The Ultimate War Of The Apocalypse-Chapter 717 - 710: The Prime Mover

It wasn’t that Yang Yi had identified the wrong person, nor had Gao Yuan been possessed by Axu. Yang Yi was resolutely convinced that Gao Yuan’s mecha was Axu—or rather, the mecha on Gao Yuan could communicate with Axu.

Indeed, before Gao Yuan could express his astonishment, another consciousness emerged in his mind, and he said helplessly, "Axu says it’s okay, he invites you... no, he has decided to come here."

Having conveyed Axu’s thoughts, Gao Yuan turned to the Ram with a spread of his hands and said, "See, I knew there was an issue, I knew it wasn’t that simple."

The Ram’s mecha also opened its visor, revealing the Ram’s face, and he said somewhat helplessly, "Ever since I found out that Axu still wants to return to his planet to finish the civil war he left unfinished, I knew it wasn’t going to be simple."

After speaking, the Ram moved, and his mecha automatically opened, allowing him to step out with ease.

The Ram then said in surprise, "Hey, I’m not being controlled, oh, that’s right, there’s no need to control us..."

The door of the Ark opened again, and a fiery red mecha stepped out.

This mecha was clearly much larger than those of Gao Yuan and the Ram, and its most distinct feature was the third eye on its forehead.

Yang Yi sighed and said, "As expected, just as I thought."

The Ram scratched his head and said, "It does look very similar."

What was similar was the mecha now emerging from the Ark, which bore an uncanny resemblance to the deity statue the Ram had seen in the cave; it was strikingly alike.

Gao Yuan murmured, "I thought that statue was built by primitives, but now it seems that maybe Axu created it himself. It’s too complicated; my brain can’t handle it."

Gao Yuan wasn’t the only one whose brain was struggling to keep up, but at that moment, the mecha had already pushed through the door into the Beautiful Restaurant, bypassing Gao Yuan and the Ram, and stopping in front of Yang Yi.

The towering three-meter mecha couldn’t possibly sit down in a chair, and then, the mecha halted, gazing at Yang Yi.

"The fact that you could come, and make an entrance in this manner, clued me in that there was indeed an issue. Are you Axu, the Ark, or have Axu and the Ark become one?"

Yang Yi had left the Ark early, so he was unaware of certain things.

The mecha began to speak, its voice deep and resonant, "I am Axu, and I am the Ark. When my life reached its end, I transferred my consciousness to the Ark."

Yang Yi frowned and asked, "So, are you saying you’ve achieved immortality?"

Axu was silent for a moment, then finally said, "Clearly not since I have already died."

The body had died, but the consciousness had been preserved; whether this could be considered a form of immortality was probably a matter for philosophical debate.

Yang Yi wasn’t interested in discussing this philosophical issue right now. He just wanted to unravel some mysteries and figure out if Axu posed any danger.

It’s just that Yang Yi wasn’t quite sure where to start.

After a moment of contemplation, Yang Yi spoke gravely, "Did you summon the Serpent People on purpose?"

"Yes."

Axu showed no intention of concealing the truth, still fixing his gaze on Yang Yi, "I’m very curious, how did you find out?"

Yang Yi sighed and said, "It’s not actually difficult. Despite the many coincidences, if one thinks carefully, many clues point back to you."

Axu paused for a moment, then suddenly said, "Please continue, I am waiting for your explanation."

Yang Yi looked at Axu, who continued, "Curiosity is one of the two main driving forces that keep a species evolving, and I am very curious."

"Then what is the other evolutionary driving force?"

"Laziness."

Yang Yi nodded and said, "Hmm, I now have no doubt that we are the same species even though we look nothing alike."

Axu went on, "Why do you harbor hostility towards me, and why do you suspect me?"

Yang Yi tilted his head and said to Axu, "I harbor hostility towards you?"

"The moment before you handed the communicator to him, I sensed intense hostility. I don’t know why you were hostile, but I knew you must be trying to hide something."

Yang Yi lowered his head, then said in a deep voice, "Because after we entered the Ark, you did not show us everything inside, and then there’s the Ark, made of soft metamaterials, even capable of changing its own volume, which made me feel that the Ark is more like a living being than a machine. Especially after talking to you, I found out that the Ark is sentient, and my instinct told me something was wrong. At the moment I realized there was a problem, I handed the diamond to the Ram to try to hide my suspicion, but at that time, I actually had suspicion, not hostility."

"No, you were hostile, maybe you just weren’t aware of it."

Yang Yi exhaled and said, "When I learned about the Celestials’ civil war, the Serpent People’s expansionist instincts, and their technological approach to occupying planets, I suddenly thought of a question that is, we might actually all be the same species, our DNA is identical."

