After breaking up with my girlfriend, I became a Great Sage of the Demon Clan.

Page 655

"Dong dong dong..."

There was a knock on the door, followed by Zhou Yan's voice.

"Yang Erlang, are you done fighting?"

Erlang Shen spoke into his phone.

"Xiaotian, find someone to talk to these guys with similar temperaments and see what conditions they can come up with."

Even if it's just fleeting news, if Erlang Shen can use it to extract some information, he certainly won't refuse.

Erlang Shen wanted to see how many irresistible offers Du Laiqiu would make in order to win him over.

"Understood, Erlang, just wait for my good news."

Erlang Shen hung up the phone and looked at Zhou Yan, who had come out.

Zhou Yan pointed to the study he had just come out of.

"I talked with Wu Shanfu and Li Shuo, and we all felt that dealing with Tongxing was unavoidable."

Erlang Shen countered with a question.

"so what?"

Zhou Yan took out her phone.

"Should we contact Feng Wan?"

Feng Wanlai knew that Chi You had been resurrected, but she didn't tell Du Laiqiu this news. As a result, when Du Laiqiu saw Chi You, he was so surprised that he was speechless.

From this perspective, Feng Wanlai and Du Laiqiu did not get along well.

A spy is a good thing, especially when that spy is on your side.

Chapter 53 Negotiation

The current maximum lifespan for humans is 115, while the theoretical lifespan is 120+.

Based on theoretical lifespan, the maximum human lifespan is now estimated to be just over 40 years, while a conservative estimate suggests that the average age of death is around 30.

This is not simply a reduction of 80 years in lifespan. This state of entropy increase does not increase human learning ability. In other words, if humans start studying from childhood to university, what was originally just the beginning of life after graduating in their twenties has now become 20% of their life.

The majority of the elite class in society are between 30 and 50 years old.

Humanity will lose the vast majority of its elite class, including experienced middle-aged people.

Those professors at the forefront of science are difficult for researchers to replicate.

Whether in scientific research or industrial production, there is a common argument that a sufficient population is necessary to generate enough research results and technological development.

Because there are countless disciplines nowadays, only when each discipline has researchers and its own infrastructure can the combination of professionals lead to new technologies that embody a wealth of professional knowledge from hundreds of disciplines.

And all of this will absolutely cease under the entropy increase buff.

Because people who die at the age of thirty are unlikely to accumulate enough knowledge to inherit and integrate cutting-edge human research.

Humanity's future is locked in.

Zhou Yan has reason to believe that in the future, even if the human population does not decline, cutting-edge technology will decline at a visible rate. In addition, other organisms will also be affected by entropy increase, which will bring about many unknown changes.

This world isn't finished yet, but it's on the verge of collapse.

Unfortunately, Zhou Yan couldn't seek help from the Four Divine Beasts, the Eastern Dipper Star Lord, the Central Dipper Star Lord, or the Literary Star. All these great star officials ultimately belonged to the Ziwei Emperor, and there was no guarantee that these true gods wouldn't covet the Ziwei Emperor's heart after killing Du Laiqiu.

"Wait a moment."

Li Shuo wiped his mouth and smeared the sticky fluid from spitting out the worm onto the back of his hand.

"According to your logic..."

Li Shuo stared at Zhou Yan's face.

"Now not only are our ancestors in trouble, but we can't let Du Laiqiu off the hook either?"

To be honest, Chi You's side is too unstable. Before resolving the state of entering darkness, Chi You caused more fear and anxiety among the Wu tribe than the resurgence of the Wu tribe. Therefore, Li Shuo had mixed feelings about whether Chi You would be killed.

If we insist on helping Chi You, we might be killed; if we don't help Chi You, even if he dies, the Wu tribe will still be the Wu tribe, still the superior people.

It should be noted that before the existence of the ancestor Chiyou, Li Shuo lived a life where even the Four Divine Beasts were treated as honored guests.

Now that two-thirds of their lifespan has been cut, things are different. Even if a demigod's lifespan is measured in thousands of years, they wouldn't like to have thousands of years of their lifespan cut off.

Zhou Yan's words meant that Li Shuo and Du Laiqiu could no longer ignore them.

Wu Shanfu, standing to the side, hesitated.

“I know a Taoist priest in Pingdingshan. He owns a large temple where the main deity is the Ziwei Emperor. According to this priest, their temple had a patriarch who could communicate with the Ziwei Emperor a thousand years ago, and the lineage has remained unbroken for millennia. Perhaps we could hold a grand ceremony and ask that priest to issue an edict…”

Erlang Shen, who was beside Zhou Yan, interrupted.

"Who do you think orchestrated the calamity and decline caused by the clash of fates after Du Laiqiu forcibly seized the bloodline?"

Erlang Shen pointed to the sky, indicating that the Ziwei Emperor was still alive. Du Laiqiu had forcibly seized the bloodline, and the Ziwei Emperor would naturally sense it and then bring down disaster.

Simply put, Du Laiqiu is currently under the sanction of the Ziwei Emperor. However, the Ziwei Emperor's sanction is not like what normal people imagine—slapping you in the face and turning you into a meat patty before leaving. Instead, it is a more subtle, conceptual punishment.

