Chapter 123 - 122: The Monster Lost by the Time Traveler

Chapter 123: Chapter 122: The Monster Lost by the Time Traveler

Humanity’s hope?

Li Ye looked up at Yang Feng and just smiled without saying a word.

The smile made the atmosphere suddenly awkward. Yang Feng changed the subject. "Is there anything else?"

"I’ll be time-traveling again in seven days," Li Ye said. "In the meantime, I’ll write out the Sword Sect’s Cultivation Techniques. In exchange, I want access to the data brought back by the other Time Travelers. Also, get me a copy of the list of all Time Travelers and the demons they’ve used. And... I want to see the Demon Suppression Tower again."

He had slipped into a commanding tone out of habit.

’Everything is just speculation? I have to investigate everything myself?’

’In that case, the only use the Demon Hunting Bureau has for me is providing demons.’

’I’ll use the demons to accumulate enough Derived Skills, improve my strength, and find a way to resist demonic possession. After that, I’ll just find a nice place to enjoy life.’

’Plots, conspiracies, masterminds behind the scenes... what does any of that have to do with me? The truth doesn’t seem all that important anymore.’

’Besides, I’m not some protagonist. I’m just a regular working stiff.’

’The Demon Hunting Bureau provides me with demons to help me grow stronger, and I give them some Cultivation Techniques in return. I can even decide how many techniques I give back.’

’If I don’t want to do this anymore, I can just retire to some scenic, secluded place at any time. With my abilities, snagging a position as a planetary governor or something shouldn’t be too hard...’

’In these chaotic times, there probably isn’t a better job than this.’

’As for the danger... where isn’t it dangerous?’

’There are so many Time Travelers, with new ones popping up every year. Is the mastermind behind all this really going to care about the fate of a single piece of cannon fodder like me?’

’Once I understood my place, buying into the pipe dreams the Demon Hunting Bureau was selling every now and then wasn’t so bad...’

Yang Feng looked at Li Ye, as if he wanted to say something but held his tongue.

A moment later, he forced a warm smile. "Alright. I’ll arrange it. If you have any other needs, you can tell me at any time."

...

Including his time with the Demon Hunting Bureau, Li Ye had been a Time Traveler for about two and a half years.

When he joined, there had been a total of 237 Time Travelers, with only eight of them still alive.

Now, the total number of Time Travelers had reached 613.

In other words, in two and a half years, the number of people who had awakened the Space-Time Attribute had increased by 376.

That was more than the total from the previous three years.

The Demon Hunting Bureau conducted routine population screenings every two months, which was how Li Ye had been discovered.

Therefore, even if there was a margin of error in this number, it wouldn’t be very large.

The number of Time Travelers was on the rise, which meant he couldn’t rule out the possibility of artificial interference.

Of the 613 Time Travelers, aside from those still in training, the rest were all on missions.

Currently, the number of Time Travelers on missions was 245.

The number of Time Travelers who had survived one mission and were on their second was 29.

Only two Time Travelers had survived three time-travel missions: Pang Feng and Cao Jieming.

Song Jiani was currently on her third time-travel mission, and he was about to embark on his third as well.

As things stood, he and Song Jiani belonged to the second tier of Time Travelers.

’Assuming the personal accounts and data brought back by all the Time Travelers are real...’

’Then based on pure strength, I should be the number one Time Traveler, and by a wide margin.’

Li Ye had looked through the Secret Manuals, resources, and other things the Time Travelers had brought back.

There were quite a few high-level Martial Arts Techniques, but when it came to actual cultivation-related ones, they were all very basic.

The Cultivation Techniques from Xianxia Worlds went up to the Golden Core realm at most.

The Magic from Magic Worlds mostly consisted of basic Magic Techniques. Of course, there were some intermediate ones, but they were barely better than nothing and didn’t help his strength much.

Although he had only provided the Sword Sect’s Magic this time, the series of Cultivation Techniques he’d brought back was still the most systematic and complete.

No wonder Yang Feng had said he was a model for all Time Travelers!

Compared to the living Time Travelers, Li Ye was more concerned about those who hadn’t returned and the demons they had taken with them.

Once a demon grew strong enough, it could sever its connection to the Demon Suppression Tower on its own.

So, it was very likely those Time Travelers hadn’t died, but had been possessed by their demons or had willingly escaped.

’They could all become my enemies in the future.’

Screwdriver, hammer, compass, frying pan, rag, scissors, fountain pen, handgun...

Li Ye silently committed the names of those demons to memory.

When he saw "handgun," his brow twitched. ’What a waste. To think they could lose a demon like a handgun.’

’Then again, the Demon Hunting Bureau is pretty generous, letting Time Travelers use any kind of demon...’

"What are you thinking about?" Yang Feng asked.

"Director Yang, so many demons have been lost with the deaths of Time Travelers, yet the number of demons in the Demon Museum doesn’t seem to be decreasing." Li Ye smiled. "Does that mean we’ll never be able to capture all the Demon Qi?"

"Perhaps," Yang Feng said, looking at Li Ye with a wistful expression. "But that’s not something we can control. All we can do is rely on these demons to survive, to hold on until the day we can solve the problem completely—or rather, the day we have enough power to coexist peacefully with them."

"How many people are left on Earth now?" Li Ye asked.

"Fewer than three billion," Yang Feng said. "In the year you were gone, a global-scale demon riot broke out on Earth. The world lost one-fifth of its population."

’Nearly a billion people died!’

’The mastermind who released the Demon Qi really treats human life like it’s worthless!’

