Someone behind him urged him onward.
No one could be seen, only a voice heard.
After a brief hesitation, he strode forward.
Running toward a future that would never be interrupted.
"One minute remaining."
"..."
The music remained unchanged, and all living things continued onward.
Even 001's relentless countdown failed to hasten a single beat of this symphony.
Because it was enough.
"10, 9..."
The song ended, the crowd dispersed, and the world fell silent as it journeyed from the past into the future.
Ye Chang'an wore a faint smile, crimson blood concealing the face that had once captivated all living beings.
He did not know whether the other side of the world could continue functioning normally. He could only offer them his blessings with everything he had.
The last of his strength...
In every record player of the new world, he placed a record of Chang'an Melody.
"1, 0."
"Pop~" Like a bursting bubble, everything in the old world vanished.
The simulation ended. Everything was wiped clean.
Only Ye Chang'an, someone who did not belong to the old world, drifted through the starry sky and witnessed the new world settle safely into the old world's orbit.
So the starry sky truly existed beyond the simulation.
The system's limits seemed unable to contain the concept of a universe.
He wanted to laugh.
"You just destroyed a civilization. The End has been activated."
001 spoke softly. Then a beam of white light shot out from the moon, enveloping the entire new Earth.
Human civilization had failed its trial. The End initiated a restart.
The Authority of Time.
But the Authority of Time could not erase the world Ye Chang'an had recreated through his authority. It could only turn back time within a limited range.
That range was Ye Chang'an's age.
Twenty-four years and one hundred eleven days.
The new world still existed, and it had a future beyond that point.
"..." Ye Chang'an was speechless. He wanted to laugh, yet could not.
Because he was being reclaimed by the End.
The End's restart would reclaim every Arbiter Core, and he himself was an Arbiter Core.
He wanted to resist, but he had no strength left.
So this is my death.
Withered branches split apart
A single leaf awakened it
The sea's nourishment returned
The tree watched and waited for it to bloom
Elysia, Elysia
The world is waiting for your embrace
001: "The stars and moon send forth God's daughter. She is willing to become humanity's companion."
"Then who is God, and who is human?"
"They are both that forgotten him."
But 001 still remembered him.
It remembered the one who, with a human body and divine power, turned falsehood into reality.
It remembered the one who used music and a faint trace of Herrscher of Knowledge Authority to send all living beings from the past into the future.
Tai Xu Chapter · Section One: What Lies Beyond the End of Death?
What did it feel like to be reclaimed by the Cocoon of the End?
Ye Chang'an did not know.
He passed out halfway through.
After an unknown amount of time, his consciousness gradually returned.
His five senses revived. He became aware of his body's existence, as well as the warm touch beside him.
Where is this?
He did not know. He tried to feel around, slowly moving his arm and fingers.
He touched smooth skin, then a gently rising chest.
A chest? And these little...
He jolted awake and abruptly opened his eyes, only to see a red-haired girl sleeping beside him.
Eden?
No, it was not.
Distant memories resurfaced, and he recalled the eight years before entering the simulation.
"Damn, it's Su Mei."
He cursed in astonishment. The girl sleeping beside him was Chi Yuan's second disciple, Su Mei, who had gone up Tai Xu Mountain the same year as him but was three years older.
"That's impossible!"
001 had clearly said that he had left the simulation. It was impossible for him to return to Tai Xu Mountain.
So this had to be a dream.
But Su Mei should not have appeared even in a dream.
Ye Chang'an could not figure it out. Wanting to confirm it, he viciously pinched Su Mei's cheek.
Then Su Mei woke up, her delicate brows shooting up as she glared angrily at him.
"What are you doing?"
"...Did that hurt?" Not knowing how to answer, Ye Chang'an chose to ask a question in return.
Then Su Mei pinched him back hard.
"You tell me. Did it hurt?"
All right, it hurt a lot.
Ye Chang'an was certain this was not a dream, but that certainty only left him more confused.
How would someone who had already chosen death feel after failing to die?
It was complicated.
As his expression shifted unpredictably, Su Mei reached out and touched his forehead, asking with a hint of concern,
"Chang'an, are you okay? Do you still have a low fever?"
She felt his forehead's temperature, found it seemingly normal, and let out a sigh of relief.
"Looks like you're fine now. You scared me to death."
"...I had a low fever?" Ye Chang'an asked, wanting to know what exactly had happened to him.
"Of course. When I went to find you, you were already unconscious. You were barely even breathing."
Su Mei recounted what had happened that day, though to Ye Chang'an, it had happened twenty-four years ago.
Back then, after activating the system and beginning the simulation, he had been lying on the bed in his room. He fell asleep as soon as he entered the simulation.
Normally, he would wake up after the simulation ended, like waking from a dream after sleeping.
But he had failed to wake the next morning. Having left the simulation, he had become a living corpse.
Su Mei had come to call him for dinner. When she could not wake him, she touched him and panicked in fright.
With Lin Zhaoyu and Chi Yuan away from the mountain, Su Mei was the oldest child on the mountain and had the responsibility of caring for the several seven- and eight-year-old children.
But no matter how clever eleven-year-old Su Mei was, she did not know how to treat an illness. Thinking that Ye Chang'an's low fever and low body temperature meant he needed warming up, she found every blanket she could and piled them over him.
But blankets alone were not enough, so she dragged several junior sisters over to warm the bed with him.
On Ye Chang'an's other side slept a pair of twins, along with seven-year-old Cheng Ling Shuang.
A true case of everyone sleeping beneath one huge blanket.
"Good thing you're all right. If something had really happened to you, I'm afraid Senior Sister would've gone crazy."
Su Mei muttered to herself. Ye Chang'an sighed silently, then got up from the bed.
"Where are you going?"
"It's stuffy. I'm going out for some air."
Ye Chang'an answered casually, put on his shoes, and prepared to leave. He had barely taken one step before falling over.
"Thud~"
Seeing him sprawled on the floor, unable to get back up, Su Mei was speechless. She put on her clothes and shoes, then helped him to his feet.
"I'll take you outside. You've been unconscious for two or three days and haven't eaten anything. You can't walk."
She was quite kind. Ye Chang'an did not refuse and thanked her.
"Eh? You actually said thank you. That's really rare."
Su Mei was surprised and found Ye Chang'an's thanks strange.
After all, she had been on the mountain since she was three and had watched Ye Chang'an grow from a milk-fed infant into who he was now. She knew him fairly well.
If she had to give an overall assessment, it would probably be—an innocent little hooligan.
He had poor manners and loved taking liberties with people. The girls on the mountain had suffered no shortage of his groping.
As for Immortal Chi Yuan... were they sure Chi Yuan could even be considered a girl?
In short, Ye Chang'an used to be a little hooligan. He loved talking, laughing, and tickling people, and he would stubbornly deny everything afterward.
Su Mei had never seen him act polite before.
Of course, none of them disliked his lack of manners. They had grown up together, after all. If he were truly polite, it would instead make them feel distant from him.
At least, Su Mei felt that Ye Chang'an was rather distant from her now.
"There's nothing strange about it. Please take me to sit in the courtyard, then get me something to eat." Ye Chang'an shook his head, unwilling to say more.
"Tsk, how odd. Why does it feel like Chang'an has become a completely different person?" Su Mei muttered as she went to get food. Ye Chang'an did not hear her, and even if he had, he would not have cared.
Ye Chang'an looked up at the stars in the night sky, his gaze complicated and flickering.
Before you continue