Chapter 164, 142857: A Library.
Ivy didn't actually make a move.
This was Jiang Ming testing Xue Chao, and she also wanted to know Xue Chao's choice.
Xue Chao is always in a complete cycle of reincarnation.
The suffering of birth and the suffering of death are experienced only once by a normal person, but he experienced them countless times. Death was not his end, but merely a way for him to shrink back into a chaotic embryo and emerge from his cocoon once more.
Strictly speaking, each time is a new life; it shouldn't be called reincarnation, but rather a rebirth.
This is also why he has no memory.
But even though his experiences and the people he met were different each time, he kept walking down the same path, like a curse.
Ivy has lived for a long time, and she has forgotten what it was like when she was a player. She is a living tombstone in the game, but she doesn't know when Xue Chao started seeking an end, how long he has been on his journey.
She had witnessed his many reincarnations and felt a pang of emotion. Perhaps he wasn't the cursed one; the game itself was the curse.
The core of the game remains unchanged; no matter how the identity and experiences of the soul change, it will eventually return to that narrow path.
He's been dying and reviving endlessly in the game; how long has it been since he's seen the real world? Like a hardened criminal serving a life sentence. Could he be someone from hundreds of years ago?
If he were thrown out of the game, with many better options, he wouldn't have gone down this path. The witch thought aimlessly.
She initially did this to repay a debt of gratitude. The dying tavern owner entrusted her with taking care of Jiang Ming, who was on the verge of falling into madness and carelessly abandoned him to her, leaving him to live or die.
So she kept him by her side, like a beautiful kitten or puppy, to pass the long hours, but she developed feelings for him.
Moved by compassion, she took a huge risk and found a loophole to send Xue Chao out of the Infinite World disguised as a player's belongings after death, since he had already died and there was no record of him in the Infinite World anyway.
She gave him her sincerest blessings, hoping he would be an ordinary person and live an ordinary life, which would be a million times better than the game world.
But he still came back, as if summoned by fate.
But this reincarnation is different. His emotions have been taken away, leaving him with a broken soul. From a young age, he was instilled with the idea of being selfish and cold-blooded, and he no longer feels resentment about the fate of others.
He'll choose the area within the ring. Ivy is certain.
From his perspective, this was the most likely chance to finally pass the game, even if it was just a clue.
As for the players, the host will inevitably exploit them, and the players will inevitably guard against the host's control. They can cooperate, but there are irreconcilable conflicts. It's all about getting what they need, with no responsibility involved.
This is also what Ivy hoped for. Out of consideration for their past relationship, she helped him one last time—the Möbius strip will instantly reverse during its first impact after returning to zero, with the inside becoming the outside and the outside becoming the inside.
As long as Xue Chao chooses to prioritize his own interests, she will show mercy and allow those who have returned to the first level of the world to leave after the current cycle of the instance is broken.
Whether he continues down Holder's path, enjoying ultimate glory, or dies completely in the end, or becomes disheartened and remains here forever like an NPC, it is better than an endless cycle of life and death.
They could still spend cozy days in the villa; he was her brother, and she would stay with him until he died.
Ivy knew that the people in the secret rebellion game had been guiding him and wanted to see if he was still the same person he used to be, especially Jiang Ming.
If he abandons the door and chooses these players, then he is still him, and he is qualified to truly enter the space behind the door.
Over a long period of time, batches of deceived people and desperate people wrote their final words with hatred and hope, revealing the truth about his past and the game world, and re-elevating him to the position of leader.
The boss, harboring two opposing expectations, awaits his choice.
Ivy was at ease. She knew that the one who was uneasy was not her. Jiang Ming was stubborn and the least likely to give up. Even knowing the outcome, he insisted on deceiving himself and verifying it one more time before he was willing to pronounce his death sentence.
But the result was beyond their expectations.
The witch was truly enraged, but Jiang Ming, who had been indifferent, was momentarily stunned, unsure whether to sigh or breathe a sigh of relief. In the end, he simply returned to his true self, a smile curving his lips at the joy of knowing it was "him."
The probing was over, and the real alliance was about to begin. Jiang Ming immediately stood in front of the television to stop the witch from attacking.
