CHAPTER 473: CHAPTER 470 [EVEN TIGERS DO NOT EAT THEIR CUBS]

Chapter 470: The Tiger Does Not Eat Its Young

In Chen Nuo’s view, this Time Retrospection ability was simply too much of a cheat.

Such power shouldn’t belong to someone like Chen Jianshe, a mere Destroyer Level individual.

Forget a Destroyer like Chen Jianshe; even a Controller like Chen Nuo—indeed, among all the Controllers in the world, not one possessed such an incredible ability.

Even those few Seeds couldn’t grasp the power to control Time.

It was far too overpowered!

If used cleverly, this ability was practically invincible!

The reason it felt like a cheat was that possessing it could shatter the existing hierarchy of power levels.

Moreover, thinking deeper, Time might very well be the axis of the speculated fourth dimension!

The ability to control Time—the sheer level of this power was awe-inspiring.

Chen Jianshe?

How could a human Destroyer Level Ability User possess such power?

He wasn’t some chosen one.

In his previous life, Chen Nuo had never heard the name Chen Jianshe, nor the name "Dong Juan" in the Underground World. Clearly, this Old Chen had been lying low, surviving from beginning to end.

Furthermore, what made Chen Nuo particularly wary was that Chen Jianshe actually possessed that pair of Jade Rice Grains!

Those were the remnants of a Seed!

Chen Jianshe fell silent.

Chen Nuo, unhurried, squatted before Chen Jianshe and asked with a smile, "What, unwilling to talk?"

Chen Jianshe took a deep breath. "Are you trying to dig up all my secrets?"

Chen Nuo said calmly, "This ability is too advanced. An ability concerning Time, which even Controllers cannot manage, yet someone merely at the Destroyer Level can wield it freely. How could I not get to the bottom of this?"

Chen Jianshe’s expression was complex, and he said nothing.

"Moreover, there’s something else miraculous about your ability. During our fight, you activated it over eighty times. A skill you can use over eighty times—activating this Time Retrospection ability must cost something, right? Or can you activate it at will, with no cost whatsoever? Typically, using abilities consumes an Ability User’s spiritual power, or some other energy reserve. But... over eighty times! Forget activating such an incredible ability; if a person were to spit eighty-odd times consecutively, they’d be half-dead from exhaustion! Even a Controller would find it impossible to use their strongest skill over eighty times in one go. Unless... your Time Retrospection ability is zero-cost?"

After Chen Nuo had said all this, Chen Jianshe, wrestling with his thoughts, finally raised his eyes to Chen Nuo. "If I tell you... will you truly let me go?"

"If you don’t talk, I definitely won’t let you go," Chen Nuo answered very seriously.

"No," Chen Jianshe immediately shook his head. "You have to promise me. If I tell you, you will truly let me go."

Chen Nuo pondered for a moment, then nodded. "Fine. After all, as you said, there’s no personal vendetta between us. Besides, you are my father; your blood flows in my veins. You said it yourself just now, no matter what, I couldn’t possibly kill my own father, could I?"

Chen Jianshe asked, "Then what do you plan to do with me?"

"Answer my questions, and then I can consider letting you go. Of course, it won’t be that simple. You must promise never to bother Ou Xiuhua again! Also, you must go to Grandma’s grave, kneel, and admit your wrongs."

Then I’ll bury you, Chen Nuo added silently.

Chen Jianshe mostly believed him. In his understanding, no matter how great the resentment, the person before him was his son. Without a true personal vendetta, Chen Nuo indeed had no reason to kill him.

"Alright, I’ll tell you. This ability..."

"Wait a moment," Chen Nuo smiled. "You’d better not lie to me. If I find out you have, I won’t let you off... Killing you is one thing, but I might just shatter your Consciousness Space and turn you into an imbecile, worse off than an ordinary person."

Chen Jianshe was silent for a moment, then spoke again. "Okay, this ability of mine truly doesn’t consume any physical strength, and certainly not what you assume to be spiritual power. If I wished, I could activate it another hundred times!"

