dognovel Chapter 111 I am "fake," but you are not.
Chapter 111 I am "fake," but you are not.
"...That's how it happened."
"After clearing away the debris, I found you in the snowdrift. Your body was so cold... I almost thought you were dead too."
"But you still have a faint heartbeat, so I used my resonance ability to start a fire to warm you up..."
That's roughly how things went.
Sitting by the fire, after listening briefly to Duan Li's account of what had happened, Mo Wunian roughly understood his situation.
Perhaps because of a sudden epiphany, I've moved to another point in time.
It was truly a miracle that His Majesty didn't stop him.
Fortunately, my emotions stabilized, and the restlessness was suppressed once again, allowing me to interact with people normally again.
"Thank you so much, Duanli. Without you, I'm afraid I would have frozen to death there."
"No, no, I should thank you for treating my injuries, big brother. But how did you end up here?"
"Besides the homeless and the remnants of the past... there shouldn't be anyone coming here, right?"
When this was mentioned, the person could only sigh helplessly.
"It's a long story; I got here by accident."
"This place is completely unfamiliar to me; I have no idea what to do."
"...Is that so? Then I can take you to a safer place. I know a road that leads to another safe village."
"Thank you very much."
He reached out and grasped Duanli's hand. Seeing that the other person still seemed a little worried about getting hurt, he simply smiled and waved his unharmed hand again to reassure them.
"By the way, you should know that if you don't control your resonance ability properly, it can hurt you, right?"
"Furthermore, based on my assessment just now... if you continue to use your resonance ability so carelessly, you'll shorten your lifespan."
"……I know"
"But if I don't use my abilities, I'll be eaten by the afterimages... or killed by bad guys..."
"What's the point of having a long lifespan if I don't live past this age?"
"I want to live, to become a powerful adult, and to be able to control my powers properly so that I can protect those who once protected me!"
"At that time... a prosperous and peaceful era will surely not be far off."
"...What a magnificent dream."
Seeing the little child beside me with such a grand dream, I felt truly ashamed of myself.
"...Wait? There's an afterimage?!"
"Big brother, be careful!"
Pulling Duanli aside quickly, they narrowly avoided the attack of the afterimage. Seeing the afterimage surrounding them, Duanli was about to rush forward and use her resonance ability when Mo Wunian stopped her.
"Although I was quite surprised that he had such awareness at such a young age..."
“But a child your age… shouldn’t have such profound awareness…”
"If even children have to resort to any means to survive... then it's our fault as adults."
"Let me do it."
Having said that, he charged forward in a flash. He could feel time standing still for a few seconds, but that was enough for him, someone who also possessed spatial abilities, to deal with these guys.
He leaped into the air and swooped down, his sword flashing gracefully in the air before swiftly cleaving the afterimage in front of him in two. With a turn, he dispatched the remaining afterimages, ending the battle in an instant.
Time resumed its flow. Looking at the devastated scene before him, then at Mo Wunian, whose clothes were only slightly dirty, Duan Li was utterly astonished, his mouth agape.
He jogged over and carefully checked to make sure the other person wasn't injured before letting out a sigh of relief. Then he looked at Mo Wunian with admiration.
"Big brother is so amazing... He defeated them so quickly..."
“It used to take me a very long time to deal with so many afterimages... I had to use my resonance ability many times…”
"I wish I could become as amazing as you."
"But I don't know anything about it... so I need to find a very skilled person to apprentice under."
Mo Wunian scratched his head a little shyly after being praised, but then looked at Duan Li and nodded affirmatively.
"Actually, I'm a prophet. I foresaw your future; everything you desire will come true."
"You will have a very capable mentor and a bright future."
"But before all that... the first thing is to survive, to live well."
"...I understand, I will try my best!"
He patted Changli's head. He really hadn't expected Changli to have such awareness at such a young age, nor had he expected that the other party had such a hard childhood.
There are always people in this world who are more unfortunate than you.
"...Why are there still some remnants that haven't been completely cleared away..."
"This is so troublesome, I have to do it again."
Turning around, he sensed another wave of afterimages surrounding him. Somewhat impatient, he gripped his sword, preparing to strike again, when suddenly his pupils dilated sharply.
