Chapter 139 The Divine Children

As is widely known, China currently has two major protectors.

The two are Wu Cheng'en, the Victorious Fighting Buddha, and Li Bai, the Green Lotus Sword Immortal.

Their supernatural abilities, "The Great Sage Equaling Heaven" and "The Immortal," not only possess extraordinary strength but also grant their holders lifespans far exceeding those of ordinary people.

A long lifespan means more experience and training; 99% effort plus a little talent creates an unparalleled powerhouse.

As for why Romain Rolland was able to imitate Wu Cheng'en's supernatural abilities... do you remember where the UN got its information about "human-tiger"?

Yes, it's the "Book of Changes" (Zhouyi) from the Chinese "Four Books and Five Classics." As the most accurate and wide-ranging known superpower in the world, it's the first choice for thrill-seeking UNs.

The result was that the UN forces almost completely captured within China's borders.

The "Spring and Autumn Annals" effect, which is also one of the Four Books and Five Classics, allows the user to know all the "things that have happened" over a very large area. Its effective area covers nearly two-thirds of China. No matter how meticulous the UN's plans are, everything will be exposed when they step into the "Spring and Autumn Annals" effective area.

Fortunately, Pu Songling, who had successfully caused trouble by using the "Spring and Autumn Annals" and the "Book of Changes" and then made a clean getaway, provided some valuable experience for the UN, which bought them a few minutes of time. This allowed them to obtain intelligence and escape.

However, the subsequent encirclement was relentless, and the Nautilus was destroyed by three-quarters. After that, Verne basically had to rely on his supernatural abilities to forcibly drag a bunch of scrap metal away.

The various spatial blockades nearly exhausted Defoe, who was in charge of the transfer, to the point of vomiting.

In the end, if Dante hadn't come to the rescue, considering that the potential losses from actually fighting Dante would have been too great and UN hadn't caused any damage (in fact, UN was almost beaten to a pulp here), then UN was ultimately let go.

The one who rushed to the scene was Wu Cheng'en.

When Wu Cheng'en arrived, he nearly split the Nautilus in two with a single blow, and the Nautilus's keel broke into three pieces from just one hit.

If Defoe hadn't been holding onto Verne's leg and Barry hadn't been hugging Verne's waist to show he could actually fix it, Verne probably would have rushed out to fight Wu Cheng'en right then and there.

Thus, having gathered the three conditions of "detailed information on the superpowered individual," "observing the target using superpowers," and "contacting the target's superpowers (being affected while inside the Nautilus)," Romain Rolland was able to imitate about 40-50% of Wu Cheng'en's strength.

While the individual strength of the "Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends" might not be enough to completely suppress them, their numbers are three times greater. Three of them attacking together would definitely be enough to control Shelley.

As for what Brother Zhou said about taking them down one by one... well, it mainly serves as a form of self-motivation.

Although Shelley's raw strength was comparable to his and he was now at a disadvantage due to his mental instability, Shelley's ability to recover was truly unparalleled.

After becoming a god, Shelley was completely "activated." This activation does not refer to combat power—combat power is at its limit when it goes berserk. Activation refers to Eden and that exaggerated immortality.

The most physically damaging weapon in his hand, the "Cannibal Feast," not only pierced the flesh and blood but also penetrated the internal organs, even dissolving a significant portion of the brain. Yet, the divine child Shelley remained lively and energetic, recovering in just a few seconds.

The hot air, which had been at maximum power for several minutes, had already vaporized half of Shelley's body and charred her ribs, spine, and skull, yet she regenerated in just half a minute. That's just too exaggerated.

After trying various methods again, Zhou Shuren had to admit that he had no way to kill the Divine Child.

Rather, how do you kill something that doesn't need any organs, can be revived even with only half its body remaining, and can be completely restored in just a few seconds?

Once again, a "blessing" was unleashed upon a divine being, blowing its entire head off. Zhou Shuren couldn't help but turn to Romain Rolland and ask, "How did you deal with these 'divine children' before?"

Special cases require special treatment, and Romain Rolland's answer was equally straightforward: "To be honest, all 'divine children' can only function because of Shelley. Therefore, stopping Shelley's divine child state will essentially resolve the situation."

These "divine children" infected by Eden are different from Shelley himself; they can only be active when they form a network of thought with the divine child Shelley.

If Shelley were to break free from his network of thinking, the remaining divine children would simply become mentally challenged, standing motionless like a pile of statues, which would make things much easier to handle.

Upon hearing the new information, Zhou Shuren nodded in realization, but said that he had not obtained any useful information: the question was about how to kill the divine child Shelley, not about killing any particular person.

While the new information Roman revealed was indeed useful, it didn't answer his question at all.

But Zhou Shuren thought about it for a moment: "Could it be that we're still relying on 'no one survived'?"

After all, it's the strongest instant-death type, so this situation easily evokes the image of (no one surviving).

“Ah, even Christie has some difficulty with the transformation into a divine child. We usually have Dante do it directly.” Romain Rolland himself was relatively relaxed at the moment and chatted calmly with Zhou Shuren. “However, Dante is a special case. If there are fewer divine children, then we have Exupéry send them directly to outer space.”

"May I ask how many of these have you thrown into outer space already?"

I always felt that even in space, the divine child wouldn't die. But what if one day the divine child, thrown into outer space, launches a counterattack? That would be a real disaster.

"I forgot to count, maybe forty-two? Just kidding."

Romain Rolland told a lame joke, but Zhou Shuren (Lu Xun) didn't understand the punchline.

Without this concern, Romain Rolland did not believe there was any hidden danger: "There's no need to worry about that; we're not just abandoning things and ignoring them."

Romain Rolland spoke casually, “All the divine children who were thrown into outer space have been asked by Exupé’s friends to throw them into the sun.”

Brother Zhou: ...

Did you just casually mention something terrible? It seems you misunderstood the reason for Zhou Shuren's surprise. Romain Rolland first explained who Antoine's friend was.

“A man named Douglas Adams, whom Exupé met in space, it’s normal that you don’t know him.” Romain Rolland said, pointing with his finger stick at a group of divine children over there, “But if there are this many, don’t bother him, just let Dante handle it.”

After all, Adams had his own things to do—in his own words, calculating the proof process of some ultimate answer—and he couldn't keep bothering others.

If we're talking about whether Adams is a threat... well, Adams has already opened a tavern in outer space and doesn't seem to have any intention of returning to Earth at all.

While the ability to become entirely plasma, like in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," seems pretty terrifying, since he's holed up in space and doesn't plan to come back, we probably don't need to worry about it.

With this in mind, the chaotic neutral organization UN did not intend to tell anyone about it. After exchanging a few words through the communicator that Adams gave to Exupé, UN continued to happily go about its business.

Everyone at the UN is "unconventional." So for the UN, accepting a massive, threatening weapon in space that doesn't want to return to Earth is a perfectly normal thing.

Romain Rolland, himself a member of an illegal and disorderly organization whose losses far exceeded those of Adams, merely sighed briefly before throwing himself back into the battle against the divine children.

Zhou Shuren: No, didn't you just casually mention some particularly terrifying information? You should explain it clearly!