Chapter 889: The Shattered Heart of Despair

Bang!

With that gunshot, Sister was instantly pierced by a surge of overwhelming mental power.

Her tiny body straightened for a moment as she slowly turned to gaze at Lu Xin.

A sound as crisp as shattering glass rang out, and spiderweb-like marks appeared on her small face, soon peeling apart in flakes.

……

……

Crack…

As Sister shattered like delicate porcelain, Lu Xin suddenly froze.

It felt as though a piece of him was missing.

A chill ran through his body while an earthquake of emotions shook him, sending his mind spinning in dizziness.

It was as if fragments of long-forgotten memories deep within his mind had burst forth, and living emotions surged over him, tearing open wounds in his soul.

There was the terror of lying on an experiment table, the despair of abandonment, and the insecurity of doubting his own capabilities…

Amidst these bitter, haunting recollections, Lu Xin suddenly recalled many questions…

Where did Sister come from?

It was a truth he had long refused to confront, deliberately ignoring it.

Because Father and Mom had been sent by Gaoshan Laboratory to watch over and confine him.

And what about Sister?

In his heart, Sister was Little Seventeen, but Little Seventeen had long been dead…

She died during the explosion at Red Moon Orphanage…

Little Seventeen had been a remarkably brave little girl.

In that nightmare, he had seen blood, burning flames, and terror-stricken eyes watching him. Yet all he felt then was a swelling anger and caustic mockery. It was also at that moment that someone stirred a new emotion within him—Little Seventeen courageously charged at him, confronting his inner torment.

The scar on his back began to throb faintly.

Back then, Little Seventeen was the only one who dared to charge at him, leaving that deep wound.

While he inflicted pain on others, he suddenly felt his own agony; in that moment, the burning flames, terrified stares, and searing pain merged, and he finally understood the suffering others experienced…

It was the first time he had truly felt empathy…

And it was that very empathy which eventually gave rise to his ability to sense emotion.

Little Seventeen was the one who, in his frenzy, had inflicted pain upon him—and after his rebirth, she became the first person he saw. In her eyes, he recognized a deep attachment to the world. Almost unconsciously, his mental power shifted, and a fracture in his thoughts birthed a mental entity he named Little Seventeen.

Later, as his mental power strengthened and diffused more of his feelings and thoughts into her,

he remembered every detail about the girl named Seventeen—her state of mind, even her intrinsic traits.

Thus, Sister truly emerged.

Others could see Sister and even interact with her. She possessed abilities and could even perform tasks on his behalf.

But it was all mere illusion—a projection borne of his mental power.

With increasingly potent mental power, feats that defied logic became possible.

So who, then, is Sister?

She looked exactly like Little Seventeen, even holding some of the memories that originally belonged to her.

Yet, in truth, she was not Little Seventeen.

As his power grew to the point where others could see Sister, few dared to be close to her.

The children at the orphanage shared profound bonds.

But Sister was not among them…

Even Little Nineteen, though habitually close, maintained a hint of distant unfamiliarity.

In her eyes, Seventeen was not truly Seventeen—it was just someone who bore her likeness, a stranger.

Sister was a projection that he had split from himself, initially representing all those who had died in the orphanage. When everyone at the orphanage disappeared, he lost his home. Realizing he could not retrieve them, he left Sister by his side to stave off loneliness—as if the orphanage’s children were still with him.

Until later, when he found those from the orphanage again, Sister began to drift away, standing on the periphery.

She had always wandered in loneliness and despair, cloaked by insecurity.

Her only real companion had been him, but in his busyness, he had long neglected their closeness…

She was a pitiable child. In his time of desperate solitude, he had created her. When he was yet unable to wield his full mental power, he used her to gradually awaken his strength. But as he became more stable and powerful, he left her behind, ignoring her loneliness and fear.

In truth, Sister had asked him countless times…

She had asked whether he would abandon her, knowing that sooner or later, he would disappear.

……

……

An overwhelming void suddenly filled his heart.

