Chapter 138 Awakening

Six hours later, the alarm clock set by the heart rang right on time, and Huang Ze awoke from his deep sleep.

The black dragon’s slit pupils widened slightly, and two streams of fiery breath expelled from its nostrils. The entire aura of the dragon had undergone a significant change, becoming much more majestic and profound, completely losing its previous approachable demeanor.

Huang Ze slowly crawled up from the charging pile, stretched his limbs for a moment, and felt that something was distinctly amiss with his entire body.

"All of my physical indicators are completely normal, and no major changes have occurred. Yet why do I always feel somewhat strange, as if I have suddenly become a stranger to myself..."

Huang Ze muttered to himself. He felt as though something had gone wrong with his emotional module, leaving his entire being noticeably more numb and indifferent.

True to his word earlier, he had engaged in a fierce battle with Freya, pressing the Goddess of Love to the point where she stripped away her hypocritical facade and revealed the combat form of a fury just to barely withstand the black dragon’s ferocious onslaught.

Of course, the battle between them was entirely a contest of spiritual power.

Compared to Freya, an ancient deity, Huang Ze was still vastly inferior. However, he was fighting on his home turf. Once this micro-universe truly erupted, even Freya—who possessed the dual divine authority of the Goddess of Love and a fury—found it somewhat difficult to parry, suffering heavy blows from the black dragon that caused her to vomit quite a bit of blood during the combat.

"It's possible that her blood polluted my spiritual world, thereby affecting the thinking patterns of my brain..."

Huang Ze thought with a solemn expression.

For some reason, through his contact with Freya, Huang Ze inexplicably developed a suspicion, vaguely sensing that the entire material realm was like a massive server.

Meanwhile, deities like Freya were the core intelligent programs within that server, driven by the world's will—essentially the server's host system—to help process an immense amount of data in order to keep the material realm operating smoothly.

In other words, the divine blood that Freya spat into Huang Ze's spiritual world was not true blood at all, but rather some vital core data. Once absorbed by the processor of Huang Ze's brain, it naturally inflicted a massive shock!

"I was too impulsive after all. It’s obvious that I fell for Freya's provocation..."

Huang Ze realized it belatedly. Only then did he recall that, despite being beaten miserably by him just moments before, Freya's eyes had shown not anger or hostility when she vomited blood, but rather a hint of pleasure—

He hadn't been assaulting her at all; he had practically been giving her therapy!

The divine blood she spat out was very likely just junk data from her system!

Without a doubt, it was the marriage matchmaking operations for the three hundred thousand Xia citizens that had placed an overwhelming burden on Freya's system. She must have been more than eager to dump that load onto Huang Ze!

In short, Huang Ze had been manipulated by Freya from beginning to end!

...

Soon, Academician Ding also learned from the monitoring personnel that the black dragon's condition was somewhat abnormal, as if it had something weighing on its mind. He quickly came over in person to provide consultation and counseling.

"Academician Ding... Tell me, if I truly become a deity, will that ultimately be a good thing or a bad thing for our country?"

This time, Huang Ze did not immediately spill his thoughts, but instead posed such a question.

"Mr. Huang... It's fifty-fifty."

Academician Ding pondered for a moment before analyzing calmly, "If you truly become a deity, Mr. Huang, and your relationship with us remains as close as ever, then not only will our cutting-edge combat power be guaranteed, but we will also have the opportunity to understand the secrets and truths that the deities have intentionally concealed."

"Yet I have a strong premonition that if I truly become a deity, far from remaining close to the nation, my relationship with it might even erupt into intense conflict... even more severe than that with the indigenous deities!"

Huang Ze could not help but say.

"That is precisely what I am worried about."

Academician Ding nodded, speaking with a grave expression, "Once that situation arises, our country's predicament will undoubtedly become extremely dire! A good thing would directly turn into a bad thing."

"And even if that situation does not occur, once you metamorphose into a deity, Mr. Huang, it will likely inflict a massive shock upon our nation's ideology and every aspect of our society. Our technology will stagnate, and our system will become impossible to maintain..."

