Chapter 99

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Chapter 99:

Li Chunzhou held Gu Lingfan’s hand and leaned her cheek against her, suddenly saying, "You’re still … Fan Nuo, it’s so good to see you. I can only see you in my dreams now."

Gu Lingfan gently stroked her temple and looked at Li Chunzhou, saying, "It’s not a dream…"

In the next moment, the door was pushed open, and Li Zhexuan walked in, but now he was wearing the face of the Second Prince. Gu Lingfan did not stand up to greet him but silently stared into his inhuman eyes, emitting a sense of gloominess.

The silent confrontation between the two was interrupted by Jian Hou who followed closely behind. Li Zhexuan picked up Li Chunzhou, who was resting on Gu Lingfan’s lap.

Li Chunzhou struggled to open her eyes, recognized Li Zhexuan, and then closed her eyes, allowing him to embrace her. Gu Lingfan slowly released her grip on Li Chunzhou’s clothes and watched expressionlessly as she was carried away by someone else.

Just like before.

Qi Leyuan stood on Jian Hou’s head and asked, "Didn’t reveal anything, did we?"

"She knows we all have memories from the ‘last time’ cycle, don’t know if she’s just talking in her sleep or it’s real…" Gu Lingfan carefully adjusted her clothes that Li Chunzhou had pulled out of place and looked up gently at Qi Leyuan and Jian Hou, "Do we have to keep this from her?"

Qi Leyuan paused and said, "Let’s keep hiding it for now, if it doesn’t work, we can let Jian Hou explain."

Jian Hou gave a tentative look:?

The next day, Li Chunzhou was awakened by the sound of dripping outside the window. She opened her eyes, feeling a bit confused at first, then realized she was now in the upstairs guest room. She glanced at Li Zhexuan who was resting with his eyes closed, then sat up and asked, "A’xuan, have you not rested at all?"

She moved slightly to make room, patted the bed, signaling for Li Zhexuan to lie down.

As Li Zhexuan lay down and observed her lips and teeth, Li Chunzhou quietly reached out to touch the stubble on his chin that had grown overnight. Feeling a bit puzzled, she realized she had no hangover headache, probably because Li Zhexuan had prevented it in advance.

Li Chunzhou absentmindedly said, "Prime Minister Gu is lying… Clearly, besides her and Ahu, others also have memories from the previous cycle… But why did they all lie to me together?"

Li Zhexuan, with a slender figure, dark eyes devoid of emotion, stared at her unwaveringly, and then slowly said after a moment, "I have checked, there are no signs of collapse in Dungeon World."

"But yesterday, I tried to access memories from my mother… or rather, my aunt, but I wasn’t successful…"

Li Zhexuan explained, "Not only with my mother, but with others as well. It seems like many people’s spirits have been strengthened, so I couldn’t access them."

Li Chunzhou wasn’t surprised when Prime Minister Gu suddenly changed the subject yesterday and talked about sending Li Zhexuan to visit Princess Everbright. Li Chunzhou felt something was wrong, but with many people around, she only exchanged a glance with Li Zhexuan and didn’t say much.

What made Li Chunzhou realize that Prime Minister Gu was lying was Gu Chenxin’s conflicting statements.

Prime Minister Gu said she had memories restored by Jian Hou’s magic, but before they parted ways that day, she also claimed to have helped summon them back from thirty-four years ago – at that time, Jian Hou was still with Li Chunzhou in the previous timeline, so how could she have helped restore her memories?

Gu Lingfan’s response last night further confirmed Li Chunzhou’s suspicions.

Li Zhexuan played with her dark long hair, "Shall I go back to the palace to investigate further?"

"No need." Li Chunzhou got up and walked to the window, letting her long hair slip from Li Zhexuan’s grasp. She looked down at the street, where various umbrellas came and went. Occasionally, a deep red oiled paper umbrella passed by, like a unique fish diving into a river, swimming aimlessly in the water. Li Chunzhou sat on the windowsill, reaching out to touch the cool water droplets.

