Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 617: Chapter 234: Golden Generation

Jing Yi’s face was a picture of disbelief as the incessant flow of temporal power gathered into golden threads. The once taut and twisted golden cage was swiftly repairing itself.

This unending stream of temporal power gave Jing Yi the feeling that he was up against two Ks.

Even at first, he thought he was facing a clone of K, a contingency.

But the moment the opponent opened his mouth to speak, Jing Yi’s already astounded expression grew even more shocked:

"It’s you! How is this possible... This can’t be possible!"

Even having encountered this once before on Black Gold Island, he couldn’t help but be shocked anew.

Jing Yi couldn’t be certain whether there were any old friends hidden in the Underworld.

There were many children who called him father; it was difficult to say whether one or two had grasped the entries of the Power of Life and Death.

And the last time, the other was hidden in the crevices of the Abyss of Netherworld, shrouded by legions of wandering spirits, making it hard to sense his presence accurately.

This time, he was truly certain.

Cloaked in a black raincoat that enveloped his entire figure, the third person who suddenly appeared seemed as if he had come from a night drenched in a heavy downpour.

However, given where he had come from, he was more akin to a Grim Reaper draped in a black cloak.

"It often rains in the Underworld; human emotions also find many expressions here. This world wasn’t supposed to exist. To be alive is to live, to be dead is to die. But due to distortions, this world, which people subjectively believe in, emerged."

"Interestingly, even in this distorted world, people are still bound by their perceptions, so even you did not expect me to hide within death."

The wide black raincoat’s sleeves fluttered in the cold blue breeze blowing in from the Underworld.

Revealing the mark on the wrist of the newcomer.

The Ten of Spades.

Jing Yi could never have imagined that from the fabled Golden Generation, there would be a second survivor.

He was hiding in the cracks between life and death, in the realm of the departed.

He possessed the Causal Force and could explore every corner of the world, but how to investigate the realm of the dead?

Before death, the Equality of All Beings.

But for those who wield the Power of Life and Death, death is simply an extension of a journey.

"Remember me now, Father? And you, the fellow Bai Yuan kept pining for. Looking at your reaction, you’re no less surprised than he was. You’re still as ugly as ever."

As the words reached the latter half, the Ten of Spades looked toward The First Generation.

The First Generation’s mask was already removed, revealing a face covered with post-mortem spots, now, like Jing Yi, was filled with shock.

In The First Generation’s perception, the Ten of Spades held an obsession for Bai that was beyond what ordinary people could fathom.

All of this stemmed from... Bai ranking the Ten of Spades as a ten, not a K.

Bai was also the most eye-catching among all the children in that batch from the farm.

Back then, Bai was practically the farm’s second owner; he didn’t even have to address Jing Yi as father like the other children did.

The memories were vivid.

The appearance of the Ten of Spades uncontrollably made The First Generation and Jing Yi think back to seven centuries ago.

In their younger days, The First Generation had been closest to Bai.

Bai was kind to everyone.

In everyone’s eyes, Bai was perfect, but only with The First Generation did Bai confide, saying to him:

"Everyone here will die, but we’re not the same. I’ll leave this place, will you come with me?"

But not long after, Bai changed his tune:

"Alright, there’s another interesting guy who might also have the ability to realize, but we won’t bring him along; he’s too boring. Maybe he’ll manage to escape on his own? Let’s escape first, that’ll add some difficulty for him."

The First Generation knew that Bai was talking about the Ten of Spades. If only Bai had been willing to take the Ten of Spades with them at the time.

The Ten of Spades was indeed a bit dull. But as it later turned out, it was all a ruse.

He often sat under a big tree, reading "Crime and Punishment," with the sunlight filtering through the pages, casting a mottled pattern on him, making him appear to have a melancholic temperament.

But in reality, he was the wildest child of them all.

Everything on the farm was a facade. If there was a moment when Bai had been deceived by Queen of Spades, it was probably then.

However, at that time, the Queen of Spades had not awakened his Sequence.

What happened later, The First Generation only heard about.

It took a while for the Queen of Spades to realize the truth about the farm. He only gradually became aware of the lies here after some had escaped.

And the awakening of his power was due to meeting a certain person.

This person came through time via the Causal Phone Booth and said some things to him.

Those words planted a seed in the heart of the Queen of Spades.

Sequence 23—The Deception’s awakening also gave the Queen of Spades the means to escape from here.

Without teammates like The First Generation who had awakened the origin power of temporal force, he could only figure out ways to bluff others into investigating.

And during this process, he had to maintain his own nature without being detected by that "father."

By this time, the farm had two escapees, and security against those attempting to flee had been tightened significantly.

All was as Bai Yuan had said; if he didn’t take the Queen of Spades with him, escaping the farm would be much harder for the Queen of Spades than it had been for Bai Yuan himself.

