Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 609: Chapter 226: The Ultimate Freedom

The countdown ended. The lights in the subway were dim.

The entire city fell into stillness.

For a long, long time, there was no sound from anyone in the city.

Some were confused, some were ecstatic, and some were in pain.

"Why hasn’t my identity changed?"

"Why do I still remember those things! Damn it! I don’t want to be a child to a little brat anymore!"

"Do I really have to stay married to that old thing? Yuck..."

Some even thought of something disgusting and started to throw up.

Most of them were dissatisfied with their current identities.

Some were young and beautiful but were paired with husbands in their seventies or eighties.

Some were in the prime of their lives, yet had to play the role of a parent to a little kid.

Of course, there were also many who were quite pleased.

They laughed, thinking they were still stuck in these satisfying identities.

"Fantastic, the company is still mine!"

"She’s still my wife, hahahahaha..."

"At least it’s not worse, which isn’t bad."

The emotions of everyone in the subway varied greatly.

Ruan Qingyun hung her head low, wondering if she should go back to that diner? It didn’t seem too bad.

She had feelings for that place and had always played her role with heart.

But her thoughts were unlike other people’s.

A few had also noticed that the countdown was gone.

Normally, when one countdown ends, a new one begins.

But this time it was different, with no new beginnings.

There were no countdowns in anyone’s eyes anymore.

Ruan Qingyun suddenly thought of someone... Wu Jiu.

In history, no one dared to beat and kidnap a Freeperson, but Wu Jiu had done so. Had he also changed some other things?

Could such a thing really be done?

That man... who didn’t look very tall, could do such a thing?

"I’ve always believed that only those who can make choices are human; otherwise, they’re just blindly obedient slaves." frёewebnoѵēl.com

Wu Jiu’s words when he left echoed in Ruan Qingyun’s ears, and her heartbeat... accelerated.

"I don’t want to be a son to these little brats any longer!"

"I don’t want to waste my youth on an old person who’s about to die!"

"I don’t want to!"

Someone shouted out their inner thoughts, and gradually, this rebellion spread like a contagious disease.

Everyone vented their dissatisfaction.

The others who were content with their current identities didn’t dare to make a fuss.

Because soon... someone realized something was wrong.

"Who allowed them to think this way?"

"Who allowed them to speak out like this?"

"How can people express rebellion against the rules?"

These thoughts and doubts emerged in everyone’s mind.

And so quickly, silence fell once again.

They were shocked to find that the mental bondage... had been lifted.

They could freely express discontent without any sense of guilt arising within.

They hadn’t received new identities, but it seemed... they no longer belonged to their old ones either.

At that moment, an immense sense of confusion washed over them.

Everyone started to wonder, could it be that the long-standing rules of this city... had actually been broken?

How were they to live in the future?

With what identity should they live?

Some had a blank look in their eyes, accustomed to blind obedience, to fate arranging everything for them.

Suddenly bereft of identity, they didn’t even realize that they could actively create an identity they liked.

But in some others’ eyes, there was a gleaming light. They raised their heads, feeling a sense of conquest they had never known before.

They went through thoughts they never even dared to entertain before in their minds...

Quickly they understood. The mental bonds and shackles had indeed been removed!

That quirky city, those bizarre rules, could no longer confine them!

They could strive, fight, conquer.

In that moment, everyone’s identity was reset to zero.

The city was bound to descend into massive chaos, and it was certain that in the process of creating from nothing, countless sacrifices would occur.

And who would be the losers, who the victors—

From this moment on, the expressions on everyone’s faces could give a clue.

...

...

Not long ago.

In Baichuan City Zoo, Bai Wu finished interrogating and prepared to leave with Wu Jiu.

Wu Jiu asked:

"Did you get results? What should we do now?"

"I got nothing. Even the Freepersons don’t know who granted them absolute freedom."

Wu Jiu suddenly felt a bit of sympathy for those two Freepersons; they too had paid a heavy price.

"So what do I do?"

"Don’t worry, I have a lead."

