350 Wasteland Tide

"I've brought the man to you, Enrique."

Li Aoz had barely stepped into the Dojo, not even having crossed the threshold, when the quiet, dimly lit world was instantly illuminated. A series of Cyan Flame reignited the candlelight, revealing everything inside to Li Aoz.

The Dojo were magnificent, filled with all sorts of rare and exotic decorations. Animals rushed in, instantly transforming into human form, becoming boys and girls, who naturally picked up musical instruments from all around, playing songs and dancing. As a shrine, there wasn't even a clay shrine here, only a Prayer Mat upon which sat a small, strange beast.

Mirrid lit an incense stick, sat quietly cross-legged to the side, and gestured for Li Aoz to face the strange beast.

"You must have come here for it too, Mr. Lioz from the From the Star Abyss."

Li Aoz stepped forward and examined the strange beast.

It is about 30 centimeters tall, with three fluffy tails like squirrels. Its moon-colored fur is fresh and bright, which is mesmerizing. Its head looks like a combination of a fox and a white tiger, with bluish-gray stripes slowly radiating a charming glow.

It is called a mythical beast because its body radiates a dazzling, jewel-like glow, and its sacred and flawless aura is vast and awe-inspiring. Accompanied by the singing and dancing of young girls and children, Li Aoz felt as if he had entered a heavenly kingdom.

Li Aoz calmed himself down, stepped forward, and glanced at the children around him, who were engrossed in singing and dancing, their behavior quite different from when they had transformed into animals and were fighting for food.

At this moment, their faces were rosy, and they seemed unaware of hunger.

He turned to look at the strange beast and asked, "Are you the Qualia-Direction?"

The strange beast did not answer; instead, it raised its paw, covered its face, and asked softly:

"Visitor from Star Abyss, what brings you here?"

Its jade-green eyes gleamed with green light. As soon as Li Aoz activated the [Eye of Truth] to try and peer into it, his vision was immediately filled with a massive amount of useless information.

"That's true... [Eye of Truth] is too low-grade. It's useless against stealth targets, and it's definitely even less useful against targets Origin Species."

This action seemed to confirm the other party's identity, but Li Aoz did not give a clear answer.

In his mind, the task of Qualia-Direction was an extremely troublesome and difficult long-term routine. If Qualia-Direction seized the initiative, it would be easy to become the other party's laborer and get free labor.

Besides... the protagonist of [Flower of Void] is Mirrid standing next to him, not the Qualia-Direction.

Li Aoz sensed something, but couldn't draw a conclusion yet.

So, instead of stating his demands, he pointed at the group of young girls engrossed in singing and dancing and questioned them:

"Did you turn them into this? First into animals, then into these walking corpses..."

"If I hadn't intervened, they wouldn't be alive today."

The Qualia-Direction Enrique, its voice sounding like that of a young child, clear and possessing a serene quality that could purify the soul.

In terms of status, both the Qualia-Direction and the entropy are primordial beings that existed at the very beginning of the universe, and are even comparable to the First Star Abyss.

Unlike the tyrannical and unpredictable Entropy Lord, the Qualia-Direction a shy and reserved personality. It is afraid of strangers and does not reject civilized beings like the Entropy Lord.

Li Aoz wasn't sure if the other party was the same Primal Qualia-Direction the player had encountered in the previous life, since a major characteristic of Origin Species is that they have no name and no fixed form.

In the era in which they were born, even the concepts of 'nothingness' and 'eternity' had not yet emerged.

In the chaotic era, motion is not constant, nothingness is not pure emptiness, darkness allows for the perception of things, and light cannot even illuminate space.

"You turn them into beasts and rotting flesh obsessed with faith... is that what you call saving them?"

Li Aoz asked.

"Even if I don't turn them into animals, humans will still kill each other and climb to the top by stepping on each other, just like animals. Even if I don't do this, when they grow up, they will start to numb themselves with various religious beliefs or alcohol, just like rotting flesh."

Qualia-Direction answered his question calmly:

"If it's possible to achieve this in one step, why do humans stubbornly cling to these images?"

Li Aoz replied, "Because they are human..."

"Humans always like to be the superman among ordinary people, sometimes by wielding power, sometimes by intelligence, sometimes by force, and sometimes by wealth. But when humanity falls into a trough, it no longer praises the idea of 'survival of the fittest'."

Qualia-Direction said, "If you like power so much, why don't you just turn it into power itself?"

The body is meaningless; no matter how much you exercise and become strong, it will decay and rot. The mind is also meaningless; no matter how much you read and cultivate your character, it will wither and die.

Procreation is meaningless. No matter how long your bloodline continues, even for thousands of generations, they will not remember you, and may even curse you. History is even more meaningless. Human history is just a small group of people inciting a large group of people to die, and then calling it a "great cause," but one empire after another is always conquered and destroyed by its own people.

"Since you are all destined to be destroyed in the end, why don't you just step into destruction directly?"

[Your Worldview has been corrupted, and a mental check is underway. Your [Willpower] attribute is too low...]

