CHAPTER 1041: CHAPTER 1038: NOEL’S SIMPLE DECRYPTION

Noel gave Su Ming’an a prop.

...

[Temporary Human Skin Mask (Blue Level)

Durability: 5/5

Type: Face Changing Prop

Maker: Seruo

Note: Wearing it will change your appearance and physique. It will be ineffective once the durability is exhausted.]

...

"This is the human skin mask I specially selected for you. Put it on first," Noel said.

Su Ming’an was indeed not suitable to make an appearance now, as the world’s situation was still unclear. He put on the human skin mask, and his facial lines became sharper from being soft. His eyes slightly drooped, and his pupils turned into a deep oceanic blue; even his height increased slightly.

Now, it was impossible to tell who he was.

Noel also put on a human skin mask, transforming into another unfamiliar face.

"A lot happened in the three plus hours you were unconscious," Noel explained, "Under the heavy rain of special medicine, time swiftly pushed forward..."

"Wait a moment, I’ll recover with some roseblood," Su Ming’an said, consuming a few rosebloods. Although 0san certainly has side effects, at least his state was improving.

He sat on the crow, sharing the current information with Noel.

The Deity obscures the past and future by concealing people’s awareness. But when the heavy rain of special medicine awakens awareness, both past and future will return accordingly.

In the Tenth World, time has never been a straight line, it’s only partitioned by "space".

When crossing the world’s edge, it’s akin to crossing the timelines of "past, present, future" to another timeline. That’s why Su Ming’an saw Alice’s home in the Steam Age after crossing the world’s edge—it wasn’t simple "space" he crossed but a "timeline".

In The World of Old Days, this feature of "time" being "space" and "space" being "time" is quite special. Time here is planar, spread out in terraces, like slices of mooncake. Whichever attribute is more prominent determines its era. For instance, if there’s more five-nuts filling, it’s the present age. If there’s more egg yolk filling, it’s the Steam Age. More beef filling indicates the Louyue era.

The tentacle monsters guarding the world’s edge are more like the guardians of time, preventing people from venturing into timelines that don’t belong to them. Only by defeating the tentacle monsters can one achieve a "time jump" and taste mooncakes with different fillings.

This is evidently very challenging; even Chao Yan had to burn her life to defeat it. Moreover, she only defeated the creature between the [Present ←→ Steam Age].

At the beginning of the instance, Su Ming’an encountered another tentacle monster—the one that slaughtered villagers by the seaside and gave him the Eye of the Old Days. That monster seemed to guard the temporal boundary between [Louyue Nation ←→ some unknown era]. If Su Ming’an had the capability to slay it then, he might have reached an era he has yet to witness, perhaps the Primitive Age or the Insect Race Interstellar Age, yet it’s uncertain.

Worth mentioning, when Su Rin tried to sail across the world’s edge, she also encountered a tentacle monster, likely with an era behind it as well. But back then, Su Rin chose to turn back rather than force her way through.

—Every angle at the world’s edges might have an era. Crossing over means reaching it.

Thus, the world’s edges in every direction of the present should be adjacent to different eras, like national borders—perhaps 30 degrees southeast leads to the Louyue era two hundred years ago, 40 degrees northwest to the Steam Age three hundred years ago, some angle north or south leading to another era hundreds of years ago, and a few degrees away lies another era. However, people have only seen the Louyue era and the Steam Age so far.

As for why the tentacle monsters stop people—it might be that jumping timelines recklessly is a bad idea. It’s possible the tentacle monsters are akin to the "will of the world".

"What an astounding concept..." Su Ming’an said slowly.

Through discussions with Noel, he gradually realized that this world was like this—

’Eras’ have become visible segments on the map, spread across the world. Simply crossing the world’s edge allows one to reach a new era, unrestricted by whether it’s a past or future age.

"Like explorers of a new world. Our ships sail the sea; any direction—crash the iceberg, and we can reach a new era," Noel smiled, clearly fond of this romantic idea: "So intriguing. What could those unseen eras look like? If we hadn’t thought this far, we might never have witnessed their scenery by the end."

