Stronger from Earth-Chapter 99: Empathy Is a Delusion

A massive forest fire spread rapidly, appearing suddenly as flaming dragons devoured large areas of the forest, roaring all the way.

The fire raged fiercely, with flames spreading from the center of the Primeval Forest following the north wind, all the way south. Such a forest fire is a huge disaster.

A flame dragon stretching for tens of hundreds of kilometers is extremely difficult to extinguish, even in the Federation it would require extreme attention and enormous efforts to put it out.

In the Eight-armed Celestial King Realm, where technology is completely undeveloped and still in the agricultural era, relying solely on physical strength, it is almost impossible to extinguish such a forest fire.

By the time the Celestial Race villagers discovered the fire, the flames had already lit up the entire sky, as bright as day.

The crackling sound echoed as one large tree after another struggled and roared before collapsing with a thunderous crash.

The ordinary people of the Celestial Race could do nothing but report such a disaster. With thousands or tens of thousands of them, in the face of difficulties in transporting water, their efforts to fight the fire were but a drop in the ocean.

Forcibly attempting to extinguish the fire would only cost them their lives.

They completely gave up and could only watch from the side.

The fire raged for a whole day and night, turning large areas of forest into Hell, leaving only ashes behind.

When the central city within thousands of miles, the Territorial Royal City, learned of the fire, they sent a few officials to glance at it, only to shake their heads at last.

They drew a circle on the map, abandoning an area of hundreds of miles, waiting for it to extinguish itself, and pointed to a large river, starting to dispatch a large number of strong men to cut down, clearing a firebreak.

Such a project would probably take five or six days; they only hoped that the raging fire would arrive after they finished the project.

Otherwise, the vast area of the Primeval Forest behind the firebreak would also be unable to be preserved.

A sea of fire soared into the clouds overnight, with Wang Xuan standing atop the trees, watching. His five senses were so keen that he could clearly hear the mournful cries of birds, the panting of running beasts, and finally the choking collapse from the smoke.

This forest fire destroyed an entire ecosystem, with thousands of large animals fleeing and countless small animals.

Roaring and howling, the birds and beasts were in a great escape. If they were fast enough, death could not catch them.

Giant beasts over seven or eight meters tall appeared, creatures whose shadows were rarely seen, having no choice but to move their massive bodies in the face of such a fire.

The disciples of the Mountain Gate were shocked watching the forest fire, their hearts inevitably pondering.

Although the Eight-armed Celestial King Race occupied the main destiny of this world, the sum of other countless creatures’ fates was several times that of the Celestial Race.

A forest fire causes destruction to the Otherworld far beyond the massacre of cities and towns, that is undeniable.

Following the trend and using all favorable factors, the destruction they could cause would be even greater, whereas relying solely on their flesh to charge and kill against the Otherworldly People was merely brute force.

"Brother Wang’s fire has probably earned a tremendous amount of destiny, no less than leveling several large cities with a nuclear bomb.

It seems this method is quite viable. We should take reference, as Brother Wang said, take action in the shadows, leverage time and place, and let the Otherworld fall into chaos."

Zhuang Shuixing and Dai Gongcheng nodded.

A Sealer from Immortal Martial Mountain, named Wang Huatian, who had been in the sect for many years and was entering the Otherworld for the first time, also did not object at this time.

"Although we have prepared, and seen a lot of guides from senior brothers, such as using mechanical earth dragons to drill underground, directing miniature nuclear bombs to explode in the city center while people are a hundred miles away to ensure safety.

Or using poison, introducing it into water sources, poisoning a large number of Eight-armed Celestial King Race in one breath, and causing some infectious diseases.

I thought you, Wang Xuan, as a Loose Cultivator, had no experience, but didn’t expect you to know what to do even earlier than us, with thoughts fresher than us, whose minds are stuck on our senior brothers’ experiences."

They were far from as incompetent as they first appeared; they had merely hidden their talents, while Wang Xuan amazed them, showing another path.

A single spark can start a prairie fire; the Eight-armed Celestial King Realm has plenty of places for them to burn, and hiding in the forests and grasslands, not easily discovered by the Eight-armed Celestial King Race, is even safer.

Wang Xuan looked at the blazing fire in front, not responding to a few people’s words.

There is a saying on Earth: "Set fire to a mountain, spend the rest of your life in prison." The destruction caused by such actions is enormous, severely destroying ecology.

Even so far away, he could still sense in his spirit the thousands upon thousands of creatures roaring in their final moments, desperate and powerless.

An inexplicable sadness grew; if a living being of the Eight-armed Celestial King Realm were faced with his actions, they would surely hate him to the marrow.

However, soon enough, he adjusted his mindset.

He could sympathize with the Otherworldly creatures, knowing how sinful his actions were, but the battle between worlds only had life and death, survival of the fittest.

He was not of the Eight-armed Celestial King Realm; he had to stand firmly on his side and was very clear on why he came here.

Even if the disaster-stricken creatures were on the brink of death, Wang Xuan, thinking from their position, would only feel slight sympathy and heaviness, unable to experience the deep despair, pain, and anger a hundredfold or ten thousandfold.

Empathy is ultimately a mirage, the emergence of the term empathy itself is a joke.

If victims expect help or pity from others, they will only be disappointed; all they can do is keep going strong.

Wang Xuan turned around, smiled slightly, "Then, let’s proceed according to my suggestion!"

They took one last glance at the fire, and with the assistance of small aircraft, tried to avoid villages and towns, and reached another forest a thousand miles away overnight, choosing to rest for the time being.

"You rest, and I’ll capture someone from the Eight-armed Celestial King Race to ask for information and try to get a map." Wang Xuan suggested, Chen Hong wanted to accompany him, but Wang Xuan declined.

"I have the ability to hypnotize, so doing this alone is easy, while having more people gets easier to expose."

Wang Xuan left alone and soon found a cave, glancing at a more than two-meter-tall Black Bear inside, with a short tail and long claws.

Upon seeing Wang Xuan, the Black Bear was about to roar and rush forward to kill this creature daring to invade its lair, but Wang Xuan flipped his palm, with great force that directly made the Black Bear kneel on all fours, battered and stunned.

Wang Xuan immediately started hypnosis; the Black Bear, having just been beaten, was already terrified, its mind even weaker, easily hypnotized, crouching at the entrance, becoming Wang Xuan’s guard.

"I haven’t felt the suppression of the Otherworld, so obviously my abilities can still be enhanced."

Operating alone, Wang Xuan aimed to enhance his abilities. If surrounded by people, surging energy after using an accelerator could draw suspicion.

Outside, he had much more freedom.

(The new book flopped, with a subscribing-to-reading ratio nearing thirty, a bleak future, and probably no more recommendation slots.

Feeling a bit down and not much in the mood to write, it seems my concern for gains and losses is too heavy. I’ll allow some time for adjustment, these two days I’ll also update some bonus content for the Squad Leader.

The words "two-month hiatus" are hard to say out loud, I can’t harden my heart to say it because these words, like "break-up," once spoken, cannot be taken back and hurt deeper.

Adjust the mindset and continue on, my only task is to keep going strong. This portion of text, being under two hundred words, won’t incur charges.)