Chapter 915: Nightmare?
I had already fully memorized this map after going over it once, so the "map" as an item wasn't important; the information on it was what mattered.
Wait... in the "Land of Eternity," how could one preserve a map completely and safely?
If I carried the map on me, even if I didn't encounter the Azure Dragon, I would inevitably leave the map behind on the ground during some annihilation.
That would leave the map's whereabouts unknown, and there would be no telling whose hands it might fall into.
If I wanted to keep it safe... the best course would be to hand it over to the Azure Dragon. But giving it to him directly would definitely make him suspicious. So Aries devised this scheme.
But who was the map preserved for? Theoretically, only someone who had lost their memory would need this map.
Could it be...?
Aries had stated countless times that he might one day lose his memory... Could it be that he intended to use the Azure Dragon's hand to transfer this map to himself...?
I walked out of Aries' game venue, cold sweat trickling down my back.
I still remembered telling Jiang Ruoxue... Aries' thinking was far ahead of ours by multiple steps.
When he gave me this map, he had already anticipated the Azure Dragon's subsequent reaction, and he had also foreseen my reaction.
He had even anticipated that when I discovered all this, I might cooperate with him to put on a show that would put the Azure Dragon at ease.
I had racked my brains to break through all the fog and find a path, only to discover that Aries had already drawn all the landmarks along that very path.
I couldn't afford to delay any longer. Aries was already racing down this road, while I was still fumbling in the dark.
I knew I needed to become stronger, and fast.
I found an abandoned building and, on a hidden wall, recreated the map Aries had drawn using extremely abstract lines. They looked like the wall's natural cracks. After making sure only I could decipher them, I annotated the wall with the eight animals in a form of Middle English that very few could understand.
After all, I wasn't sure how many years Aries' plan would take. Even though I had memorized these locations, I couldn't guarantee I wouldn't forget them over such a long period.
Then I began my days of wandering the city. In the mornings, I would participate in "Earth-Grade" games, secretly slaughtering "Participants." In the afternoons, I would continue recruiting members for the "Extreme Path."
Since I no longer had to report to Aries' game venue regularly, I also had more time to go look for Jiang Ruoxue.
She had indeed joined "Heaven's Gate" and grown close to Yun Yao. I didn't reveal Aries' plan; I only told Jiang Ruoxue that the "Extreme Path" couldn't stay so loosely organized forever.
I needed a method, a way to gather all members of the "Extreme Path" at a specific moment.
For now, the "Extreme Path" members could operate scattered across various locations. While they were safe, there was no way to assemble everyone. If this continued, we wouldn't be able to execute the final task Aries had assigned.
Although Jiang Ruoxue didn't ask why, she agreed to help find a solution. She said it wasn't difficult and that she and Zhou Mo would need to work together. "Karma" combined with "Sound Transmission" should allow the other side to hear the demonic sound descending from heaven.
They said they needed some time to prepare this plan. When the time was right, they would find each "Extreme Path" member and apply the "Echo."
During this time, I also went to find Aries. He was still standing in good health at the entrance to his game venue. What was troubling him was that the "Elysian Money House" had become wildly popular again. He had wanted to cool down the game's frenzy, but couldn't stop the greedy Participants.
Aries said he really didn't want to earn "Dao" anymore, but the amount of "Dao" was still skyrocketing every day.
And when I talked to Aries, I made sure to use the script that matched our supposedly hostile relationship. Since the Azure Dragon thought we were starting to split, I'd let the split play out to the end.
This kind of routine continued for a while... until two years ago, when I spaced out again.
This time, the daze felt off... I arrived at a strange place. After wandering the streets for about a day or two, I realized I was on the outskirts of "Dao" City. I didn't know why I was there, but I quickly found a main road I recognized and headed towards Aries' game venue.
I suspected my timeline was getting jumbled again... I needed to know what year and day it was, right now.
But along the way, I saw nothing but countless corpses. The smell of blood in the air was incredibly heavy... The "Land of Eternity" was already like a hell on a normal day, but today was especially so.
What had happened?
Why wasn't there a single living person on the streets...?
I had spaced out many times before... but this situation was truly unusual.
After walking for about five or six hours, I finally found Aries.
His game venue looked different from usual. Inside were nothing but dead "Participants," yet Aries was still in his room, reading a book.
"Sis...?" I pushed the door open and called out tentatively.
Aries was clearly startled. He stared at me for a long moment, then looked confused. "How are you here so soon...?"
"What happened...?" I asked in a low voice. "Why are the streets like this...? What happened to all your 'Participants'...?"
Before I could finish, I suddenly froze.
I hadn't noticed it before... but now, something felt very wrong.
Lying in the center of Aries' office was a corpse.
The face was down, so I couldn't see its features... but it was wearing a white dress.
That white dress looked familiar... Wait, was that...?
"Sis... Sis..." My voice trembled. "What is this...?"
Aries didn't look at the corpse in front of him. Instead, he stared straight into my eyes and said, "There's nothing here. You're seeing things."
"What...?" I blinked. I felt like I wasn't mistaken. That was my corpse...
I walked over and turned the body over. It did indeed have a face identical to mine.
I also looked at its fingers. It had the exact same tattoos as me.
There was a clear wound on its forehead, as if something had pierced straight through...
Aries seemed slightly flustered. He stood up from his seat, grabbed my arm, and pulled me to the door, then said, "Yan Zhichun, there's nothing here. You're seeing things."
I didn't know what Aries was trying to do... Had he just killed me?
No, that wasn't right either... If he had killed me, then what was I now?
"Sis... Sis... Can't I ask about this?" I muttered. "I know you have your own arrangements... but for me, this is really... hard to accept..."
"You will be safe forever," Aries said. "It's just that something seems to have gone wrong... You appeared before the annihilation."
"Before... the annihilation?"
"Yan Zhichun, find a place to wait for death," Aries said. "This is all a nightmare. When you wake up, it'll be fine."
(So many things have been happening lately... The updates are getting later and later. Brothers, family, friends—taking a single day off tomorrow to catch up. Please forgive me.)