Him and their stars.

Chapter 2178 The Final Question to the Heart
"Yes! So this is the true essence of evolution! Body, soul, void, chaos, and of course, machines! For evolution, for transcending truth, everything is worthwhile! I can even touch the laws of the passage between the two worlds with my soul! If I master the laws of the Enlightener, why should I still be obsessed with my original body?"

"Indeed, although they are all evil slave owners and rulers, compared to someone like you, Brin is quite human."

"Yes, so I accepted defeat with equanimity, at the cost of my life and historical reputation. And Brin can take my place in shouldering this eternal duty. This is the destiny of every emperor! Young man, do you think she can break through this constraint? Can she surpass me?"

"That sounds nice, but that's not what she thinks. And the other chosen emperors don't think that way either. After you fall, Brin and the King of the Guard will definitely turn against each other immediately. Have you made any arrangements for this? Did you put a will behind the plaque in Dragon's Landing Palace?"

"Protection, guidance, and...selection. My struggle is for myself, and for these!" The emperor's piercing eyes flashed with madness and weariness, as if he were ready to resign himself to fate.

"The Empire's final mystery is to send the Void Crown to the most suitable person; that is its duty! As for you, you can witness all of this, and then, with your 'death,' witness the truth of this universe. Ahahaha! You too will become part of this grand vision."

At this point, Yu Lian was even able to detect the quotation marks in the other person's words.

Clearly, there are many aspects of his so-called "death" that are open to debate.

"The Void Crown has come for the Empire's vision, and for the purpose of the universe. None of you can avoid it. You can't, and neither can Brin. It won't be long, at most ten years, before you all stand in my place today, and you will all make the same choice." The Emperor's breath seemed to be weakening, but the smile on his face twisted into its ugliest form.

He suddenly stood up and walked towards Yu Lian step by step. His heavy, unsteady steps truly resembled those of an old man on his deathbed. However, with each step he took forward, his murderous aura seemed to solidify and intensify.

The sense of oppression, though unseen, was also increasing.

If he had encountered someone else, his current pace alone would have been enough to terrify them.

He bared his teeth and threw a heavy punch at Yu Lian.

The emperor's punch missed, but the latter countered and hit him in the face.

Yu Lian's fist and the emperor's face were both torn apart by flying flesh and blood. The two, who were already nearing their limits, did not separate and began this most primal struggle again.

"Haven't you noticed?" Yu Lian pressed down on the other man's elbow with his arm, slowly prying it away from his throat: "You two are like two cavemen now."

"At most, they're monkeys. Even apes that have just learned to climb trees would be picking up sticks and stones by now," the emperor said through gritted teeth.

"Yes, look at us now, how wretched, how ugly! How dare we call ourselves gods?" Yu Lian seemed to be talking to himself: "I will remember this ugly state we are in now!"

He stared at the emperor and once again saw his own reflection in the crazed golden dragon's eyes.

A man with a ferocious aura, twisted eyebrows and eyes, and his face covered in bloodstains, looked like a demon who had just crawled out of hell.

Is this General Yu?
Yu Lian forced out an ugly smile. If he hadn't been busy wrestling with his opponent, he would have laughed out loud by now: "Thank you. Your Majesty, you always teach me so much. You are teaching me all the time! It would be a shame if someone like you didn't have a spiked club."

The emperor responded with a twisted, malicious smile, his voice a mixture of his own voice and a distorted whisper, rising intermittently as if stating something, or perhaps cursing something.

"Let me guess, what have you learned this time? Is it to see your true self? Is it to consolidate your awareness? Is it to truly reaffirm your dream? Do you think that as long as you keep convincing yourself, like you're brainwashing yourself, that you're a member of humanity, your childish dream will come true?"

Yu Lian used all his strength to smash an elbow into the emperor's nose.

This face, which looked like a finely sculpted sculpture, suddenly began to show visible signs of collapse.

"We are too ugly."

“Yes, we were too ugly, fighting like wild beasts.” The emperor’s face was distorted, but his voice remained clear. The gloomy whispers hidden in his tone seemed to have been completely masked.

"But your dream is still just a game! Look around us! Do you really think that the countless beings you saved can stand in the center of this stage? Psionicists... are born different! We are human, we are animals, but we are also beings of a higher dimension!"

Yu Lian delivered a heavy swing punch to the opponent's damaged shoulder armor, causing him to stagger. He sneered, "History didn't give Marshal Victoria Lee much time, but I'm here to prove that your tricks are no longer effective."

