Cyber Ghosts

Chapter 157 Can Technology be Counted as Power?
“Grandma?” Liu Shuai and Hao Ning exchanged a glimpse, “What did she look like, the so-called grandma you fought with?”

“Half man and half woman.” Nezha pondered with a frown, “Yeah, and all her subordinates looked the same. Like this.”

Nezha had a stroke in the air as he said. Several strings of silk yarns flew from the tie he wore and turned red in the air, which gradually sketched a female cheek.

“Lan Ruo!” Zhou Yuan shouted, “That’s Lan Ruo!”

“You said that all of her subordinates looked the same.” Hao Ning pondered for a moment and asked Nezha, “Were they all like this?”

“Yes.” Nezha said, “They the dozens of people all looked the same, as if they had been cast in the same mould.”

“…” Hao Ning and Liu Shuai fell into silence. The subordinates of the “grandma” should have possessed good power. It wouldn’t be difficult if they made the countenances of several scores of people look exactly the same with some camouflages. But why did they do that?

“Then why are you working for Mr Fei?” Xiao Hong, feeling confused at Hao Ning and other guys’ muteness, pursued the question.

“Because he told me that he could presumably manage to help me find my Uncle as soon as possible and save him out.” Nezha peered at Xiao Hong, “Besides, as soon as I came to the real world, I encountered a so-called grandma equipped with such strong power, so I figured that it would be too risky inquiring alone. Therefore, I stayed with Mr. Fei and worked for him. And the more aid I exerted, the sooner he would help me find my Uncle.”

“Nezha, has it once occurred to you that…” Hao Ning meditated for a while and asked tentatively, “the underlying connection between Mr. Fei and that Gods Creation World was enchanted…”

“I understand what you mean.” Nezha nodded, “I once got skeptical about him. But that was impossible.”

“Why?” Hao Ning didn’t expect Nezha’s assertion.

“For two reasons. First, though equipped with some power, Mr. Fei’s power is too weak to enchant the Gods Creation World. Second, he seems more intoxicated with another kind of power specific in your world instead.” Nezha got bewildered at that point, “You call it technology, don’t you?”

“Eh…” Hao Ning glanced at others. It was the first time that he’d heard that someone described technology as power, “Can technology be counted as power? It’s the first time that I’ve learned that.”

“If you insist on saying it that way and take technology as power, then roughly it might be one kind of power totally exclusive from that of god.” Xiao Hong nodded and switched on his mobile phone. After pressing several times, he showed his screen, “Mr. Fei is virtually a genius in business. He almost started from zero. And being subjected to several financial crisis and campaigns he made himself one of the top magnates in the mineral industry. Now aside from the branches mineral business, he is aggressively investing many kinds of technology corporations, including those dealing with artificial intelligence and so on. You can hardly imagine that gods like Nezha are working for him as subordinate.”

“What I suppose is even more unimaginable,” Hao Ning thought with his brow crumpled and gazed at Nezha in question, “is that why a boss of a technology company would be involved in the business of hunting souls.”

Hao Ning’s question touched the critical point. Liu Shuai and Zhou Yuan suddenly recalled that Qili and those people who sacrificed their souls that night. In the past tales, catching human’s soul were demon’s secrets of cultivating evil power. But as the boss of a technology company, what did he want so many souls for? To say the least, if he wanted to cultivate evil power with these souls, then why he didn’t hold a strong power in himself?

Finishing saying that, Hao Ning pulled that tiny bottle out of his pocket and put it on the table, “Nezha, why do you collect so many souls for Mr. Fei, such a genius of technology business?”

“Why do you have the material for soul coins?” Nezha got a blink in his eyes and hurriedly picked the bottle to look into it. He praised in stir as scrutinizing it, “How can it get such a great purity? This tiny bottle can already be equal to a barrel of that of their best purity!”

“The material of soul coins? Of great purity?” Hao Ning got blank, clear in mind that since he didn’t know, Liu Shuai and Zhou Yuan couldn’t know about it either. He turned to Xiao Hong, who kept in silence and seemed to be considering something. Then he asked Nezha, “What is the material of soul coins?”

“Why do you ask me? It’s showed by you, right?” Nezha was a bit puzzled but still explained, “It’s literally the material of soul coins. All the technological weapons in your real world need raw material to function, don’t they? Like your mobile, it’s functioned by electrical power. The bus on the road, it’s functioned by petrol. Even the magic airplane that can bring mortals to fly in the sky is functioned by petrol such a material of power, isn’t it? So why isn’t a material of soul coins sound logical?”

“It is not illogical, but impossible…” Hao Ning smiled feebly, “The mobile lights with electricity. The bus runs with petrol. That’s not because of power, but science. They are technological products.”

“What’s the difference?” Nezha felt confused, “Isn’t it similar to my Nine Dragons Shield of Divine Fire ‒” Saying that, Nezha extended his hand and a small golden shield appeared above his palm with nine vivid little dragons inscribed on it.

Liu Shuai took a shallow breath at the sight of it, “Is… Is this authentic? Not a knock-off?”

“A knock-off?” Nezha looked at Liu Shuai, some words still seeming confusing to him, “It’s not a treasure conserved in the fortress on a mountain. I got it from my mentor, and it is called Nine Dragons Shield of Divine Fire. It’s powerful.”

“Bullshit!” Liu Shuai’s eyes went stagnant. He reached out in want of a touch but ended up with not yet a touch, “It’s far more than powerful. It’s virtually a dreamy weapon. What would I need the power for equipped with this? Why do I ever bother with Heavenly Divine Fire Pillars!”