"By that time, the Xia people, like many other intelligent races, will gradually be assimilated into the indigenous inhabitants of this world, henceforth subjected to the slavery of deities, never to rise again!"

"Academician Ding, everything you've said is something I have actually considered."

Huang Ze sighed and said, "Yet it seems I am now marching down the path of godhood with no turning back. I truly have zero confidence in whether I can maintain my sense of self in the end."

With that, Huang Ze recounted his experiences within the spiritual world to Academician Ding in full detail, hoping to gain some new inspiration and insights from his perspective.

"...Mr. Huang, are you certain that those glowing conscious entities in your spiritual world were the people who ingested your golden dragon blood?"

After listening, Academician Ding pondered for quite a while before solemnly asking the black dragon.

"There shouldn't be any mistake. Both in terms of quantity and aura, they match up perfectly."

Huang Ze replied, "And besides that, I honestly cannot think of any other reason that could have caused them to appear."

"...That is true."

Academician Ding thought for a moment, then continued, "Have you ever tried pulling their consciousness directly into your spiritual world?"

"I haven't tried that yet."

Huang Ze shook his head and said, "Perhaps if I had waited a bit longer, I might have made such an attempt. But later on, I chose to enter my mother's dream, and then I encountered the Goddess of Love..."

"Then you must give it a try next time, Mr. Huang. If you can pull their consciousness directly into your spiritual world, our maneuvering space will undoubtedly become much larger."

Academician Ding stated, "Mr. Huang, you should still remember what that woman Wen Ya looked like. Could you trouble yourself to draw her?"

"After all, there are quite a few people in our country named Wen Ya. Searching through the population registry system might take a considerable amount of time."

"That is certainly not a problem."

Huang Ze readily agreed. A dragon's memory system was far more powerful than a human's, allowing it to clearly remember everything within a dream.

Furthermore, his drawing ability was quite decent. It wasn't because he had received systematic training in that area, but rather because he could use his True Eye like a laser printer.

As long as he issued specific instructions through his mind, the third eye on Huang Ze's forehead could emit lasers to print images directly onto blank paper—and what's more, it printed in full color!

The only slight inconvenience was that this method consumed a fair amount of energy, and the resolution wasn't entirely guaranteed, leaving room for Huang Ze to further research and improve it.

After printing the photograph, Academician Ding had the staff take it for comparison and searching, aiming to take control of this priestess of Freya as soon as possible. He then continued speaking to the black dragon:

"Mr. Huang, actually, that hypothesis of yours—that this world is a massive server—is something we have also considered before."

"Earlier, when our staff were holding a brainstorming session, they similarly proposed: Could this world be a virtual world?"

"Much like the movie *The Matrix*, the entire world is a massive server, and all human beings are actually formed by data transmitted from brains."

"In order to prevent people from discovering the truth, the server's host naturally has to lock down the microscopic realm, preventing everyone's cognition from collapsing and thereby causing the server to crash..."

"Hmph... If we follow this line of thought, it actually sounds quite logical and remarkably plausible!"

Huang Ze's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Of course!"

Academician Ding also smiled. "After all, if this world is truly a virtual world composed of code and data, then everything can be explained."

"Deities are composed of data via certain algorithms, magic is structured around core code, and the sun and moon are actually just decorations. They aren't the ones emitting light; rather, light is automatically distributed to every individual..."

"However, there is a major problem with this hypothesis: why did our country cross over into this world as an entirety, and why hasn't the microscopic realm been locked down?"

"Why is there a barrier wall protecting our nation from being assimilated by the outside world?"

"Could it... could it possibly be that the Trisolarans fired a photoid at us, and then showed mercy by leaving us a three-year newbie protection period?"

"Phuh, saying it like that isn't entirely impossible..."

Huang Ze was momentarily stunned, then couldn't help saying, "Perhaps some super civilization in the universe was just bored and used technology to directly manufacture a world like this, and all these gods, demons, and giant dragons are merely toys they created!"

