"First, confirm the door to the 0th floor." Cen Mingming collected his thoughts and calmly ordered, "Look at the key type of the door, and start searching from the first floor. Be careful not to encounter the heretics here. Before encountering the enemy, try not to start a battle and consume yourself."
"Yes, Captain!"
The team members dispersed one after another, even Daniel, who was not very honest, began to actively search for the key after being warned by Cen Mingming.
"Captain, judging from the hatch, the key should be an inverted cross with a circuit, about 10 centimeters long." The team member who was confirming the hatch turned his head and said, "After touching the hatch leading to Level 0, a text prompt will pop up, which should be telling us the location of the key."
Cen Mingming looked up and asked, "What's the hint?"
"[Drowning person from the future]." The team member said, "——There is one more sentence."
"【The Judge of the Rebellious God, Final Judgment Result】."
The pupil of Cen Mingming's right eye shrank slightly. He turned sideways and looked to the end of the corridor - where was stored Heretic 0001.
——The heresy called "Future".
...The drowning man from the future...
Cen Mingming's heart started beating wildly for no apparent reason. He began to walk towards the end of the corridor. The light in his clear yellow right eye gradually faded away, and his face showed an almost unbelievable ferocity.
Lu Yizhan's gentle and calm voice rang in his ears:
【I want to use the last level of the Heretic Administration to build a special place. 】
【I want to use this floor to place a special kind of heresy. 】
【——Humanoid heretic. 】
The closer he got to the last heretic, the more erratic Cen Mingming's breathing became. His mind was almost blank, and the only thing he could hear was Lu Yizhan's smiling voice:
[The last level of the Heretic Administration is full of humanoid heretics. They are either humans with spiritual degeneration or heretics in human form. They are not ordinary objects or monsters, but have become like this under the manipulation of evil gods. They cannot be judged in the usual way, which is unfair to them.]
【They are human beings, not monsters. 】
[…I was wondering if I could treat them in a more appropriate way, and by exploring the causes of their occurrence, prevent them from becoming heretics again in the next world line.]
Cen Mingming's eyes flickered with light. He took a deep breath and recalled how he answered Lu Yizhan:
He sneered: [Lu Yizhan, you always have such wild ideas? To explore the causes of heresy, who will bear the risks brought by these unstable heretics during the exploration process?]
Lu Yizhan thought carefully and answered: […What do you think of this position (guardian)? ]
[Assign a guardian to the heretics and let the guardian bear the risk.]
[Even if you set it up, who would be willing to take on such a thankless position as a guardian?] Cen Mingming's expression became more and more sarcastic, [I think you are really stupid. Not only do you want to save the bad guys, but now you also want to save the heretics.]
[The Heretic Management Bureau already has enough work to do. Heretics keep popping up. We need team members to contain every heretic. You set up the position of (guardian), but who will do it?]
[And heretics are human beings? ]
[Even if the humanoid heretics did have human aspects at the beginning, how can you prove that they can always maintain human consciousness and emotions? ]
Cen Mingming's expression was gloomy: [Even the eyeballs that were used as food carriers by Captain Yu were constantly attacking the team members, devouring the eyeballs of the team members she least wanted to hurt. How can you be sure that these heretics really have human characteristics?]
[Humanoid heretics are still heretics after all. 】
[They will all eventually become complete monsters.]
Cen Mingming remembered that at that moment, Lu Yizhan was silent for a very long time, then lowered his head and said in a very soft and stubborn voice: […I am sure that heretics can always maintain human emotions.]
[How did you determine that?] Cen Mingming sneered, [Using your overly naive fantasy?]
[The Bureau of Heresy is a place that talks about evidence. If you can prove to me that there are heretics who can maintain human consciousness without hurting anyone, I will agree to your fantastic proposal.]
Lu Yizhan raised his head and looked at Cen Mingming for a long time. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't say a word. He just tilted his head and chuckled:
[…Okay, I can’t prove it.]
[You are right, this proposal is indeed unrealistic. No one would want to be a guardian.]
【Then I will be the guardian of all heretics. 】
[You!] Cen Mingming was furious, [Lu Yizhan, sometimes I really don’t understand what you are thinking!]
[Are you a spy sent by the heretics? Why do you have to stand on the side of the heretics! Why do you sympathize with these heretics so much? ! ]
Cen Mingming sneered coldly: [Sometimes I really doubt that you are a heretic, Lu Yizhan.]
