Chapter 122#
Genesis Sixteen#
Murphy could tolerate it no longer.
Raising his eyes, he looked at Yu Feichen, nearly losing control of his hand reaching for the Arrow of Truth.
——Since this person appeared, troubles followed one after another. Even an Outside God could be openly brought back to Paradise. What couldn’t possibly happen?
The atmosphere tensed to its breaking point.
——Until Windsor blinked.
“Is this an ominous card?” he asked.
“No. It means you are a god,” Claros said.
“And a god from outside our system,” Murphy said, his voice low and slow. His deep red right eye gazed directly into Windsor’s pale amber eyes. Peculiar patterns unfurled within his pupils, as if seeing through all deception.
Windsor looked away, glancing at Yu Feichen. Yu Feichen nodded imperceptibly. Windsor settled down.
“May I ask your definition of a god?” he said.
“Those whose identity is independent and not ruled, and who have grasped power from the Eternal Night that doesn’t originally belong to them, are all called gods.”
Those who fell from the fractures of shattered worlds into the Eternal Night, captured as prey by broken worlds, even if fortunately escaping, only fell into the next dungeon. Endless struggle in such circumstances—these are “people.”
Yet among countless adventures, some people always stood out. Whether by chance, by others’ guidance, or self-realization, they achieved complete victory in war against dungeons, claiming them as their own, obtaining their first territory. Such people, regardless of power magnitude, became “gods.”
This meant a person controlled power that should never have belonged to them, gaining the right to resist fate in the long Eternal Night.
Windsor’s face showed genuine interest.
“But I was born to the Windsor family, and I’ve only lived nineteen years. My first memory is being led by my mother to see blooming roses in a garden.”
Murphy simply said: “Time does not lie.”
“Well. Sometimes I do feel different from others,” Windsor played with the card. “This gentleman in the black cloak called you the God of Time. I assume you have a way to verify whether my words are true or false.”
He was refined and composed, with no trace of deception.
“Give me your memories,” Murphy’s voice softened somewhat. “I can trace your past.”
Yet he looked toward Yu Feichen and spoke: “Triple fee.”
Yu Feichen actually knew this service—it was called “Memory Scanning and Cleansing,” priced at 50,000 Reflex Stones.
Yu Feichen: “Can I file a complaint about you?”
Claros’s tone was as if delighted to stir up trouble: “Complaints about divine officials are handled by the God of Law.”
Murphy gave him a cold look: “Tracing the past of a suspected god will consume considerable power on my part. The increase is within the rules.”
Yu Feichen understood. Murphy was trying to swindle his Reflex Stones to the maximum within regulations. But the money went to the Tower of Creation, not Murphy personally, which softened the sense of being cheated.
Honestly, it was less than what he’d spent on Twilight Street last time.
Remembering how the Tower of Creation seemed very short on money, he readily agreed.
White Pine reached a conclusion: “I’m worthless.”
Yu Feichen patted his head: “But you’re simple.”
“Yu ge, it sounds like you’re insulting me.”
Murphy turned around. Before him was the largest hourglass in the temple. It began flowing, glowing sand falling from ceiling to floor.
Simultaneously, all snow-white skeletal birds in metal cages slowly opened their wings, as if about to take flight. Yet their hollow eye sockets, though raised as high as possible, gazed not at the sky but at the cage’s top. Just as humans could freely walk anywhere on earth, yet always lived within the shackles of time’s river.
Golden mist suddenly enveloped the room. Within the mist, silhouettes began to appear. A solemn Holy City, magnificent palaces, gentle eyes, and the figure of a young duke. Windsor’s past faintly revealed itself, silhouettes constantly shifting, flowing at extreme speed. A person’s lifetime became fleeting moments passing by, quickly reaching childhood.
Just as he described. The young aristocratic heir gazed at the brilliantly blooming rose garden. Going further back, some blurred shadows flashed past. The image fell into complete void. A roll of film reached its beginning and could go no further. Murphy turned back, pensive.
——This indicated that Windsor was indeed born in that world, completely unrelated to the concept of “god.”
Even Claros’s eyes now showed disbelief. Windsor, meanwhile, raised an eyebrow at Murphy.
Murphy lowered his eyes and repeated: “Time does not lie.”
“Hey, you——”
Claros’s words hadn’t finished when the flame in Murphy’s left eye socket suddenly burned intensely.
As if a trigger, all hourglasses’ flow rate suddenly increased. The mist changed from gold to ash-white, while Murphy’s face grew increasingly pale. Yu Feichen recognized this scene. It was similar to when Murphy calculated his prophecy card last time. It represented Murphy’s power rapidly being consumed.
