Chapter 38: An Epic of the Ages? A Dark Angel?

[Great Dream of Immortality]: "This is a beautiful era worth yearning for. Even the mastermind behind the scenes, strictly speaking, is not a bad person."

"It grew up exactly as the Prophet had hoped: intelligent and meticulous, possessing a moral bottom line, and full of affection and loyalty."

"After all, the Prophet taught them etiquette and culture; he taught them to honor the old and cherish the young, and that the blood feud of a father is an irreconcilable enmity!"

"Even though she was filled with hatred her entire life, she remained a beautiful butterfly from beginning to end."

"In her youth, she was patient and resilient, painstakingly spinning a cocoon to emerge as a butterfly."

"In her prime, she became a hero, expanding territories and leading the Angel race."

"In her twilight years, she began her schemes, calculating against the Butterfly-Red Fungi, even deliberately avoiding the two rebel gods, wanting only to strike at her own enemies."

"Though the turmoil seemed vast, in reality, not a single angel died, even during the assault on the Cangwu Tree. The Seraph simply led a great army to intimidate the tree and frame the Butterfly-Red Fungi."

"In her eyes, this was a foolproof plan, a righteous cause backed by thirty thousand soldiers to demand the culprit. Yet, she could not have foreseen that the gods were so terrifying—unwilling to listen or discern, using raw power to overcome all strategy. She must have been utterly bewildered and desperate at that moment."

This was likely the truth behind the entire historical mystery.

The audience felt their hearts racing!

As this "historian" dissected the events, they felt as if they had truly returned to that bygone era, bearing witness to the life of a vengeful angel.

Sigh!

Many couldn't help but feel conflicted.

They had originally thought she was a wicked and malicious wretch, plotting for immortality out of a fear of death.

They had thought there were bad butterflies among the kind-hearted swarm, but it turned out... there wasn't a single bad one?

Were they all good people?

Were they all righteous beings of deep feeling and loyalty?

Thinking of this, the educated scholars among them could not help but feel guilty, admitting with sincere admiration:

"The Prophet is truly a sage of enlightenment for the ages."

"He educated the world, making that era as beautiful as a fairy tale—even more cultured than the era of scholars!"

"Even the vengeance was as cute... as if it were out of a fairy tale."

...

Observing the amazement in the comment section, Liu Jun naturally understood their underlying longing:

"People always yearn for what they do not have."

"Our era is dark and full of intrigue, so naturally, we yearn for that beautiful, fairy-tale age."

To put it another way:

It was because Liu Jun himself longed for the beautiful fairy tales of his childhood that he created the Amber Monarch Butterfly race.

It was because Liu Jun longed for such a kind and beautiful world that he built it.

This world was a direct hit to Liu Jun's own heart.

And for these scholars, was it any different?

It naturally triggered their deepest sensitivities.

***

It was a total knockout!

It hit their preferences perfectly.

Soon, readers revisited the life story of the Angel King and actually found various clues.

Chong Qiqi had always been so melancholic, as if something had been hidden in her heart from the very beginning.

And in the nights spent with the Angel King, she would wake up from nightmares.

Soon, a short-video creator even edited a series of clips together, ending on that final scene of death.

The Angel King falling, embracing the corpse of Chong Qiqi, who had been consumed by her "love that could not endure."

The caption read:

[The massacre of the clan in the South Garden was the childhood trauma from which Chong Qiqi could never escape.]

[Countless times she struggled on the brink of life and death while spinning her cocoon in Butterfly Valley; countless nights she recalled that day in her nightmares, desperately escaping from the overwhelming sea of blood.]

[She broke through her cocoon to become a butterfly, found her own beauty with three companions, and established the Angel race amidst fields of flowers. Even if there were mistakes along the way, they were gently smoothed over by time with her death in that magnificent final war of gods.]

...

As the video was released, accompanied by stirring music and the final, gorgeous death, many were moved to tears, overwhelmed by emotion.

