Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 575: Chapter 192: The Way to End the Distortion

The race living in the cold era, during the period when all things were wiped out, finally found the Well.

Even before this, they possessed high-latitude perception and could use various Source Powers, but it was only the most rudimentary application.

Apart from the Mutation Faction, hardly anyone could survive this severe cold.

Everyone began an intensive study of the Well.

In the following records, Bai Wu learned about the brief history of the previous civilization.

The Well was not far from this city.

To be exact, the Well was not a specific place, but an entrance. freēwebnovel.com

It was unfathomable and ever-changing.

Clearly under its influence, the surroundings began to distort, space started to merge irregularly, but the Well itself was impossible to see.

Fortunately, relying on Alpha, the previous civilization, the first group of people, approximately fourteen thousand, entered the Well World.

Bai Wu had thought that he would see a lot of history next.

But the content that followed was actually quite obscure, and these histories were all omitted.

It only briefly mentioned— "The thing that makes the Well operate was not at the lowest level in the beginning, but at the top. This was what we rejoiced at during that time, madly, but also what we, later on, feared and despaired over."

From this statement, Bai Wu vaguely guessed that the thing making the Well operate was the Well Water.

Next, the High Tower Master did not describe how his people studied in the Well.

Instead, he showed a very magical development process.

"Our powers became strong. The powers of all factions reached inconceivable levels, we were confident that with these powers, we were indeed capable of sweeping away everything."

"The most terrifying Calamities could not lead us to death. They couldn’t even harm us in the slightest. We were no longer bound by rules, we could even trample over them."

"We completely gave up the exploration of science. The power brought by distortion made us lose ourselves."

"But by then, no one could refuse it anymore, we could traverse space and time, see through cause and effect, reverse life and death, achieve immortality, and make this world conform to our will."

"Those mighty powers that once seemed unreachable and only displayed in the rumors of our ancestors were now scorned by us, for we had surpassed the legends among our ancestors."

"We found that after the Well was opened by someone, it seemed that as long as one survived outside, one would gain power."

"Even in our minds, we could choose to enhance corresponding powers."

Innate Force?

Seeing this, Bai Wu was almost certain that this was the initial form of the Innate Force.

"Everything was developing in a good direction, but all the destructions also planted seeds."

"Outsider, I think you understand something, we each are born with different initial abilities, but order ensures that even if we are uneven, we always remain within a certain range."

"Just like in the civilization I observed, some people are very strong, some can run very fast, and others can jump very high, but... no one can destroy a city with a single punch, no one can verify relativity with their own speed, and humans cannot possibly break through the atmosphere with just their legs."

"This is order, preventing one from obtaining supernatural powers, weakening individual strength, forcing us to learn unity, to learn exploration."

"But now it’s different, after entering the twisted era, some strong individuals began to mutate... all order collapsed. All the rules fell apart, nothing was predictable."

"Indeed, each of us grew stronger under the distortion, but this strength was very irregular."

"Because among us, there were always some individuals who became extraordinarily strong, such strength that even if everyone else joined together, they could not contend with them."

"One of my kin, the Twisted Master, was such a person, and several other similar beings were born within this group."

"And because the differences between each individual were too great, unity... no longer

had any meaning."

"Faced with someone thousands of times stronger than you, you wouldn’t seek an ally who is only a thousand times stronger than you, and even if you did, they wouldn’t consider you."

"A complete force, because of too many twisted individuals, also became twisted. My people, because of too much power, lost their reverence for order, which is also reflected in ethical norms."

"The rules of the world broke, and the inner rules of the people’s hearts also started to collapse."

"I witnessed countless of my kin, powerful as gods, and also saw their downfall."

"Well Water granted me great powers, I realized that I had to do something."

Omitting the exploration of the Well and skipping over considerable content, the transformation of the people was shown directly.

Bai Wu speculated that the experience at that time was probably not replicable, which was why mentioning it was meaningless to himself.

Moreover, the world had once returned to normalcy, and human civilization had developed for thousands of years, all in a normal fashion.

