life copy game

Chapter 1736 Key Force (Long Chapter, Seeking Monthly Tickets)

“It seems you could guess my arrival?” Noctis turned his gaze, picked up his teacup, and slightly raised his eyes. “However, I also know that this is certainly not a difficult thing for you.”

He took a sip of tea and said slowly with a smile, "After all, you are young, smart, and lucky. You are the savior chosen by this world and the darling of the gods. From the time you entered the supernatural realm until now, it has only been three months, and you have already become an angel."

He looked up at He Ao's face and said, "Some children's winter vacation may have just ended, but you have already gone from an ordinary student to someone who stands at the top of the world. The world loves you so much, just like it loves its own child."

“I’m grateful for the ‘luck’ I’ve had along the way, but these things you call ‘favorites’,” Heo said with a smile as he sat down opposite him, “may not be as wonderful as you imagine.”

“Of course, I know you want to talk to me about things like equivalent exchange,” Noctis lowered his hand and sighed softly, “but you know what? Some people want equivalent exchange, but they may not be qualified yet. Someone like you, chosen by the world, cannot empathize with the suffering of ordinary people who are wronged by fate.”

“I am also an orphan,” He Ao gently picked up his teacup and took a sip. “But when I was very young, when I still had a family, my grandfather told me to abide by the law and be a good person.”

"Oh, so you young man are going to give this old man a moral lecture?" Noctis looked at Heo and chuckled softly.

“I’m just feeling a bit sentimental,” Heo turned to look at Noctis, “Actually, you’re very lucky, aren’t you?”

“I don’t think I’m lucky,” Noctis shook his head. “My power comes at a price. Eighteen years ago, when I first entered the ruins, I stumbled into that unknown, collapsed temple. Since then, I haven’t been able to awaken any extraordinary powers, enter the ruins again, or take any secret medicines.”

He looked down at his palm. "Can you understand the feeling of swallowing a secret medicine and then spitting it out? Can you understand the feeling of those who were once weaker than you gradually becoming stronger than you?"

He took a sip of tea and sighed, "Li Cheng, he's an angel now, but in the beginning, he was just a greenhorn in my eyes. I could easily manipulate him. Rudolf and Goya wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for my mercy back then."

He looked at He Ao and said, “But look at you now. You, who have been in the supernatural realm for only a few months, are standing at the highest point in this world, while I am still a mortal. Can you understand this feeling? People who were weaker than you before have become stronger than you, while you are still an ordinary person who might die if you are stabbed.”

“You are not weak.” He Ao didn’t look at him, but just looked at the distant, illusory sunset, took a sip of tea, and said casually.

“The ability to prophesy is indeed a good thing,” Noctis said, taking a sip of tea. “It has helped me accomplish many, many things, but now I feel more and more that it is best for great power to belong to oneself.”

“Before the angels appeared, you weren’t worried about your own weakness,” He Ao said calmly. “But as Dean Li and I became angels, you began to realize how powerful the original superhumans could be, and so you began to covet that power.”

“You’re not wrong to think that way,” Noctis sighed, taking a sip of tea. “But what I need you to know is that I didn’t only start to think your power was good after you became angels. In fact, I’ve been pushing you to grow.”

He turned to look at He Ao, a faint gray light shimmering in his pupils, and smiled, "You were actually chosen by me too."

He Ao's brow twitched.

"Otherwise, how could Hu Wen have happened to be right next to you, giving you a C-grade puppet for free?" Noctis chuckled softly. "And how could you have so precisely encountered the Verola, taken control of it, and possessed the ability to travel through time and space?"

He picked up the teapot beside him and poured the tea into the teacup in front of him. "Why was it that Ruonati was able to get involved with you so precisely? In the Navigator incident, why was the 'Painter' able to pay attention to you? And why was it that Fia was able to team up with you?"

"It seems you're quite willing to hand Dawn over to me," He Ao chuckled casually. "Send all your men to me."

“If you can get through and take care of them, you will grow stronger,” Noctis said with a slow laugh. “Of course, as their strength grows and as they connect with those Outer Gods, they will take me less and less seriously, so I will take care of them all.”

“Then you’re not losing out either way.” He Ao took a sip of tea.

“Generally speaking, I would still prefer to invest in you,” Noctis said, picking up his teacup and taking a sip. “I can see that vague future, I can see you at the top of the world, like a plant that has been watered for a long time, finally blooming and blossoming into a beautiful flower.”

He turned his head and looked at the swaying flowers in the flower bed in the courtyard. "You know, growing flowers is a very tiring thing. It requires careful cultivation, watering, and pruning before you can grow a beautiful flower."

“Someone seems to have said something similar before,” Heo said, raising his gaze slightly to the swaying flowers.

Soter's teacher in the dungeon world, the FBI Chief of Staff, was also a person who loved flowers and plants.

“That sounds like a highly respected person,” Noctis laughed. “I know you have other secrets, and I’m not the only one who has bet on you, but it doesn’t matter. Once a flower has grown, who gets it isn’t determined by the order in which it was watered, but by the order in which it was picked.”

He raised his eyes to look at He Ao and smiled, "Generally speaking, in a gambling game, the final winner can take away all the chips from all the bettors."

“Actually, I think you said something wrong just now,” He Ao put his teacup on the table and sighed softly.

“I know you’re somewhat dissatisfied and don’t like having your fate arranged for you,” Noctis shook his head and smiled. “Don’t worry, you’ll soon be free of these grievances.”

“No, that’s not it.” He Ao shook his head, looked up at the swaying flowers and plants around him, “I mean, your sentence is wrong. It shouldn’t be ‘also a highly respected person,’ there’s no ‘also.’”

