Death and Return

Biological breakthroughs brought about another dilemma.

In October 2020, exactly one year and three months after Huang Si arrived in this world, his body began to fail him.

Increasing the strength of his soul could not replace his physical flesh. While it was a good thing that his stress tolerance had improved, the physical deterioration was undeniable.

Huang Si often felt unwell. This trend could not be reversed, even with his daily regimen of vitamins and exercise.

Unfamiliar with medicine, he found himself helpless against his own condition.

"If only I were more familiar with human anatomy. Perhaps I could use my willpower to alter my body and erase these lesions."

Huang Si felt a twinge of regret that his previous research had focused entirely on external objects. Now, he knew nothing about his own body. Even though he could perceive clear signs of pathology in his liver, kidneys, spine, and several other areas, he had absolutely no idea how to fix them.

Furthermore, many human ailments are nearly impossible to reverse once they occur; the damage is almost always permanent.

Huang Si did not know how much longer he could live; he only knew that he had to start preparing to roll back his save.

Ever since he discovered the gradual decline of his bodily functions, Huang Si had begun drafting a guide for his future self after the rollback.

In addition, he persisted in writing his diary, meticulously recording every discovery and achievement.

In March 2021, Huang Si's body finally collapsed. Severe malnutrition and the enclosed environment had destroyed his health.

It had been exactly one year and eight months since he arrived in this darkness. He had not encountered any dangers, but he had found no way to return, and he was on the verge of death.

The pain made it impossible for Huang Si to focus on his research any longer. He set aside his work and felt the state of his body.

"I can probably live for another month or two? No, there's no need to drag it out this long."

In his current state, he could accomplish nothing. Huang Si made up his mind to initiate the rollback.

He posted the guide in the most conspicuous spot and then lay down comfortably on his bed.

Huang Si connected his consciousness to the Creation Book, experiencing the imprint he had left over a year ago.

Before the rollback, he suddenly pondered a philosophical question.

What is a personality?

Is it not the unique conscious individual composed of countless memories?

In folklore, the dead drink Meng Po's soup at the Yellow Springs, forgetting their entire past before being reincarnated.

Did even the ancients know that memory is the essence of personality?

Stripped of memory, a person is no longer that same individual, but a different one entirely.

The situation Huang Si faced was not quite so extreme, yet the things he had experienced and the knowledge he had gained during his short year and eight months here were far richer than anything in his previous twenty-five years of life.

His intellect had also grown considerably.

Huang Si was no longer the shut-in he once was; his entire mental state had undergone a profound transformation.

The strength of a soul could be measured by various values of creativity, but the changes in one's mindset and state of being could never be quantified.

The current Huang Si possessed the psychological fortitude required of someone destined for greatness. However, if he were to roll back, he would retain his soul strength, but all the benefits gained from his experience would be lost.

It was like a warrior cutting off his own arm; he was essentially discarding a part of his own personality.

Yet, Huang Si remained calm. His powerful mindset and elevated state of being allowed him to see clearly what he wanted.

He needed to continue living to achieve his goals.

"Goodbye, current me. If I was able to reach this mental state once, then even if I lose all my memories, I will surely be able to reach it again."

Huang Si connected to the Creation Book, read, and overwrote.

In the next instant, Huang Si jumped off the bed with a look of panic, but he quickly spotted the lines of text posted on the wall:

"To my reborn self:

"This is a guide. You may have just experienced something strange and are momentarily confused, wondering what happened and why things have become this way. In truth, it is already March 9, 2021. You need to calm down first and then accept everything I am about to tell you."

The following section provided a general overview of the events that had occurred over the past year and eight months. Finally, the text guided Huang Si to look at the thirty-four notebooks on the bookshelf in the study and the files numbered 001 through 457, starting with 'LOG,' on the computer.

The current Huang Si's memories had reverted to when he had only been here for five days, leaving him feeling completely bewildered.

However, the contents of the note on the wall had to be true.

Not just because of the handwriting, and not just because he was capable of such things.

More importantly...

Huang Si glanced at the bed, and with a thought, the pillow flew into the air.

Defying the laws of physics, the pillow hovered silently in mid-air.

