Chapter 34: Lightning Attraction Secret Art
It was no surprise that Kingsley ended up in a wheelchair after being kicked by Su Xiao. Having taken a direct kick from Su Xiao, Kingsley's Stamina attribute was permanently reduced by 2 points. If it had been anyone else, their Stamina attribute would likely have dropped by 4 points permanently.
"It seems you're seriously injured."
Su Xiao took a seat, pondering what Kingsley had discovered through those councilors. First, he risked a complete fallout with the Alliance by killing six councilors, then tortured another nearly to death.
That wasn't the end of it. Kingsley actually proposed reinstating Su Xiao to his former position. Given their hostile relationship, this made no sense.
"My injuries are manageable. My organs have healed, cough, cough, cough..."
Kingsley coughed dryly, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. The atmosphere was somewhat awkward.
A little girl pushed Kingsley's wheelchair. Her eye sockets were bruised, and bite marks could be seen on her small hands. When she spotted Bubu Wang, she bared her teeth at him threateningly, as if she wanted to bite him with her little fangs.
Bubu Wang raised his dog head, meaning: 'A defeated opponent.'
"Have you heard of the Tayatu Civilization?"
Kingsley wiped the blood from his mouth with a handkerchief handed by the little girl, then gestured to his nephew, who was now a councilor. Seeing this, the several councilors left, and the severely injured one was carried away.
"The Tayatu Civilization? That unknown continent?"
"That's the one. The councilors I killed were colluding with the remnants of the 'Tayatu Civilization.' The situation there is complicated. That civilization existed before the Kingdom Era..."
Kingsley narrated calmly. After a while, Su Xiao understood the general situation.
First, this was a mess created by the Alliance Council. Several councilors here were preparing to establish an official, directly supervised dangerous object containment/elimination organization, essentially replacing the Containment Institution and the Eclipse Organization.
Such a move required more than just a few councilors. Other high-ranking officials and wealthy merchants supported it. These people couldn't appear openly, so seven councilors led the charge.
The reason the Alliance Council wanted to obtain the mermaid was similar to Kingsley's motive: to acquire more dangerous objects.
With enough dangerous objects, the official dangerous object handling organization established by the Alliance Council could follow the Eclipse Organization's old path, using usable dangerous objects to enhance the strength of Transcendents.
Ultimately, the terror of dangerous objects had been suppressed by the Eclipse Organization and the Containment Institution for too many years. Those Alliance high officials and wealthy merchants all felt that the sky had cleared, the rain had stopped, and they were back in business again.
That wasn't the main point. The key was that the Alliance Council had discovered long ago that beyond the distant seas lay another continent, the remnant of the 'Tayatu Civilization.'
Initially, the Alliance Council planned to clear the continent where the 'Tayatu Civilization' was located through colonization, then seize its resources.
After secretly sending Transcendents to attack several times, the Alliance Council became withdrawn. The primitive tribes there were too strong. After the forceful attacks failed, the Alliance Council used soft methods, opening with daily necessities to establish initial friendship with the remnants of the 'Tayatu Civilization,' those primitive tribes.
The two sides conducted multiple trades. Over time, the Alliance Council discovered that there were also many dangerous objects on that continent, all sealed or utilized by those primitive tribes. Regarding the sealing and utilization of dangerous objects, their technology was inferior to the Southern Alliance, but not far behind.
The Alliance Council found it unbelievable. How could such a primitive, barbaric place have that kind of technology? Through subsequent contacts, they realized it wasn't a primitive or barbaric land.
When the Southern Continent was still in the Kingdom Era, using cold weapons and armor for warfare, and the 'Atos Family' controlled the situation of various kingdoms, the 'Tayatu Civilization' had already flourished for many years. In that era, the 'Tayatu Civilization' already had firearms.
What made the Alliance Council even more incredulous was that the Holy Knights, the predecessor of the Containment Institution and the Eclipse Organization, had a close relationship with the 'Tayatu Civilization.'
It was said that the first Knight Commander of the Holy Knights was a general sent by the 'Tayatu Civilization.' This general brought many technologies, some of which the Containment Institution still preserved as antique treasures.