Those players who obediently listen to the Deity. Certainly couldn’t witness those spectacular eras.

"Let me give an example. Suppose I have three strawberry puddings here, one called the present, one Louyue era, another Steam Age." Noel placed three strawberry puddings on the crow’s feathers, tapping one with a silver fork: "Assume the strawberry on this present pudding is you."

Su Ming’an listened seriously. However, the way Noel tapped the pudding did not seem serious.

"One day, you got a control mark stamped by the Deity, and you wish to remove this control mark—so you activate a teleportation prop, seeking help from Li Mingyue," Noel explained. "Li Mingyue says, ’Wait for Chao Yan to defeat the tentacle monster by the seaside, then you can cross the world’s edge to break the control mark.’ And then—"

Su Ming’an recalled the situation at that time.

It was dawn on the seventh day of the instance; he went to save Chao Yan and encountered Su Wensheng by the seaside, suffered a cleave that led to his death, thus discovering the "Little Su rollback". When he desperately crossed the world’s edge to reach the Steam Age, the control mark on him was finally lifted.

"So what’s the principle behind ’crossing the world’s edge can remove the control mark’?" Su Ming’an pondered.

"’Causal line’?" Noel tentatively suggested a possibility: "You, this strawberry, originally belong on the present pudding, so you are entangled with the sugar threads of the present pudding. When you go to the steam pudding, the sugar threads on you get ’snapped’ off, thus nullifying the control mark in the present."

Su Ming’an nodded: "A very imaginative deduction."

The morning breeze swept by as Yinke the crow flew steadily, like a large platform allowing Su Ming’an and Noel to ponder for a long time.

Whenever a clue related to ’causal lines’ appeared, Su Ming’an immediately identified it, lining it up in his mind to see if there was a logical path.

The information he had was far more than Noel’s, yet Noel could always suggest a flash of genius, helping to expand his logic. With Su Ming’an’s acuity for clues and Noel’s high intellect, when they sat together to brainstorm the instance, it was unlikely anyone could surpass them.

Su Ming’an searched through his memory palace, describing scene after scene:

"On the fifth night of the instance, the Deity shared Their authority with me, and I experienced Their feelings. It was a sensation of causal lines permeating my body, granting me the ability to observe and calculate everything. I felt as if I could manipulate those invisible threads, guiding anyone’s destiny in any direction. It was then that I realized the Deity’s ability was likely related to causality."

"On the seventh day of the instance, I learned the principle of ’Time Retrospection.’ The First Tower allowed us to go back nine years to save Little Li, simply by climbing along the predetermined causal lines into the past. So, even though back then there existed three Su Wenshengs and two Little Lis at the same time, it was merely the result of predetermined causality, akin to a Mobius ring joined at both ends, leaving not a single Little Li remaining."

In the "Fate Simulator," he acquired a title "Sealed by Me," the effect of which is: [After becoming a god, you will be able to see the causal lines on the Exotic Species King.] This suggests that ’causality’ might indeed be an ability.

Meanwhile, according to Chao Yan’s memory—she had an unusual ability since childhood, she could see the causal lines in the sky. It was because she saw the changes in the causal lines and perceived the world becoming increasingly unstable that she wanted to halt the world’s great rollback.

Compiling this information, the two realized the importance of "causality."

"It seems ’causality’ is the thread that connects everything," Noel tapped the silver fork: "In the eyes of higher-dimensional beings, time, space, and causality might not be virtual objects. Higher-dimensional beings possess a different perspective from humans; what are mere concepts to us may be tangible weapons in Their hands."

"I agree," Su Ming’an said: "Before the Ruined World, I never thought there would be theories such as ’three parallel timelines constructing a world defense net with dimensions.’ These were only virtual concepts in my mind until Acto used the Dawn System to make them real weapons and shields. The World of Old Days might be a comparable case."

