Chapter 100 Death Copy
The dazzling white light made Xie Liang's eyelids tremble uncontrollably, and his body seemed to be gently shaken by someone.
"Xiaoliang, Xiaoliang..." There was a hint of strangeness in the voice, and after listening carefully, it made people feel full of worry.
Xie Liang's eyelids felt heavy, and a feeling of fatigue spread throughout his body, making him want to fall asleep.
He forced his eyes open a crack, and his reason returned instantly - he should be dead!
He remembered that it rained heavily on the night he died. Under the siege of the villagers, he, Lü Bubu, and Niu Dadan gradually lost their strength. Niu Dadan was first thrown off the altar by the two powerful villagers, and then he was thrown off the altar.
Just when he was left with only the last bit of consciousness after being eaten by thousands of insects, he saw Lu Bubu lying on the edge of the round hole under the heavy rain, shouting at him with a face full of grief.
The rainwater flowed into the bottom of the altar, soaking Xie Liang's flesh, which had been eaten away and was incomplete.
The centipede larvae were even more excited about him being soaked in rainwater, and they began to gnaw on his remaining flesh at a faster speed.
It turned out that the reason why the eight descenders were soaked in water and then thrown into the bottom of the altar was simply because these centipede larvae liked food soaked in water.
Xie Liang remembered the last scene where Lu Bubu, in a rage, hugged the two extremely powerful villagers and fell to the bottom of the altar together. The dense and countless centipede larvae instantly submerged them after they hit the bottom.
"Xiaoliang... Xiaoliang..." The somewhat strange and worried voice was still calling him softly.
Xie Liang slowly opened his eyes, and the blurry figure in front of him gradually became clear.
There was a red, miniature version of the vortex gate symbol between the man's eyebrows, and the symbol was static.
The man's facial shape, facial features, and eyebrows were very similar to the familiar Xu He, but his aura was different - the man's aura was cold and solemn, while Xu He's aura was gentle and steady.
"I..." Xie Liang's voice was very hoarse and his body was very weak, as if he had just recovered from a serious illness.
"You're fine." The man said as he helped Xie Liang sit up on the bed.
Only then did Xie Liang realize that he was in a pure white square space. There was only a white chair and a white bed in this space. Apart from that, the surroundings were empty and there was no other furniture.
Xie Liang was lying on the white bed, and Su Yubai was sitting cross-legged on the white floor under his bed!
Su Yubai was holding a bronze mirror with a carved border in her hand, looking at him with a wronged look.
Xie Liang looked at everything in front of him with unfamiliar eyes, looking at the man who looked like Xu He and Su Yubai.
The man who looked like Xu He sat down gently beside the bed. His eyes softened as he looked at Xie Liang: "I am Xu He, your lover."
"You..." Xie Liang wanted to ask where this was and why he was here, but he ended up asking, "Who are you?"
"I'm Xu He, the guardian of the Whirlpool Gate." Xu He said, holding Xie Liang's cold hand, "Forgive me."
"I don't understand," Xie Liang said, "Why are you with me..." It turned out that he had been kept in the dark, and like all the adventers, he knew nothing and was fooled by the Vortex Gate, and even lost his life for it.
Xie Liang's voice was soft and filled with infinite sadness.
Xu He felt a pain in his eyes and closed them instantly. When he opened them again, they had regained their composure and he reached out his hand towards Su Yubai who was sitting cross-legged at the edge of the bed.
Su Yubai stood up and handed the bronze mirror to Xu He, then turned into a wisp of black smoke and entered Xu He's body.
Seeing Xie Liang's astonished look, Xu He explained, "He is my clone that I created when I was bored. One time, while I was repairing the vortex gate, he slipped into the human world and met you..."
Xu He put the bronze mirror into Xie Liang's hand and said, "Hold it, think about the questions in your heart, and it will give you the answers."
