Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 540 Desirelessness
In that instant, a whole host of images flashed through Sun Hang's mind, but the resurrected Blade Whip obviously didn't have such complex brain activity. After escaping its confinement, it roared and charged toward Sun Hang—like Qi Delie, it had now become a beast that could only act on instinct... no, to be precise, it was even worse than a beast. At least beasts can feel fear, and when faced with an enemy they cannot defeat, most beasts will choose to run away.

But the Blade Whip is different; like Ling Xiao, it has lost all its emotions, including fear.

The unarmed Blade Whip used its ten fingers as claws to grab at Sun Hang's face and throat. In a flash of silver light, the Blade Whip's head separated from its torso and fell to the ground, rolling more than ten meters away.

The headless body stood frozen in place, twitched a few times, and then collapsed to the ground with a thud.

"Let's go," Sun Hang said to Zhulong and Xue Yue.

But the three of them had only taken a few steps when they heard noises behind them again.

Sun Hang turned around and saw the headless body of the whip lying on the ground, crawling on its hands and feet to the severed head, and holding its head to its neck.

Muscle fibers emerged from the severed neck, reconnecting the head and torso.

After completing the "meeting," Blade Whip turned his head and then looked at Sun Hang and his group.

“Never mind it, let’s keep going,” Sun Hang said.

He didn't want to waste too much time on the Blade Whip—because of its dying wish, it had now become an immortal monster, and no matter how it was killed, it would be resurrected under the influence of "desire".

Since it doesn't contain any monster memes, the only way to completely destroy it is to crush and incinerate its flesh at the molecular level. Sun Hang could do that, but he didn't want to waste a lot of time and mental energy on such a harmless monster—in short, it's not worth it.

The javelin stuck in the ground shook violently, and with a crisp sound, an invisible force pulled it out.

The next second, the javelin transformed into a set of extremely complex shackles in mid-air, quickly wrapping around the body of the blade whip.

Blade Whip struggled desperately, trying to break free of the shackles, but an invisible force easily pressed it against the wall. Then, dozens of long nails attached to the shackles sank deep into the wall, locking Blade Whip firmly to it.

Sun Hang gave the Blade Whip one last look—it absolutely couldn't break free of these shackles on its own. The only way for it to escape would be to destroy its own body structure, just like before, to free itself from the shackles. That's why Sun Hang designed the shackles to be extremely complex; for the Blade Whip to break free, it would probably have to dismantle its body into dozens of pieces…

The "disassembly and assembly" process will take at least a few hours, enough time for Sun Hang and his team to walk back and forth inside the mine.

After getting rid of the blade whip, Sun Hang easily found the airtight door that had appeared in his memory, and then led Zhulong and Xue Yue into the metal tunnel.

At the tunnel exit lay three skeletons—these three corpses were likely the three mercenaries killed by Zidre. Because the incident happened so suddenly, they did not have the same desire to "not die" as Blade Whip did at the last moment, and therefore were not resurrected by the power of the monster.

Sun Hang glanced at the three corpses, then focused his gaze on the center of the cavity in the rock stratum.

It was empty; he saw nothing.

"Hmm?" Sun Hang turned to look at Zhulong, who was standing there blankly as if he had been frozen in place, his breathing becoming increasingly rapid.

White frost spread from his feet, and there were faint signs that it was extending towards Sun Hang and Xue Yue.

"Xue Yue!" Sun Hang activated his emotional vision and instantly saw that the black shadow behind Zhulong had grown to over ten meters tall, like a demon god, baring its fangs and claws as it looked down at him. "Absorb Zhulong's negative emotions!"

“Yes!” Xue Yue immediately replied—she was not affected by “desire,” which saved Sun Hang the trouble of activating Plan B.

In Sun Hang's plan, he devised two plans. Plan A was to use Xue Yue's ability to absorb his and Zhu Long's negative emotions and thus control "desire". As for Plan B, the premise for its implementation was that even Xue Yue would be affected by "desire". Sun Hang's only choice was to take the two of them and execute the thirty-sixth stratagem of the Thirty-Six Stratagems to make a quick getaway.

