# 2028
Chapter 2028: Cannot Forget
【I'm not Azathoth!! I am Lin Qiye!!!】
【Remember! I am Lin Qiye!!】
【I am the seventh Commander-in-Chief of the Great Xia Night Watch, Lin Qiye!! I am human! Not a Cthulhu Faction god!!】
【Please... you must remember, I am Lin Qiye!! Baili Pangpang, Cao Yuan, An Qingyu, Shen Qingzhu, Jiang Er... they're still waiting for me to come back!! I cannot forget!!】
【Even if I die, I must not forget!!!!】
【If I forget, I will truly become Azathoth!! The entire Fifth Universe exists within my mind, and I absolutely cannot be assimilated by Him!!】
【The war against Azathoth began long ago!! Lin Qiye! You cannot lose!!】
【Ascend to higher dimensions!!】
【ASCEND TO HIGHER DIMENSIONS!!!!】
【As long as I remember, the Fifth Universe will exist forever!!】
【Azathoth wants to assimilate me! Then let Him be prepared to be assimilated by me!!】
【Do not trust Chaos!! The true Chaos died long ago! He is merely your illusion!! He is the embodiment of Azathoth's consciousness!! Do not believe a single word He says!!】
【Make good use of the 'Instigator'!! It is power derived from Azathoth!! It is also my only weapon to defeat Him!!】
【This is my 13,600,000th cycle! I have ascended to higher dimensions!!】
【Azathoth's power is too strong! He has already become the ruler of this Higher-Dimensional World... I cannot defeat Him...】
【Cannot forget! Must not forget no matter what!! I am Lin Qiye!!】
【With this asylum, with the 'Instigator', I still have hope of winning!! If I endure enough cycles, perhaps more people can ascend to higher dimensions!!】
【Must hold on! Even if it means eternal loneliness and struggle! I absolutely cannot forget!!!】
【Assimilate more of His power! Use His power to defeat Him!!!】
【......】
Azathoth stared at the knife-scarred words covering the entire wall—countless scratches, large and small, filling every inch of the surface, easily tens of millions of sentences!
In His eyes, a glimmer of light flickered to life. As if remembering something, His palm suddenly slammed against another wall. As more wallpaper shattered and flew about, the inscriptions carved into the remaining walls came into view!
Every corner of this cramped ward was covered in densely packed text, an overwhelming deluge swallowing everything.
A single ward, over one hundred million sentences carved by blade.
Every character here, the strokes revealed different emotions—confusion, resolve, struggle—but the later entries grew increasingly sharp and brilliant. Azathoth could almost visualize that figure standing before these walls, crimson eyes stabbing at the surface, carving word after word into the stone.
The moment those words appeared, the suppressed, shattered memories surged forth endlessly. Everything seemed to become clear!
The darkness and depth gradually faded from His eyes... replaced by a pair of bloodshot eyes brimming with tears.
"I'm not Azathoth... I'm... Lin Qiye."
Lin Qiye murmured to himself.
The treatment progress bar above his head, as if malfunctioning, suddenly flickered. The words "Azathoth" gradually faded away, replaced by the characters "Lin Qiye."
"Lin Qiye Treatment Progress: 85%"
At that moment, outside the ward door, [Chaos] witnessed this scene, and its expression gradually turned cold and vicious.
"Every time, I can't fool you... If only I could interfere with the physical realm, I would have torn down all these eyesores long ago!"
"Even if you tore them down, I would remember eventually." Lin Qiye spoke without turning around, his voice hoarse. "Azathoth did not succeed in swallowing the power of the Fifth Universe, and remains an anchor point. Even if His will occupies my body, thinking in that direction would create a sense of dissociation... My memories would have a chance to slip through."
"You wretched insect! You detestable intruder!!" [Chaos], seeing itself completely exposed, dropped all pretense. A shrill voice rang out,
"You dare to covet Lord Azathoth's power! Attempting to assimilate His will and form!!
You are merely the will of a low-dimensional universe! Even if this asylum grants you the power to delay for a time, to steal Lord Azathoth's might, He will eventually utterly destroy you! And then swallow the Fifth Universe!!"
"It was Azathoth who invaded our universe first... Everything I do is merely self-defense."
Lin Qiye glanced at Him. "Now, get out of my room!"
As Lin Qiye's words fell, the door of this ward slammed shut, directly flinging [Chaos]'s form outside. The furious, cursing voice was shut out.
Lin Qiye's gaze returned to the wall before him. He rubbed his weary eyes and reorganized his thoughts...
"Is this the 112,290,016th time... no, it should be the 112,290,017th time."
Everything must begin from that first instance.
At that time, after he and An Qingyu and the others had joined forces to slay the [Key to the Gate], Lin Qiye, who had already reached the peak of Supreme God realm, sensed his connection with the universe growing impossibly strong. In the next instant, his consciousness floated free from Earth, descending directly into the depths of the cosmos...
The Ancestral Gods had spoken truly—he was indeed part of the universe's will. The reason this cosmos had split him off was because it hoped to use Lin Qiye's memories and emotions as an anchor point to resist Azathoth's assimilation of it.
As a naturally born consciousness, a billion years was merely a fleeting moment to the universe's will. But under Azathoth's corruption, it was gradually sliding into a state of madness and chaos... Relying on itself alone, it was nearly impossible to resist Azathoth's will. Thus, it could only separate a part of itself, attempting to nurture a stronger will.
Lin Qiye, born in human form, had in just ten short years acquired enough memories to serve as the universe's "anchor." Upon his return, Lin Qiye's memories and emotions became the universe's memories and emotions...
In other words, the will of the Fifth Universe now was Lin Qiye himself.
Neither the power of the Fifth Universe nor Lin Qiye's own power could defeat Azathoth, who came from a higher dimension. The Fifth Universe was nearly completely swallowed by Azathoth. But at the final moment, the universe's will—Lin Qiye—refused to sit and wait for death. Instead, it launched a counterattack, intertwining its own will with Azathoth's will!
At that critical juncture, Lin Qiye desperately activated the Asylum of the Gods, imprisoning both his own will and Azathoth's will within the sixth ward!