Chapter 881: Echoes of Despair and Defiance

Lu Xin watched with satisfaction as the sneer on her face vanished, and then he began his own contemplation.

At that moment, his heart was heavy.

For instance, consider the Ultimate affected by Lu Tianming’s influence, whose character had undergone subtle changes.

Or take the First Researcher, once the one who dared to take the initial step against God – how did he transform from a dragon-slaying youth into one of those ambitious men who now seek to restart the world, gripping humanity’s fate in their hands?

And then there were those Ultimates that had split off from Primordial…

……

……

“I believe situations like what you described do exist,”

After a long while, Lu Xin slowly lifted his head and said earnestly to the Dark Queen:

“But don’t most people prefer a steady, peaceful life?”

“So, we must strive to stop this Primordial descent, this so-called apocalypse.”

“And if Mom’s wish was to break the cycle, then by halting this round of reincarnation…”

He raised his head slightly, fixing his gaze on the Dark Queen, “…it would make her happy, wouldn’t it?”

“Stop?”

Lu Xin’s calm and earnest inquiry made the Dark Queen visibly uncomfortable. Her expression turned harsh, like that of a sharp-tongued, embittered old woman; though she tried to suppress it, a sneer still played on her face as she said,

“Where did you get the courage to try and stop all this? On what grounds do you think this world has the right to oppose that which no one has ever successfully challenged – Primordial?”

“Throughout the long cycles of civilization, you are not an exception.”

“Perhaps there were civilizations far mightier than yours, even closer to having achieved a true stand against Primordial.”

“Yet, they all failed…”

“Because humans inevitably fall – just like those at Gaoshan Laboratory.”

“They believed they were resisting, but in truth, they never intended to reject Primordial’s true descent; they only hoped that when Primordial completely overwhelmed the world, they could successfully infuse their consciousness into its essence and rule the spirit realm. It was merely an escape – a way to become one of the few survivors spared from dilution during civilization’s collapse…”

“No matter their grand ambitions or noble motivations at the start, they all changed over time.”

“Bit by bit, they turned into ambitious men merely seeking to flee from Primordial…”

“The dragon-slaying youth is destined to become a vicious dragon.”

“It is the curse of all life.”

“And it is precisely because of this undertone of despair that none of you can ever truly defy Primordial…”

“…Despair’s undertone, huh?”

Lu Xin listened to the Dark Queen’s words and sighed softly, remaining unmoved in his resolve.

“Perhaps there is some truth to that, but I believe that within the human heart there is far more beauty.”

“People often use the tale of the dragon-slaying youth to preach despair, yet they forget his courage, don’t they?”

“Maybe even the dragon-slaying youth may fall, but what is there to fear?”

“As long as new generations of youth continue to arise, it proves that courage will never be in short supply in this world.”

“…”

“Hmph!”

Lu Xin spoke in a tone so calm it almost seemed self-evident.

But his words carried such weight that, deep within the Dark Queen’s eyes, a hint of dark, furious madness began to stir. Disliking such optimism and abhorred by anyone contradicting her—even in these dire circumstances—her sharpened fingers twitched repeatedly, producing a snapping sound.

“Why is it that I see despair while you see hope?”

“I despise your foolish optimism!”

She suddenly raised her voice, her tone cutting as she demanded, “How have you helped her?”

“And how do you plan to stop it?”

“Haven’t you understood yet?”

“Everything is futile!”

“Even you are nothing more than an Ultimate – or perhaps merely a Secondary Polluted Body of an Ultimate.”

“Like us, you are merely consciousness born out of some insignificant impurity.”

“And no matter the impurity or the emotion, all will vanish, dissolving into the vast sea of Primordial.”

“No ambition, no moving fairytale, no matter how mighty, can withstand the relentless dilution by Primordial over endless ages. Eventually, everything will sleep like a blank sheet, awaiting its next resurrection to harvest the spirit of a new civilization!”

“…”

A ferocious gleam lit up her eyes as she glared unblinkingly at Lu Xin, “So…”

“Uttering such words only reveals your naivety.”

“If you wish to rebel, you are no different from those two ambitious men atop the mountain.”

“At least they took action, unlike you.”

