Chapter 376: Two Restricted Levels, a Hundred Years of Agreement (5,000 words, please give me a monthly ticket)
Ji Minghuan followed behind Restricted 1001.
Two similar figures, one in front of the other, walked slowly down this endless corridor. Every step they took created ripples on the transparent floor. The ripples spread to an unknown distance, yet they met silently.
Ji Minghuan turned his head and looked around. The walls on both sides of the corridor looked like cinema screens.
At this moment, the memory scenes of 1001 are switching disorderly on the screen. After walking along this corridor for a long time, you will have a trance feeling of trekking on the long river of time.
"Fortunately, I didn't travel to a very distant year. When I came to my senses, I arrived in 1910. It was a strange world to me. By then, I had lost all my memories, and the only thing I remembered was the figure of a white-haired girl."
Restricted 1001 spoke softly, and the memory corridor changed with his words.
It was a vast expanse of white glacier. A young man walked alone on the glacier, and the shadow of a white-haired girl appeared on the lake. But as soon as he turned his eyes away, the shadow on the lake surface disappeared along with the ripples.
"I don't know who she is, or where she is. But every time I'm about to forget her, that shadow would always flash in my dreams." R-rated 1001 continued, "Sometimes she feels like a dandelion reflected on the lake, but when I look up, she has disappeared, blown away by the wind."
"You speak like a poet," Ji Minghuan said nonchalantly. "Haha, if I ever become as artistic as you, I'll really have to find a place to bury myself."
"It's a pity that you're restricted, so you can't kill yourself even if you want to."
"Really? Have you tried it?"
“I’ve tried many times.”
Restricted Level 1001 was silent for a moment, as if he wanted to say something more on this topic, but he didn't continue.
"When?" Ji Minghuan asked.
"When else?" Restricted 1001 replied, "After destroying the Earth."
Ji Minghuan was silent for a moment. "Why did it fail? Others can't kill me, so can't I kill myself? Can restricted content be so exaggerated?"
Restricted 1001 shook his head, seemingly unwilling to answer the question.
"By the way..." Restricted 1001 suddenly said, "In 1916, Germany was at war, and I met a very special girl on the battlefield." After that, the scene above the corridor of time changed again, turning into a world covered in silver.
The young man walked alone in the snow-covered town, walking against the flow of the fleeing crowd. Then he reached the top of the mountain and looked out at the battlefield raging in the snow.
At this moment, he saw a wounded girl huddled in the trench, her head slightly raised, her eyes gazing blankly at the corpses piled in the trench, her lips moving as if she were mumbling something.
Ji Minghuan stared at the bloody girl in his memory, and it was difficult to recognize her appearance. All he could see was a human-shaped piece of rotten flesh, even bones exposed.
R1001 whispered, "Looks familiar, doesn't it?"
"You're quite humorous." Ji Minghuan said. In fact, he had already guessed who the girl who had rotted into a pile of flesh and blood was.
"The girl didn't have a name..." Restricted1001 said, "but I gave her a name at that time."
As soon as the words fell, the scene on the corridor of time changed and turned into the top of a snowy mountain. On the vast snowfield, the boy was carrying the girl on his back, running in the white world, leaving behind rows of footprints of varying depths.
At this moment, the boy on the screen suddenly spoke, breaking the silence in the wind and snow.
"Theresa..." the boy said softly, "This is the name I gave you. I thought of it while hunting a few days ago, but I never told you."
"That sounds great," the girl said. "So my name will be Theresa from now on?"
"Um."
The boy and the girl were walking on the seemingly endless snowfield, and Ji Minghuan stared at the scene in a daze.
As the restricted version of 1001 said, he recognized the girl's face, with her light golden hair and slightly upturned eyes. There was no doubt that there was such a person in Ji Minghuan's memory.
"Bloodline."
Ji Minghuan pronounced the name without any emotion in his voice.
