In this new nation dwells a new race, a new form of humanity. They conceived and multiplied, spreading across the land, invincible, and becoming a complete whole!
Their father, their lord, their king, possessed a perfect body, supreme thought, and the form of a transcendent being, sitting high on the throne of the new kingdom and new city, forever invincible!
A newer, more perfect god has risen!
His name was Adam!
The Father of the New World! Adam, the First Man (adam Kadmon)!
282: Are all angels crazy?
When Hayden came to his senses, he found himself lying on the floor of the conference room.
His companions surrounded him with concern. Karen asked directly, "Are you alright? Did you get hit by a counter-detection spell?"
Hayden wouldn't be so worried if it were truly a counter-detection spell. However, his intuition tells him that the vision he just foresaw is probably just the tip of the iceberg of the future.
...However, even Hayden, who saw it with his own eyes, found the vision of the future too absurd and unbelievable.
What? A new world's father, Adam? A new type of human? Conquering the earth? Are you kidding me?!
Where are Mithras? You haven't really been taken down by the devil and Adam, have you?!
In any case, Hayden couldn't keep this a secret. He quickly recounted everything he'd seen in his premonition within two minutes. Thankfully, despite the absurdity of the story, no one thought Hayden might have been mistaken, and no one questioned the accuracy of his precognitive abilities. In fact, everyone was… a little nervous after hearing it.
"...Could those devils really cause any trouble?"
Even Alastor, who usually appears quite calm, showed signs of wavering at this moment.
Abigail, on the contrary, shook her head: "Impossible. None of you experienced the war between the old and new gods four hundred years ago. I not only lived through that era, but I also inherited some of Hecate's memories. The power gap between the old and new gods was almost absolute; it was a difference in productivity, systems, and even ways of thinking. It couldn't be overturned by one or two newly developed secret weapons."
"Even if the fallen angels did achieve a temporary victory with one or two newly developed secret weapons, how could their productivity and scale of production possibly compare to the new capitalist gods who have already conquered the world and are even exploring the universe?"
Abigail's words made a lot of sense and were very convincing.
However, at this moment, Karen said coldly, "Have you forgotten what the professor just said? It seems that the demons in New Jersey have regained some of their angelic power."
"Unlike fallen angels who are prone to power outages, true angels are perpetual motion machines, as we all know and can see every day. If the fallen angels of New Yatu truly regain their angelic perpetual motion energy, their productivity might not necessarily be defeated by the new capitalist gods."
These words alone immediately created a tense atmosphere in the meeting room, leaving everyone speechless for a moment. After all, the people here had benefited greatly from Angela's perpetual motion machine. The entire energy core of [New Sprout City] was built upon the Tree of Life, currently providing 80% of its energy. The Dream Flower could only provide less than 20%. Originally, the Dream Flower actually provided a higher proportion of energy, but due to the city's recent busy construction projects and the large number of new employees, the energy demand was naturally increasing. Relying solely on Karen's own production growth rate without the perpetual motion machine was simply unsustainable.
This is precisely why, because Karen knew so well how powerful and important Angela's perpetual motion machine was, she always harbored a deep sense of dread towards Angela. From the very beginning, Karen had never trusted Angela, nor this so-called angel and alien god.
A perpetual motion machine provided by angels or Outer Gods sounds great, but there might be unknown downsides, and something might become the price, right? Karen hates things that are unclear and she can't figure out.
Similarly, that's why she's raising the same concern at this meeting—if the devils could do the same thing and actually create a whole bunch of perpetual motion machines of angels, the world would be in real danger.
In that situation, coupled with some powerful secret weapons, perhaps the old gods really could have a way to restore power and create some strange Adam Kingdom and new humans... But speaking of which, why Adam? It's one thing for these devils to want to restore power, but why elevate Adam so high?
No one could answer this question, and no one could guarantee that it wouldn't happen. After a brief discussion, they couldn't come up with any particularly good solutions.
Finally, Professor Albion spoke first: "I'm going to take the surviving students of the Black God Gang to perform the transformation ritual, and then leave Newbud City to go into hiding."
He looked at his students, who were frowning, especially the most important one, and said, "Hayden, you are the real decision-maker for this team. You must be responsible for listening to everyone's opinions, combining them, and then making a decision. That's your responsibility."
“I thought Karen was sitting in this seat.” Hayden gave a wry smile, exchanged a glance with Karen, and both of them knew the truth. “Okay, I get it.”
Look at the argument from ten minutes ago. If Karen were really in that position, this team wouldn't exist anymore.
Even so, Hayden was still somewhat helpless: "But seriously, Professor, can't you give us some advice?"
“Of course not, I’m too old.” The professor shook his head. “You are the children of this era. Your era must be determined by yourselves.”