’There’s not much time left for me!’

Li Ye was stunned for a moment. "Let’s go. Let’s see the Demon Suppression Tower."

"Li Ye, why are you so insistent on seeing the Demon Suppression Tower?" Yang Feng asked.

"Last time I was just a Mortal. Now I’m at the peak of the Harmonization Realm." Li Ye grinned. "What if I can discern something from the Demon Suppression Tower this time!"

"That’s true." Yang Feng nodded in agreement. He took Li Ye to see the Demon Suppression Tower again. Only after they came out did he ask, "Did you see anything?"

"No. There are no Array Patterns on the Demon Suppression Tower. It looks like it was forged from a single piece." Li Ye frowned and shook his head. "My Divine Sense was blocked three meters out. I couldn’t probe its interior at all."

"It is indeed three meters," Yang Feng said, looking at Li Ye. "We’ve tried many methods, and we were also cut off at the three-meter mark.

Perhaps on the day you break through the Harmonization Realm, undergo your tribulation and Ascend, and become a true Immortal, you’ll be able to see through the Demon Suppression Tower’s secrets!

Li Ye, to be honest, I’m quite envious of you Time Travelers. You have a real chance to break through the limits of the human body and become truly powerful."

’Peak of the Harmonization Realm? Weren’t I still suppressed by the Derived Skills of a few Demon Hunters!’

’Immortal?’

’Are Immortals really stronger than Demon Qi?’

’A mere Demon Suppression Tower can tear through space-time at will and send people to another universe. The being behind it is probably not someone an ordinary Immortal could ever hope to touch!’

Li Ye was noncommittal in response to Yang Feng’s words. He said nonchalantly, "Let’s see if I can even live that long. The Demon Hunting Bureau’s Demon Hunters can at least team up against demons, but we Time Travelers fight alone. If it weren’t for good luck last time, I wouldn’t have made it back."

"Don’t sell yourself short. I have faith in your abilities. In two consecutive worlds, you managed to become a leader-class figure within a year and won your fight against the Demon Qi. If you don’t have the strength, then it’s even more impossible for anyone else."

Yang Feng smiled. "Many Time Travelers on missions are transported back before they even encounter the other stream of Demon Qi. Their survival is more or less due to luck. But you have real, solid strength. Luck runs out, but strength doesn’t. Li Ye, many people are pinning their hopes on you, so no matter what, you have to stay alive..."

"I’ll stay alive. But you guys better pull your weight, too. Hold on until the day I come back alive to suppress the Demon Suppression Tower." Li Ye grinned, glancing at Yang Feng as he fed him a line of his own. "Alright, let’s go. We’ve seen everything we need to. Time to pick a demon and prepare for the next trip."

...

Pinwheel, steel ball, Barbie doll, marker, bubble gun, rubber band, ping-pong ball, chopsticks, roll of toilet paper...

In the Demon Museum, many demons had disappeared, and many new ones had appeared.

Li Ye walked among the demons, inspecting them.

This time, he planned to find an offensive or control-type demon to make up for his shortcomings in either attack or defense.

After walking a full circle, Li Ye stopped and asked, "Director Yang, what was that demon that pinned me down with gravity last time? Can I choose it?"

"The electromagnetic globe. It doesn’t change gravity, but geomagnetism." Yang Feng paused for a second, then pointed to a large glass case in the third row. "That’s the one. Are you sure you want to take it?"

Li Ye followed Yang Feng’s gaze.

Inside the glass case was a globe nearly two meters in diameter. The corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.

’My Storage Pouch could indeed fit this thing, but something so big is too conspicuous. Plus, it would be really inconvenient to control.’

’The demons Time Travelers choose should prioritize being small, easy to hide, and easy to popularize.’

"Never mind, I’ll look at something else." Li Ye shook his head, abandoning the idea of venturing into an Otherworld with such a huge globe, and continued to inspect the demons.

Fun House Mirror, teacup, brush, double-sided tape, portable cassette player...

The number of uses was written below each demon, but the space for awakened Derived Skills was blank for most of them...

For example, the Derived Skill awakened from the Fun House Mirror was Body Transformation. In Li Ye’s opinion, this skill was completely useless—even more pointless than Stars Surrounding the Moon.

Razor, roll of toilet paper, ruler!

After a long time of searching, Li Ye finally narrowed his choices down to these three demons.

The razor was an old-fashioned straight razor. It came from a temple, looked exceptionally sharp, and counted as an offensive-type demon.

Many people had taken a liking to it, as shown by its 28 uses, but not a single person had managed to awaken a Derived Skill from it.

The roll of toilet paper had hardly been used by anyone. The reason Li Ye was interested in it was that it just caught his eye; he felt a strange attraction to it. And, upon further thought, toilet paper had many functions and should be relatively easy to develop.

As for the Ruler, he was interested purely because it had produced the most Derived Skills—a total of seven, listed in a row below it:

Salivating Three Feet: Any target you designate will be unable to stop drooling.

Every Inch Counts: You can easily see through others’ strengths and weaknesses.

Merit: In close combat, the longer you fight an opponent of comparable skill, the greater your advantage becomes.

Ice Vase Jade Ruler: Anyone who interacts with you will believe you to be a noble and pure-hearted person.

A Foot of Water and a Yard of Waves: By controlling a foot-high body of water, you can create a ten-foot-high wave. The effect increases proportionally.

Hundred-foot Pole: For any given skill, you can always go one step further than anyone else.

A Thousand Miles in a Square Foot: You can observe events happening in the location of a photograph or image in real time.