Mythology: Ragnarok

Chapter 317 The dying moment

Xuan Yuan Mu Ze, his face filled with disbelief, asked Dean Seti again, "Are you really sure? But... he clearly looks very young, and he was just now full of energy visiting the cultural festival with us. How... how is this possible?! Dean..."

Sett raised his hand to signal Xuanyuan Muze to calm down. After interrupting his question, Sett reassured him, "Your Majesty's guest, please calm down. The system of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Races is very different from that of your hometown. Please don't be misled by appearances. By the way, you should know about the existence of the Longevity Needle, right?"

Xuanyuan Muze nodded, and Sett breathed a sigh of relief, as he wouldn't have to explain Stukov's situation to him from scratch. Sett then explained, "The fundamental principle behind the 'Immortality Needle' that allows people to maintain immortality is that, like white magic, it can keep cells in a state of hyperactive proliferation by squeezing the body's vital energy. However, the proliferation state maintained by the 'Immortality Needle' is simply activation and does not cause the body to grow. This allows this state to continue until those elderly people die. This is why most elderly people who have been injected with the 'Immortality Needle' look like young people, because the activity level of their body cells is infinitely close to that of a growing young individual, presenting a state of 'pseudo-growth'."

However, physical vitality, or life force, is finite. All advanced civilizations know that 'life force' and 'soul' are the highest-level hard currency in the universe. Therefore, life force is extremely difficult to replenish. However, the longevity needles excessively consume life force to keep the elderly in a 'pseudo-growth' state in order to keep them young forever.

To put it simply, it's like an old car. If you force its engine power to perform at a rate similar to a new car in an extremely fuel-consuming manner, it will greatly shorten the lifespan of the old car's engine. At the same time, the fuel in the car, which is its 'life force,' will be exhausted. In addition, if the engine itself is damaged, the fuel cannot be replenished at all.

In other words, from the moment they received the anti-aging injection, those elderly people already had only one fate: to exchange their remaining vitality for a brief period of glory, and finally die as their vitality burned out.

This is the essence of the anti-aging injection, do you... understand?

Xuanyuan Muze closed his eyes and nodded, then slowly opened them and looked at Agreed. He remembered what Agreed had said: "It's just a drug, a dirty thing used by the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Races to persecute the common people." Agreed felt Xuanyuan Muze's gaze on him, but his eyes were cold in response. At that moment, Xuanyuan Muze realized that the emperor of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Races was not as benevolent and kind as he had imagined.

Sett followed Xuan Yuan Mu Ze's gaze to Agreed. After scrutinizing him for a while, Sett seemed to remember something and exclaimed, "You are... Lady Iz Belena Skaredo! My goodness, it's you! What a pleasure to meet you! I never expected to meet my honorary teacher today. Are you also a friend of Lord Stukov?"

It was obvious that Sett didn't recognize the person in front of him as the emperor of the Kingdom of Ten Thousand Races. But thinking about it carefully, it made sense. After all, there were countless avatars of Agreed, each different from the last. It would be surprising if Sett could recognize him.

Agreed shook hands with Sett and said, "Yes, Stokoff and I have been friends for many years, but I never expected... I never expected that he still wouldn't make it through this year's festival."

Upon hearing this, Sett pursed his lips and could only pat Agreed on the shoulder to comfort him, saying, "Please accept my condolences. You should go and see Lord Stukov first. I have other matters to attend to, so please excuse me." With that, Sett put on his uniform, opened the office door, and left.

Seeing this, Agreed also called to Xuanyuan Muze and said, "Let's go, let's go see the old barbarian one last time."

Xuanyuan Muze looked at him and asked, "Why did you inject those elderly people with anti-aging injections?"

Agreed sighed, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back, and after a while said, "Let's talk about these things later. Now, will you accompany me to see Stokoff off on his final journey?"

Xuan Yuan Mu Ze didn't speak, but seeing the sadness in Agreed's eyes, he finally couldn't bear it and nodded. Then he followed him to the intensive care unit where Stokkov was.

The intensive care unit was very clean and tidy, but at this moment, the seemingly comfortable atmosphere was filled with a sense of deathly silence. Agrede led Xuanyuan Muze into the room. At this time, Stukov was taking nutritional fluids to replenish his strength with the help of the hospital bed. After seeing the two of them come in, he immediately operated the machine to remove the liquid food, and then used the high-tech medical bed behind him to help him sit up. Now his body was decaying at an extremely fast speed, so he had to avoid movement as much as possible.

Stokoff, forcing himself to stay alert, shouted as if nothing had happened: "What's wrong, Ethan? Came here to laugh at me? You damn bastard really managed to get away with this. Don't be so smug, I'll go down and walk around in a bit and show you what it means to be vigorous in your old age."

Agreed forced a smile and said, "Don't bother the old barbarian. I know you're a muscle-bound guy who won't fall down so easily. We're here to keep you company. You know your situation better than anyone else."

Stokoff sighed with relief and said with a smile, "Of course, I know I don't have many days left, but this is for the best. This way, I won't have to worry every night about whether I'll be able to see the next day when I'm still awake, and I won't have to worry about whether I'll be able to meet you again at the next arts festival."

"Having you by my side when I die is actually quite nice, better than leaving alone in despair. I have no children in this life, and in the end, you're my only friend. It's just a pity; I thought I could make it through this arts festival, but I didn't expect to cause you any more distress, old friend. And you, my new little friend. I was thinking of showing you around here and then, together with Ethan, showing you around the country."

Xuan Yuan Mu Ze's eyes reddened, unable to bear looking directly at this straightforward and sincere old man. He choked up and said, "No, it's nothing. I am very grateful to you for letting me experience the culture of this country, and I am also very grateful to you for the book you gave me."

“That’s wonderful,” Stukov chuckled. Then, he looked at Agred and said earnestly, “Ethan, stop going against the Kingdom of All Races. Why are you always so reactionary? The Kingdom of All Races is already better than it gets.”

Agreed nodded, somewhat perfunctorily agreeing, "Okay, okay, I won't be reactionary anymore, alright? Stop worrying about these useless things. Don't you have anything else you want to say to me?"

Stukov chuckled and said, "What else is there to say between us? You know me better than the worms in my stomach. Isn't the closest relationship in the world one that needs no words?"