Chapter 190 Unspoken Meaning
Just like waking up from a dream, I returned to normal space.
It can't be said to be a complete return. I still have part of my consciousness at the secret outpost of the Humanitarian Department, but the focus of my consciousness has shifted to the Luoshan office.
I also need to keep a close eye on the "Fireflies" who are still accompanying Lu Chan at the base. Most of the "Fireflies'" actions can be carried out by preset commands, but some details still need to be adjusted in real time.
I've heard that dolphins can alternate between sleeping on their left and right hemispheres. Maybe I'm like a dolphin now, with half of my consciousness in the real world and the other half stuck in that nightmare-like scene.
Yes, a dream... Although I still don't believe the Humanitarian Division's secret outpost is a dream, I must admit it has dreamlike qualities. And the reason for this, after the "Resisting the Power of Reboot" incident, I've somewhat figured it out through intuition.
I got up from the sofa in the Luoshan office and touched my forehead. A hypothesis formed in my mind, and I became increasingly convinced that this was the correct answer.
I think all of this is because that place is a space that exists based on fragments of the divine seal.
Although that place is undoubtedly reality, for the divine seal that can rewrite the world at will, and for those who possess the divine seal, even the real world is probably no different from a dream.
Doctor Silver Mask can use the power extracted from the fragments of the Divine Seal—the "Power of Reboot"—to start all the events in that independent reality space from scratch. Therefore, for him, that independent reality space is a dream. As a fellow holder of the fragments of the Divine Seal, although I cannot act recklessly like Doctor Silver Mask, I can say that I stand on the same side as him.
Therefore, for me, that place is also a dream. The power of restarting cannot reset me, the "real person," like resetting a dream. The "firewall" that can theoretically prevent external intruders is also useless against me.
This is probably why I can act recklessly within the base, almost like I have a cheat code, based on my distorted understanding.
Even now, I still can't understand what the "power of the Divine Seal Fragments" that the "chosen ones" in the Void Realm are talking about actually are, but I have obviously begun to benefit from some of the permanent properties of the Divine Seal Fragments.
Within that "realistic dream," there are other characters besides myself and Dr. Silver Mask who possess "real attributes."
That was Chenlong and the young girl Lu Chan.
It's not that the researchers, guards, and witchers weren't real people; it's just that for Dr. Silver Mask's Rebooting Power, those who could be easily influenced were practically fictional. Chen Long and the young girl Lu Chan, however, were completely different; they both exhibited the characteristic of their consciousness being unaffected by the Rebooting Power.
If Chenlong was added to Dr. Silver Mask's whitelist, how would you explain the situation with the young girl Lu Chan?
Not only is her consciousness unaffected by the power of the reboot, but she is also a "dream incarnation" that can only be born by viewing that independent real space as a dream.
In response, I can only find two possibilities for the time being: First, although she is not the holder of the Divine Seal Fragment, she may have developed a connection with the Divine Seal Fragment in some form, which is why she possesses such special attributes.
Secondly, she was actually one of Dr. Silver Mask's people, a spy planted in the group of test subjects to be responsible for internal surveillance. Therefore, Dr. Silver Mask would naturally put her on the whitelist and could also fabricate an "identity setting in the dream" for her. As for the "dream incarnation" and the like, she was deceiving me from beginning to end.
Which side will it be?
Seeing that I hadn't spoken for a long time after "waking up," Zhu Shi waited for a while before finally asking with concern, "Zhuang Cheng, what happened over there?"
"Was the body over there murdered?" Lu Youxun also asked.
Mazao grabbed my sleeve without saying a word.
Having spoken with the young girl Lu Chan so much, seeing Lu Youxun's face and hearing his voice again filled me with a myriad of emotions.
"No, everything is going very well."
After thinking for a moment, I told the three of them roughly what had happened there.
Of course, a lot of things that were inconvenient to say to the Landing Cruiser were cut out, mainly information related to the Divine Seal Fragments. However, I will still mention that "Dr. Silver Mask possesses a mysterious black jade that can restart the base."
Initially, I thought it best to keep the information related to the young girl Lu Chan from Lu Youxun, but after careful consideration, I felt there was no need to hide it. Besides, I had already set a precedent for them last time, and it wouldn't be good to leave things unresolved without providing further details. So, I told them everything, wanting to hear their thoughts.
"My 'dream' has become the embodiment of a young girl? That's what she said? Hmph... There's a limit to how far you can go in making things up!" Lu Youxun rarely showed such a disdainful attitude. "I'm not the Great Impermanence, nor am I a descendant of the Great Impermanence. How could I possibly have an 'incarnation'? And a young girl at that... That's utter nonsense."