Thinking of Lu Bubu's mournful look on the rainy night, Xie Liang couldn't help but want to know what happened to Lu Bubu.
A picture suddenly appeared in the bronze mirror: after Lu Bubu fell to the bottom of the jar, a swarm of centipede larvae instantly drilled into his clothes, crawled all over his body, and soon ate him clean, leaving only an empty bright red skeleton.
Xie Liang felt a pain in his heart and tears began to fall.
Seeing this, Xu He went forward and hugged him. Xie Liang felt even more heartbroken and pushed Xu He away fiercely.
Xie Liang looked at Xu He with cold eyes, as if he had never known Xu He before.
Xu He was stunned, his eyes filled with pain: "Xiao Liang... I can change all these... As long as you... As long as you are still willing to follow me——"
Xie Liang interrupted him: "Can I be alone for a while?"
Xu He's eyes dimmed and he stood up: "I'll come back when you understand everything." After he said that, he walked towards the wall on one side, opened a pure white door, walked out and closed the door.
After Xu He left, Xie Liang held the edge of the bronze mirror with both hands, wanting to know what happened after his death.
The image in the bronze mirror remained at the bottom of the altar, seemingly still in his perspective. He wondered if Shi Xiaoyin had returned to the real world alive.
At this time, the image in the bronze mirror changed to Shi Xiaoyin's perspective.
It is hard to tell in the picture whether it is dawn or dusk. It is raining heavily and the sky and the earth are vast.
The river water rose as high as a flood of Jinshan Mountain, and the surging river water submerged the altar, leaving only the top.
On the stairs of the altar and on the ground at the top, there were many bodies of villagers lying in a mess. The wounds on their bodies were the same - sword wounds. They were killed by Xu He by slitting their necks!
Xu He was soaked by the heavy rain and sat leaning against the oval boulder of the altar. His eyes were red and he held an empty skeleton in his arms - that was the only skeleton left after Xie Liang was eaten by centipede larvae.
In the heavy rain, Xu He stood motionless, like a statue.
Shi Xiaoyin just stared at him blankly. The water level continued to rise. The village had been flooded by heavy rain. From time to time, villagers holding driftwood were pushed over by the current.
Shi Xiaoyin seemed oblivious to what was happening. She stood there quietly with the skeleton of Lu Bubu at her feet.
The center of the altar was filled with water, and the water level rose and overflowed, spreading.
A large number of centipede larvae floated on the water, forming a black mass and swimming around in all directions.
The water level was rising, and the river had already submerged the entire village. The water slowly flooded over Xu He's ankles, knees, and chest.
In Shi Xiaoyin's last sight, there was a vast expanse of turbid water.
Could it be that she was also drowned? Thinking of this, Xie Liang couldn't wait to know if anyone had returned to the real world alive.
No! The scene was completely blank. Even until that small world was whirled into chaos by the strong wind, the bell never rang.
Xie Liang was stunned, his mind blank. Everyone was dead... Was this a game Xu He was playing? Why? If so, why was he acting so affectionately?
The image in the bronze mirror gradually changed with Xie Liang's thoughts.
In the picture, Xu He is lying on a pure white bed holding a bronze mirror. The bronze mirror in his hand shows the scene of Su Yubai and Xie Liang playing in the reservoir, and then Su Yubai drowns.
Xu He got up from the bed, took out the black dagger that Xie Liang had seen Su Yubai use, and went to the bottom of the reservoir - next to the drowned body of Su Yubai.
He picked up Su Yubai's transparent soul in his hand, brought it to the sea, and threw it down casually.
Xie Liang looked quietly at the picture in the bronze mirror, and the picture flipped rapidly.
The bronze mirror showed that from then on, Xu He often lay on the bed with the bronze mirror in his hand, observing the little Xie Liang gradually growing into the tall Xie Liang, until he entered the vortex gate, and until he was bitten to death by thousands of insects at the bottom of the altar, Xu He always observed him through the mirror.