The Dark Queen’s voice now dripped with ridicule, “You don’t even know what you’re supposed to do…”

“Perhaps I need to remind you once more…”

“Did you see that red moon up above?”

“It was Gaoshan Laboratory’s act of killing the consciousness that was on the verge of becoming divine that set off the shock – a shock that affected Primordial itself. In turn, Primordial connected with every living being in this world through the collective subconscious…”

“Thus, an unprecedented impact arose within the human collective subconscious, affecting countless minds.”

“That is why, in some eyes, the moon turned red.”

“And some became mad, wandering these wastelands for thirty years…”

“…”

Her gaze grew even more scornful as she looked coldly at Lu Xin, “So even if you want to fight back, it’s all useless.”

“Primordial is destined to descend.”

“You experienced the first descent, and with your sister’s help you narrowly avoided the second.”

“Now, the third descent has again turned this world into a ghost domain.”

“But it won’t be the last – there will be a fourth, fifth, sixth descent… until Primordial truly arrives!”

“From where do you draw the audacity, to think that what you do matters?”

“…”

The Dark Queen’s words echoed between the towering walls and dome, vibrating loudly in everyone’s ears.

It felt as if an unrelenting pressure was bearing down on Lu Xin.

“I truly don’t know what I should do…”

After a long silence, Lu Xin finally answered, “I really don’t know what would be meaningful to do.”

A proud expression suddenly lit up the Dark Queen’s face as she looked at Lu Xin, as if she had won.

Seeing her like this, Lu Xin smiled softly and said, “But did Primordial ever really know what it was doing?”

“?”

The Dark Queen was clearly taken aback, as if she didn’t understand.

“Just as you said, whether it’s Primordial’s descent, its awakening, or its total submergence of everyone, none of it is truly meaningful.”

Lu Xin laughed quietly, “Perhaps it is merely acting on instinct or following some natural law.”

“If it can rise by instinct, observe the real world, and swallow those who dwell in it,”

“then why should we, as individuals, be able to fight back using our own instincts?”

“…”

“You…”

Under Lu Xin’s impassive gaze, her tone swung from wild rage to utter despair, finally settling into exhausted dejection as she shook her head slowly, “What is the point of it all?”

“Your ambition, your pride, your envy, your struggles…”

“They’ll all be swallowed by the vastness of Primordial, reduced to insignificant droplets that no one will ever remember…”

“And whether it’s the ambition to replace Primordial as a god…”

“or the delusion of stopping its descent…”

“or trying to escape its diluting force to be a survivor in the ocean of the spirit realm…”

“it’s all in vain…”

“…”

“Perhaps what you say has some merit…”

Looking at her desolation, Lu Xin sighed softly, stood up, and said, “But why must we always view things from a higher perspective? I’m just a lowly clerk – I only need to do my job and earn my wage.”

“I’m an Ability User who was recruited; I simply need to work diligently to clean up the pollution.”

“I’m only human, so…”

As he looked at the Dark Queen, a radiant smile suddenly spread across his face: “I only need to live.”

“As for Primordial, let it descend as many times as it wishes…”

“I only know that I will continue to try to stop it, and many like me will also try.”

“Because that is the instinct to survive – don’t you, with all your cleverness, understand?”

“…”

“…”

The Dark Queen was momentarily stunned; nothing seemed to enlighten her, and in fact, Lu Xin’s childishness left her speechless.

Why is it that some lives can exist so ignorantly, so foolishly, as if it were the only natural state?

But Lu Xin no longer cared to explain further.

Having spoken his piece, he stood up, took a deep breath, and said,

“When everyone does what they must, the best result is inevitable. Look at Qinggang right now – doing what it must. The people of Qinggang, its knights, including me and our team, and even my family – everyone is working hard to steer things toward a better outcome, while you tell me the future is doomed?”

Lu Xin smiled, glanced one last time at the Dark Queen, and then shook his head:

“Despair is yours alone!”

“…”

Speaking these words, he reached into the black pocket he always carried, pulled out a gun,

removed its magazine, loaded a special bullet into the chamber,

and then raised the gun, aiming at the Black Child who had stealthily crept to the door.

With a loud ‘bang’, the trigger was pulled, and a bullet streaking with blue electric arcs shot out from the barrel, striking the Black Child’s body. Flecks of blue light burst into flames, nearly illuminating the pitch-black Gaoshan City like snow.

