Genius and Madman: A Fine Line

Although he would never say it aloud, Strange did indeed have a terrible premonition about the future.

Every time he was dragged to He Shenyan's laboratory, he was forced to work overtime for an agonizingly long period, and now, that premonition had come true.

As of today, he had been in the laboratory for three weeks, and he looked completely delirious.

He Shenyan, however, remained as energetic as ever. This was the benefit of offloading complex calculations to others; he only concerned himself with theory and posing questions. Strange had raised objections, but he was shut down with a single sentence.

"I could calculate the data, but could you propose the research theories and our next direction?"

Strange yawned, pressed his palms together, and swept them through the air, causing the formulas and conjectures filling the room to vanish instantly.

The three weeks of deduction had been fruitful; at the very least, they had figured one thing out.

If they continued along the path of Vaivan Dukevich, there would be no future to speak of. Not only that, but they would likely trigger another catastrophe for this world. Although they had many 'superheroes' who could help this time, well...

If they could avoid casualties, it was best not to have any.

In Vaivan Dukevich's vision, his method of breaking the world barrier was to blow it open and jump out before the Outer Gods noticed, much like a cat stealing a cookie while its owner wasn't looking.

His idea was crude yet highly imaginative, and his execution was as reckless as a cat's; without consulting anyone, he simply blew it up once he had the raw materials, killing himself in the process.

What he did posed a massive problem.

First, according to existing research, the world barrier is extremely difficult to repair; after all, a cookie eaten by a cat does not simply reappear.

Second, without the cover of the world barrier, it would be easy for the Outer Gods to discover a world with a shattered barrier. At that point, regardless of whether they had malicious intent, they would likely be curious enough to come over and take a look, much like humans gawking at a spectacle.

He Shenyan did not want to cause the destruction of the world because of his own actions. He wanted to attempt a completely unrestrained experiment, but he wasn't insane enough to sacrifice an entire world as the price.

At the end of the day, a person must have some principles.

Otherwise, even if he succeeded in returning, what face would he have to show the people of that world?

Back to the main point.

Although Vaivan Dukevich failed, his failure was not without value. He at least proved one thing: the world barrier could be damaged; it was not indestructible. This also meant that it could be altered.

The two men's research and practical direction began there—seven hundred years ago, an unnamed successor of Vaivan Dukevich had spent his entire life inventing a spell: the Eye of Observation.

It had only one effect: to search for and observe the weakest points of the world barrier nearest to the caster.

He Shenyan closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, starlight flickered within them. His gaze pierced through everything, reaching Antarctica. If the world barrier had consciousness, it would be screaming and slapping He Shenyan across the face right now. His gaze was, to say the least, rather intrusive.

Five minutes later, he found the point in time where the world barrier was at its weakest.

Antarctica.

He turned his head and nodded slightly at Strange, who quickly opened a portal. Behind the gate lay a pale, ice-covered land. The two stepped through, standing in the swirling wind and snow in their thin clothing. They looked at each other, both seeing the excitement in the other's eyes.

Strange had even completely forgotten that he had intended to stop him.

"Then, according to our theory."

He Shenyan opened his arms, pressed his index and middle fingers together, and touched his temples. A surge of overwhelming magic flashed and vanished. Just like that, he forcibly tore out half of his own soul. A pale blue, illusory shadow swayed gently in the wind and snow, revealing a spectral beauty.

Filled with the anticipation of witnessing history, Strange gazed with admiration at the man standing before him, whose face was twisted in agony from the soul-splitting pain.

"You really are a madman, He."

"I never said I wasn't," He Shenyan replied with a smile. "But I am a mage first and foremost. We should always remain curious and enterprising, shouldn't we?"

Amidst the blizzard in Antarctica, he raised his hand without hesitation—a flash of light erupted. Strange knew what he had done: he had fused half of his soul into the world barrier.

The wisdom of countless predecessors, combined with their deductions, had culminated in this insane method.

In the 6th century, the madman Vaivan Dukevich died. The only three survivors among the seventy mages who accompanied him sealed his research results into three parts within their own tombs after resolving the flesh-corruption.

In the 13th century, an unnamed mage from India concluded through calculation that the world barrier could protect the intelligent life in the universe from the gaze of the Outer Gods, and he proved it.

In the 17th century, Isaac Newton left behind his final stack of manuscripts before his death. In them, he posed a question from the perspective of an alchemist.

As a mage, he had inevitably thought of Vaivan Dukevich in his final moments and had likewise embarked on this path of research.

From ancient times to the present, countless mages have fallen one after another on this road, without regret. No one asked if it was worth it, no one knew if it would succeed, and no one knew if what they were doing was right.

But why not try? Humans are just that kind of creature.

In the next second, Strange nearly wept at what was happening. He did not cancel the Eye of Observation; from his perspective, his senior brother's body, standing where it was, had taken on the same color as the world barrier.

Void, and transparent white.

"You..." He collapsed to the ground, overwhelmed by excitement and agitation. Strange raised a hand, pointing at He Shenyan, unable to speak, only able to utter broken words.

He Shenyan remained standing.

A powerful impulse surged within his heart—a constant, surging impulse, akin to instinct, akin to intuition.

He realized, Perhaps I have lived these ten years just for this very moment.

Then, he smiled. The smile was almost childlike.

"We succeeded, Strange."

This was the last sentence he left for this world.

When he opened his eyes again, he had arrived in a novel realm—countless glass-bead-like objects wrapped around rotating nebulae. He stared at them, obsessed, and trembled deeply because of them.

Beyond these, some massive shadows lay dormant amidst the sea of stars, existing in silent, desolate stillness, simply existing, never stirring.

Soaring.

Only this word could describe his current state, and the smile on He Shenyan's face never once faltered. He had succeeded—standing upon the shoulders and experiences of countless others, he and Strange had succeeded. He had left that world one final, precious treasure, and he himself was about to see his wish fulfilled.

Yet, until this very moment, he had not truly known if he would perish the instant he crossed the world barrier, nor did he know if the outside was truly filled with other worlds as his predecessors had speculated.

He simply could not wait any longer.

Rather than doing nothing, he would rather die on the road home.

Heaven knows how long he had suppressed it; coming to this strange world alone for ten long years, from twenty to thirty, all by himself. He had always thought of it—that world had no superheroes, nor any so-called magic.

But that world had home.

A home he was at least familiar with, not a place that felt like a mockery, not a place where even the Jade Emperor from myth and legend wore Western armor.

Though he had never truly admitted it, He Shenyan believed that he did, indeed, miss his homeland.

However, after the brief surge of excitement, he could not help but feel a bit dazed. He had succeeded, yes, but what then?

He Shenyan realized abruptly that he had not calculated what to do after success.

A bitter smile bloomed on his face—was this the downside of staking everything on a desperate gamble?

At the same time, a sense of exhaustion welled up from the depths of his heart, and that intuition appeared once more, whispering in his mind through a method humanity could not yet comprehend.

The solitary mage silently raised his head; a world encased in a transparent substance rotated slowly above him, and within it, a similar azure planet was spinning.

A brief resting place?

Without hesitation, he entered.