"Yes... From you, I know that she's been looking for me for a long time, but I can't go see her." Restricted Level 1001 said, moving forward without looking back. "Maybe you can tell her for me that she doesn't need to come to me anymore."
"oh."
Ji Minghuan nodded and followed Restricted Level 1001 silently.
"In 1916, the Salvation Society had been targeting me for a while. Restricted-Level Psychic 1001 was the name they gave me." Restricted-Level 1001 said, "Theresa couldn't follow me, otherwise she would be dragged into this."
"Hasn't you inherited the immortality of Unit 4? And you're carrying two mythical fragments? The price of the time jump probably isn't to reclaim all the superpowers you stole," Ji Minghuan asked. "Logically speaking, the Salvation Society shouldn't be your match. Why don't you bring her along?"
"Because I can protect myself. But I may not be able to protect the people around me... People are too fragile, fragile in every sense of the word." Restricted 1001 whispered.
"That's true." Ji Minghuan laughed.
Restricted 1001 was silent for a moment. "The Salvation Society harassed me for ten years. In the end, I chose to fake my death in front of the Salvation Society, and they mistakenly believed it to be true. This announced to the world the emergence of the first restricted class, and at the same time, the death of the first restricted class.
"But as time went by, my abilities in all aspects gradually declined, until I became weaker and weaker, and even gradually became like a normal person. In the end, even the fragments of mythical anecdotes disappeared from me.
"Despite this, I've been looking for the figure in my mind, because I know she is waiting for me somewhere in the world..." Having said that, Restricted Level 1001 closed his eyes.
"Are you kidding me?" Ji Minghuan seized the loophole in the other party's words. "When you say normal, do you mean pausing time and walking into the Savior Society base openly? And then taking me away in front of the Savior Society people?"
He paused. "And then you took me around all these messed up places and turned your memories into a movie for me. What kind of normal person are you?"
"That's where you misunderstood..." Restricted Level 1001 said, "My last remaining abilities are some mental powers. Can't you see? I didn't really stop time, nor did I really take you away from the base."
Ji Minghuan was stunned: "You mean..."
"That's right, I'm in your mind now. Everything you see is an illusion," Restricted 1001 said. "A few months ago, I used the last of my abilities to implant a phantom in the shape of Kong Youling in your mind. That phantom is essentially a switch."
He paused. "And... I've flipped the switch, and we're swimming inside your mind. All the images around us are essentially images created by your mind."
"Oh, now I understand." Ji Minghuan wasn't too surprised. "I was wondering why it was so strange."
"You should have guessed it. No need to play dumb."
"Go on."
"Where was I going... Anyway, I searched for that image in my mind for a long, long time, and finally, the time came to August 15, 2007." Restricted 1001 said, "Ji Minghuan, this is the day you were born."
Ji Minghuan thought for a moment and asked, "After I was born, did you slowly recall your previous memories?"
"Yes, in the year after you were born, many memories of the past flashed through my mind. Then I began to slowly recall many things that happened in the more than ten years between 2007 and 2020."
"So you know who you are?"
"Well, at that time, I already vaguely recalled my name, part of my past, and who the white-haired girl I'd been looking for was..." Restricted Level 1001 said expressionlessly, "But those memories were incomplete, so after that, I've been looking for myself in this timeline, that is, you."
"Come on, this sounds a bit creepy." Ji Minghuan smacked his lips.
Restricted 1001 shrugged, continuing, "After that, I used some tricks to contact the most powerful and mysterious organization in the world."
"'The Salvation Society'?"
"Um."
"You're quite generous, then. The Salvation Society once hunted you down. If you hadn't successfully faked your death back then, they would probably still be chasing you even after a century." Ji Minghuan said with emotion.
"It doesn't matter to me... You know, there's only one thing I care about," Restricted 1001 said. "After that, I called myself the 'Prophet' and secretly worked with them for a long, long time... During this time, with my gradually regained memories, I secretly informed the Saviors of a series of upcoming events, helping them avoid a lot of trouble and thus gaining their trust."