With Prayle’s Eye, Bai Wu actually didn’t need to inquire anything. Finding anyone wasn’t a big trouble for him anymore.

Even after confirming from the Freepersons that no answers were to be had, Bai Wu used the old method... observing directly through Prayle’s Eye in various directions, he found the place he was looking for.

[Considering how badly you need me, old pal, I could even mark our current distance for you, 22.4 kilometers from the target.]

Prayle’s Eye seemed to have evolved, projecting a precise "Baichuan map" directly in Bai Wu’s vision.

Bai Wu was taken aback for a moment.

Those eyes used to offer a riddle to make a pretense of mystery, a bit coy.

Now it seemed eager to thrust all information right in his face.

It was a good feeling, Bai Wu suddenly felt as if his eyes were exacting revenge on the will of the Well World.

Entering this world, the will of the Well World had erased the most critical sequence of information from him.

Looking back, if he’d had Prayle’s Eye, maybe he would have moved on to the next phase already.

"So you know where the target is... Do your eyes have some ability to see?"

"Yes."

"Then why continue to torment those two free people?"

"Hobby."

Wu Jiu was convinced.

Actually, Bai Wu was just checking to see if he could extract some more useful information.

Of course, he hated those absolutely free people.

Because he had encountered absolutely free people before.

...

...

The grand and luxurious manor didn’t belong to Baichuan City—in fact, Bai Wu didn’t know why the Manor of Food City was stuffed into Baichuan City.

Why did the Will of Well World allow the play-house rules of Violet to take effect in Baichuan City, instead of Food City?

Was it really just deeply twisting and merging the scenes he had experienced?

It didn’t seem so, for Bai Wu always felt there was a deeper meaning to the Will of Well World.

But he had no time to ponder thoroughly.

In the western suburbs of Baichuan City, Bai Wu found the familiar manor. fгeewebnovёl.com

Just that inside the manor, there weren’t those miserable people who were forced to play the roles of a family of three.

But the Zhong family’s former luxury office building was still there.

Based on memory, Bai Wu and Wu Jiu quickly found the place where Violet had her traumatic experience.

Despite many things changing, a lot also remained the same.

Violet had indeed merged with the manor, and after a deeper layer of distortion, the rules of Violet spread throughout the entire city.

The pattern was now very clear, and while Bai Wu observed the manor with Prayle’s Eye, he found his answers.

He suddenly realized that all the trials actually no longer had any meaning.

Wu Jiu stood silently outside the room, the office building having once been the site of some prominent corporation.

Many secrets could be explored here, yet Bai Wu seemed very familiar with everything.

So in the end, Wu Jiu stayed in a room outside the suspected crime scene, while Bai Wu was inside, communicating with a little girl in a purple skirt.

"Feels familiar..."

A strange sense of déjà vu emerged, making Wu Jiu feel that this situation—of him waiting and guarding outside with boredom, while Bai Wu was inside negotiating with some monster—was very familiar.

As if this classic scenario had occurred many times before.

But he still could not remember anything. The power of Well World’s Will allowed Wu Jiu to have some familiar feelings, but not complete memories like Bai Wu.

All the humans surviving in Baichuan City were the same; they were temporarily free from the rules, but they still couldn’t remember their memories from a few identities ago.

However, Wu Jiu’s intuition was sharp, as if Bai Wu could solve any problem, a feeling that didn’t make him anxious at all.

He silently listened to Bai Wu’s words, subconsciously wanting to pull out a notebook to take notes or something.

Yes, it was another action that seemed very familiar.

But he had no notes; just a day before, he had still been a chef.

So Wu Jiu could only rely on his memory to store Bai Wu’s words in his mind.

What kind of story was this?

It was probably about a little girl who once had a happy family, but then she discovered it wasn’t so; she had a mother with a messy private life and a father who looked down on everything.

She ultimately became a monster fused with the manor because of some experiences that would lead to this book being banned.

Her obsession created a rule that forced people to play their roles well.

Deep inside, she desired her mother to forever play the role of a good mother and her father to be a good father.

