Zhou Yi asked, "After you explode, will you also become atmospheric creatures?"
Bone Man replied, "No, it's just that a more powerful bomb brings about Light Burst-style widespread, intense radiation."
"That is to say, the key lies in whether the architectural life itself can transform into atmospheric beings, not that an explosion creates atmospheric beings."
Bone Man continued, "However, whether it's Mechanical City or Heavenly Kingdom, the understanding of atmospheric creatures is very limited."
"Atmospheric beings are almost impossible to kill completely; they can only be weakened and severely injured to a great extent. Their physiological structure is very low in density, possessing extreme ductility and Stretching power, yet able to adsorb and lock in a large amount of Dead Light Energy, making them extremely dangerous creatures of the Outer Sea."
"The ones who understand them the most are Star Axis, with Heavenly Kingdom's deep research domains located in the Land and Dead Sea. Due to the confrontational relationship between the two, more intelligence can't be obtained, so we can only carry out hard independent research."
Zhou Yi's thoughts stirred, "What is Star Axis's attitude towards atmospheric beings?"
"As for their attitude... it should be said that they are neither hostile nor deeply connected. Judging from the large amount of confidential intelligence provided to us by Heavenly Kingdom, Star Axis is mostly indifferent to atmospheric beings."
"Indifferent? Is it because of the altitude?"
"Yes, they live at different altitudes. Star Axis lies far above the Outer Sea."
Zhou Yi thought, Star Axis, comprising satellite clusters, indeed lies far beyond the atmospheric layer.
Atmospheric beings, atmospheric layer, Outer Sea...
He asked, "Atmospheric beings can't survive away from the Outer Sea, can they?"
"According to the known information, that's the case, which is why they're called atmospheric beings."
The cleaning robot said, "Before the first Skywalkers entered the Outer Sea, atmospheric beings were already living there. The early atmospheric creatures were relatively mild, not very aggressive; on the contrary, it was originally the Skywalkers who hunted the atmospheric beings."
This piqued Zhou Yi's interest, "Tell me more."
"Initially, when Skywalkers hunted atmospheric beings, there were some video records of it, just not open to the public. We've watched them during our research."
The Light Seal Expert described, "In those recordings, atmospheric beings seemed totally without a sense of attack or defense, trapped by the Skywalkers' powers and then caught using special devices. The whole process was no harder than capturing a common B-class organism."
"Only when they were locked in specially made gas cabinets did the atmospheric beings begin to struggle, but by then it was too late. The gas cabinets that locked them were specially made, featuring high pressure and sealed with oil, fixed internally and externally by Mechanical-Electrical Light Imprints, rapidly cooling and freezing the atmospheric beings, inducing them into a hibernation state..."
"The main reason is that atmospheric beings aren't aware of the danger and are attracted into the gas cabinets by the Light Seed, much like birds captured by simple traps."
"The captured atmospheric beings, originally found to be neither a source for extracting combat species nor obtaining genetic species, could only be exploited for Light Seeds. They themselves have a high degree of energy and were treated as living minerals of the Outer Sea."
"This process didn't last long, and the atmospheric beings gradually became smarter. They were no longer easily deceived and stopped falling into gas cabinets because of Light Seeds and curiosity. Moreover, they began to drive away the land-dwelling lives hunting them."
Bone Man paused, "The complete change in the situation began with the appearance of a 'predator' among the atmospheric beings."
"It was the first atmospheric being that actively hunted Skywalkers—extremely strong in combat, quickly consuming three Skywalkers and seven sea lords."
"Soon enough, the atmospheric beings all found that hunting the terrestrial life of the Outer Sea was not difficult. The situation was swiftly reversed."
It recalled, "The Skywalkers of the Outer Sea became the hunted targets, as atmospheric beings began hunting everywhere. Later on, the Skywalkers spent massive resources to construct Cloud Mountain to deal with the atmospheric beings."
"The so-called Cloud Mountain is an artificial island created with A-grade Mechanical-Electrical Light Imprints, surrounded by 'Light Banners' that could restrain atmospheric beings."
"If atmospheric beings approached Cloud Mountain, these Light Banners would continuously blend into their bodies, causing discomfort and physiological abnormalities in the atmospheric beings, leading to various pains... it can be understood as a strong poison to them."
After listening patiently, Zhou Yi said, "Light Banners are an artificial substance?"
"No. They're a natural phenomenon formed in the Outer Sea."
Bone Man explained, "They appear like banner-like clouds, with highly compressed energy structures, varying in size, but with a very strong adsorption ability, capable of rolling in various forms of energy... somewhat like the rapids of the Inner Sea."
"However, their movement is slow, enduring over long periods. In fact, whether for Skywalkers or atmospheric beings, encountering Light Banners is dangerous; once entangled, they will be completely shredded and transformed into energy."
The cleaning robot stated, "It's just that compared to the huge bodies of atmospheric beings, Skywalkers are better at evading the slow-moving Light Banners. Hence, positioning the Light Banners around Cloud Mountain created a natural barrier."
"Just moving and maneuvering Light Banners consumes a tremendous amount, and the Skywalkers also expended a lot of manpower and material resources to finally set up the Light Banner array to block the atmospheric beings."
Zhou Yi silently took note.