Huang Ze continued, "The reason they brought us Xia people here must be to make us fight against them, just to satisfy the morbid sense of humor in their hearts!"

"Mr. Huang... Whether the truth is like that doesn't actually matter."

Academician Ding smiled slightly and said, "What matters is how our country can get through the crisis three years from now and prosper in this world."

"And... didn't you ask the Goddess of Night earlier, Mr. Huang, whether she was an intelligent program manufactured by aliens, and didn't she answer that she wasn't?"

"That's true..."

Huang Ze thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

Whether this world is real or virtual doesn't actually matter; what matters is how to gain a foothold and seize greater initiative and the right to speak.

"Mr. Huang, what we most urgently need to resolve right now is actually the divine authority of the Goddess of Love that you carry."

Academician Ding said with a solemn expression, "Freya sharing her divine authority with you is both an opportunity and a challenge for us."

"Perhaps among higher-tier life forms, concepts like love aren't held in high regard, but for us Xia people, its impact is definitely not to be underestimated!"

"It is directly tied to the happiness of our ordinary citizens and the stability of our society. If utilized properly, it will undoubtedly be a powerful weapon for united front propaganda and macroeconomic regulation!"

"But... our Xia country has a population of over a billion. With such a massive operational volume that even an ancient deity like Freya couldn't handle it, how could I possibly manage?"

Huang Ze sighed, not without worry.

"This... as Freya suggested, we might be able to utilize big data."

Academician Ding thought for a moment and said, "As long as you raise the development level of your spiritual world, Mr. Huang, we can try to set up a few large supercomputers inside it to automatically assist in the allocation and execution of divine authority. Naturally, you won't need to handle everything personally, Mr. Huang."

"Let's hope so..."

Huang Ze was not very optimistic about Academician Ding's idea. After all, using supercomputers to execute divine authority was somewhat idealized.

His spiritual world hadn't even undergone the creation of heaven and earth yet, and goodness knows how long it would take to build something like a supercomputer. Even if it were built, it might not necessarily be compatible with the quantum algorithms of divine authority, meaning he would likely still have to operate it himself in the end.

"I actually have a better idea..."

Huang Ze hesitated, unable to help glancing up at the sky, as if feeling that what he was about to say was far too earth-shattering and that if those beings up above heard it, it could potentially cause massive trouble.

Academician Ding understood tacitly and quickly had the staff bring over several large signal jammers, raising the confidentiality level to the maximum before listening to the black dragon continue:

"Academician Ding, this is what I'm thinking."

"Since Freya could share her divine authority with me, might I also be able to share the divine authority of love with everyone else?"

"Of course, the souls of ordinary people certainly couldn't bear the authority of a deity. But what if it among the compatriots who have ingested the golden dragon blood—what if this divine authority is split into millions, or even over a billion parts?"

"Anyway, judging by the current situation, we will have at least tens of millions of compatriots ingesting golden dragon blood three years from now. I refuse to believe that tens of millions of us won't be able to bear a mere share of her divine persona!"

"..."

Academician Ding was dumbfounded, never expecting the black dragon's train of thought to be so eccentric, directly applying the sharing economy to divine authority. This was simply brilliant!

"If this can really be operated in such a way, it certainly wouldn't be a bad method!"

Academician Ding wore a look of excitement, not only because Huang Ze could think of such a good idea, but also because Huang Ze possessed such selflessness!

After all, the virtue of sharing was not something everyone possessed, let alone when it concerned the authority of a deity!

"However, splitting and sharing divine authority is a matter that requires careful deliberation."

Academician Ding suppressed his emotions and analyzed calmly, "Many rights are actually unsuited for excessive decentralization; they inherently require centralization. After all, everyone's capabilities have their limitations, and professional matters must be left to professionals."

"Still, your line of thought is undoubtedly correct, Mr. Huang. If divine authority can truly be shared, our future advantages will undoubtedly be immensely vast!"