Chapter 1044
Premature Doomsday
Although this matter was only a background in the game, merely appearing for a fleeting moment as foreshadowing for the Void Path, Ai Huasi hadn’t even realized its meaning back then, assuming it referred to a mental state.
If this were to appear in reality, however, it could only be described as terrifying.
Void Origin River—Ai Huasi now knew what it was.
When the Sacred Numbers of all Paths totaled “ten,” it simultaneously signified “zeroing out.” That was the path of self-destruction that led everything to “meaninglessness.”
The Swan King, with the Path of Beauty as his foundation, practiced the ritual of “rebellion,” a Transcendent Path, unconsciously aligning with the principles of the Void Path. Although he could ascend to the Dream Realm and become a Heavenly Envoy of the Path of Beauty or even a Transcendent Path, he simultaneously fulfilled the true activation condition of the Box of Nothingness.
While Ai Huasi’s memory wasn’t the best, he clearly recalled the Ring Heavenly Envoy once telling him that the non-existent Tenth Origin River, the Origin River of [Void], which he called the “Whisper of the Void,” was the mastermind behind the Doomsday.
His act of preserving the future timeline as “Amber” with the power of Twilight back then was precisely to prevent the entire World from falling into the Void. Even the Nine Pillar Gods were helpless against the encroaching “Whisper of the Void” and could only rewind to the past, awaiting the “wisdom of later generations.”
The former Samsara Heavenly Envoy, Ai Shiping, likely reached his breaking point because he saw that the number of rewinds was almost depleted.
Ai Huasi wasn’t entirely incapable of understanding the ‘sins’ committed by his past self.
When he played single-player RPGs, being forced to restart a game after a corrupted save file would shatter his mindset. If, after eight rewinds, he still had no clues and couldn’t find any hope, he’d probably give up too.
The Ring Heavenly Envoy in this cycle intended to escape—hoping to take all the power of several Origin Rivers with him. This might have been their intention for a “Wandering Origin River” plan. If he could indeed take all these Origin Rivers away, he might have had the means to “plant” them in a new World, allowing them to become the power system of another World. If he could take all nine Origin Rivers, he might even have been able to recreate “another Old World” in another World.
The only problem was…
It was akin to going back to the past by “creating a mirrored Dungeon” in an attempt to save the World. It was still futile for a World that had already been destroyed.
It was merely self-deception.
—And Ai Huasi considered it selfish.
No one understood Ai Huasi better than Ai Huasi himself. If one were to think with Ai Huasi’s player mindset, if the Ring Heavenly Envoy broke down mentally, he’d probably be thinking about “cutting his losses”—his own losses.
After all, in his first playthrough, he had devoted all his power to create the “Amber,” the strongest Pillar God. The purpose of all this was to save this World… If that purpose was proven unattainable, he would naturally want to reclaim the power he had once devoted to this World, thereby “cutting his losses.”
But the Ring Heavenly Envoy had probably forgotten about the Box of Nothingness, that small Dungeon.
Perhaps because it had never caused problems in past cycles, or perhaps because in every past cycle, “Ai Huasi” had resolved this incident… In any case, if the Box of Nothingness incident was not properly resolved, the Doomsday would likely be advanced.
Although, according to the original timeline, “opening the box” of the Box of Nothingness was at least a year away, and the Swan King should have been able to hold on for another year… but the experience from countless past events had already taught Ai Huasi not to be too superstitious about the absolute nature of the “original plot.”
The butterfly effect existed; any change that occurred could trigger a chain reaction, causing the plot to deviate from its original course. Not to mention, the variables he had now introduced made it impossible for Professor James and the Ring Heavenly Envoy to precisely predict the future.
—Ai Huasi dared not gamble that the Box of Nothingness could last until next year.
As long as the Swan King couldn’t hold on and succumbed to the Void prematurely, everyone would be doomed together—after all, the rewinds had been used up, and this World no longer possessed a Samsara Heavenly Envoy.
…But this was the most extreme scenario.
The good news was that Ai Huasi had learned of this before things escalated.
The “forty-four-day nightmare” incident with the Iris Flower had not happened—this meant that the Child of the Moon, the Count, had been secretly using the Box of Nothingness at the time, not daring to amass too much Mana at once.
Therefore, the Swan King was likely still in slumber, occasionally having his reality modified a few times but not yet fully aware of his predicament.
—When the Swan King realized his situation, he would confront the Count of the Child of the Moon. It was only then that the Count would realize that the Swan King was indeed not in a position to deal with him—and his boldness would grow, leading him to unscrupulously absorb Mana and modify reality on a large scale.
The Ouroboros Ring ritual had only just begun, and he still held considerable awe for this “uncompleted Heavenly Envoy.”
—However, there was no time to spare.
Ai Huasi clearly understood the urgency of the matter.
The Child of the Moon was now planning a rebellion, which required extensive use of the Swan King, the “reality modifier.” The Count of the Child of the Moon could realize at any moment that the Swan King was not as dangerous or as lucid as he thought.
Placing a red reboot button in the hands of someone who completely underestimated the severity of the issue… was akin to placing a nuclear launch button in the hands of a child.
Fortunately, Bishop Iceheart was reliable enough.
Although he didn’t know the secret of the “Void Pillar God,” he could sense that allowing the other party to rewrite reality would surely be troublesome.
Originally, Transcendent beings of the Path of Beauty, like “screenwriters,” relied on intelligence and information disparity. And the Swan King was at the cusp of deification… Although he was only a Fourth Tier in life, he could now exert power beyond the Sixth Tier. Even if the Count of the Child of the Moon couldn’t directly control the future and could only indirectly alter reality through slumber potions and subliminal hypnosis, he was still a sufficiently dangerous enemy.
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High-Tier Transcendent beings could secretly distort others’ fate, and they might not even realize they were being influenced after being distorted. If they were allowed to gather information, the enemy would become increasingly difficult to deal with. Conversely, unexpected and irrational actions would leave the opponent more flustered.
Thus, Bishop Iceheart acted with exceptional decisiveness.
Perhaps because his cold illness had been cured by Ai Huasi, he had become unusually resolute.
“We depart.”
The old man stood up from the sofa and said without hesitation, “Let’s go immediately.”
“…Wait, you know where that Count of the Child of the Moon is?”
Arsen was speechlessly surprised.
Putting aside how Ai Huasi deduced the identity of this “Count of the Child of the Moon”—even with just the single piece of information, Bishop Iceheart could directly pinpoint the location?
—There were quite a few Counts of the Child of the Moon among the Iris Flower noble families!
As far as Arsen could roughly recall, there were at least three.
“Undoubtedly, it can only be the Harik family.”
Bishop Iceheart stated with extreme firmness and certainty.
Without any reason, but in a way that brooked no argument.
(End of this chapter)