However, this punishment is not absolute.

Erlang Shen explained.

"The ancient Yin-Yang School wasn't stupid. The reason they dared to plunder the bloodline power of the gods was because of the forty-nine Heavenly Evolutions, of which only one was human."

The saying goes, "Eight days lead to forty-nine, and one escapes." This means that even if Heaven intends for you to die, it won't truly kill you. It will always leave you a way to survive and struggle. As long as you seize it, you can escape any calamity or disaster.

The Heavenly Emperor is the same. As the embodiment of the Heavenly Way, when the Heavenly Emperor sends down disasters, it is not really to make you die a horrible death. They will also leave you a way out, so that you can escape and live.

The ancient Yin-Yang school wanted to use this opportunity to escape into one of the realms, thinking that no matter how much trouble they caused, even the Heavenly Emperor, whom they had blasphemed, would leave them a way out. So they started committing evil deeds, but they were unlucky and eventually perished.

Wu Shanfu inquired.

"So we have no way to persuade the Ziwei Emperor?"

Erlang Shen hummed in agreement.

Wu Shanfu's expression was solemn, while Li Shuo beside her clutched his stomach. The entropy increase buff had caused extremely strange changes in the various Gu worms in her stomach, and many Gu worms that originally had a lifespan of one week died one after another.

The vast majority of Li Shuo's body is composed of Gu worms, and the changes and deaths of these Gu worms have greatly affected Li Shuo's body.

Metabolism begins to become disordered.

These are countless days and nights.

It is my endless longing for you.

Your gentleness fills me with endless longing.

Even though time has changed my appearance...

Erlang Shen took out the cell phone from his pocket.

"Excuse me, I need to take this call."

Erlang Shen walked out of his study and answered the phone in the hallway outside.

The howling dog's voice came out.

"Erlang?"

"Yes, it's me. How are you?"

"That group of henchmen has already appeared at the Zhou family villa. Many of them are carrying weapons, and there are also several Awakened individuals leading the way."

Erlang Shen gave a disdainful snort.

From the moment he decided to deal with Tongxing, Erlang Shen had already guessed that these cultists would stop at nothing to achieve their goals. Therefore, Erlang Shen had already ordered his henchmen, including Xiaotianquan, to deal with Zhou Yan's adoptive parents and his own parents.

Over this period of time, his own parents and Zhou Yan's adoptive parents had already used passports from another country, which Erlang Shen had prepared, to board a plane and leave the country.

Both Erlang Shen and Zhou Yan are now all alone. The advantage of being alone is that you can do whatever you want without worrying about harming your family.

Erlang Shen asked again.

"Where did these henchmen come from?"

The celestial dog on the other end of the phone sighed.

"It's Councilor Qian..."

Among the high-ranking members of Tongxing was a local city councilor. This councilor used his power to investigate the situation of Erlang Shen and Zhou Yan's family. Afterwards, he used Black Gloves and Tongxing's lower-level believers to deal with Erlang Shen and Zhou Yan's parents.

Erlang Shen remained silent.

Councilor Qian Erlangshen knows him. He is a social media influencer who has emerged in recent years and is very popular on Cihe City's social media platforms. This influencer's remarks include, but are not limited to, "opening up marriage between siblings and close relatives", "preventing the lower class from being exploited by capitalists", "rich people should marry more wives so that excellent genes can be passed on", and "women should stay in the kitchen and at home, and learning to read is a man's right".

Erlang Shen used to think of this councilor as a clown, but he never expected that this clown was not only ugly, but also a cultist.

But it's nothing, Erlang Shen had already anticipated these things.

"I understand. Xiaotian, you can continue to keep an eye on it."

"Oh, right... Erlang, a member of the Tongxing family came to our company looking for us. He said that their Holy Maiden and Prophet wanted to talk to us. That guy is still waiting for us at our company."

"Just keep waiting?"

"Yes, our company also has criminal police and economic police from other cities stationed here, and they are currently retrieving our company's business information."

Erlang Shen said jokingly.

"They really will stop at nothing."

Erlang Shen has bribed all the local government agencies in Cihe City. With shared interests, the local officials are unlikely to target Erlang Shen. Therefore, Tongxing has started to hire police from other places to "investigate" Erlang Shen's company.

Erlang Shen asked.

"What about the city government? What did they say?"

Normally, using out-of-town police to investigate local leading enterprises would provoke strong protests and concrete opposition from the local government.

"The municipal government hasn't reacted much, Erlang. According to my investigation, it seems that some councilors from the state government are putting pressure on us. The municipal government is under a lot of pressure, and no one dares to speak up for us."

Erlang Shen already knew that there were also people in the state government who shared the same traits, but he didn't expect these councilors to come after him so quickly.

"Just a little thing."

They're all over a thousand years old. What kind of wealth and glory hasn't Erlang Shen seen? Whether he's being investigated or his property is confiscated, it's all just fleeting smoke.

Trying to blackmail Erlang Shen with wealth is rather ridiculous.