"Well... so, in the end, you told the Savior Society that you predicted that I would destroy the world in the future. And then let them catch me?" Ji Minghuan took a deep breath and finally asked this crucial question.
"right."
Restricted 1001 expressionless.
"Why bother? We are of the same root, why are we so anxious to fight each other?"
"As far as I know, the base of the Salvation Society is the safest place in the world. Asking them to protect you and Kong Youling is the best option I can think of... As long as Kong Youling doesn't die, you won't lose control and won't do the wrong thing like I did."
"Why did Kong Youling die?" Ji Minghuan questioned. "The Old Jingmai Street Incident happened six years earlier. She couldn't possibly die again at the hands of the Puppet Father's Star Caller. What on earth are you thinking?"
"No... As long as she's around you, she might die."
Ji Minghuan was stunned for a moment, and then his tone slowly turned cold:
"What's the meaning?"
Restricted 1001 said calmly, "You don't understand. Restricted powers will lead their owners to self-destruction. Everything in the world, when it reaches its extreme, will reverse. This is the inevitable law of development... And an incomparably powerful, uncontrollable force will ultimately lead to self-destruction."
"So, what does this have to do with Kong Youling?"
"Your ability will guide the development of reality, so it will design Kong Youling's death countless times until it becomes a reality." Restricted 1001 said, "Because... this is the fastest way to destroy you."
Ji Minghuan was stunned.
"Are you kidding me..." He lowered his voice, almost hoarsely.
"Of course, things are different now. Because I intervened in this timeline and changed your future." Restricted 1001 paused for a moment. "Of course, the price of doing so is that I will disappear... completely disappear."
"Why?"
"It's simple. If your future had changed, I wouldn't have been born," Restricted 1001 whispered. "From the moment you were imprisoned in the Salvation Society... or rather, from the moment the Old Jingmai Street Incident happened five years earlier, your fate was already changed."
He paused. "Actually, I don't know what the future will hold, but I hope you won't make the same mistake. When I came to see you, my time was already running out... and this meeting has completely used up all my remaining time. I only have a few minutes left."
Ji Minghuan remained silent.
"By the way, there is one more thing I must remind you of." Restricted 1001 suddenly said.
"What's up?"
"The Salvation Society today is no longer the same as the one I knew in the past."
"What do you mean?" Ji Minghuan raised his head and looked at the back of Restricted 1001.
Restricted 1001 walked forward and said, "Teacher, you must be careful of him. He will change the Savior Society in this timeline."
"According to what you said, the Mentor should have existed in the previous timeline as well. Otherwise, how could Puppet Father have been born?" Ji Minghuan thought for a moment. "Puppet Father is an artificial human created using the Mentor's genes. Without the Mentor, Puppet Father wouldn't have appeared."
"I can only tell you that because the Old Jingmai Street incident happened six years earlier, many things have been changed. And Mentor was among those who were altered. This variable directly affected the nature of the entire Salvation Society." Restricted 1001 paused for a moment. "I only discovered this after I sent you to the Salvation Society... It was my mistake."
Ji Minghuan frowned and said with emotion, "You really are the best riddle solver in the world."
Restricted 1001 was silent for a moment. "Anyway, I've said everything I need to say. The rest is up to you to decide."
"Do you trust me so much?" Ji Minghuan asked in a low voice, "If that stupid penguin dies again, won't I still have to travel through time to find her like you did?"
"No, my time travel was a gamble, but I won and only traveled to a hundred years ago. As for you... well, even if you traveled to the Jurassic period, it wouldn't be surprising."
"Why?"
"You have a bad character." Restricted 1001 said lightly.
"Haha, a beast that destroyed the earth is saying that I have bad character. I'll just pretend I didn't hear it."
