Chapter 264 Epilogue

There is certainly a reason for deliberately not binding it with excess divine seal fragments.

At this stage, the fate of the divine seal fragments in the hands of us chosen ones is entirely up to us; however, if the Lord of the Divine Seal wants to achieve self-resurrection, he must completely repair the divine seal. This situation is actually not in the Lord of the Divine Seal's interest.

Zhu Shi and I had previously speculated that the Lord of the Divine Seal might possess the means to forcibly reclaim all the Divine Seal fragments in the final stage, a means likely relying on the binding relationship between us and the fragments. Now it seems that our connection with the Void Realm can also serve as supplementary material.

In the past, when I came into contact with the fragments of Dr. Silver Mask's divine seal, the fragments automatically bound themselves to me without my own will. I think the same thing will happen to others. Divine Illumination No. 6 must have noticed this, so when collecting the second and subsequent fragments, he will likely entrust them to his subordinates who are destined to collect the fragments.

This is a preventative measure to prevent the Lord of the Divine Seal from forcibly reclaiming the Divine Seal fragments through future communication with us. I had previously considered giving Mazao and Zhushi a share after obtaining extra Divine Seal fragments. Even I could think of it; given the same information, there's no reason why the Sixth Divine Illumination wouldn't have considered it.

"Being able to read my intentions so quickly means you're thinking from the same perspective as me. Just as I imagined, you are an adversary of the Lord of the Divine Seals, aren't you, Number Three?" Number Six said to me. "You are the person I most want to invite. If you join me and hand over your method of invading the Void Realm, I am willing to exchange three fragments of the Divine Seals."

"I have already emphasized that I did not use any special methods."

If I had to pinpoint a method, it would be Ma Zao's jinx constitution. However, I can't possibly tell anyone else about this, especially not the Great Impermanence. I know all too well what the jinx constitution means to the Great Impermanence.

Sixth Divine Illumination stared at me silently, while Fourth Xuanming let out a strange laugh and said to Sixth Divine Illumination, "Divine Illumination, you dare to reveal to me that you possess so many fragments of divine seals? Aren't you afraid I'll sneak into your house?"

"Come on then, Xuanming, I will kill you," said Shenzhao No. 6, his voice filled with murderous intent.

Hearing that he could easily produce three fragments of the Divine Seal, Number One pondered for a moment, then asked the Lord of the Divine Seals, "Lord of the Divine Seals, how many fragments of the Divine Seals are there in total? How many do we need to collect before we stop?"

"The total number of Divine Seal Fragments is not fixed and will vary depending on the observation time and method. I have kept it within the range of twenty-one to thirty-five fragments. I will announce the end when you have collected them all," the Lord of the Divine Seals replied.

The statement that "the quantity is uncertain" is truly unbelievable, but since it happened to the divine artifact, the Divine Seal, I can accept it.

I did some mental calculations. Assuming the minimum number of existing Divine Seal Fragments is "twenty-one," subtracting the seven Divine Seal Fragments corresponding to the seven chosen ones, the two I traded with Number Five, the one from Number Four Xuanming, and the three from Number Six Shenzhao (of course, I'm sure they have more), plus the one from the Fufeng Base, the remaining Divine Seal Fragments still missing are at most seven.

If the maximum number is "thirty-five", then twenty-one more must be found. It sounds like there are still many, but if we take into account the more divine seal fragments that Xuanming No. 4 and Shenzhao No. 6 may possess, the divine seal fragments that Ying Lingyun possesses, and the divine seal fragments that other Great Impermanence may have collected... the truly missing "ownerless divine seal fragments" are likely to be only a minority.

If we calculate based on the intermediate number of "twenty-eight," there might not be any "unclaimed divine seal fragments" left. The number of divine seal fragments not in the hands of us chosen ones might be in the single digits.

Looking at it this way, it seems that the competition for fragments has unknowingly developed into the later stages, and the person in the lead seems to be the sixth divine image who doesn't care about the wishing opportunity at all.

However, I feel that this matter won't end so easily. Putting aside everything else, there might be more than one fragment of the divine seal that flew to the post-apocalyptic era. Those are fragments of the divine seal that only Little Bowl Number Two, who is in the post-apocalyptic era, has the opportunity to collect. However, Little Bowl Number Two's strength is limited, and her ability to resist danger, which was not good to begin with, has been sealed off in the post-apocalyptic land. Asking her to collect the missing fragments of the divine seal is simply asking the impossible.