This showed that the High Tower Master had indeed accomplished something.

Bai Wu turned to a new page:

"However, in just a few short decades, the continuous development of the constantly opening Well brought about earth-shattering changes to the world. Perhaps in the historical records of your civilization, various myths explain certain things. Traces of distortion left from the past."

"The clansmen began to war among themselves, growing more and more arrogant and inflated."

"But what they failed to notice was that the rules of the world were becoming increasingly cruel and twisted."

"Many of the clansmen had begun to mutate, which is what your civilization would later refer to as the Evil Fallen Transformation."

"The truly clear-minded clansmen became fewer and fewer, while those who mutated turned into outright monsters."

"Their negative emotions grew heavier and more concentrated. The Well’s distortion and corruption of the world became more and more exaggerated."

"Only a very few individuals who evolved irregularly possessed the strength to survive under the increasingly brutal rules."

"It was a calamity far more terrifying than the coldest winter, a cataclysm so ubiquitous that it could be compared to total annihilation..."

"The arrogant and inflated clansmen finally realized a fact—they had scorned order, but they were born within that order. They thought they could resist the rules, but the twist in the rules was far more terrifying than their own distortions."

"My clansmen were finally facing extinction, struggling to survive in an incredibly harsh environment, they felt once again the immense power of the rules, and their own insignificance. But this time, there would be no salvation."

"Everyone scorned the rules, despised order, followed distortion, but in the face of unpredictable twists, their life and death became equally unpredictable..."

"I could not accept such an outcome, and I thought that this was the time to attempt to close the Well..."

"Amidst this distortion, I led seventy-one of my clansmen, my followers, and decided to go to the deepest part of the Well in search of a way to close it."

"Naturally, this contradicted the views of the Twisted Master."

"My followers and I kept seeking the truth, believing that we were breaking the balance, but the Twisted Master thought that the concept of balance was not tolerated by the twisted world."

"In the later times, I engaged in prolonged confrontations with him."

Some parts of the notes were hidden, but Bai Wu could make an educated guess.

After the Twisted Master opened the Well, many individuals in this civilization became exceedingly powerful.

Even though the High Tower Master said that some individuals were so powerful that they evoked fear, even stronger than the combined strength of other clans.

But the fact that the High Tower Master was able to defeat Alpha showed that in this barbaric evolution, the High Tower Master was the one whose growth was truly terrifying.

He even matched the first to contact the Well, Alpha, in strength, enough to pose a challenge to him.

And thus, in such a chaotic and twisted era, he managed to gain a new group of followers.

Geniuses and madmen, at the beginning of the distortion, reversed their statuses.

Now the genius had proved his title as a genius, and once again stood on equal ground with the Twisted Master.

However, Bai Wu took note of a number—seventy-one.

The High Tower Master, along with his seventy-one disciples, began to delve deep into the Well, in search of its deepest layer?

Bai Wu found it hard not to think of another place.

On the fifth floor of the High Tower, there were initially seventy-two rulers.

He suddenly shook his head, letting out a mocking laugh.

"You calculated so many causes and effects, yet you overlooked a crucial place..."

With that, everything could be explained.

Bai Wu originally thought that on the fourth layer of the Well World, on the fifth layer of this inverted High Tower... the reason why so many spherical structures appeared here was that this place was inhabited by many competitors vying for the Well Water.

But now it seemed that everything was wrong.

These were not competitors; they were all united by a single purpose. The High Tower Master and his disciples were trying to comprehend the rules here.

They tried to find a way to break the distortion of the era together here.

To find a way to restore everything to the right track.

And after the High Tower Master created the High Tower, suppressing Alpha, he foresaw that humanity would face distortion in the future.

Even though it was thousands of years later, he still couldn’t bear it.

So, he remembered everything he had experienced in the Well, within this inverted High Tower.

The Master of the High Tower had once been here, contemplating with his tribespeople, working together, gradually restoring order to the world.

Making those shattered rules start to function again.