Chen Nuo’s expression changed. "How is that possible?!"

"I haven’t finished. It doesn’t consume any strength or energy. However, that doesn’t mean there’s no cost. To be precise, it consumes my own Time."

Chen Nuo frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Think of it this way: the Time I expend is my own life Time, or rather, physical Time. Suppose... just suppose! For instance, I use Time Retrospection to go back one year. How old were you a year ago? Seventeen. And I am currently forty-eight. If I use Time Retrospection to go back one year, how old would I be?"

"Forty-eight minus one, forty-seven?"

"No, I would still be forty-eight," Chen Jianshe said slowly. "I use Time Retrospection on the timeline, but my own life Time continues to pass."

"I don’t quite understand."

"For example, during our fight just now, from the time node I set, and then the repeated uses of Time Retrospection. The duration of each of our fights extended from a few minutes to eventually half an hour, right?"

"Right."

"Let’s assume each fight took half an hour, and I used Time Retrospection eighty times. That’s forty hours in total, roughly less than two days’ worth of Time, correct?"

"Correct."

"Each activation is like expending my own life Time. For you, each use of Time Retrospection returns you to the time node I set. Whether it’s eighty times, eight hundred, or eight thousand, it’s all the same point in Time for you. Each use will return you to your age and state at that specific point. But it’s different for me! Simply put, however much Time I rewind, that amount is deducted from my lifespan. That is to say, each time I use this skill, it consumes my life Time. The amount of Time I rewind is the amount deducted. If I use Time Retrospection for half an hour, my own lifespan decreases by half an hour. Using it eighty times, totaling over forty hours, means over forty hours of my own lifespan has passed. If I use Time Retrospection to go back a year, two years, or even longer, my lifespan will be reduced by that much."

Chen Nuo stared at Chen Jianshe’s face for a long while before suddenly saying, "You must seldom use this skill, right?"

"Of course. Although this ability is potent, I only use it when facing exceptionally strong opponents. After all, using this ability consumes my own lifespan. If I use it too much... I haven’t lived nearly enough."

Chen Nuo nodded. Chen Jianshe’s appearance was largely consistent with his actual age, indicating he was very "sparing" with this ability.

"Then how did you obtain this ability?" Chen Nuo shook his head. "An ability like this doesn’t seem to be naturally awakened, does it? I’ve never heard of anyone in the Underground World with an ability identical to yours. This type of ability doesn’t seem like one humans can naturally awaken!"

Time belongs to the realm of the fourth dimension. And humans are three-dimensional beings. Three-dimensional creatures cannot possibly awaken or evolve four-dimensional abilities.

Chen Jianshe fell silent once again. This silence, however, only further confirmed Chen Nuo’s suspicion—this ability was clearly not naturally awakened.

"I... I don’t know how to say it."

"Just say whatever comes to mind. Try to explain, and if there’s something I don’t understand, I’ll ask," Chen Nuo’s tone was frigid.

Chen Jianshe felt helpless, then let out a bitter smile. "Do you... believe in ghosts in this world?"

"Huh?" Chen Nuo was stunned.

"See? I knew you wouldn’t believe me."

"No, I believe you. Just keep talking."

Ghosts? Chen Nuo snickered internally. I’ve even seen aliens. What are ghosts in comparison? Let’s hear what he has to say.

Chen Jianshe sighed. "Actually, it all started about two or three years before you were born. There was a period when I seemed to have suffered a major illness. After recovering, I would often hear a voice speaking to me at night when I slept."

"You mean, you dreamt someone was talking to you at night?"

"It wasn’t a person speaking to me; it was a voice. Do you understand the difference? I don’t know who it was, just that I could hear a voice while sleeping. I also don’t know if it was a dream. Anyway... I was asleep, probably dreaming. But in the dream, I was clearly aware I was dreaming, and yet a voice would speak to me."

Chen Nuo was intrigued. "What did it say to you?"

Chen Jianshe took a breath. "It told me what would happen the next day."

