Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 581: Chapter 198: He is My Past and Also My Future

Spade K ultimately did not receive any reinforcements.

The seawater, which had coalesced into a limb, "plucked" Kein Building like a sapling.

The earth trembled, as a building of several hundred thousand tons was effortlessly swept into the sky by the force of the ocean.

Then... it continuously crumbled apart.

The collapse of Kein Building heralded the ruin of Kein Group.

It also signaled that Sanchez City would welcome a new era.

Watching countless people cheer nonstop, the despair within and outside the city dissipated significantly.

Wen Hao felt that negative emotions were visibly fading away.

"On the day when distortions greatly diminished, some of my crew turned into humans. Tell me, will we ever have our day to become human?"

Wen Hao did not realize that this question touched a sensitive area.

Although Bai Yuan had granted Zero some new memories, the real memories of the past remained unclear after defeating Jing Wu.

Remembering the many dissections from his childhood and the experiences he went through when he was "human," Zero did not answer the question.

He was past the state of being vulnerable to the breaking by memories, but still, his mood inevitably experienced subtle changes:

"We are in a partnership, not a relation that involves chatting," he stated.

Kein Building shattered in the sea, much like an underwater explosion is much quieter than one on land.

The dismantling of this building was silent and unobtrusive. Wen Hao’s demeanor was crestfallen, almost as if he felt sorry that he had once again ended a conversation prematurely.

But at the same time, he admired Bai Wu even more.

"Ridiculous, how can anyone get along with him so well? I always feel out of place with him because I’m not aloof enough."

The style of Wen Hao was quite similar to Zero’s at a certain moment.

When the mechanical bastion descended and Zero looked down on the city with indifference, Wen Hao also calmly observed Sanchez City beneath the sea’s surface.

But the moment either spoke, their styles diverged instantly.

Although Zero turned to leave, he did not depart from Sanchez City.

The mechanical bastion hovered above Sanchez City. Next was the city’s real mechanical transformation.

Sanchez City was liberated.

But whether it would turn into an even more tragic hell in the future was unknown.

Zero had a feeling that the end of the High Tower defense battle was just the beginning of a much larger-scale conflict.

And this battle was not far off.

...

...

In an unknown region.

The crimson blood moon illuminated the wilderness, as Li You and Alpha journeyed through it.

At the volcanic crater, beneath the sunken ship, deep within the causal reach of the Causal Phone Booth, Alpha had gradually recovered his body from previous adventures.

Li You could clearly sense that the already incredibly powerful creature... was still growing stronger.

This strength was beyond her imagination.

"What are you missing? You seem to be complete now."

"I’m missing two things."

"What are they?"

"All these years, I had no awareness of the outside world. I need memories."

Alpha was now complete, with all his bodies gathered back. At his current state, he possessed the power of his most prosperous times.

What he now lacked was the memory of these years.

But these memories were not an issue.

For "memory" awaited him in the depths of the wilderness.

As Li You was about to inquire about the second thing Alpha was lacking, she sensed another aura very similar to Alpha’s.

Under the blood moon, amidst the red mist, a white lab coat was cast in a layer of scarlet.

The look in Jing Yi’s eyes lacked the fervent adoration of a devout believer.

Standing amidst the blood red, he looked distant, yet in the next instant, he appeared right beside Li You and Alpha.

Li You had never seen Jing Yi before.

But the aura emanating from Jing Yi was too similar to Alpha’s.

Jing Yi glanced at Li You and immediately understood:

"The distortion of the Power of Ten-thousand Facets... But it seems she is of no help to you?"

Alpha replied with an indifferent smile:

"Just uninteresting company, brought along as a mere pet."

Li You did not like this feeling; the two were clearly discussing her, yet she felt no sense of involvement. It was as if they were deciding whether an object should be discarded.

But clearly, even the injured Jing Yi was much stronger than Li You. And as for Alpha, there’s even less need to say.

At first, Alpha kept Li You around because Li You had the Power of Ten-thousand Facets.

This power was ranked tenth in the Sequence.

Its high plasticity was key to mastering the power of order, in Alpha’s eyes.

It was just a pity that the Power of Ten-thousand Facets in Li You did not help him.

What he truly lacked still were Temporal Return and the Ten Thousand Phantasmal Bodies.

However, the journey was dull. Keeping a cat as company was nothing more than a diversion.

Jing Yi soon understood everything and ceased to speak further:

"I saw a calamity that did not exist before, but has suddenly emerged recently."

Alpha appeared unconcerned, or rather, he looked beyond it:

"Causality is hard to discern; many hidden behind it are quietly pushing it along."

Jing Yi could understand; it was just like his confrontations with Jing Liu over the years.

Avoiding each other, tangled in conflict.

In the end, extremity leads to renewal.

It seemed that neither had done anything significant in seven hundred years.

But in truth, the two had clashed countless times.

Just eliminating Jing Liu did not mean that there were no others in the world who could evade and use causality.

"Since the arrival of the World Will, the future is no longer unchanging, and even I cannot see the end of that calamity."

Alpha remained calm throughout.

