Psychics don't die from gunfire

Chapter 913 A Line Apart

flame.

No one knows why the first flame seen by humankind was born—whether it was from charcoal struck by lightning, a startling spark suddenly appearing from the friction between stones, or the subterranean fire witnessed from an eruption of lava.
Many people fear it, praise it, revere it, and sing its praises, covering it with layers of mystery and reverence, only to tear them off time and time again.

Today, the people in the corporate alliance—those with basic general education—know perfectly well that a "flame" is nothing more than the phenomenon of air molecules around the reaction zone in an exothermic reaction being heated and moving at high speed, thus emitting light.

Nothing special.

Apart from
Psionicist.

Chakro carefully observed the flames and confirmed that his guess was correct.

These "flames" are still burning! Even when the room was completely destroyed and there was no way to go in, they are still burning, using themselves as fuel.

"—Who says flames can't burn?"

Song Shi grabbed a handful and held it lightly in his palm.

"Chakro, have you ever heard of how the dead are classified in the Eastern Continent?"

Chakro's answer was naturally no.

"When a person dies, he becomes a ghost; when a ghost dies, he becomes a '聻'; when a '聻' dies, he becomes a '希'; when a '希' dies, he becomes a '夷'; when a '夷' dies, he becomes nothingness. In our view, a person does not die simply by having his head cut off, but rather through a gradual process."

"Oh, I remember now, there's a similar saying in corporate alliances. A person can die three times: the first time is when he breathes his last, the second time is when he's buried, and the third time is when the last person who remembers him forgets him."

Chakro said he had heard of it.

“These flames are doing something similar to this process.” Song Shi raised his index finger, touching a ball of flame that flickered and burned restlessly: “Under the [Crimson Heaven of the Flood Abyss], they burn incessantly, constantly transforming—”

Before Song Shi could finish speaking, Chaklo also grabbed a handful of flames. He closed his eyes, clenched his fists, and personally experienced the changes in the flames.

Then, he felt it.

The flame held in the palm of his hand was small and inconspicuous. However, under the focused attention of a psionicist who had reached the end of the fifth ring, even the slightest change could not escape his notice.

To use a simple analogy, the flame I'm holding is gradually rising, like a raw stone being peeled away to reveal a more precious essence.

It was still a flame, but it was different from the flame of the previous moment.

Just as clay solidifies into bronze, bronze turns into silver, and silver rises to gold...

The speed of this transformation was neither fast nor slow; the key was that Chakro could not sense the end—he had seen some psionic techniques in his more than forty years of life that temporarily enhanced one's own power over time.

Without exception, they all have a visible upper limit.

However, upon closer inspection, Chakro was surprised to find that these flames were unrestrained, seemingly transforming along an endless peak, showing no sign of stopping or slowing down.

No.
Chakro opened his eyes.

“Consumption.” He looked at Song Shi.

The other person nodded.

The flames climbed higher as they burned, but as the fire continued, Chakro keenly noticed that the flames were being consumed. The consumption wasn't significant, only a tiny bit, but even a tiny bit was a consumption.

Compared to the enhancement brought about by the transformation of flames, this slight increase seems insignificant, on the contrary, extremely low, almost defying the law of conservation of energy. But this is the difference between "zero" and "one".

"Yes, there is still some consumption." Song Shi readily admitted, then flexed his fingers and sighed, "In my ideal situation, there would be no consumption at all."

“Every flame burns without paying any price; they only need to transform again and again.” Song Shi paused, his teeth bared. “I will bear the cost. If the transformation reaches a point where I can no longer control it, then I will die.”

Chakro shook his head: "Everything has its limits, psychic energy is no exception, and neither is the true spirit. Even you and I can't always do everything."

He gestured for Song Shi to extinguish the flames, then twisted them forcefully with both hands.

The chairs, which had just been swallowed up and burned to ashes, reappeared in the room. If Song Shi had killed the person, even though his current spiritual power wouldn't be able to revive him, two chairs wouldn't be a problem.

"Do you remember Ralph?"

Chakro sat down.

Song Shi also sat down.

Ralf Gabriel, the head of the behemoth [Dark Crystal Credit], was also the man who once held the titles of the richest man in the corporate alliance and the strongest psionicist. However, in the Battle of the Evening Moon, he was killed by Chakro, punch by punch.

"You should know that Dark Crystal Credit's singularity technology is 'information twin,' a technology about copying and imprinting."

Chakro slowly recounted: "Back then, when I fought Ralf, he was no match for me, so he tried to force his way through—'Give him a lever and he can move the entire Terra market,' that was his claim about his third stage of True Spirit."

"His breakthrough wasn't exactly successful, but it wasn't a failure either; he barely managed to take half a step, enough to support him for another attack. While setting up the super-multiplying leverage, Ralph activated the singularity technology 'information twin,' resulting in a final strike repeated twice—"

Chakro tapped his chest with his index finger: "That's how he forcefully shook my 'paradox of reversal,' leaving me unbalanced for quite some time."

"The true spirit is not a panacea. At least as far as I know, not every psychic in history who reached the third stage died of old age."

Song Shi laughed: "How come I remember that most of them died unnatural deaths? Some were beaten to death by a group of people because they were playing too big, some died suddenly because they failed to break through to the God Throne, and some died because they lost a one-on-one match."

Chakro was silent for a moment, then chuckled: "You forgot, some of them went to challenge the throne of the gods, and in the end, their lives and their paths came to an end."

“Song Shi.” He sighed, “【Hongyuan Tianchi】, even if it consumes some resources, with its unrestrained absorption and replenishment efficiency, these resources are negligible for you now. Within the fifth ring of your domain, you can be called ‘infinite’.”

"is it?"

Song Shi remained noncommittal.

“The environment has a maximum carrying capacity for life; the number of organisms it can support has a limit.” Chakro sighed slightly and rubbed his temples. “Terra is the same. Now you can destroy it all by yourself. Humanity is already walking on a tightrope, teetering on the brink of collapse. With every passing minute and every second, we will probably be one step closer to falling.”

"The end of the whole world dying out is indeed not far off, but I don't think it's necessarily near."

Song Shi didn't take it seriously: "Even if that day really comes, at worst we'll have to wait tens or hundreds of thousands of years and start evolving all over again!"

"I think we should focus on what's right in front of us first."

Song Shi looked directly at Cha Keluo.

"Sixth Ring - [Throne of Gods]."

"Chakro, do you have any ideas?"

(End of this chapter)