But he still managed to escape.

With a series of lies.

Initially, the Deceiver’s abilities were not fully developed, and while the conditions for deceiving others were not so stringent, the power he gained was limited.

But as his obsession grew and his disguise became more natural, the Queen of Spades’ Sequence gradually advanced.

The conditions for deceiving became stricter; he even needed to make people aware that his persona was that of a deceiver.

But correspondingly, the power he could gain became greater, and the upper limits were raised even higher.

After escaping the farm, Jing Yi was entangled by Jing Liu, resulting in him not having the spare energy to search thoroughly for Bai Yuan and others using the Causal Force for a long time.

But the Queen of Spades found Bai Yuan and his group.

Their paths truly began to intersect from that point onward.

The Queen of Spades was always the one that Bai Yuan didn’t really care for; it seemed Bai Yuan had only one friend, The First Generation.

But the Queen of Spades’ obsession with Bai Yuan was not ordinary at all.

They were rivals.

The First Generation was well aware that not a single word from the Queen of Spades could be trusted, but sometimes, lies aren’t limited to words.

Lies also encompass cognition.

He subconsciously believed that the Queen of Spades had a huge obsession with Bai Yuan. freewebnøvel.com

And Bai Yuan didn’t deny it.

So now, when his confrontation with Jing Yi had reached the match point, the sudden appearance of the Queen of Spades... he indeed felt a sense of tension.

"You actually managed to come back from that world..."

The First Generation and Jing Yi had different amounts of information; he knew that the Queen of Spades was greatly fixated on Bai Yuan and then went to the place where Bai Yuan was located.

It was a world that even The First Generation didn’t know of, as well as the world where Bai Wu was born.

But Bai Yuan had not returned, and the Queen of Spades hadn’t appeared for a long time.

After being imprisoned for seven hundred years and shattering Qian Yixin’s barrier, he could no longer sense the presence of the Queen of Spades or Bai Yuan.

So even The First Generation thought... he must have died.

"It wasn’t easy to come back, I also had a bit of luck, all this I owe to Jing Liu."

The First Generation didn’t understand, and the Queen of Spades didn’t explain, only turning to look at Jing Yi.

"You see, in your causal confrontation with Jing Liu, it seemed like you suppressed her, but some of her unintentional actions also brought unexpected changes."

"Those who play with causality are played by causality. Have you ever thought that one day... you would be defeated by someone who should have been dead?"

Defeated, not killed.

The Ten of Spades was well aware that Jing Yi couldn’t be killed, but he didn’t need to kill Jing Yi, as long as the Spacetime Array sealed Alpha, there would be plenty of people in this world who could deal with Jing Yi.

The situation on the battlefield had completely changed.

A mighty Temporal Power swirled around the Ten of Spades, his entire being as if enveloped in golden flames.

"Your power really comes in handy, as does Jing Liu’s. Although I can’t see the outcome of this great battle, I can at least see the convergence of causality here. It’s just that taking a detour from the Underworld takes a bit of time."

Just a few short sentences indicated that this man had grasped the three origin powers of causality, life and death, and time and space.

Jing Yi watched the Ten of Spades in disbelief. How many people had this child deceived? What kind of powers did he actually possess?

The child once "imprisoned" by numbers had become such a troublesome issue.

He suddenly realized... he had underestimated K, and also the Ten of Spades.

The Golden Generation of the farm, perhaps he had never really clearly understood them at all.

It was precisely because of such pride that he found himself in such a passive situation now.

"For those of us who have a hard time developing, once we do develop, we naturally become a bit more dominant. Luckily, your arrogance gave me plenty of opportunities to grow stronger slowly."

Countless golden threads continuously reinforced this "Spacetime Cube," dividing the prison into even finer domains.

He could have exhibited many more powerful techniques, just as The First Generation had researched deadly moves with Temporal Power.

In the past seven hundred years, the Ten of Spades had also used Causal Force, an origin power that seemed to have no combat capabilities, to create some battle techniques.

However, none of these needed to be displayed in this battle.

The First Generation’s injuries were also gradually healing, and as the Ten of Spades appeared, endless Temporal Power flowed in, and his perception of Temporal Power was re-established.

"What will you do next... Fight me?"

"Have you ever considered why I possess Temporal Power? Where exactly did I deceive you?"

"So we... were never enemies?"

"Yes, congratulations on discovering the far side of the lie, but it’s too late, oh, I won’t be giving back the abilities I’ve acquired."

The Ten of Spades’ smile had already taken on some of Bai Yuan’s meaning.

Looking into the eyes of the Ten of Spades, The First Generation suddenly felt as if he was seeing Bai Yuan.

This feeling was so intense, but he also thought, had the Ten of Spades gradually lived into the image of Bai Yuan over the years?