Once twisted, this rule spread throughout the entire city, to all identities.

To reward those who played their roles well, their identities were regularly switched, with well-performers receiving a resource-rich start, and the poorly performing given a worse one.

Gradually, freemen were born.

"I once encountered an annoying freeman in my world, that person was named Zhong Xu."

Wu Jiu outside the door didn’t react much to these two words, but he sensed that Violet inside had become extremely agitated.

"Violet, you truly disappoint me. You hate Zhong Xu, yet you’ve created a bunch of Zhong Xus."

Facing Hong Yin, Bai Wu sought to influence her, because she was worth his effort.

Thus, facing Hong Yin twice, Bai Wu never changed his original intention.

Facing Violet, Bai Wu’s disdain was undisguised; both times were the same.

"You really are a disgusting child. Do you know what Zhong Xu did later in High Tower?"

"He was the absolute freeman, not bound at all by the morals, rules, or ethics of the human world."

"Family? Friendship? Love? They are merely tools to be exploited."

"He’d devour whomever he wished, oppress whomever he fancied, and bully whoever he wanted when his desires erupted. How similar is this to the freemen in your city?"

"Absolute freedom is the power to indulge in corruption, but human nature cannot withstand temptation. People refrain from falling because of their sense of morality, but more importantly, because rules do not permit them to do so."

"Once you eradicate those rules, morals are really just a thin piece of paper. Interestingly enough, those unfree people in your city, while they were not free, behaved properly in their social roles but after gaining freedom, they went around bullying others..."

"So, do you understand? You and Zhong Xu are the same kind of person! You are the very person you detest the most!"

Bai Wu’s barrage of words left Violet utterly defenseless. During this process, Bai Wu showed a ferry ticket and also mentioned quite a bit about Zhong Xu’s past before he entered the High Tower.

These were all experiences Bai Wu had at Violet Manor.

These things also convinced Violet that the person before her had indeed encountered Zhong Xu.

"Shut up! How could I possibly be like him! That disgusting person, he betrayed me! How could I possibly be like him!"

"Really? I thought you always saw Zhong Xu as a role model. Why else would you create a bunch of Zhong Xus?"

"To trample on others’ efforts at will, destroy someone’s family in front of their eyes, and disregard all social connections and status constraints—isn’t that just Zhong Xu? Do your freemen differ from him?"

Violet was already clutching her head here, looking exceedingly pained.

Bai Wu said:

"I can kill Zhong Xu, but I need you to lift the rules and prove to me that you’re not the same as him; otherwise, I’ll return to High Tower and tell him he has a good daughter who, missing him so much, created a bunch of people just like him."

"Shut up! Shut up! I’m not like that! I’m merely rewarding them! I just hope they can play their roles well!"

Violet roared, her little girl’s expression nearly at the point of collapse.

Bai Wu, unmoved, said coldly:

"Then establish a new rule, one that will not give rise to monsters like Zhong Xu!"

Bai Wu’s time began.

Wu Jiu outside, although he knew persuading Violet, the distorted source who created the freemen, would still take time, believed that this would be no difficult task for Bai Wu.

...

...

Meanwhile, as Bai Wu was dissolving the city’s rules, and while everyone was waiting for the countdown in the subway,

in another corner of Baichuan City, a monster covered with faces was silently bidding farewell to a young boy.

The boy looked at Dandelion bewildered, unable to believe that Dandelion would actually let him go.

Sometimes humans are like this; the things they desperately seek always elude them, but once they let go, bonds form unexpectedly.

When Dandelion saw the smile on the boy’s face that had never been shown before, he suddenly let go of his burdens.

"If I kept imprisoning you... then how would I be any different from the doctor who hurt you before?"

The ultimate evil, Dandelion, in the end still chose to help his utmost benign self, not devouring him.

Thus, Violet Manor, Ghoul with an Odd Face, Baichuan Zoo, Ninth Psychiatric Hospital—these regions dangerous in the past and even more dangerous after distortion—were once again broken open by Bai Wu.

The fifth layer of Well World, the true secret, was about to be revealed.