Chapter 421: Endless Nightmare |
[The bones of the Ancestral God lie beneath the World Tree. Her white ribs became the spine of the snow mountains, and Her blood and tears, the melting snow, surged through the gullies and ravines of the wildlands to form rivers and seas.
She witnessed the ignorant mountain folk offer sacrifices and prayers. A tear fell from the corner of Her eye, and where it landed on the snow, an ice-blue flower bloomed. For the first time, the dispassionate god felt sorrow. The last vestiges of Her life gathered in Her womb, gestating a new being.
That was Her last child, who inherited Her will and authority from the moment of birth. The god who commanded the oceans surged forth from Her body, followed the rivers to the sea, and carved out a forbidden domain beyond the gods’ control and gaze.
The age of the old gods thus came to an end. The existence of the Ancestral God faded into obscured history. The Sea God, as Her sole believer, was seen as Her kin and incarnation.]
[Identity Card: Fallen Savior]
...
Fu Jue walked alone across the vast, white expanse of snow. He watched as the Fallen Savior card in the upper right of his vision flipped from its reversed position to an upright one, the previous historical fragment replaced by a long-unseen passage of text.
He knew he was about to meet an old acquaintance. But not just yet.
The prelude to a dream is often chaotic, saturated with blood and terror. The ghosts of the long-dead and the mangled corpses of the newly deceased clawed their way out from beneath the ice, charging at Fu Jue one after another. Bloody tears streamed from their eyes as they let out agonizing shrieks.
"Senior, this can't be real... How could you possibly harm me?" A young investigator from the Weird Investigation Bureau, covered in blood, crawled toward him and gripped his ankle.
"President, save us... We don't want to die! Please, save us..." Members of the Sila Guild writhed on the ground like insects ensnared in a spider's web.
The specters reached for him, their claws carrying a thick, metallic stench as they swiped at his face. They tore at his suit, scratched his skin, and gnawed at his flesh as if he were their most hated enemy.
Even so, Fu Jue remained utterly still, as if his soul had already ascended to a higher dimension, leaving behind nothing more than a shed husk.
He raised his hand slightly. A crimson-gold Fate Die shot into the air, and the phantom of a colossal wheel spun in the void. The die fell, coming to rest on the mark of the Seven of Wands.
"This is not your destiny."
The solemn judgment echoed with calm finality. Every ghost that tried to approach him seemed to hit an invisible barrier, and they all collapsed to the ground.
Flesh and severed limbs were flung into the sky, then rained down as a shower of blood. Fu Jue strode through the downpour, his face splattered with gore, which only added to his grim, formidable aura.
He walked over the field of remains, pressing forward with clear purpose toward a glacial plain dotted with ice formations, stopping before a wall of ice as smooth and polished as a mirror.
A blurry figure was reflected in the ice, dressed in a white suit, his features gentle and compassionate behind a pair of rimless glasses.
"Lin Jue," Fu Jue called the man's name.
Lin Jue looked up at Fu Jue, momentarily dazed. A flicker of confusion crossed his eyes. "Fu Jue, what are you doing here? Didn't I tell you to stay at the camp and not to wander off?"
He asked the question, only to answer it himself. "No, you're not Fu Jue. Based on the clues I have, what I see in the mirror should be me from another worldline. So, you are me... But why do you look like Fu Jue?"
Fu Jue gazed at the young man, his expression unreadable. "With your intellect and perception, combined with the available information, it shouldn't be difficult to deduce the answer," he stated flatly.
"The effect of the Fallen Savior is to 'resurrect the soul of a deceased person in the holder's body, allowing them to participate in the game as the savior of a new worldline.' Fu Jue activated the identity card's effect after you died, and resurrected me."
He tilted his head slightly, his eyes studying Lin Jue. "You're asking me questions. Is it your hope to indirectly obtain more information without raising my suspicions?
"However, in my memory banks, your level of vigilance toward others in this timeline is far below average. Therefore, the preceding hypothesis is a null proposition.
"So, are you simply unwilling to believe the conclusion you've reached through logical reasoning?"
"Alright, I believe you really are me now. Though I have no idea what I went through to become this... robotic version of myself..."
Lin Jue spoke with a touch of humor, but his smile was bitter. "Since you've appeared here, speaking to me, it's proof enough that I failed. No one survived the Final Instance on January 1st, 2014.
"But you're still alive, which creates a paradox. Can you tell me what happened?"
Fu Jue ignored the first question and continued in the same monotone voice, "The me of this worldline has no specific memories of your timeline. From my perspective, I died during the Twilight of the Gods at the Sunset Ruins and woke up in Fu Jue's body. For the sake of information sharing, I require you to describe the details of your experience."
A strange light flashed in Lin Jue's eyes. "So that's how it is? They even erased the memories. I can't help but suspect this Final Instance is a complete sham."