A series of agonized screams erupted, yet the Black Child did not die.

After the blue flash, he collapsed motionless to the ground; the dark particles that composed him had vanished.

He had become an Ordinary Person.

“Don’t try to imitate me anymore.”

Lu Xin glanced at him and admonished, “You’ll never learn.”

Having said that, he turned and stood at the top steps of the highest building in Gaoshan City, looking out into the dark, endless world. Because the Dark Queen was a proud woman, she had built her Mind Palace at the highest point in the West. Thus, when Lu Xin looked out, he felt as though the entire world lay within his view.

“I love this world,”

he murmured, “so it will never perish.”

“Last time when you descended, the Red Moon Incident killed countless people, causing a collapse in civilization and order.”

“But that was because I wasn’t there.”

“Now that I am in this world, such tragedies will never occur again.”

“Anyone who tries to make them happen will face my punishment!”

“…”

Without looking back, after uttering these words, Lu Xin slowly closed his eyes. Then, in one sudden moment, the particles in his eyes trembled, and his mental force field began to expand relentlessly at such speeds that it enveloped all of Gaoshan City before one’s very eyes.

In the next instant, a mental power gust swept like a hurricane, shaking the earth with a roaring force.

Massive, earthquake-like fissures appeared, and dark red light spread upward into the air.

Boom…

Gaoshan City quaked as the Dark Queen’s Mind Palace began to tilt violently, as if plunging into a frozen surface.

Blinding magma and swaying tentacles emerged from deep within the earth, engulfing the entire Mind Palace, after which the ground rumbled and sank – gradually, from its foundations to the pointed dome – until it disappeared into the dark red abyss.

They were all relatives, and in the end the Dark Queen indeed did not resist.

Thus, Lu Xin did not perform a final cleanup on her; he simply locked her inside her Mind Palace and let her sink into the abyss.

The exact sentence will be decided later in court; for now, it’s detention.

……

……

At the same time, inside the Dark Queen’s Mind Palace, as Lu Xin’s unprecedented power from this world dragged her deep into the abyss, the entire Western world was shaken profoundly. Countless powerful and fearsome beings – though habitually posing as the weak – roamed the land, eradicating bizarre presences and regions one by one.

This world had already sunk into a state of desperate chaos, and at that moment, the collapse of such a high-level Mind Palace in a vast city suddenly shocked everyone in the Western Wanderer Zone.

At that moment, innumerable individuals, either contaminated or contaminating others, suddenly halted their actions.

They stared blankly in the direction of Gaoshan City, their expressions gradually vacant.

“He still won’t believe it,”

Meanwhile, even the Dark Queen, locked in the abyss along with her Mind Palace, did not resist. Not even when scorching magma and air reeking of rust flooded in through the open windows did she react – her face, however, grew one of despair and indifference, as if between tears and laughter. Slowly shaking her head, she murmured to herself,

“This seems to be the curse of mankind…”

“Why is it that whenever faced with two choices, we always choose the worse one?”

“…”

“…”

“Strolling and snacking…”

“Dirty…”

Amid the clatter of the philosophically charged train, the Ghost Train arrived from afar and stopped at the foot of Gaoshan City.

Team members were hurrying toward the train from every direction across the wasteland. Some sported pristine white collars stained with bright red blood; some, looking like walking meatballs; some hummed catchy pop tunes as they skipped around happily; and others, lugging backpacks that resembled houses, struggled to cram into the train – and if they couldn’t, they angrily kicked it.

“Just how much are you stuffing into that backpack, anyway?”

Lu Xin couldn’t stand it any longer and helped his sister push her way into the train compartment.

“Huh?”

Startled, his sister poked her little head out from under the backpack and retorted defensively, “What backpack? There isn’t any backpack!”

Lu Xin shook his head in exasperation and boarded the train through another door.

“It’s all been settled!”

He took the first business seat in front of him, glanced at the time, and murmured, “Time to deal with the troublemakers.”

“Huh?”

Everyone else had taken their seats and were handling their cards, except for the Vice-captain who, curiously, said,

“Captain, you seem to be in quite a good mood?”