No! Xie Liang's heart suddenly jumped!
In the life of Xie Liang in the bronze mirror, Xu He never appeared from beginning to end.
Is the Xie Liang shown in the bronze mirror the real him? And when did Xu He start to appear in his life?
The picture in the bronze mirror suddenly changed. Xu He stood in front of the vortex gate, with flashes of lightning flashing around him. He opened his arms towards the vortex gate, and an invisible force caused the current of the vortex gate to flow backwards.
After an unknown amount of time, the lightning disappeared and the vortex gate flowed downstream again. Xu He lowered his eyebrows and stepped into the vortex gate.
As if time and space had been reversed, Xu He, dressed in black, appeared at the temporary resting place where Xie Liang had first entered the vortex gate. He stared deeply at Xie Liang, who was looking around not far away.
So that's how it is. Xie Liang showed a bitter smile, it turned out that he had died a long time ago, he just died again.
Xie Liang stared blankly at himself in the mirror. He still didn't understand why the self in the mirror said the word "accept fate" when he was in that shed in the small world where he died for the last time.
Just then, Xu He reopened the door and walked in.
He was still dressed in black clothes and black pants as usual, but at this moment, his lips were tightly pursed.
Xu He walked up to Xie Liang and sat down on the bed.
He looked at the bronze mirror and said in a serious tone: "That was our bet, you lost." When he said this, there was a look of grievance on his face that was somewhat similar to Su Yubai's.
Xie Liang lowered his head to look at the bronze mirror. The picture showed Xu He coming to the bottom of the altar and finding the skeleton of the former Xie Liang.
I don’t know what Xu He did, but he pulled the soul of the previous Xie Liang out of the skeleton, and then the soul of the previous Xie Liang reached an agreement with Xu He.
Xu He: "I can bring you back to life, but the price is that you stay by my side forever."
The transparent Xie Liang in the picture shook his head.
"I will go back in time and appear in your life. If you hadn't fallen in love with me, I could lower the difficulty of all dungeons, so that your surviving companions would have a chance to survive."
This time, Xie Liang in the picture nodded slowly.
Then, Xu He took Xie Liang's soul into his palm and disappeared from the scene. However, Xu He in the scene didn't notice that as he left, a wisp of his soul leaked out of his palm, followed a deep, centipede-infested dark passage, and appeared in the simple shed, attaching itself to the bronze mirror in the stone statue's hand.
So that's how it is.
Xie Liang wondered if he was still himself now? Was he still the complete him?
Xu He, who was sitting beside the bed, seemed to see through his thoughts and stroked Xie Liang's eyebrows with his big hand.
Strands of heat flowed from Xu He's palm into his mind, and Xie Liang felt full. The memories of Xie Liang without Xu He in his life filled his mind.
After accepting all the memories, Xie Liang said sullenly, "I lost." He looked up at Xu He's eyes and said, "I lost. What are you going to do with me?"
Xu He breathed a sigh of relief, and the haze between his brows disappeared: "Be with me forever."
"Are you going to continue to be the guardian of the Vortex Gate?" Xie Liang could not accept Xu He being the guardian of this evil gate, nor could he accept watching his companions around him die one by one.
"I have no power to change what happened in the past. I will make the door disappear and turn back time to before you entered the last small world." Xu He said as he hugged Xie Liang tightly, "I'm sorry, I made you suffer..."
Xie Liang didn't push Xu He away this time. If Bubu and the others could survive... if Xu He could do it...
Then... forgive me.
Xie Liang closed his eyes resignedly and let Xu He hold him tightly.
It was a long time later that Xie Liang found out that no one had ever come out alive from the copy where he died.
That small world is called the Death Copy. It is like a bug. The Heavenly Master and the Centipede Monster are the same person, and the Descenders are the food of the centipede larvae.
The background setting of that death copy is that in the end all the participating adventers will be drowned by a sudden flood.
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