Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 578: Chapter 195: A Lonely Person Named Ten of Spades

(This Chapter actually serves to tie up some loose ends. Although it’s not particularly long in word count, the amount of information it contains is not small, and might be a bit complex to understand.)

Hode was an honest man in poverty.

Poverty and honesty were inseparable for him, and although he was a bit impulsive, Hode wouldn’t dare to do anything illegal.

Therefore, those dishonest ways of life had nothing to do with him, who was poor.

For Hode, fifty thousand was not a small sum.

Just for listening to the kid boast, he could get fifty thousand—how could he pass up such a good deal?

Hode continued reading.

"The story that follows seems like a fantasy but is in fact incredibly real."

"Have you ever thought that the place where you live has always been distorted? The town outside the garbage dump is such a place."

"The whole world is normal, but that town alone is not. The location of the Array Eye seems to be nothing out of the ordinary, but it hides the most twisted things."

"Let’s skip the part where we explain what ’twisted’ means. As outsiders, my partner Bai Yuan, who is Bai Wu’s father, and I felt our powers continuously waning since we entered this world."

"Or perhaps it’s not waning, but constantly being sealed away. Regardless of which it is, we are becoming unavoidably weaker."

"Only when we get close to that town does the sealing slow down. So, it is clear that the Rule Binding is weakening our powers, and the rules themselves are expelling us."

"I have conducted many experiments, but I can only delay the approach of death, not stop it from coming."

"And Bai Yuan, he doesn’t care much, to find a world where the fish could survive, he was sent here by K."

"This place is indeed nice, the horrifying spiritual power within the fish has been suppressed somewhat, saving her from the tragedy of self-destruction due to an overpowering spiritual power."

"But Bai Yuan and I weren’t so lucky, our continued survival has become impossible."

"That guy Bai Yuan seems quite interested in this world and doesn’t care at all how long he can live."

"In Bai Yuan’s view, death is just the beginning of the next journey, and he even looks forward to the world after death."

"We will all die. I still remember when Bai Yuan said this to me, his eyes nearly bulging as he stared at me, as if wanting to see the fear in my heart, to find out if I regretted following him here."

"I have obtained something from K, which allowed me to enter this world, but since I’ve entered, I can’t leave..."

If the person reading this letter were not Hode, but a standard member of the Investigation Corps, they would be able to sense the anxiety of Spade Ten.

He entered this world together with Bai Yuan, possibly with the goal of taking Bai Yuan’s ability.

Perhaps what drew his interest was the "fish" that Bai Yuan had hidden within him.

In any case, Spade Ten arrived in this world. In this world, he and Bai Yuan were like superheroes who had suddenly appeared.

Because everything here was incredibly normal. It was as if a dead high-dimensional civilization had suddenly appeared in a thriving low-dimensional world.

Regrettably, the wish-fulfillment template was not loaded onto the two of them.

Some places are like the gaps in park benches; you can fit your head through the crack, but can’t pull it back out.

Or like swallowing a light bulb - you might manage to ingest it, but you won’t be able to spit it back out.

Spade Ten was obviously "stuck" by this world.

He gained the Temporal Power of The First Generation and was able to enter this place. However, due to the suppression of the rules, his powers were weakened, and as a result, he couldn’t leave this world.

And the rules themselves were still slowly stripping him and Bai Yuan of their lives.

As for their attitudes towards death, the two had completely different thoughts.

"I fell into despair. I really hoped that my composed partner would come up with a solution."

"I wished his composure was because he had everything under control."

"I want to leave this place, I just want to go home. I love that twisted world, it is full of valuable, deceivable targets. I believe with my advantages, I can one day compete with those monsters."

"But I can’t go back. Although I found the town, and a way to delay death, at that time, I truly was going to die."

Hode was utterly confused as he read this.

What did he mean by couldn’t return? Did this kid think he had traveled through time?

