ATDIWR Chapter 102

Chapter 102 Joint Conference Spirit Body

“General Commander Gu, you’re here?” Wuyu greeted Gu Jinsheng warmly. Gu Jinsheng always felt Wuyu’s fawning look was especially familiar, very much like someone, Ouyang’s face flashed through his mind, not just similar, but exactly the same.

Ji An had successfully gained another fanboy, who was also the former director of Luoshi Base’s research institute and a very capable Mental-type Power User.

Gu Jinsheng was proud of Ji An.

Gu Jinsheng nodded slightly at Wuyu.

Ji An saw that Gu Jinsheng’s eyes were completely different from before. Perhaps between two people who had been that intimate, that closeness would always inadvertently reveal itself, a relationship that a third person could never intrude upon.

Gu Jinsheng felt it himself, and this change made him feel sweet and joyful.

Ji An pointed at Wuyu’s Ability Manifestation of his mental ability and said, “I’ve been studying Ability Manifestation recently. Look, this is Wuyu’s Mental-type Ability Manifestation.”

Wuyu’s Ability Manifestation was an ordinary elephant common before the Apocalypse, the kind with a long trunk and no hair, which were plentiful before the Apocalypse.

Wuyu was quite proud. Not everyone could manifest their ability; being able to manifest it meant his ability level was high enough.

Of course, this couldn’t compare to Gu Jinsheng’s Thunder Dragon. In the entire country of Xia, who didn’t know Gu Jinsheng’s Thunder Dragon? There was no comparison, and it couldn’t be compared.

Gu Jinsheng knew that Ji An showing him Wuyu’s manifested elephant wasn’t just for simple viewing; there must be another reason.

Gu Jinsheng looked carefully and immediately realized that the elephant manifested by Wuyu was simply an image condensed from his ability.

It was ‘dead’, with no thoughts or soul of its own. Its eyes were dull and lifeless, not even turning, like a finished clay sculpture. Whatever its owner molded it into, that’s what it was.

Gu Jinsheng glanced at Ji An, and Ji An nodded at him.

“Thank you, Wuyu, you can put it away now,” Ji An said.

Wuyu put away his ability. “Director, are you starting new research?”

“Yes, I will be doing new research recently, but this has nothing to do with it. This is purely for some personal reasons and doesn’t involve experiments,” Ji An replied.

Wuyu’s gaze immediately fell on Gu Jinsheng, feeling a little twinge of jealousy. “Is it because of General Commander Gu? After General Commander Gu’s ability was crippled, the Thunder Dragon became less controllable. Is the Director researching Ability Manifestation to help General Commander Gu solve this problem?”

Who wouldn’t want such a powerful and capable partner who put their significant other first in everything?

What kind of immortal love was this!

How did Gu Jinsheng hook him?

He looked mature, steady, and unsmiling in front of others, but unexpectedly sold himself behind the scenes!

Wuyu thought of some previous online comments, which seemed to say that Gu Jinsheng sacrificed his looks to hook up with Ji An to secure his position as General Commander, thus gaining Ji An’s full support to firmly sit in the position of General Commander.

Wuyu rubbed his chin, looked at Ji An’s stunning beauty, and fell into contemplation. If the rumors were true, then Gu Jinsheng’s sacrifice wasn’t a sacrifice at all, since Ji An was so beautiful.

Wuyu’s mind wandered, his thoughts drifting to who knows where.

“Wuyu,” Ji An called out loudly, bringing Wuyu back to his senses. “Thank you for your Ability Manifestation. You manifested for so long just now, you must be very tired mentally. You should go back and rest first.”

Wuyu nodded and blurted out what was on his mind. “I understand. Young couples getting together find me, this old man, redundant.”

Only after speaking did Wuyu remember who the two people he was teasing were: one was the Base’s General Commander, and the other was his superior. It seemed neither was someone he could easily tease.

Wuyu quickly cried out, “Oh dear, oh dear, my head is so muddled. It must be because the Ability Manifestation lasted too long just now, my mind is exhausted.”

Wuyu ambled out of the laboratory, but he wasn’t lying. The Ability Manifestation had indeed lasted a bit long, and his brain felt uncomfortable, and his mental strength seemed diminished.