“…”

“Yes.”

Lu Xin nodded with a smile, thinking the Vice-captain had chosen a very opportune moment to speak, and replied contentedly,

“Because I discovered that we really can resolve these issues…”

“…”

“You might as well give up.”

At that very moment, Gaoshan Laboratory – having dismissed all its lab personnel – was eerily quiet in the meeting room when an unexpected guest arrived. He looked like an ordinary visitor.

Wearing a Zhongshan suit and with an impassive expression, he seemed to believe that no major calamity would ever occur.

The Black-clad Bishop and the First Researcher in a white coat exchanged complicated glances as they looked at him.

They weren’t even sure how to address him.

Once, he had been their student.

Then, for a time, he became their prisoner.

But after that episode, he turned out to be their biggest headache.

And now, in their darkest hour, he had unexpectedly appeared as a courteous visitor.

“I know you both still harbor some resentment,”

He smiled as he sensed the mixed emotions in their eyes. Wearing his Zhongshan suit, he said, “I also know you still have some tricks up your sleeves, thinking that even now you can hold your own against that tyrant – or at least force a scenario where both sides suffer, to stop him from going too far.”

He chuckled and shook his head, “But it’s all meaningless.”

“His nature is pure rage. An enraged man would never choose compromise at the final hour!”

“…”

He laughed, took out half a pack of crumpled, inferior cigarettes, signaled to the others across, and then took one himself.

He first warmed it up and then lit it, smirking, “There’s no need to always choose the worse option when faced with two possibilities, especially now that your defeat is inevitable. Why not be a little smarter?”

“Wang Jingyun!”

Confronted with the blunt and hard-to-swallow words of the man in the Zhongshan suit, the Black-clad Bishop suddenly bellowed his name.

“Even when you were studying at the Red Moon Research Institute, you weren’t our best student.”

“So what right do you have now to come here and spout such cynical remarks?”

“…”

“This isn’t cynicism.”

Wang Jingyun – or rather, Old Director – shook his head slightly and said, “It wasn’t I who derailed your plans.”

“It was the worst student you ever taught collaborating with your best student who ruined everything.”

“Teacher, to be honest, I do admire your ambition. Although I believe it is nothing more than a cowardly and somewhat despicable plan. No matter how grand a lie you package it in, it still only amounts to a compromise with Primordial – a feeble attempt to create a beautiful dream to preserve your consciousness after its descent…”

“This perspective is truly…”

“…”

He shook his head, not wanting to speak too bluntly and preserving some dignity for Primordial for his two teachers, before continuing,

“But I didn’t step in to stop you. It was Xue Jia and Lin Mo’s plan that halted you.”

“When you were powerless against the fate of Primordial and humanity, they were busy creating guardians for the human spirit – to stand against the unconquerable Primordial. From the very start, their goal was to save this world…”

“The levels of power involved…”

“Sigh, even the Ultimate wouldn’t side with you. Don’t you understand why?”

“…”

As the Black-clad Bishop listened, his eyes nearly sparked with fire.

The First Chief Researcher in the white coat gently held up his hand to silence him.

He looked at Old Director with gentle eyes and softly said, “And what about you?”

“What is your plan? Why did you come here?”

“…”

“I came to secure investments.”

Old Director looked at him sincerely, “I know you have ample capital and research results powerful enough to impact this world. But before my student, you all were like lambs waiting to be slaughtered, steeped in despair. So I came to attract investment. I hope you won’t waste your last reserves fighting a battle you can’t win against him.”

“I hope you invest in me so I can carry out my plan.”

“The details of my plan are all here…”

“…”

As he spoke, he gently slid a file in front of the two of them while a smile emerged on his face.

“Look, teachers, I’m not like you.”

He said earnestly, “I’m not a selfish person. I love this world just as much…”

“I cherish this prosperous world where civilization and order let everyone live happily…”

“…”

But as the two who saw the proposal listened, their bodies began trembling uncontrollably.

They even looked up in terror at Old Director, whose face wore a rare, genuine, heartfelt smile tempered with stern seriousness that left them with a shudder of dread…

“You… you are the biggest lunatic after all…”

They couldn’t help but tremble as they cried out, “So it turns out, you were the greatest madman of all…”