Chapter 2719: Xu Zhi's Death
He was still trapped in the illusion, not yet awake.
His erroneous cognitive judgments left him hesitant and bound. At this moment, he could not clearly discern his own state, nor could he confirm the state of his surroundings. He dared not easily attempt to use Hyperdimensional Space Power again, nor any lethal weapon for that matter.
Back on the surface, a thick suit of protective gear could block the interference of spiritual energy. Generally, players who had not undergone Secondary Evolution could remain clear-headed. Even though the spiritual energy underground was far stronger than on the surface, it should not have affected him so deeply. This was spiritual energy born from the natural environment, indiscriminately dispersing through the air—it should not possess such potent offensive power.
Sure enough, his Personal Panel could no longer be opened, or perhaps it was open, but he himself was unaware.
He fingered the Return Ticket tucked in his pocket but ultimately did not attempt to use it. If he truly left, finding his way back to search for someone would be extremely difficult.
After resting in place for a moment, he began trying to enter the Mirror Space. Once inside the Mirror Space, the positions of people and objects would swap, allowing a person to pass through other objects as if they were nothing. He attempted it, but his palm could not penetrate the ore embedded in the stone wall.
This meant he had failed.
Returning to the lowest level of the Library Tower, he manipulated the core Materialized Object on the tabletop, allowing the black spiritual power to flow down from the surface, gradually covering the floor, then creeping up the spiral staircase, eventually enveloping the entire Library Tower.
But this process became especially difficult due to the external spiritual pressure. Even worse, because his concentration was scattered, the scope of his Spiritual Realm shrank once more. A greater pressure bore down on him, causing his brain to buzz and ring.
After several attempts, he even began to hallucinate. He actually saw Dr. Zhang standing before him, both hands pressing down on the childhood version of himself, staring straight at him.
"You truly disappoint me," "Dr. Zhang" said to him.
Xu Huo closed his eyes, speaking as if to himself, yet also as if answering the other, "Do you think this kind of spiritual manipulation is effective on me?"
"You have disappointed me," "Dr. Zhang" continued. "Even walking the path you've walked before is this arduous. Your mind has degenerated as you've aged."
"There is more than just your path in this world," Xu Huo ignored him.
"If you could choose a better path, there would be no fault to find, but you cannot," "Dr. Zhang" said. "Does denying the fact that you once learned from me and benefited from it soothe your conscience?"
Xu Huo opened his eyes. "Why would you think that? I benefited because I ultimately survived. The fact that I am alive is the prerequisite for everything."
"Then why have you forgotten what I taught you?" "Dr. Zhang" asked him. "Your memories of me should be profound. Why have you forgotten them?"
Why had he forgotten them?
Xu Huo stood once again in the Seventeenth Hospital, standing before Dr. Zhang and those others. He watched as Dr. Zhang pulled a strand of white thread from the top of young Xu Huo's head, gently snapping it with his finger...
Don't do that!
He abruptly reached out his hand, but everything before him vanished instantly, and he stood in a sea of darkness.
This seemed to be a sealed memory deep within his brain. Walking forward, he soon stood before the broken long bridge he had seen before.
In his Spiritual Realm, it could not possibly be a real bridge. This was a manifestation of his memory. Because Dr. Zhang had altered his memories, his memory bridge appeared in a broken state. His childhood memories had been restored, but what he had lost were the memories surrounding Xu Zhi's death.
Gazing at the darkness beneath his feet, he looked up and took a step forward.
New power gathered in the darkness. There was no further reaction, as if it were a natural progression. He smoothly crossed this newly erected bridge and saw the memories on both sides.
It was the teenage Xu Huo, having forgotten everything about Dr. Zhang, beginning to recklessly display his talent. Xu Zhi was like a rope holding him, preventing him from drifting too far like a kite with a broken string.
But on the day of the car race, he suddenly experienced brief, sharp headaches. Xu Zhi warned him not to go out, but he did not listen and insisted on driving out. As the rain grew heavier, he suddenly remembered everything from the past. And it was at this moment that Dr. Zhang and a masked person appeared.
"I've come to take you away," Dr. Zhang said.
The lost memories flashed before his eyes like photographs. He saw himself refuse Dr. Zhang, but Dr. Zhang seemed to have already investigated everything that had happened to him over the past few years. So he proposed one final gamble.
If Xu Huo won, he could stay. If he lost, he would have to die.
The teenage Xu Huo was wary yet confident. Unfortunately, he lost. A bet was a bet. When Dr. Zhang walked up to him, Xu Zhi appeared and shot at Dr. Zhang.
Ordinary bullets could not kill Dr. Zhang. So Xu Zhi knelt before him, completely defenseless, and shot himself.
Xu Huo saw his past self roar in helplessness, helpless with hatred, trying to kill Dr. Zhang with his own spiritual power. It was at that moment that his second personality was born, pulled out by Dr. Zhang along with his childhood personality.
Dr. Zhang was very interested in his state and, showing unexpected mercy, let him go, once again deleting and altering this segment of his memory.
Thus, all that remained was a jumble of chaotic memories and Xu Zhi's corpse lying before him.
Then and now, Xu Huo could not understand why Xu Zhi had brought a gun to that road. He had come to find him—he should not have brought a gun...
Walking to the other end of the bridge, the original memory in his mind was replaced. The truth that Xu Zhi had died because of him was finally revealed—a truth he had already anticipated.
It was that simple.
Simply because Dr. Zhang had delayed collecting his results, Xu Huo had remained in Zone 014.
Because Xu Zhi wanted to save his younger brother, he died on that rainy road.
His teeth unconsciously ground together with a creaking sound. Xu Huo slammed his fist onto the table before him. The flowing black spiritual power suddenly began to boil, and then the entire space of the Library Tower began to seethe. The vast space started to melt, and more and more black liquid flowed into the distance, spreading out like an ocean, boundless and infinite.
In a place that seemed both far and near, three doors appeared in succession. From the first door walked out his childhood self. From the second door walked out his teenage self. From the third door walked out a younger version of himself.
The thin shard in the childhood personality's hand merged into his body, gradually dyeing the pajamas he wore a pure black. The teenage personality, with a smile on his face, inserted a playing card into the pocket on his chest. The suit of the card changed several times before finally settling on the Ace of Hearts.
And the younger version of him wore a long theatrical costume for performances. His expression was gloomy, his eyes ferocious. The dagger in his hand had a sheath, but black liquid dripped from it, drop by drop.