Yes, before his body had completely collapsed, Huang Si's soul strength had reached the level where he could manipulate objects to resist gravity. It was a massive improvement from when he could only open a window during the initial 'Perceive' stage.

At this moment, Huang Si was free of the painful and complex memories that followed, and his mindset was still light. He felt the power of his consciousness and found it fascinating. Before long, he snapped off a small piece of wood and used his mind to control it, making it dart around the room like a flying sword.

It took Huang Si over ten days to finish reading the records on the bookshelf, and another week to go through the computer logs and familiarize himself with the various devices in the house.

The house now had electricity and air conditioning; he could watch movies or play games, and there was even a virtual world on the computer with a group of AIs interacting within it. Huang Si found it incredibly interesting.

For meals, there was lab-grown meat and lab-grown gluten, while the drinks included wine, rice vinegar, and sugar water.

Huang Si sat in front of his computer, clutching a small cookie and a glass of sugar water, and began watching a movie with great relish. This life was practically on par with his old days as a shut-in!

On April 27, 2021, having undergone a rollback, Huang Si had already regained mastery over most of his earlier scientific achievements. This was thanks to the incredibly detailed records he had left behind before the memory rollback; it could be said that he had recorded his entire research and development process, every piece of data, and every line of thought.

From March 9 to April 27, it took Huang Si just over a month to pick up where he had left off after one year and eight months of previous work.

Afterward, Huang Si continued to push his research forward.

He did not slack off on the use of his Creation Power or the training of his soul.

Time flowed on.

In December 2022, Huang Si once again felt his body nearing collapse. Having already experienced one rollback, he did not feel the slightest bit of panic.

By this time, he had already developed robots capable of autonomous movement, and with robots helping with many chores around the house, things were very convenient. The main problem left to solve was energy; relying solely on solar battery power was simply too inefficient.

Huang Si developed a battery-powered solution that only required him to periodically replace the liquid inside the batteries, but it was still quite troublesome.

Before this rollback, he left behind even more extensive and massive data records.

Huang Si estimated that if his post-rollback self wanted to master all his research results, it might take about four months. However, he could not afford the delay, and as his research progressed and his findings increased, the time required might only grow longer.

To address this, Huang Si drew up a plan: starting from the next rollback, he would focus his energy on specializing in a single field, and he would no longer concern himself with any records outside of that area.

In December 2022, Huang Si underwent his second rollback.

After the rollback, he saw the records he had left for himself and understood that he needed to specialize in robotics this time.

Thus, he only selected and read notes numbered 19, 23, 34, 35, 52, and 57, then used the computer's search function to finish reading all relevant sections.

Accepting his past achievements took only 17 days this time.

Huang Si immediately threw himself into R&D. Perhaps because of the continuous improvement in his soul's strength, it was now easier for him to adjust his mental state. He didn't need much time to quickly reach a high level of focus and mental clarity.

Consequently, his research efficiency increased several times over.

In truth, he had been here for several years now, but Huang Si no longer cared. He would return eventually, but he no longer dwelled on any other worries.

In March 2023, Huang Si deployed 10 small exploration robots at the front door.

These robots were powered by jet propulsion, which he had discovered was the simplest way to move freely in the darkness.

The robots were equipped with cameras and touch sensors, and Huang Si sat at his computer monitoring their movements.

For convenience, Huang Si had copied his setup to an additional computer. The old one was used for R&D and monitoring, while the new one was used to host artificial intelligence, as the AI database was growing larger and they were becoming increasingly human-like.

He also took the opportunity to set up a disk array to store his data.

Huang Si controlled the robots' movements, dividing the dark area around the house into multiple zones and letting the 10 robots spread out to slowly explore.

By this time, Huang Si could attempt to manifest objects within the dark space, but his mental reach could only extend about 12 meters, and the dark space could not block it.

In other words, when a robot needed to replenish its energy, as long as it came within 12 meters of the room, Huang Si could use his Creation Power to refuel it and then send it back out to continue exploring.

The dark space remained pitch black. Not only was there nothing there, but even the trash he had thrown out earlier was gone.

Huang Si felt very puzzled. Why would the trash disappear?

For now, he could only let the robots continue exploring the dark space. Huang Si hoped that this exploration would lead to some kind of discovery.