648: 10.43 The Beginning and The End

10.43 The Beginning and The End

Lu Yizhou was shocked by the complexity of the truth behind this simulation.0

[...Time loop?]

[666: Ah, yes, it seems like this is a suitable explanation as well. Have you heard of the circular theory of time, Host? It is stated that time is not linear and we are not merely going forward in a straight line. In this theory, the past, present and future affect each other to form a circle. Whatever we do in the present, it will affect the past and future. The beginning becomes the end and vice versa.]

Lu Yizhou had never been good at science ever since he was small, otherwise why would he go and become an assassin of all professions in this world? Listening to 666's explanation had his mind spinning in circles. He could understand each word the system said, but when it was strung into one sentence, Lu Yizhou found that it suddenly became a foreign language to him. 

He spat out, [Speak human language.]

[666: …but 666 is a system QAQ]

What Lu Yizhou and 666 speculated at first was only partly true.

Indeed, they were inside experimental subject 55's mind right now, but at the same time, it was also reality. His lover had become the link that connected two eras. 

One of 55's abilities was Pandora's Box — meaning that a disaster would befall humankind once he was awakened. Alas, like in the Greek mythology, the box was meant to be opened as how 55 was fated to open his eyes. As a result, all of the meek and docile experimental subjects suddenly went berserk and turned their abilities toward the researchers. Those researchers were only human beings, after all. How could they ever stand a chance against the creatures whom they called 'the origin of God'? 

In every era, humankind was destined to fall and rise. 

The hideous research institute was destroyed and the out-of-control experimental subjects were released into the world. They were akin to viruses which were transmitted by air, their might was fierce and unstoppable, bringing nothing but destruction and death in their wake. 

The public was shocked and enraged when they discovered the truth. However, it was already too late when they wanted to salvage the situation. Those experimental subjects had become a sharp, unyielding weapon that tore the peace apart and turned it into an everlasting abyss. Millions of innocent people died, and countless soldiers sacrificed themselves in order to bring those creatures down. Every single day was spent in fear and dread, and the world was shrouded in a thick air of despair. It was the most arduous time where the human race almost perished.

In the end, it was 55 who stepped forward to resolve the situation.

He was the beginning of this disaster, and he would also be the end.

His brain power had developed rapidly ever since he woke up until it almost reached 100%. He was the most ideal subject that ever existed, yet it was a pity that those researchers were no longer alive to admire their masterpiece. 

Again and again, he utilized his power far into the past and future, seeking a hero who would be able to save humankind. He had sought many others and brought them back to his era. However, they all died under the experimental subjects' tyrannical power. He was like a tireless machine as he witnessed the death and birth of humans for countless years, constantly seeking for ways to salvage the desperate situation.

He wanted nothing more than for peace to be restored, yet the humans feared him. They locked him inside the place where he was born and built an underground prison especially for him. They wished that he would die, yet they also wished that he would be able to end their misery. 

55 understood human's greed more than anybody. He had no interest in the outside world because everything he saw was pain, suffering and despair. He only wanted to solve this mess which he had started in the first place. As such, he accepted the humans' arrangement calmly, letting them place countless chains and locks on his body as if it could restrain him. They had no idea that he would be able to free himself without even lifting a finger…

He was simply not interested in retaliating.

He was really, really tired. He just wanted everything to end.

Countless cycles repeated every second and gradually a huge strain was put on his body. His psychic abilities also showed signs of losing control. If he was not careful, then he would turn into those creatures whom the humans loathed the most. 

It was until he stumbled into a certain era that a great mishap suddenly occurred. 55 found a very extraordinary person in Nightingale Prison. He was not an experimental subject, yet he was as strong as one. He also had a natural aptitude toward psychic abilities that enabled him to be immune to 55's hypnotic singing.

55 thought that this time, he would definitely succeed. With this person, the world would finally be saved and he could get the eternal slumber he had been yearning for.

Oh, how wrong he was.

This man was a vicious criminal that had been sentenced to life imprisonment in Nightingale Prison. As he got into contact with 55 and found out about 55's power, uncontrollable greed started to sprout in his heart. He wanted to have this power to himself. He wanted to obtain this extraordinary ability to stand on top of the world where he would bow to no one!