For the sake of fifty thousand, Hode continued to read:

"No one can save us, Bai Yuan cruelly revealed a truth to me."

"Even I thought it was so, we arrived in a world that rejected us, our bodies started showing signs of various mutations, and we would gradually die." freeweɓnøvel.com

"But Bai Yuan was composed, I admired the elegance in him, but I really wished I could see a hint of fear and panic on his face, yet there was none."

"It means that his attitude toward death is truly as he claimed—it’s just the beginning of the next journey."

This was actually said by many people or has been expressed in similar meanings.

Old K, Bai Wu, Spade Ten, they all said it or had experienced it themselves.

But the one who said it first was Bai Yuan.

"So when he truly died, I asked him, will there be another journey?"

"His expression was quite memorable, Bai Yuan just looked at me, one alive, one dead, but actually not far apart, even... the living dying, the dead returning, just needed an opportunity."

"I don’t understand what this means."

Spade Ten rarely showed his confusion in front of others.

He was more like someone on par with Bai Yuan, always able to manipulate others at his fingertips.

But Spade Ten was truly confused.

Because Bai Yuan eventually died.

Died for good.

This made Spade Ten feel an endless fear. Even though Spade Ten had a special opportunity.

Even while Bai Yuan was still alive, both he and Spade Ten had thought of a way.

However, the death of Bai Yuan still suddenly made him afraid.

"He eventually died."

"I’ve fooled many people, but rarely have I been deceived. I suspected Bai Yuan’s death was a scam. How could he die? How could he die so ordinarily? How could a man like him die on a sickbed?"

"To solve the puzzle, to find a chance to survive, it seems we were favored by the heavens twice."

"The first time was the birth of Bai Wu, the child’s birth, as a hybrid... he made us see hope. He would not die, would not be rejected by the world. Even under Bai Yuan’s torment, he could withstand the dreadful spiritual power of the fish." freeweɓnovel.cøm

"His mother is one of the biggest sources of distortion in this perfectly normal world."

"He belongs to the outsiders, as well as this world."

"Maybe we will die, but maybe we can live on forever in a different way through him."

"The second favor was also related to Bai Wu, that seemingly silly and dumb store clerk, another source of distortion."

"His terrifying power triggered a temporal response, entangling with the causality of another world, allowing the future Bai Wu, who already possessed many powerful abilities, to travel through time."

"At that time, I was overjoyed because the scam I worked on with Bai Yuan... fooled the future Bai Wu! I could gain powerful strength from him."

"If not for the future Bai Wu, Bai Yuan and I may have executed a dangerous plan, maybe we would tell everything to Bai Wu, then try to use Bai Wu’s special nature to escape this world. It would be like betting everything on Bai Wu."

"Bai Yuan, and Bai Wu’s mother, as well as the fish... We would parasitize in Bai Wu’s consciousness in a special way."

"But now it’s not so troublesome. The arrival of the future Bai Wu was an accident we couldn’t foresee! An accident that brought great benefits!"

Hode felt a bit dizzy.

He didn’t understand.

Didn’t this kid kill Bai Wu?

In this story, Bai Wu was Bai Yuan’s child, and Bai Yuan seemed to be a friend of this kid...

The future Bai Wu traveled to this world?

So was it the future Bai Yuan who traveled through time to this kid’s world, and seemingly brought some aid to this kid?

But in the end, did this kid kill Bai Wu? Which Bai Wu was killed?

Damn it, what is all this about?

"So strange, take another look."

Before today, Hode never believed that this kid, who dealt with garbage like himself, could be a delusional schizophrenic.

"My fifty thousand yuan wouldn’t be fake, right?"

He was worried, but continued to read on.

"The coherence of time and space wasn’t broken, but it must be said, the future Bai Wu is simply a treasure!"

"His abilities are not as numerous as mine, but he has the most special power—Twist."

"This supreme power, beyond rules, changed all my plans afterward. In short, because of Bai Wu’s existence, I could avoid death."