Of course, compared to current technology, those technologies were now outdated. The key point was, why was the 'Tayatu Civilization' so knowledgeable about dangerous objects?
Under normal development, the technological level of the 'Tayatu Civilization' should have been more advanced than the Southern Alliance, as it was an earlier civilization. But the current situation was that they had regressed to a primitive tribal civilization. It seemed that even after a thousand years, there would be no change, just stagnation.
"Is that all?"
Su Xiao looked at Kingsley with suspicion. The 'Tayatu Civilization' was ancient and mysterious, but so what?
"Bai Ye, do you know why the remnants of the 'Tayatu Civilization' took the mermaid?"
"I don't know."
"They want to offer the mermaid to their Great Emperor, for him to devour it. I've calculated that from the Kingdom Era to now, the number of living dangerous objects has decreased by at least ninety percent. Those dangerous objects have disappeared forever, their danger sequence numbers replaced by newly appearing ones. Tell me, where did those living dangerous objects go?"
"..."
Su Xiao narrowed his eyes. Neither side's classified files had ever recorded an example of someone being able to devour biological dangerous objects, causing them to never reappear.
Su Xiao even suspected that the Great Emperor of the Tayatu Civilization that Kingsley mentioned might itself be a kind of dangerous object.
"Bai Ye, I'll take some people and leave for a few days, heading to the continent where the 'Tayatu Civilization' is located. If I die, don't destroy the Eclipse Organization. If we're wiped out, how long can the Containment Institution dominate the Southern Continent alone?"
"It would thrive for a few years, then be drowned by public criticism, and eventually be besieged by the Alliance representing justice."
"With those words, I'm reassured."
Kingsley took out a photo, a family portrait.
"Do you have the mermaid's ashes? For this trip to that continent, I might need them."
"..."
Su Xiao had Bubu fetch a wooden box containing the mermaid's ashes.
After confirming the ashes were genuine, Kingsley gestured for Su Xiao to follow him. They were headed to a secret location in the slums where the Lightning Attraction Secret Art was kept.
Driving to the slums of Jiaman City, Su Xiao entered a dilapidated two-story residential building. The floor opened, and a lift platform rose up.
The platform descended, sinking a full hundred meters underground. A passage appeared ahead, and now only Su Xiao, Baha, and Kingsley remained on the platform.
Kingsley rose from his wheelchair and walked into the passage ahead. Reaching the end, a downward spiral staircase appeared before them.
Ascending the spiral staircase, Su Xiao descended another few dozen meters underground before a laboratory filled with various equipment appeared before him.
This laboratory was about a thousand square meters in size, with dim lights shining down from the ceiling. Kingsley stopped in front of a glass column filled with light green solution.
The glass column was about three meters thick and five meters tall, the solution inside illuminated by the warm-toned lights.
A young man with long white hair was immersed in the solution within the glass column. His features were androgynous, his hair floating in the liquid.
"This is the Lightning Attraction Secret Art."
Kingsley looked at the young man immersed in the solution. Years ago, this youth had wanted to represent justice and eliminate him.
Su Xiao's doubts were resolved. He had entered this world wearing the title 'Sky-Plundering Soaring Glory.' Logically, the true World Child should have found him long ago.
The true World Child of this world naturally wouldn't come looking for him. The one soaking in the glass column was him. This true World Child had been completely manipulated by Kingsley.
Kingsley hadn't just used this World Child to attract golden lightning. The true World Child had white hair, and the World Child (fake) that Kingsley had cultivated also had white hair.
Beyond that, Kingsley had done one more thing. Using a certain dangerous object, he had completely altered the true World Child's memories.
Inside the solution, the young man with long white hair opened his eyes. Seeing Su Xiao and Baha, his gaze showed some confusion and vigilance, but upon seeing Kingsley, he smiled from the heart.
"Father, you've come."
The young man's voice came through the glass column. Kingsley was, of course, not the true father of this World Child. This was the result of memory tampering. Having his memories altered every three days, no one could withstand that.
Hearing the youth call Kingsley 'father,' Baha almost blurted out a shocked exclamation: 'Kingsley, you're the most badass villain boss I've ever seen. I, Baha, hereby declare you the strongest.'