Lu Yizhan smiled with his eyebrows curved, he did not refute: [Maybe. ]
Cen Mingming walked slowly and steadily to the heretic 0001 at the end of the corridor. He raised his head, stretched out his hand, and touched the metal-sealed room. Suddenly, a warm fluorescent light spread out, the metal-sealed door opened, and the light fell on Cen Mingming's dazed face.
A pillar made of transparent material is filled with a silver-blue liquid like sea water, and a sleeping soul is suspended in the liquid. He seems to be drowning, floating quietly in it.
He was wearing the uniform of the First Team, his smiling eyes were closed, there were slight bubbles around his mouth and nose, his expression was relaxed and calm, and on his chest hung an inverted cross pendant, which was about the same size as the key to the door to Level 0.
Cen Mingming's expression was completely blank. He looked at the instruction file on the electronic screen that popped up next to the pillar and floated in the air:
[Heretical 0001 Name: Future]
【Category: Humanoid Heresy】
[Carrier/Entity: The soul of the prophet Lu Yizhan]
[…The prophet Lu Yizhan was spiritually reduced to a heretic in the 658th world line. He was transported to various world lines through the system background and imprisoned in the deepest part of the Heretic Administration as Heretic 0001…]
[A harmless humanoid heretic with self-awareness. It has always tried to let others know what will happen (in the future), showing an unfortunate future to everyone who looks at it, trying to make these people avoid the future in this way. However, after inadvertently driving people crazy, it adopted a self-enclosed way and began to show the future cautiously...]
【Conceptual existence, no entity...】
[Production process: Because in the evil god's game, the prophet needs to pay a painful price for each world line that is opened, and in the end the evil god chose this method to take the pain of the first generation of prophets. 】
[He turned the prophet into (the future) itself, a humanoid heretic that can only exist as a conceptual object. It has emotions and consciousness. It does not want to hurt anyone and wants to save all humans. It comes from the final world line and knows the ending of all world lines, so it will try every means to reveal the future to the world so that people can avoid such a future.]
[But humans themselves fear (the future) and will go crazy after glimpsing (the future).]
[All it did was struggle helplessly, but even if it knew the end, the future transformed by the prophet would never stop struggling. Because it had hope in its heart, it would continue to exist in such pain. As the future that was not expected, it was imprisoned in the deepest part of the earth as a heretic.]
[After the game of world line 658 ends, regardless of whether the prophet wins or loses, as a bargaining agreement between him and the evil god, the soul of the first generation prophet Lu Yizhan will be recycled to the system background. From now on, the human Lu Yizhan no longer exists in all world lines. He disappears completely——]
[——And his soul will exist forever as a carrier of (the future).]
Cen Mingming stopped in front of the instruction file for a long time without saying a word. Then he slowly bent down and punched the ground hard. He lowered his head, his hair hung down so that his expression could not be seen clearly, and water drops were sliding down his chin.
【I have seen my future】
Lu Yizhan smiled and said to him: [That is a good future. ]
This is not bad at all!!
Cen Mingming gritted his teeth tightly, his eyes were red, his brain and chest were about to be burned by the impact of emotions, he tried his best to control himself from pulling out the soul of Lu Yizhan who was trapped in the pillar and sleeping and beat him up.
...No wonder that guy was so anxious to find Bai Liu from the Deer Hunter to be the next generation successor of the prophet, no wonder that guy always said that his life was about to end, no wonder...
Lu Yizhan was about to collapse and become a heretic, so he had to hand over the unfinished things in his hands before he became a heretic.
Why would he ignore it?
Why did he overlook the connection between the Prophet and the Future? It was right in front of him, but he had never thought of it.
Because of Lu Yizhan, how could this person who had always been so silly and stubborn have been mentally degraded to the point of becoming a heretic? !
How could it be a heresy?
He can experience mental dimensionality reduction, Tang Erda can experience mental dimensionality reduction, everyone's mental dimensionality reduction is little by little in the long and desperate 658 world lines, turning into a humanoid heretic who is about to lose control. This guy is also a human being, why can't Lu Yizhang do the same?
Of course he can.
Lu Yizhan is the prophet closest to the evil god, and he is the one who has suffered the most pain...
Cen Mingming closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and clenched his hands.
...The first time they took in the heretic [Future] was in the 0006 world line. At that time, Lu Yizhan had seen his own [Future].
In other words, this guy knew what would happen from the beginning of the sixth world line - he would keep losing, losing 657 world lines, until he became a heretic.
Lu Yizhan knows everything.
From the moment he started the game, he knew he was going to lose.
