Instance Day Eleven, 6 a.m., The Third Tower.

Mizushima Kawa Sora was the first to step into the tower.

It felt like entering an expansive cathedral, a tall and magnificent architectural structure, large domes and spires, carved with splendid gold-and-blue engravings and murals... She gazed at the unique atmosphere inside the tower and instinctively lightened her steps, as if afraid of disturbing the sacredness of the place.

A large table was placed in the center, surrounded by twelve chairs, the tabletop carved with uneven ancient myths, a nine-headed candlestick stood at the center, angel wings and demon wings occupied each half, a lively eyeball trembling on the surface.

This made her feel as if she had stepped into a mythical realm, with only her own breathing breaking the silence. But soon she realized this was a mental influence from the tower, causing an involuntary rise of reverence and awe, as if in worship.

... Could this be the ruins from a thousand years ago?

She took a walk around and found each chair was different. For example, the second chair was covered with moonlight and sword patterns, mostly made of iron. The fourth chair was adorned with golden and blue gemstones.

She squatted down, noticing a painting on the back of the fourth chair. It depicted a blond man stepping on a heavenly ladder, touching the starry sky.

A voice came from behind suddenly: "This painting tells a myth from the 29th year of the Heavenly Era (more than 1100 years ago), originating from the 'Holy Book · Heavenly Valley'. At that time, humans hoped to build a ladder to the stars, using the most precious gemstones and the firmest materials to construct it, and sent a person to ascend it first. However, after ascending, that person ungratefully took away the ladder, forbidding humans from peeping into the sky. He was never seen again."

Mizushima Kawa Sora's gaze tensed, and she turned her head. It was Eli, wearing a high hat, spinning a card in his hand, his chest adorned with a tanzanite kingfisher brooch, a loose robe, and a wide shirt collar, resembling clothing from around the Eighteenth Century. She quickly deduced—Eli's world line is likely between the Steam Age and Industrial Age.

"Sorry, I walk silently, did I scare you?" Eli raised his hands and stepped back, acting very gentlemanly.

Mizushima Kawa Sora's mentality points were high, Eli approaching her silently indicated his stealth passive was also high. But she soon brushed it off: "So, each of the twelve chairs tells a matter from a thousand years ago?"

"It should be so." Eli lowered his hands and pointed in a direction: "Look at the eighth chair, it tells of a famous angel judgment ceremony from early Heavenly Era mythology."

Mizushima Kawa Sora raised her eyes and saw the eighth chair carved with elements of flames and feathers, resembling more a delicate cross sculpture than a chair, making it difficult to sit on.

"At that time, humans burst into judgment against angels, many angel candidates were executed, the most famous judgment angel was believed to be seduced by demons, her bones forged into a holy sword, her body cast into the deep sea forever buried, as a punishment for her sins. She fell into Nine Serenities for eternal life, her soul never to reincarnate. It is said her compassion aroused from love for a man, leading to frequent disasters. Her tears turned into a sea of icebergs, unmelted for over a thousand years." Eli spoke eloquently, clearly interested in these myths from the World of Old Days.

"You know a lot about this." Mizushima Kawa Sora frowned. Specialized knowledge, she didn't spend her time reading mythological texts.

Originally, a thousand years ago was such a time, angels, deities, holy swords, demons... a myth-filled era, truly captivating. She looked around at the exquisite decor, full of sacredness and solemnity, as if angels truly watched over this place.

"After all, being a top player, there's always areas of expertise. I think even if myths are mixed with falsities and political elements, there's something worthwhile." Eli revealed a delicate smile: "Using certain skills, I've read all 832 existing mythological texts. If you're interested, Miss Mizushima, I could share more. From a literary standpoint, it was truly a grand and sacred era."

"No thanks." Mizushima Kawa Sora declined. They're not friends, who knows if Eli might tell fake stories to mislead her.

At this moment, Agnes entered, wearing a robe with wide sleeves, a waist tightly wrapped with red-golden embroidered corset, adorned with long feathered decorations. She likely came from the medieval world line.