Wuyu actually admired Gu Jinsheng a little. His Thunder Dragon was always released to fight like that. Didn’t he feel the ability consumption was too great!

After Wuyu left, Ji An said, “You see it, right? Wuyu’s Ability Manifestation is different from yours and mine. His is like it’s ‘dead’.”

Gu Jinsheng said, “Actually, at the very beginning, the Thunder Dragon was also in that state. The Thunder Dragon ‘came alive’ after I voluntarily dispersed an ability. At first, I thought it was because I had just lost an ability, leading to insufficient control over my other ability.”

“No,” Ji An said. “I’ve been researching in the lab these past few days and also did some tests on my A’jiao. I found that saying A’jiao is my Ability Manifestation is not as accurate as saying it is my spirit body.”

“Spirit body?” Gu Jinsheng repeated.

“Yes,” Ji An explained. “When I was doing experiments, I found that A’jiao knew all my thoughts. We don’t need to communicate; it is a manifestation of my thoughts.

It likes what I like, loves what I love, hates what I hate.

There are absolutely no secrets between us.”

Gu Jinsheng immediately said, “Then the Thunder Dragon is not a spirit body.”

Ji An thought of the Thunder Dragon and Gu Jinsheng confronting each other and couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Let it out, I’ll check it.”

“Okay,” Gu Jinsheng didn’t worry about the Thunder Dragon at all and let it out directly. As soon as the Thunder Dragon came out, it yelled, “This guy doesn’t want me to be its spirit body, and I don’t want to be its spirit body either.”

Then it flew to Ji An, fawningly saying, “An An, let A’jiao out to play for a while.”

Ji An released the unicorn, and the Thunder Dragon immediately approached, wagging its tail around the unicorn, and even actively spat thunderballs for the unicorn to see.

That worthless appearance was inexplicably familiar.

Perhaps Gu Jinsheng felt the same way, his face terrifyingly dark.

Ji An teased, “Jinsheng, I feel even more now that the Thunder Dragon is your spirit body. Look at how it shows itself to A’jiao, doesn’t it look like you? Didn’t you used to show me the Thunder Dragon like this?”

It wasn’t just similar, it was exactly the same.

Gu Jinsheng thought about repeatedly releasing the Thunder Dragon in front of Ji An. Could it be that in Ji An’s eyes, he looked like this exhibitionist peacock strutting around, looking cheap, and foolish?

Gu Jinsheng couldn’t accept it for a moment.

Ji An beckoned to the Thunder Dragon. “Dragon Dragon, come here, I’ll do a check on you.”

The Thunder Dragon looked at Ji An and then at the unicorn, reluctant to leave either. Finally, it coiled its large tail and wrapped the unicorn within its massive body. Then it flew towards Ji An, whining cheapily, “An An, An An, I’m coming.”

Gu Jinsheng wanted to die.

Ji An swore he didn’t mean it, he really just couldn’t help it, bursting into laughter.

After Ji An checked the Thunder Dragon, he said, “Jinsheng, come look at the Thunder Dragon’s test results.”

“Eighty percent mental power, twenty percent ability,” Gu Jinsheng said.

“The Thunder Dragon’s current state is a combination of mental power and ability. I believe it is currently in an evolutionary stage and will likely eventually transform into a hundred percent spirit body, just like A’jiao.”

Gu Jinsheng looked at the cheap-looking Thunder Dragon with some difficulty in accepting it. He asked haltingly, “Is a spirit body what I imagine it to be, a reflection of the owner’s mental world?”

“Yes,” Ji An had to desperately control himself not to laugh out loud.

Ji An thought for a moment and said, “Actually, didn’t you notice that the Thunder Dragon is really like you at four years old when we first met?

Showy, dazzling, rebellious.

I still remember before I asked the Thunder Dragon to carry people, and it kept protesting that it couldn’t.

Perhaps at that time, although it didn’t know it was a spirit body, its subconscious was resisting.”

Many things from the age of four were forgotten, but Gu Jinsheng specifically remembered the days and nights spent with Ji An, clearly remembering every detail from that time.