At this moment——subtle mist suddenly revealed a clear scene. They seemed to stand within it.
It was not a real world, but pitch-black infinite Eternal Night. In the center was a bright spot of light. Spots this size typically represented a world of considerable scale.
Adult-aged Windsor stood before the light spot, his face illuminated. That face differed slightly from his current appearance.
Claros suddenly spoke: “I know you.”
Windsor looked at another version of himself, mildly bewildered: “But I don’t know you, nor him.”
Claros smiled: “It’s normal you don’t know me. I’m old acquaintances with many in this way. As a reasonably strong god in the Eternal Night back then, I had to know everyone who might pose a threat to me, so I could defend against them or eat them one by one. You were among them.”
Murphy said flatly: “Which is why you’re always running about.”
“Am I?” Windsor looked at the light spot. “You mean I was also a strong god?”
“You couldn’t be called a strong god, but you were an unusual one. They gave you a nickname: ‘Insight.’”
Windsor laughed softly: “I’m starting to believe it. Sometimes I really can perceive certain things.”
“Old acquaintance, your domain wasn’t large, nor did you display particularly strong power. Yet you always seemed to perceive something, escaping from dangerous worlds without a scratch.”
Windsor: “It seems I was indeed skilled at protecting myself.”
“When I suddenly lost news of you, I found it strange. Because I knew such a person wouldn’t casually throw their life away somewhere.”
Windsor’s voice was like a sigh: “Now you seem about to learn why.”
He stopped speaking. Claros also ceased reminiscing, because cracks of gray-black appeared on that light spot.
——This indicated a previously intact world beginning to shatter. In the past image, that Windsor extended his hand, touching one of the cracks. His face bore a bewildered expression.
“I felt very sad. Is this my territory?” Windsor said.
“Perhaps,” Claros said.
“Not necessarily,” Murphy interjected.
Then, silvery power surged from where Windsor’s finger touched, pouring into the world. Some small cracks began to seal.
“What am I doing?”
“You’re using your own power to mend this world’s cracks.”
“I see,” Windsor said, his expression distant, like an outsider.
The act of mending cracks continued for a long time. Yet even after a long time, the largest crack remained unsealed. Finally, the past Windsor seemed to make an important decision. He gently closed his eyes, and countless points of light scattered from his body, falling toward the world like rain. His body grew increasingly transparent.
The crack finally began to seal, but anyone could see Windsor paid a price for it. Finally, his body became thinner than paper. His face gradually blurred.
The first things to disappear were his features. Limbs, torso, facial features all vanished. A vague point of light hung silently above the world’s light spot, its glow faint and flickering.
If this were a stage play, all audiences would be anxious for this moment’s Windsor, silently praying and wishing he wouldn’t extinguish. Yet the light’s dimming continued.
Finally, when the crack completely sealed, or rather, when no trace of cracks could be seen with the naked eye, the light point representing Windsor also became a flickering speck of dust. It lost all support, quietly falling into this world, breathing no more, like the morning star hidden by dawn.
The God of Time is changeable. At this moment, Murphy’s expression too carried bewildered melancholy.
He said: “I know why you forgot.”
Windsor: “What is it?”
“A god’s power divides into two parts: internal and external,” Murphy said.
Internal power constitutes the god’s self. External power constructs the god’s territory.
Internal is always superior to external, because gods rule their territories.
“Running worlds, fighting enemies, uses external power. Consuming this power doesn’t harm the god’s self,” Murphy said. “But sometimes you must use your original power… to do things that must be done, because that is the strongest part. I just burned my own flame, which is one method of using such power. You did the same.”
“But you paid far more than I did. After expending all external power, you paid much more. Finally, you deconstructed yourself. Your past, your will, your very existence… they all merged into this world, and you had nothing, forgetting everything. Because the power representing past memories had already left your body, never to return.”
Windsor was silent for a long time.
“I’m not entirely without anything. I didn’t die completely after all,” Windsor sighed. “What became of that world now?”
“It will become part of the Divine Kingdom.”
“Good. I hope your gods treat it well.”
“No nostalgia?”
“I don’t want to see it again,” Windsor answered. “As you said, I’m skilled at protecting myself.”
Murphy shuffled the cards.
“I hope you have a pleasant time in Paradise.”
“I believe I will,” Windsor replied. The bewilderment and loss from earlier seemed mere illusion. Duke Windsor’s smile remained so refined, as if nothing had happened.
“There’s still one person who hasn’t drawn a card,” Murphy looked toward White Pine.
White Pine panicked: “I’m innocent. I don’t need an investigation of my past.”
