I changed the world.

Page 300

“Isn’t this obvious?” Zhang Jing shook his head slightly and said, “If you weren’t demons in the subspace, why would you be in this situation?”

Upon hearing this, Wang Hanjun's expression turned solemn. The words of this immortal had revealed the truth of the matter. Although he had previously had some doubts, he had not yet conducted an investigation, and there were other possibilities for the sudden incident at Fengsui Fortress.

As a major in the Earth Defense Force, Wang Hanjun naturally knew how much expectation the entire human world placed on subspace travel.

However, this outcome will undoubtedly bring enormous trouble to all nations of humanity!

“We soldiers don’t really have much experience in this matter…” Wang Hanjun said with a solemn expression and humble words, bowing and saying, “I beg the immortal master to have mercy and give me some further guidance.”

Zhang Jing hesitated for a moment after hearing this, and finally sighed and said, "Very well, I will make an exception and tell you the secret."

As he spoke, Zhang Jing explained the knowledge about the Yu (a mythical creature) to Wang Hanjun, selecting the parts that Wang Hanjun could understand.

After the explanation, Wang Hanjun suddenly realized and said, "In that case, the Yu is like the worker ants in an anthill, not the real master behind it."

“This statement isn’t entirely accurate, but it can be understood as such for now,” Zhang Jing nodded.

"Then what is the purpose of the guy behind it?" Wang Hanjun asked with a solemn expression after learning the answer.

"Major Wang, have you ever heard of 'Hypericum unilateralis fungus'?" Zhang Jing asked after a moment's thought.

"Uh... forgive my ignorance, I really don't know." Wang Hanjun glanced at his subordinates who were listening intently, and seeing that everyone looked blank, he said.

"This is a parasitic fungus, also known as a brainwashing fungus, which is produced in the tropics. Their host is a local ant species. This fungus lives inside the ant and gets its nutrients by eating the ant's body."

Seeing that the soldiers were listening attentively, Zhang Jing continued, "The spores of this fungus first attach to the exoskeleton of ants, and then multiply rapidly. In just three weeks, they will account for half the weight of the ant. Throughout the process, the host behaves normally, while its companions are completely unaware of it."

Zhang Jing glanced at the soldiers whose eyes were filled with unease, and continued calmly, "Until one day, the ant completely lost itself, and the fungus began to manipulate its will, making them leave their nest. The fungus would choose noon to direct the host to an environment where the temperature and humidity were suitable for the fungus's growth."

"Then, manipulate the ants to find a green leaf here, 25 centimeters above the ground..."

Zhang Jing reached out and tapped the table beside him, emphasizing, "Always this height."

"Once on the green leaf, the ant uses its mandibles to bite the leaf, hanging itself on the leaf until it dies."

"During this period, the fungus begins to multiply inside the ant. Hyphae grow from the head and body of the parasitic ant, then slowly mature, rupture, and release spores..."

"At this height, the spores fall from the green leaves and land on the ants, infecting them and starting a new parasitic cycle, thus forming a complete parasitic cycle that repeats itself endlessly." Zhang Jing paused here, silently watching the soldiers who were listening with chills and pale faces.

“You mean…it treated this place as…” Wang Hanjun said through gritted teeth, then carefully considered his words.

“The hunting ground… a hunting ground with abundant water and grass.” Zhang Jing said bluntly, but his indifferent words were filled with a cold and cruel meaning in the ears of the soldiers present.

In Zhang Jing's view, the Suifenhe is like an ant that has been infected with spores outside, carrying a deadly fungus back to its planetary system. If human civilization does not have effective countermeasures, then a disaster will inevitably await human civilization in the future.

"How dare it do this..." a lieutenant couldn't help but exclaim indignation.

“What’s there to be afraid of…” Zhang Jing glanced at him indifferently: “This is the essence of this universe, the survival of the fittest… For these demons, weak races are nothing more than food and breeding grounds.”

The soldiers fell silent again. The words of the immortal before them had ruthlessly shattered the beautiful illusions and warm veils that some people held about this cold universe. At this moment, everyone was already thinking that if what the immortal said was true, then the so-called great space voyage... wasn't it a bit too early?

At this moment, the yu in Zhang Jing's hand was completely still, as if it were dead. The bright white plasma in Zhang Jing's hand flashed, and in a short breath, it burned into specks of ashes that drifted into the air.

"Ugh..." Just then, Zhang Chengxi, who was lying on the conference table next to her, groaned and opened her eyes.

