Despite the fierce battles raging outside, none of it mattered to Lu Yan. He was asleep—or so it would seem if the system were present, likely remarking on how effortlessly the prince could sleep anywhere. Yet, Lu Yan wasn't truly asleep; his soul had been drawn into another realm.
In the pitch-black depths of the ocean, where all light was extinguished, Lu Yan felt himself falling. The warm seawater enveloped him like returning to the womb. He attempted to move his body but couldn't even twitch a finger.
For a moment, Lu Yan wondered if he had died, until after what seemed an eternity of falling, he finally landed. Surrounded by dense black fog and the only light emanating from his own body, he stood up, shivering from the cold, and found solace in the weapons he carried with him. The Dragon Bone Bow and Hellfire were still with him, their heat comforting like a warm pack.
Tentatively, he called out, "System," to no response, for he was still in R'lyeh. His talents had vanished. Not just Omniscience—all had reverted to how they were at the beginning. He was completely ordinary, without deformities, mutations, or talents, though for some reason, he could still breathe underwater.
Looking down, Lu Yan saw a path paved with stones beneath his feet. The area was shrouded in fog, obscuring his vision ahead. Standing still and realizing waiting was futile, he understood no one else would appear to aid him. His survival depended solely on himself, so he began to walk forward.
Yet, he heard footsteps echoing his own. Despite their synchrony, he instantly turned, hoping to find the source. But there was no one behind him, just an expanse of pure darkness.
Among the top 100 talents listed, there was a rare one called Deep Sea Phobia, applicable in very limited scenarios. Unsure if this was what he encountered, Lu Yan's heart raced uncontrollably with a familiar fear, reminiscent of facing his younger brother.
"Come out," Lu Yan commanded, met only with indifferent silence from the fog. As he climbed what felt like an uphill path, the footsteps behind him grew unabashed, knowing he had detected their presence.
The path under Lu Yan's feet became narrower and steeper, eventually turning into cylindrical stones spiraling upwards. He dared not stop, lest the fog engulf him.
This journey felt eerily familiar to Lu Yan, as if he had traversed this path in a dream before. At the path's end lay a vast abyss. Strange howls filled his ears, but Lu Yan did not look back.
A cold, damp sensation enveloped him from behind as icy hands wrapped around his waist. His "younger brother" rested his head against Lu Yan's back, his tone laced with a slight smile, "You've come to see me."
This was no ordinary human head; it was too soft and slimy, boneless. Lu Yan's hands trembled slightly. Clutching the knife in his sleeve, he stared straight ahead, "Who are you?"
This was a question he had pondered since childhood, yet remained unanswered to this day. Lu Yan called him "younger brother," but he was well aware he had no such sibling.
The "younger brother" laughed, "Who I am doesn't matter, brother. I've warned you, you shouldn't have come. The truth isn't important."
He whispered, "But since you're here, let's go see... the truth of the world."
He embraced Lu Yan, leaping off the pillar. Lu Yan's world spun in a seemingly endless fall until he once again felt solid ground under his feet.
The loss of gravity numbed his body, and being too close to his "brother" made Lu Yan dizzy to the point of nausea.
"The human body is too fragile," came a sigh from in front of him.
After a moment's hesitation, Lu Yan looked up to finally see his brother's face clearly. He looked identical to Lu Yan, as if looking into a mirror. However, his brother's expression was softer, his smile not reaching his eyes, ambiguous between sarcasm and genuineness.
Holding Lu Yan's hand, he softly said, "Light."
And God said, "Let there be light."
Suddenly, the ocean depths lit up as if it were broad daylight. Lu Yan saw the colossal dragon corpse lying on the ocean floor, stretching like a range of mountains. Even in death, the body emitted intense dragon breath, heating the waters of R'lyeh to boiling. The dragon must have been dead for a long time, showing signs of decay.
A whale carcass, when it sinks to the ocean floor, can sustain a small ecosystem for up to a hundred years. The black dragon served the same purpose. Countless deep-red tentacles wrapped around it, slowly consuming it. The decaying flesh was torn apart, leaking specks of golden blood.
Lu Yan's pupils contracted as he opened his mouth to speak, but felt as if his throat was constricted, unable to utter a word, "…What is this?"
The sight before him was overwhelming; the massive dragon's body, even in death, continued to exude an intense heat, making the waters of R'lyeh as hot as molten lava. The dragon, long deceased, showed signs of decay, its body a feast for the countless tendrils that wrapped around it, slowly devouring it. The decaying flesh was torn, releasing droplets of golden blood.
