Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

As the night fell, the rain turned heavier.

Perhaps because of the lingering smoke caused by the battle a few days ago, the rainwater was as dark as ink when it fell on the ground, making the place even more fuzzy and chaotic.

The city looked like a rotten corpse, and the unstable skyscrapers everywhere were its bones.

Among the fallen walls, the children rushed under the thunderstorm like hungry hyenas.

Everybody was anxious. They hoped that they would get to capture the two defectors in person.

But they were also slightly panicking, not knowing whether the defection would make them leave a bad impression on the Purgers.

The rain that was as heavy as a waterfall made it impossible to see ten meters away.

The noises of the rain also eclipsed most sounds, including the alarms of their portable crystal processors.

The heavy rain gave the children an unreal sense of safety, making them feel that they could think whatever they wanted without being found.

Their route, on the other hand, had deviated from the safe area that their mentors established, and they entered the unknown areas in the depths of the city.

Some kids lost their way or got tripped over in the ruins, falling behind their partners.

Some kids accidentally noticed each other and confronted each other in the heavy rain, but they left in disappointment after realizing that they were not their targets.

Certain rumors were spreading virally during the brief contact of the kids.

Some said that the two escaping students were a boy and a girl, who were to be purged in the holy temple because of their serious violation when they carried out their mission. That was why they decided to defect and take their chances.

Some said that most areas on Black Castle had been burnt to the ground because of the war between the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance in the past decades, and since the Covenant Alliance was short of soldiers, 99% of the planet was currently unoccupied.

As long as those two students ran to the unoccupied area, they would win. It was impossible for the Covenant Alliance to send a great number of soldiers into the unoccupied area to catch two students.

Some other people said that many secret tunnels and cities, as well as the guerrilla troops of the Imperium, were still hidden below the ground. Those people welcomed the surrender of the young people from the Covenant Alliance. Therefore, those two escaping students were likely going to escape into the underground world and find the guerrilla troops of the Imperium.

As long as they stuck together for a year and a half with the guerrilla troops, if the army of the Imperium came back and reclaimed Black Castle, those two students would successfully immigrate from the Covenant Alliance to the Imperium. Chances were that they would even be described by the Imperium as heroes.

Those rumors burned in the darkness gloomily and could not be distinguished no matter how heavy the storm was.

As for who the "someone" was exactly, none of the kids could tell in their dizziness.

Tang Ka didn't find the defectors after half a night of searching. He was even separated from his partners after he accidentally fell into a mud pit.

The rain and the mud covered his mask, but after he took off his mask, they were directly flying into his eyes and his mouth, making it impossible for him to keep his eyes open.

Even his portable crystal processor was squeaking. The Spiritual Nexus was also seriously disrupted by the thunderstorm. He could not reach out to his classmate or receive orders from his mentors and his director.

"Monitor!

"Where are you?"

Stumbling and falling, Tang Ka felt that he was a tiny ant and that the magnificent buildings near him were black tombstones. After walking for ten minutes, he couldn't tell where he was, nor did he see any of his students.

A weird thought suddenly popped up in Tang Ka's head.

He seemed to be the only person left in this whole town.

His classmates, his mentors, and the soldiers of the purge troop were probably searching for the two escaping students in his opposite direction.

If he were to run at this moment, wouldn't he have a great chance to escape from this city, enter the unoccupied area, or even find the guerrilla troops of the Imperium?

Didn't "someone" say that the natives of the Covenant Alliance were welcomed in the Imperium and would be described as "heroes"?

That way, he would be able to completely get rid of his current life.

The flashing thought in his head made Tang Ka tremble so hard that he could not even think that it was his idea.

"Grandpa Yao—" Tang Ka asked, his voice shivering, "Did you direct me to think that way?"

"No, I'm not as unscrupulous as that. It was your own idea."

After a brief silence, Li Yao continued, "Someone might have guided you to think that way, but it was not me."

