all my emotions as a human being."

"I don't know how many years ago, we quietly became like this, and all emotions and feelings have disappeared."

"It wasn't until Ying Zheng appeared that we felt fear!"

Even a hundred years after Qin Shi Huang's death, we still dared not appear in the world, and therefore we were even more cautious...

"Until we spend hundreds of years smoothing out our emotions..."

"In order to perfectly integrate into the human race, we have to put on a disguise for ourselves."

"I pretend that I still have feelings and emotional fluctuations, and I disguise myself as a human being, a human being who once made me feel fear."

The First Emperor casually stated his current state without any attempt to conceal it.

That's true. Someone like him, having lived for countless years, has long since stopped caring about many things…

No, to be precise, given his current state, unless Ying Zheng comes out, probably nothing in the world can touch his godlike, cold heart.

He is free from desires and wants; that's probably his current state.

"It's truly impressive."

Hu Ming stared blankly at this fake First Emperor, and suddenly sighed from the bottom of his heart.

He knew that the guy was right; his current state was indeed no longer human.

Although their physical structure may be no different from humans, in terms of emotions and psychology, can such a being truly be called human?
As for his account of origins, just take it with a grain of salt; who knows what the ancient times were like...

"You are one of those immortals who left some traces in history, from an era even more ancient than ancient times, that the adults once discovered!?"

Hu Ming's words suddenly brought a glint of light to the soldiers' dim eyes!
He extracted the key points from their conversation and roughly guessed the identity of the man whose demeanor had suddenly changed!
Thousands of years ago, these beings, who lingered on in a state of neither life nor death, were ultimately created by following the traces left by their ancestors in an even more unknowable ancient era.

All indications suggest that in that unexplorable era, there existed a group of people who lived high above, possessing endless lifespans, watching the cycle of life and death unfold. It was this very fact that fueled their ambition—the ambition to seek immortality! And thus, they embarked on a path with no end in sight.

However, the man wearing the disguise of His Majesty the First Emperor completely ignored him.

To him, these people were just small fry, losers trying to follow in their footsteps. Perhaps he was slightly interested in the core position, but the ghost soldiers…

Conversation requires an equal footing!
Of all those present, after regaining their true nature, the only one who could be recognized by "His Majesty the First Emperor" was Hu Ming, who was also an immortal being.

Strictly speaking, they have transcended the human race and become a new kind of human, a new species, with a higher level of evolution!
"..."

Hu Ming gently stroked the blade, his expression shifting, seemingly lost in thought.

"How many people like you, as far as you know, are still alive today?"

As they continued walking forward in silence, Hu Ming suddenly spoke.

People like Zhao Zheng, putting aside their martial prowess and lifespan, possess an extreme level of rationality that inevitably inspires some apprehension.

For such beings, once they set their sights on a goal, they disregard ethics and morality, and ignore the rules of the law. If they want to, they will go to any lengths to achieve that goal.

These kinds of people are the most terrifying!
Because there are very few people or ways in this world who can stop them, it is conceivable that once a conflict or grudge is formed with such people, the consequences would be quite terrible.

Worst of all, they possess near-infinite lifespans and enough patience to spend endless hours plotting in secret…

"Not many. I'm still in contact with only one recently. As for the others, I don't know much about them. Perhaps they couldn't bear the torment and took their own lives, or perhaps they found a place and fell into eternal sleep."

"Recently? What specific timeframe do you mean by 'recently'?"

"This happened about six or seven hundred years ago..."

Zhao Zheng stated a terrifying number without any expression on his face.

Six or seven hundred years ago, recently?
Damn, Hu Ming often felt out of step with his sense of time because he didn't live long enough.

"I shouldn't have asked you, it was my fault..."

Hu Ming sighed, rubbing his forehead.

The good news is that, according to Zhao Zheng, there should be other active immortals besides them, but their numbers are not large.

While the group was talking, Lan Ting remained silent, closely following Hu Ming, her beautiful eyes filled with existential doubt.

Before this, she probably felt that her current state was already the most magical existence in the world.

And now...

That's really clever!
Lan Ting's gaze lingered on Hu Ming and "Zhao Zheng," then he looked at the almost magical surroundings and subconsciously admired them.

If all of this were put together into a story and written down, it would surely be a rather fascinating one.
A woman's intuition told Lan Ting that if she could uncover the past of Hu Ming and others and write it into a book, she would surely become a literary legend!
Based on some of Hu Ming's past experiences, Lan Ting has already come up with a title for the book: "The Thief's Tale!"