At this point, the old professor smiled again: "An old man shouldn't continue to steer the ship. I'll try my best to keep up with you, and help you out in times of crisis. That's about it. Two hundred years from now, you might have the same feelings as me... if we survive this week."
Well, that's true. The priority right now is definitely to survive.
So Professor Albion went to perform his ceremony. The young people, along with Abigail, who was even older than the professor, continued discussing the current issue. In truth, Abigail rarely made decisions for everyone; she usually just participated in the discussion.
In short, we need more intelligence.
Finally, Hayden said...
“Alastor, Abigail, considering your deep connection with the Old Gods, it’s best not to go to the front lines to avoid getting caught in any special effects. You two stay in Newbeam City to maintain and protect it.”
"Karen and I will be going to New Jersey again later. It's a very important matter, and there are some pieces of information we need to get to the bottom of ourselves. We can't let it pass through any intermediaries... By the way, what about Pania?"
Panya didn't even come to the meeting. She's still in New Jersey!
——————————————————————————————————
Two flowers bloom, one branch each.
The Black Prophet's final self-destruction killed a large number of mortal temporary workers and about twenty Vajrapani, causing losses to the Mithra Group's human resources—that being said, the direct losses were not particularly large.
What really gave the company's management a headache was the impact on its image and public opinion.
Ultimately, a person's lifelong struggle is nothing more than for their children, elderly parents, a house, and, after death, to be able to hang in the artificial underworld of a large company.
Now, the living can't afford to have children, the dead can't afford to live in the underworld, salaries are so low that people can't afford to buy houses, and after being implanted with chips, they even have to use their thoughts to work for the company. But so many people are still willing to work for the company, just so that they can at least have food to eat today, at least receive a temporary worker's salary, and be able to survive tomorrow.
However, with the Black Prophet's explosion, the whole world witnessed it, and everyone vaguely realized that even those who had implanted chips and worked for the company might die. Many people began to think about this. Thinking doesn't make people brave, nor does it make them cowardly; it only makes them curious. A few people began to see things more clearly, and then became angry with the company.
Unfortunately, such a minority is still far too few. Although everyone is anxious, human anxieties are not shared. Those locked in the iron cage, who were sleeping and about to die in their sleep, are awakened by the explosion and discover they are indeed trapped in an iron cage. However, most won't help smash it; instead, they'll curse the minority who are doing so. Because the destruction has affected them, making it impossible for them to continue being slaves to the company.
But to say that most people really want to be slaves... well, humans aren't that despicable, are they? Most people just want to survive. In order to survive, even if people are at a loss about the future, they have already become accustomed to the modern society created by the ruling class of the new gods, and have become accustomed to bowing their heads and moving forward in silence.
Meanwhile, the management of the Mitra Group, part of this so-called ruling class, was equally anxious and frustrated. They not only had to find a way to capture terrorists to report to their superiors, but also had to deal with the problem of their subordinates turning into bandits, and the growing panic and distrust of the company. This last problem was more terrifying for the company than anything else.
Anxiety, fear, anger, resentment, hatred...
These emotions now permeate people's hearts, and they come from many different people, weaving a web of negative and different thoughts that spread throughout the New Asia Metropolitan Area, even tearing each other apart.
Both mortals and gods were extremely irritated and annoyed by this.
Only one person, who is neither of these categories, is currently standing on a high floor of the company building, looking down at the entire city through the large floor-to-ceiling windows and laughing heartily.
She, of course, is that beautiful devil lady disguised as Alicia.
What this fallen angel was really thinking, only she herself probably knew. Fortunately, her dear husband Adam happened to walk into the room at that moment. As soon as she saw Adam, the fake Alicia immediately waved to him happily, inviting him to stand by the French windows to see the "night view" of New Asia.
"Look, Adam, an age of suffering is about to end."
She looked extremely happy.
"This is the poison that the new gods of capital willingly drank themselves; it is the watershed of their dynasty."
Adam raised an eyebrow: "What makes you say that?"
"Four hundred years ago, the new gods rose from among mortals. They created a myth that showed how a mortal could become rich, rise in social class, and become a god through hard work, intelligence, and learning."
The fake Alicia looked out the window at the city and explained with a smile.
"Knowledge changes destiny, diligence creates the future. The New Gods once helped mortal society create this illusion, tempting them to believe that kings and nobles are not born with a special destiny. They instilled in slaves the belief that as long as they worked hard and studied diligently, no matter how lowly their birth, they could still become slave owners, and even great slave owners. If you couldn't do it, it was because you were lazy, stupid, and useless, and you had no one else to blame—this was indeed a very clever ideology. With such a fantasy, slaves would fanatically worship slave owners and spontaneously defend slavery."