Having seen that twisted future, he thought of leaving such an opportunity for humanity.

On the fifth level of the High Tower, there were originally seventy-two rulers, each with their own dwelling.

But human nature... sometimes does not need to be twisted.

Because sometimes it is inherently twisted.

That is why the High Tower has no rulers.

The Master of the High Tower had hoped that there would be seventy-two "Forerunners" who could think of ways to deal with the twisted together.

But the seventy-two Forerunners evidently did not realize this, or perhaps the Guardian of the High Tower had not considered it?

The Forerunners slaughtered each other, eventually becoming eight High Tower rulers.

And after the eight High Tower rulers governed the High Tower, they needed to search for survival resources outside of the tower on one hand, and on the other, they feared humans leaving the tower, because leaving the tower would make them stronger, and humans who became too powerful would lose control.

That is why there was Gu Hailin, why there were heroes like Nie Chongshan from the tragic Investigation Corps, why there were repeated "purges."

This notebook doesn’t tell of their explorations in the first layer, the Well World, the second layer, Well City, or the third layer, the resource contest area.

Because for outsiders who had reached the fourth layer, there was no value in redundant explanations of what came before.

And what the Master of the High Tower began to recount afterwards was what mattered most:

"Outsider, you probably understand the history of our tribe by now."

"If I really wanted to talk about it, I could fill an entire library. But I guess what matters more to you is how to permanently close the Well."

"Unfortunately, the Well cannot be permanently closed. My followers and I thought of many methods, but eventually, we found out in simulations that it wasn’t feasible."

"The Well cannot be sealed, but it can be put to sleep. When the Twisted comes, it’s actually waking up. At that time, even if you possess a piece of Heaven’s Mandate, you won’t be able to close the Well."

"And to stop the Twisted, you have to put the Well back to sleep again, hide it, and choose a guardian. Any attempt to approach the Well, to awaken it, must be annihilated."

Bai Wu probably understood the history.

He quickly organized his thoughts in his mind.

The Doomsday Fragment, once the Doomsday Puzzle piece of Jing Er, could briefly open the Well, but could also put the Well to sleep.

But there are great risks involved in using a piece of Heaven’s Mandate.

Because it’s very possible that the Well isn’t something a single fragment can influence; it might become impossible to lull back to sleep once awakened by a piece of Heaven’s Mandate.

Of course, there isn’t just one way to awake the Well.

The Well could also awake naturally.

Seven hundred years ago, the Well woke up naturally, and at that time, Sheng Country was enveloped by Hei Wu, losing contact with the rest of the world.

Jing Yi had originally thought he could save the Twisted Master in one go at the time.

But there were too many unpredictable factors back then.

Jing Si went mad, too formidable that none of the other Wells combined could match.

Number three had his memories wiped and imprisoned himself within Reincarnation.

Jing Liu had hidden intentions, difficult to foresee.

The few people who appeared in the farm seemed to have all received revelations from the Master of the High Tower.

The most crucial thing was, that "weapon" with spiritual power great enough to twist reality had been stolen by Bai Yuan.

All these factors erupted simultaneously, the concentration of the Twisted rose rapidly within Sheng Country, the High Tower appeared, humanity received its salvation, but until the High Tower vanished—

Jing Yi never had absolute confidence.

At that time, Alpha’s body was also not yet ready to be awakened.

In the seven hundred years that followed, Jing Yi began to slowly lay out his plans, planting various chess pieces outside the fog.

So that one day... when the Well awoke again, and the Twisted spread from Sheng Country to the whole world, it would no longer be restricted by various things.

Because as the dark fog spread, the concentration of the Twisted would temporarily decrease, enough to meet the criteria for the High Tower to reappear.

Seven hundred years later, Jing Yi indeed seized the opportunity.

Bai Wu continued to read the notes’ content, with only the last few sections remaining.

"The well’s slumber also came in stages. In one stage, distortion would not dissolve but spread at an extremely slow pace. This was the stage you all experienced after High Tower appeared."

