Multiversal System

Endless Summer suddenly appeared at the funeral hall. Not only was Wu Zhong puzzled, but the mourning family present was also stunned.

Of course, they merely assumed they had failed to notice him coming in.

So one of the mourners stood up, shook his hand, and asked, "You are my grandfather's...?"

Endless Summer said blandly, "Oh, I don't know him. I came to find him."

He pointed at Wu Zhong.

"Come with me."

With that, he snuffed out his cigarette, opened his umbrella, and walked out of the funeral hall.

Wu Zhong hurriedly followed. The mourning family all rose to urge him to stay.

Seeing that Wu Zhong was determined to leave, they escorted him to the door and even handed him a new umbrella.

Wu Zhong accepted it with thanks, opened it, and strolled through the rain alongside Endless Summer.

Only after they had gone some distance did he ask, "Brother Xia, how did you escape? And why are you so clean?"

"You even had time to take a shower and change clothes?"

Endless Summer smiled faintly. "Didn't you change too?"

Wu Zhong blinked. "I watched the only entrance the whole time. Can you teleport?"

Endless Summer raised a brow. "Why don't you think I came in while invisible?"

Thinking as he spoke, Wu Zhong said, "I just feel teleportation fits what you told me better... that you couldn't break out, but could definitely leave, though you couldn't take me with you."

"Uh, did you really escape the base while invisible? Back in the cell, you were certain you could leave. Even if it was invisibility, you'd need to be able to pass through walls, right? Is that your absolute trait? Are you a humanoid calamity too? Why did you choose to meet at a funeral hall? You don't know this family..."

There was a moment of silence. Wu Zhong realized he had been talking a little too much.

After a while, Endless Summer chuckled. "In the Calamity Realm, prying into the details of someone else's abilities is very rude."

Wu Zhong hurriedly said, "I understand."

Endless Summer studied him. "It's fine, because I know you're a genuine 'new' person... What a pitiful unlucky fellow."

"Yeah. The changes I've gone through these past two days have exceeded everything I experienced in the rest of my life," Wu Zhong said, pursing his lips.

Endless Summer seemed to want to say something, then stopped himself, as though that was not what he had meant.

But he did not explain. He only said, "If it weren't me, anyone else would probably suspect you were a spy planted by 985 at my side."

Wu Zhong felt bitter inside. Yes, from Endless Summer's perspective, he really did look like a spy.

Fortunately, Endless Summer had been the very person who saved him yesterday afternoon, and they had met beforehand. Otherwise, if someone had suddenly entered while he was being interrogated to no avail, locked the door, and said they would escape together, anyone would be suspicious.

Even so, he might have been persuaded the next day and used to cooperate in luring Endless Summer out.

But Wu Zhong could not ask. Asking would only make him look more like a spy.

Seeing how uncomfortable he looked, Endless Summer laughed. "Don't worry. I won't suspect you."

"Since I brought you with me, naturally I trust you. Probably no one in this world can accept you better than I can."

Wu Zhong was startled. That was strange.

How could he be so certain? Just as Captain Lu had guessed, did he possess some kind of intelligence-related calamity artifact?

"Can you read minds?"

After asking, Wu Zhong immediately reconsidered. No, if Endless Summer could read minds, then he would not have misunderstood Wu Zhong's trait in the cell. He would have known right away that Wu Zhong was a humanoid calamity.

When Endless Summer saw him press the question, he cast him a glance. "Enough. In the Calamity Realm, intelligence is always the most important thing."

"Laying all your trump cards on the table is practically the same as handing over your life."

Wu Zhong fell silent. He knew that for calamity artifacts, information truly was too important.

It was only because Endless Summer had given him a few instructions that he was able to deal with the tracking wolfhound.

Otherwise, who the hell would have thought that he needed to bark at a dog?

And with that information, he had been able to resolve the wolfhound crisis.

Likewise, it was only because he knew about things like Eternal Thirst Plum and Tangled Mess that he later had a sudden idea and found a way to crack the Joke Grenade.

Otherwise, if he had truly been an ordinary person with no understanding of calamity artifacts, he would have been utterly helpless and despairing in that situation.

"Understood. I won't ask about your ability anymore."

"But what about the zombie virus? I was bitten and scratched. Will I turn into a zombie?"

Wu Zhong looked anxious as he pointed to his bandages.

Endless Summer glanced sideways at him, took out some unlabeled ointment, and applied it to his wounds. "You were bitten? Happiness Zombies can spread infection."

"I told you that if you encountered zombies, you should think about painful, agonizing things. Did you do that?"

Wu Zhong had been enduring his injuries all along. After the ointment was applied, he immediately felt cool and comfortable, and the pain eased considerably.