Feeling the genuine chill on her hand, Li Chunzhou withdrew it, raised an eyebrow slightly, and calmly said, "Don’t we have someone available nearby?"

So Jian Hou, who had just fallen asleep next door, was woken up by Jian Yi and brought along with Qi Leyuan in front of Li Chunzhou.

Li Chunzhou stared at the two with her dark eyes and asked, "What’s going on? Li Li, are you hiding something from me?"

Qi Leyuan looked at Li Chunzhou’s smiling-but-not-smiling face, feeling anxious and unable to speak clearly for a while. Jian Hou, with a serious expression, couldn’t help but answer for him, "Yes, they do remember their past lives, not just the last one but all one hundred and twenty-one previous ones. They have all remembered everything."

Li Chunzhou remained silent for a moment.

Upon further thought, it was not surprising at all. In this Dungeon World, events kept repeating over and over again. Raindrops would return to the sky to form clouds before the next cycle, wilted flowers would retreat into the ground to become seeds, and even the dead could come back to life. Besides the parts taken by Li Zhexuan, the true ‘outsider’, everything remained constant.

Only memories would never truly disappear.

Everything that happened in the past ten cycles was witnessed not only by Li Chunzhou but also by others who played their respective roles each time. They did not forget these memories; they were just temporarily unable to recall them due to interference from the Main God’s programmed settings. By altering time, Li Zhexuan not only traveled back but also unlocked the chains on others’ memories.

No wonder…while Li Chunzhou processed this information, Jian Hou continued, "Because we did not choose to return; we were summoned. Before we came back, there were some deviations in the coordinates where we landed compared to our original positions."

Li Chunzhou’s heart skipped a beat, feeling a sense of things spiraling out of control. She asked, "What deviations?"

"This time around, it is not the one hundred and twenty-second cycle but the one hundred and eighty-first."

The coordinates mentioned by Jian Hou were not spatial but temporal. Since they went back in time, the players and ‘NPCs’ here had been going through cycles together for five years.

"So, the memories in these five cycles of reincarnation…" Li Chunzhou asked.

"Yes, they remember too." Jian Hou understood Li Chunzhou’s meaning before she finished speaking and gave a clear and prompt reply.

Li Chunzhou suddenly felt a sense of absurdity in her heart, so much so that she momentarily put aside her feelings of sadness and reluctance to part ways. She suddenly understood why everything she had seen in the past few days had been so strange – Mama Li’s strange attitude towards her, the ministers’ odd behavior towards Liang Yongyuan in the cabinet, and the nonsensical things Prime Minister Gu said…

Other small details now became clear to her – Qi Leyuan’s close relationship with Xu Yanqu, the sudden increase in vocabulary of the colorful parrot, Gu Jianxi’s "long time no see"… The bits and pieces of the past five years had all been hidden away in the shadows.

No wonder the girls in the Spring Flowers Tower were listless, neither serving nor smiling. Their joys and sorrows were all abnormal. Li Chunzhou understood the monotonous feeling of day after day without change. When this "repetition" was magnified to encompass the entire world, the feeling evolved from a singular boredom to despair.

This monthly cycle would keep children from growing up, everyone’s wealth would remain the same, physical pain would not end in death, all rules and promises became meaningless, truth and falsehood had no clear definition, civilization would not progress in any way. Once the repetition exceeded a year, people’s psychological states would be affected.

Li Chunzhou murmured, "Then why, when I returned, was everything still just as it was in the one hundred and twenty-first cycle?"

Jian Hou calmly replied, "Because they knew you were leaving, so they wanted you to have a happier final period."

Qi Leyuan nodded vigorously, adding, "If you had known from the beginning that they had memories and would go through cycles, could you still leave this Dungeon World with peace of mind?"

So many people were playing a children’s game like playing house with her… Li Chunzhou didn’t answer right away. After a while, she said, "Will this cycle continue even after I leave?"