Xue Yue took a deep breath, and then an invisible force was applied to the tall, dark figure that resembled a demon god. The figure deflated like a leaky balloon, turning into a black vortex that entered Xue Yue's body.

The shadowy figure had not yet developed complete facial features; all Sun Hang could see was a gaping maw, which was currently wide open, constantly emitting silent roars... It was clear that the shadowy figure, after materializing its negative emotions, was unwilling to be devoured, but it was helpless against its natural enemy, Xue Yue, and did not even have the slightest chance to resist.

"Could the shadow formed by these negative emotions have even developed a sense of self?" Sun Hang pondered. "Or is this so-called self-awareness derived from the negative personality within Zhulong?"

In just twenty seconds, the shadowy figure, several meters tall, was completely sucked into Xue Yue's body. The little guy even touched his belly and gave a rather abstract burp.

"Do you see anything?" Sun Hang pointed to the empty cavity in the rock stratum.

Although Xue Yue's emotions were not driven by "desire," Sun Hang could see that after entering the cavity in the rock stratum, a clear sense of joy appeared in her eyes.

“I saw a comfortable bed, air conditioning and heating, clean clothes and delicious food,” Xue Yue said. “I also saw…you.”

“Me?” Sun Hang was slightly taken aback.

“Hmm, it seems you really have become my brother… What I see is like a home that belongs only to me…” Xue Yue said.

"What you want most... is a home?" Sun Hang looked at Xue Yue with a hint of surprise in his eyes.

This result was somewhat unexpected, but upon closer examination, it makes perfect sense.

"Yes, a home, a home where I can be sheltered from the wind and rain, have enough to eat and wear, and have family who are good to me," Xue Yue said. "That's what I want most."

"And what about you?" Sun Hang patted Zhulong, who had only just come to his senses, and asked, "What did you see?"

“Half of the Sphinx’s brain.” Zhulong’s voice was slightly hoarse. “It looks very similar to the biological part of the main brain, or even exactly the same… The moment I saw it, a thought popped into my mind: if I could get it, I could gain the power to control the world.”

“I didn’t realize you were so ambitious,” Sun Hang said. “You seem to live a very leisurely life, and I thought you were the kind of person who lives a carefree life.”

“Having witnessed too many tragedies, one naturally develops a desire for power and authority.” Zhulong shook his head. “Only by gaining power and authority can one change this world… Perhaps it is because of this idea that I had that thought just now.”

“At least the starting point was good.” Sun Hang nodded. “But I feel that what I saw was not the ‘other half’ of the Sphinx’s brain.” Zhulong hesitated for a moment before saying.

"Not your 'other half'?"

“Hmm…it looks too much like the main brain’s biological body, almost a copy of the main brain…” After Pei Zongjun’s death, Sun Hang granted Zhulong extremely high privileges. He had entered the main brain’s computer room at the deepest part of the Origin Palace and had personally seen the main brain and Pei Zongjun’s corpse soaking in a large glass tank.

“I suspect it might be because I’ve only ever seen the main brain, so when I imagine the other half of the Sphinx’s brain, I subconsciously use the main brain as a template, which results in what I see being just a replica of the main brain organism…”

“I’ve seen the file left by Elder Pei,” Zhulong continued. “Elder Pei once considered cloning the biological part of the main brain, and then chiseling the clone with the original to obtain a complete Sphinx brain… To verify whether this idea was feasible, he used the main brain’s precognitive abilities…”

“I’ve seen that file too. The mastermind clearly told him that the two halves of the Sphinx’s brain are extremely different, and simply cloning an existing half of the brain won’t produce a complete version.” Sun Hang pointed to his head. “Just like the left and right hemispheres of the human brain, although their structures are similar, their functions are vastly different. Damage to different areas of the human brain has drastically different effects on the body…”

"Sun Hang... what did you see?" Zhulong sighed, then fixed his hopeful gaze on Sun Hang.

“That’s the most frustrating part…” Sun Hang tilted his head helplessly. “You all saw what you wanted most, but I didn’t see anything at all.”

