Chapter 1076: Aftermath |
Of course, what made Cheng Shi's expression shift wasn't just [Time]'s marvel — it was also his current situation.
What frightened him wasn't how he'd woken up, but where he'd woken up!
He had woken up cradled in Hu Xuan's arms...
Can you imagine that kind of tension?
When he saw that elegant, refined face hovering three inches above his forehead — even though her eyes were full of concern — the first thing Cheng Shi felt wasn't the relief of being rescued, nor the lingering shock of what he'd witnessed. Instead, a single "fatal" question echoed through his mind:
'Am I currently before the "birth," or after it?'
This question mattered greatly. It determined the generational hierarchy — specifically, whether he was Hu Xuan's father, or whether Hu Xuan would become his mother.
"..."
The moment Hu Xuan saw the panic in Cheng Shi's eyes, she relaxed. Then she shook her head with an amused laugh and slapped him on the forehead.
Is my image in your eyes really that deplorable?"
"..."
'Since when do followers of [Birth] have any right to talk about image?'
'Do you have any idea what your image actually is?'
'Who wouldn't be terrified of people who are constantly birthing something?'
Though the phrasing was undeniably strange.
Cheng Shi gave an awkward laugh. His expression was a masterpiece of conflicting emotions, but he played along and asked:
"What's... the situation right now?"
He sat up. Hu Xuan rose as well and gazed south with a serious expression:
"The Erudition Presidium set its sights on our player identities, just as you predicted.
While you were reconstructing this experiment, the Grand Scholars tried to remold us along with it.
Fortunately, I'd taken some precautions in advance. We should be past the worst of it now. We're still in Tusnat, but this is the real Tusnat — we've escaped the experiment."
"?"
Cheng Shi listened in total bewilderment. He had to set aside the multitude of shocks and stray thoughts and focus on understanding the current situation first.
As he awoke, his teammates gradually came to as well. When they saw that everyone was unharmed, all eyes turned to Hu Xuan.
After a moment's thought, Cheng Shi understood.
[Time]'s miracle had deposited him back in the latter half of the trial — the point when they had been fighting the Grand Scholars' attempt to dissolve the experimental world through the Ritual of Truth. And it was at that same moment that Hu Xuan had given birth to a... man!
Right — where was that man now?
Cheng Shi scanned the surroundings and found no sign of him. He looked questioningly at Hu Xuan, who smiled softly:
"Don't bother looking. He's already gone.
You guessed correctly — He is exactly who you think."
Cheng Shi's pupils contracted. A name instantly flashed through his mind:
Lu Xia!
The Servant God of [Life], the Envoy of [Birth] — Birth Holy Voice Lu Xia!
So the figure he'd seen parting ways with Hu Xuan in the West District had been Him?
He was inside the trial?!
Had Hu Xuan learned about the experiment's irregularities through Him?
Wait — if this was a Tusnat reconstructed by the Grand Scholars, how could the Ritual of Truth have reconstructed a Servant God?
"You found Lu Xia and used Him to confirm this experiment was compromised ahead of time?"
"Not quite." Hu Xuan shook her head and smiled calmly. "It was precisely because I couldn't find Him that I suspected something was wrong with this trial.
Lu Xia had concluded that the people of this kingdom were too obsessed with [Truth], which was causing birth rates to plummet. So He had stayed in Tusnat, never leaving, in order to help extend [Truth]'s legacy in this land."
"..."
An Envoy of [Birth] — ostensibly helping followers of [Truth] sustain their truth by steering them toward [Birth]...
There were so many things wrong with that statement that Cheng Shi didn't even know where to begin.
"But I couldn't find Him in the experimental Tusnat, which meant the Tusnat I was seeing wasn't real.
So during my search in the West District, I posed as a follow-up doctor sent by Lu Xia and visited couples He had previously helped.
The west side had been badly damaged, and I nearly lost the trail. But fate smiled on me at the last moment, leading me to a child that Lu Xia had personally delivered.
Speaking of which, I should thank the Erudition Presidium's faithful recreation of Tusnat — it meant this child still carried a trace of Lu Xia's aura.
Yes — the child you saw parting ways with me in the West District was him.
I extracted a wisp of Lu Xia's aura from the child and nurtured it, then gave birth to a false child of Lu Xia during the trial.