Ivy said coldly, "Back then, you were almost turning into a monster, and you didn't care about anything anymore. You just dumped him on me and left him to my disposal. Now you're dragging him back into the abyss. Are you mentally unstable?"
"I'm not mentally sound, what's the big deal?" Jiang Ming said, his eyes turning crimson vertical pupils unwavering despite his scornful words. "Do you think he's the kind of person who would just swallow his pride and obediently fall into hell if someone dragged him there?"
No, it's not that Xue Chao was influenced by anyone; he simply has that kind of soul.
She understood his persistence; he was the same kind of person as Jiang Ming.
“Then I’ll kill him myself and end his suffering.” Ivy gave a cruel smile. “Don’t look at me like that. You’ve always wanted to kill him because you’re afraid he won’t be the same person he used to be and will become the biggest accomplice in the game. You can’t bear to see his soul completely distorted, and I can’t bear to see him continue to suffer like this.”
Golden branches suddenly sprouted from the witch's back, the liquid gold like sharp claws, lunging at Jiang Ming, only to be severed by a broadsword.
Han Zheng nimbly crouched on the second-floor railing, like an eagle waiting for its chance, observing them.
Two conscious bosses.
“You are Jiang Ming,” she said with certainty, as if she had come specifically to find him.
Jiang Ming raised an eyebrow, not even sparing her a glance, and said casually, "I don't have time to sign autographs for some unknown brat."
Han Zheng's reign at the top was short-lived, which is why everyone had heard of her, except for Jiang Ming, who was not interested in being number one on the player rankings.
Han Zheng: "I am Bai Lu's student."
As soon as the name was uttered, Jiang Ming's expression changed. It was his friend's name, the name he had before he transformed into the boss Helena.
The Möbius strip shattered inwards, and Xue Chao felt as if he had smashed open a door. Behind the door was a spherical space, the surface of which was filled with bookshelves. Anti-gravity staircases extended from the center toward the bookshelves, appearing at every angle.
A library.
Before him was a suspended staircase. Xue Chao stepped onto the stairs, and the door closed behind him.
All the books looked the same, with numbered spines, like copies of archives. He picked one up at random.
As he opened the book, his soul seemed to be sucked into it, quickly passing through a memory. The overwhelming amount of information and the fluctuating emotions almost made him fall down the stairs.
This is his memory!
This is his memory from one of his past lives.
He was a player who joined the fifth-ranked guild, but the guild's name was unfamiliar. Not only that, but he also didn't recognize any of the other top-ranked guilds or players; they were all complete strangers.
There wasn't much information because he didn't live for more than two months from birth to death.
He was "born" in a copy with this number on the spine of the book. The copy was themed around an art museum. He was torn out from the eyes of the people in the painting, and his flesh and blood grew wildly. From a distorted infant shape to a blurry teenage face, he grew into a clear young man in his twenties in just a few seconds.
It's very similar to a divine weapon! It uses future lifespan as a price to forcibly tear apart cells and catalyze the spirit, allowing the user to unleash the ultimate power.
Reincarnation is his superpower. In order to quickly reach the appearance of a young man who can safely play the game, he burns his body and spirit, at the cost of not living more than half a year in each reincarnation.
In my memory, after he stabilized, the dungeon opened, and he naturally became one of the dungeon's players.
Then he shone brightly and accepted an invitation from a major guild, but in his first guild competition, he was betrayed by a promising player recruited by the guild at the same time and became a scapegoat, drowning in the dungeon.
When other players die, their relics are returned, but his death is like the receding tide, disappearing without a trace.
He switched to another book, this time set in the future. He was torn apart and reborn from a floating monitor shaped like an eyeball, quickly transforming into a young man, and the new book began.
He died even faster this time, not surviving the instance that served as his birthplace. In an attempt to save players trapped in the laboratory, he was riddled with bullets by a high-tech machine gun.
The way he died was painful enough. Xue Chao gripped the pages of the book tightly, then collapsed onto the stairs in a convulsion.
There was no time in the library, but the games outside continued. Xue Chao caught his breath and immediately resumed browsing.
The more I look at it, the more horrified I become; it's practically a museum built on his life and death.