"I followed your instructions exactly. I kept thinking about them."

Endless Summer said indifferently, "Then you're fine. As long as the resentment in your heart outweighs your happiness, you can be immune to the virus when bitten."

"Conversely, if someone is happy inside and has little resentment, there is no cure for them when facing this virus. They will turn into a zombie in an extremely short time. The happier they are, the faster they turn!"

"You haven't changed after all this time, so you won't."

Wu Zhong's brows relaxed. So that was how it worked.

That was the purpose behind Endless Summer telling him to think of painful things when encountering zombies.

Essentially, it was to fill his heart with overwhelming resentment, so that even if he was bitten, he would not be infected.

"Damn... a zombie virus that specifically kills happy people?"

"What kind of messed-up judgment mechanism is that? It's... it's way too subjective, isn't it?"

Wu Zhong sighed in disbelief. He had not expected even such seemingly ordinary zombies to be such bizarre oddities.

Whether one became infected actually depended on the balance between happiness and resentment in one's heart. One was either immune or beyond saving!

Endless Summer pulled him along a narrow path at a rapid pace. "That's just how calamity artifacts are."

"Either they don't trigger at all, or once they do, the effect is absolute."

"Often, one thought leads to heaven, another to hell!"

"Happiness Zombies are nothing. You saw it yourself—the containment measures aren't even strict. Nothing has gone wrong in over a decade."

"Many calamity artifacts in this world use subjective criteria. Some depend on personal perception, some on collective cultural definitions, and some can even have their range of effect changed just by holding a meeting... There are countless such things, strange in every conceivable way."

"Calamity artifacts are true supernatural existences, surpassing 'nature' itself. They toy with concepts, distort reality, enforce absolute effects, and make subjective judgments..."

Wu Zhong asked again, "Nothing has gone wrong in over a decade? Then why does 985 keep zombies? Wouldn't it be easier to eliminate them? It doesn't look like they're researching them either. They're just keeping them."

Endless Summer explained, "They studied them before, but they couldn't figure anything out. Later, they completely wiped them out once, but they appeared somewhere else."

"Some calamity artifacts cannot be completely eradicated. They have an effect that compels their existence."

"If you insist on killing every zombie, then the moment the last one dies, the virus will randomly respawn somewhere uncontrollable. So keeping them contained is the safest option."

Wu Zhong listened silently and finally understood.

Calamity artifacts truly were bizarre. No one knew where they came from, their mechanisms made no sense, their effects were absolute, their criteria were subjective, and they could not be eliminated...

For the first time, he had gained a systematic understanding of calamity artifacts. This was the core of the entire Calamity Realm circle.

The Calamity Realm referred to the circle of people who had, to varying degrees, come into contact with or possessed calamity artifacts.

"Then... aside from calamity artifacts, do people have cultivation systems...?"

Endless Summer looked at him. "Huh? Fine, I know what you're asking... But the kind of cultivation system you imagine does not exist in our world."

"Immortal cultivation, magic—those unique energies, unique laws, and unique techniques that you believe objectively exist and can be cultivated and used... are essentially still science."

"They are merely science under another set of universal laws."

Wu Zhong nodded slightly. Indeed, immortal cultivation, when stripped down, was still the use of objective laws.

He pressed on, "Then Multiversal Force is that kind of scientific system, right?"

Endless Summer shook his head in astonishment. "No, no, no. In the early days, some people did think it was an objective law, a natural force of the universe."

"But... any theory or law that tries to summarize a group of calamity artifacts is absurd. There will always be exceptions that don't fit."

"Multiversal Force is not actually an objective natural phenomenon. It is a universal absolute trait derived from a certain calamity artifact."

"By 'universal,' I mean the range it has spread to is simply enormous. You can think of it as a calamity artifact that has infected the entire universe! It created a cultivation system."

Wu Zhong was shocked. It had infected the entire universe?

Endless Summer took out a banana but did not eat it, merely turning it over in his hand. "Perhaps even the multiverse..."

"Because it can borrow energy and techniques from other universes for use in ours."

"Didn't you notice? My Void Exosuit leans toward science fiction. That little Taoist's Multiversal Force leans toward immortal fantasy..."

"As for Lu Guangqi... that guy is in the fantasy category."

Wu Zhong's eyes gleamed. "There are other universes too?"

Seeing his expression, Endless Summer gently shook his head. "Don't think too much about it. No one has truly proven whether a multiverse exists."

"Although we have borrowed power and sensed people from other universes, it is also possible that the universal trait manifested all that for us unilaterally. As for whether those other universes we sense truly exist, no one has ever gone there. Who the hell knows?"

Wu Zhong rubbed his chin. "Anyone can cultivate Multiversal Force, right? Can I learn it?"