Or perhaps, the Ten of Spades was the true master of speaking to people in their own language, taking it to the ultimate extreme.

He became whatever he played, knowing that Bai Yuan would make him feel more at ease, so he began to play the part of Bai Yuan?

In fact, the style of the Ten of Spades’ speech was quite similar to that of Bai Yuan, especially in tone and smile.

The tide had completely turned.

Jing Yi was locked up by reinforced Temporal Power, and the false Divine Body was already in a state of fragmentation. Even if it could self-repair, it would be cut again by stronger Temporal Power.

And The First Generation had re-established his perception of Temporal Power.

After the Ten of Spades finished speaking, The First Generation’s injuries instantaneously healed.

He activated Temporal Return.

Or rather, he used Temporal Power in the manner of Temporal Return, so at this moment, The First Generation returned to his peak state.

The battle was already over.

Jing Yi couldn’t be killed, but as long as Jing Yi was trapped, the next strongest under Alpha’s command would also be unable to make any moves.

If the Ten of Spades and The First Generation had started out allied, Jing Yi might not have been defeated.

But the sneak attack from the Ten of Spades was indeed beyond his expectation.

"Where is Bai Yuan?"

The First Generation stared intensely at Jing Yi, but his thoughts had already shifted elsewhere.

If the Ten of Spades was still alive, then Bai Yuan should also be alive.

With that hope, he imagined that if Bai Yuan could reappear, Xiaoyugan’s seven hundred years of vigil would have meaning.

But the Ten of Spades shook his head:

"I’m different from him; he has no obsession with life, for him, death is just the end of the journey."

"I’ve deceived many people, and I wish this statement was a deception too. Sometimes, I deeply regret witnessing his death."

Black Jack added another sentence as he spoke.

Upon hearing this, The First Generation’s eyes brimmed uncontrollably with disappointment.

He silently gazed at the cage imprisoning Jing Yi, and it took a full ten seconds before he finally spoke indifferently,

"I see, I understand now."

Black Jack’s arrival was an unexpected joy, bringing a miraculous ending to an irreversible battle.

But such joy was quickly diluted.

In fact, he was already clear that Bai Yuan could not possibly survive, but now, getting an answer from someone who had been there extinguished any sliver of hope.

Looking at this ugly fellow before him, displaying such genuine sorrow, Black Jack suddenly understood a bit.

Bai Yuan probably didn’t wish to be a hero, but if he had a hero friend by his side, he wouldn’t have been resolute either.

After all, for anyone, to be deeply mourned by someone after so many years of death is a kind of fortune.

In a sense, Bai Yuan wasn’t truly dead.

If one day I were to die...

Would anyone grieve for me?

Black Jack chuckled to himself, probably not; who would remember a deceiver?

"The battle is over; it looks like you were racing against time with Alpha?"

"You know about Alpha?" The First Generation was somewhat surprised.

"Of course, I’ve been through quite a bit with the son of an old acquaintance. I’ve spent more time with him and his father than you have," he replied.

The First Generation did not speak.

He and Black Jack... weren’t really close; he just knew that this person had an extraordinary desire to win and was obsessive about Bai.

Even if he knew it was a lie, it would be hard to change his mind instantly.

"Could you do something for me?" The First Generation looked at Black Jack.

"Speak, although we don’t have a deep friendship, our interests are aligned," Black Jack said with a smile.

"I need to accelerate time, and this may cause me to overdraw my temporal power."

The First Generation’s plan was simple: use the Space-Time Labyrinth to send everyone to different times in various parts of Denglin City.

Then, all the temporal power holders would take Jing Er as the Array Eye and launch the Sealing Array, sealing Alpha’s soul in the High Tower before he could retrieve the Twisted Heart.

This process would take time, and Jing Si could help them hold off Alpha.

Everything was functioning normally so far; to this point, both his face-off with Jing Yi and Jing Si’s confrontation with Alpha had times when they were at a disadvantage, but they had both turned the tides and gotten back on track.

Still, The First Generation had an unsettling intuition that this Space-Time Labyrinth would soon be destroyed by some inexplicable force, and he had to accelerate the flow of time.

Utilising another aspect of temporal power to change the temporal dimension for Alpha and all the array setters in the graveyard.

Black Jack didn’t inquire about the details, but he quickly grasped everything:

"No big deal, I’ll take care of this place. After all, I and my dear father would like to catch up," he said.

"Thank you,"

The First Generation’s hand moved away from the golden cube that was the size of a cage.

It was as if a keeper had left his territory, to be replaced by someone who looked even more like a warden.

Black Jack was quite willing to have a word with Jing Yi.

Jing Yi gazed at Black Jack through the Spacetime Cube.

In that moment, his gaze traversed countless tiny twists of space and time, and he saw something even The First Generation hadn’t seen.

Suddenly, his expression turned quizzical.