Chapter 287
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Chapter 287: "The End of the Universe"
As the sky above Hope City began to shimmer with the first glimmers of dawn, El, who had been navigating the underground for hours, finally re-emerged into normal space.
This marked the longest duration he had ever sustained his abilities, a significant feat for a superpowered individual like him, especially given his limited recovery abilities. The margin for error in a Dimensional Shift was perilously thin.
Perhaps spurred by the looming threat of death, El had made rapid strides in stabilizing and controlling his abilities, progress so swift that it even drew a note of admiration from Lin Qingliu.
After a night-long vigil, Dr. Lin finally welcomed his scout back. El’s face was alight with excitement, though his eyes betrayed a deep weariness.
“Doctor, I’ve seen something extraordinary.”
His eagerness to share was palpable, almost bursting at the seams.
“Take a moment to rest first,” Dr. Lin advised gently.
Overcome by exhaustion and aided subtly by Lin Qingliu’s abilities, El quickly succumbed to a deep sleep. Meanwhile, Lin Qingliu’s consciousness ventured into El’s realm of thought.
With a phantom snap of fingers, El’s awareness was roused.
He glanced around, his expression one of confusion.
“Doctor, where are we?”
The seemingly disjointed question puzzled El. As he pondered it, he realized his memory was fragmented.
“It’s natural not to remember; this is your dream.
“But now that you’re awake, this is also your consciousness space.
“I trust you recall that we’ve met in this manner before.”
Lin Qingliu’s explanation was casual, a reassurance that he had everything under control.
El’s memory jogged back to their encounter months prior, and he grasped his current state.
“Did you bring me here to let my body rest?”
The silver-haired boy’s question revealed a childlike innocence. Lin Qingliu, not wishing to dispel the boy’s naivety, responded tactfully:
“Not solely for that.
“I’m aware of your diligent efforts to learn, but some things transcend verbal explanation.
“In a dream, or more accurately, in the consciousness space, you have the unique ability to access your memories, and I can observe the entire process.
“Additionally, in this dream state, your cognitive processes accelerate, ensuring your future plans remain on schedule.”
“I see! Let’s begin then!”
In the consciousness space, El closed his eyes and concentrated, as if sifting through his memories for something specific.
“Patience, El. Before we proceed, let me acquaint you with a term from the Old Era.”
“What is it?”
“A movie theater.”
An ethereal structure materialized, complete with a towering, sound-absorbing ceiling and rows of tiered seating.
On the vast screen, El’s recent experiences unfolded. Seated in the prime viewing spot of this cinematic illusion, Lin Qingliu and El each cradled a bucket of popcorn, ready to watch the story of El’s journey.
Looking at the nearly identical architectural structures before him, Lin Qingliu couldn’t help but marvel at the imaginative power of children.
The only problem was that perhaps due to a lack of real experience, the popcorn in El’s dream world tasted like… nutritional paste.
After four hours in the dream world, El’s extraordinary adventure finally reached its conclusion.
In the dream world, Lin Qingliu sat in a chair, struggling to regain his composure.
From the perspective of a popcorn movie, this film had countless dull moments, with no climactic points throughout, and in the majority of cases, the shots were extremely shaky.
The few special effects shots that were excellent were either too short or maintained an upside-down position the entire time, and the random tomato easter egg was completely incoherent. The final, nonsensical cube seemed to feed the audience history.
Moreover, the most crucial point was that there was absolutely no plot that filled in the gaps; the entire movie was just a repetition of digging holes without filling them.
But if analyzed from the perspective of objective facts, the information within was rather explosive.
This was one reason why Lin Qingliu’s thoughts became chaotic.
What exactly was the spire? Was it something humans could build?
With such technological advancement, why were they so ill-equipped to handle extraordinary beasts?
During the more than half a year Lin Qingliu had been in this world, he rarely took action himself.
This was not some mysterious organization’s leadership-driven prestige, but simply a reluctance to take risks lightly.
Now, El’s firsthand experience further proved this point: the waters of Hope City ran deeper than they appeared.
As a diver, he had to be fully prepared.
A small hypothesis began to sprout in Lin Qingliu’s mind.
"I really have to go in person…"
After expressing this thought, Lin Qingliu cleared his mind and exited the dream ahead of El.
He hadn’t forgotten the deal with El; the other party had been roaming on the edge of danger to ensure the plan of a Dimensional Shift could be successfully carried out.
Lin Qingliu didn’t know how many of the remaining humans could achieve similar feats, but he was certain there had to be at least one.
Recalling Li Rui’s appearance and figure, Lin Qingliu placed the recliner beside the bed and lay down himself.
His fourth ability, the “Flesh” pathway, began to activate.
The life force within Lin Qingliu started to drain, and to his right, a huge, indescribable flesh blob was continuously writhing and growing.
This mass appeared spherical in shape, and if Wang Xiao were here, it would certainly evoke his most terrifying memories.
Proliferation and transformation were just the basic processes; within the flesh blob, Lin Qingliu was using his abilities to mimic the functions of some of his own organs.
This was certainly possible.
The flesh blob gradually began to morph into a human form, soon lying on the bed like a normal human.
However, due to Lin Qingliu’s oversight of the details, this human figure looked unsettling; otherwise, it would fall into the uncanny valley effect, making it difficult to extricate oneself.
After confirming that his creation had taken on a humanoid shape, Lin Qingliu manually severed the connecting part, then extended his hands to the face of this faux body and began sculpting it with his abilities.
Two hours later, El awoke from his slumber In Dream and was shocked to find Li Rui lying on the floor of the basement.
He quickly regained his composure, remembering his agreement with Lin Qingliu.
With an expression of disbelief, El crouched down to carefully examine the perfect body.
“How is it? Are you satisfied?”
Lin Qingliu appeared at the entrance of the basement, his tone carrying a hint of pride in his own achievement.
“Although I don’t know how you did it, it’s truly amazing,” El exclaimed from the depths of his heart.
Lin Qingliu selectively ignored the question:
“Take it away; I made it very lifelike. I hope you can carry this thing.”
El seemed to have uncovered a previously unnoticed blind spot, and after attempting to lift it a few times, his expression turned somewhat strange.