After that comment, he began to recount, with perfect clarity, everything that had happened from their gathering at the inn at the foot of the mountain to getting lost on the slopes. He finished with a smile. "My original plan was to kill myself at dawn, and to kill Zhou Ke before I died. A service to the public, you could say. But it seems we're trapped in an endless night, with no sign of morning. And from the looks of it now, my death wouldn't have advanced the instance's completion anyway."
"Not necessarily," Fu Jue said, shaking his head slightly. "There's a second possibility: that your worldline and mine are parallel, with no causal relationship. The Final Instance didn't officially begin until 2035."
Lin Jue nodded slowly. "I understand. In that scenario, I've been sealed in this state ever since I was drawn into the Final Instance twenty-two years ago, and I was only awakened when you arrived. So, what do you need me to do?"
"Leave Zhou Ke alive," Fu Jue said, his gaze dropping to the ice flowers at his feet. He enunciated each word carefully. "He will be the most crucial weight to tip the scales of this situation."
Silence stretched between them. They were the same person, rational to the extreme. In the grand scheme of the Final Instance, personal feelings were compressed to their absolute minimum, leaving only a cold analysis of the situation.
There would be no pleasantries, no doubts, no wasted words. Exchanging as much information as possible in the limited time and finalizing their strategy was the choice that both the Lin Jue of twenty-two years ago and the Fu Jue of today would make.
Fu Jue said nothing more and turned to leave.
Behind him, Lin Jue suddenly asked, "I know this is a waste of time, but I still want to know... what's with the blood on you and all those bodies at your feet?"
Fu Jue paused but didn't turn back. "You already know the answer. This instance requires us to offer death and sin to the Ancestral God. Through twenty-two years of precise planning, I have killed 985,629 low-value humans as an offering to the Snow Mountain."
Silence. A long, drawn-out silence... It was only when Fu Jue's footsteps started again that Lin Jue spoke in a low voice, "I don't believe I would ever do something like that."
"Twenty-two years ago, I didn't believe it either." Fu Jue turned his head to the side, and his glasses reflected a faint, bloody light. "But Lin Jue, objective reality does not bend to subjective will. Twenty-two years later, you have, in fact, become a dictator who believes in utilitarianism."
...
Elsewhere, Qi Si clutched the Fate Pocket Watch and stepped onto the altar. He crouched beside the final sacrifice and reached out to touch the man's face.
The vengeful ghosts were held back on the other side of the world by a boundary formed from the Ancestral God's bones. On the altar, there was only him and the man before him, and the lake of fresh blood pooling beneath them.
He studied the face in silence for a moment, then a slow smile spread across his lips. "Jin Yusheng, it seems your luck isn't always so good. To think you'd end up here."
Jin Yusheng's eyes had been tightly shut, but he snapped them open at the touch and began speaking in a rapid-fire torrent. "Old Qi, what the hell is going on? I was just thinking of going out for a drink tonight, and the next thing I know, I'm seeing ghosts! A whole mob of monsters covered in roses was chasing me, then some bastard blindsided me, and when I woke up, I was nailed up here playing Jesus... Wait, what are you doing in this godforsaken place?"
Qi Si examined Jin Yusheng's face. The darkness blurred the finer details of his features, but his manner of speaking and personality confirmed that this was indeed his roguish, good-for-nothing friend. The man had always been unreliable, possessed of a blind optimism that allowed him to crack a few jokes even when he was half-dead from blood loss.
This wasn't the first time Qi Si had encountered Jin Yusheng in an instance. The version of him in "The Dialectic Game," created from Qi Si's own perceptions, had been even more convincing.
But this was different.
From the looks of it, Jin Yusheng wasn't appearing as an NPC. He had been genuinely dragged into the Weird Game.
Could the Final Instance of the Weird Game truly involve ordinary people? Was the man before him an illusory trap created by the instance, or was there something else at play?
"Old Qi, you think we got hit with something? Like we're in some kind of nightmare? The situation back in Jiang City was just too bizarre. I've been a 'Celestial Master' for so long, and I've never seen ghosts like those..."
Jin Yusheng didn't stop talking. "Besides, I've been nailed up here for who knows how long. The sun just won't come up. By all rights, the pain should have killed me by now, and I should've woken up from this dream... Hey, Old Qi, don't just stand there staring. Find a way to get me down from here..."
Qi Si remained silent, his gaze fixed on the white feathers pinning Jin Yusheng's limbs.
A milky-white halo enveloped the feathers, with faint wisps of black energy flickering between the barbs, emanating the aura of the Ancestral God.
Qi Si watched for a moment longer, then raised a finger and tapped his chin.
The hand of the Ancestral God was likely behind this encounter. So, was she trying to use Jin Yusheng to threaten him? What had he done to give anyone the mistaken impression that he cared whether Jin Yusheng lived or died?
And another thing... given that this dream was infiltrated by the Ancestral God, and even the words of the other 'him' in the mirror were distorted and untrustworthy, could the Jin Yusheng before him be trusted?