Chen Nuo paused, then quickly reacted. "You mean... foreknowledge?"

"...Yes, you could call it foreknowledge." Chen Jianshe’s gaze became a bit distant as he continued slowly, "The first time I had that dream, I remember it very clearly. In the dream, the voice told me what would happen the next day. It seemed to tell me many things: who I’d meet when I left in the morning, what I’d eat for lunch at work... These were all trivial things, so I didn’t pay them much mind—I didn’t take it seriously at the time, you know, it was just a dream. When I woke up, I felt something was odd. Usually, one doesn’t remember much of a dream upon waking. But what was strange about that dream was that I remembered it with perfect clarity! I could recall everything the voice told me in the dream after waking up, though I didn’t pay much attention at the time. It wasn’t until I was at work during the daytime that I suddenly remembered the voice in the dream telling me there would be an accident at our factory that day, and someone would die. Do you know... that afternoon, while I was washing cars in the motor pool, I suddenly saw my mentor rush in, telling me there’d been an accident at the factory. A docker had fallen into the river and drowned... Do you know how I felt then?"

"You were shocked?"

"Exactly!" Chen Jianshe sighed. "Shocked, terrified, and beyond that, even a little excited. It was quite complicated."

Chen Nuo prompted, "And then?"

"Then, the next night, I went home early, eagerly waiting to fall asleep, hoping I might hear something again. But that night, I was too excited to sleep at all, until just before dawn, when I finally managed a few hours of fitful sleep. And I didn’t have that strange dream. I slept until morning, even arriving late for work and getting an earful from my mentor. For several days after that, I didn’t have that strange dream again. Gradually, I began to think it was just a dream. As for what the voice in the dream said—the prophecies, the death—those were merely coincidences. I slowly forgot about it until one night, I was out eating and drinking with friends. I drank too much and even got into a fight... Then, that night, I had that strange dream again."

Chen Nuo listened quietly, without interrupting.

"That night, the voice in the dream gave me more foreknowledge... Mostly trivial things I didn’t pay much attention to, but it told me one thing: the next evening, when I got off work, the people I had fought with earlier that day would come to the factory entrance after work to ambush me, and they’d beat me severely..."

Chen Nuo’s eyes flickered. "Did you believe it?"

"Not at first. When I woke up, I thought it was just a dream. But then, as I was about to leave work that evening, I suddenly remembered the dream, and also the incident where someone died at the factory the day after my previous dream. I suddenly became wary. I asked a colleague to sneak out of the factory first and check the alley outside for me to see what was going on. As it turned out, my colleague returned and confirmed that several people were lurking there, acting suspiciously, clearly waiting for someone. I immediately realized something was wrong."

"So you confirmed the dream wasn’t just a dream, but could actually predict future events?"

"Yes, I believed it. I was thrilled, and also a bit panicky. But more than anything, I was ecstatic! I didn’t even care that I’d offended people who were coming to beat me up. Think about it, Chen Nuo! To gain the ability to foresee the future! What an incredible thing, right? I thought my life was about to change for the better!"

Chen Nuo frowned. "And then? But your life didn’t exactly skyrocket after that, did it? I remember very clearly, even after you married Ou Xiuhua, you were still struggling, things weren’t going your way, you were heavily in debt, ran off alone, abandoning your wife and child, and headed south. I’ve investigated that too. You were constantly on the run, hiding here and there, unable to succeed in anything, relying only on your looks and your smooth tongue to swindle money from some women."