That would be the man you helped me deliver.
He was Lu Xia — but only an empty shell, without any consciousness. Through the process of 'birth,' I formed a connection with the real Lu Xia that transcended the experiment's constraints, and was able to transmit your auras to Him.
If that's hard to understand, think of it this way: through a method that appears to be childbirth, I backed up your 'data' with Him.
So when the Grand Scholars destroyed everything and we couldn't stop them, Lu Xia used [Birth]'s blessing to rebirth us into the real Tusnat.
And thus, we escaped the calamity.
That's the gist of it. Understand?"
"..."
'How badly I wish I didn't understand...'
'No, seriously, your [Birth] people...'
'Having extra mothers was bad enough — now you're telling me there might be extra fathers too?'
'But even if there's an extra father, don't tell me it was Lu Xia — a grown man — who carried sextuplets and gave birth to all of us!'
Everyone's expressions became extraordinarily colorful.
Seeing this, Hu Xuan chuckled:
"Birth Holy Voice is merely a midwife. He assists in birth, but does not give birth Himself. You needn't worry on that count.
Besides, when it comes to life, being alive is what matters most. Does it really matter how you survived?"
"..."
"His ability can cause anyone to give birth to anyone. So He probably found a suitable host for us. But if that makes you all uncomfortable, then I strongly advise you not to investigate what that host was.
I'll only say this — it might be easier to accept if you think of it as a host rather than a mother."
"..."
Fine. Being alive was enough.
As long as they were still breathing, who was the father and who was the mother was entirely up to them to decide, wasn't it?
Cheng Shi let out a long exhale. He didn't rush to analyze what he'd witnessed in the real universe. Instead, he carefully studied the expressions of his five teammates.
After a long while, once he was certain they had absolutely no memory of what had just happened, he finally confirmed it: time truly had been reset. And it was a world-level reset.
Moreover, even as he was experiencing the reset, the new timeline had already begun moving forward — only this time, it bypassed the deviation and took a different path.
But the question was — on this new path...
Was [Truth] still alive?
...
Meanwhile, on the other side.
The shattered reality was gradually re-adhering, but the shattered Void remained broken — because at this moment, [Fate] was still dragging the universe into Misfortune, and the gods had arrived to support it.
But just then, the Starlight Canon that had been blocking [Deceit] and [Fate] this entire time casually flipped through a few of its own pages — then simply vanished from the starry sky.
It seemed to have calculated that the experiment had no chance of success, and so it abandoned it outright.
This left [Oblivion] — who had rushed over to stand on [Truth]'s side and watch the show — frozen in the Void.
"Wait, [Truth], you...???"
With the architect of the deviation gone, [Fate] no longer needed to threaten the universe with collapse. In the next instant, He withdrew Misfortune and fixed [Oblivion] with a frigid stare.
[Deceit] likewise turned toward [Oblivion], wearing His signature half-smile: "What's the matter — care to stand in our way again?"
"..."
[Oblivion] vanished His own form once more. And the moment He disappeared, [Deceit] didn't linger for a single second before leaving as well.
He seemed unwilling to bother with His follower anymore.
But He knew that even if He didn't, someone else would.
[Fate] stood gazing into the distance, pondering briefly. He was somewhat puzzled by the gods' sudden change of stance, but it didn't matter. As long as the Fixed Destiny held and His follower was still alive, He would pay no attention to anyone else.
And so He turned His gaze toward [Truth]'s trial, bestowing upon His follower the compensation of Fate.
It was at that moment, deep within the Void, at the entrance where the Mockery and Jeering led to [Time]'s rift, that a pair of star-filled eyes opened.
They looked toward another pair of eyes — black-hole eyes that had long been standing there, gazing into the distance — and said nothing.
After a time, the black-hole eyes sighed:
"Don't stuff any more of those things into me."
With that, He returned a wisp of blurred, iridescent power to the star-filled eyes.
The star-filled eyes let out a soft, amused hum: "What, it didn't work?"
"It worked. But it was also terrifying."
"Well, isn't that perfect? That makes you a qualified member of the Fear Faction."
"...I feel fear, yes. But not only because of fear."
And with that, the black-hole eyes departed.
The world was restored. He had lost His time once more.
...
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