Chapter 531 The World's Malfunction 2
“It’s not that the apocalypse caused the mistakes; on the contrary, the mistakes forged the apocalypse,” Xiaowan said. “Although this is just my intuition… the essence of the apocalypse should be the destructive process formed by the accumulation of countless mistakes.”
It is a conclusion drawn solely from personal intuition, but that is precisely why it has a unique persuasiveness.
The Little Bowl is a divine child capable of communicating with all things in nature. In a sense, she can be considered the spokesperson for the world. The intuitions and inspirations she generates are sometimes revelations from the world itself; and the conclusions she draws from them can even be seen as conclusions drawn by the world itself.
That being said, due to the lack of readily available material evidence, it is inevitable that some emotions cannot be fully accepted at first glance.
“The source of the error is something else entirely. This source did not appear at the moment of the apocalypse, and it is even very likely that it did not appear in the era in which you, Brother Zhuangcheng, live,” Xiaowan said. “Just like a patient diagnosed with terminal cancer does not get sick on the day of diagnosis, the initial error can be traced back to an incredibly long history. From that time onwards, the seeds of destruction were sown.”
"The longer time passes, the more terminally ill the world becomes. Until a certain point, the disease enters an explosive phase. The strange phenomena, as symbols of error, also increase explosively, and chaotic phenomena permeate the world, thus destroying human civilization."
The "end of the world" doesn't happen in the future, but in the past.
The same theory was also advocated by the divination master.
Although not through the same equation, Xiao Wan also arrived at the same result through the positive alignment of the heavens and earth, strengthened by the power of the divine seal fragments.
After thinking for a moment, I said, "...Your statement sounds as if the supernatural is the embodiment of the apocalypse, but as far as I know, in the final stage of the apocalypse, all things in the universe will be destroyed, and the supernatural is no exception."
“That’s not a contradiction,” Little Bowl said. “If the patient dies, the cancer cells also die. It’s not that strange things, which come with errors, won’t be eliminated in the apocalypse.”
I accepted this logic and then thought about it.
There is some incredible external force that has caused the world to malfunction—what could possibly cause such deep-seated structural damage to the world itself?
In my experience, the only thing I can suspect is the divine seal, and the person who made the wish to use the divine seal to divide the world of common sense and the world of the supernatural in two.
As evidence, the time when the bizarre entered a period of explosive growth and the first case of the Soul Loss syndrome appeared were quite close to the time when the Fantian Incident occurred, both more than four years ago.
Although Luo Shan generally believes that the Fan Tian incident occurred more than three years ago, Fu Feng mentioned to me that as early as four years ago, the phenomenon of the disappearance of the boundary between the common sense world and the strange world had already been recognized to a small extent by the Great Impermanence and Great Completion level.
Similarly, I'm not sure if we should compare them, but the awakening of my superpowers also occurred at a relatively recent point in time...
In conclusion, the world's errors may be closely related to the wishes made by past users of the divine seal. However, this inevitably raises questions. According to Xiaowan, the source of the strange things is the world's error, and the world may have made an error after the wish was made. In other words, when the instigator made the wish, the concept of "strange" might not have existed—on this basis, how could the instigator have distinguished between the world of common sense and the world of strangeness?
This is practically a chicken-or-egg paradox.
Was my deduction wrong somewhere? Or is this logical paradox also a manifestation of the power of the Divine Seal, a transcendent existence that is "wrong to think about" and destined to be unfathomable?
In a post-apocalyptic world, existing in a state of uncertainty between death and madness, can the inspiration and revelation given to Xiaowan by the celestial and terrestrial forces closely connected to this world be interpreted simply as is? Are there any distorted lies or inconsistencies with the facts? Or, to put it more bluntly—could there be any malicious intent involved?
After exchanging ideas for a while, Xiaowan still couldn't unravel these mysteries. Besides, there were many other significant questions that were hard to put aside. Fortunately, neither of us were the type to waste time on difficult problems without clues. With many questions in mind, we continued onward.
Xiao Wan took out the cartographer's map on the way, glancing at it every now and then, seemingly using the tool to help her find her way. I gave her my Blessing Lantern as well. According to the wandering spirit, there should be a Blessing Lantern near the survivor settlement, which could help those with nearby lanterns get there. With this item, perhaps Xiao Wan could save even more energy.
Occasionally, when passing through towns, I'll try to use my senses to scan the surrounding buildings for basements, and if so, what kind they are. With the help of my jinx, I might just get lucky and get close to the fifteenth-floor basement.