"..." Chen Jianshe sighed. "Because the dream... it was erratic. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. It didn’t appear every night, just occasionally. Sometimes, I’d go ten days or even half a month without one. The longest I waited was three months for a single prophetic dream. And to my great disappointment, each time I dreamt, the foreknowledge was always about trivial matters happening around me. You don’t understand, Chen Nuo. This was the eighties. There were no lotteries or anything like that, so I couldn’t even dream of lottery numbers. Besides, the dream’s foreknowledge was limited to the next day. It could only predict events one day in advance, so... it wasn’t actually that useful. And most of the foreknowledge concerned worthless trivialities. For instance, even if you knew in advance that the factory canteen would serve braised pork the next day—what use was a prophecy like that?! It couldn’t make me rich, nor could it help me gain influence! However, it wasn’t completely useless. For example, I dreamt I would meet your mother a day before it happened. Then, knowing I would meet a great beauty like your mom the next day, I prepared in advance, dressed myself up nicely, and made various arrangements. That was a plus, I guess. Also, at my job in the factory, I managed to curry favor with the unit leader because of dream foreknowledge. I knew what minor thing would happen to the leader the next day, prepared in advance, flattered him well, making the leader think I was quick-witted and resourceful... But beyond that, there were no greater benefits. I pondered it carefully later: this dream could only predict things happening in my immediate vicinity. Which means, the scope of the predictions was tied to me personally. It wouldn’t prophesize about domains I was ignorant of. For example, when I worked in a small factory in Jinling, at most, it would predict something concerning my unit leader the next day. But it definitely wouldn’t predict anything about the President of M Country. Understand?"

Chen Nuo asked, "So what?"

"So, I grew increasingly unwilling to stay in that dead-end factory," Chen Jianshe sighed. "By that time, I had already married your mother. But with this magical power of premonitory dreams, I always felt I was destined for more than an ordinary life, that I would surely become wealthy and influential! Even though the dreams were still unreliable. Yet, possessing this magical ability, how could I possibly resign myself to being an ordinary person? I always thought about going out and venturing, seeing more of the world, because maybe the more of the world I saw, the broader the scope of my dreams’ foreknowledge would be, and the more valuable it would become to me!"

Chen Nuo sighed. "So you neglected your home, always aiming too high, wanting to go out, make a name for yourself, get rich, and gamble on a fortune?"

"Exactly! I tried business, failed, incurred debts, and then I fled. I left Jinling and went south, looking for opportunities. I thought this dream of mine would soon prove useful. But to my disappointment, the dreams still only occurred occasionally, the timing always uncertain, and the content was very difficult for me to leverage. In the south, things went from bad to worse. I offended many people and accumulated even more debt. Sometimes I thought about just going back to Jinling. I knew your mother, Ou Xiuhua’s, temperament too well. Even though I’d done so many foolish things, we were still husband and wife then. If I went back, she would still take me in. Even if by then she had completely lost faith in me, even if her love for me was gone. But... your mother had this... weakness in her character: she was resigned to her fate. Since she married me, she accepted her lot. No matter what messes I made, as long as I returned and showed a willingness to live properly, she would continue to live with me. She was a dutiful person who accepted her lot in life."

Chen Nuo sneered, "Then why didn’t you come back?"

"...I wasn’t resigned," Chen Jianshe shook his head. "Me, an ordinary young man from the bottom rungs of society, who had thrown away an ’iron rice bowl’ at the factory, abandoned my wife and child, and run off hoping to strike it rich! Moreover, I possessed such a huge secret! Who in the world at that time had an ability like mine? Foreknowledge! The ability to see the future! Even if the foreknowledge was useless ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times! What about the thousand-and-first time? Who could say? I just couldn’t go back like that. I wanted to keep gambling, keep waiting, hoping that one prediction might offer a chance for overnight riches, something I could leverage to soar!"

Looking at Chen Jianshe, his eyes bloodshot...

This... actually, perhaps many people would think the same way, Chen Nuo suddenly sighed internally. A seemingly limited ability of foreknowledge... But it was foreknowledge nonetheless! The ability to see the future! Chen Jianshe’s words were actually quite understandable: "Even if the foreknowledge was useless ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times! What about the thousand-and-first time?" No one would be truly resigned.

"And then?" Chen Nuo continued to ask.

"And then... it was probably when you were about two or three. One day, suddenly, I had a dream, and its content was completely unexpected. I was incredibly overjoyed! Because of the foreknowledge’s content. Firstly, it wasn’t about things around me. Secondly, its timeframe was no longer limited to the next day! At that moment, I felt my luck was about to turn. My fortune was changing! My ability... it had finally upgraded!"