"What… What do you mean?"

Tang Ka was more and more confused.

The world around was like the bloody mouth of a ferocious beast that was swallowing him entirely.

A planet was billions of times more spacious than a starship, but he felt that he was being suffocated.

Calming himself down, Tang Ka soon dropped the absurd thought.

The most important reason was that his monitor was with him. If he were really going to escape, he had to take her with him, right?

No, of course not right! How could he escape? He was faithful to the gods and the Ultimate Benevolence Masters. How could he have such an evil and ridiculous thought? That was the deepest sin!

Huala!

Right then, a bolt of lightning struck and illuminated the street nearby.

Tang Ka saw that someone was moving slowly with his back hunched.

"Hey!"

Tang Ka shouted and went after him, "Here! Which class are you from? Wait for me!"

Perhaps because the rain was too huge, the student did not hear him but still limped forward. He was even faster than before.

However, due to his serious leg injuries, he was soon caught up by Tang Ka.

"Shao Jie?"

Tang Ka turned on a flashlight, only to discover that the student was from his class. He said in excitement, "Why are you here? Where are the other students? Did you see our monitor? Or were you separated from everybody else too?"

"I…"

The boy named Shao Jie stammered, "I got separated from them, and I'm looking for them. Why don't we split up and search in different directions?"

His face was swollen and deformed because of Liao Meng's beating, making him look both ugly and pitiful.

Blinking his eyes, Tang Ka moved the flashlight from his face to his back, only to discover that Shao Jie was carrying an enormous backpack and holding two bags. All of them were laden with food—not the synthesized food that the students were given, but the food from the Imperium.

Looking at the guilt in Shao Jie's eyes, Tang Ka knew everything.

"You want to escape too?"

Tang Ka stepped back and murmured, "How can you betray the Ultimate Benevolence Masters and the gods?"

"I'm not!"

As if he were punched in his face by an invisible fist, Shao Jie screamed, "I'm not running! I'm not!"

But his scream was torn apart by the storm immediately, and he seemed about to be drowned.

"Then why did you pick up such a huge backpack and fill it with the foods that we're not allowed to eat?"

Tang Ka criticized him solemnly, completely forgetting his own gluttony in the supermarket during the day, "Our emergency food is enough to support us for the urgent mission at night. Why would you take those foods if you're not planning a long-distance journey?"

Shao Jie was a teenager just like Tang Ka. He lost all his courage after his lie was seen through.

"Let me go, Tang Ka. I can't go back!"

Shao Jie said gloomily and pitifully, "You know that I fought Liao Meng just now. As the deputy monitor, he had the right to discipline his classmates, but I did not have the right to fight him! I was corrupted. I would definitely be purged in the holy temple for the violation of the Path of Ultimate Benevolence. But I don't want to end up as an ignorant miner or soldier!

"Just pretend that you've never seen me, Tang Ka, please!"

Tang Ka was silent. His head was in a mess as he mumbled, "You really shouldn't have whistled the tune from the Imperium."

"I didn't mean it. I swear that I didn't mean it! But that tune ran out of my nostrils before I realized it!"

Shao Jie shouted, "It was nothing at all, but Liao Meng had to make a big deal about it. He berated me when he had trouble controlling his own feelings! I-I don't have a choice now. Tang Ka, let me go. Nobody will know!"

Tang Ka had never seen such weakness in Shao Jie's eyes. Or rather, he had never seen it in any of his classmates' eyes.

His mental defense was collapsing bit by bit, and his legs were shaking.

"You can't let him go."

Li Yao sighed and said, "Go stop him."

"What?"

Tang Ka was stunned. He could not understand why Li Yao would say that as an "extraterrestrial devil". "Do you not want him to seek freedom?"

"He can't escape, and neither can you."

Li Yao said coldly, "Somebody is watching you. This is part of the ultimate test. The heavy storm is just an illusion.. You're actually under a spotlight and are being closely monitored."