Chapter 2424: The Future Heroes

“We will.”

Feeble ripples spread out of the central databases of the two kids, which quickly turned into accurate countenance on their faces. Their eyes were slightly red as they said firmly, “We certainly will!”

“Well…”

While it was a nice conversation, and Xu Zhicheng’s words did make a lot of sense, Li Yao couldn’t help but feel—was it overly reasonable?

Now that he thought of it, the two kids were rather… poor. Their original data came from Extraterrestrial Devil Mo Xuan. After they came to the Imperium of True Human Beings, they witnessed the cruelest and darkest side of mankind. Then, they met such a dad like Li Yao and such an aunt like Long Yangjun, before they heard the life lessons of such a representative of ordinary people as Xu Zhicheng.

What would happen if they met their “mother” Ding Lingdang and received her “wholehearted tutelage” a few years later?

Li Yao suddenly felt unconfident again.

“Right—”

Xu Zhicheng’s slightly zealous face turned normal. With warmth shining on his face, he said, somewhat in embarrassment, “This is the first time we’ve ever met, and you’ve already done us such a great favor. Grandpa Xu really doesn’t know how to thank you. There are a few toys that I crafted personally with wasted iron in my house. I-I can also make very beautiful slingshots, those with rails and scopes and everything. Can I offer each of you one as a gift?”

“Wonderful!”

Naturally, the kids did not care about toys, but the gesture of the kindness and acceptance of ordinary people overjoyed them.

“Grand Guardian Xu…”

Li Yao was slightly dazed. Knowing the significance of the toys for Xu Zhicheng, he was about to turn it down.

“It’s alright.”

Xu Zhicheng waved his hands and said, “Toys are only significant when they are played by kids. Does it have any point to hang them on the wall and let them be covered in dust? After I give them to the two kids, I’ll be happy when I think how happy they are playing with the toys.

“Fellow Cultivator Li, you don’t need to worry so much about kids either. It’s typical of every parent to think that kids are too ignorant and naughty and will mess up everything, so they need to take care of everything for the kids. My father was exactly the same when I was little. He sighed that my generation was too incapable compared to his. Whatever I did couldn’t satisfy him at all.

“In fact, parents always grow old, and kids always grow up. Things go wrong in the end after all. I, for one, am more capable than my father, and I was a distinguished employee of the Black Iron Group for years. Hahahaha!

“So, just be assured. Your kids have their own blessings. You have the present, but the future is theirs. So, just wait and watch them create a more beautiful, marvelous, and incredible future!

“Besides, they are already so helpful right now, and they have an excellent father. I believe that they will never grow crooked.”

“I don’t think that I count as an excellent father.”

Hearing what Xu Zhicheng said, Li Yao smiled, the last wrinkle on his heart soothed. “But you are right. They are both great kids. I’ll ask them to keep your toys well. Then, let’s look forward to the wonderful future that is to be created by the kids together!”

…

“Hiss… Hiss… It hurts so much!”

Li Jialing felt that he had been drowned in a boundless pool of blood, and somebody had poured ten thousand nightmares into his head against his own wish. He could not break out of the hellish battlefields at all.

Occasionally, he heard voices, one male and the other female. The voices were very familiar. They belonged to Li Yao and Long Yangjun.

But sometimes, he heard another two voices that were much younger whispering to his ears.

“Uncle Li’s body is really unbelievably tough. In terms of the congenial body quality, he is even stronger than Dad!”

“Yes, Dad has an ‘apocalyptic body’, which is already one of the sturdiest bodies among the trainers, but Uncle Li’s body is even better. It has almost infinite potential to be developed. This is perfect!”

“I remember seeing a secret technique that can stimulate the secretion of adrenaline when we snuck into the database of a certain biochemical institute of the Imperium. It can significantly increase the combat ability for a while, but it is too dangerous and has too many side effects to be used by regular people despite our optimization. However, judging from the sturdy body of Uncle Li, he seems qualified to use it!”

“Is that so? Let’s try it already. Dad and Aunt Long both said that we are in unusual times. To cope with the hunting of the Immortal Cultivators, we have to improve the extreme combat ability of the whole team in the shortest amount of time possible by trying all the possibilities!”

Listening with his head dizzy, Li Jialing thought to himself in his ignorance, Who is this “Uncle Li”? He sounds like an awesome body fundamentalist, but I never heard that the Li family has such an expert before! Also, who is “Aunt Long” exactly? Where’s Brother Yao and Sister Long? Why have they left me to the custody of two brats… Ahhhhhhhhhh!

Before he figured out what was going on, he felt that all the cells in his body were clenched hard by sweltering iron hands. He passed out in the excruciating pain again.

The nightmares lasted a few days, or perhaps a whole year. Even though Li Jialing’s nerves had been as tough as iron after being tortured more than ten years earlier, he was still feeling rather dread and couldn’t take it anymore. Finally, under the call of a voice, he broke the nightmares and woke up.