"Old Qi, Old Qi, Old Qi, if you don't do something, I'm gonna kick the bucket... Hurry up and get me down, my scrawny arms and legs can't take this kind of abuse..." Jin Yusheng's voice grew more frantic, his breathing shallow.
Qi Si glanced down at the spreading pool of blood beneath Jin Yusheng, then reached for the white feathers. Nothing unusual happened as he touched them. He successfully pulled them out, one by one, a process that elicited another string of agonized howls.
Freed from the altar, Jin Yusheng was half-dead, his voice a mere whisper. "Old Qi, can you please tell me what's going on now? I'm completely lost. This is a total disaster, but you look like you know more than I do..."
As he spoke, he kept tugging at Qi Si's sleeve with his blood-soaked hand. When he saw the wounds beneath the fabric, he sucked in a sharp breath. "Whoa, what happened to you? You look even worse off than I am."
"It's nothing. I just spent the night being chased by ghosts, same as you," Qi Si replied. He was now fairly certain that this Jin Yusheng was the real deal, and not part of a trap or a death trigger.
So... what was the purpose of his appearance here? To provide distracting information? To disrupt a player's composure?
Well, this instance was already strange enough. One more oddity in the form of Jin Yusheng didn't change much. A friend was the sort of creature that, while disposable if dead, was worth taking along if still alive.
Qi Si tentatively tried to pull Jin Yusheng up, but the other man let out a pained scream. It seemed he couldn't walk.
So he squatted down, hoisted the dead weight of Jin Yusheng onto his back, and began to walk down from the altar. It was just like that year when they were sixteen, during the great fire that consumed the forest. He had carried Jin Yusheng down the mountain just like this.
Jin Yusheng was so moved he was on the verge of tears. "Old Qi, I knew you were my best bro. I knew you'd never leave me behind..."
Qi Si's expression remained flat. "That's because I was thinking of using you as a hostage, President Yu."
"What? What the hell are you talking about? Hostage? President?"
"Nothing."
Hearing the genuine confusion in Jin Yusheng's voice, Qi Si couldn't tell if his own guess was wrong or if his friend was just that good of an actor.
But regardless, after wandering alone through the ice and snow for so long, stumbling upon an old friend did manage to alleviate some of the oppressive tedium.
The wind and snow blotted out the sky. Qi Si carried Jin Yusheng for a while until his strength was completely spent, then simply sat down on the ground.
He thought for a moment, then turned to look Jin Yusheng in the eyes. "Did you get a clear look at who nailed you to the altar?"
Jin Yusheng caught his breath, coughing up a fleck of blood. He tried to remember. "When I came to, I was already spread-eagled and pinned up there. I did see the back of a woman in white from a distance, but I'm not sure if my eyes were playing tricks on me..."
A woman in white. Was it the Ancestral God, or White Crow?
If it was the Ancestral God, it would be somewhat understandable. But if it was White Crow, why would she nail Jin Yusheng to the altar?
As a fellow player vying for godhood, did she have more information, or had she already completed the sacrifice?
Either possibility would put the other teams at a significant disadvantage.
"Old Qi, don't tell me you know that woman?" Jin Yusheng looked Qi Si up and down. "Don't tell me I got dragged into this because of you. Was she using me as bait to lure you out?"
"Perhaps," Qi Si said dismissively. "Just like when Ning Xu used you to bait me."
"Speaking of Ning Xu, she's been missing for a while. You really haven't seen her?"
"No. Why would you think her disappearance has anything to do with me?"
"Just asking..."
Qi Si and Jin Yusheng chatted idly. When he felt some of his strength return, he stood up and continued onward.
A dull roar echoed from the direction of the altar, like the reverberation of an earthquake.
Qi Si looked toward the sound. A giant skull had, at some point, risen to its feet and was now facing the white altar. On the altar stood the silhouette of a figure in a long white coat, slowly walking toward the skull.
Someone had completed the sacrifice, pushing the instance to its next stage. But why was he being shown this? Was it to create a sense of urgency?
"Qi, you were never my only child. You are not unique, merely one among the living." A woman's voice echoed from the depths of his mind, a memory from billions of years ago.
Qi Si broke into a run, sprinting toward the altar, trying to get a clearer view, but his feet froze in place.
Jin Yusheng was clinging to his leg, shouting, "Old Qi, don't go! My eyelid won't stop twitching! Something bad is about to happen!"
Qi Si looked down and saw Jin Yusheng's outline blurring, becoming translucent, and dissolving into golden-red specks of light...
The distant altar suddenly erupted in a blinding white light, engulfing both the skull and the human figure. A wave of heat licked across the scorched earth as the light, like a falling sun, flooded every corner of this world, lingering for a long time.
Day had broken, a celestial chasm dividing dream from reality.
Qi Si woke up. He opened his eyes and sat up in the temple, his heart pounding violently for the first time in years.
He sat there in silence, his consciousness sinking into the depths of his mental palace, his thoughts hovering over the last available anomaly he could deploy.
[Name: Colosseum]