Axu did not speak; he was still waiting for Yang Yi to explain.

Yang Yi stood up, with a calm demeanor, he said, "Even within the same human race on Earth, appearances can vary greatly, and Earthlings, Celestials, and Serpent People, despite looking very different, are like dogs of the same species that have a variety of appearances, there’s fundamentally not much difference. This means that if the Serpent People need to occupy Earth as their colony, then why don’t the Celestials... Is it just because they prefer peace? If the Celestials cherished peace, then why would there be a civil war, and here’s the question: can a civilization that experiences civil war be considered peace-loving?"

At this point, Yang Yi gave a wry smile and said, "When I thought that it wasn’t a love for peace that kept the Celestials from occupying Earth, I had to start thinking about your purpose for coming to Earth, first you’re from the Health Faction, which went to war with the Eternals Faction. Setting aside the reasons for the war, a clear fact is that at the start of the war, the Health Faction couldn’t possibly defeat the numerically superior Eternals Faction, and in the early stages of achieving immortality, even in the middle stage, the people of the Eternals Faction wouldn’t have degenerated to just enjoying the rest of their lives, right? So the Health Faction was destined to lose."

Axu suddenly said, "Let me correct you on one point. When a civilization achieves collective immortality, that civilization’s decline is far faster than you could imagine, exceedingly fast, even more than I anticipated. Now, please continue."

Yang Yi nodded, now with more information, and said, "Alright, I’ll continue. If I put myself in your shoes, first I’m the last survivor of the Health Faction, knowing my principles and my people have been defeated, but unwilling to give in, still not wanting the Celestials’ culture to end, I would have to think of ways to save my civilization. It’s not just a matter of differing ideologies, but the continuation of a civilization."

Axu nodded and said, "Thank you for understanding, please go on."

"What should I do? Escaping is the most realistic option, but it’s meaningless if I’m the only one to escape. For any group or civilization to continue, numbers are the most basic requirement, so I would need to figure out a way to restore the population. Cloning technology is a good choice here, Earth has already achieved cloning, so there’s no reason the Celestials couldn’t."

Yang Yi took a breath and continued, "Then it gets even simpler. I pilot one of the Celestials’ most advanced ships to escape, filled with a gene bank of the Celestials. I head to a planet that has been explored as suitable for my survival, but I have only one ship and a gene bank. Meanwhile, my enemies from the Eternals Faction are still looking for me, trying to destroy me. What do I do? I thought about it seriously and realized the answer is pretty simple."

Yang Yi waved his hand nonchalantly and said, "Find an uninhabited planet to hide on, transfer my consciousness into this ship. Since I chose this ship as my last hope, there must be some essential reason for it. I then wait a very long time, until I feel that the Eternals Faction’s culture has likely declined to the point of no threat. I move to a suitable planet to start rebuilding my population. But then I encounter a problem: my ship is just a ship and lacks the equipment for large-scale cloning of living beings. And I’m just one person, so what do I do?"

Yang Yi looked at Axu and said with a smile, "Or perhaps another possibility, according to my habits, I would plan everything in advance. Knowing that a civilization has embarked on the path of expansion and happens to possess the technologic conditions for infinite replication or creation of life, I would hide and wait for the decline of the Celestials Eternity Faction’s civilization, then go find the Serpent People and use their technology to restore the population. Thinking this way, it makes sense."

Gao Yuan suddenly said, "Wait a second, you make a lot of sense, but I just thought of something. Why would you hide on Earth and draw the Serpent People here, instead of going to them directly? If the technological gap is that great, couldn’t I have simply annihilated the Serpent People or taken control of one of their mother ships directly?"

The Ram nodded and said, "Exactly, wouldn’t that have been more direct?"

Yang Yi shook his head and said, "No, you’re overlooking many possibilities, time, time! Did the Serpent People have sufficient biotechnology for cosmic travel at that time? Or if the Serpent People had already ventured into space, would Axu alone have had the capability to seize a Serpent People’s ship? It’s still a matter of time. What if at that time the Serpent People were still under the surveillance of the Celestials? Could seizing a Serpent People’s mother ship have exposed him to the Eternals Faction and led to his immediate destruction? If we extend this line of thinking, there would be far too many possibilities, so your concerns are unfounded."

Axu suddenly said, "According to the etiquette of Earth, I should applaud now."

And indeed, Axu began clapping. A large red Mecha started clapping, producing a rhythmic clacking sound.

Yang Yi remained calm and said, "Their concerns are unfounded, and I’ve merely strung together various possible scenarios forcefully, but these are still just speculations. What actually happened, please tell me. This isn’t about morality, I just want to satisfy my curiosity."