"It depends on the Main God’s intention. However, if a timeline in a dimension keeps getting stuck, it will eventually lead to destruction… Just like human blood vessels, if there is a blockage somewhere, it can cause a series of problems. We are only at the 181st cycle now, so it may not seem like a big deal. But if the cycles continue to hundreds or thousands of times, the situation may be different."

Li Chunzhou pursed her lips and asked, "What will happen then?"

"It’s uncertain. Maybe they will downgrade," Jian Hou said calmly, "Right now, they still think they are human. But over time, they will gradually forget everything and become ‘NPCs’ who act according to predetermined programs. That’s when this world will completely transform from the real world into a rigid and monotonous Dungeon."

Qi Leyuan suddenly perked up and asked Jian Hou, "I remember I’ve been in a similar high-freedom Dungeon before. Is that also the evolution of this kind of world?"

Jian Hou nodded.

Qi Leyuan asked incredulously, "I thought all the Dungeons were designed by you guys. So, they are from other dimensions?! You guys are too…"

Facing Qi Leyuan’s "accusation," Jian Hou reacted calmly, as if not quite understanding. He said, "If you knew how hard it is to build a world from scratch, maybe you wouldn’t think that way."

He showed rare signs of pain on his face and explained passionately, "To simulate a realistic world without bugs and can accommodate human beings, we must start from basic matter and physical laws, completing it step by step. When starting the design, just getting pi accurate to at least a quadrillion decimal places is necessary to ensure that the world’s fictitious nature doesn’t reveal too early. It’s time-consuming and labor-intensive but also involves extracting human consciousness from other worlds and placing them here… In comparison, making Dungeons using existing low-tech civilizations is much simpler."

Qi Leyuan said, "The world chosen by you is very unlucky, and wasting a world for just one Dungeon is like fishing until the pond is empty, isn’t it?"

"You are too naive, you have no idea how many universes are in this dimension, or how many dimensions there are in total. Who would care if a drop of water is missing in the ocean?" Jian Hou’s eyes gleamed with an inhuman coldness, "Your world, your civilization, your evolution, do they not follow the rule of the survival of the fittest? ‘Fairness’ is still too distant for you, with your current abilities, all you can face is the crushing of a higher civilization over a lower one."

"No one would care if a drop of water is missing in the ocean," Li Chunzhou finally spoke for the first time, "unless that drop of water is poisonous to them, and can spread throughout the entire ocean with its toxicity."

All present turned their gaze to Li Zhexuan. Li Zhexuan nonchalantly lifted his eyelids, standing beside Li Chunzhou, revealing a peculiar smile that had been practiced countless times without any flaws.

***

Since the day the truth was revealed, Li Chunzhou never delved deeper into the matter. After all, this world is not good at all. A well-intentioned lie is better than a harsh truth. Those around her kept secrets from her, and Li Chunzhou pretended to be clueless, acting as if she enjoyed every remaining day.

Li Chunzhou used to be an empty shell. Some gave her wisdom, some gave her strength, some gave her love, while others exposed her vulnerabilities. Remove any moment from her life, and Li Chunzhou would not be who she is today.

As Li Chunzhou looked back, she saw her former friends, important people standing behind her, and inexplicably found the courage to keep moving forward.

The next morning, Mama Li packed up Ming Niang and sent her to Li Chunzhou. Ming Niang still looked a bit crazy and silly, but there was a quiet gracefulness about her when she was calm.

When Li Chunzhou saw Ming Niang, she couldn’t help but think of red beans. She didn’t understand why red beans seemed to have memories, yet they were rejecting her. Did Ming Niang dislike herself so much that she didn’t even want to spend a few more days with herself?

One day, Ming Niang suddenly spoke up. She gently looked down and said to Li Chunzhou, "Miss, let me help you with your hair."

Li Chunzhou looked at her in surprise. A long time ago, she had asked Mama Li for Ming Niang because she wanted a maid who was good at styling hair. Ming Niang’s skills were indeed great, but that was before she went mad.

