Chapter 263
Facing this question, Le Lun had long been prepared: “Even if intelligent life is endowed with extraordinary gifts, capable of understanding and utilizing certain truths, and possessing boundless possibilities, it can never attain true ‘eternity.’”
“Cells in intelligent beings can only remain active for a maximum of 100 years. They can be modified through long-term hibernation, biological modulation, mechanization, and other means to achieve a semblance of eternal life. Ultimately, what limits intelligent life is the lifespan of the soul—ten thousand years is the limit.”
“This limit is the lifespan of the soul.”
Here, Le Lun’s ‘soul’ was translated into terms that Ye Bo could understand; a more accurate description would refer to ‘mental power, consciousness, and the subjective actions of intelligent beings.’
Upon hearing Le Lun mention the ten-thousand-year limit of the soul, Ye Bo immediately thought of her own ‘over ten thousand years of age.’
However, Le Lun continued, “I was born a billion years ago. To avoid exceeding the limit of my soul, I have hibernated for countless ages.”
It turned out that during those periods of unconscious hibernation, the soul limit he mentioned did not count.
At the same time, Ye Bo vaguely realized the taboo that Le Lun might have violated—
Sure enough, the next moment, Le Lun provided the same answer that Ye Bo had in mind: “I altered my soul limit with the Master’s permission.”
At this point, Le Lun’s face, which had always appeared as meticulously crafted as a robot, finally revealed a hint of ‘human’ emotion, a long-standing bitterness and greed surfacing.
“I just wanted to live a little longer. What’s wrong with that?! The Master doesn’t care.”
“What matters is that others in the church dare not do the same. They still have a long soul limit and are only thinking about seizing the vacant bishop position!”
After a pause, as if realizing his own indiscretion, Le Lun composed himself and turned to Ye Bo, asking, “You’re one of the two taskers from the last planetary migration mission, right?”
Upon hearing this, Ye Bo quickly connected the dots: “You’re the third tasker?”
Before coming here, she had already linked the emergency mission, the unresolved previous task, and the missing third tasker, and now she was completely certain of it.
Le Lun confirmed, “This task was also part of my plan to escape the Chaotic Star Sea. After evaluation, it was supposed to be a high-risk mission. I was the task settler, and the main control terminal couldn’t leave the Chaotic Star Sea. I temporarily forged a sub-account to escape after the mission failed.”
“To do this, I deliberately accelerated the gamma-ray burst by tenfold, increasing the difficulty of the task. Yet, someone still took it on, and you completed it, which led to my early exposure.”
At this point, Ye Bo’s mind flashed with images of the gamma-ray burst, feeling a chill descend from above.
“The gamma-ray burst was controlled by you?”
Le Lun replied, “It was the Master’s will. I merely adjusted the timing within a limited scope, something every bishop can do.”
Ye Bo’s emotions became difficult to articulate in that moment. She had previously thought that the Star Church merely predicted the disaster in advance and exerted influence. But if even the source of the disaster was under their control, then what had befallen Teda Star was not a rescue of civilization, but a complete interference with it.
It was like a person facing a cluster of plants in a garden, finding their growth unsatisfactory, and thus pruning them into different shapes.
In that instant, Ye Bo inexplicably recalled the Ordovician period on Blue Star, when it faced a gamma-ray burst. Could the meteorite impact from ten thousand years ago also have been a result of such interference?
The two communicated through mental power, achieving high efficiency, and during their exchange, Le Lun gradually deviated from the previously exposed coordinates. As long as he broke through before being surrounded by the Star Church, his chances of escape would increase.
Because forming a surrounding circle in space required far more power than on a planet; it was no longer a simple flat circle but needed to be a sphere.
As they approached the edge of the designated coordinates, a hint of relief crossed Le Lun’s expression: “I admire your abilities and strength, so how about we collaborate?”
Ye Bo snapped back to reality and asked noncommittally, “How would we collaborate?”