"You didn't see anything?" Zhulong was taken aback. "Is it because... you have no desires in your heart? That's impossible, isn't it?"

"I definitely have desires, I'm very sure of that." Sun Hang subconsciously thought of Old Wang and the Yang sisters... If he had no desires at all, he wouldn't even touch them, let alone engage in that level of intimacy.

Besides, Sun Hang also has a appetite—although with his abilities, he could maintain his vital signs without eating, he still craves delicious food…especially after getting used to Zhong Ling's cooking, he has become more picky about the taste and texture of food…

For a person without desires, there is no difference between eating a sizzling, oily grilled steak and swallowing a soap-flavored nutrient block—oh, no, if there are no desires at all, not even the will to survive, then he probably wouldn't even eat a soap-flavored nutrient block.

It is impossible for a person to be without any desires, not even a highly accomplished monk who has attained enlightenment and is free from worldly desires.

The yearning for "freedom from suffering and attainment of happiness" or the pursuit of "extinguishing all kinds of afflictions" is essentially a manifestation of desire.

"Being without desires" is itself a kind of desire.

"This is really weird..." Sun Hang looked at the empty ground, then turned to Zhulong and Xue Yue to confirm, "Are you sure that thing is here?"

“Right here, less than a hundred meters from us,” Zhulong said.

Xue Yue nodded in agreement.

"Damn it, but I can't sense even the slightest trace of any strange creature." Sun Hang took a deep breath, stared at the open space, and began to imagine...

He first imagined the dishes Zhong Ling had cooked, then he imagined Ye Jiu's dashing "killing" armor, then he imagined himself unleashing a frenzied slaughter amidst a horde of monsters, imagined the most beautiful woman's body in the world, imagined eternal life and ever-healthy flesh, imagined endless knowledge and change...

However, nothing appeared inside the cavity of the rock stratum.

"Damn it, even the four minor vendors of the subspace have abandoned me?" Sun Hang felt a sudden sense of powerlessness.

Sun Hang squatted down and began to strain as if he were constipated, as if he wanted to force out the deepest desire in his mind.

If desire is likened to excrement, then this time, he was indeed constipated.

"The other half of the Sphinx's brain... the complete brain of the Sphinx... a supercomputer with infinite prophetic abilities..." Sun Hang kept changing his targets...

Just then, a familiar voice suddenly came from not far away: "These things are not what you really want... They are just a tool, a means to achieve your ultimate desire."

Sun Hang suddenly looked up and realized that someone had appeared in the open space without him noticing.

Someone who is exactly like me.

Another Sun Hang.

“I’ll go.” Sun Hang’s expression changed slightly.

“As you can see, this is your truest desire.” The other Sun Hang pointed to Sun Hang, then to himself, “It’s yourself.”

"Bullshit! I'm not a daffodil!" Sun Hang couldn't help but curse.

“This desire is not narcissism, but refers to self-understanding, or rather, based on one’s own perception of the world,” another Sun Hang said calmly. “You don’t understand yourself, you want to know what you really are, you want to know your past and future… and since you woke up, everything you have done has been based on this most primal motivation.”

"Can you help me do that?" Sun Hang asked.

“I’m sorry, I can’t.” The other Sun Hang shrugged. “I’m just an image of your desires materialized. In fact, I paid a price you can’t even imagine to create this image.”

“If you can’t achieve my goal, what use are you?” Sun Hang looked at his other self and said, “You’re just a piece of trash.”

“In your eyes, I am a piece of trash, but in my eyes, you are like my creator.” The other Sun Hang said with a smile, “I am very grateful to you for creating me... You are the most special one among all the intelligent beings I have ever encountered.”

Could you put it more bluntly?

“You have given me a complete life. From this moment on, I am another you in this world… I am no longer some ‘desire,’ but…”

At that moment, Zhulong's low exclamation came from behind: "Strange! Half of the Sphinx's brain is missing from my field of vision! Sun Hang, have you noticed anything unusual?"

(End of this chapter)