He withdrew his gaze and looked at Noctis. "The one who taught me how to grow flowers before, although he made many mistakes, was still considered quite respected by others. As for you,"

He Ao paused slightly, calmly gazing at the old man before him, "You are not."

Noctis's expression froze.

In this quiet courtyard, a gentle breeze stirred, causing the flowers to sway and their petals to flutter in the air.

He Ao turned his gaze to him, "You categorize me and Dean Li, and all those who have achieved success in this world, as lucky, while you seem to be the unfortunate one who was not chosen and can only rely on your own abilities to plan, to save yourself, and to gain power."

He stood up, letting the increasingly howling wind whip his face, and lowered his gaze to Noctis, who was holding a teacup. "But is that really your power?"

boom--

The old man suddenly crushed the small teacup.

“Your prophetic abilities allow you to foresee danger, avoid risks, and reduce effort. By simply choosing the easiest path, you can become one of the most powerful people in the world,” He Ao said, looking up at the distorted clouds in the distance. “But those lucky people you mentioned have to go through countless life-and-death struggles to get to where they are now.”

He turned his gaze to Noctis again, "In the end, who is the lucky one?"

A strong wind blew through the courtyard, making the jujube tree rustle and pluck its dense green leaves from the branches, scattering them everywhere.

Standing amidst the dense rain of leaves, Noctis's gloomy face twisted into a forced smile. He stood up, clapped his hands, and said, "Young people are indeed quick-witted and eloquent."

The howling wind stopped abruptly, and the chaotic clouds in the distance also paused, remaining twisted and entwined with the setting sun that had not yet descended.

Noctis raised his head, looked at Heo, and said calmly, "No matter what, from today onwards, everything you have belongs to me."

"And then?" He Ao raised an eyebrow. "Leave this world like a coward, wandering aimlessly through the universe, waiting for the gods to destroy everything?"

“Wandering isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” Noctis said with a smile, looking at Hoo. “I’m used to wandering. Wandering on the earth or wandering in the universe makes no difference to me.”

His gaze fell on He Ao's cheek, and he chuckled further, "I know you're willing to listen to this old man, full of grievances and with no one to talk to, ramble on and on, in order to buy time and find a flaw in this space. Have you found one?"

He Ao lowered his gaze.

The old man's smile widened. "This is a technique I finally obtained after eighteen years of studying my abilities, the knowledge of souls and mysticism. In all the futures I see, unless we determine a winner, you will not be able to leave this space directly."

He shook his head and continued, "I must say, what you said does make some sense. The power you possess is indeed formidable, and it's all earned through your own battles. Without this technique, I would never have been able to directly engage you in combat."

“Of course, I know,” he looked at He Ao’s calm face, “that you were deliberately setting a trap for me. If your energy and strength hadn’t been so focused on communicating with the world, I wouldn’t have been able to pull you into this space so easily.”

He chuckled softly, "You're waiting for me to come to you, waiting for me to emerge from the shadows. You know what, young man, you're taking a dangerous gamble."

"Does this mean that in the future you see," Heo calmly gazed at Noctis, "I will have no chance of victory?"

“Although I really want to tell you no, I know that with your intelligence you won’t believe it,” Noctis sighed and shook his head, chuckling softly. “I can only say that your chances of winning are extremely low.”

With that, he raised his hand, and the surrounding space instantly changed, transforming into twisted threads with dark cracks that coiled towards He Ao.

He jumped back, dodging the threads.

He frowned slightly the moment he landed.

He can no longer fly.

Although he had roughly figured these things out during their conversation, he was still slightly surprised when he actually put them into practice.

He looked up at the small courtyard where everything around him had come to a standstill: the swaying wind, the flowing clouds, the setting sun on the horizon, and the undulating sea—all seemed to have been frozen in time.

This is not a real space, but some kind of distorted space of consciousness.

He looked outwards, a faint purple glow covering his eyes. His gaze seemed to penetrate the outer barrier, and he could vaguely see the faint boundary of the shadow.

That was a spirit, the spirit of Noctis.

So essentially, Noctis pulled himself into his own soul.

This space was primarily constructed using Noctis's consciousness and soul, and what was pulled in was his main consciousness, not even his entire soul.

This was the first time He Ao had ever seen such a mysterious academic method, transforming one's soul into a prison and battlefield to imprison the enemy.

This is a mysterious academic method that someone who has always been in the main world and cannot leave the main world could come up with.
He Ao's gaze fell on the edge of this space. At the boundary between the shadow of the soul and this space was a blank barrier, which was like an invisible wall that separated the inner and outer worlds.

In this space, He Ao could not sense any replenishment from the main world, nor could he even contact his extraordinary items.

That barrier was like a mystical wall, severing all mystical connections.

"Are you contacting those extraordinary items you have?" Noctis looked at Heo and chuckled softly. "Then you may be disappointed. I know you have many secrets and many extraordinary items that I don't know about. Do you think I would come out to meet you without making any preparations? Also, you can't ask for help even if you want to."

He lowered his gaze and gently raised his hand. "Young man, here, the power you can exert is no greater than mine."

Upon hearing his words, He Ao simply and slowly withdrew his gaze.

That invisible wall, and the invisible veil at the bottom of the world that cut off his pursuit, must be the same force.

He can no longer even sense the existence of the Destiny Plate and the Historical Book, and cannot borrow power from them.

The level of this isolating power is probably very high, even exceeding He Ao's expectations, and it can be utilized.

He Ao's gaze fell on the old man in front of him.

It seems that what he wants is indeed here.

I need some votes at the end of the month.