In Lu Ban's mind, the knowledge that had surged in with the melody was fragmented beyond recognition.
He could only vaguely tell that this star seemed to belong to some Great Being. It possessed power far beyond that of any god humans could imagine; even the ripples stirred by that power were enough to plunge people into eternal madness.
And now, at this very moment, within the ruins of the Jiangcheng Grand Theater, that deity's power had somehow resonated.
Reality warped, and the foundations of cognition collapsed. In mere moments, every human in the area would have their rationality completely destroyed, becoming insect-like servants.
"The Jiangcheng Grand Theater occupies a delicate position. Every so often, something like this happens."
"Du Danping may have come here for a mission, or he may simply have encountered the moment when the deity's power surged."
"Everyone here has fallen into madness and is about to become a servant of that Great Being."
"Du Danping used his performance to balance the two sides, attempting to save these people."
"However, the circuit breaker malfunctioned because of the influence. The fire spread and engulfed the theater."
"For some unknown reason, Du Danping's ghost remained here. Whenever Aldebaran lit up, he would begin to play."
"And today was the day the influence was strongest!"
Lu Ban understood.
If he remained lost in the piano music played by Du Danping's ghost, at most his consciousness might be affected to some degree, and he would eventually fall asleep. By witnessing his ghost, he should also have been able to unlock certain secrets.
But now, after knocking down Du Danping's ghost, with no one playing, the Jiangcheng Grand Theater and its surrounding area would be completely covered by Aldebaran's radiance!
"I triggered a hidden scenario and raised the difficulty of the mission."
Lu Ban could feel some violent change taking shape in the air.
His hair stood on end. This was a reaction born from humanity's most instinctive, deepest fear—a fear humans had already grasped tens of millions of years ago, before they had formed their present society.
The civilization humanity had built over thousands of years collapsed with a single glimpse of this planet from dozens of light-years away.
Knowledge was meaningless. Progress was futile. Rationality was insignificant beneath this vast, boundless starry sky.
The crowbar in Lu Ban's hand clanged to the ground.
He stared blankly at the star that was gradually becoming more colorful, more radiant, and more overwhelming to his consciousness.
That grand, immense, frigid will irreversibly destroyed Lu Ban's nerves and reason.
In the corner of his vision, the words formed from starlight trembled uncontrollably, twisting crookedly as they warned Lu Ban.
You have gazed directly at an indescribable existence
Reason -4
Reason -1
Reason -3
The little reason he had left was evaporating at a visible rate. As the numbers fell, Lu Ban felt countless bizarre images appear before his eyes.
Some showed huge, hideous worms crawling through a desert of yellow sand. Others showed monsters with several slick, black, thick tentacles lurking in the depths of the sea. Still others showed hunched humanoid monsters with malicious expressions, ice-blue skin, and bulging eyes worshiping on a stone altar.
These were sights no human could witness, record, or endure.
Lu Ban's eyes were bloodshot, his pupils dilated, and the veins on his body bulged. Blood flowed from his nose, eyes, ears, and mouth. His brain felt as though someone had thrust a red-hot iron rod into it and stirred it violently a thousand times. He could barely maintain normal function.
He knew that before becoming a servant of that Great Being, he would probably go completely mad first.
But in that fleeting instant when self-awareness emerged, a will like lightning made Lu Ban seize the last straw.
Amid Aldebaran's dazzling, multicolored radiance, beneath the spotless white veil of the Pleiades, a clear yellow die appeared before Lu Ban.
The die had ten faces, marked with the numbers zero through nine. Those numbers continuously branched out into two-digit numbers, cycling from 00 to 99. Amid that maddening radiance, the die stood unmoving, as though it had always been this way since some distant, unknowable eternity.
It possessed neither malice nor benevolence. It only followed its own laws, governing everything.
All In!
The last sliver of reason Lu Ban possessed made him use this final trump card.
The die began spinning rapidly, as though an invisible hand had picked it up and thrown it. After spinning and falling, it revealed a number like a final judgment.
Almost simultaneously, the starlight in Lu Ban's eyes twisted and refracted into words that would have been unforgettable for a lifetime.
Activate All In Luck Check Roll Result, Luck: 1/20 Critical Success
A number familiar to Lu Ban appeared on the top of the die. At the same time, a subtle change rippled through space. Lu Ban's hand, empty after dropping the crowbar, suddenly grasped something solid and slender.
He raised his hand. It was a suona.
"Playing—that's right, playing!!!"
Fortunately, Lu Ban gathered a little reason back from the storm of agony that could tear cognition apart. He gained an inspiration that might have been called divine revelation in religious scripture.
Through playing, it was possible to suppress the influence of that Great Being on humans to a certain degree.
The melody did not matter. What mattered was the act of playing itself.
Since ancient times, within cultures of faith, playing music itself had evolved from offerings to the gods into entertainment.
In other words, it was a ritual for worshiping the gods, praying to the gods, and summoning the gods.
At this moment, Lu Ban had already ignored the trouble the suona had caused him before. Now, he even yearned to see that dim, dark-yellow star.
The last bit of reason Lu Ban possessed told him that humanity had limits.
No matter how magnificent a civilization became, no matter how firmly it built a fortress of reason or explored the highest truths, humanity still had limits.
Only a Great Being could oppose a Great Being.
He picked up the suona. As even his vision fell apart and the words announcing his decreasing reason sank into an eternal darkness, he blew into the black instrument.
Toot—
A piercing sound rang out, like a defiant bird that would never bow its head, flapping its wings as it flew toward the stars.
Countless other birds cried out around it, yet none possessed its radiance.
Lu Ban's body moved on its own, playing a melody he had heard only a few times.
The blackness on the suona spread from Lu Ban's fingertips toward his wrist. The bulging veins on his body gradually turned black. Within Lu Ban's vision, the fragmented images reassembled. He saw the dark-yellow planet shining alongside the silver-white stars. A massive distortion formed between them, and some confrontation he could not feel, hear, or even think about was completed in an instant.
Despairing, incomprehensible whispers that battered thought grew wildly in his ears, nearly bursting Lu Ban's mind.
Reason has reached zero
He had only enough time to rely on instinct to remember a few lines. The last things Lu Ban saw were the words formed from the distorted plants on the dome and the real starry sky he had never seen before.
Amid the vast sea of stars, the sky and the universe merged into one.
He lost consciousness.
*
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