But Agnes saw Mizushima Kawa Sora and her face filled with loathing: "Why are you looking at me? You murderer."

Mizushima Kawa Sora raised her eyebrows, these people are still unaware of the truth about ten thousand world lines. Seems in Agnes's world line, Su Ming'an was killed. Anyway, the real Su Ming'an must still be alive, or he wouldn't be on the contestants list.

Subsequently, Zhang Daoxuan, Lu Meng, Alger, and Xue Qixia entered. Zhang Daoxuan remained quite calm, after all he came from Ancient Martial Arts, standing with Mizushima Kawa Sora. Lu Meng gave Mizushima Kawa Sora a harsh glare, clearly displaying dislike towards her. Alger had a neutral expression, even as a member of the Peak Alliance, he felt no particular way about Su Ming'an.

From their attitudes, it's obvious that in their world lines, Su Ming'an also died.

This time, seven people gathered together, realizing their attire vastly differed. Zhang Daoxuan wore a long robe with the aura of a Taoist sage. Lu Meng dressed in a tight laser suit. Alger wore armor and wires, heavy iron chains and mechanical components ran across his shoulders and arms.

At this point, the seven exchanged looks, finally realizing their eras were different.

"——Wait, I think I understand now..." Eli looked at Alger, quickly realizing: "So, we were never on the same world line? Were the players I saw before all fake?"

"So that's how it is..."

"No wonder, I hadn't even cleared the First Tower yet, and this Third Tower was activated, turns out it's Su Ming'an's world line progress driving us."

Those present were smart, quickly understanding the situation.

Alger's eyes shifted slightly: "We should be meeting for the second time since the instance activation."

The first time was in the Destiny Shadow Hall.

Back then, the shadow hall said something:

...

[Welcome to Destiny Shadow Hall.]

[Due to someone reaching the world's edge, a mechanism is triggered, allowing players to gather here.]

...

Back then, Alger felt "finally allowed" was a strange choice of words, although few days had passed in instance time, gathering wasn't difficult, yet such words were used. The language of World Game's system has always been precise, as he had delved into literature, easily noticing subtle differences.

If only he had realized earlier.

"By the way, has anyone participated in Destiny Shadow Hall again later?" Agnes raised her chin, scanning around.

No one nodded.

"Hmm hmm... I see, so that thing was indeed devised by deities, just to guide us." Agnes predicted: "But I still haven't seen those five people's destiny, it must be fake."

"Hard to say." Eli kindly reminded: "With ten thousand world lines, anything can happen, maybe what you don't see has happened in other 9,999th parts of possibility. I don't think deities would act in vain, maybe you'll truly witness destiny unfolding."

Alger quietly watched their exchange, like a silent falcon.

Mizushima Kawa Sora remained silent, resting with her eyes closed, as if unwilling to engage in any discussion, her demeanor rather arrogant.

Xue Qixia, with "Heart's Blood" earrings, smiled at the dome, delightfully reading the mythical murals from a thousand years ago, occasionally clasping hands, unclear if genuine or for show.

When the last person walked in, everyone was very quiet.

He wore a robe embroidered with the divine patterns of the Old Gods, white curled-edge fur wrapped around his cheeks. Each step seemed like part of a painting, almost silent, looking extremely harmonious with this sanctuary, without any sense of discord. It made people feel as if the figure from the fresco had broken through the oil paint and walked towards them, enveloped in the weight of a thousand years of reincarnation.

Breathing suddenly became very light, no one spoke. Until the nine-headed candle flame on the table suddenly lit up, with a "whoosh" breaking the silence, people snapped back to reality, unknowingly a layer of cold sweat had appeared on their backs.

...

[Number 1 Su Ming'an, Number 2 Yuanyuan, Number 3 Lv Shu, Number 4 Noel, Number 5 Mizushima Kawa Sora, Number 6 Xue Qixia, Number 7 Eli, Number 8 Agnes, Number 9 Zhang Daoxuan, Number 10 Alger, Number 11 Boris, Number 12 Lu Meng.]