At that moment, Lu Xin felt as though his heart were being torn in two.

Little Seventeen died—she perished on that fateful night many years ago.

He had created a Sister to conceal the truth and to share his burden of negative emotions.

But now, Sister was gone too…

……

……

Endless agony burst forth like a dam breaking, flooding from the hollows of his heart.

Every muscle and bone in Lu Xin’s body convulsed and twisted.

A deep terror and an overwhelming sense of uncertainty gripped him.

Bitter, cutting negative emotions scraped him raw; he saw the truth he had always dreaded and felt a loneliness and pain that seeped into his very bones, shattering his will and thoughts.

A moment ago, Lu Xin had believed he could bear everything.

In the next, he was completely drowned in despair, utterly powerless.

In his mind, he recalled the training Gecko had given him during his first official mental pollution cleanup mission: “People always think they can control their emotions, that they can master themselves…”

“But that’s just an illusion.”

“Whether you’re happy or in pain has never been entirely up to you.”

“……”

Before emotions could truly pounce on you, you never knew just how much they would torment you.

Rustle…

Like sand swept into midair by a raging wind.

Or like magnetic powder being drawn to a magnet.

After the Old Director killed Sister, her body disintegrated into mental dust that returned to Lu Xin.

At that moment, it felt as if something invisible had been restored.

The black particles in his body suddenly calmed, like a subsiding tide of anger.

Until now, Lu Xin had never become the Ultimate.

Although he had long met the conditions to become the Ultimate.

The complete emotions peeling away from his original self, combined with his self-awareness and primordial essence, could have forged a new Ultimate.

Yet Lu Xin never transcended—despite reclaiming remnants from a First Researcher and the child of the Dark Queen, amassing a measure of ‘God’s Particles’ and fury.

He still did not.

In Qinggang’s research, this was always seen as the relationship between Lu Xin and the Primordial.

The Primordial was long dead, or perhaps what remained was merely a fusion of death and fury, leaving Lu Xin as only a Secondary Pollution Source—even though his power surpassed that of the Ultimate, he remained merely secondary.

But now, the Old Director had provided an answer.

That conjecture was inaccurate.

Lu Xin was indeed incomplete, though it had nothing to do with the Primordial.

His incompleteness stemmed from splitting off a portion of his mental power right from the start.

Only after that part was eradicated did Sister vanish, allowing that fragment of mental power to return.

Thus, Lu Xin became whole, and then uncontrollably transformed into the Ultimate—the strongest Ultimate.

In the eyes of the Old Director, he had become the ‘Despair Archangel’.

But at the very moment he became the Ultimate, his pain, despair, and a torrent of negative emotions surged forth.

Even now, Lu Xin remained conscious, still remembering that he wanted to stop the Old Director and protect the world—but his emotions, like an uncontrollable force, completely overwhelmed him, leaving him desolate and hollow, like a marionette.

Once again, emotions ruled as the master tyrant.

The black particles surged wildly into midair, merging instinctively with the Primordial’s power.

Destruction was, after all, the true nature of those black particles.

They were naturally drawn to schemes like the Old Director’s—plans to obliterate a world…

……

……

“Child, I promised I would heal you…”

The Old Director—or rather, a projection of him, now just a part of the sacrificial ceremony—watched Lu Xin quietly, a wistful expression touching his face: “It’s a pity sometimes regaining wholeness isn’t a blessing.”

He observed the undulating black particles around Lu Xin, like dark clouds enveloping him.

And as if on his body, an unquenchable flame began to burn.

With those burning black flames, he seemed to transform into an entirely different being.

He started merging his power with several other Ultimates, forming rings and crisscrossing arcs of light that sliced through the abyss, breaking free the confines. From within, endless black tentacles emerged.

At last, the Primordial was released.

Initially confined in the deepest layer of the abyss, the Primordial was later unsealed by the Moon Eclipse Research Institute and brought to the first level of the abyss.

Now, completely freed, it had come into the real world…

This allowed the Old Director’s final worries to ease, replaced by endless sighs.

