Episode 12: The Dark Story

 Episode 12: The Dark Story

In the previous episode, a drama unfolded as the Contra Emperor continuously tested the mental resilience of Elder Ying Haosheng, leading to chaos and a fight that nearly revealed the identity of the Contra Emperor as Ran Draven.

Additionally, the process of awakening the legendary Xiaohan drained Yorian of his energy, causing him to faint after enduring it for months.

In this episode, Yorian meets his parents, albeit briefly, and learns about the dark past that haunts him. What darkness lies in Yorian's past?

Main Story:

After I fainted from the awakening process, Arborvanus’s father brought me into Paxtorovutra, which was in a critical state due to using all its resources for this awakening.

"Why did this child go to such lengths to awaken me, leaving his own home in this state?" Xiaohan asked, confused.

"I don't know what my brother was thinking," replied Ariana.

As a token of gratitude, Xiaohan helped heal me, estimating that I would recover in about an hour. At first, Ariana was skeptical, but remembering Xiaohan's title as the Life Emperor, she felt reassured.

"By the way, what is your noble name? I’m Ariana Slyphina," Ariana asked, introducing herself.

"Introduce me as Xiaohan Arborvanus. You don’t need to be overly formal, young one," Arborvanus replied, slightly uncomfortable with the title.

"Alright, I won’t call you noble anymore," Ariana said obediently.

After 30 minutes, I began to show signs of recovery.

"This child is truly remarkable; no wonder he could awaken me and grant me such great power. Ariana, what is this child’s name?" asked Arborvanus.

"Yorian, but I once heard him refer to himself as Suf," Ariana replied.

"Suf?" Arborvanus said, taken aback for a moment.

"Why?" Ariana asked.

"I’m reminded of the child of my master in my previous life, whose name was also Suf, whom I regarded as my own child."

"Where did he disappear to?!" Arborvanus exclaimed, surprised.

"Dor!" I said, startling Arborvanus.

"Why has your demeanor suddenly become so childish?" Arborvanus asked, puzzled.

"Are the memories of Father Arya and Mother Ai stored within you?" I inquired.

"Wait, how do you know the old identities of the two souls in my body?" Arborvanus asked.

"Father... Mother..." I said, crying.

Arborvanus then realized that I was actually the soul of the child he once cared for, and suddenly, his body split into two, revealing a pair of lights within.

I remained silent for a long time, witnessing the two people I had longed for over 110 years. Ariana, however, grew even more confused by the situation.

"Brother, five years ago, didn’t the souls of your parents completely perish after that mysterious terrorist attack in the village?" Ariana asked, bewildered.

Suddenly, I burst into tears, prompting the two lights to move and embrace me warmly. Ariana also stepped closer.

"Brother? Why aren’t you acting like your usual calm and mature self?" Ariana asked, continuing to question me.

"Just be quiet; he seems to have borne a heavy burden that he never shared with anyone," one of the lights said.

As I lifted my head, they saw my face, resembling that of a four-year-old child. They began to cry as they embraced me, realizing that the child they were holding was their own, but only for a brief moment before the two lights fused back into Arborvanus.

"Their consciousness remains one with my life core, so if they push themselves too hard, they might disappear," Arborvanus said.

"Oh... well..." I said, disappointed.

"Brother, you haven't answered my previous question—who are they really?" Ariana asked.

"I can’t bear to talk about it," I replied before moving to fix the damage to Paxtorovutra.

"Grandfather, what’s wrong with my brother?" Ariana asked.

"Wait, why do you suddenly call me grandfather?" Arborvanus asked, puzzled.

"Actually, I consider him my father because he created me and also has his bloodline within me, but he told me to call him brother. Besides, you also look old," Ariana joked.

"How absurd! I’m not old, but regarding the two lights earlier, I need to tell the story of your father's life."

"In a happy family, a four-year-old child was reading his 100th book for the first and last time. After finishing the book, he heard loud banging from outside and the sounds of his parents being struck.

His caretaker hid him in a cupboard just before the sound of gunshots rang out. The child was startled and nearly cried, but because he had read many books, he realized this was not the time to cry. He stayed quiet until midnight.

Hungry, he emerged only to smell the foul stench of his caretakers' corpses and saw trails of blood leading outside. He witnessed with his own eyes his parents being forced into a living banyan tree, causing their deaths instantly.

The child tried to remain calm until everyone left. He approached the tree and begged for food from his mother, attempting several times to open the wood that was pierced into the tree, but it was futile.

The child went to the kitchen, and when he tried to take food, everything in the fridge fell and struck the bloodied caretakers. He was forced to endure hunger.

The next day, someone found him in the kitchen, and the incident went viral due to the murder. At that time, some people began to mock him and vent their anger on him because his father, a corrupt man, was exposed.

Children of corrupt officials were usually killed, but he was left to be bullied instead. Every day, the boy suffered both mental and physical wounds, leading to a growing hatred for humanity.

He often reflected under the tree (Arborvanus) and recounted all that he faced daily.

He decided to go to school as he had read about in books. Being exceptionally intelligent, he skipped kindergarten and entered elementary school while others were seven years old, and he was only four.

He was frequently bullied at school for being poor and an orphan, and was even used as a punching bag by older students. He was even made to lick the shoes of a fellow student just to earn a meager amount of money that couldn’t even buy him a meal.

Yet, despite his hardships, he was an ambitious child, aiming to reset civilization and build a new, better society.

From elementary to high school, his grades were always perfect, and during college—Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate—he achieved a GPA of 5.0 due to his genius, completing every field of study and every course (though there was one he could not learn: religion).

He even produced remarkable works capable of transforming the world, but all of his creations were part of a brutal mission: the extermination of humanity. After ten years, everyone was using the chip he had created.

The younger generation became heavily dependent on the internet, making them lazy and ignorant, which made them easy to manipulate.

He established communities for gambling, drugs, pornography, and all sorts of vices to destroy the younger generation, and the older generation, largely dependent on chips to maintain their memories, were also easy to manipulate.

He incited conflict between the young and old generations, leading to the older generation's victory because the young generation was weak and lazy due to the effects of the illicit communities he created.

But it didn’t stop there; having taken control of the world, he launched all nuclear weapons globally to annihilate humanity.

However, he was not foolish; the only ones left were me and him, along with a server filled with knowledge. He used technology to neutralize all radiation on Earth and revive the planet.

Before he established a new civilization, he read all scientific knowledge, including religious studies, which surprised him. In one of the holy books, he discovered that it contained scientific facts that had only been revealed thousands of years later.

Not only that, but this holy book also made him realize the state of the world and regret the mass extermination. He ultimately decided to atone by creating a smart generation that would be devoted to the Lord.

By the time he reached 100 years of age, he was known as a teacher and the world's leader who controlled everything, until a failed assassination attempt on one of his wealthy students, who was his disciple, led to him being hit by a truck that had been planned to run over the student.

The individuals who orchestrated the event immediately killed him on the spot because they revered him as the greatest leader of all time who advanced humanity," Arborvanus recounted.

After hearing the long tale of my life, Ariana realized that the two lights were my father and mother, and also understood that my past was incredibly complex, cruel, and heavy.

"Brother... I didn’t expect you to bear such a heavy burden. Can he truly atone for his sins?" Ariana said sadly.

"It seems not; I will still be punished," I replied.

"Brother..." Ariana said, falling silent.

"Let’s not discuss the past; the past is the past. All we can do is learn from it and face the future," I said.