It did seem to be exactly like the Thunder Dragon in front of him.

Ji An looked at the Thunder Dragon, and his heart suddenly ached. He felt sorry for Gu Jinsheng.

The Thunder Dragon could be said to be completely opposite to Gu Jinsheng in personality, except for the fact that both were especially fond of Ji An.

Gu Jinsheng was calm and self-controlled, taciturn, and unsmiling. Some people in the Base even said he was an emotionless robot.

This was completely contrary to the personality the Thunder Dragon displayed.

So what kind of growth experience could have molded a personality like the Thunder Dragon into Gu Jinsheng’s current personality?

Ji An said, “Jinsheng, the time we were apart, you didn’t have it much better than me, did you?”

Gu Jinsheng’s expression was calm, with no ripples in his eyes. He said, “It wasn’t difficult, I had food and drink. Unlike you, in the orphanage.”

Every time he thought of Ji An growing up in an orphanage, Gu Jinsheng’s heart ached unbearably.

Ji An was feeling sorry for Gu Jinsheng’s growth experience, and Gu Jinsheng likewise felt sorry for Ji An’s childhood.

Someone who loves you won’t care about your past, only feel pain for the hardships you’ve endured.

The Thunder Dragon flew over. “An An, touch me. My heart suddenly feels so sad, in pain as if I’m dying, I can barely breathe. It must be too painful to know I’m Gu Jinsheng’s spirit body.”

Ji An knew that wasn’t it; it was Gu Jinsheng feeling sorry for his childhood experience.

But Ji An still kissed the Thunder Dragon’s big head, then looked up and, catching Gu Jinsheng off guard, kissed him directly on the lips as he was watching the Thunder Dragon jealously.

If the Thunder Dragon and the unicorn were spirit bodies, many things could be explained: why they had thoughts, why they had their own likes and dislikes.

As they separated, Ji An suddenly said, “Jinsheng, actually, you saved me. That day, I really did die.”

“Don’t talk nonsense,” Gu Jinsheng frowned slightly.

“Actually, you didn’t detonate your crystal core that day. A Power User’s crystal core detonation, like a Zombie Crystal Core detonation, is irreversible. Once it starts, it cannot stop.”

“So you definitely didn’t detonate that day,” Ji An stated firmly.

“What was it then?”

“Ability transformation,” Ji An said. “Without knowing it, you created a miracle, transforming one of your abilities into mental power, and then invaded my mental domain.”

Gu Jinsheng was puzzled. “Assuming you really… Even if I transformed my ability into mental power, I wouldn’t be able to invade your mental domain. It should have been a blank space.”

“Medically, death is divided into three situations: The first is cardiac arrest; in many cases, cardiac arrest can be revived through active rescue. Simple cardiac arrest does not determine that a person is dead. The second situation is clinical death; at this point, the electrocardiogram is a straight line, pupils are dilated, and spontaneous breathing has disappeared.”

“But within five to six minutes after cardiac death, a person still has a brief consciousness, including hearing.

When all these disappear, that’s the third stage, brain death.

I clearly remember that I died after seeing you, so our timeline was in the second stage, not yet entering brain death.

At that time, if your ability transformed into mental power and invaded my brain, I should still have had consciousness.”

Ji An thought of the spring water Gu Jinsheng fed him at that time, and the spring water he fed Gu Jinsheng. Perhaps this little bit of water saved both their lives.

“Perhaps what you thought was an illusion under mental trance at that time was not an illusion, but something that happened when you invaded my mental domain.

At that time, I called you, but you didn’t respond. I got angry and bit your arm, and also poured a handful of spring water over your head. Later, that spring water turned into heavy rain that extinguished the thunder fire sprayed by the Thunder Dragon, and the tooth mark I left on your arm also came out. No matter what you did, you couldn’t get rid of it because it was bitten onto your soul.”

Gu Jinsheng’s gaze suddenly became meaningful. Ji An suddenly remembered that to verify this matter, he invaded Gu Jinsheng’s dream one night and applied spring water to his arm in the dream, only then did the tooth mark on Gu Jinsheng’s arm disappear.

That wasn’t the main point. The main point was that Gu Jinsheng seemed to want to… consummate their marriage with him in the dream.