In the distance from the group of afterimages, a man wearing a white hood appeared from behind. He seemed to have also noticed the monsters blocking his path, and then slowly extended his hand:
In the blink of an eye, all the monsters vanished, as if they had never existed at all, disappearing without a trace.
But this is completely different in the eyes of someone who can sense space and frequency—
He saw that the person merely extended their hand slightly, and the surrounding space was effortlessly manipulated and compressed. The frequencies emanating from the remaining elephants were completely dissipated and compressed into this space.
You know, even he finds it difficult to do this now, but it seems that person has gotten used to doing it.
so scary
The person clearly noticed them as well, briefly glancing over Bian Li before quickly fixing their gaze on him.
He was so under scrutiny that he didn't dare to move an inch. The intense pressure rendered him speechless, and he could only endure the other person's examination.
When they came to their senses again, the person had already walked up to them and had taken off his hood.
"She looks just like her older brother..."
"...exactly the same"
Mo Wunian stared intently at the person before him, whose expression was as calm as still water, not daring to relax his guard in the slightest.
The person in front of me is exactly the same as him except for his white hair!
They're even the same height!
This is another version of myself... not like the hallucinations that appeared before.
"Mo Wunian? Or Mo Wunian?"
"...No, none of those are true."
"Which timeline of mine are you?"
"!!!"
He frowned instantly, glancing back at Duan Li, but suddenly realized that time had stood still for him without his noticing. His guard instantly went on high alert.
"...So you're admitting we're the same person?"
It depends on how you look at it.
"If you're willing to see yourself on the timeline as someone else... then you are not me, and I am not you."
"But if you insist on seeing those lines as yourself... then we are the same person."
The other party didn't seem surprised that Mo Wunian would ask such a question, or perhaps he already knew the answers to many questions and was unlikely to be affected by anything anymore.
"...If that's the case, won't our collision cause some kind of time paradox?"
"Logically speaking—it should happen."
"So what's going on now?"
"do not know"
"?"
"It's simple. We have no clues or intelligence right now, so it's normal that we don't know."
"You just admit it like that?"
"I've never liked pretending to know what I don't. You can fool others, but you can't fool yourself."
"Of course, if one day I have to fabricate lies to achieve my desired goal... I think that might be a good approach."
"You're a little scary, buddy."
He was somewhat startled by his own appearance; he couldn't understand why he looked like this, given the words and the aura the other person exuded.
Calm, rational—these are clearly insane words, but the way they're spoken makes it seem like the person in front of you is actually capable of doing it…
A very rational madman
The man looked at Mo Wunian's appearance and chuckled softly, a rare occurrence, but the laugh revealed a hint of sorrow and helplessness, as if he had seen something extremely amusing.
"It's been so long... since I've seen myself like this."
"If I couldn't detect that you are me... I would seriously doubt whether you are a continuation of my unique identity."
The person slowly approached Mo Wunian. When he instinctively tried to move away, he found himself completely paralyzed, unable to move an inch and forced to let the other person touch him.
The person didn't do anything excessive; they simply touched his forehead with their finger and then withdrew it after a short while.
"Alright, I have a lead now."
"It seems something went wrong afterwards, which led to my elimination."
"No wonder there was no time paradox when the two of us collided."
"What do you mean? What do you mean by 'you've been wiped out'?"
Seeing that Mo Wunian looked somewhat puzzled, the person simply nodded calmly, then turned their head to look at the distant snow scene.
What do you think constitutes the basic elements of a person?
"……life?"
"No, what constitutes a person..."
"It is all his experiences and memories."
"???"
Don't look so confused, the reason is very simple.
"Take the person next to you as an example."
"If she had grown up in an environment where she had no worries about food and clothing and was spoiled by her parents, do you think her lifespan would have been shortened?"
"At an age when normal children should be carefree, is she already thinking about so many things?"
Would she stop at nothing to survive?
His gaze shifted from that person to Duan Li beside him, whose normally emotionless eyes now revealed sorrow and pain:
But in those eyes he saw not just one person's suffering, but the figures of millions upon millions, countless people struggling in their cries of despair.
The same figure, yet those eyes held countless possible endings.
