What Zhang Wen said is all his imagination, and he hasn’t witnessed Chen Zhixing’s experiences firsthand, so he processes them according to the final outcome.
If Chen Zhixing were to hear his account, he might be quite stunned and wonder if the person in this story is really him.
However, there’s one thing Zhang Wen got right.
As long as Chen Zhixing desires, he truly can disregard the lives of the natives, no matter how many die, to him it is merely a set of numbers.
It’s not because Chen Zhixing is heartless; if that were true, his humanity would have collapsed long ago.
The real answer is an ancient saying.
Out of sight, out of mind.
As long as they don’t die in front of him, forcing him to see the bloody scenes, he can face it all with a relatively calm mindset.
In another way.
When playing a strategy game, players never feel guilty about how many data soldiers have died. Chen Zhixing now holds the same mentality toward unseen deaths.
Don’t speak to him about empathy; strictly speaking, as a transmigrant, now with a body made of Chaotic Qi, what empathy could he possibly share with these natives of the Cosmic Realm?
"If you can’t maintain this mindset, there’s no difference in practicing Longevity or not."
On the streets of Divine Wood Spring City, Sos chuckled softly as he spoke to Chen Zhixing beside him.
But at this moment, Chen Zhixing maintained a serious expression.
"I’m not denying your approach, but isn’t your method quite aggressive? If things continue developing this way, perhaps within a century you might cultivate a few warlords as we envisaged, but are you sure you can control them once they are unleashed into the Star Sea?"
"Just like you told me before, I’ve never thought of controlling them; in fact, per your decentralization option, I made some adjustments, turning it into a more equitable cooperative model. They provide resources, I provide logistics, each performs their duties, turning from a hierarchical plan into partners. I think they won’t reject me as their guardian protecting their homeland, right?"
"Are you calculating human nature?"
"No, actually your plan is better and more comprehensive, but I’m afraid I don’t have the time to wait for your plan to come to fruition, forcing me to adopt a lesser strategy. It might fail, but even in failure, some spark would remain."
"Sos, answer me directly, are you dealing with...?"
"Yes, my friend, after all, I am not truly the Heavenly Dao, incapable of absolute rationality. In facing real destruction, I still have a bit of selfishness."
"But these selfish intentions, do they exclude yourself?"
"Me? What do I have to worry about? My friend, I am the most powerful being in this world; as long as I wish, as long as I remain in the Cosmic World, no one can harm me."
Sos once again chose to evade Chen Zhixing’s question, but from Sos’s attitude, Chen Zhixing had already seen through the answer.
Yes.
Sos intends to live and die with the Cosmic World, without plans to leave it.
If one day, the Cosmic World truly meets its end, then Sos, representing the Terminal Death God, would be both the first and the last martyr of the Cosmic Realm.
A martyr, not a very pleasant term, its true meaning represents death.
"Sos, I have one last question, and I hope you can answer me."
"My friend, you may ask."
"Since you made this choice, why don’t you just send them away, but instead carry out this final purge?"
"I might not be able to answer that for you."
Sos shyly smiled, as if showing Chen Zhixing the last bit of warmth from this Death God.
.....
"I knew gods could never be benevolent!"
This was the first thing Chen Zhixing said after returning to his residence.
Gods? Benevolence?
These two don’t intersect at all!
If a person were benevolent, how could they become a god amid the fierce competition?
Gods like Sos, born from the world, are the same because innate gods are products of rules, how can a mechanical systematic entity develop a strange concept like benevolence?
"Sos can smile while saving the world, can smile while managing disasters, naturally can smile while manipulating hearts, or even smile while destroying those who once admired him at a fundamental level."
True gods feel no guilt.
Compared to beings with human nature, they’re more like operational programs within the world, whereas beings aspiring to become deities must resist such assimilation and maintain their humanity.
Previously, Chen Zhixing thought Sos maintained his humanity well.
But today, his perception was subtly shattered by Sos.
Faced with the death of millions in the Cosmic Realm, this Terminal Death God maintained his due demeanor, without any emotional fluctuation at all.
There truly was no change!
Unlike Chen Zhixing, treating other lives as numbers, Sos, as half a Heavenly Dao, witnessed just how many lives were tragically lost in this chaos, yet showed no emotional disturbance.