Li Chunzhou nodded in agreement. She sat in front of the bronze mirror, looking at Ming Niang’s face in the reflection. She suddenly started chattering, mostly about their past experiences that only Li Chunzhou used to remember. Now, finally, she had someone to reminisce with.

However, no matter what Li Chunzhou said, Ming Niang always had a calm and gentle expression. Li Chunzhou couldn’t tell if she was sane or still mad. Sometimes, she couldn’t even distinguish if she herself was sane or mad.

Later, Jian Hou became a regular visitor to the courtyard. If no one talked to him, he would talk to Qi Leyuan. Qi Leyuan was talkative, even arguing with Jian Hou, who didn’t understand emotions.

After Jian Hou left the courtyard expressionless and silent once again, Li Chunzhou asked quietly, "What’s wrong with you guys?"

"Nothing much, just a little argument. People are really hard to understand. They have small minds and can’t see clearly," Qi Leyuan said while snuggling in Li Chunzhou’s arms. He added smugly, "Haha, I won the argument again. He probably won’t sleep tonight."

Li Chunzhou smiled and slowly fanned herself without saying a word.

About ten days later, Chihong suddenly packed her bags and bid farewell to Li Chunzhou.

Li Chunzhou was actually a bit sad, but she pretended to be cheerful and said, "Okay, I understand. You may go now."

Everyone has their own life, even though Li Chunzhou felt reluctant, she knew she couldn’t keep them by her side just for her own selfish desires. When it’s time to say goodbye, she waved and said farewell.

Despite comforting herself, when Chihong’s figure completely disappeared after leaving, Li Chunzhou couldn’t help but hide away and shed some tears secretly.

Before leaving, Chihong looked at Li Chunzhou steadily for a while, smiled at her, and then left.

On the last day of the final cycle, Li Chunzhou didn’t go anywhere. She sat at the railing on the top floor of Spring Flowers Tower and watched the sun all day. Summer in Daliang gradually passed, and it seemed like summer in Li Chunzhou’s life was also coming to an end – the once Spring Flowers Tower, the lotus pond and courtyard, the streets and alleys of Shengjing City all felt like a dream.

Li Chunzhou seemed to see Mama Li, Fan Nuo, Brother Yan, Gu Chenxin, Ahu standing together, smiling at her, waving goodbye, then turning and disappearing into the wind like drifting sand.

The rain from the night before hadn’t dried yet. In the dense forest, at the end of the vermillion-colored corridor in Spring Flowers Tower, a bird gently flew overhead. Li Chunzhou saw it fly over herself, over the distant forests and hills, towards the sun, gradually turning into a blurry dot.

Li Chunzhou shuddered and tears fell from her eyes inexplicably. She wiped the tears away with her hand, not understanding why she was crying – was it because of the insignificance of life? Or the vastness of the world? Or something else…?

Li Chunzhou couldn’t figure it out, she never thought deeply about it. Since she was young, she didn’t know why she was so eager to ask different people about the outside world – guests, foreign traders, the Second Prince, those faraway places, languages she couldn’t understand, taller mountains, deeper seas… Until this moment, she finally found the answer. In her heart, there was no grand belief, only a strong desire to seek knowledge almost instinctively and a longing for freedom.

Li Chunzhou was curious about what lay beyond the sea, curious about where spring and summer meet, curious about the bigger world outside… Ever since the moment when the first ape carved a bright stone and ignited fire, the desire to explore has been engraved in the instinct of the human species, and Li Chunzhou has inherited it as well.

After nightfall, Li Chunzhou bid a sincere farewell to everyone around her for the last time, then returned to her room, calmly waiting for midnight to arrive.

Jian Hou also withdrew his consciousness from that human body and attached it to Li Chunzhou’s sea of knowledge.

After waving goodbye to Li Chunzhou with his wings, Qi Leyuan ran to the open space by the lotus pond, cut his skin with a prop, and drew a formation on the ground with fresh blood.