[Please take your seats.]

...

Following the numbers on the chairs, the twelve people sat down.

Some chairs were decorated quite bizarrely, players took quite some effort to sit down, Agnes was even half-lying on the cross chair, completely unsure of how to sit.

Twelve people, this is a classic configuration number for competitive board games. Suspicion and lies, deceit and negotiation, all often revolve around this number, it is unknown what they will face.

Number one is a true throne, carved with unique patterns belonging to the Old Gods, significantly different from other chairs. After Su Ming'an sat down, he exchanged glances with Mizushima Kawa Sora.

Speaking of which, they have fought for so long over these past ten days, yet this is his second real meeting with Mizushima Kawa Sora.

So many battles, so many times of confrontation... It turns out they were always separated by a mirror, raising swords in illusions, attempting to shatter each other's reflection in the lake.

"...I heard that on your world line, you were swallowed by Dieying and then imprisoned by the Deity in Nine Serenities." Mizushima Kawa Sora suddenly spoke, "Is the current you real?"

Their seats were almost opposite each other, raising their eyes they could meet the gaze.

People showed a look of concern. Dieying and Deity were untouchable enemies to them, even a glimpse would feel dangerous. Yet Su Ming'an had already faced them.

"...It's real." Su Ming'an said, "But it has nothing to do with you."

His attitude had turned extremely cold. Clearly Mizushima Kawa Sora's behavior had worn away his patience.

Noel's gaze swept over, silently questioning.

Su Ming'an responded with his eyes.

...

Of course, it's real.

...

Nine Serenities.

Starlight condensed into two thrones. Dieying sat on one of them, opposite was Su Ming'an.

Su Ming'an's whole body was frozen with frost, and golden blood flowed from the wounds. It was obvious that he hadn't escaped Nine Serenities, but he had his eyes closed, as if his soul was completely not on this side.

Dieying supported his chin with one hand, resting on the armrest of the throne, just watching Su Ming'an. They had maintained this pose for two hours, since Nine Serenities was completely sealed, neither had moved, like a silent confrontation.

Until Dieying suddenly shook his shoulders and laughed.

"...Soul Ferry, Life Hard Drive." Dieying placed his hand over his face. Between the fingers, appeared His non-human smile: "So it is this method, you also... you also truly dare to gamble."

Schrodinger's cat cannot determine the cat's life or death before the box is opened.

A person is preserved in the Life Hard Drive and resurrected. Others cannot know whether this resurrected person is actually the original person or an identical copy.

When Su Ming'an resurrected others on the battlefield, he thought - whether he could try to record himself? If he resurrected himself, would it count as himself? After all, even the Deities could not create a perfect copy of Su Ming'an, there was significant difference between Hei Que and Xiao Jingsan, could he himself achieve it?

Thus he placed his finger on his forehead, silently thinking "Soul Ferry".

He felt an additional white light in his mind, he injected this white light into his clone. System prompt sounded:

...

[You have backed up "yourself" to the clone.]

...

This made him feel surprised.

His situation was different from other Revivers, other Revivers might no longer be the deceased themselves, but he could be himself because his soul had not perished due to the end of life.

Then he attempted to resurrect into a normal bionic body, but failed - it turned out only a body identical to his could accept his soul.

Very early on he knew, he could remotely control the clone, share senses, and resurrect in the clone after his own death. So in terms of the concept of "body", essentially the clone belonged to a part of him, almost indistinguishable.

The only difference was the self-awareness of the clone.

But when he infused his data into the clone, temporarily replacing the clone's self-awareness, the clone's body became completely his - senses communicated, awareness communicated, real-time control, all other aspects identical. Meeting these conditions, he truly had two bodies.

But only the clone could achieve this point. Because even if he created an identical bionic body, he couldn't share senses and awareness with a bionic body. Only the skill trait of the clone could achieve this.

Soul Ferry, the fit with himself is the highest. This made him increasingly suspect that perhaps the Old Gods from a thousand years ago truly had a connection with him.

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