"At that time, I was even thinking, Old Bai, this guy, truly always has a backup plan. Perhaps cultivating Bai Wu was to let him save us in the future."

"But it seems... I overestimated him,"

Hode could not feel the regrets of the Ten of Spades.

When the Ten of Spades left this letter, at this point, he was still confused.

The arrival of Bai Wu was accidental. This was not within Bai Yuan’s planning.

Although everything started going smoothly, it was only when Bai Yuan died completely that the Ten of Spades realized—

he had overestimated Bai Yuan.

Admittedly, Bai Yuan nurtured Bai Wu, and Bai Yuan also discovered the secret of the town.

But Bai Wu’s ability to travel through time and space, to come to his childhood town as his future self, had nothing to do with Bai Yuan.

"Death is but the start of the next journey, but he has no more journeys left. Twice favored, yet it did not prevent his death."

"Before he died, the adult Bai Wu had visited him."

"Before he died, I also visited him."

"One lives, one dies, but in reality, they are not far apart, and even when the living die, and the dead return, all it takes is an opportunity."

"It was also then that he spoke words I thought would carry deep meaning, but were actually just mystifying nonsense."

"I hoped that Bai Yuan had a contingency plan, but he really died! That bastard actually managed to die so cleanly!"

Incapable of understanding all this, Hode suddenly felt the young man’s resentment.

As if one person takes another as his opponent, as his only friend.

Always believing that on a certain path, he would not be walking alone, that there would certainly be someone of the same caliber able to keep up with his pace.

But in the end, the person he had expectations for... died.

You think he’s the most important supporting character in your life, that you have countless scenes to perform together, but then the other person suddenly checks out in a rather strange place, grabs a lunch box, the show is over forever, vanished from life and death.

The Ten of Spades, recalling all this, was grinding his teeth at the time.

After all, the Ten of Spades then did not know that seven hundred years later in another world — Bai Yuan had come back to life in a special way.

But that too was a coincidence, so indeed, Bai Yuan was truly dead.

After a long time, the Ten of Spades laughed, so the end of the letter read:

"I spent quite a long time, specifically seventeen minutes and twenty-four seconds, to mourn him, to accept his death."

"This person was truly charming. I hate him, but I still want to collaborate and compete with him."

"Fortunately, my life has already turned a new page, I am fully prepared for everything."

"Don’t take this sentence lightly, but I am busy. On one hand, I have to play cat and mouse with Bai Wu to hone his temperament, and on the other, I have to go to another world to make all kinds of preparations."

"Yes, after the future Bai Wu traveled through time and space to face me, I was already... able to leave this place."

"By deceiving the future Bai Wu, I gained the twist trait. This allows me, in the Well World, to resonate with the twist."

"By deceiving K, I gained temporal power. There’s not much to say about this; I had already obtained it a long time ago."

"By deceiving the woman posing as a consciousness entity beside the future Bai Wu, I gained causal force. However, it also brought me quite a bit of trouble."

"But it doesn’t matter. At least this ability allows me to avoid many wrong actions and choices."

"Plus all those I’ve deceived before, Hode, even though my enemy is very powerful, I’m still not sure I can defeat him, but now, I am also stronger than ever before."

In the Causal Phone Booth, that conversation that allowed Bai Wu to travel changed everything.

In the original plan, the Ten of Spades and Bai Yuan intended to use "fish’s" spiritual power to live forever in Bai Wu’s consciousness as conscious entities.

They believed that Bai Wu could escape from this place.

But the phone call from the Causal Phone Booth later triggered Bai Wu of the Well World to travel through time.

The Ten of Spades met the future Bai Wu ahead of time, and The Deceiver received unimaginable rewards.

The Power of Twist.

A supreme power only realized by Well Four, Alpha, and Bai Wu, was now also possessed by the Ten of Spades.

