Chapter 14 The Fish in the Fishbowl

The short raid was over.

With Earth's thorough preparations, and the presence of Su Zhou, the Klow were undoubtedly defeated by humanity.

Even K-Cole, the captain and strongest esper, was defeated by Su Zhou, then sealed by Raphael and taken back to Earth's alien quarantine zone along with many other Klow.

There, Earth would use various methods, including but not limited to torture, psionic enchantment, and hypnosis, to interrogate them and extract relevant information.

The Tarin, as sworn enemies who were favored by Earth, were even happy to do this kind of thing for Earth, while the humans played the good cop.

After the battle, most of the exoskeletons had already dispersed after this practical test. They would return to Earth via large-scale teleportation magic, where major military-industrial groups would analyze the practical data and conduct a new generation of exoskeleton auditing. Only a few master craftsmen who were preparing to study the Klow exploration ship would remain in the lunar base. These transhumans, who were obsessed with technology, couldn't wait to dissect the ship.

However, Su Zhou, who should have left with them, did not return to Earth with the other transhumans.

At this moment, the Earth's public opinion must have exploded, right? Whether it was the continuous arrival of intelligent aliens, or the conflict with them, it was something that could bring a sense of unease to most ordinary people.

Could Earthlings really resist alien visitors and protect their homeland?

The entire process of this battle could undoubtedly answer those who were doubtful.

Without even thinking, Su Zhou, who was already being promoted as Earth's number one person, would cause even more waves in public opinion. After destroying the Tarin's fallen exploration ship and defeating the Klow, he didn't even know how high his reputation would rise.

Both fans and haters would definitely increase.

However, Su Zhou never cared about such things.

The youth was currently standing on the Klow exploration ship, which had been turned into a wreck and was gradually falling towards the far side of the moon, with his arms crossed and a solemn expression.

Although half-destroyed, a mostly intact alien exploration ship was enough to become an important reference for Earthlings, greatly improving related technologies.

At this moment, the warship trembled due to constant internal explosions. From time to time, ammunition or fighters would detonate, creating violent tremors, but the area around Su Zhou was extremely calm. The impact would be suppressed by his spiritual power the moment it reached his vicinity.

He was on the warship, gazing at the pitch-black distance.

In Su Zhou's perspective, the seemingly empty world was colorful and brilliant, but when he stopped using his Dragon Eyes, the universe in the eyes of ordinary humans was dark and silent. Even when facing the sun, it was just a monotonous and unbearable bright sphere of light.

He kept switching between the two different perspectives, sometimes looking at the sun, sometimes looking at the Earth, as if he was in a daze—but no one called out to him. Everyone maintained tacit understanding, giving Su Zhou a moment of peace of his own.

It wasn't until the moon reached the corresponding orbit and the sunlight shone on the spaceship that Su Zhou woke up from his daze.

The youth faced the starry sky and murmured to himself: "A normal world is a fishbowl."

"And I am a fish yearning for the sea."

This short sentence was the reason why he had pursued transcendence in the past.

Because he was not satisfied with the ordinary world, he pursued transcendence even if he was not understood, and he would fight even if he did not like conflict.

"But the sea of transcendence is, in essence, just a bigger fishbowl."

As he said this, the youth chuckled. He sighed and shook his head: "Yes—even if the spiritual energy revives and Earth returns to the era of immortals and gods, this small planetary system is just a bigger fishbowl."

Looking at Earth, Su Zhou could now, like the shocked Tarin in the beginning, clearly see dozens or hundreds of spacetime domain gates flickering all over the globe.

These passages leading to worlds of various sizes were all bait and temptations.

"In the past, it was precisely Earth's incomparably superior environment that allowed the immortals and gods to immerse themselves in this huge fishbowl. All the gods and people were unaware until the spiritual energy was cut off, and they suddenly realized this truth, so they finally decided to step out of the fishbowl and head to farther places."

Turning his head, Su Zhou narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping across the stars shining in the dark universe. He whispered to himself: "And now, modern Earthlings will do the same thing."

"We will shatter the 'fishbowl' and then enter the stars."

It's not because 'breaking the fishbowl has benefits' that we break it.

It's not because 'leaving Earth has advantages' that we leave.

Humanity goes to the distance, not because of anything else, but because the distance exists. It is there, like a mountain, a goal, always to be climbed and reached.

And most importantly, if you don't go to the mountain, the mountain will come to you—just like the Tarin, the Klow, and the many possible civilizations that will be attracted. Even the immortals and gods of the past, with the terrible forbidden zone known as the Black Domain, had alien civilization curiosity spaceships piling up on the moon like mountains.

Humanity will eventually go to the stars.

The struggles between countries on Earth, the conflicts between ethnic groups, are ultimately no different from monkeys fighting for territory. Entrusting one's strength and wishes to such a world would make Su Zhou feel extremely unwilling.

But now, those stubborn realities have been changed—according to what he had seen before through high-performance psionic radar, although the world was chaotic due to the revival of spiritual energy, in a sense, better changes were emerging endlessly.

Closing his eyes, Su Zhou recalled his conversation with Yala after making a covenant with her.

At that time, under the serpentine spirit's suggestive questioning, he had given his own answer.

And now, without the questioning of others, Su Zhou could give the same answer.

——Isn't this very good? Compared to the constant, stubborn, and boring reality.

