Volume Five: Return from the Other Shore, Chapter 386: BeyonderDevilPlayer (2)

"You can go back anytime? I won't believe you without proof."

"So easy."

He spoke in perfect English—and then the Triangle Head behind him appeared in front of me and grabbed me.

A sudden, intense feeling of dizziness struck.

"--You might experience dizziness and tinnitus the first time, please be mentally prepared."

Then, without warning, the surrounding scenery changed.

I endured my dizziness and looked around.

The wooden floor looked rather cheap, the bed and desk were joined together, and two college boys who looked like they had just showered and hadn't even put their clothes on properly walked in—were they my two roommates from before I time-traveled?

"... So you're going to stay up all night playing League of Legends tonight? To keep sending money to Ma Huateng?"

"What are you giving me? Watch me become the strongest in no time!"

"More like a master of empty talk, huh!?"

"What's wrong with you—huh!?"

Then I made eye contact with them.

They stared in disbelief, their mouths agape, as if they could fit a ball in them. The shocking fact that "a stunningly beautiful woman with otherworldly beauty suddenly appeared in their dorm room" seemed to have completely stunned them.

Uh, right, the inhabitants of Spirit Star are generally more good-looking than those on Earth, and I seem to be one of the most attractive even on Spirit Star. If I suddenly appeared on Earth, I might be worshipped as a god.

No, no, no, no, etc., etc., etc.!!!!!!!!! Why did I come back to Earth!? What about picking up girls and becoming a strongman, eating bento, and beating the boss? And it happened so suddenly, and there was no emotion or regret or anything else at all, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

See, I wasn't lying to you.

Yusuo Zai, looking completely unfazed, grabbed my wrist again, and then the scene shifted once more—

When I came to my senses, I was back in the desolate mountains of the Starfall Mountain Range.

"Are you alright? I remember you get motion sickness easily, but I'm sorry I don't have any motion sickness medicine."

"... medicine..."

"Um?"

"--Damn it! What just happened? How did I suddenly go back and come back? What, what, what are you?!"

"What am I...?" He scratched his head, seemingly a little embarrassed. "I have too many titles. Listing them all would easily confuse you, and you should at least be somewhat aware of my existence."

"Ah?"

"You see, although this is our first 'official' meeting, we've actually met five times before."

Five... times?

It felt like something exploded in my head.

A familiar yet unfamiliar scene suddenly flashed into my mind.

A dilapidated street scene under the setting sun--

The park at night--

A dark and desolate highway--

An old room covered in rust --

And, the "he" I spoke to, whose face I could never clearly see—

I fell to my knees with a thud, clutching my head, which was throbbing from the sudden burst of information, gasping for breath, a chill running down my spine.

"Oh right, you should only be able to recall the second to fifth encounters, because the first one was me watching you from the shadows, it was in the Northern Boundary, in the underground ruins of the second stage, when you vaguely found the cocoon of the Planet Will because of my voice, do you remember?"

I had no interest in listening to his rambling anymore.

I was trembling with immense fear.

I have never felt such fear before.

This is different from the fear people feel when facing death, disaster, or things that evoke an instinctive aversion.

Ultimately, what is the most terrifying thing in the world?

Encountering ghosts while walking at night?

Surrounded and being devoured by zombies?

Chased into a dead end by a chainsaw-wielding serial killer?

Covered in maggots?

Sinking into the Deep Sea?

Driven to desperation by creditors?

Discovering that the child you've raised for over a decade isn't yours?

If you ask me,

Nothing is more poignant than believing that you have paved your own way through your own will, only to discover that you are merely a plaything manipulated by someone else.

I finally understand what that invisible eye, which has been watching me all along, has been terrifying me.

I raised my head, trembling, and looked at Yusuo Zai's face.

I looked at his hollow, black eye sockets.

He saw all my embarrassing moments but didn't comment on them.

"I'll give you ten minutes to calm down. After ten minutes, I'll tell you everything you need to know. This is my responsibility to... the chips I hold."

"Ten minutes are up, are you ready?"

"..."

"Looks like everything's fine. Here, this is some plum juice I just bought. It's a big expense for someone like me who's not—in fact, quite poor."

I took the disposable cup containing the reddish-black liquid he handed me and took a sip. The sour and cool liquid made me feel a little better.

"Then let's begin. Let's start by talking about this world."

He was also squatting on the rock opposite me, holding the same cup of plum juice; Triangle Head had disappeared sometime earlier.

What do you think of this world?

"... There are many things like dimensions?"

"That's true, and that's not true...tsk tsk," he took a big gulp of plum juice, smacked his lips with obvious enjoyment, and then continued, "If we compare 'everything' to a large water tank, then each different 'world' is like a very solid bubble in that tank—or a stone or a plastic ball, anything—quietly staying in the water. That's roughly what 'everything' looks like."

"What an outdated concept."

"Wait until I finish my rant before you complain, there's still a lot more ridiculous stuff to come. Okay, of course, so many bubbles will have different sizes and capacities. The three largest bubbles... to make it easier to understand, let's give them a name first. What do you think we should call them, having read so many online novels?"

