Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 431: Chapter 48: The Pessimistic yet Powerful Ark Maker.

(As a Silver Alliance member, I can’t use the extra updates randomly, progress complete 56/100.)

"Back then we were too weak, facing an entity like #1, who seemed like a god, we simply couldn’t contend with it. Fortunately, because we were so weak, that person seemed completely uninterested in killing us."

"Because what interested him was the ship itself," Bai Wu said.

"Yes, and it was at that time that we truly discovered the reason why the crew members were disappearing."

Seven hundred years ago on the cruise ship, a significant number of people went missing, Wen Hao recounted. Some people came back but seemed to have become someone else.

And some people disappeared forever, vanishing into one place—

The forbidden area.

The fifth level of the cruise ship is a restricted area with a sign that forbids entry, one which even the captain doesn’t know who erected.

In the beginning, people obeyed, but later, in their desire to explore the cruise ship, more and more ignored the warning.

As Bai Wu had said before, good words cannot persuade the dead set on their course.

In any case, people at that time did not know how some had disappeared, nor why some suddenly seemed like completely different people.

It wasn’t until Wen Hao spoke about a particular passenger:

"He had a ticket, so he could board, and he destroyed an Ark, worried it contained something that was a threat to him. A power that he dreaded."

Bai Wu seemed to understand and said:

"He actually wasn’t sure which Ark possessed this power. So he searched one by one, destroying each one that wasn’t it, then moving on to another?"

"Exactly."

Wen Hao admired Bai Wu’s reasoning ability, which allowed him to finish the story more quickly.

"This person later entered the forbidden area, looking for something left by Jing San. But after he went in, he never came out."

"Over the past seven hundred years, many crew members have gone into the forbidden area. Some never came out, while others did, like they had become different people."

"The rules of the forbidden area are unclear to anyone. But those who come out vaguely remember that entering means sacrificing something and also gaining something. They say you’ll sacrifice memories and also receive memories."

"Along the way, you’ll see many doors, and behind each door is a labyrinth, a brand new scene. Once you go in, you can’t find the door back. Those who managed to return had experienced many different scenes and in the end... They couldn’t remember how they came back."

"Of course... more people simply can’t return. Hence, we call that place the Memory Labyrinth."

After Wen Hao finished, Bai Wu asked a key question:

"If you don’t have a cruise ship ticket and enter this ship, would you be expelled?"

"Yes, you would lose your memories, then be expelled."

Bai Wu nodded, the information matching what he knew:

"Wen Hao, have you ever been to the forbidden area?"

"I haven’t."

Bai Wu nodded again, thinking that probably Wen Hao couldn’t provide any further useful information.

"Let me organize this a bit; you listen and see if it makes sense."

"Go ahead." Wen Hao straightened his sitting posture, as if a student listening to a teacher’s lecture.

Bai Wu’s fingertips tapped on the dining table, as elegant as jade, and said:

"My deduction goes like this."

"The cruise ship, at its inception, may not have been intended as a scam. Even though this is a fake project, a fake plan, there might be some people involved in building the ship... some with divine powers, who had other expectations for the ship."

"What expectations?"

"The secret of the cruise ship’s forbidden area, they must relate to memories. That’s why you’d see what you described, that some people return from the forbidden area and seem to be very different."

"This also reasonably explains the words of those who entered the forbidden area, sacrificing memories to gain memories. To put it plainly, in the vast Memory Palace, a sort of memory swap occurred."

"And once the number of exchanges increased—there would be no memories left that belonged to oneself, and naturally, their logic in doing things would be as different as two people."

Wen Hao looked at Bai Wu, whose face remained calm, and admired him even more.

Bai Wu continued to speak:

"I once visited the wreckage of another Ark, which had been turned into a casino, its rules greatly altered by the involvement of the Black Gold Island powers. Yet that place indeed still possessed the ability to exchange memories."

"Afterward, the people from Black Gold Island never used this ability again, only engaging in other trades, so this also indirectly proves my deduction."

Wen Hao nodded:

"I understand. Those people said that once you enter, you would see many doors; some by chance find their way back, while others have forgotten to return, becoming permanently lost in the Memory Labyrinth." ƒгeewebnovёl.com

Bai Wu smiled and said:

"Exactly, so I boldly guessed... the true intention of the creator of this cruise ship, is to create the last haven for human civilization."

This statement left Wen Hao quite puzzled:

"What do you mean? Why then is he not taking us to High Tower?"

"I know a scientist who has always been wary of High Tower; perhaps there are others who share this scientist’s viewpoint. And notice what I said—"

Bai Wu slowed his pace, speaking earnestly:

"It is the last haven for human civilization, not the last haven for humanity, there is a big difference between the two."