In the future, everything will change, and humanity will swim in the ever-changing, rushing river, heading towards the direction they want.

Why not look forward to it? Why be afraid?

"Without a doubt, this is the world I want."

Repeating this, standing in the starry sky, gazing at his home planet, Su Zhou revealed a gentle smile.

Walking step by step from the boy who initially yearned for transcendence, fighting until now, Su Zhou now looked back and understood what he wanted to do, what he had to do.

In the Divine Wood World, he was a threat, whether to the Demonic Dynasty Demon Emperor or the Hundred Schools of Righteous Army.

In the Reincarnation World, he transformed into a hammer that broke the eternal kalpa. Anything that was repeated over and over again, never changing, was always disgusting and unacceptable.

In the Divine Dragon World, he witnessed wishes—everyone had the wish to change the world, and Su Zhou was willing to help those people realize their wishes and bless their future.

In that case, he could do the same on Earth.

——Su Zhou will become a threat to the wicked, a hammer to break the solidified, and a blesser to realize wishes.

This was the path he had finally decided on.

And at this moment, layers of phantom sounds suddenly echoed in Su Zhou's ears, as if tens of millions of people were simultaneously shouting, praising, and echoing.

——Threat! Destruction! Wishes!

Endless, as if shouted out by countless people, passing through many worlds, reaching straight to the heart of the phantom sound, it submerged into Su Zhou's heart. These calls, which did not know where they came from, as if born out of thin air in the void, fervently echoed Su Zhou's decided path.

Even, Su Zhou also heard the voice of Crosell, the new leader of what sounded like a litany, in this layer upon layer of sound waves…

He seemed to be praying to himself?

Subconsciously repeating, Su Zhou followed the voice from the depths of his heart and muttered to himself.

[My… wish.]

Then, he closed his eyes and listened to his own voice.

Immediately afterwards, the [Demon Lord of Devouring Evil] supernatural power was spontaneously activated—the system intertwined with 'Curse' and 'Wish Power' began to operate rapidly according to the wishes of the supernatural power's owner, 'Su Zhou' himself.

Finally, a small piece of 'Wish Soul' like a glass spark was condensed in front of his chest.

The colorless Wish Soul flickered with a thin light like ice crystals.

It was clear and transparent. If placed against a black background, it would be black. If placed against a white background, it would be white. It was a glass that changed color with all the changes in the environment, and also a spark that always insisted on its transparent essence no matter how the environment changed.

——What the heck, it turns out my supernatural power can respond to my own wishes?! Does such a thing as wishing to oneself really exist?!

It's not surprising… after all, the Demon Lord of Devouring Evil has never limited who the target of activation is…

Subconsciously reaching out and catching the Wish Soul that floated up from his chest, a moment of stunned Su Zhou even had an extremely dangerous idea in his heart: "In other words, if I kill myself, can I also get a 'Dark Soul'?"

"Tui, tui, tui, a Dark Soul my foot!"

After pondering for a moment, Su Zhou absorbed this Wish Soul into his body, placing it in his soul space, just above the head of the sleeping Wisdom Tree spirit, flickering with a faint but pure light.

No name, no effect, no explanation, this Wish Soul was still in the initial 'seed' stage, and no one could know what kind of fruit it would grow into in the future.

"A wonderful harvest… Alright, it's time to return to Earth."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Su Zhou, who had unexpectedly obtained his own Wish Soul, stretched his waist, preparing to fly directly back to the lunar base and chat with Meng Jin, Bai Canglang, and Gu Yaoluo, whom he hadn't seen for a long time.

However, just as he was about to leave the Klow exploration ship, Su Zhou suddenly frowned.

"What sound?"

It wasn't a sound, but a kind of spiritual energy fluctuation. Su Zhou sensed an abnormal spiritual energy fluctuation coming from inside the exploration ship, as if… it was a communication from a very distant place.

Without hesitation, Su Zhou directly entered the ship through the opening he had made on the exploration ship. He smashed through various obstacles and barrier doors along the way, and then arrived at the place where the spiritual energy fluctuation was located.

The exploration ship's command cabin.

All the tools in the command cabin required corresponding spiritual energy codes to unlock. In theory, even if Su Zhou sensed this spiritual energy fluctuation, he wouldn't be able to connect to it—but what kind of person was Su Zhou? Su Zhou didn't care about the receiving instrument in the command cabin at all, but directly intercepted the spiritual energy wave used for communication.

In other words, Su Zhou heard a phone ringing, but instead of trying to crack a locked phone with a password he didn't know, he directly hijacked the electromagnetic waves and simulated a virtual machine in his brain to make the call.

[K-Cole, please respond to the Central. The border sensor has received a crisis signal. The Central needs to know the current situation of the Flying Star exploration ship. K-Cole, please respond to the Central…]

Pure psionic transmission, carrying the purest information like soul communication. As long as the psionic energy was strong enough, it could be analyzed regardless of language.

So it was a communication from the civilization behind the Klow?

Nodding thoughtfully, the corner of Su Zhou's mouth curled up, and then after leaving a 'chuckle', he directly hung up the communication, without the slightest desire to communicate, leaving the bewildered Klow on the other side of the starry sky, stunned by a chuckle.

Why? For no reason.

——We Earthlings don't need to explain our actions to you aliens!

Then, he returned to the lunar base with a kind of inexplicable joyful mood.

July 2, 2017.

Su Zhou returned to Earth.