"Boyu, how are you feeling?" Wang Hanjun, who was standing nearby, quickly went up to ask.

"I feel a little dizzy... but it's nothing serious... where am I..." Zhang Chengxi was clearly still a bit confused and didn't quite understand what had happened.

"It was this immortal who saved you just now..." Wang Hanjun gestured to the soldiers to help Zhang Chengxi up, and then briefly explained what had just happened to him.

"Zhang Chengxi, thank you for saving my life, Immortal Master!" Upon hearing this, Zhang Chengxi sensed that the seemingly omnipresent whispering voice that had been bothering her had indeed disappeared. She quickly sat up and bowed to Zhang Jing beside her to express her gratitude.

Chapter 584 The Name of the Zhang Family of Luling Will Not Be Ruined

Zhang Jing accepted the bow without flinching, then suddenly asked, "Your name is Zhang Chengxi?"

"Yes, my name is Zhang Chengxi, courtesy name Boyu."

"Could it be the Zhang family lineage of Danding Mountain in Luling?" Zhang Jing asked again.

Hearing the abrupt question from the immortal before him, Zhang Chengxi, who had already vaguely guessed what it was, respectfully replied: "My ancestral home is indeed the Zhang family of Luling, but we moved to Chizhou starting with my great-grandfather."

"He is both brave and resourceful, and he does not disgrace the Zhang family of Luling. Very good."

Zhang Jing's praise made several officers around him, including Wang Hanjun, glance at him a few more times. Although they couldn't say anything at the moment, they were all making some guesses in their minds...

After all, it was impossible for a person from Zhao Kingdom not to know the name of Master Zhang...

Even Zhang Chengxi was somewhat surprised, after all, he was already beyond the fifth degree of kinship, and in his previous life, apart from ancestral worship during festivals, the surname Zhang had not brought him much feeling...

Now it seems that the Zhang Celestial Master lineage is not as simple as I previously thought...

This incident really made him quite curious about his own surname...

After exchanging a few polite words, seeing that the immortal in front of her had no intention of discussing further, Zhang Chengxi knew that the situation was urgent. Suppressing her curiosity, she turned to ask Wang Hanjun why he had summoned her.

....................................

………………

“This is… Vivian!” Zhang Chengxi looked at the head placed on the table with a solemn expression. He recognized it at a glance. It was the “woman” he had participated in questioning before and whom he believed to be the culprit of this incident.

At this moment, with Vivian's head lying on the table, he found it hard to accept this reality.

“Vivian?” Wang Hanjun had not participated in the investigation of the Suifenhe incident, so although Zhang Chengxi had briefly described the whole incident to him before, he did not have a deep impression of it.

Zhang Chengxi then recounted the entire Suifenhe incident, including all the information he had seen in the diary and some of his own speculations.

Zhang Jing was also listening nearby. Some of the information here was also new to him. After all, the information he had previously obtained had been relayed by the setter, and some details had been lost.

..............................

"So, this is the mastermind behind the Suifenhe incident?" Wang Hanjun subconsciously recalled Zhang Jing's earlier mention of the "hunting ground," and his expression darkened. He gritted his teeth and said, "This guy wants to swallow the entire Fengsui Fortress..."

Then, looking at Zhang Jing, he said with relief, "It's all thanks to the immortal master for eliminating this demon!"

But Zhang Jing slowly shook his head: "It's just a puppet. The real culprit is the entity behind it."

Zhang Jing knew perfectly well that all the parasitism, corruption, and even the erosion by lower races had only one purpose: to turn the Fengsui Fort area into their lair and use it as a springboard to erode human civilization.

“Immortal Master, we are all soldiers. It is our duty to guard this place. We bear the heavy responsibility entrusted to us by our race and our country, and we have long since disregarded life and death. However, the matters here are beyond the comprehension of ordinary people. Please do not look down on our ignorance and do not hesitate to enlighten us.”

Zhang Jing glanced at the soldiers whose faces were filled with expectation and uttered four words: "Hold the line and wait for the change."

.....................

.........

***

承和三十七年西历2016年3月31日05:51太阳系边疆古柏行星碎片带烽燧堡第206快速反应部队军营食堂

The mess hall is the largest room in the 206th Rapid Reaction Force's barracks, covering an area of ​​nearly 1,000 square meters. At this time, the miscellaneous items inside the mess hall had been simply tidied up and placed in other rooms, and the entire mess hall was quickly emptied by the soldiers.