As long as she doesn't collect them, the Divine Seal cannot be repaired, and the competition for the fragments will never end. How does the Lord of the Divine Seal intend to handle this dilemma?

Everyone seemed lost in their own thoughts. Some appeared to be pondering the remaining fragments of the divine seal, while others seemed to be considering how to win over Divine Illumination Number Six. Among all the people with varying emotions, I noticed that Number Seven remained leisurely. She sat listlessly on the rock chair, not uttering a single word from beginning to end, like a bystander watching from the sidelines.

The virtual realm fell into a silent atmosphere; no one continued to communicate, and no one proposed a deal.

I sensed that this virtual gathering was about to end, so I looked at Little Bowl Number Two again—at this clever yet world-weary little girl who valued others more than herself.

In her, I saw a trace of the past Asahi.

After leaving the virtual realm, she will have to return to that oppressive, terrifying, and dangerous apocalyptic land once again.

I want to save her.

But what can I do for her now?

“Mr. Number Three?” she asked.

“Little Bowl, do you remember the soul loss I mentioned to you before?” I said.

“I remember. You suspected that Asahi-neechan and I were patients with amnesia in peacetime, that our souls had traveled to the post-apocalyptic era, and that we had forgotten our past and thought we were natives of the post-apocalyptic era… Even Asahi-neechan had this suspicion, but you didn’t find my name on the list of amnesia patients,” she said.

“Yes, but I still don’t intend to completely abandon this hypothesis. Maybe you really are a patient with amnesia, and we just haven’t found you yet. I want to try again,” I said.

She didn't dismiss my idea, but went along with it, saying, "So, Mr. Number Three, how do you plan to try?"

“I want to know your memories of the past,” I said. “I know you’ve forgotten those things, but are there still any fragments left?”

“A friend of mine, whom I didn’t know very well, once said that no matter how objective knowledge is, people can only process and digest it from their own subjective perspective, adding their own subjective color to it. Although your memories of events will be forgotten under the washout of madness, your skill memories will remain. And the relationship between event memories and skill memories should not be completely clear-cut.”

Some people learn knowledge through books, while others learn through practice; the latter's knowledge is built upon interaction with the outside world. The results of this interaction remain in the mind as both skill memory and event memory. Even if the specific details of the event fade, since skill memory still remains, the underlying event memory component should not have been completely erased.

Humans are not born with the ability to speak and possess social common sense; these abilities are developed through interaction with the outside world. Since the second bowl has not forgotten language and common sense, it should still retain some fragments of past memories.

“Fragments…” she muttered to herself.

“Anything is fine. An image, a sound, a smell, or even just a vague impression,” I said.

She seemed to be squeezing every last drop of her brain, thinking intently. After a moment, she said, "...I don't know if this can be a clue, or even if it's a real memory or an impression I've made up..."

"Hmm, tell me about it," I said.

“I think I used to have a mother,” she said.

"Mom?" I asked.

“I can’t remember my mother’s face or name anymore, and I don’t know when I was separated from her. I only remember that… there was something that happened…” she said absentmindedly. “When I was little, I seemed to have a lot of dolls, but then something happened and I decided to throw them all away… and my mother picked up all the dolls that I had thrown away and carefully kept them in a white box.”

"Mom, dolls, white box..." I wrote down. "Anything else?"

“…That’s all,” she said apologetically. “I’m sorry, that’s all I can remember.”

"It doesn't matter."

I have absolutely no idea how to use this information as clues to find her real-world identity.

Although I didn't voice these thoughts, her keen observation skills, coupled with our ongoing telepathic connection, meant she could probably tell. I could only try to change the subject, and at that moment, I noticed the surrounding gray fog was thickening.

This is the signal that it's over.

The virtual gathering is finally coming to an end.

Finally, I remembered something that might be very important.

"By the way, you said before that we don't really know each other yet, right? I don't think I've ever told you my real name," I said.

Upon hearing this, her voice became somewhat expectant: "Yes, Mr. Number Three."

"My name is Zhuang Cheng," I said. "I hope to see you again someday."

"Okay, see you next time, Brother Zhuang Cheng."

She responded to my farewell with a slight smile.

The thick fog acted like a curtain, isolating everything.

The dream is over.

(End of this chapter)