Wen Hao pondered the statement, slowly understanding:

"He wants to preserve human memories!"

"Exactly, the arrival of the Ark plan was very abrupt, and we are unclear about what the initiator did in the middle of it all."

"But clearly, he is a person very hopeless and pessimistic about the future, not believing that this ship will still have humans, the civilization of Sheng Country, may forever be halted within Hei Wu."

"The real history, with the extinction of humanity, would vanish completely."

"Therefore, he thought of preserving people’s memories, storing them. Those who enter the labyrinth would gain a part of memory but also lose a part."

"From this perspective, we might as well make a bold assumption."

"What assumption?"

"If I were an Evil Fallen, and the world was occupied by the Evil Fallen, with part of humanity lingering in High Tower, and another part hiding outside the tower waiting for death,

and I, as Evil Fallen, entered the labyrinth, what do you think would happen next?"

An interesting conjecture, Wen Hao followed this thought and said:

"I would gradually, because of memory exchange, because I entered new doors in the Memory Labyrinth, and kept experiencing memory exchanges... become a brand-new Evil Fallen?"

Bai Wu nodded, signaling Wen Hao to continue, who suddenly understood:

"I am an Evil Fallen whose memories have been completely exchanged, so once I leave the labyrinth, although I remain an Evil Fallen, my memories would make me act like a human... my actions would choose to protect humans?"

Wen Hao became somewhat excited as he said this. He didn’t care about protecting humans; if not for Bai Wu, he might even have killed countless humans today.

But he was excited, could it be that seven hundred years ago, someone truly tried to save this world?

"Exactly, because the memory has been completely exchanged, it is a human memory; you, carrying human memories, recalling human civilization, would slowly start to forge anew."

"If you are very weak, you might be killed by other Evil Fallen."

"If you are very strong, you would be able to carve out a domain for yourself."

"The creator of the cruise ship, probably truly believed in the extinction of humanity, but he chose not to save humanity, but to preserve the will of humanity, the civilization of humanity, what a beautiful concept!" Wen Hao exclaimed.

"Only, Bai, is your deduction backed by evidence?"

"There is only a slight basis. Because there are two powers seeking Jing San. Their attitude does not seem like a rescue, but more like... treating Jing San as some kind of treasure.

I can only reasonably assume that Jing San has lost his memories and is easily controlled. They want to take control of Jing San and gain his powerful abilities."

Wen Hao understood, this indeed was a very persuasive basis for deduction.

Bai Wu continued to speak,

"But it’s not a big deal, I will personally go to the Memory Labyrinth to confirm, speculation is just speculation, perhaps there are other secrets inside, perhaps completely different from what I imagine."

He was quite calm, Bai Wu’s exploration was just like that, brave enough to verify, not afraid of his own mistakes.

So-called speculation was merely a preconceived notion before entering an unknown domain, a direction.

Wen Hao greatly admired such courage,

"I am rather superficial, I always wondered what the meaning of the forbidden zone was, but I could never have thought of the layer you’re talking about... This makes me feel that humanity is magnificent."

Yes, humanity is magnificent.

The Masked Strange Person fell into an endless cycle to save mankind.

Scientist Professor Tao, rejecting Xie Yingjie’s invitation from the fifth layer, vowed to find a way to resist the Evil Fallen.

People like Wu Jiu, to save the future of mankind, began a long and arduous training outside the tower.

And countless others, to save others, advanced through the years with more than human tenacity.

The master of the Ark didn’t choose the High Tower.

In Bai Wu’s deduction, this person was very desperate about the future, perhaps like Professor Tao, thinking that the High Tower was a "domestication ground."

Believing that if humanity cannot defeat Evil Fallen, it will perish.

Or even more pessimistically, thinking that mankind was bound to perish.

But as long as the will of humanity could return to the world, mankind could live on in a... brand new way.

Therefore, the cruise forbidden zone, Memory Labyrinth, was more like a "Soul Converter."

Bai Wu followed this train of thought and elaborated,

"This person is important because he did all this, or rather, when he had finished all this, the High Tower had not yet appeared in people’s field of vision."

"The first person to discover the High Tower was called Xu Wei. Xu Wei entered the High Tower when the Masked Strange Person was active."

"The plan for the Ark also became known to people at that time, but the builder of the Ark must have completed the ’forbidden zone’ by then."

"This means... the other party is an insider."

"An insider?"

"Yes, maybe he, like the First Generation Mask, comes from the farm, or some other place... At any rate, he knew what would happen later, so he began to prepare in advance."

This was the timeline that Bai Wu had obtained so far.