"Suppose ’causality,’ like ’time’ and ’space,’ can be transformed from a virtual concept into a tangible weapon," Noel slightly moved his fingers, and dozens of puppet threads appeared around him. He lowered his deep blue eyes: "Then—we can metaphorically liken ’causality’ to—threads, or perhaps, puppet threads?"

He manipulated the puppet threads: "The operator tugs at one end of the causal line, causing the other end to change in response. This way, it becomes a visualized ability."

Gazing into Noel’s oceanic blue eyes.

Su Ming’an’s heart suddenly sank slightly.

He suddenly remembered—overlapping shadows amidst the stars, surrounded by countless causal lines, with eyes as blue as the sea.

No.

Su Ming’an shook off this thought; he trusted Noel.

"So, we’ve finally made headway in how to restrain the Deity," Su Ming’an said: "As long as we find the ’puppet threads’ in the Deity’s hands, we can stop the Deity from further manipulating causality—Destiny can be killed."

"—Clap, clap, clap, clap."

The sound of applause echoed, with Noel smiling, the gentle morning breeze tugging on the blue ribbon of his hat as he happily clapped: "—A splendid deduction, we’ve arrived at a conclusion, Su Ming’an!"

Su Ming’an nodded.

The Ruler’s Quest "Kill Destiny" had always troubled him; the mission sounded too enigmatic and abstract. Destiny wasn’t a tangible thing, it had no life, so how could it be killed?

But now, after some deductions, a basic answer had formed.

—Eliminate whoever arranges Destiny. Sever the puppet threads of whoever manipulates Destiny.

"Alright, the problem’s solved. Want a piece of pudding?" Noel gestured towards the plate.

"No, there’s still one issue..." Su Ming’an furrowed his brows, deep in thought.

—Su Wensheng.

No doubt, Su Wensheng had already drowned in the lake in Dao Ya City. Yet later, a darkened version of Su Wensheng appeared.

The first time Su Ming’an encountered this altered Su Wensheng, Su Wensheng attacked him and destroyed Alice’s home. At their second meeting, however, Su Wensheng provided Su Ming’an with clues about the Huo Muli’er Nation, his demeanor suddenly becoming friendly.

The contrast in attitude was stark.

When Su Ming’an asked Su Wensheng for a reason, Su Wensheng replied:

...

[The opening of the tower will cause worlds to consolidate and merge, and similar Originals may start affecting each other. Thus, the benevolent ’Su Wensheng Original’ from other worlds will influence my temperament as the evil ’Su Wensheng Original.’]

...

"World-line convergence" is clearly another key point.

Every pudding will have a strawberry on top; these strawberries are very similar. Like the Eldest Prince’s shadow substitute Xiao Jingsan, and Xiao Jingsan of the contemporary Old Day Church. Like the village orphan girl Chao Yan, and the contemporary orphan Chao Yan. Like the State Preceptor Li Mingyue, and the Godfather Li Mingyue. Due to differences in time, education, and social upbringing, their similarities aren’t high, but their cores are very alike.

Based on Chao Yan’s memory—

...

[Chao Yan discovered—as the game was continuously completed, the Li State Preceptor in the Louyue era and the Li Bishop of the present were becoming increasingly alike.]

[Every time a player completes the Dream Tour Game, it exacerbates the fusion between the "present" and "Louyue Nation"—the reason these two Li Mingyues are so alike is because "Louyue Nation" has undergone ten completions, merging with the present has become extremely high, with causal lines continually entwining, causing the two worlds to start affecting each other, like a kind of... world-line convergence.]

[Chao Yan recalls that in the first loop, the Li State Preceptor still had pitch-black hair, and by the tenth loop, it was identical to present-day Li Mingyue’s white hair.]

...

It seems the Dream Tour Game and the Tower are tools promoting world-line convergence, aiding in "era fusion."

The "Tower" allows time to flow backward, bringing the past into the present.

The "Rain" advances time, bringing the present into the future.

If time were like individual puddings, they would form a large pudding when fused. Then the "Tower" and the "Rain" are akin to dining knives, acting as "regulators," capable of altering these puddings’ area, volume, and quantity.