An endless future and an unfulfilled destiny unfolded within that person, but the prospect of a new, bright world remained elusive.
"……Won't"
"The rest is easy to explain."
"Experiences shape a life into different forms."
"Leading different lives to different ends"
"If a person loses all their experiences and all the memories of those experiences... I would say that person is dead."
"Because no matter how hard he tries afterward... he can never go back to the way he was before."
"...So you mean...I've lost all my experiences and my past?"
"Yes, that's exactly how it is according to my reasoning."
It's blown up, it's really blown up this time. He used to think that his amnesia could be reversed, but now it's telling him that there's no possibility of recovery.
What are you playing?
"Then what about you? If you've already been eliminated, why are you here?"
"Because I am false, a fabrication He has created."
"...? Wasn't I the rational person I used to be? You never even thought about replacing me?"
"Ah……"
He looked up and saw the person in front of him smile. The white hair reflected a cold light under the illumination, revealing not a trace of warmth.
Does it really matter if it's true or false?
"For us, distinguishing too clearly between true and false is often not a rational choice."
"And with my utterly terrible life... no one wants to take the fall for me."
"And if I take your place... then who will save them? Who will fulfill the deal I made by exchanging two lifetimes?"
"...From what you're saying, you must know what happened before."
You'll tell me, right?
Hearing what the person in front of him said, Mo Wunian didn't know how to continue the conversation:
Although he admitted that his life was indeed terrible... it wasn't really that bad, was it?
There must be people in this world more unfortunate than himself. While he laments his own life, there may be even more unfortunate people suffering greater hardships.
"I think that's why He projected me out, right?"
As for whether or not I'll tell you that fact...
"If it were just the beginning, I might have told you."
"But when I saw the handwriting left by that child, I thought about it and decided to let it go."
"???"
Looking at the person in front of him with a puzzled expression, he noticed a rare hint of gentleness. He couldn't quite figure out who could elicit such an expression from someone as rational yet irrational as himself.
"Since that child wants to play, I'll play with him a little longer."
"So you're not going to tell me?"
"right"
"You really know how to make me laugh."
"To be precise, we're both clowns."
"..."
He rolled his eyes at the other person, not wanting to pay them any more attention. After all, he realized he could move again. He turned his head away, not wanting to look at the other person, but then he heard the person speak slowly, saying what he needed most right now.
Don't you want to go back?
"Back to that mirage"
"...Can you help me?"
"almost"
"Although I am a fake, my mastery of this power far surpasses yours."
"And you, as the real me... probably won't need much effort to understand the principle behind it."
"What's the use of just talking? Get to work!"
He had barely finished speaking when he saw that person appear before him, then reach out a small hand into the air and snatch a pill—
"Hey buddy, why did you steal my pills?!"
“You interfered with Changli’s destiny without permission. After you left, I have to find a way to make things right…”
"Or rather, make a bigger scene."
"I'll use this life-extending pill you gave her. For them, the longer they live, the greater their chances."
"And you better remember this."
You are a "variable," not a "hope."
Your every action has more than just the potential to change someone else's destiny.
"It's more likely that one of your decisions, one choice, could lead to the deaths of tens of thousands of people."
They are all human beings, and they will all die.
Every plan and decision you make... will have implications for the final outcome of this world.
"You're not unaware that you possess the ability to reincarnate..."
"And within this cycle of reincarnation, those events truly occurred."
Everything that happened between you and me... was real.
"I am fake, you are real."
"Our experiences and memories, all the mistakes we made..."
"They all exist."
The space suddenly trembled violently, and my vision was instantly filled with garbled text, like a raging torrent of numbers.
At the same time, the illusion of giant waves and ocean surges swept in overwhelmingly, leaving no room for defense. Just as they were about to be swallowed up, another person, in that instant, untangled all the intricate threads.
He lost his footing and plummeted once more into the sea where illusion and reality intertwined, a sense of helplessness and bewilderment washing over him.
But he saw it clearly.
The reflection in that sea is him, already reduced to fragments, countless versions of him.
He reached out, and the golden streak of light reappeared, moving forward through the deep sea, while he relentlessly pursued it until the scene before him changed.
(Ding! The 297th review has been approved.)
(Transfer of power – Ascension –)