Chen Nuo asked, "What dream?"

"I dreamt about an event in..." Chen Jianshe mentioned the name of a small Southeast Asian country.

Chen Nuo asked, "Hmm?"

"According to the dream’s foreknowledge, this event was supposed to happen in two months. So I went into a frenzy, approached many people, borrowed a lot of money, then took a gamble, and even had someone help me make contact through certain channels. I went abroad! I was smuggled out by boat. You have no idea, in that era, how much suffering was involved in being smuggled out by sea. At that time..."

"I didn’t ask you to reminisce about your past hardships," Chen Nuo interrupted coldly. "Get to the point!"

"...Alright, alright, the point, the point." Chen Jianshe gave an embarrassed laugh and continued, "I went to a city in that small country. Based on the dream’s foreknowledge, I found a location, made preparations, and just waited there. After several days, the target appeared. That night, I witnessed a battle. Two Ability Users fought a decisive battle at night, right where I was waiting. I waited until they had fought to a standstill, both grievously wounded. One of them, severely injured, fled, and I followed that person. And then..."

Chen Nuo asked, "Then what did you do?"

"I ambushed that person." A hint of ruthlessness flashed in Chen Jianshe’s eyes. "The dream’s foreknowledge showed me that the person would be gravely injured and collapse during their escape. After I got there, I followed that person, found a safe house where he was hiding, and sneaked in while he was unconscious... Having witnessed their terrifying battle using Special Abilities, I dared not leave him alive! Although I had prepared ropes and such, after actually seeing the battle, I abandoned my original plan. While that person was unconscious, I decided to use a knife to slit his throat! Moreover, the dream’s foreknowledge told me that safe house... was loaded! There was a box filled with a lot of money, and Gold too. Most importantly, by then I had broken into the house and seen the Ability User lying unconscious on the ground. I was just about to pull out my knife when... I suddenly heard the voice from my dreams! Not in a dream, but while I was wide awake, I heard that voice speaking directly into my mind!"

Chen Nuo leaned in. "What did it say?"

"That voice taught me a method, a method for guiding and devouring spiritual power... A technique for wielding spiritual power. Then, using that method, following the voice’s guidance..."

Chen Nuo pressed, "What did you do?"

"I devoured that person’s spiritual power! That person was clearly a Spiritual-type Ability User. I devoured his spiritual power, and then, I transformed from an ordinary person into an Ability User."

Devouring? Devouring spiritual power? Why does that sound like something a Wizard would do? But this definitely wasn’t the work of a Wizard. Wizards don’t have the Time Retrospection ability, nor do they possess foreknowledge. More than a decade ago, it was even less likely for a Wizard to go to Jinling and scheme with an ordinary person like Chen Jianshe.

"After devouring it, I sensed the ’Consciousness Space’ for the first time. I was thrilled to have transformed from an ordinary person into a superhuman with incredible abilities. But it was then, for the first time, that the voice in my head communicated with me directly. This was after I’d gained the foreknowledge dream ability! In the past premonitory dreams, I could only listen unilaterally; I couldn’t interact with it at all, as I couldn’t speak in my dreams. It was always: it spoke, I listened. Until that time, after I became an Ability User and gained spiritual power, I was able to communicate with it for the first time. But... that was also the only time. That time, it told me that only after I became an Ability User and my spiritual power had grown stronger was I capable of this kind of interaction. It told me that starting that day, my dream foreknowledge ability would disappear, as this ability would evolve into a more powerful one: Time Retrospection."

Chen Nuo said coldly, "You must have asked it what it was, right?"