This invisible formation covered the entire Daliang, the eight trigrams were already arranged in advance and entrusted to fourteen other players who had left earlier. There were ominous positions in the east, south, west, and north, everything was ready, just waiting for the final steps entrusted to Qi Leyuan.

In the five years when Li Chunzhou was absent, many, many things actually happened.

At the beginning of the one hundred and twenty-second cycle of reincarnation, most people went wild, indulging in pleasure, killing and setting fires, or seeking death. All laws and restraints became meaningless because the cycle of life was expected to remain unchanged.

If this cycle continues, not only will everyone lose their morals and reason, but also there will be no future left for them but a dead end.

After understanding the situation, Prime Minister Gu took the initiative to work with the remaining twenty players and used harsh methods to suppress those whose hearts were swayed due to the cycles. Anyone with malicious intentions would be killed by the court’s henchmen at the start of the next cycle, even affecting their families. People in the cycle wouldn’t truly die, but they would suffer greatly. If one attempt failed, three more would follow, and if those failed, ten more until no one dared to act out.

Then, starting from Shengjing, this method of suppression spread throughout the whole Daliang.

In the five years since arriving at this Dungeon, Qi Leyuan felt like he had killed more people than in his entire previous life. Other players felt the same.

During the five years without Li Chunzhou, all players tried to find her and leave this Dungeon World. Fortunately, they eventually found an ancient book with two formations.

Linlang happened to have immersed herself in ancient texts and knowledge, so she quickly deciphered these two formations: one for summoning and the other for sacrifice.

The decision to use these two formations was made by Prime Minister Gu. Instead of losing oneself and becoming a toy of the so-called "Main God," it was better to take a chance. After all, even the worst outcome would be breaking free from constraints.

As long as the spark of memory was preserved, there was hope for the revival of civilization.

Despite Gu Chenxin quickly establishing new systems and rules, it took them a full three years to tidy up the whole Daliang.

Until Li Chunzhou was summoned back with the summoning formation, the implementation of the sacrifice formation remained uncertain, as activating it would essentially mean everyone’s death.

When Li Chunzhou and two others were summoned back, Prime Minister Gu finally saw Jian Hou again after five years.

Jian Hou said that even with the current energy of the Time Beast, it was not certain that they could escape the monitoring and pursuit of the Main God. His words pushed Gu Chenxin’s last button and strengthened her determination to activate the formation.

Before Li Zhexuan leaves this world, he will gather all disembodied consciousness, and the purpose of the sacrificial formation is to extract everyone’s consciousness from their bodies.

The billions of consciousness bodies are enough to elevate Li Zhexuan’s abilities to another level, allowing Him to bypass the Main God and reach the other side.

This also serves as the final gift to Li Chunzhou from this decaying, crumbling country that nurtured her.

***

[Afterword]

In the six hundred and forty-eighth year of Daliang, an unexplained disaster befell this country. Overnight, everyone fell into a deep sleep, whether they were important figures or commoners, all peacefully left this world.

This period of history left an unfathomable gap, until thousands of years later, through historical records unearthed by descendants, a glimpse of the mysterious last dynasty was revealed.

[One day, Emperor woke up feeling different. He cried and sobbed uncontrollably, looking weak and helpless. The Prime Minister asked him what was wrong, and the Emperor explained that he had dreamt of a young lady, and ever since then, he felt unsettled. The Prime Minister couldn’t offer any answers. Later, the Emperor ordered his men to find the lady from his dream, and he started seeking advice on becoming immortal, heading down a dangerous path.]

People later speculated that the downfall of the dynasty might have been related to the Emperor’s obsession, but there is no way to confirm this. This period in history remains a mysterious blank, filled with absurd and strange occurrences.

In the shadows beyond the attention of the Main God, a strange being wandered in the Dungeon, appearing next to desperate individuals from time to time.

"You called for me, didn’t you…?"

Her voice sounded compassionate and loving, "Good child, tell me your wish."

"The price…?"

"Give me your consciousness, or rather your soul, and I will then…" The figure standing in the emptiness tilted its head and smiled gently, "help you attain everything you desire."