Bai Yuan and Lin Rui grew up together. They escaped together.

After escaping, they were busy for a long time, but then their opinions began to differ. Bai Yuan advocated lying low, convinced that slaying dragons was meaningless, that one should just focus on living well oneself, why bother with others?

Lin Rui, who grew up on the farm, advocated saving mankind.

Thus, they went their separate ways, and in some unknown manner, Bai Yuan went to his previous life—

A world without distortion.

Lin Rui was unwilling to accept this idea and stayed behind to fight.

As for how the Ten of Spades went to his own world, Bai Wu was not clear.

This all happened before the appearance of the High Tower.

Bai Wu speculated that the builder of the Ark also completed the Ark forbidden zone during this time.

Jing San found this person, but was suppressed... lost his memory... due to the rules of the forbidden zone, which is the Memory Labyrinth.

After the appearance of the High Tower—

Lin Rui saved for several years, struggled for several years, and ultimately became exhausted. It’s highly probable that under Jing Liu’s guidance, he encountered... Lin Rui, who grew up in Food City.

Completing a transfer of the Mask’s will.

After a battle, Jing San was found to have lost his memory and has since remained onboard the flight.

The flight gathered many unfortunate people, among them were Yan Zhao’s ex-girlfriend and Yan Jiu and Yan Zizai’s ancestor.

Why so many unfortunate people were collected on a single flight, Bai Wu did not know.

Why Jing San had imprisoned himself in the cycle of Reincarnation, Bai Wu did not know either.

Later, Jing Si discovered that everything was a fraud; there was no savior, and he went utterly insane.

In 2127, Xie Yingjie stepped into the High Tower, while Professor Tao remained in Denglin City... continuing his research on how to counter the Evil Fallen.

In 2128, the concentration of distortion increased, and the High Tower disappeared.

After sorting all this out, Bai Wu couldn’t help but sigh; humanity’s resistance against the distortion was much more extensive than he had imagined.

He could now speculate—

The thing that Jing San left behind was memory.

Memory about the Well.

And those who came to destroy the Ark, chasing after Jing San’s memory, their stance was unclear for the time being, but there was a high probability they were on the opposing side of humanity.

As for the creator of the Ark, or rather, the creator of the Memory Labyrinth—

He might be dead, but his memory, Jing San’s memory, and the memory of those chasing Jing San, all resided within the Memory Labyrinth.

Among them, Jing San’s memory was the most critical, and Bai Wu even vaguely felt that a fight over Jing San’s memory would happen in the future.

Bai Wu stood up:

"You should take me to the forbidden area now."

Wen Hao also stood up and said earnestly:

"Big Brother Bai, I must tell you again, this place is very dangerous. You might not be the same person after you return... You don’t have to go, after our chat today, we, the people of the cruise ship, are already your friends. You don’t have anything to prove to us."

Wen Hao didn’t know that deep down, Bai Wu was a madman with an explosive desire for exploration, and Bai Wu had his own plans as well.

Especially the footnote given by his eyes, which assured Bai Wu of one thing—

This Memory Labyrinth has a correct path.

The correct path isn’t just entering the Memory Labyrinth and then returning safely; at best, that’s just making it out.

The correct path should be entering the Memory Labyrinth, gaining memories, and then returning safely while maintaining one’s self.

"It’s not about friendship; I’m not interested in saving humanity. I even agree with the creator of the Memory Labyrinth that humanity will be eradicated in the fight against distortion. The idea of preserving humanity might be a mistake... No, not a mistake, but too idealistic a starting point."

"But preserving human civilization is the right approach."

Bai Wu was different from Lin Rui, and also different from this creator.

Lin Rui was like a general. During the war between humanity and the Evil Fallen, he wanted to preserve humanity and win the victory.

The creator of the Memory Labyrinth, on the other hand, thought victory was impossible and that humanity would be annihilated completely, but human civilization could be embedded into the bodies of the Evil Fallen, allowing them to develop human civilization.

Essentially achieving a "cultural victory."

Bai Wu, however, only wanted to win the victory. The process could disregard any loss, any cost.

Wen Hao nodded:

"Let’s go, I’ll take you to the forbidden area."

The long conversation between Wen Hao and Bai Wu ended, and the two began to continuously make their way to the lower levels of the cruise ship.

Soon, after passing through quite a few residential areas, commercial areas, and life and entertainment areas, Bai Wu and Wen Hao arrived at a dimly lit area sealed with tape.

A hundred and fifty meters ahead, Bai Wu saw the sign with the giant character for "forbidden."

Bai Wu knew that this was it—the real heart of the black zone, the forbidden area, on the cruise ship.