While praising the actions of the capitalist gods, she then changed the subject: "Unfortunately, soap bubbles always burst eventually. The skills education chips should be waking people up from their dreams soon. Even if it's not enough today, the will of the people is already brewing. In two or three months at most, the suffering, despair, sorrow, grief, and hatred of mortals will spread throughout the world. Countless souls will utter their deepest cries of pain and their resentment towards the capitalist gods."
"As one side rises, the other falls. While the gods of capital weaken, we have reclaimed the ultimate and most limitless power in the universe. And we also possess the chip technology that Mithra relied on as his trump card. The outcome was clear long before the war even began!"
The devil was very pleased with himself.
Adam bowed to her in greeting, then asked calmly, "Congratulations, Your Highness. But how do you intend to continue ruling the mortals after this? Will you restore the social system of the old royal era?"
"Hmm? Of course not. The old system was indeed flawed. I'm not stupid, I won't deny it." The fake Alicia laughed. "Besides, I have rediscovered the true source of power, and I understand the mistakes of our old dynasty. If I were to become emperor, I would cherish all the poor mortals in this world."
At first glance, this sounded quite nice, but Adam immediately sensed something was amiss and cautiously asked, "How exactly does it involve pampering?"
The fallen angel laughed even more heartily: "Now that we have infinite energy, we no longer need to enslave mortals to work for us, nor do we need to extract secret fire from them. Simply put, we'll take good care of all humanity, feed them well, clothe them, give them the freedom to read anime, read novels, play games, and reproduce, and pamper them to the point of comfort. We don't need to make them work; let them all pursue the pleasures of the two-dimensional world and physical desires, and stop thinking about worldly affairs—we, the gods, can handle everything else!"
Ah, so you're the runaway servants!
Now it was Adam's turn to be stunned. If Hayden were here, he probably would have burst out laughing.
But no matter what, Adam didn't like this at all. Although he had to outwardly appear extremely admiring, saying to his fallen angel wife with a look of deep emotion, "This is truly too merciful. It's absolutely a blessing for our race to have such a new ruler!"
However, upon hearing this, the fake Alicia smiled and reached out to stroke Adam's face: "No, this is love! The strongest power, infinitely overflowing and infinitely vast, can only be propelled by the sake of others. Right now, all of humanity is lying in cesspools, wailing for help, so of course we must respond to these pleas. Their prayers and our love are the ultimate power that can be used to defeat the God of Capital and bring happiness to all of humanity!"
Fuck you!
In Adam's eyes, this female demon was completely insane. What love? Can love generate electricity? These fallen angels must all be mentally unstable.
Ultimately, Adam never believed that these old gods could truly defeat the new gods. Adam never thought these fallen angels could successfully restore their power. Because the new gods—because Mithras—were simply too powerful, far too powerful!
So Adam was always just using the devil's power and resources to secretly carry out his own grand plan.
Seeing how crazy this woman had become, he finally made up his mind that it was time for him to jump out of the car and cut ties with her.
Fortunately, his own ascension plan was already prepared, and it seemed the devil's side would have to wait at least three months, which presented him with the perfect opportunity to betray and sabotage. Actually, Adam had deliberately leaked the timeline information to Professor Albion, hoping Hayden would get involved, but it seemed Hayden had no such intention… which didn't matter.
Anyway, Adam himself was about to become a god!
Moreover, he doesn't want to become some minor god, or even a great god like Karen.
He, Adam, is about to stand at the pinnacle of the world, just like Mithra!
283: The Invincible Power of Love!
New Yatu, the secret area on the thirteenth basement level of the Mitra Group's branch building.
Finding a simple excuse, Adam bypassed his smug fallen angel wife and hurriedly went to this secret floor alone.
Only Adam can enter this floor without triggering any alarms. Even if the fake Alicia or Dhritarashtra enters, the system will secretly notify Adam. Moreover, this floor doesn't need anyone else, as almost all the systems can operate automatically.
So now, in this vast underground white space, there are only tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of neatly arranged small boxes, like components of a matrix substrate. As always, each small box contains a cloned brain. These brains, as biological components, are housed in translucent boxes, configured into incredible geometric structures according to mysterious rules. Constantly, they chant ineffable, wondrous incantations, like a mixed male-female chorus:
Form is emptiness, emptiness is form; all phenomena are empty of inherent existence. There is no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, or mind; there is no wisdom; there is no attainment; there is no fear; ultimately, Nirvana is attained.
With educational chips to brainwash and manipulate them, countless cloned brains constantly chanting and praising, and parallel connections and amplification provided by the entire system, a continuous stream of spiritual and faith power flows out from the "Kowtowing Bug" system.