“The Trial of the Divine is over…”

He watched Lu Xin’s shadow, as if tugged far away in an instant, and shook his head gently:

“You lost.”

“The Trial of the Divine was a process you had to endure…”

“Ever since you were tainted by divine wrath yet did not become a monster, your fate was sealed.”

“I need you to push to the end and confront God…”

“But in the final step, I secretly bet on your failure…”

“Only when you lose will negative emotions be unleashed. When I presented you with two choices through this sacrificial rite, you chose without hesitation—not by your decision, but by your emotions.”

“To ensure this outcome, I never reminded you what Seventeen’s shadow truly meant to you…”

“……”

He shook his head slowly, then lifted his gaze far into the distance.

The seven Ultimates resumed their posts as witnesses, and the sacrificial ceremony began to spread.

In truth, everything had been decided.

The Old Director had sent them invitations, seemingly offering a choice.

They could come or not.

They could come alone or unite with every power in this world.

But the Old Director had long etched a code into the lives of the orphanage’s children, having long treated the Abyss as his altar.

He had already grasped Lu Xin’s true lifeline.

Thus, it was all predetermined.

“I invited you all over merely to have one last dinner together at this final moment.”

At the moment the altar’s power began to radiate outward, the Old Director shook his head lightly, his expression tinged with regret.

“It’s a pity that you are unwilling to accompany me, this old man, one final time…”

“……”

“……”

Tentacles emerging from the depths of the Abyss stretched higher, splitting incessantly.

Like dark red tendrils blotting out the sky, they engulfed the entire City of Life.

Then they started to extend outward from the center of the City of Life.

The air was filled with a fine mesh of mental power, like the canopy of a banyan tree expanding wildly.

Covering the entire world, they intertwined and dripped endless dark red tendrils…

“The exchange has begun…”

Walking through the altar, the Old Director, as part of the sacrifice, observed everything unfold:

“Those born before the Red Moon incident will return to this world, while those born afterward will vanish like a dream.”

“Trading a desolate world for a prosperous one is a profitable deal indeed.”

“Using this to deplete the Primordial’s power makes it even more worthwhile…”

“……”

“……”

As his voice echoed, countless people in the City of Life began to change.

Some young people stared in horror as their bodies began to dissolve piece by piece.

Some elderly individuals watched as their bodies seemed to grow stronger and even younger.

Many who had long since died regained consciousness, beholding the world once more.

Those born before the Red Moon incident would continue as overlaps of two worlds—some might forget the tale, or remember it only as a nightmare.

But those born after the Red Moon incident would vanish completely without exception.

……

……

“Even the Tyrant can’t stop it?”

When the sacrifice truly began, there was no gradual process.

There was no slow spread from one point to another.

It simply burst up from the Abyss and pounced upon reality like a tidal wave.

Every person in the real world was struck by a momentary daze.

Then, in the mental realm, they saw the Primordial’s tentacles stretch into the sky.

They saw the seven bowed Ultimates silently standing on the clouds.

Qinggang’s alarms blared immediately.

Since Lu Xin and his group set out, they had been preparing diligently; ever-alert Qinggang reacted instantly. Faced with this terrifying onslaught, they were not surprised—instead, they suddenly thought of another problem…

The Tyrant had gone south to meet with that most enigmatic Ambitious figure. A change was bound to come.

Any kind of upheaval was possible.

Yet everyone believed the Tyrant would stop him.

They were even ready to pour every bit of their strength into helping him when the Tyrant clashed with that man.

But disaster still struck…

Was it because the Tyrant had lost so quickly?

……

……

Splash…

When fine, dark red tendrils overhead intertwined and crashed down, a dazzling white light suddenly flashed in Qinggang City. A girl with a star-studded umbrella soared gracefully into midair, her skirt billowing.

Then her umbrella unfurled gently, as if opening up an entire sky.

Endless starlight stretched toward the edge of the world, countering the descent of the Primordial.

It was Doll.

