643 - The Showdown

Unlike Professor Wang Xi's kind, benevolent smile, the sort that made anyone who saw it feel an instant fondness for him, Chen Chen's expression was as grave as a ten-thousand-year-old iceberg.

"It's been so many years, and you're still using the same old story."

Chen Chen took two steps forward and stared straight at the old man who had changed his life. "You used the same story in Zhao Shanhe's class back then, didn't you?"

"Was I wrong?"

Wang Xi couldn't help laughing. "Chen Chen, you really haven't disappointed me. Those three old monsters in subspace tried so hard to sway you, yet you didn't waver in the slightest. I'm very pleased!"

"Since you're pleased, tell me what you really want."

Chen Chen remained unmoved and said coldly, "You left me the dimensional key, something with infinite possibilities, and guided humanity into contact with subspace step by step. When I discovered what was special about you, you made me vanish using the Reverse Meme. And now you've suddenly appeared and led me here. What exactly are you trying to do?"

"That's a long story..."

Wang Xi was taken aback, then sighed softly. "Before I tell you what I want, let me tell you a story."

Seeing Chen Chen frown slightly, Wang Xi quickly added, "A story from tens of millions of years ago."

"Do you know that tens of billions of years ago, subspace was still as calm as a still pond, nowhere near as hostile as it is today? Even then, the oldest civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy had already come into being."

Wang Xi's voice carried a touch of age and sorrow as he began to recount the tale. "Of those civilizations, three stood at the very peak. One was a powerful race of energy beings. They