Add to that the deception of Jing Si while deceiving Bai Wu, and earlier, K who was deceived before entering the Original World, a superhuman being emerged like the High Tower Master, combining various powerful forces.

Of course, he could not compare with the High Tower Master, but at this moment, the Ten of Spades had taken "K’s" height to a new level.

It was after this that the Ten of Spades was able to leave the Origin World alone.

But because of the power of causality, he saw more things.

These things caused him trouble.

For in the original causality of this world... he was not supposed to exist, he and Bai Yuan were meant to die in the Original World.

Because in Bai Wu’s adventure—The Ten of Spades was a dead man.

Even when Jing Liu first met Bai Wu and gave her insights, Jing Liu also believed that The Ten of Spades was dead.

So exposing himself prematurely would cause a huge shift in the causal line.

This is the drawback of causal power, seeing it but unable to change. Spoiled in advance, yet still having to act according to the "future that has become history".

The Ten of Spades, having seen all this, attempted to see deeper causality, wanting to make the most correct decision.

But he... could not see over the Ultimate Causality, he only saw a flash of golden light.

Because seven hundred years into The Era of the High Tower, he saw that all causal lines... were cut off in a dazzling gold.

Of course, he wouldn’t know—during the future battle defending the High Tower, the arrival of a bald man would sever all future causality.

It turned a doomed future into one with new variables.

So for The Ten of Spades, the endless causality now had an end.

The end was the battle defending the High Tower, the moment Qian Yixin appeared.

The letter reached this point and also came to an end.

In the end, The Ten of Spades made a decision that gave him a fate almost identical to The First Generation:

"I’ve realized I must live as though I were dead, lying low. Only in this way can I avoid disturbing causality. There’s no helping it when you accept a gift from someone from the future, you must understand that the causality obtained from time must often be repaid with time."

"So for these seven hundred years, I have to remain in a state of death, I have to avoid all causality."

Following Lin Rui’s tragedy, Qian Yixin used a similar method to save The First Generation.

It seems the Golden Generation’s K all had similar fates.

The Ten of Spades chose this path as well.

However, unlike being forcefully sealed by Qian Yixin, The Ten of Spades’ method was more personal in style.

Of course, he would not calmly stay still for seven hundred years.

"I have to die... but cannot truly die, this is troublesome Hode, I have to make my death a fact in the mouths of others, especially a fact accepted by Bai Wu."

"Even in the future, Bai Wu could confirm my death somewhere."

"Fortunately, in the land of Sheng Country, there is indeed a place where one can witness my death through The Undead."

"That place is called Huangquan Island."

Temporal Power, Causal Force, Power of Life and Death...

The three most powerful origin forces, only the Power of Life and Death The Ten of Spades had not obtained.

So The Ten of Spades... also set his heart on the last force.

Even though the Power of Life and Death was in Zhou Zeshui, Huangquan Island itself also had a possessor of a branch of the Power of Life and Death.

Bai Wu had met The Ten of Spades’ Undead twice.

And The Undead explicitly said that he was not The Ten of Spades’ Undead, he was only imitating The Ten of Spades’ Undead.

Among them, there were mentions of "final wishes" and such, with the purpose of making people believe he truly died.

And being able to manipulate The Undead...

The Ten of Spades perhaps did not have?, obtain the full Power of Life and Death, but at least he had control over a part of it.

With this, the last power was supplemented.

"What happens later is yet to occur. After all, I am now a felon who just shot Bai Wu with a gun~ Alright, my friend, the fifty thousand is hidden in the Mid-Autumn Festival mooncake box you gave me last time. This holiday is actually not friendly to an orphan like me."

"But I really liked your gift, so consider this fifty thousand a token of appreciation."

The last sentence of the letter carried some loneliness—

"I wanted to give Bai Yuan a gift, but I haven’t found his journey."

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

(5200 words today, emmm with a clumsy hand and cautious writing, I dare not make too big a promise, just that I will write more tomorrow than today, finally, asking for monthly votes!)