She pressed her lips together and mustered every ounce of strength to halt the Primordial’s descent, her eyes brimming with red as she looked toward the south.

“How could a rational person create such a madman…”

A terrifying roar echoed through Heichao City as night fell, turning day into deep darkness.

Even the King of the Night, who had long prepared, hadn’t expected such a confrontation.

He had planned to just hitch a ride and put on a performance without any threat.

But there was no chance to perform, as the power of the sacrifice had grown to a weight equivalent to a civilization.

There was no alternative—such a confrontation left him with nowhere to hide.

“He’s the most rational person I’ve ever met…”

Near Central City, an old man with white hair murmured, his eyes filled with deep puzzlement: “Why would such a rational person devise a mad plan? Why do the brightest minds become hopelessly deranged?”

With a sigh, a sheepskin scroll unfurled behind him as it faced the Primordial in midair.

For with the full unleashing of mental power, even the Abyss Worm—once sealed within that scroll—had broken free.

Then, the moment the worm sensed it, it shuddered and rushed into midair.

This was a sacrifice from which no life born after the Red Moon incident could escape.

Not even the Ultimates.

After all, the birth of an Ultimate and the occurrence of the Red Moon incident coincided, so once the sacrifice concluded, the Ultimate would vanish too. There was nothing left—not ideals, not even instinct. They could only fight back.

They had no choice but to stand alongside civilization.

Doll faced the Primordial, the Fire-Thief charged toward it, and the Abyss Worm followed suit.

The Dark Queen laughed maniacally in the abyss.

Even those hiding in the darkest corners of the world, pale and unseen, cursed in anger at that moment.

But their efforts appeared futile.

The sacrificial ritual orchestrated by God’s confinement had been predetermined from the start—he required seven Ultimates as witnesses.

Seven Ultimates, which already accounted for more than half of the Ultimate.

And as the Ultimate, the representative of an era’s civilization, once the seven Ultimates agreed to the sacrifice—regardless of its form—their position as witnesses signified that the ritual had begun. And once begun, nothing in this world could stop its course. For the combined strength of seven Ultimates and the Primordial was supreme.

“Find where the altar is…”

“No, find the Genesis Hard Drive; the key lies in the Genesis Hard Drive…”

“…”

In moments of despair, someone always finds fault.

Thus, behind the scenes of the Dracula Doomsday Legion and the Miss Rocket Launcher Alliance, the head of the Moon Eclipse Research Institute, Xue Jia, leapt from his bed in fright. Since battling a First Researcher at the Research Institute, he had been recuperating. Despite experiencing a Third Descent, he had somehow gotten a bit chubby—white and plump…

He, too, waited and investigated, never expecting it all to unfold so quickly.

Having witnessed the descent of the Primordial and the commencement of the sacrifice, he immediately detected a problem and shouted:

“Using the entire Abyss as an altar inevitably demands the power of the Genesis Hard Drive…”

“The core of the altar is the Genesis Hard Drive. Find it…”

“…”

“What more is there to find?”

Dr. An also roared, “Detonate the mental virus within the Genesis Hard Drive—destroy it…”

That was their plan. The Moon Eclipse Research Institute never rested for a moment.

They had sabotaged the Genesis Hard Drive.

Originally, it was meant to counter the First Researcher, but since Wang Jingyun inherited the First Researcher’s legacy, the Genesis Hard Drive ended up in his hands.

That didn’t matter—whoever possessed it, maximum destruction was what counted.

“Xue Jia, you always rely on petty tricks…”

As Director Xue Jia and Dr. An’s voices rang out, Wang Jingyun’s projection, sent by the Primordial, appeared before them.

He quietly told those in the Moon Eclipse Research Institute, “I understand you. After you clashed with the Primordial with your teachers, you began shifting the pressure—handing over Lin Mo’s research results to Qinggang and thrusting Qinggang into the spotlight…”

“Even the Third Descent became your cover. You claimed to oppose Gaoshan Laboratory, depleting the foundations of the Moon Eclipse Research Institute, but in reality you shrank the institute to a mere defensive line while letting Qinggang shoulder the burden of aiding this world, all while hoarding hidden strength. Were you planning to seize power once everything stabilized?”

