Chapter 39: The Apocalypse of the Parallel World of Reality and Illusion (2)
This is more than just returning to the past; it’s like recreating the entire past!
Then, because we were still in the original dream world during this recreation, we were also recreated along with this past.
We were granted bodies on the spot, which is equivalent to being resurrected.
Why go to such great lengths, expending such a massive price? And with this level of Destiny Power, resurrecting Juncheng should be a trivial matter.
Did you deliberately return to the past to resurrect Juncheng? I feel like I’m missing the point. Could there be another hidden reason?
“Uh, is this the East Market? — It really is 2012….”
Hearing Juncheng’s exclamation, I also started looking around. The surroundings were noisy, with all sorts of small vendors.
The place we’re in now should be the East Market, a location that has already been demolished in our time. A trade building will be built here later, which is Juncheng’s death site.
At this time, the iPhone 5 had only recently been released, and WeChat hadn’t yet achieved over 90% coverage like it has now. However, smartphones were gradually replacing old phones and becoming mainstream.
But “phone zombies” hadn’t yet become a societal concern. The meme about selling a kidney to buy an Apple phone probably only just emerged.
Five years is not a long time, nor is it short. For college students or adults, it’s just the blink of an eye. But for younger students, these five years might be the longest period of their lives…
“Yes, it’s here.”
Unlike the spiritual world that felt somewhat false, this place was constructed from Li Nai’s memories – the true ‘world of five years ago.’ Because it’s almost indistinguishable from reality, it was possible to ‘deceive’ the world so smoothly and accomplish the dream.
“Ah… your head…”
Following Juncheng’s gaze, I looked back and saw Zihua. She was no longer wearing all purple but was dressed fashionably as usual, with a soft, warm sweater and a stylish leather skirt. The winter outfit, thin on the bottom and thick on top, truly fit her style. The only difference was her long white hair.
Her original short hair had grown to her waist and turned completely white. It wasn’t dyed white but was a result of illness or a significant mental upheaval.
Apart from being a beauty originally, Zihua now had striking white hair, making her as eye-catching as a white-haired witch.
“Regardless, let’s leave the East Market first. There are too many people here.”
I pulled Juncheng with one hand and Zihua with the other, leaving the chaotic and noisy place.
“Phew, it really is depleted after just one use… I shouldn’t call myself Zihua now, but Baihua, hehehe.”
“You really used an excessive amount of Destiny Power and shortened your lifespan! You!” said Juncheng.
“Juncheng, don’t you like white hair? Does this not suit your taste?” Zihua teased.
Juncheng’s preference for white-haired, maid, and loli characters was almost common knowledge in the harem.
That’s why he doted on Xueqing with such apparent favoritism; Xueqing encompassed both white hair and loli, hitting his sweet spot perfectly.
“Although it’s indeed very beautiful! But that’s not the point! In short, you’re not allowed to use Destiny Power anymore! Do you hear me! If you use it again, I’ll, I’ll…”
“You’ll what?”
“I’ll never touch you again!”
What a speechless threat. Could it be that because we’ve returned to five years ago, your IQ has also regressed to that of a grade-schooler?
“…This really puts me in quite a dilemma. If I can’t touch you, I might die?”
“It actually worked wonders!”
Perhaps I overestimated Zihua. Although she seemed so profound and mysterious, she still succumbed to being a brainless, shallow woman in front of her lover!
“Alright, we don’t have much time, let’s get moving. Otherwise, I’ll have wasted such immense Destiny Power to briefly deceive the world.”
“Wait, does this mean there’s a time limit?” Zihua asked.
“Yes, there’s a time limit. Once the time is up, stronger heavenly intervention will occur. When my Destiny Power is insufficient to suppress the causality, the world will be forcibly corrected, dreams and reality will swap back, and we’ll return to the present.”
“In other words, both Juncheng and I have only been temporarily revived!”
“Yes, that’s right.”
I half-expected Zihua to say something more, but she simply nodded.
I felt like I was going to faint. After all that has happened, keeping everyone in the dark, revealing all our trump cards, and even expending so much Destiny Power to achieve this—and it has a time limit? What’s the point then! Even if we gained bodies now, wouldn’t we lose them later!
(SF Light Novel)
“Then why go through all this trouble… Isn’t it all a waste of effort!”
“Well, being able to return to five years ago is quite an experience, isn’t it? Time travel is a sci-fi development everyone dreams of! You should enjoy this unique sense of era while you can~”
“Juncheng! What time is it! Can you just… ugh!”
Juncheng flicked my forehead. Seeing me stop talking in pain, he smiled again and rubbed my forehead, saying, “Relax, Zi’ai. Do you think Zihua—or rather, Lanhua—would do something pointless?”
The drastic difference in her IQ made me suspect Zihua might have moments of foolishness.
“Actually, if you think about her original objective, you’ll understand.”
“Her original objective? She never stated her objective.”
“No, no, she definitely said it, and given her personality, she must have said it when she first appeared. Isn’t that right, Zihua?”