[Specialty: "Compulsive and Autocratic" activated!]

[Charm] pass the test.

[Your Worldview has been detected - Materialism: You are immune to this psychological shock]

You can combat nihilism in the following ways:

A: "Maybe all of this is meaningless, but at least in this moment of my existence, I need food, water, and things to sustain my life. As for what the meaning is, I'll think about that after I've filled the void of material things."

—Realism triumphs +1.2%B: "Yes, how pathetic! It's all a disaster without any cause. I wish the whole world would be destroyed soon."

—Nihilism triumphs +10%C: "No, it's not meaningless. Just like the sunrise and sunset, without the process in between, we can't record the passage of time. Without the process of growth and aging, no one would cherish youth and the years. In my opinion, perhaps everything is meaningless, but the process from birth to nothingness... it's beautiful, isn't it?"

—The series of questions surrounding the victory of Romanticism (+5.3%), along with the impact on Worldview, caused dozens of signs of mental corruption to flash across Li Aoz's panel in an instant.

After thinking for a moment, Li Aoz did not choose A, which best suited him, but instead chose C:

Have you ever seen fireworks? (Qualia-Direction)

"In my years, I have seen countless stars go to their doom. They shine brightly throughout their lives, but to me they are just a fleeting moment, gone without a trace."

Qualia-Direction said calmly:

"Even the sun will eventually go out. Its entire life depends on burning hydrogen in its core to produce nuclear fusion, which generates light and heat. It also relies on the enormous energy produced by the reaction to counteract the collapsing gravity and maintain its stability."

"After everything is burned away, it will become Red Giant Star and be crushed by its own weight, just like you humans, who will be killed by high blood pressure and heart disease, and the temperature will keep dropping."

"When it no longer has the energy to support the high temperatures of nuclear fusion, the Red Giant Star will gradually cool down, and the gas that has spread out will form a nebula. Eventually, it will transform from a blazing jewel into a white dwarf shrouded in a vast fog."

"Stars have a lifespan of hundreds of billions of years, surpassing almost all other life forms. Even if you exhaust the efforts of tens of millions of civilizations and endure countless wars, famines, upheavals, and plagues, you will still not see the sun fall."

"Although you put it in a very sophisticated way, with a kind of hazy, technological beauty that transcends an undergraduate degree, I'm sorry, what I asked was—'fireworks'."

Li Aoz blinked. "Don't you think fireworks are beautiful?"

"Beauty has no meaning."

The Qualia-Direction of voice conveys a sense of utter despair.

"No beauty can withstand the test of time and space, and time itself does not exist. Time and beauty are both limited by your subjective perception and feelings; they do not exist and have no meaning."

"Don't say so much. Just tell me, when you see the sun fall, collapsing from Red Giant Star into a white dwarf, or see gamma-ray bursts shimmering in stardust, and bubbles of vacuum decay surging one after another—what would you think?"

Li Aoz remained unconcerned and continued speaking.

"It's meaningless. Objective existence will not change because of my subjective feelings. Neither you nor I, our will is meaningless."

Qualia-Direction a deep voice:

"The consequence of going against the laws of nature is that you will fail again and again. Nothing in this world can stop the fate of destruction. You come from the Star Abyss. Perhaps enslaving the gods makes you feel gratified. Perhaps you can become a god by working hard and make you feel proud. Perhaps the Narrative Civilization controls time and space and makes you despise the mortal world and dare to challenge the world."

"Then let me tell you a painful truth."

As it spoke, it slowly rose from the Prayer Mat: "No one can transcend the rules. The more you try to challenge the rules, the more you actually step into the Star Abyss's framework for you. Your constant battles with the rules are just the Star Abyss selecting cannon fodder and slaves."

"Billions of years ago, Star Abyss fished out batches of infants from the chaos, gave them a 'name' as a promise, and tricked them into following the Timeline to fight an invincible enemy. Then he gave them the title of 'gods,' which was actually no different from filling the timeline to their deaths."

"Billions of years later, Star Abyss is still selecting batches of children. They are younger and more arrogant, and their numbers increase exponentially. They are fooled by narratives and civilization into ' Ascend to Godhood '. They go to fight against all kinds of enemies, and eventually die and disappear. Only a very few people are qualified to become gods—becoming cannon fodder and slaves of Star Abyss."

With Qualia-Direction jade, he looked at Li Aoz: "Tell me, whoever controls the power of gravity, what brings you here?"

"If you yearn to ascend to godhood and obtain authority from me, then get out of here. Even if I did, your narrow-mindedness would only lead you to your death on the path to godhood."

"If you yearn to save all living beings and liberate Dragon Satellite from the void, then get out of here. Your actions will only pollute this planet, causing this once peaceful and pure land to be tainted by the Dao again, becoming a victim of the Star Abyss's breeding ground for venomous creatures. Countless people will be trapped in infighting and never rise again."

"If you have simply stumbled upon this place by mistake, then I will personally escort you away, erase all your memories, and grant you some of your power. This planet will quietly dissolve into nothingness amidst the waves of the void, no longer subject to any enslavement."