The Emperor parried Yu Lian's attack and responded with the same punch. He laughed maniacally, panting, "So, why didn't history give Victoria Lee a chance? Because he was mortal. His great soul was trapped in a fragile body, and he lost the favor of his time. But why did history favor you? Ahahaha, because you are a psionicist! Remember, the truth of the universe, the order of civilization, is essentially about domination! Domination brings order! Domination drives progress! Why are you always unwilling to admit something so simple?"

His fist slammed towards Yu Lian, but the latter blocked it with his arm. This time, the two were almost completely still, only able to sense the trembling of their bones through their senses.

"What a noble and magnificent vision it is that everyone can be like a dragon! Once upon a time, when the ancestors of the Tirero people stepped into the universe, they had the same grand aspirations."

"Oh? Is that so? The ancient Meya people from the neighboring planet will surely have a different opinion."

"Hahaha, if you could go back three thousand years and see what the ancient Meya people did back then, you would definitely choose to fight alongside the ancestors of the empire," the emperor laughed.

Yu Lian did not retort. He had no reason not to believe it; to be honest, the emperor had no reason to deceive him with such a thing.

"We simply realized that to defeat such a powerful adversary, we needed unwavering unity, absolute will and courage, and unyielding discipline and ambition. And all of this became the source of the Tyrellians' later power to conquer the universe." The Emperor remarked, "The Void Crown thus echoed our vision! And the Galactic Empire was born from this!"

"So, the so-called emperor of the empire is actually just a sacrifice for the Tirelo people? How pathetic!"

"Pitiful and respectable, but not tragic; these are sacrifices of their own choosing! We are merely tools representing order. As for you, even if you defeat me here, your ideals will remain forever out of reach." A strange pity crept into the emperor's voice.

"Look at your power now! Think about your subordinates, your followers! They worship you and follow you, not because of your empty and unrealistic ideals... but because of your strength! Examine yourself, leader of the Earthlings. After you reorganized the Lionheart Society, do those young elites who follow you see you as a leader or a master and servant? Don't rush to deny it; you are all still young, only twenty-five years old. What about ten years from now, twenty years from now?"

"Lan Jiufeng has long regarded you as a holy ruler bestowed upon humanity by heaven. You are master and disciple in name, but in reality, your master-servant relationship has already been established. Haven't you realized this? Even when Victoria Lee was alive, the Earth government couldn't control them, but to cooperate with your strategy, your 'senior brothers and sisters' were quite willing to lead their disciples as superhuman agents. They assist you, which is to assist you in creating an era, to bind the Spirit Research Society and the civilization of humanity to the great empire you create. They choose to follow the great!" "And your earliest collaborator. Do you really think that Mr. Qi Bingwen agrees with your ideals? When he was still a young writer, I was already a fan of his books. No one understands him better than me. Deep down, he is an angry nationalist! Your appearance has fulfilled all his mythical fantasies about the perfect hero king! As for your ideals, they are nothing more than a new sociological subject."

"Your Pioneer Party core, the Bai family of New China, Jessica Edwards, Jessica, and those elite bureaucrats who follow you, are all like this. To them, are your ideals and the ideas you bring true and worth following, or are they merely tools for organizing the national power of the earth's people and uniting their hearts and minds?"

The Emperor pondered for a moment, then said, "Oh, right, who else? I almost forgot. Right, there's the former president of the Blue Star Community, that guy named Keith Nichta. He's a mediocre man, but he's also a shrewd politician. He knows you'll eventually take over Earth, which is why he's been cooperating with you so wholeheartedly. He hopes for a peaceful end, a dignified old age. As for whether Earth will become a republic or your empire in the future, it doesn't matter."

“Everyone thinks you are a perfect leader, a perfect military commander. So, naturally, you are also a perfect ruler. Such a perfect ruler has some minor, 'original' hobbies, which are not a big deal.”

Yu Lian used his still-mobile hand to brace against the emperor's chin, followed by a knee strike. He felt that his strike was quite forceful, so forceful that it seemed to stem from a fit of rage.

However, he assured the spirit of the universe that he was not truly angry or embarrassed; he had simply found another opportunity to retaliate against the spirit of the universe.

However, this long-awaited heavy blow only caused the emperor to tilt his body slightly before he quickly regained his balance. The opponent wiped the blood from his face, responded with another ugly grin, and threw a punch that sent the enemy who had just dealt him a heavy blow flying backward.

The emperor's voice turned heavy and terrifying: "I once had dreams too! If I failed and went bankrupt making games, I'd become a freelance mercenary wandering the stars, just grabbing a ship at any port, eating wherever I went, and occasionally even taking Latis along to seduce everyone in the universe. That's life! Aha... But two hundred years later, they call me the Great Emperor, and there's no going back!"