The geographical environments of the Outer Sea and Inner Sea do indeed differ greatly, with the Outer Sea lacking any Land, and artificial mountains and natural defensive barriers needed.
"Let's get back to the experiment itself."
Bone Man stated, "Because atmospheric beings are extremely powerful and tough, Heavenly Kingdom hoped to cultivate controllable atmospheric beings."
"A large number of experimental results proved that this is impossible."
"However, our experiments did discover another thing: atmospheric beings are constantly evolving through hunting."
"They hunt Skywalkers and sea lords in the Outer Sea, with the core goal of acquiring other lives' consciousness to supplement themselves. This type of predation can only capture fragmentary consciousness, but it allows them to access a vast amount of information, thus becoming smarter."
"So as the two sides confronted each other, the atmospheric creatures grew rapidly. They amassed experience and knowledge by hunting down prey."
Zhou Yi furrowed his brows as he listened.
The atmospheric creatures became stronger as they fought, fueling their combat with combat, supplementing the much-needed cerebral element, making it tough for the Skywalkers.
Shi Gandang added, "However, atmospheric creatures have their weaknesses as well, they all live and act alone."
"They also attack and hunt each other internally because they have highly divergent consciousnesses, which often leads them to act on a whim, making it impossible to predict their next move."
"Otherwise, even Cloud Mountain would find it difficult to stop them if they were to rally together."
The Skywalkers had to match wits and bravery against atmospheric creatures to obtain Firewood Mound from the Outer Sea.
Fortunately, atmospheric creatures couldn't survive in the overly weak Inner Sea.
Various thoughts fluttered through Zhou Yi's mind, but soon he brought his focus back, "The core purpose of the Light Burst Angel is to keep a secret."
Shi Gandang said, "All the Light Seal Experts, whether they had signed a confidentiality agreement or not, were made into Light Burst Angels. Only in this way could the Heavenly Kingdom ensure the secrets would not be leaked."
"The Heavenly Kingdom never gave up on transforming atmospheric creatures, and research in this area must still be ongoing."
Zhou Yi asked, "What about the Heavenly People then?"
Shi Gandang simply said, "I don't know."
Zhou Yi then summoned the Second Unit to ask for Xiao Fu's opinion.
"Atmospheric creatures are actually a kind of phenomenon-based life, only able to exist in specific environments, so they don't pose a great threat themselves. Unexpectedly, the building life could evolve in this direction... These guys indeed have a remarkably high growth potential."
Reverse Flow said, "From my point of view, your planning, Da Zhou, is a bit more suitable for them. Building life is a gathering of numerous consciousnesses, and their bodies are capable of complementing the dispersed consciousnesses, which is not solely a restriction. If given the chance, we could capture an atmospheric creature to find out what's really going on."
Zhou Yi thought to himself, that would be a task for the distant future.
For now, he needed to focus on the Inner Sea.
Let the divine battles happen in the Outer Sea.
Shi Gandang's words indeed had enlightened Zhou Yi, the greatest competitive strength of the Outer Sea was that it had Firewood Mound.
In the Dead Cult World, Firewood Mound was also abundant.
Now that the company had two A-level employees, it was time to consider taking a look there.
In the meeting room of the Shuanghe Region, the atmosphere was exceptionally tense.
Everyone else was silent.
General Bai Xing smoked his cigarette.
Lin Qin spoke up with some difficulty, "Regarding the theft of the Light Burst Angel this time... I inspected the scene, conducted several trace comparisons, and am fairly certain it was the work of those two A-level lifeforms from Wasteland Development Company."
"The Condenser can instantly destroy the guard system, and that Bone Man's dust ability took the container of the Light Burst Angel apart. I originally thought they had internal conflicts; they even fought here before. But surprisingly, they operated very in sync... From this, it can be determined that Wasteland Development Company has a high degree of control over its employees, capable of having A-level lifeforms faithfully and swiftly execute orders."
The others still remained silent.
Lin Qin had no choice but to continue, "Now that the Light Burst Angel has been stolen, we have lost a vital strategic deterrent."
"Zhou Yi is warning us in this way. Given the deficits in logistics and strategic reserves, I suggest we consider negotiating a ceasefire."
Another earth official in charge of production said, "I agree."
"The war with the Development Alliance has resulted in sanctions from Coral Port, and now we are unable to use the trade transport channels there, causing costs to rise continuously. Export volumes to the Southern Region have plummeted in the past two months, and market share is being taken over by other regions. Once this loss deepens, it becomes irreversible, and we could permanently lose a portion of the market."
Another electromechanical life also spoke up, "The rebellion has been resurging lately, with mutants spotted amongst them; this is highly alarming. I think we should concentrate more forces on the rebellion; they could potentially strike our inland territories."
General Bai Xing, against the general opinion, said, "Keep fighting."
"This honorary war must continue until the adult returns. Ceasefire would only put us in a dangerous situation."
"As long as the war continues, the various forces watching from the shadows won't step in."
Exhaling a puff of smoke, it said in an unquestionable tone, "Meeting dismissed."
Lin Qin could understand.
It just worried that further provoking Zhou Yi and Wasteland Development Company... could lead to unknown consequences. Chapters fırst released on NovelHub(.)net
This winter was perilous at every turn.