Under normal circumstances, 55 would be able to easily see through a human's heart in one glance. However, he was already very exhausted at that time, just like a candle which had almost burned to the end. He had pinned all of his hope into this human and had even lent him part of his power to fight against the vicious creatures. Yet in the end… this human betrayed him. Not only did he not kill the creatures as per their agreement, he turned his power to 55 instead!

As soon as 55 felt the familiar energy tearing into his soul, he suddenly came to an epiphany. Perhaps… what he did had always been meaningless from the start. Perhaps, the humankind was fated to doom even without his intervention. 

It was humans who created him, kept him in a nutrient cabin for sixteen years and awakened him with much difficulty. Yet it was also humans who feared him, imprisoned him and chained him. So why should he be responsible for their safety? Why should he clean after their mess?

Exactly what had he been trying so hard for…?

At that moment, 55 almost lost himself into misery and despair. And his power was on the verge of losing control.

No matter what, he was still an individual with 100% brain power. It would not be so easy to kill him. When he came to seek the human, he discovered that the man had started a massacre in the prison. The floor was stained in blood and cries of agony filled the air… It was familiar, so familiar that 55 felt like he had been transported back to that moment a long, long time ago. Alas, just like in the research institute, 55 still did not manage to save anyone. When he arrived, everyone was already dead and only the human was left.

"I am the strongest from now on!" The human declared, his eyes shining in manic bloodlust and thrill. "I am invincible, no one will be able to defeat me!"

55 gazed at him with pity, then killed him simply with a flick of his finger. Pathetic human being, he mused.

That's right, human beings were pathetic, yet 55 thought no one was more pathetic than him. Dragging a body filled with nothing but hollowness, he chained himself on Z-level. Either way, this was where he was supposed to belong. He was an existence who should not be allowed to wake up, and his world should have been filled with nothing but darkness. 

He could not control his power any longer so he merely directed it toward himself, destroying his memory, his psychic power and almost losing his life along the way. 

This time, he finally learned how to give up. He would not try any longer. It was futile. No matter what he did, he would not be able to change the past.

The world was destined for destruction, and he was the very cause.

Inside the level where no light could react, a long-haired teenager gradually regained consciousness. His golden eyes were blank, as empty as his memory. 

Who am I? 

Why am I here?

Why is it so dark all around?

And… why am I alone?

The teenager was immensely lonely, yet in this place, no one could hear his voice. He could only sing to himself every night about his longing to see the light. Without his power, those arduous years quickly caught up to him and ate away at his health. In less than a year, he slowly breathed his last without ever knowing what it was like to step outside his cage. 

His flesh rotted and he turned into skeletons, yet his soul still remained trapped in this place, singing about his melancholy to see the world in peace once again. He forgot about his lifelong goal, and deep in his subconsciousness there was only an inexplicable yearning to see the flowers blooming outside as well as how blue the sky was. 

When he was alive, he was the curse for humanity and when he was dead, he was still a curse in Nightingale Prison. 

In the original plot, Percy stumbled into the teenager and became a replacement for his tormented soul. He was finally free, yet it was not the true freedom he was seeking for…

After he finished digesting the truth, Lu Yizhou let out a long exhale. His eyelids fluttered open, revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes. He stared at the peacefully sleeping Pandora and a sharp pang of pain struck him right on the chest. He finally knew why he entered this world to save the villain despite him gaining freedom at the end of the original plot. As it turned out, there was such a huge hidden plot buried within…

How much have you suffered? How much agony have you gone through until you decided to self-destruct in the end?

No wonder… No wonder Pandora could not remember anything. As it turned out, it was the past him who had destroyed it himself. That kind of memory, it would only serve him endless torment if he recalled one day. It was better that he could forget those days forever.

He ran the tip of his fingers along Pandora's cheek, so gently that the teenager's sleep was not disturbed at all. 

[How do I save him this time?] Lu Yizhou asked 666 in his mind. [Is it enough if I kill all those creatures?]

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