In reality, this is already a perpetual motion machine, because its output truly exceeds its input. Cloning a human brain, implanting an educational chip in it, and connecting it to the "Kowtowing Bug" matrix system to chant scriptures can produce more energy than the cost. After twenty-eight days, the brain's soul will be exhausted, and its secret fire will be drained, but this is not a problem at all.
Anyway, the human brain has an endless supply. And this entire semi-isolated system can indeed produce more energy than it consumes.
Unfortunately, while this energy is incredibly powerful, it's also too pure and domineering. Therefore, it can't be used in any sophisticated tools or for any delicate tasks. It can only be used for large-scale tasks, like a giant typhoon sweeper, which doesn't require precision. From the company's management's perspective, the "Kowtow Bug" system is currently a perpetual motion machine with flaws—it's truly amazing, but it also has real limitations, just like other perpetual motion machines controlled by various companies.
However, for Adam, this flaw was already something that could be overcome. The "Kowtowing Bug" system was his ladder to heaven and godhood!
Upon entering the floor, he immediately activated the backdoor program in the system using his voiceprint and magical imprint: "[Transformation of Name and Destiny Ritual 2.0], Phase One Initiation!"
The [Knocking Beetle] system responded and began to change. With a rumbling sound, all the rows of brain boxes began to rearrange their order. Adam strode towards the center of the large white room. Eight dark obelisks creaked and rose from the ground around Adam.
Then, Adam gave a second command: "Activate the Holy Bottle!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a transparent, bottle-shaped vessel rose up from beneath his feet, from beneath the floor. The container resembled a bottle, a cup, and a large vat, large enough to contain Adam entirely.
And he is indeed going to go in next.
Although he had made all the necessary preparations, Adam still felt a primal fear when he thought about what he was about to do.
He wants to become a god.
However, as everyone knows, becoming a god is not something that can be done casually. Look at the people around Hayden who have become gods. Apart from Kallen, who was born a god, the others Hayden knew who became gods from humans—Pania, Alastor, Abigail, and even Kallen's mother Hela—all had to go through the process of death and rebirth before they could become gods from humans.
While each person's path to godhood differs, all those who ascend from human to godhood must undergo a process of death or near-death. This is a commonality across almost all magical cultures, past and present, East and West, and can be considered an axiom.
Only by crossing the boundary between life and death (and coming back alive) can one gain transcendent power.
So far, Adam has relied on his intelligence and cunning to avoid various desperate situations. He is adept at patience and cleverly anticipates and avoids future crises. Like Hayden, he rose from the bottom to the top, but unlike Hayden, he didn't constantly escape death; in fact, Adam has almost never personally engaged in combat. He always had people he could manipulate.
As long as you can anticipate all the pitfalls in the future and avoid falling into them, you will never fail in life.
But today, Adam must finally face a danger he cannot escape. The ritual of becoming a god, a narrow bridge where a single mistake could lead to death, must be crossed by Adam himself, and he must complete it alive.
Was he afraid? Adam was certainly afraid. Because what he was about to do, in a sense, was to put himself in a cauldron and boil him, commit suicide once and then rise again to create a perfect new divine body. He had to face death head-on; he could not escape it.
...But at the same time, a heavy feeling of death crept up his spine, making Adam break out in a cold sweat. For some reason, despite having made as many preparations as possible, he still had a premonition that he would die.
Adam actually had a second path to choose. He could have given up on becoming a god on his own, abandoned using his own methods, and turned back to rely on the fallen angel. That mad fallen angel wanted to be an out-of-control servant, and Adam just needed to stick close to him... But then he wouldn't be able to ascend to the top. And if he consorted with his devil wife, Adam would have to be dragged along by her to attack Mithra.
The thought of facing Mithra head-on sent a chill down Adam's spine. He didn't believe the demons could possibly defeat Mithra. This wasn't because he was cowardly, but because Mithra was simply too powerful.
Sometimes, the more intelligent and capable someone is, the better they can understand the differences in size between things. For example, ancient people living on Earth would never have known that the sun in the sky is actually larger than the Earth. Its vastness is beyond the comprehension of people on Earth.
But if you fly into space, you'll truly understand that the sun is bigger than the earth.
If you were the Earth yourself, you would understand even more how many times larger the sun is than you.
Therefore, Adam's intelligence made it impossible for him to imagine the devil directly challenging Mithras and winning. He had no intention of continuing to associate with the devil. He wanted to jump off the train; he wanted to cut himself up!
As for the risks of facing death alone, this premonition of death... what is there to fear now that we live in this world!
"The Secret Ritual of Transformation and Fate Breaking, Phase Two Begins! Fully activate the [Kowtowing Insect] System and activate the Alchemy Rebirth Technique!"
At Adam's command, the large white room exploded with a deafening roar. All the rows of brain boxes, driven by mental power, began to rotate around Adam, becoming unusually active and releasing dazzling light.