But Lu Yizhan said nothing. He pretended that he had not seen such a future. He turned around and smiled and said to him that this was a good future. Then, unwillingly and stubbornly, in the known failed [future], he fought desperately until now and accompanied everyone to the last world line.
After the last world line ends, he will become the [Future] forever.
What on earth are you thinking about?
What kind of future did you see when you entrusted everything to Bai Liu?
...In the last line, what kind of future do you see?
Cen Mingming supported his knees and slowly stood up. He looked up at the soul of Lu Yizhan that was suspended in the liquid and emitting a faint fluorescent light. Cen Mingming was silent for a while, then reached out to touch the key to the cross hanging on Lu Yizhan's chest.
——Show me once the future you see.
Land Post.
A cold mechanical voice came from the system spaceship: [Warning! Warning! ]
[If you touch heresy 0001, you will be contaminated! 】
A flash of white light appeared in front of Cen Mingming's eyes. He tightly grasped the reverse cross key and closed his eyes.
The second level of the system spaceship.
Hearing the system prompt sound coming from the floor, the circus members who were searching for information on this floor stopped and raised their heads.
"Cen Mingzhi and the others are up there." Tang Erda looked at Bai Liu intently, "Just as you guessed, what should we do next?"
"They didn't come down and stayed on the first floor the whole time, which basically means that the key is most likely on the first floor." Bai Liu analyzed calmly. When he saw Mu Sicheng preparing to go up, he raised his hand and pressed down, making a gesture to stop him.
"But let's not rush up there for now."
"Wait a little longer."
Mu Sicheng stared at Bai Liu and said in a somewhat aggressive tone: "What are you waiting for?"
Bai Liu paused: "...wait for the right time."
Now even Tang Erda noticed that something was wrong with Bai Liu. He looked over and asked with a frown, "What is the right time?"
Bai Liu's brain works faster than theirs, especially in games where he can perform well. Sometimes he can figure out the key to passing a level, but he can't explain it clearly to his teammates in a few words. Bai Liu often gives orders to get things done first and then provides explanations later.
But it has never been so vague... It's obvious that he is just stalling for time.
Bai Liu is a tactician with extreme tactics. He never avoids the opponent's attack. He likes to take the initiative to win, and decide the outcome with a single attack, without giving the opponent a chance to counterattack.
But in this copy... Bai Liu has been avoiding the encounter between the two parties.
Tang Er looked at Bai Liu. He wanted to ask hesitantly, but in the end he didn't ask the question.
——Bai Liu, what are you afraid of?
You are never... afraid of games.
Bai Liu raised his head, his calm expression returning: "The right time is after Xiao Chou and Cen Mingming use up their first skill."
"After this, we have fifteen minutes of safe attack time."
"But if we don't go up, how can we consume their skills?" Mu Ke raised his eyes to look at Bai Liu and asked softly, "Are you planning to use roaming as bait to trick the main attacker into using two skills first?"
"If this is the tactic, I can go up and give it a try."
——Mu Ke’s assassin skills are more roaming and control-oriented, and Bai Liu is generally used to respond to surprise attacks. He was also the one who held back the two main opponents, Georgia and Armand, in the last round. If it is really necessary to consume the opponent’s skills and leave the opponent with empty skills, Mu Ke is indeed very suitable.
"No." Bai Liu said calmly, "I'll go up and use my skills."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone frowned.
"You're a tactician, the core of this team. Why are you roaming around?" Mu Sicheng's tone was extremely aggressive, and his eyes were dark as he stared at Bai Liu. "Mu Ke and I can do this job, but you can't do it!"
Liu Jiayi shook her head in disagreement: "I can follow and cooperate, open a poisonous swamp to control the field, so that they can roam around more easily, but as a tactician, you can't roam first."
"Even if it's your turn to take action, it will be when we all fail."
"It's too risky for you to go straight up."
Bai Liu clasped his hands across his chest, tapped his elbow with his index finger from time to time, lowered his eyelids, and said nothing.
As expected, it has become like this.
They didn't know yet that their other half's soul was hidden in the background of this system, nor did they know that they had been stored in this spaceship as heretics. This spaceship was not supposed to be their copy for this round, but they were in a copy of another world line. When they jumped to the transit platform of the system background, they were intercepted by Bai Liu, who forced them to land on this spaceship and used this spaceship as their copy for this round of competition.
Bai Liu, this psychopath, does things with a purpose. Since he intervened and allowed them and Cen Mingming to land on the spaceship, he must have some backup plan waiting for him.