Endless Summer rolled his eyes. "I told you, this isn't the kind of cultivation system you think it is. Learn my ass."

"To become a Multiversal Awakened, either you are admitted to Multiverse Academy and gain enlightenment through the Primordial Tablet, earning the qualification to sense Multiversal Force."

"Or you have to sleep with a powerhouse at the Pavas level, or have both parents be Multiversal Awakened."

Wu Zhong scratched his head. "Pavas? What does that mean?"

Endless Summer explained, "You don't understand foreign languages? Here, it means 'Power Angel.' It's the most commonly used ranking for multiversal powerhouses in the Calamity Realm, based on the hierarchy of angels. In short, it's the fourth level!"

"And I have only advanced to the third level, the 'Dominion Angel' level. But rank does not strictly represent strength."

Wu Zhong's mouth twitched. "Why rank them according to angel levels?"

Endless Summer sneered. "They hold the right to define the terms. What can anyone do about it?"

"The earliest Multiversal Awakened all came from a stone tablet. It was placed inside a chest carried on poles and kept in a palace. That chest was called the Ark of the Covenant..."

"So in ancient times, this group of Awakened called themselves messengers of the Lord—angels."

"For various reasons, this system gradually spread. As a result, guardian gods from small religions and local mythologies, including some legends of immortals, were also Multiversal Awakened."

"And the angels opposed Multiversal Awakened of other faiths and cultures, contemptuously calling them demons, evil Nephilim, bastards born from fallen angels mating with humans, and so on."

"Later, a War of Light and Darkness broke out in the West. Many local beliefs in smaller regions were wiped out, while those who surrendered were absorbed and whitewashed into angels. For example, some native deities of Assyria, Babylon, Ancient Persia, and Jainism were later integrated into angelic culture."

"But times changed, and karma came full circle. The angels declined long ago."

"Then, in the last century, they were thoroughly beaten into submission by one person. They changed their name to Multiverse Academy and joined the Free Alliance, opening enrollment to the entire Calamity Realm. They no longer limited themselves to religion, though the threshold was still high."

"Those academy Awakened still use angelic ranks, but some factions in the Calamity Realm have established other titles. Some wild operators simply call them Levels One, Two, Three, and Four... But none of them have as much influence as the academy faction."

Wu Zhong was dazzled and deeply shaken. So angels really existed, originating from an ancient stone tablet?

Hidden in the Ark of the Covenant? Was that not the legendary Tablets of the Ten Commandments?

Of course, that was about all he understood. He was not well versed in ancient culture, history, or legends. He had only learned a little from novels.

Wu Zhong asked, "Can I enter that school?"

Endless Summer curled his lip. "The annual tuition is thirty-six million..."

"Holy shit!" Wu Zhong's voice cracked.

Endless Summer added, "...dollars."

Wu Zhong swallowed. "That's too expensive. That's robbery. But if you can gain superpowers, I suppose it makes sense."

Endless Summer said, "That's only one of the basic requirements. Having money does not guarantee admission. They choose people too. Essentially, they recruit talent for themselves."

"You either need exceptional talent, an extremely powerful background and connections, or you need to be a cute little boy..."

"As for an ordinary adult like you, heh."

Wu Zhong fell silent, his mouth twitching.

Even the Calamity Realm required connections? When you went out into the world, did it really still come down to background and networks?

"...And aside from the orthodox route of Multiverse Academy, there is also sleeping with a fourth-level multiversal powerhouse... Higher levels should work too, but I have never seen anyone reach the fifth level. The fourth level is effectively the highest realm."

"In short, it doesn't matter whether it's the same sex or opposite sex. As long as they truly do it, the other party will awaken Multiversal Force."

"Many Awakened in the Calamity Realm came from Pavas who couldn't keep themselves in check and left affection all over the world, fucking their way to offspring..."

"Such Pavas were contemptuously called 'Gibborim' in ancient times, meaning 'powerful fallen angels.' And the Awakened produced by their unions with ordinary people were called 'Nephilim.'"

"The Bible says that the sons of God saw that human women were beautiful, so they chose any they pleased and took them as wives... The sons of God mated with the daughters of men and had children by them; they were the mighty and famous men of old."

"Heh, so Multiverse Academy considers finding mortal women to be fallen, but the Bible says nothing about finding boys. That does not count as fallen. That is pure."

Wu Zhong stared blankly. "So that's how it is... What a strange way to spread it. So you were given it by someone like that..."

Endless Summer hurriedly waved his hands. "Stop right there! I wasn't!"

"Both my parents were Awakened, so I became an Awakened too."

Wu Zhong sounded disappointed. "So you're second-generation Awakened? You were born with Awakened blood?"