Le Lun replied, “Two options… First, you deliberately don’t catch up to me, and I’ll transfer a large amount of technology and one hundred million Star Points to you; second, we escape the Chaotic Star Sea together and head to the Star Alliance. If you’re from the Star Alliance, I’ll eliminate the influence of the Star Will on you.”
Upon hearing the second option, Ye Bo felt a strange sensation. After all, she had just come from the Star Alliance. But then she quickly caught onto an important piece of information: “What influence of the Star Will?”
Le Lun was not surprised by Ye Bo’s question. At this stage, he was more than happy to share some intelligence, perhaps even escaping the encirclement without paying a price.
“You really are from the Star Alliance. No wonder you don’t know so much common knowledge. Anyone who comes from the Star Alliance to the Chaotic Star Sea and then returns will be affected by the Star Will, preventing them from disclosing anything related to the Star Church to others, and they won’t even be aware of it.”
Upon hearing this, Ye Bo was once again taken aback.
There was such an influence?!
She had previously speculated that there might be a game or tacit understanding between the Star Alliance and the Chaotic Star Sea, which had led to the current balance presented to the public. It turned out that her guess was wrong; there was a ‘Star Will’ that ensured everyone coming from the Star Alliance, whether intentionally or unintentionally, would not disclose related information.
Since arriving here, Ye Bo had not returned to the Star Alliance, and at this moment, she had no idea whether she would be affected when she did.
Could it be that the stars worshipped by this church, which seemed to represent the ‘cosmic truth,’ were actually a real existing will?
Once again, the warning from her previous attempt surfaced in Ye Bo’s mind—
Beware of the Stars.
In an instant, Ye Bo, who had initially intended to probe for information from Le Lun, hesitated, torn between whether to seize this opportunity to return to the Star Alliance with him.
However, she had many threats in the Star Alliance, and there was a risk of exposure. Moreover, she couldn’t trust Le Lun, who appeared young but had actually lived for a billion years, with a heart only set on extending his life.
He was now the number one wanted criminal of the Star Church, and Ye Bo had no idea how fiercely the church would pursue him. From the current situation, it certainly wouldn’t be small.
In terms of understanding the Star Church, Ye Bo and Le Lun, this bishop, had a serious information gap. She could easily be led into a trap and become a hunted decoy.
Once again, Ye Bo blocked the path forward, and the cunning Le Lun quickly understood: “Is your status in the Star Alliance not good? Or are you worried about being a burden to me?”
Ye Bo answered straightforwardly, “Both.”
As they were about to break free from the encirclement, Le Lun maintained a friendly demeanor: “No worries, you can choose the first option. To show my sincerity, I’ll leave this main control terminal here. I’ve already opened the permissions. As long as you get a certain distance from your secondary terminal, you can access the technology and points inside.”
At that moment, a terminal, the same size as the one in Ye Bo’s hand but entirely black, flew out from the spaceship, floating in space.
Ye Bo didn’t rashly use her mental power to touch the terminal but immediately communicated with her own terminal.
The terminal, which had previously had its other functions forcibly shut down, was restored, as if it had just reconnected to the network. Simultaneously, a page identical to the one she had seen during the wormhole task settlement appeared before her.
With a thought, a large amount of technology and points, just like the rewards she had chosen during the last task settlement, were added to her terminal.
It seemed like a localized download hotspot…
Ye Bo couldn’t help but scoff, realizing that each task required a member of the Star Church to be present, not only to demonstrate the church’s control but also to distribute rewards. However, this form felt more like granting some kind of permission.
“I don’t need this terminal either. The Star Church is after this terminal. If you want it, you can have it.”
Le Lun on the other side said generously, seemingly trying to buy time for Ye Bo with the terminal.
Ye Bo gazed at the black bishop terminal, her eyes flickering.
She was incredibly curious about the secrets that might be hidden within this terminal, but if she planned to stay in the Chaotic Star Sea, she absolutely couldn’t keep this terminal in her possession. However, she had another way to keep it.
Because she only needed to have ‘once possessed’ it to be enough.
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