Li Jialing found himself soaked in oily and cool medication drugs, with a tiny silver needle stabbed in every acupoint on his body. When he focused his eyes, he could even see the dense runes that looked like grains of dust.

Under the control of certain weird brainwaves, all the needles were shivering in different rhythms and frequencies, opening the gate of the treasury of potentials in his body like keys.

He sensed unprecedented strength raging unstoppably inside his body like a flood.

The strength of the Imperial Fire Pearl that he absorbed earliest had been completely digested and melted into his body and his soul!

Li Jialing couldn’t help but moan in satisfaction, his every toe tightened.

“Brother Yao!”

Looking at the person standing before the medical cabin who was both familiar and strange, he couldn’t help but exclaim in joy, “You’re really back. I knew that you wouldn’t abandon us! Where is this… Huh, wait, Brother Yao, you look rather weird right now. Although your appearance hasn’t changed much, the air around you, and the level behind the air, seem completely different from the past now!”

“Is that so?”

Li Yao scratched his chin. “Different how?”

“I can’t tell the specific differences. It’s just like…”

Li Jialing stared at Li Yao carefully for a while with his nose stuck to the tempered glass, before he said, “You look somewhat similar to Queen Li Linghai when we saw her for the first time. Not exactly the appearance, but the air and the invisible, dangerous vibe around you that seem able to burn everything nearby into nothingness, you know.”

“That’s probably because I have just broken another iron wall and found a new direction on my journey to the ultimate truth!”

Li Yao smiled and said, “Let’s focus on what’s important. You were heavily wounded and nearly killed in the battle of Great Iron Plants. It’s been three days and three nights since you passed out. You still need treatment and strengthening. Whatever you want to say, wait until the strengthening is complete!”

“Strengthening?”

Li Jialing couldn’t help but shudder. “What strengthening? I seemed to hear the voices of two brats. Was it my illusion?”

“You were too heavily wounded to walk on your feet again in a year and a half if treated normally. We are in the middle of a crisis, and Blackstar the Great may be after us any minute. Do we really have that much time? So, I have to adopt the relatively extreme and radical approaches to cure you and stimulate the outburst of your potentials by the way.”

Pausing for a moment, Li Yao said again, “Furthermore, you have an important mission on your shoulder, which requires all your potentials to be dug out!”

“Huh?”

Li Jialing was stunned for a long time. Then he bulged his eyes and asked, “Brother Yao, I understand the former part of what you said, but the latter half is confusing. What is this ‘important mission’?”

“You are a ‘safety valve’. In the near future, there perhaps will be a handsome, attractive, generous, selfless, charismatic supervillain who cares about nothing but the interests of the people and the future of mankind.”

Li Yao explained carefully, “When the supervillain expands beyond control, chances are that a brave young man like you will have to defeat him. So, you certainly need to be stronger, don’t you?”

Li Jialing: “… I’m still confused. A handsome and attractive supervillain? Are you referring to Blackstar the Great, Brother Yao?”

“Of course not.”

Li Yao said, “Wuying Qi is a shameless, sleazy, and selfish scoundrel, and he is as weak as a chicken. How can he be compared to such a great and inspirational supervillain? Wuying Qi is to the supervillain what a firefly is to the sun and what a needle is to a pillar. They can’t be compared at all.”

“Are you serious?”

Li Jialing found it hard to believe. “So, you are referring to the Mad Armageddon?”

“Well, the Blood God, as a supervillain who destroyed the Star Ocean Imperium after making his mind, was more or less something.”

Li Yao said, “However, compared to what this supervillain is going to do, even the destruction of a hundred Star Ocean Imperiums will be nothing. Therefore, it is possible that the Mad Armageddon is not qualified to be juxtaposed with this supervillain.”

“Huh?”

Li Jialing was dumbfounded. “What are you talking about, Brother Yao? Can anybody be even tougher than the Mad Armageddon? Also, why is it my ‘mission’ to deal with such a terrifying supervillain? I-I am not up to it yet. How is it related to me?”

“It shouldn’t have been your concern, but you are unfortunately my dear little brother, aren’t you? You’ll know what I mean in the future.”

Li Yao smiled. “All in all, starting from this second, you have to train yourself with ten times the intensity of the past. I will teach you a lot of things. You are the future, and they are the future too. As to what exactly the future will be like, it will all be up to the heroes of the future including you.”

Li Jialing said, “Who are ‘they’? The two… brats? I vaguely recall them stinging me with needles!”

“Exactly.”

Li Yao nodded his head. “They are my biological son and daughter, and naturally, your nephew and niece. I’ll introduce you to each other later. Congratulations on becoming an uncle by the way, Uncle Li.”

Li Jialing: “… WHAT HAVE YOU DONE EXACTLY?”

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