Each time he is reborn, he is starting from scratch, with no memories and no experience. He is a new player, killed by monsters, killed by bosses, manipulated by the host, and caught in the crossfire between players. He miscalculates himself, and there is intrigue and backstabbing between guilds, players, and the host...
He was a player every time, but his experiences were completely different. He had joined both large and small guilds, built new guilds with other players, and also fought alone like Han Zheng.
There are many exciting experiences, such as forming gangs to fight guild wars, getting caught up in leaderboard competitions, controlling the host as a puppet, and dying at the beginning of the game or remaining unknown.
The people around him are also different. He is the only one who dies and is reborn. If he dies too early in a certain life and is reincarnated too quickly, he may encounter the same group of people from the same period. He has no memory of them, but others will only think that he did not die at all and how he escaped danger.
In this situation, he would most likely realize something was wrong early on, or perhaps he lived long enough in a previous life, or by chance discovered the suspicious points, making it easier for him to discover the truth of the game, and he would then try to find a way to finally complete the game.
But without exception, they all failed. In a situation where players, hosts, and bosses were divided, gaining trust was extremely difficult. Even if they believed, they would not happily unite together. They were more likely to fall into a final frenzy because their only hope was shattered.
In one of his lifetimes, Xue Chao was killed by a resentful player because he burst the bubble of his dream, forcing them to fall into hell with a clear conscience.
Of course, some people angrily questioned the game, but they quickly disappeared or died, or were thrown into the Eternal Prison to be interrogated about their sources of information. Xue Chao was also betrayed and died many times.
Besides the system, there must be other game entities among them monitoring and guiding them. This inevitably leads to some defectors trying to use these traitors to demonstrate their loyalty in order to get the game to let them go.
Beset by external and internal troubles, his several attempts to resist were all utterly defeated.
In each generation, once someone discovers the secret to the final victory, that generation is already on the countdown to their demise, hence the rapid generational shifts.
Over a longer period of time, they are all divine weapons; what are top players and experts but consumables?
But there was no other way. He and countless other players searched for a way to escape back to the real world, but all their efforts failed.
To return to the real world, you must destroy the infinite world and destroy this game.
In one of his rebirths, in instance 142857, he discovered the truth, but was poisoned with an incurable disease and could only wait to die. In order to leave the information to more people, he merged himself into the first boss, turned his memories into a book, and hid it in the instance.
The boss was killed by later players and turned into a library, and his memories are the first book.
Because it is connected to his life, his memories from each of his subsequent lives are automatically stored here. If he has the opportunity to come to this instance, he may be able to find the library, and the post on difficult and complicated diseases was written by him.
Not just him, the library is open to anyone who truly wants to end the game.
Thus, more clues and thoughts from others were left here, and everyone tacitly agreed to become part of this silent rebellion plan.
He has partners with whom he has formed deep bonds, and fellow travelers he has never met.
He found a clue in a book with a very early number: the predecessor of the library, the first boss of this instance, was a companion he had met in a previous reincarnation. However, when they met again, one was unrecognizable and the other had long been forgotten. But in the end, he still received a favor from his companion.
Take the tavern for example. Those were the companions from before this long period of growth. They used the tavern outside the company and guild as their base. The tavern owner was the host. They parked the tavern on the broken belt to avoid the game's eyes and ears.
This was the closest they had ever come to success. Jiang Ming, the girl who came in second place, whose name was Bai Lu, and Boss Tang were all regulars at the tavern.
But in the real world, more than a decade has passed, and the game has been updated countless times. The tavern has been abandoned in other instances, and old friends are either dead or gone, no longer recognizing each other.
Xue Chao has been searching for an end for a long time. His blood flows out a long timeline, with countless tombstones for people: friends, predecessors, enemies, traitors, and strangers.
Yes, strangers. Some people don't know him, but when they're desperate, they hear a vague legend, and with the same hatred for games and a longing for freedom, they are willing to guard the library, become his companions, do what they can, and even sacrifice themselves for this silent wish.
He was being lifted up by them.
So many people, one after another, sacrificed themselves for an end, filling the valley with their blood... So he will not end until the real end arrives, even if it means dying nine times over.
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