In this moment, Lu Yan was confronted with a reality far beyond the ordinary, a testament to the cycles of life and death playing out on a scale unimaginable to most. The dragon's corpse, much like a fallen whale, nurtured an entire ecosystem in its decline, but here, in the depths of R'lyeh, it fed a darker, more mysterious cycle of existence.
The tentacles, deep red against the black carcass, tore at the flesh, each piece consumed adding to the eerie spectacle. Lu Yan, amidst this macabre scene, stood frozen, his mind racing to comprehend the significance of what lay before him. This was not just a dragon, not merely a corpse; it was a relic of power, a beacon of life and death intertwined, feeding the abyss with its essence.
His brother's voice, a mirror of his own yet tinged with an unplaceable emotion, broke the silence, "Human bodies are indeed too fragile."
Lu Yan, mustering the courage to face the unknown, lifted his gaze to meet his brother's. The face that looked back was his own, yet not; it bore a gentleness alien to Lu Yan's own experiences, a smile that held no true joy, a mockery of their shared visage.
The brother's grip on Lu Yan's hand tightened, a whisper carried on the abyssal currents, "Light." It was a command, an invocation, echoing the divine fiat, "Let there be light." And with those words, the ocean's depths were illuminated, revealing the stark reality of their surroundings.
The sight of the dragon's corpse, sprawling across the ocean floor like a desolate mountain range, was a stark reminder of the power that once roamed these waters. Its body, even in decay, radiated a warmth that contradicted the cold, dark depths of R'lyeh, a remnant of the fiery life force that once pulsed within.
This dragonfall, much like a whale fall, was a source of sustenance, a foundation for life amidst death, nurturing the abyss with its lingering vitality. The myriad tentacles, feasting on the decaying leviathan, were not just scavengers but participants in a cycle of life that extended beyond the grasp of mortal understanding.
Lu Yan, faced with this revelation, felt a profound disquiet. The words failed him, his voice a mere whisper against the overwhelming presence of the abyss, "…What is this?"
The realization that he stood at the precipice of understanding, on the verge of uncovering truths too vast for the human mind to contain, left him breathless. The world, his existence, and the very fabric of reality were intertwined in ways he had only begun to glimpse.
His brother's laughter, a sound both familiar and foreign, enveloped him, "Who I am doesn't matter, brother. I've warned you, you shouldn't have come. But now that you're here, let's embrace the truth of this world together."
With those words, they leaped into the abyss, the boundary between reality and the unknown blurring as they descended. The sensation of falling was interminable, a descent not just through space but through layers of understanding, towards a revelation that promised to redefine everything Lu Yan thought he knew.
When they finally landed, the disorientation was palpable, Lu Yan's proximity to his brother a source of both physical and existential discomfort. "Human bodies are indeed too fragile," his brother sighed, a statement that carried with it the weight of untold stories and unshared secrets.
Lu Yan, gathering his resolve, looked up to truly see his brother for the first time. The face that met his gaze was his own, yet imbued with an otherness that defied explanation. His brother's smile, devoid of genuine warmth, was a mask that concealed more than it revealed.
Holding Lu Yan's hand, his brother softly pronounced, "Light," and with that, the depths of the ocean were illuminated, revealing truths long hidden in the shadows. The revelation of the dragon's corpse, a testament to the cycles of life and death that governed all existence, was a moment of awakening for Lu Yan, a call to confront the realities of his own nature and the mysteries of the world he inhabited.
"The corpse of Tang Xunan. Or rather, the corpse of Tang Xunan after becoming a Pollutant," my brother explained, resting his hand on my shoulder and nuzzling affectionately against it. "Do you understand now, brother? In role-playing games, you can freely choose to save your progress. Playing for the first time is called the first run, and loading a saved game is the second run. The world you're currently in is like a second run."
He covered my eyes with his hand. After a brief darkness, I was presented with an unexpected scene. It was as if I had a god's-eye view, standing high above, looking down upon a world filled with desolation and sand, nearly void of living souls.
In the distance, the sea fog around Changjia had dissipated. The Holy Spirit was still alive, idly patrolling its territory with a giant spider controlled by a secondary brain. This place also harbored the last batch of man-made meat pigs in the world.
In City X, the slaughterhouse had been moved from the inner world to the surface. Fresh meat pigs were hung for sale on the streets, with butchers lamenting the decreasing number of meat pigs, making it difficult to do business. They had no choice but to switch to selling Pollutant meat.