“Zhuang Cheng, you don’t need to take his words to heart. He’s definitely some kind of inhuman creature that imitates my past words and actions and is full of lies.”
This was certainly not the tone he used, as he was usually reserved in his speech. Zhu Shi and I exchanged bewildered glances. His reaction somewhat confirmed what the young girl Lu Chan had said—to Lu Youxun, the young girl Lu Chan was someone to be avoided, symbolizing unbearable memories of hell, and therefore he unconsciously rejected the existence of another version of himself.
Seeing our strange expressions, he seemed to realize that he was being a bit too obvious, so he added, "...I'm just worried that something unexpected might happen during the operation against the Humanitarian Division. You know, I value the success or failure of this operation very much...I really didn't mean anything by it."
Zhu Shi changed the subject sympathetically: "Zhuang Cheng, it's good that you found your brother, but is it really okay to destroy that independent reality space over there?"
"Why do you say that?" I asked.
“While the independent reality space is indeed a cage trapping all the witchers there, if we destroy it directly, won’t everyone inside fall into the void?” she raised a possibility.
This is something I hadn't thought about.
However, the reason I didn't think in that direction is because I already had the answer in my heart from the beginning.
The thing she was worried about probably wouldn't happen. Although I couldn't provide any material evidence to prove my idea, that independent reality space over there should be a "place" very close to the real world, which is why I could sense the fragments of the divine seal located there in the real world.
Moreover, after I was forced to log out of the "shattered void" from there, I did not feel myself falling into the so-called void, but was directly sent back to the real world.
Therefore, they should return to their original location, which is the former stronghold of the Humanitarian Affairs Bureau.
I shared my thoughts, and Lu Youxun nodded, saying, "That's good. After you destroy that space, Luoshan will have the Divine Spear leading the attack on the Humanity Division forces that have returned to reality. There will definitely be no survivors."
"It's a pity for the demon hunters trapped inside..." Zhu Shi sighed.
As for the researchers who conduct dark science experiments, Zhu Shi's attitude when I told him the story was the same as that of the young girl Lu Chan: if there was no need to kill them, then keep them; if necessary, then kill them without hesitation.
Perhaps Zhu Shi also possesses the spirit to become a hero—this thought came to mind.
Then, I looked at Lu Youxun again.
The ultimate goal of transcendence is to depict a world that treats ordinary people as resources and consumables.
That's the kind of world he longed for.
How should I really view Lu Chan? He consciously misled me about the concept of transcendence in the past, and his belief in that kind of evil ideology isn't very appealing to me. Although I consider myself a villain, I still want to be friends with good people in the conventional sense, so I'm destined to clash with transcendentists like him. Thinking about it this way, perhaps the reason I couldn't get close to him in the past was because I unconsciously rejected him on this level.
The young girl, Lu Chan, asks me to help return his "hero's dream" to him, a process that would spiritually kill the current Lu Youxun. In the end, the world would lose an evil superhuman and gain a dreamer striving to contribute to society—seemingly a win-win situation. However, I have some reservations about this choice.
Regardless, the Lu Chan who aspired to be a hero in the past was a stranger to me, while the Lu Youxun before me was a familiar face who had shown me kindness. Looking at the misleading things he did to me, it's something most people would do—embellishing their own position, just as no one would deliberately speak ill of their favorite food when sharing it. And the reason the young Lu Chan spoke that way might well have been to lower my impression of Lu Youxun.
“Lu Chan, do you want to become a hero?” I asked.
Lu Youxun asked in surprise, "Why are you suddenly asking me this? Did that strange thing say something weird to you?"
I haven't figured out how to answer yet.
He looked at me for a long time, then lowered his head to think, and then slowly said, "Heroes, heroes...that's something only children would believe in, right?"
"...In the past, I was indeed as naive as a child, and for a time I genuinely believed in that kind of thing, but...even if I tried my best to become a hero and saved many people, nothing good would happen in the end."
"Heroes save those who are desperate... but when heroes are in despair, who will come to their rescue?"
Zhu Shi said thoughtfully, "You mean..."
"No, you misunderstand. I wasn't powerful enough to call myself a hero in the past," Lu Youxun waved his hand.
“That’s not true,” Zhu Shi said calmly. “I used to respect you very much.”
Lu Youxun seemed not to hear those words, letting them get lost and die in the air.
(End of this chapter)
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