In addition, on the east side of the canteen against the wall, some soldiers were using battlefield engineering machinery to quickly build two huge square jars several meters long and wide. At this time, the jars were almost completed, and other soldiers were cutting green cloth on the side.

Before long, the two square altars were completed. They were mostly made of welded metal and used battlefield standards, making them look extremely sturdy.

"Immortal Master, what do you think, is this acceptable?"

Wang Hanjun accompanied Zhang Jing to watch the construction progress. When the square altar was completed, he turned around and respectfully asked, "If you feel there is anything wrong, please let me know and I can adjust it immediately."

Zhang Jing observed for a moment and pointed out two problems with the details. Wang Hanjun quickly ordered people to make corrections. Afterwards, Zhang Jing nodded and said, "Let the altar be like this. Let's spread the cloth on it."

At this moment, the green cloth on the side had also been cut. These cloths were all reserve supplies stored in the barracks. They were originally tablecloths, but now they were temporarily pieced together and recut to decorate the altar.

Wang Hanjun looked on, feeling somewhat uneasy.

Originally, the immortal master requested that yellow cloth be used, but since it couldn't be found, green was used as a substitute. Fortunately, the immortal master's Taoist magic was profound, so the slight difference in color didn't matter. However, Wang Hanjun still felt somewhat uneasy. After all, when stockpiling strategic materials back then, the needs of Xuanmen rituals hadn't been considered. Therefore, many things were lacking in the reserves, such as incense, candles, ritual paper, incense burners, flags, banners, and so on. Now, it seemed far too rudimentary…

Although the immortal master said he could make do with what he had, he still felt somewhat sorry for the Heavenly Venerable...

Zhang Chengxi had just received a cup of tea from the immortal, and had now fully recovered from her weakness. Even her wounds looked much better, which amazed onlookers.

At this moment, he was helping the soldiers setting up the altar. After all, as a descendant of Master Zhang, he was the second most professional person here. Although he hadn't had much contact with these things since he was young, he had occasionally heard his elders talk about some rituals. Compared to the soldiers, he was at least a half-baked expert.

Zhang Jing watched quietly from the side, occasionally offering guidance and making corrections on certain details.

........................

That's right, Zhang Jing plans to build a ritual altar here.

At this moment, the demon in the void seemed to have temporarily entered a state of silence because of Zhang Jing's reaction, as if it was re-observing this world that was still unfamiliar to it.

Zhang Jing was happy to do so, as he planned to use this time to remove the parasites from the soldiers' bodies.

If each one were handled like Zhang Chengxi, it would be too cumbersome. Therefore, Zhang Jing planned to use a secret ritual, of course, in appearance, it would still be packaged in the form of a Xuanmen altar that is more familiar to this world.

Chapter 585 Immortal Master, I wish to convert to the Xuanmen!

Although theoretically, with Zhang Jing's current cultivation level, there was no need to make such a fuss about the various aspects of the ritual, the problem was that this was the first time Zhang Jing had organized such a large-scale ritual, so he regarded it as a rare opportunity. At the same time, he was also putting some of his conjectures and observations into practice.

Therefore, he simply proposed that the soldiers cooperate in building a simple altar.

To some extent, a sense of ritual is a necessary step in performing a religious ceremony. To some extent, the role of a sense of ritual is not in the ceremony itself, but in allowing participants to gradually immerse themselves in the experience and thus adjust their mental state in advance.

According to Zhang Jing's observation, the process of these soldiers setting up the altar did indeed involve some adjustments to their body's energy. This was like a kind of suggestion, constantly telling you that something was about to happen, and gradually preparing your body, both mentally and physically, for the event to come.

The pieced-together tablecloth was quickly laid out on the altar. Then, under Zhang Jing's guidance, flags and other objects made from other fabrics were placed around the altar. Bowls containing rice, water, and other items with specific symbolic meanings were also arranged in specific locations.

Several metal bowls were filled with fuel and turned into oil lamps. There was even an engineer who had reportedly worked as a stonemason in his hometown. He found a meteorite and, with simple tools, carved out a three-legged incense burner that looked quite decent.

Zhang Jing could see that everyone, from Major Wang Hanjun, the commander of these soldiers, down to the lowest-ranking private, was taking the arrangements for this religious ceremony extremely seriously. Although, from a religious perspective, the equipment here was very rudimentary, at this moment, under immense external pressure and the psychological suggestion of life and death, all the soldiers regarded this ceremony proposed by the "immortal" as extremely important.