After noticing my movements, Xiaowan enhanced my perception and added a blessing to me. It was somewhat similar to the blessing she had given me in the virtual realm in the past; last time it allowed me to adapt to the virtual realm environment, and this time it allowed me to adapt to the post-apocalyptic environment.
This time, however, I couldn't achieve immediate results; it was more like accelerating my analysis of chaotic spacetime. Even so, the effect was like adding wings to a tiger. Before, I was like a half-asleep, half-awake person solving math problems; now, I finally feel fully awake, full of energy and boundless inspiration.
Now, even if I distribute the "fireflies" to a distant place, the information transmitted back will no longer have a lot of noise.
"What if the wandering spirit is still alive..." I thought of that.
If the wandering spirit had persisted for just a little longer, learned of the existence of the fifteenth-floor basement, and realized that a way to return to the modern world might exist, perhaps it wouldn't have been so eager to die.
No... In the end, it was because the wandering soul took the Three Lives Stone Powder and regained its memories that I was able to reunite with Xiaowan and obtain the clue of the fifteenth-floor basement.
Blessed monks are destined not to obtain what they desire.
If the wandering soul hadn't become a Blessed Cultivator, would things have turned out differently? However, without the power of blessing, the wandering soul would have long since perished at the hands of the Cartographer, or more likely, in the endless suffering of the past. The power of blessing is both a weapon that helps Blessed Cultivators survive the apocalypse and the root of their misfortune. It is both a blessing and a curse.
I'm glad that Asaho isn't a true Blessed Monk, yet he too carries the incredibly heavy curse of being a jinx. Similarly, the principle of "the more crucial the part, the less capable one is" seems to apply in a variant form to the Great Impermanence beings, including myself.
Why is there this law that the more you desire something, the less likely you are to get it?
Is this also a manifestation of a malfunction in the world's operating process?
"Brother Zhuangcheng, how was the blessing?" Xiaowan seemed to be expecting my praise.
"Excellent!" I commented. "I should be able to use my Word Power in just one or two hours. If I were alone, I'm afraid even another month or two wouldn't be enough to achieve that."
Xiao Wan was clearly very happy, and her steps were much lighter as she walked ahead.
Then, as if recalling something from the past, she sighed, "If only I could have done this when I was with Asaha-neechan..."
Unfortunately, there was no sign of the fifteenth-floor basement on the way. This was expected, because not only did the fifteenth-floor basement not appear, but the misfortune of being attacked by strange entities every few steps after meeting up with Xiaowan also stopped. Perhaps my bad luck was overshadowed by her strong fortune.
However, this could also be seen as her powerful luck being diminished by the power of the jinx. If this power is what allowed her to delay the Great Demon of Calamity's pursuit, then the Great Demon of Calamity will likely arrive soon.
"Is it really okay to meet with Number Seven right now?" I asked curiously.
"Who is Brother Zhuang Cheng?" Xiao Wan asked.
“Going to the location of the Grand Duke Jupiter's army in your current state of being chased by the Great Demon of Calamity might lure the Great Demon of Calamity there. You should have been able to foresee this,” I said. “I thought you were worried about being caught in the crossfire… or is this the result you wanted to achieve?”
“On the contrary, I want to avoid this outcome,” Xiaowan said. “I can temporarily suppress the power of the jinx, but I can’t eliminate it all at once. Forced suppression will only cause it to rebound at some point.”
"Therefore, although we were told before that we should try to find a way to meet Ms. Seven at the Tai Sui Army... even if we do nothing, the clues to the location of the Tai Sui Army will definitely come to us sooner or later, or the Tai Sui Army itself will come to us on its own."
"But we cannot let this happen."
"Letting the power of the jinx dictate our actions will only lead to a situation where misfortunes come one after another. I bet the Tai Sui Army and the Great Demon of Calamity will converge on us at the same time. I'm sure this isn't the first time Brother Zhuang Cheng has encountered something like this, is it?"
I thought about the adventures I had encountered in the past, and then nodded.
“As long as we take the initiative, we can gain some control, especially while my strong luck can still barely suppress the power of the jinx,” Xiao Wan said persuasively. “We need to complete the exchange of information with Lady Seven before the Great Demon of Calamity arrives… and if we’re lucky enough, we might even witness the Great Demon Xuanwu chasing down the Tai Sui Army…”
"Why is that considered lucky?" I wondered.
“The Great Demon Xuanwu and the Great Demon of Disaster are sworn enemies. Once they meet, the Great Demon Xuanwu will definitely attack the Great Demon of Disaster first,” Xiaowan said. “But I can summon the Great Demon of Disaster directly.”
(End of this chapter)
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