The Thunder Dragon suddenly poked its big head between the two. It fawningly betrayed Gu Jinsheng to Ji An, saying, “An An, Gu Jinsheng is thinking naughty things~ He’s thinking if you guys were in his mental domain, wouldn’t that be spiritual intercourse? Physical union is so comfortable, spiritual intercourse must be even more amazing.”

‘Pfft…’ Ji An burst into laughter, while Gu Jinsheng’s face sank like water.

What does it feel like to be betrayed by yourself?

Probably like the Thunder Dragon and Gu Jinsheng!

So Gu Jinsheng was actually such a person, to please his wife, he would even betray himself!!!

Ji An, in the spirit of research, tried spiritual intercourse with Gu Jinsheng that night. It was indeed another wonderful taste, a spiritual pleasure, the taste indescribable.

Seven days later, Ji An had rested enough and entered the research lab with several deputy directors and high-level personnel from Luoshi Base.

Three months later, Ji An and his team came out of seclusion.

As soon as Ji An came out, he saw Gu Jinsheng waiting for him outside. He smiled brightly at Gu Jinsheng.

Wuyu was radiant, the people who had been in seclusion for several months showed no signs of fatigue; on the contrary, they were full of energy.

“General Commander Gu, ha ha ha, excellent, do you know our experiment succeeded and came specially to pick us up? Ha ha ha.” Wuyu was so happy he couldn’t stop laughing while talking.

Wuyu said, “Director, I was right to enter the lab with you. In my life, I’ve never had such a smooth experiment.”

“This project is definitely a breakthrough research achievement of the era!”

Gu Jinsheng looked at Ji An, suppressing the urge to immediately embrace him, and said, “Little An, congratulations, the experiment succeeded!”

Ji An smiled. “Jinsheng, congratulations to you too. It is estimated that after this scientific research achievement comes out, many Bases will want to rejoin Jing Shi Base.”

Although Hetuo didn’t know that the Treatment Pod was researched by Ji An, he knew the Mental Scanner was Ji An’s creation, so he was still full of anticipation for Ji An’s research. Moreover, seeing Wuyu, the former director of Luoshi Base, looking so excited, it must be a really good thing. He asked, “Researcher Ji, what good stuff have you come up with this time?”

Ji An smiled and said, “Holographic.”

Hetuo was dumbfounded and only reacted after a long while, stammering, “Holographic? Is it the holographic I’m imagining?”

“If what you and I understand as holographic is the holographic from science fiction novels before the Apocalypse, then that’s it.”

Ji An glanced at Gu Jinsheng. “Before, when I was teaching Power Users how to resist mental invasion, I noticed that many Power Users had subconscious resistance and were unwilling to do such resistance training, fearing that their secrets would be discovered by others during the training. This is not conducive to training.

At that time, I thought, if we could use a computer to simulate the brainwaves of mental invasion, then we could use a computer to conduct mental invasion resistance training, so that the Power Users wouldn’t have resistant thoughts.

To achieve computer simulation, we could only develop holographic technology.”

This time, Gu Jinsheng could no longer hold back and hugged Ji An. “Little An, if this is a dream, I’d rather never wake up.”

Ji An responded, “In dream or reality, I will always be here.”

Toothache!

Wuyu covered his cheek. Oh no, he’s getting old, he can’t eat too much sweetness, his teeth hurt!

The factories in Luoshi Base, which had just stopped production, immediately started working overtime again.

Owen looked at Ji An with a complex expression. “I finally know where Luoshi Base lost. It wasn’t because of the General Commander, but because of you, this cheat.”

Jiang Fuzhong likewise said disgruntledly, “Is General Commander Gu the biological son of Heaven’s Dao? You actually voluntarily defected to Jing Shi Base, and even brought your wealth with you.

Researcher Ji, my Luoshi Base is willing to pay a hundred times, no, a thousand times the price, for you to come to my Luoshi Base back then.”

Kong Zhongcheng grinned foolishly, “A thousand times is not enough, not even ten thousand times. To keep someone, the General Commander must personally sell himself. Can your General Commander Du Ruanlan do that?”

