Frightening Joke: Above the Mist-Chapter 403 Despicable

"Alright, none of that matters now. I don’t enjoy discussing failed cases."

Zhou Tian shot a glance at He Yige, who nodded slightly and retreated into the darkness, disappearing somewhere unknown.

"Let’s get to the point. We share common interests. We should be able to cooperate," Zhou Tian said seriously to Bai Yanliang.

"You’re saying that you, who play games with the lives of everyone in Ye City, want to cooperate with me?" Bai Yanliang’s emotions were faint, but he found this amusing.

"I don’t see any issue with this. We need the key, we need to open the final gate of the Fog Realm. This is the only way to make you realize that we are serious." Zhou Tian seemed completely unaware of any problem with his thinking.

"What do you take people for?" Bai Yanliang found it hard to imagine that the dedication and sacrifices he had witnessed in Fog Gathering were made by the same species as the revolting man before him.

"People?" Zhou Tian seemed to question, as if chewing over the word.

He retorted, "In your view, what’s the biggest difference between humans and other creatures?"

"Emotion." Bai Yanliang gave an answer that Zhou Tian didn’t expect.

He shook his glass, laughing, "I thought, after seeing this, you would say something like ’soul.’"

"But you’re still wrong," Zhou Tian shook his head.

"I’ve done experiments. The biggest difference between humans and other species is not emotion, nor soul. You should know, dogs have emotions too, or rather, social animals have relatively abundant emotions. As for the soul, Yu Wenxuan is a good example. I thought that with my adult’s will and soul strength occupying half his body, his original consciousness would be devoured by me sooner or later."

"However, things developed completely differently from what I expected. The components currently forming Yu Wenxuan’s soul are half mine and half Yu Wenxuan’s own, yet the state it shows is another image. That person isn’t me or the original Yu Wenxuan; he has developed his own form. Actually, in this regard, you’re the same. Bai Yanren hoped to resurrect his brother, but the fact is, what resurrected is neither his brother nor a strange soul summoned by the Fog Realm. You... Bai Yanliang, you’ve already grown into an entirely new person."

"So, the soul is such a thing that can be molded and replaced, and such a thing shouldn’t be the foundation of humanity."

Zhou Tian’s remarks did indeed shake Bai Yanliang’s inner core a bit.

The person in front of him was very strange, dangerous, yet intriguing.

Zhou Tian indeed possessed much knowledge that others couldn’t understand, and the insights gained from him would benefit anyone.

"Then, what is it?"

Bai Yanliang wouldn’t fully trust his words, but he was curious about his conclusion.

"It’s the spiritual world."

"The spiritual world, the subjective world, formed by human conscious activity."

"Can you... understand?"

Zhou Tian looked expectantly at Bai Yanliang.

Bai Yanliang, of course, understood what it meant. He had wide-ranging interests, had read many books, and remembered much content.

Among them, there was knowledge about the spiritual world mentioned. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

The spiritual world includes perception, attention, memory, imagination, emotion, will, and character traits, interacting with the external environment to form.

The spiritual world is indeed humanity’s own exclusive world and is a world constructed with human consciousness as its framework based on information from the real world. Generally, each person has their own spiritual world, and the spiritual world does indeed exist. But compared to the real world, the spiritual world does not exist.

"Very well," Bai Yanliang didn’t answer, but just by looking at his eyes, Zhou Tian knew he understood him.

He very much needed someone to share with, someone knowledgeable, emotionally stable, even rational to the point of being completely unaffected by emotion.

According to his observations, Bai Yanliang was just such a person.

And thinking of Bai Yanliang’s background, Zhou Tian was filled with anticipation for the original inhabitants of the Fog Realm. Perhaps... that world was full of people like Bai Yanliang; his thoughts and theories might shine even brighter in that world!

"Even ghosts cannot invade the human spiritual world, so this is the fundamental difference between humans and other species," Zhou Tian asserted confidently.

Bai Yanliang neither agreed nor disagreed with this argument.

"Don’t believe it? Have you ever thought about what the criteria for selecting people for Fog Gathering are, and whether it’s completely random? So why are there no elders and children?" Zhou Tian suddenly asked.

Bai Yanliang frowned slightly, "Are you saying that Fog Gathering selects based on the strength of a person’s spiritual world?"

"Exactly!" Zhou Tian happily looked at Bai Yanliang, nodding vigorously.

"Perception, attention, memory, imagination, emotion, and will—these aspects work jointly to form the spiritual world."

"A child’s spiritual world is not yet fully formed, an elder’s spiritual world has decayed and collapsed. They... are not regarded as complete people by Fog Gathering."

"So, you understand, right?" Zhou Tian stated one word at a time, "It’s not about [what I take people for], but... I don’t regard them as humans at all."

"Those chosen by Fog Gathering have a spiritual world strong enough to withstand. Such people have endured hardships or possess exceptional memories. Some have sharp senses, others have resolute will... In short, they excel in at least one area, and do not fall short in others, to be selected by Fog Gathering. And only these people count as humans."

Zhou Tian’s voice wasn’t cold; it was a straightforward, matter-of-fact tone.

"Therefore, those in Ye City don’t count as humans, and I won’t feel sorry, nor will I have any emotional burden," Zhou Tian smiled brightly.

This person... is fundamentally malicious.

Bai Yanliang’s expression was unrestrained. Qi Nian’s death, ultimately, had a part to play for Dark Abyss. For him to still stand here listening to Zhou Tian speak required much restraint.

"If that’s all you want to say, I’m leaving."

Bai Yanliang dared to follow, naturally having some cards to play.

The key he carried was enough to let him unlock this space and return to Ye City.

"No, you’ll cooperate, otherwise... I’ll make them start to feel a bit of discomfort."

Zhou Tian’s words made Bai Yanliang tightly lock eyes with him.

"What do you mean?"

Zhou Tian shrugged slightly, "No particular meaning, in so many years, I’ve done quite a few things."

"Bai Yanren blocked us elders from entering this Fog Gathering, so of course, I had to come up with some methods."

"Cloning your body was my first method, splitting half my soul into Yu Wenxuan’s body was my second method."

"As for... the third method... it was rather despicable." He embarrassedly scratched his face.

"Humans are always humans, incapable of possessing extraordinary abilities. But with that being the case, we’re at a disadvantage when fighting fierce ghosts!" Zhou Tian said indignantly, "So, I made some adjustments to some chosen players."

"Like... the eyes being able to see in the dark, seeing souls..."

"And, for example... being able to devour ghosts."

Zhou Tian met Bai Yanliang’s deathly still gaze, facing it without flinching, and spoke softly.