Yu Lian, who had been sent flying backward, finally regained his balance and landed naturally. With a little effort, he restored his dislocated cheek to normal. He said in a serious tone, "Excuse my bluntness, but you are no longer fit to be an emperor."

It is foreseeable that on this timeline, his posthumous reputation will be even worse than in his previous life.

The emperor, however, seemed unconcerned, a hint of arrogance flashing across his face: "Yu Lian! You can't go back! This is the truth of the universe! Even if you win, even if you reach the pinnacle by stepping over my dead body, you will never be the person you want to be. This is the truth of the universe."

"The truth of the universe? Isn't it 42?"

For the first time, the emperor showed a look of doubt.

Yu Lian looked at the other person and gave a direct answer for the first time: "Heh, so lacking in humor, that's not like you at all, Your Majesty. I have never had such a wish, to realize such an ideal in just this lifetime. In fact, I don't even have absolute confidence in whether this ideal can really be realized, so I can only pretend to be very confident."

The emperor was even more puzzled.

As for Yu Lian, he fell silent again, his face reflecting deep thought, as if focusing on the deepest thoughts in his heart. After a while, he smiled. This time, his smile was sincere and humble: "That's why I said you're a good teacher. To be honest, your examination of the heart is much more rigorous than that of the Void Realm."

"...Can I be proud?"

"If it weren't for you, I might not have had the motivation to examine my own heart. Although the sages always said to examine ourselves three times a day, and although the person I admire most taught us to be self-critical, this is often the most difficult thing. It is especially difficult for psionicists. Our power comes from the reality we believe in. If we doubt ourselves, it will become a mental demon that hinders our cultivation, and it will also become a mental weakness that can be exploited by our opponents. So, I just force myself to believe that I am a progressive idealist. Very well, as the youngest man in history to win the Best Director award, my acting skills are quite good. My acting skills are so good that I have fooled myself, and thus I have fooled all of you."

Yu Lian sighed softly, his emotions complex, unsure whether it was regret or relief.

“You’re right. Your Majesty, I’m not even that kind of person myself, so how could such a great yet difficult ideal be realized in my lifetime? It shouldn’t even be realized by someone like me. But thankfully, some pure people have been born. Apart from brute strength, I’m inferior to them in every way.”

At this moment, the emperor actually detected a hint of envy, jealousy, and longing in his words.

What could a psionicist, who in just five years glimpsed the truth from the perspective of an ordinary mortal and is also the most powerful person in the universe, possibly yearn for?

My intuition tells me that he couldn't possibly be longing for someone like me with a nine-ring ring.

"Young man, what kind of person are you?" the emperor asked earnestly.

"Yes, since you've asked so sincerely, I really can't answer. What am I, really? You can always wait until you're dead to ponder that..."

Before the words were even finished, the two charged at each other again like maddened beasts, their fists carrying the last of their strength and bloodlust. But this time, while Yu Lian had half his torso smashed, he also shattered his opponent's cheek first.

Then, there was half a head.

The Supreme Being of the Galactic Empire finally lost his strength and collapsed to the ground.

His eyes seemed to have lost focus, like a broken doll, with shattered red crystals scattered around him like withered petals.

His breath was gradually weakening, yet he stubbornly gathered the last glimmer of light, allowing his words to clearly enter Yu Lian's consciousness.

“I used to think that psionic power was a gift, but now it seems that it is actually a filter.”

Yu Lian stood still, looking down at the emperor. Every breath he took aggravated his injuries, but at this moment, in order to maintain the posture of a victor, he had to stand still, slow his breathing, calm his voice, and even maintain a basic smile.

"That's why I said the universe has stagnated. The problem now is that you don't see psionic energy as power, nor as a filter, but as a source of privilege. Why bother? Why not consider yourselves human? I'm almost at the eighth ring of perfection, and I also love good food, fine wine, and beautiful women! Although I haven't had time to log into Gadget Online for two years thanks to the war you started, I'm still very curious about the content of the version update."

"I can't play anymore. Alas, the world has clearly expanded to the outer realms, and ten new professions have been introduced, but I still can't play." The emperor's face was full of regret.

His current regret is very real, and Yu Lian can see it.

The latter suddenly felt a little regretful. He should have asked about the emperor's ID before the war. If he could have chatted and laughed with the biggest villain in the universe in the game, it might have been a very interesting experience.

"...You can tell me your account and password. I will take good care of your character," Yu Lian suggested sincerely.

"Don't even think about it." The emperor, with only half his head remaining, managed a smile again. "Look at me, I still retain human likes and dislikes, but what does that prove? Young man, how many generations can you change? Even you yourself are only successful because you stayed too short at the pinnacle of the galaxy. You and Brin are the same."