“Damn it, we lost,” Jiang Fuzhong said resentfully. “Our General Commander can’t do that, he has Owen. Can’t someone else do it?”

Kong Zhongcheng asked, “Do you think anyone can compare to our General Commander?”

Jiang Fuzhong carefully looked at Gu Jinsheng. Gu Jinsheng did have some charm.

Owen had a head full of black lines. These two idiots!

Owen said to Gu Jinsheng, “General Commander Gu, T Base, Q Base, Y Base, and other Bases have jointly initiated a nationwide video conference for the country of Xia, this Saturday morning at nine o’clock. Should we participate?”

Gu Jinsheng asked, “Conference theme?”

“Discussing how all Bases within the country of Xia can join forces to overcome the Apocalypse.”

Hetuo asked, “That’s strange. Could the sun have risen from the west? Weren’t these Bases always loyal lackeys of R, M, and H Bases, always acting as if they could survive the Apocalypse just by clinging to the legs of those few Bases? Even before, they never participated in the joint conferences within the country of Xia that we initiated, or if they did, they sent some minor figure who couldn’t make any decisions, and even then they would deliberately sleep during the meeting, as if we were talking nonsense. Why are they suddenly so active?”

Owen sneered, “The real motive is not in the wine.”

Kong Zhongcheng said, “Look at who is standing behind these Bases, and then think about who we didn’t give the core technology of the Mental Scanner to. You’ll know the purpose of these Bases jointly initiating this video conference.”

Hetuo cursed, “Shameless! Weren’t they willing to lick the butts of capitalism? Why are they begging us now?”

“They don’t think this is begging!” Jiang Fuzhong said.

Hetuo was angry. “Boss, since we know the purpose of these Bases, let’s not rush to find that unpleasantness. We won’t participate!”

“Why not participate?” Gu Jinsheng’s eyes flashed with coldness. “Of course we must participate.”

Hetuo continued to ask, “Why?”

“Holographic,” Gu Jinsheng said.

Ji An laughed merrily, “Isn’t this the perfect time to promote our holographic technology? Our holographic research is already done, of course we have to sell it to recover costs.”

Hetuo asked, “Are we really going to sell it to those Bases and help them practice resisting mental invasion? If they hadn’t released the Mental-type Zombie King, how could our Bases in the country of Xia have suffered such heavy losses?”

Ji An retorted, “Did they get the core technology of the Mental Scanner?”

“No.”

“So they won’t be able to buy holographic technology either. Just watch.”

Gu Jinsheng said to Owen, “Reply, we will participate on time.”

This banquet was originally prepared for Jing Shi Base. When they saw Gu Jinsheng agreed to participate, the three countries simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief. The protagonist of this play was Jing Shi Base. Anyone else could not participate, but Jing Shi Base had to, otherwise, the show couldn’t go on.

Bases that had originally refused to participate after seeing Jing Shi Base participating, one after another, withdrew their replies and agreed to participate again.

On Saturday, the video conference started on time.

Gu Jinsheng attended in person. His face appearing in the conference room immediately attracted the attention of all Base General Commanders.

Including T, Q, and Y Bases, which had completely ignored Jing Shi Base and Gu Jinsheng before.

The General Commanders first exchanged some false pleasantries, and then Wanhong, the General Commander of T Base, said, “First of all, I would like to congratulate General Commander Gu Jinsheng of Jing Shi Base for successfully incorporating Luoshi Base, North Base, and other Bases recently.”

Gu Jinsheng’s expression was indifferent, his eyes cold. “What is there to be happy about? R Base and M Base released a large number of Mental-type Zombie Kings into the country of Xia, causing countless Xia people to die. What is there to congratulate?”

Wanhong hadn’t expected Gu Jinsheng to say this openly at the conference and didn’t know how to respond for a moment, unconsciously glancing to his side.

Deweite was sitting next to him, his face grim. He whispered, “Don’t let Gu Jinsheng lead you by the nose. Don’t pay attention to his words, just ask him about the Mental Scanner.”

Wanhong nodded almost imperceptibly. He thought his actions were subtle and no one would notice, but his little actions had already fallen into everyone’s eyes.