Endless Summer gave a soft laugh. "Bloodline? Not exactly."

"The condition of 'both parents are Awakened' is meant literally."

"If your parents are still alive, then as long as they become Awakened, you will suddenly become an Awakened too, even if you are on the other side of the world. Your parents don't need to give birth to you all over again."

Wu Zhong's eyes went wide. "Huh? That works?"

Then his eyes dimmed. "But I don't have parents anymore... And isn't that even more troublesome? You first need to make two people become Awakened."

Endless Summer shook his head, a smile curling across his lips. "They do not necessarily have to be biological parents."

"The reason I awakened Multiversal Force was because I took an Awakened couple as my parents."

Wu Zhong stumbled and nearly slipped in the rain.

"Huh? Adoptive fathers count too?"

Endless Summer explained, "More accurately, adoptive parents. As long as it is officially recognized and your records are legally attached through proper channels, making a married couple your legal parents, the awakening mechanism will trigger."

"A considerable number of Awakened in the Calamity Realm came about this way."

"Some Awakened couples specifically recruit elites from all walks of life into their family registers. They have many sons and daughters under their names, forming their own small circles and becoming 'Awakened families.'"

Wu Zhong wiped his face and murmured, "Is this how calamity artifacts work?"

"This is what you meant by subjective judgments based on collective cultural definitions..."

"As long as society collectively recognizes it, that works too. It does not necessarily depend on objective facts."

With the expression of a teacher pleased with a teachable student, Endless Summer said, "You've grasped the essence, but it is not absolute."

"Some traits do not use subjective criteria. They are fixed beyond question."

"You must remember one thing: anything is possible with calamity artifacts. There is no end to their strangeness."

"In theory, no set of rules can encompass and summarize all calamity anomalies. So-called virtues are merely conclusions drawn from experience. Don't trust them completely; base everything on the facts."

Wu Zhong asked, "So they aren't accurate? There really are no rules? Then what can we trust?"

Endless Summer said coldly, "Facts..."

"No. Sometimes, even facts can't be fully trusted. What you see, what you remember, what you understand—none of it is necessarily the truth."

"In short, there's no systematic way to understand calamity anomalies. The safest course is to test them with your life."

Wu Zhong pondered. "Can my trait be changed by altering society's perception of doors?"

Endless Summer said, "I told you, you'll only know after doing it."

"And do you think you're the first person to have thought of that? Do you think changing the world's perception is that easy?"

"The Calamity Realm has no unified rule. There are countless factions tangled together, and none of them submits to another."

"There are plenty of humanoid calamity anomalies as well. Nearly every one of them, after rising to power, has tried to change humanity's perception in order to strengthen themselves. Some even turned themselves into public enemies."

"In any case, this is something every country guards against fiercely. Don't even think about it."

Wu Zhong smiled bitterly. "Then my ability is way too useless. I might as well become a Multiversal Awakened."

"Brother Xia, is there any way for me to gain Multiversal Force too?"

Endless Summer replied calmly, "Multiversal Force is the most versatile power. Nearly everyone in the Calamity Realm can use it; it basically counts as a guaranteed baseline ability."

"There are only three methods of awakening it. As the saying goes, money can make ghosts turn millstones. In theory, money can solve all of them. If it can't, then you simply don't have enough money."

Wu Zhong took out the phone the woman had given him. "Even this phone is borrowed. If I log into Spending Treasure, there should be several hundred thousand in it, but the account has definitely been frozen."

"Brother Xia, can you help me?"

Endless Summer glanced at the phone. With a stretch of his hand, he snatched it away, crushed it, and tossed it into the woods beneath the night sky, where it vanished without a trace.

Then he said flatly, "If I wasn't going to help you, why would I have rescued you?"

"The simplest way is to do what I did and acknowledge a pair of parents. But try not to do that if possible. We need to consider this carefully. I'll think of something."

Wu Zhong's heart surged. "Thank you, Brother Xia. Training Multiversal Force must cost a lot too, right? You're a mercenary. I can become one with you, earn money, and pay you back."

Amid the wind and rain, Endless Summer fell into thought. "Being a mercenary is fine, but remember: don't tell anyone about your absolute trait."

"Even to my companions, I'll say that you're a 'Ghost-God Sacrifice' I snatched from Unit 985."

"As for Unit 985, they definitely already know about your trait. But they'll keep their mouths shut to the outside world as well."

"Mm. From now on, tell others that you've been infected with the 'Ghost-God Mark,' which will draw the Day-and-Night Patrol Gods to hunt you down. It counts as a negative effect, and makes you a calamity bearer as well—enough to meet the minimum requirements for registering as a freelance mercenary."