Jing Yi then said:

"But you are confident."

That calamity represented a great war that was to come soon, which Jing Yi had also glimpsed.

So much so that when Jing Er arrived at the farm, he could not keep Jing Er there.

Originally severely injured by the World Will and in the process of recovery, his condition worsened once again due to his attempt to forcibly divine causality.

In the end, like Jing Liu, Jing Yi was also backlashed.

Yet even so, it was still impossible to see the end of it.

Alpha nodded:

"I am confident."

"Then I have no regrets."

Jing Er had said that their endings would be the same.

Jing Er would die, and Jing Yi would lose his own will, returning to Alpha.

He was Alpha’s "memory" in the outside world.

Jing Yi had already prepared to sacrifice himself.

This most powerful and evil of twisted followers, who existed before Alpha emerged from the High Tower, was ready to offer himself to the distortion.

But Alpha shook his head:

"All along, I had hoped for a companion, and Jing Yi, you have done well."

"Although you are my split body, you already have your own soul; we are not the same."

Li You understood the conversation between the two; it seemed to be a form of "reclamation."

Jing Yi originated from Alpha and would ultimately return to Alpha.

But Alpha did not do so.

In Jing Yi’s eyes, he saw his own sacrifice, saw himself dedicating everything to the distortion.

Jing Er knew this, and he too had prepared himself to fight against the distortion, either to become an Array Eye, eternally trapped in some world, slowly turning into an idiot...

Or to die in battle.

That’s why Jing Er believed that he and his older brother had the same fate.

But Alpha didn’t proceed that way, as Jing Yi was a piece he used to perceive the outside world during his sealing period.

"Reclaiming" Jing Yi would allow the acquisition of all memories.

But upon meeting Jing Yi, Alpha had other plans.

Perhaps Jing Yi would play a crucial role in the imminent calamity.

At the same time, by changing a single thought of his own, Alpha let Jing Yi understand one thing—do not blindly believe in causality.

For at their level, the trajectory of things was already unpredictable.

The so-called causality could be changed at will.

Thus Jing Yi’s fate underwent a drastic change.

Seeing Jing Yi confused by the power of causality, Alpha suddenly thought of his former "good friend."

"For some years, I too controlled causality and saw many things, but in the end, I realized that the future I saw and the future that awaited me were very different in many ways."

"I once thought that I would explore the Well with him, that we would gradually expand it, allowing the thing called the universe to be filled with countless changes."

"But unfortunately, that future turned out to be false. So the so-called causality is not important; it’s just a reference, telling us that events can change in this way, but they don’t necessarily have to."

Becoming overly dependent on the Power of Causality leads to the same predicament as Jing Liu.

Jing Yi had long understood this point and rarely believed that what the Power of Causality showed was the absolute truth.

But this was the first time he encountered an inscrutable causality.

That great battle... seemed like the end of everything.

This confused Jing Yi, and because of the confusion, he developed an obsession.

At this moment, a casual act by Alpha dispelled Jing Yi’s obsession.

Jing Yi said,

"You seem to miss old friends very much?"

In Alpha’s long life, he had been worshiped by countless people who adhered to distortion.

Those believers knelt on the ground, praising the greatness of the Well, but it did not give him a sense of accomplishment.

The days when he felt most accomplished were when he worked with the High Tower Master on studying distortion.

Back then, even the High Tower Master believed the Well was the world’s salvation.

The alliance between a genius and a madman from his clan, the brightest and darkest individuals of the last civilization, was a very interesting experience.

But it could only be an experience.

For Alpha, it was better to have someone like the High Tower Master live in his memories infinitely.

But if they were to appear in reality, then he would definitely need to find a way to eliminate them.

"Let’s go; we’re going to retrieve the last item. I’m sure some of your old friends will be there in the upcoming confrontation."

Jing Yi smiled, yes, before returning to distortion, he still had unfinished business.

...

...

In Denglin City, the great battle was imminent.

During the day, everyone constantly practiced simulations, considering Jing Si as the enemy and conducting mock battles.

At night, scientists also continued to research blueprints.

The Pursuer and Yin He, meanwhile, were constantly practicing absorbing the power of the Ten Thousand Phantasmal Bodies.

Facing the upcoming great battle, they had no fear, but also no confidence.

In the northern suburbs of Denglin City.

On a suburban road, there stood a church.

For seven hundred years, the stained glass windows of the church had been shattered, and the crosses erected inside the church were also leaning.

The wooden chairs set beneath the altar had all corrupted.

In such a dilapidated church, The First Generation stood calmly beneath the already slanted cross.

At his feet were syringes strewn all around.

"So calm..."

"It’s like the tumultuous, rolling sea suddenly becoming completely calm, as if standing on a mirror."

Emotions had fallen into immense tranquility. At this moment, The First Generation felt as if there were no ripples in his sea of consciousness.

He even deliberately recalled some sorrowful past events.

Parting with Bai Yuan, telling the lie of goodbye to Xiaoyugan, being seriously injured by Jing Si...

And the sensation of age and weariness when he entrusted Lin Rui with Temporal Power.