“Hehehe… Oh, Juncheng, you know me so well, it makes me ecstatically happy~”
“Don’t act so lewd in public… Hey, hey, don’t hug me!”
“Hehehe, didn’t you say I could touch you freely?”
“You said if I use Destiny Power, I’ll never touch you again; doesn’t the reverse mean if I don’t use Destiny Power, I can touch you forever?”
“That’s not how the reverse works!”
Ignoring this couple’s public display of affection, I began to seriously recall the first time I met Zihua. Did she state her objective upon her first appearance? I don’t remember.
“Alright, actually, what she needs to do…”
“Don’t say it, I’ll figure it out myself.”
“Hehehe, it’s a sense of competitiveness, isn’t it? Whether it’s driven by the thought ‘Juncheng wants me, so I want her too,’ or by the thought ‘I can also be in sync with Juncheng’~”
— This woman…
I remembered everything Zihua said when she first appeared in Lanhua’s body.
She did state her objective: to prevent something. But that must have just been to confuse my mind.
So, what is the real objective? She revealed her identity from the start, claiming to be a future Lanhua who traveled from the future to the past to change the future.
Wait, if Zihua traveled back to the past (our time, 2017) to ‘change the future,’ why did she travel back to the past (the world of five years ago, 2012) again now—to ‘change the present’?
That’s it!
“Zihua, what you need to do is ‘change the present,’ right!”
“That’s right. Although it’s only temporary, this world is undoubtedly the ‘real world,’ the world of five years ago. If this world continues to develop, five years later it will become your world. But… now… this ‘past’ has three ‘intruders’—us.”
Zihua, me, and Juncheng. The commonality among us three… is that none of us have bodies.
A collective of resentful spirits without bodies, six men who died and lost their bodies, and a soul that originally had no body.
Precisely because none of us three had bodies could we become part of this real world when the dream was replaced by reality, thus gaining bodies.
That’s why others were excluded; only the three of us met the criteria.
“Of course, this requires blood as a catalyst. After all, blood contains karma, a natural Destiny Power, especially the blood of Juncheng, the Master of Fate, which contains immensely powerful karma. By linking this Destiny Power to the world, we could obtain… bodies. Hehehe, in other words, Zihua and I are now flowing with Juncheng’s blood?”
“…That way of putting it sounds a bit… well, in many ways, very strange…”
“It’s the truth~ Ahh~ Thinking about Juncheng’s blood flowing in my veins, circulating within my body, extending to every corner through the capillaries, flowing into my heart to make me beat, and flowing into my brain so I can constantly think of him… My lower body can’t help but…”
“Whoa! Stop, stop! What kind of perverted play is this! Don’t rub against me! .–This dampness, you didn’t actually…”
Tsk, should I call 110 and have the police take this nymphomaniac away?
“Hehehe. Hmm~ In short, we are now people who truly exist in the past. Do you understand what I mean?”
We, who shouldn’t exist in this era, have appeared in this era…
Juncheng spoke my thoughts aloud.
“If we change the past now, will it affect the future!”
“Yes. If only one person returns to the past, they will be subject to causality correction. No matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to change the ‘predestined outcome.’ What’s going to happen will happen, and those who are meant to die will die. This is the convergence of worldlines. The absolutely correct laws of heaven (fate) will not allow the grandmother paradox to occur.”
“But now, this world is being replaced by the past… avoiding the interference of causality! What we do will definitely affect the future!”
…This plan actually went this far! Gathering a vast amount of Destiny Power just to reach this point, but it’s truly worth any price, because reaching this point means grasping the future!
“Hehehe, that’s right. This is the full picture of the plan designed by future you, Zi’ai. Replacing dreams, deceiving the world, changing the future… Haughtily deceiving the entire world, fabricating a lie that deceives heaven, a ‘great lie’.”
“Oh, oh, oh! Zi’ai, you’re so amazing!”
My future self.
“There are only twenty-five days, about a month. The single-use skill derived from it, which can extend the original twelve hours by fifty times, is already the limit. The Destiny Power has been completely exhausted. Even if I stop using it, I can only exist for at most another month, and then even my spirit will dissipate.”
She stated her remaining lifespan and death date calmly, her expression as placid as a deep well, completely unaware that the scythe of death was slowly approaching her neck.
Smiling in the face of death.
“Zihua…”
“Originally, according to the plan you set, Zi’ai, there were two things we needed to do: first, prevent Juncheng’s death in the future, and second…”
That’s why she chose to enter through Li Nai’s dream into the Yata no Kagami, constructing a spiritual world with Li Nai’s memories. The main purpose was to prevent Li Nai from becoming a zombie. Although I don’t know why, it must be important.
“However, now… Juncheng, if you wish, you can fulfill your long-held desire?”
…Eh?
Juncheng made a dull sound, as if he hadn’t registered it, but I understood Zihua’s meaning.
Because I also had the same thought…
Since we are in the past and can completely overturn the future’s development…
Then we can also…
“Now, you have the chance to reclaim your daily life.”
To make everything that has happened so far vanish into nothingness.