"I asked, but it didn’t answer. It only told me that from then on, I would no longer hear its voice because the ability had already taken shape. What I needed to do was use this ability and live well. I asked it why it gave me this ability. It said a few things then, but I truly didn’t understand. I only remember it mentioning some concepts about time—you can understand, I had just obtained a new ability, and my mind was in chaos. Moreover, I wasn’t well-educated back then; I lacked culture. I really couldn’t grasp many profound concepts. But one thing it said, I remembered. It told me to use this ability to live well; the longer I lived, the better it would be for ’it.’ And, it told me to keep a low profile, to hide myself. The Time Retrospection ability could help me gain a great deal, even help me defeat many opponents stronger than myself. However, this ability also has a weakness... it must be used unexpectedly, to catch the opponent off guard. Actually, thinking about it, it makes sense. I used this ability against you because I was certain you were the only Ability User present then. If the Star Sky Empress had also been there, I couldn’t have won alone. This ability is only useful if used well, used cleverly. But if used poorly, it can easily lead to one’s own demise. This ability is best for ambushing enemies. But one cannot be too conspicuous. Most importantly, I must never let others know I possess this ability! Because my actual strength is still insufficient. If others learned about the Time Retrospection ability—as long as an opponent was prepared, my ability would be useless for trapping anyone. This was something I figured out later. So, I’ve kept a very low profile all these years."

Chen Nuo understood all that followed. But it was something Chen Jianshe had said earlier that caught his attention.

"The voice told you... the longer you live, the better it is for ’it’?"

Chen Jianshe affirmed, "Mhmm."

Chen Nuo asked, "What does that mean?"

"I don’t understand," Chen Jianshe shook his head. "I asked, but it didn’t answer. Actually... I’ve thought about it carefully since. Perhaps that exchange wasn’t real communication. How should I put it... it was as if the voice, or ’it,’ wasn’t actually speaking to me. It was more like... a recording. A recording of some important information, playing in my head. That’s why I’ve replayed that exchange in my mind countless times. It never answered my questions; it felt like it was just delivering a monologue, completely disregarding my inquiries. Later, I came to suspect that perhaps I was merely listening to a pre-recorded message left in my mind."

Chen Nuo narrowed his eyes in thought, then suddenly smiled. "No, you’re still hiding something important, aren’t you?"

"No, no, I’ve truly told you everything!" Chen Jianshe hurriedly defended himself.

"Everything?" Chen Nuo sneered, picking up the box containing the Jade Rice Grain. "You haven’t said where this came from!"

Chen Jianshe’s face changed. "This... this is just a small jade carving, an ordinary trinket. It has nothing to do with any of this..."

Chen Nuo looked into Chen Jianshe’s eyes and sighed. "Chen Jianshe, Chen Jianshe... If you weren’t so malicious, I might not have actually killed you. But... you brought this thing back to find me... And you claim you were moved by old feelings, coming back to see your own son... Even a vicious tiger does not eat its own cubs. So you won’t shed a tear until you see the coffin, is that it? Let me tell you plainly, I have one of these too! So, I know very well what this thing is for!"

As he spoke, Chen Nuo extended a palm, and slowly, a Jade Rice Grain appeared in its center!

Chen Jianshe’s face changed drastically. He cried out in alarm, his eyes wide with shock, and he struggled frantically to leap up from the ground.

But Chen Nuo simply pointed a finger, pinning Chen Jianshe to the ground.

"Chen Jianshe, you were planning to use this for Body Seizing—to take over your own son’s body! Your Time Retrospection ability consumes lifespan. And you’re already middle-aged; you’ve enjoyed a comfortable life for so many years, but as you contemplated your advancing age, you remembered you have a young son in Jinling! To be a man nearing fifty, past his prime, or to be a young, vibrant man again? Of course, you’d choose the latter. So... your real purpose for returning this time, aside from causing trouble for the Star Sky Empress—no, you never even truly intended to trouble the Star Sky Empress; you didn’t actually care about your disciple’s death. You merely wanted to disgust us, and then you hid. Furthermore, you wouldn’t have made any further moves against the Star Sky Empress. After all, you’ve always operated with a low profile, haven’t you, Mr. Dong Juan! Your true purpose in returning this time was to find your son and complete the Body Seizing!"