“Then you can look at your future instead,” Murphy presented the card board to White Pine. White Pine flipped open a card. Murphy pondered that card face for a long time before finally saying: “You seem destined to be very busy afterward.”
“…Perhaps such unfortunate matters shouldn’t be told to me, esteemed divine official.”
At this very moment, a tremendous sound suddenly echoed through the temple above!
“Thirteenth level,” Murphy suddenly raised his head, looking toward Claros.
“Again,” Claros unusually dropped his playful tone. Gray-purple dense mist appeared around him. Murphy frowned. In an instant, the elevator door descended at his will, wrapping all people in the area inside and swiftly ascending to the thirteenth level.
The door opened, the elevator vanished, and brutal force rushed at them.
White Pine let out a cry and quickly hid behind Windsor. Windsor silently tucked himself behind Yu Feichen. Yu Feichen raised his head. The Gate of Eternal Night before them cracked open. Pure power from beyond roared in, amorphous force sweeping across the entire thirteenth level like a violent tornado, then transformed into millions of pitch-black bats, screeching as they rushed toward every corner of space.
It appeared chaotic, but Yu Feichen perceived the intent instantly—they had entered the thirteenth level from the Gate of Eternal Night and now sought a path from the Tower of Creation into Paradise.
White bone wings unfurled behind Murphy. The God of Time rose into the air, his voice hoarse: “Eternal Daylight Domain—you dare encroach?!”
Only to see him draw back the bowstring of flame and ignite the Arrow of Truth. Three arrows nocked simultaneously, instantly piercing toward the rift!
The moment two forces collided, a piercing burning sound swept across everything. At this moment, more force poured in wildly, transforming into an invisible giant hand that slammed Murphy down from the sky. The instant Murphy hit ground, the thirteenth level’s floor shattered. Stone fragments and Murphy tumbled downward together. Almost simultaneously, Claros drew a pitch-black staff from behind his back. As the staff’s end—a white skeletal hand claw—touched ground, both the rift in the Gate of Eternal Night and the ground cracks sealed simultaneously.
“Fire’s running out. Conserve it,” Claros said to that rift.
The next moment, lifeless gray-purple mist surged from behind him, overwhelming everything.
Simultaneously, a coldly gleaming metal cage descended, trapping Windsor and White Pine. Separating them from the external force storm.
Yu Feichen stood before the cage. On all sides, bat cries were piercing. Within the cacophony, two forces collided midair. The collision’s intensity tore space itself. The air filled with tiny pitch-black cracks. Yu Feichen observed this gray-black chaos, feeling neither side was anything good.
“We’re done for,” White Pine said sadly. “Yu ge, is the thirteenth level going to break?”
Yu Feichen said flatly: “Unlikely.”
He could gauge the strength of both forces. Claros had guarded this gate for so many years. He wouldn’t fail today.
Indeed, force met force in close combat. Victory was decided in mere moments. Seconds later, Claros still stood in place while the storm had ceased. Something in the air transformed to ash, sprinkling onto the ground.
“So annoying, letting so many things in,” Claros said wearily. He pulled up his hood to look at the ceiling.
Yet the bats were already gone.
Looking again, the ground was densely covered with bat corpses. Each bat’s heart bore a hole punctured by a worn silver blade tip. Moments later, the blade tip transformed into flowing light and dissipated. The bats became ash.
“You did that?” Claros said. “I said so—that world you claimed is good stuff. Such pure attack power is hard to find in the Eternal Night anymore.”
He sighed: “Why don’t you just stay and guard the gate with me.”
Yu Feichen said flatly: “So we can both be slammed into the floor?”
He felt after Murphy’s attempt to cheat him, Claros would now try to swindle his power. If he stayed in this place any longer, his fortress wasn’t secure.
“Come on, you’re the person who can catch the Arrow of Truth barehanded, little Yu,” Claros’s tone was mysterious. “Back then… you hadn’t obtained any external power at all.”
In the darkness, the two faced each other, atmosphere taut as a drawn bowstring.
Yu Feichen spoke, his tone equally unkind: “Didn’t you say outsiders only come during Resurrection Day?”
“That was before the last epoch,” Claros licked his lips. “Since the last epoch began, every time the Gate of Eternal Night opens, outsiders are certain to come. Resurrection Day just brings more of them.”
“Why?”
“It’s not that I got slammed into the ground and couldn’t climb out. When a person controls too much power, glitches are inevitable, right? Power systems are complex.”
Yu Feichen’s gaze grew cold and deep, as if remembering something.
Claros continued: “At the start of the last epoch, before you came… no, on Resurrection Day before you entered Paradise, someone also had a glitch.”
“Them?”
Claros’s voice was like a snake luring into hell: “Want to see?”