“Or were you preparing a surprise attack when Qinggang confronted me?”

“…”

Director Xue Jia looked at Wang Jingyun’s projection, feeling as though all his secrets had been laid bare.

“But petty tricks are just that—petty tricks…”

“…”

Just as Wang Jingyun’s words shattered Director Xue Jia’s heart, Dr. An exclaimed:

“The mental virus in the Genesis Hard Drive cannot be detonated…”

“It appears to have lost all connections…”

“…”

Director Xue Jia’s face twisted in disbelief as he suddenly shouted in anger, “It shouldn’t be this way! How did you do it?”

Wang Jingyun merely nodded coldly before vanishing.

Meanwhile, in a vast warehouse somewhere within the City of Life, flesh-and-blood monsters began to sprout.

They filled the enormous underground space, and from every branch of a grotesque tree that extended into glass petri dishes, the once varied ‘people’ all morphed into the same look…

Qin Ran!

On the trunk of that grotesque tree, Qin Ran—or rather, Zhang Sihuo’s face—trembled and twisted as he muttered continuously, “The curse must end. This endless cycle of self-destruction must cease. Professor Wang didn’t lie to me. Yes, everything can end. Everything can return to before the Red Moon incident. Back then, I was just a child…”

“I could have lived a peaceful life. I could choose my path…”

“Whether it was hauling as a driver or sneaking a bite as a cook…”

“…”

Because the Genesis Hard Drive was composed of different people, subtle differences existed among them, and its power could never reach its peak. It was precisely because of this that the Moon Eclipse Research Institute had previously managed to plant a hidden mental virus within it.

But now, the mental virus could no longer function.

All the ‘chips’ had been contaminated and turned into the likeness of a single person.

This effectively prevented anyone from exploiting the Genesis Hard Drive as a weakness to sabotage their plans.

……

……

The Old Director’s consciousness roamed freely throughout the sacrifice. As a bridge between two eras and the primary mind behind the ritual, he meticulously inspected every step of his grand plan.

He refused to leave even the smallest flaw for his opponents to exploit at the last moment.

So he examined everything carefully.

After reviewing the entire plan, he nodded softly, gazing into the distance with a wistful smile:

“I once had a happy family. I loved that life, loved this world…”

“Until one day, everyone but me went mad.”

“Then what was I to do?”

“Of course, let the world return to the time before it began to lose its mind…”

“…”

“…”

The starry umbrella held by Doll had begun to crack.

At that moment, aided by God’s Scepter and the love of countless people, she gathered unprecedented mental power, holding it high in the sky to stave off the Primordial’s descent. She almost single-handedly delayed its arrival, second by second, until she ultimately reached her limit.

The King of the Night, the Fire-Thief, and the Abyss Worm—even the Pale—were powerless to resist…

The Primordial’s tentacles had reached into reality, causing living figures to vanish one by one.

At the same time, within the dense weave of tentacles in midair, another form began to emerge faintly.

At first glance, from afar it appeared as a projection—with towering buildings, bright lights, pristine streets, exuding a sense of stability and prosperity, comforting and warm like a shining pearl. But as the tentacles intertwined, the projection grew larger and more substantial, slowly descending from the sky like another world.

In reality, the power to oppose such a descent was weakening, drawing it ever closer.

The people of the world were shaken by the immense spectacle. They even forgot to panic, simply staring upward in stunned wonder.

They saw a projection sharpening into focus, populated by figures between illusion and reality; some walked along bustling streets, others sat in pristine office towers, or wandered in dazzling malls—dressed smartly with an ease and calm unknown to those born after the Red Moon incident, while some looked around in confusion…

Those below looked upward, and those above looked downward.

Across an endless span of starlight and dark red tendrils, their gazes met.

……

……

At that moment, people from two civilizations, separated by over thirty years, looked at each other in bewilderment.

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