Restricted 1001 ignored his teasing and continued, "Secondly... you don't have the 'Immortal Man' body. Your Unit 4 chose the Nian Beast, so you can't do the same thing as me. Do you understand?"
"The latter reason is well-founded and cannot be refuted." Ji Minghuan shrugged.
"In short, everything has changed." Restricted 1001 said softly, "Don't get your hopes up. This is your first chance, and it will also be your last."
"Okay, I understand." Ji Minghuan took a deep breath. "Do you really think I can do it? You've screwed me over so badly, and you still won't give me a chance to reload the game."
"I don't know." Restricted 1001 shook his head. "Let me put it this way... Actually, I don't care what happens to you. As long as I can see that girl again, I'll be satisfied."
Ji Minghuan raised his head and silently looked at the back of Restricted Level 1001.
After a moment, he spoke, "You and Theresa are so alike. Have you been infected by the old woman who lives a long life chasing love? She says the same thing every day, saying... as long as she can see you, she will be satisfied. I look exactly like you. If she mistakes me for you, won't she fall in love with someone else?"
Restricted 1001 said nonchalantly, "If you see Theresa, tell her I'm sorry for you."
"I see..." Ji Minghuan dragged out his voice, "Before you die, can't you find a way to help me remove the inhibitor? Or maybe you can find a way to rescue me from the Salvation Society now, and then everything will be fine, right?"
"I've already said it. I lost most of my abilities years ago, leaving me practically useless," Restricted 1001 said. "I've only preserved my last bit of psychic ability just so I can say these words to you."
He walked forward, "And now my goal has been achieved... My true form will soon disappear. This is the first time we meet, and it will also be the last time we meet."
Restricted 1001 lowered his voice, "Protect her, Ji Minghuan, this is my request."
Ji Minghuan was silent, stopped, and looked up at his back.
The back of Restricted 1001 walked further and further away on the corridor of time, and his footsteps never stopped, becoming lighter and lighter, and more and more blurred.
Ji Minghuan turned his head and looked at the fragments of memories on the curtain wall. The young boy walked alone on the glacier, played the violin alone under the Eiffel Tower, watched people coming and going on the brightly lit street, walked alone on the train tracks, and stared at the clear sky in a daze.
For many years, he traveled to many countries, but he was always alone, walking alone in the long time, chasing that vague phantom, whose existence he didn't even know.
How lonely does one have to be to persevere? Ji Minghuan wondered.
When he came to his senses, the figure of Restricted Level 1001 had almost disappeared. He had never stopped from beginning to end. Not even once.
"Is it possible... that your spirit can actually remain in my mind, just like the red dragon Wales." Ji Minghuan suddenly said, staring at his back.
"No..." Restricted Level 1001 was silent for a moment and stopped. "The rules of this world are that homologues are not allowed to stay in one place."
"Is there another way?"
"What do you want to say?" The restricted voice of 1001 floated over from a distance.
His back became increasingly blurred, turning into a faint fluorescent light, and the entire corridor of memory seemed to be collapsing.
"Something like a fusion of minds?" Ji Minghuan said, "We're one person to begin with, so there shouldn't be any rejection if we merge our minds... I was just kidding."
Restricted Level 1001 was slightly startled, then slowly turned around.
Across the long river of time and memory, two similar figures looked at each other from afar.
"Are you serious?" Restricted 1001 was silent for a long time and asked softly.
"What else?"
"There's no chance of regret."
"I know, but I can't do it again like you can."
"I've never seen anyone act so recklessly."
"Aren't you scolding yourself? So what's your answer, man? Stop dithering. What's the difference between you and the diaper demon?"
"Okay... then I agree with you."
The moment the words fell, the entire memory corridor collapsed, and the blurry figure in the distance turned into a fluorescent light and rushed towards Ji Minghuan.
Immediately afterwards, Ji Minghuan's eyes went dark and he slowly lost consciousness.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