"The second stage is absolute slumber, where distortion completely vanishes. The well still exists but no longer affects the world. Any impact it had would slowly reverse."

"Even if a past friend turned into a monster, they would gradually revert to human after the well entered absolute slumber."

Bai Wu now knew what he needed to do.

There were two things—

First, seal Alpha. Second, induce the well into slumber, into absolute slumber, and ensure that no one ever touches the well again.

Alpha had not yet fully awakened the well because he was still wary of certain things.

For instance, Jing Si. He feared that during the era of absolute distortion, Jing Si might exhibit even more terrifying growth, afraid that Jing Si was another High Tower Master.

Jing Si’s power actually surpassed that of Alpha before he was sealed.

But over the long sealing process, Alpha had also comprehended many things.

He had created replicas of the Seven Sins that once defeated him.

He also grasped another kind of power—Sequence.

Despite Alpha’s insights, he was still missing two catalysts—Sequence Ten Thousand Phantasmal Bodies, Sequence Twelve Temporal Return.

Yet even without these, perhaps Alpha’s control over the forces of distortion and order had reached an inconceivable level.

If he truly assembled all the bodies, Alpha’s strength would inevitably far surpass what it was when he battled the High Tower Master.

The last key point arrived, with only the final page of the notes remaining.

The notes told Bai Wu what he needed to do and, at the end, also hinted at how to accomplish these tasks.

Why Alpha was so powerful and how to defeat him.

This was the content of the last few sections of the notes:

"Through our efforts, and what we discovered upon reaching the fourth layer—that it inherently contained certain elements—we concluded that pieces of the Doomsday Puzzle and the Seven Sins weapons were key to inducing the well into slumber."

"By making the well slumber again, distortion would also gradually dissipate."

"However, the prerequisite is that someone must defeat those coveting the well - the individual from my clan... the Twisted Master."

"I cannot kill him completely. He walks a different path. But he acquired a power of the order sequence so formidable that even I cannot defeat it completely—Sequence 3: Immortal."

"He cannot be killed, but he can be suppressed, he can be sealed."

"However, this isn’t something you need to do."

"The method to seal him has already been revealed and passed on to a chosen individual. Regrettably, that child’s fate is complex, and I cannot see his ultimate outcome, but for that very reason, I believe he can complete the task."

"As for you, an outsider, what you need to do is to send the well into slumber. Absolute slumber."

"The Seven Sins weapons and the Doomsday Puzzle pieces are made of the same material, all derived from what you saw in the upper levels."

"Only, the Seven Sins can be manufactured, whereas Doomsday Fragments may automatically generate once Evil Fallen possesses certain regions."

"You need to do two things: forge the Seven Sins and find the Doomsday Fragments. Then, on the lowest level... you will discover the method to put the well into slumber."

In fact, at this point, the notes came to an end.

But next, Bai Wu noticed a small paper slip mixed in among them.

This slip was written in Sequence script, not the language of Sheng Country.

After having the tyrant translate, Bai Wu realized it wasn’t written for him, but rather it resembled a lament, more like the High Tower Master’s own regrets before the final battle:

"The well cannot be destroyed, monsters cannot be killed, and I am very dissatisfied with such an outcome. I found the method to put the well into slumber, I found the way to seal the Twisted Master."

"But is there really no way for this world... no answer to completely eradicate the well and utterly kill the Twisted Master?"

"Those two most ultimate Sequences... we only saw their names on the deep Sequence stone tablets, but whether they truly exist, and if they are as we imagine, all remains unknown."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~End of Chapter~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(This book will participate in an annual title selection from this month to the middle of next month, which is also a huge opportunity for exposure. I know that many of you don’t like to read the buildup Chapters, but without filling in these details, the book is incomplete. I’ve sped up the pace as much as possible for this book, actually glossing over many parts, so I hope for a bit of patience from everyone. Lastly, I sincerely ask for your monthly tickets; I’m only asking for this month, as the title selection will be determined next month. I’m using some of the main text space to reach readers across various channels, hoping for your support in monthly tickets!)