This back-up plan is probably related to Xiao Chou's skills. Bai Liu himself can use the Soul Shattering Gun without restriction. If Bai Liu also lands on this spaceship, it would be equivalent to having two Soul Shattering Guns on this spaceship, one of which has no CD yet.
To be honest, Bai Liu was not sure.
So he really wanted the people from the wandering circus to leave, and he would rather fight Bai Liu alone.
But that's where the problem lies.
This is the system backend. Bai Liu has already determined that the option to exit the game in the system panel is useless. Under the premise that the game cannot be exited automatically, Bai Liu has only one choice if he wants these team members to exit the game - to actively clear them out.
But... Bai Liu was not sure whether the conceptual item "Golden Medal of Immunity from Death" created by the system was effective in the system background.
This is essentially a place outside the game, where props are produced. It is not known whether the props are effective. If they are ineffective, Bai Liu will clear them out, which is equivalent to killing them.
So Bai Liu only has one option - to take control of the spaceship as the system requires, drive the spaceship to land on the 658 world line, and bring them back to the game lobby or the ground.
But in the process of taking control of the spaceship...
Bai Liu cannot guarantee that the people around him will not take action. As long as they take action, there are too many dangerous factors on the entire spaceship. Bai Liu may land at any time. The spaceship contains the souls of their other halves, Xiao Chou's soul-crushing gun, and Cen Mingming who has obvious murderous intentions towards him...
He was terrified that there was no way to get everyone off the spaceship safely.
【Emotions make people vulnerable.】
Bai Liu's pupils shrank as he heard Bai Liu's frivolous laughter, which spread like water waves.
[You were already strong enough to fight me, but just because you brought these people with you, you became so weak.]
【They are just a burden to you. 】
【Only by throwing away the burden can you become strong enough. 】
【You can kill me. 】
Bai Liu turned his head, Bai Liu's voice disappeared, and the universe outside the window was like water ripples, spreading out ripples, just like someone's smiling voice was like a stone falling, smashing out an echo. Bai Liu looked at the vast and boundless silver-blue universe. There was no emotion in Bai Liu's dark pupils, and he rarely showed a hollow expression.
...This space looks...
…It seems like it was the water that swallowed Sheta ten years ago.
This water...who will drown today?
Bai Liu's heart skipped a beat, but he quickly calmed down, turned his head, half-closed his eyes, and said calmly, "On the field, everyone agrees that we must follow the tactician's orders."
"My tactic is, I will go up first, use up both of the opponent's skills, and then you will come up."
Mu Ke pursed his lips, Liu Jiayi had a weird look on his face, Mu Sicheng was so angry that he hammered the fence hard, and wanted to say something but swallowed it back under Bai Liu's cold warning eyes. Even Tang Erda, the main attacker who never disobeyed Bai Liu's orders on the court, frowned and objected: "One person?"
"That's not reasonable, Bai Liu. Even if you go up to use your skills, you should at least bring Mu Sicheng and Mu Ke with you so that it will be easier to coordinate with them."
"No need." Bai Liu turned around. His back was extremely calm. The light coming in from the window cast a layer of unclear silver-blue halo on his body. "I can go up by myself."
"I'll use my skills, then you guys can come up."
【Bai Liu, you are hesitating. 】
Bai Liu's smiling voice came and went, spreading around Bai Liu again, whispering softly like a nightmare -
——【You don’t even dare to look back at their expressions.】
[Are you so afraid that they will drown on this ship? ]
Bai Liu paused as he walked towards the elevator. In the air, Bai Liu's voice continued with a smile:
【Why fear? 】
【Hasn't we already seen their future?】
[I have to tell you honestly, that future was not shown to you by me on purpose. It was shown to you by another kind-hearted fellow who tried his best, even at the cost of his own life, in order to avoid it.]
[——But you still came here under the guidance of fate and me, and came to this future. ]
【At this moment, you and they are all drowning people from the future. 】
"I won't let that kind of future come to pass." Bai Liu stepped into the elevator and heard his own voice answering softly, "I won't let anyone drown in front of me again."
"——Not even in the future."
Bai Liu laughed and retorted: [But you are just a human being. ]
【The future is determined by God, but only God can overturn it. 】
[If you want to overturn the future you have seen, there is only one way - become the next generation of evil god. ]
Bai Liu did not answer. He lowered his head, pulled out a long whip from his waist, clenched the whip tail, exhaled slowly, and the elevator door slowly closed behind him.
Until the last moment, he did not turn around to look at the eyes of those people who were staring at him from behind. If it happened again, Bai Liu felt that he should turn around and take a look.
——After all, that was the last time I saw them in their complete form.