“Heavenly Divine Fire Pillars is awesome, too!” Nezha nodded but frowned sequentially, “Nine Dragons Shield of Divine Fire runs by power as well. I’ve had a magic competition with that grandma, so I can’t use this shield now for the deficiency of power.

“Oh… The magic weapon needs power, too…” Hao Ning glanced at Liu Shuai implicitly. He had supposed that all the magic weapons were like Falling Treasure Coin, which got everything done at a cast.

“Whereas it could turn out differently with soul coins.” Nezha grinned and asked Hao Ning tentatively, “Brother Hao Ning, may I have some of your material of soul coins?”

“Go for it. Anyway, I can’t‒” Hao Ning would like to say that he couldn’t use the power but trailed off seeing Liu Shuai’s wink towards him and swapped his words on the tip of his tongue by saying: “Anyway, I have a large amount of it.”

“Really?” Nezha’s eyes twinkled. He pointed at the bottle prudently and material of soul coins in size of a grain of rice flew out into Nine Dragons Shield of Divine Fire.

With a bang, Nine Dragons Shield of Divine Fire began to shake dramatically. The environment around them got distorted. Hao Ning saw that the meeting room surrounding them started to melt drastically. The space between the door and chairs nearby, which presented a view more and more blurred, was as if being burned out.

“What is it?” Hao Ning shrieked, “Nine Dragons Shield of Divine Fire can dissolve the space?”

“No, no, that’s not the case.” Zhou Yuan responded instantly. With muttering incantations, he grabbed in the air and then released. A sharp crack uttered in the air and the surroundings turned better. He said, “Nine Dragons Shield of Divine Fire’s power exerted in a scale too large. My Virtualised Reality included only the meeting room, so it got the border on fire and caused some hitches. Thanks to the incense I added, and it’s fixed now. I have covered the whole building with Virtualised Reality. It should be enough.”

“Piss it…” Liu Shuai wiped his sweat and peered at Zhou Yuan, “You’ve made such a fast growth.”

“That’s sure.” Zhou Yuan smiled and said unashamedly, “You see what a god I am.”

“Okay!” Nezha, hearing Zhou Yuan’s words, stretched his palm. A little sparkle of flame flew out from the shield and wandered in the air without giving out any heat. The lingering sparkle looked so cute.

“So…” Zhou Yuan peered at the harmless, therefore useless sparkle from Nine Dragons Shield of Divine Fire, “I have to ask, is it all that Nine Dragons Shield of Divine Fire can achieve? It’s totally different from what’s told in tales.”

“Is it?” Nezha grinned and reached for a tap. The sparkle seemed to move at a wink but got back to where it was before instantly. Before everyone got conscious of what was going on, Zhou Yuan fell to the ground at a bang with a pile of ashes under his buttock.

“Ouch, it hurts!” Zhou Yuan stroked his bottom and got stunned when he turned back to look, “What happened?”

“Amazing!” Xiao Hong did a thumbs-up to show his professional appreciation as a born fire elf , “The fire dragons of Nine Dragons Shield of Divine Fire were only able to attack in the shield. But you have made it unusual by letting them fly to the outside. Moreover, your Fire Controlling Technology was almost miraculous. When your mind stayed still the sparkle reserved its heat, but when it stirred it could burn the stool into ashes in a moment. I, a born fire elf, also admire the skillful maneuver. And you only consumed a little power right now, right? If you exerted all your power, the whole building would have been wiped out in a blink, yes?”

Hao Ning listened and came to realize Nezha’s tremendous strength. What was scare about the Nine Dragons Shield of Divine Fire was not the overwhelming force but the fast speed. Such a spell which turned the stool into ashes at a wink allowed you no time for defending.

“This…is not my strength. Nine Dragons Shield of Divine Fire is still only able to set fire in the shield.” Nezha scratched his head and said timidly, “That’s the feature of the material of soul coins. It can bring new changes to magic weapons. Meanwhile, the best benefit of it is that people who don’t hold power can use it as well ‒ Isn’t this similar to your applying an airplane? You don’t have the capacity to command the cloud and fly, but as far as you infuse the airplane with petrol, it can bring you everywhere on the land.”

Nezha said and put away the Nine Dragons Shield of Divine Fire. He uttered jealously, “Hao Ning, your material of soul coins is the best of all. My shield of fire could only summon a sick fire dragon with their material of soul coins. It not only flew slowly outside the shield but also was useless except when lighting a candle. It couldn’t even boil a cup of water. It’s far less strong than yours.”

“I understand the logic.” Hao Ning felt astounded in heart. He hadn’t expected the stuff he made by chance last night was so powerful. While he remained composed on the face, “But why is Mr. Fei in want of this? Even if the material of soul coins could help him to utilize magic weapons as a person equipped with low power, where would he get so many magic weapons? Anyway, he can’t rob you of your weapons, can he?”

“Well…” Nezha scratched his head, “He definitely didn’t rob mine. Or we should say there’s no need for him to do that. Because he has an amazing invention, which requires the material of soul coins.”

“Invention?” Hao Ning seemed bewildered, “Mr. Fei is an inventor as well? In my view, he shouldn’t be named Fei Changhe anymore. Feidison suits him better. What did he invent?”

“Bang!” Came from Xiao Hong a slight crackle. Xiao Hong’s expression changed and pulled a tiny card out of his pocket instantly.