Some netizens commented:

"Poor Emperor Chong Shisan, never wanting to know the truth, only to have heartless netizens spoil the ending for him a hundred million years later! How cruel can you be? You're making the poor guy suffer so much."

"Ahhh, you truth-seekers are the worst!"

"Hugs, I'm willing to be your new Empress!"

[Dugu Wuxing]: "Ahhh, what 'Chong Shisan'? That name isn't his dark history; that was his path of flowers."

"Only those from the lowest rungs have such names. Historically, there was a sage with a similar name, Zhu Chongba. This is not a black mark, but a medal of honor for an emperor who rose from the bottom!"

[Camellia Blossoms]: "Brothers, we've struck gold! Those of us using the PC001 Amber Monarch Butterfly AI have been blessed. With the big shots revealing the truth, the value of the Chong Qiqi 'Little Angel' AI has risen to 380,000."

"I estimate it will keep rising, perhaps even to the price of a Tier 2 AI—that's millions! My medical debt will be paid off! A windfall, taking off directly! Lord Angel is my god forever!"

[Driving Specialty]: "Ahhh, these capitalists are manipulating things again! Cashing in on love stories and sentimentality. Don't those of us with other basic models deserve a piece? It makes me so mad."

Watching the comments, Chong Shisan fell silent.

He truly had not expected this.

The humans of this era were so unhinged.

The memory had caught up with him after a hundred million years, forcing a spoiler upon him.

"If it was her doing, then those missing children must have been relocated."

Chong Shisan knew his wife’s methods well; she had helped him govern more than half of the kingdom.

"I wonder where those children were settled? But no matter the scheme, a hundred million years later, I fear they have long since vanished with the wind."

"The Prophet, who has lived for several epochs, should know where those children went. If I ever meet the Prophet, I must ask."

However, even Liu Jun did not know where they had gone.

Nevertheless, he was currently preparing to see where those angels had run off to.

***

He had gone online to catch up on some gossip, only to find it was about himself!

Liu Jun couldn't help but feel a bit dazed.

Finally, [Great Dream of Immortality] concluded:

"The story of the Angel King and Chong Qiqi is but a small glimpse into the Butterfly Era."

"I, too, yearn immensely for that beautiful epoch."

"I can feel a grand, magnificent, and majestic beauty within it."

"What kind of brilliant flowers would such a great and pure civilization eventually bloom? And how were they destroyed?"

"We can foresee that this is a spectacular history! Whenever I think of that vast, epic myth of civilization, it truly fills one with longing!"

"Compared to the vast universe, and compared to the civilization of an entire epoch, we humans are but a drop in the ocean."

"The human timescale, our mere hundreds of years of life, is nothing but a speck of dust compared to that vast butterfly civilization."

...

This final summary was the finishing touch, elevating the story's theme and sparking widespread discussion among readers.

Looking at the screen, Liu Jun sat lazily in his chair, his eyes flickering with satisfaction and relief.

You cannot see it.

But I have enough time and energy to wait, to manage, and to develop all of this.

He suddenly remembered the Tree of Life he had planted not long ago.

"I can even personally drive this vast, brilliant, and magnificent mythological system, nurturing it in my own hands."

He stood up, looking at the misty, rain-drenched balcony outside, having plenty of time to enjoy it all.

Wandering through the history of this civilization, leaving his own footprints, pushing the wheels of history, watching, and waiting for the seeds of civilization to bloom into brilliant flowers.

Sighing, Liu Jun finally began to attend to real business.

"Those crazy netizens are truly talented."

"I might as well go see where that batch of missing Angel descendants actually went."

On a whim, he decided to investigate the truth of those years.

He delved into the Fungal Soup to take a careful look, and upon doing so, discovered something even more extraordinary.

Well, well, well!

You, Chong Qiqi, were actually a hidden master?

And it seems... you're still alive?

Liu Jun showed a hint of surprise, looking at this Chong Qiqi, who had somehow transformed into a Great Angel with black wings.