But none of them could create the slightest ripple in his heart.

The Investigation Corps’ essential item for leaving the tower, an emergency survival device for major emotional fluctuations—the Emotional Stabilizer—once injected, The First Generation found that at least within these five minutes, all the painful memories of the past could not touch him.

But five minutes were very brief.

When he counted to two hundred, because of an overdose of the injectable, emotional backlash had already begun.

Anger, sadness, fear.

They were like three of the most pure primary colors, and then they painted myriad emotions.

After a brief period of calm...

His sea of consciousness began to churn with raging waves, as if to swallow the entire world!

When conducting investigations outside the tower, members of the Investigation Corps rarely used such a thing.

None of us are desperate; the first thing we think of when encountering difficulties is to activate Return Roulette and go back.

Only in very few cases is it necessary to suppress emotions first.

This is an extremely dangerous reagent. Once used outside the tower, it could potentially cause one to become Evil Fallen.

But to become Evil Fallen is unique to humans.

As a Semi-Evil Fallen, such a situation would not occur.

Humans undergo Evil Fallen Transformation under extreme emotions.

The Semi-Evil Fallen, on the other hand, experience an outbreak of fusion disease under extreme emotions—

Fusion disease is like a disease that manifests emotional shocks into some kind of force expansion.

When Jiang Yimi first learned of Lin Rui’s death, the endless Power of Calamity erupted, causing Jing Wu to be trapped for a considerably long time.

During The First Generation’s lifetime, there were hardly any moments of emotional outburst.

The longer one lives, the more one sees, and the richer one’s experiences, the calmer a person becomes when faced with situations.

The First Generation was such a person.

Therefore, he needed some external force.

Before the overwhelming emotions could engulf The First Generation... the terrifying Temporal Power began to erupt.

At this moment, people inside the technology building at the center of Denglin City all felt a powerful energy fluctuation.

Jing Si suddenly opened his eyes wide.

The Pursuer and Yin He seemed to feel the unique energy fluctuation that accompanies the activation of Ten Thousand Phantasmal Bodies.

Meanwhile, Xu Wei felt an unprecedented temporal backflow.

As the owner of Temporal Return, Xu Wei had become powerful enough to see "time."

The massive commotion from the north suburbs stunned everyone in Denglin City. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

"Could this Temporal Power eruption be K?"

Xu Wei suddenly thought of something.

It was on the day of the Ten Thousand Phantasmal Bodies granting ceremony that he remembered The First Generation having a conversation with two owners of Ten Thousand Phantasmal Bodies.

"Just the few of us aren’t enough to seal him... we need more help."

"But people with Temporal Power are too rare, and The Pursuer’s ceremony isn’t something that can be performed anytime. Where do we find someone with Temporal Power?"

"I know someone... he is my disciple, as well as"

"As well as what? You have another disciple?"

Xu Wei was quite interested when he heard this.

But The First Generation just nodded at the time and did not continue.

The Pursuer once created a Split Body with Ten Thousand Phantasmal Bodies to hunt other twisted creatures.

After learning this, The First Generation had a bold idea in his mind.

He first made everyone aware of Alpha’s terror and shared his abilities without reservation.

As a result, The First Generation received recognition from two Pursuers—the only surviving Pursuers to this day.

Thus, The Pursuer’s "ceremony" could be initiated.

He would become the third Pursuer.

And before acquiring Ten Thousand Phantasmal Bodies, The First Generation had continuous exchanges with Xu Wei, aiming to master the kind of temporal reversal power Xu Wei possessed.

Indirectly, The First Generation obtained the power that Alpha sought—Ten Thousand Phantasmal Bodies and Temporal Return.

It’s just that Alpha attempted to use these two powers to comprehend order.

And The First Generation... had other plans.

The surge of violent emotional backlash completely triggered the outbreak of fusion disease.

At the moment Temporal Power went out of control, The First Generation with his last bit of rationality... displayed these long-practiced results!

He practiced Temporal Return incessantly, with the power of the source, to the extent comparable to Sequence itself, all to realize a crazy idea in his mind!

And fusion disease was just a tool for him to break the barriers between reality and illusion!

Ten Thousand Phantasmal Bodies, Temporal Return, combined with the tremendous power that came with the loss of control of fusion disease—

In that church, twisted by the uncontrollable temporal forces as if space itself was beginning to fold...

By The First Generation’s side, a figure suddenly appeared.

"I know someone... he is my disciple, and also..."

The sentence from a few days ago actually had an unfinished second half—

"He is my past, as well as my future."

The Ouroboros ring had already been untangled by Qian Yixin, but the hero who had strived did not only exist in the present.

There was also his past self, his future self.

After learning of his true experiences, The First Generation felt somewhat emotional.

Who between me and Lin Rui is the past of the other, and who is the future?

He couldn’t figure it out, so he simply split that ring... into two parts.

On the other side of the church, under the fusion disease, in the presence of Temporal Return, stood the embodiment of Ten Thousand Facets—by The First Generation’s side.

"Welcome back, hero of Baichuan City."