The Third District had almost become a paradise for avian Pollutants. Floating islands anchored here, with Michael fallen into a giant golden bird, resembling a plague doctor with a long beak and six pairs of wings, his eyes a vivid red.
A gigantic tree stood at the center of the world, its trunk entwined with vines and blooming with white flowers. The wind carried these petals gently to the ground.
Although there was no narration, I quickly realized that this tree had transformed from Yan Bei to shelter the last of humanity. Underneath this great tree was a surviving human base.
The leader of this base was Zhou Qiming, mostly comprised of young people, with no children or elderly in sight. The few remaining scientists shook their heads in despair, declaring that no clean, unpolluted water sources could be found.
A sense of hopelessness spread throughout the base. Zhou Qiming's body had virtualized to such an extent that sunlight could not cast his shadow, making him appear ghostly. He had stacked many buffs on himself, the most being [Mutation Degree -1]. Without these buffs, he might have already vanished from this world.
Today, Zhou Qiming found that he had reached the limit of stacking 100 buffs on himself. "So, I can only stack 100 buffs on myself," he mused.
"I'll pull everyone into the virtual world tonight. No more need to fight; just have a good sleep," Zhou Qiming declared, facing the utter defeat of humanity. Entering the virtual world would at least allow them to die without awareness.
A detective, trembling, raised his hand, "Boss... What about Captain Tang? Didn't he say to wait for him?"
Smoking a cigarette, Zhou Qiming's suit tattered, he replied, "When Tang Xunan left, his mutation degree was at 99.3. What kind of miracle are you expecting?"
This isn't a fairy tale; there's no happy ending. Zhou Qiming believed that after handing over the base to him, Tang Xunan probably intended to find a place to die alone.
That night, under the World Tree, the last glimmer of human civilization—the light—shone for the last time. The light was faint and distant due to insufficient power supply, much like the hope that was nowhere to be found here.
The light went out at dawn.
My gaze swept across the planet, searching for Tang Xunan. Tang Xunan was in the desert. If not for the scales covering half of his face, he wouldn't look much different from a human. However, the aura he emitted was unmistakably that of a Pollutant.
Tang Xunan was feeding. His golden eyes were terrifyingly calm as he consumed a humanoid figure lying on the ground, its flesh and blood indistinguishable.
My heart skipped a beat, but upon realizing what he was eating, I felt slightly relieved. The figure on the ground was a city lord, a Pollutant.
The city lord had a high talent but weak strength, becoming the first to be hunted.
Blood covered Tang Xunan's face as he ate, still holding the yellow dust. The dragon slayer had become a dragon himself.
It felt like watching an accelerated movie. No trace of humanity remained in the world; Tang Xunan, with his blade, had cleared most of the Pollutants from the land.
These dead Pollutants were without exception devoured cleanly by the black dragon. Tang Xunan had become the most powerful Pollutant on land, acquiring many new talents through consuming Pollutants.
Life and death, the world, judgment, nirvana, fission...
Eventually, the black dragon's gaze turned to the
deep sea, the origin of all pollution. He descended into the ocean depths, heading towards his ultimate fate. The moment the black dragon's massive body submerged, the flowers on the tree at the continent's center withered, a silent elegy.
My brother withdrew his hand from my face, and all the images vanished instantly, pulling me back from the past to the present. "Do you understand now, dear brother?" he asked. "The one who rewound time was the former Tang Xunan. Hence, the current Tang Xunan only has the future; he can't return to the past. There can't be a second reboot of the world."
"He succeeded, yet failed. Time did indeed rewind to the starting day, but he also remains here forever, suppressing me. After all, even restarting the world can't erase the traces of divine existence."
"The one who feared water forever died in the deep sea," my brother said with a cold smile, "It's really quite amusing."
My head ached. It was as if an old computer had been loaded with new software, causing the system to overheat.
Yet, I remained calm, asking, "Are you me? The me that became a Pollutant?"
"That's a bit simplistic. Instead of asking who I am, you should ask who you are," my brother replied with a smile, looking into my silver eyes. "According to the system, I'm just a bad fish that bit back at its master. If you like, you can give me a name."
He took my hand, gently kissing my fingertips, "I tolerate the insolence of ants only to return to your side once more."
I felt a chill throughout my body, recalling what the system had said about it.
"Even though it appears weak, it's indeed the one with the highest limit."
"Its autonomy is a bit strong. Perhaps we should remove it."
"It's not any good fish. A bad fish will bite back at its master."
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