"How about the most cliché one... the three realms of humans, gods, and demons?"

"That's a good analogy, let's adopt it. While the scale is roughly the same, in terms of quality—or rather, prestige? The Human Realm is inferior to the other two. As you said, let's tentatively name them: the Human Realm is dominated by beings that fit the concept of 'humanity,' and the world filled with demons—not the demons of the Human Realm that demand payment for their wishes, but simply dark monsters—will be called the Demon Realm. The one dominated by spiritual energy lifeforms will be called the God Realm. We are currently in a part of the Human Realm, one of the 666 fragments of the Human Realm."

"Fragments? Isn't it the whole?"

"That was a long time ago, around... well... it's hard to describe the past with a simple concept of 'time.' Two supreme beings from the Demon Realm and the God Realm —considering that their names cannot be uttered by human vocal organs, could you please give them two simple and easy-to-understand names?"

"... What about the Demon Emperor and the God Emperor?"

"If it's a good fit, then let's use it."

Suddenly, I feel sorry for the two supreme beings whose names I, a nobody, casually gave them.

"They once engaged in a death battle that could destroy dimensions for some reason, fighting from the realms of gods and demons all the way to the human realm, where they fought a final showdown. As a result, the two supreme beings perished, and the human realm, which was caught in the crossfire, was shattered into 666 pieces, one of which is the Spirit Star where you are now."

"What?! This world-building suddenly feels so out of place, and with such a clichéd premise... Okay, okay, go on! Earth's world is also one of the fragments, right?"

"Yes and no, Earth's position is very unique. You see, although the human realm was shattered, these 666 fragments together constitute the 'human realm' as a whole, which can be compared to a system of point masses in physics."

"Good image."

"In kinematics, to describe the motion of a system of point masses, we usually take its center of mass as the benchmark for calculating various related physical quantities. The fragmented human realm where Earth is located is equivalent to the center of mass of the entire human realm; it is the benchmark."

"... So, Luo-chan also said something like 'My Husband's hometown is really amazing,' I see? She also seemed to have mentioned something like 'infinite possibilities,' what does that mean?"

"Think about it carefully. Since you came to Spirit Star, have you seen any magicians or anything like that? Even if you haven't, have you ever found any fantasy novels here that describe magic?"

"..."

It seems there really isn't one.

"That's because there's no concept of 'magic' in this fragmented human world. The most prominent concept here is 'superpowers.' The other fragmented human worlds are the same; some are purely magical worlds, some are cultivation worlds like those in fantasy novels, some are Victorian-style steampunk, some are only extremely technologically advanced, and some are completely primitive societies. There's only one exception."

"That is, Earth..."

Most people on Earth today are engaged in scientific research. In the past, there were also many people in both the East and the West who studied magic or immortal arts. Various concepts such as industry, magic, technology, cultivation, supernatural abilities, and spiritual power have existed throughout human history on Earth.

"Do you understand now? The reason Earth is the baseline world is because the 'balance' of its various concepts is exactly the same as that of the original human world when it was a unified whole, possessing all possibilities. As for other worlds—the more types of concepts they possess, the closer they are to Earth, and thus, the closer they are to the original human world. For example, Spirit Star, its supernatural civilization is highly advanced, and its technology level is actually not bad, even showing some deviation from the original technology path in areas such as racing car manufacturing. Although it lacks elements such as fantasy and magic, it is still far superior to many other fragmented human worlds."

"Well..."

This is a lot of information... Let me digest it first, and for now, I'll just say something random to get through it.

"But this is just a planet. The fragmented human realm where Spirit Star is located is a universe similar to the fragmented human realm of Earth, right?"

"That's right, this world also has the concept of 'universe,' which most other worlds don't. They're all about 'almost infinitely large continents,' 'Yuktrasil World Tree,' 'endless towers,' and the like, which are common in fantasy novels."

"Since there's a universe, there must be countless planets, right? Maybe even though there's no magic on Spirit Star, other planets do?"

No.

"But what about aliens—"

"Just as the fragments of Earth serve as the benchmark for the entire 666 human realms, each fragment also has its own benchmark. Take Earth, for example; Earth is the benchmark for its fragment, and everything else—including the vast universe and endless starry sky—is merely a byproduct of Earth. Even if there are extraterrestrials, they are simply projections of humanity itself onto other planets, arising from humanity's 'belief that they should exist,' existing like empty shells. This principle applies to all worlds with the concept of 'universe,' and the same applies to Spirit Star."

"Hello, hello, hello..."

I understand less and less.

"But what's the point of telling me all this? My top priority right now is to become stronger quickly to fight the organization. What does the structure of the world have to do with me?"

"Very relevant."

His tone became a little more serious.

"Whether it's your own plan or Jili's plan, they are all related to this world itself."

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These past few chapters have been so boring... So please finish rambling already, I still need to help Ye Jiang super evolve...