["Butterfly, butterfly, why do you die?"]

["Are you the wings born to snap, the moth flying into flames?"]

["Are you the antennae that heal by bleeding, the head that grows to be decapitated?"]

["You submit to the darkness that already exists."]

["You submit to the dawn that has yet to come."]

...

I opened my eyes.

The air carried a scent resembling pine resin, a scent I was familiar with, the smell of formalin.

I had once hidden formalin in my own cupboard and also used it for experiments.

... Hmm? No.

I indeed had hidden formalin in the cupboard, something Yuanyuan and I got our hands on. But I've never done any experiments with formalin. Why do I have such an idea?

After contemplating for a moment, I realized—it seems this is the "possession state" affecting me. The thoughts of this body influence me, but it doesn't matter much. It actually helps me think about the identity and temperament of this body.

I looked around, surrounded by darkness, this was a completely dark room, only the ticking of a clock could be heard.

... That young man said he would transfer me to a safe place, so where is this?

It wasn't long before I found the light switch on the wall, and the room lit up. Brains, eyeballs, hearts, stomachs, and other organs floated in jars of luminous green liquid. This looked like a room for storing human organs.

... But.

I frowned, the déjà vu in my mind growing stronger.

... Why does this scene look so familiar? As if I've seen it somewhere...

I grasped at the fragmentary light and shadows in my mind, until a shout came from outside the door—

"—Doctor!"

A girl in a white coat pushed the door open, her eyes a beautiful turquoise green, a name badge hanging from her chest, seemingly seventeen or eighteen years old.

In that instant, it seemed as if a certain overlay occurred with the images in my mind. I stared at her face, almost believing I was in a dream.

The girl smiled at me: "Doctor Li, the deities have started their actions, burning a large number of Old God Scriptures. Thankfully, you escaped to our most secure location."

I followed the girl out of the room.

We walked down a long corridor, where a group of children was sitting in a classroom reading. Outside the window was an ice white scene, white clouds, a white ground, white buildings, the setting sun sliding down, the walls reflecting the colors of a fiery sunset. The children recited poetry, their eyes bright:

"Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light..."

I turned my head to look at the girl, unable to stop myself from asking:

"Are you called... Xiao Han?"

The girl was taken aback for a moment, pointing to her name badge: "I'm the 2024th bionic human of the Ark Project, my mission is to assist you in the Millennium Plan. When I was created, my maker did name me 'Xiao Han.' Doctor, how could you forget these?"

"Who created you?"

"The Old God." The girl replied.

The strange feeling in my heart grew stronger. I had never met the Old God, only knew of Him through scripts. I had no idea of the Old God's temperament, deeds, or accomplishments. I always thought He was a character existing in the background, like the long-deceased Yasa Acto.

Yet Xiao Han's words made me feel the Old God was more like myself. Only I would remember a girl once named "Xiao Han."

Could it be that I would one day travel back in time and personally become the Old God?

This seemed unlikely. The time loop in the Ruined World was due to the entire world being in virtual dimensions, but the towers of The World of Old Days can't alter history from a thousand years ago. So, why does the Old God so resemble me?

At this moment, the reading in the classroom suddenly stopped. A boy put down his book and ran out of the classroom, footsteps tapping as he approached me. The boy wore ultramodern attire, narrow unspirited eyes, looking up at me.

I vaguely guessed who he was; those eyes... were too reminiscent of someone.

After a brief confrontation, the boy spoke:

"My identity is the Saint, with no special skills."

I called out who he was: "Lv Shu."

It seemed Lv Shu possessed a child. This was good, we had met up.

...

I learned a great deal.

The place I found myself in was called the "Life Hard Drive Central Experimental City," the world's safest, most hidden spot—its mission was to store life hard drives, collect millennium-long negative emotions and transform them into energy. When the Old God awakens after a millennium, He will inherit the life hard drive and build The Republic.

This was the main content of the Millennium Plan.

The experimental city I found myself in—would be known as "Nine Serenities" in a millennium.

Currently, the millennium plan hasn't begun, this place is akin to an empty shell, only serving the function of a sanctuary, taking in many gifted children.

In a hall filled with monitoring screens, I met a man in his twenties.

The man had a refined demeanor, a dignified appearance, wearing a brown-black rounded hat. Named Xia Jiawen, he was the fifth principal of the Millennium Plan, stationed here, waiting for the official start of the Millennium Plan.

The person I possessed was called Li Mingyue, the fourth principal. Her appearance was the same as in a thousand years, but I remembered Li Mingyue should have had white hair, yet at this moment, I had black hair, with not a trace of church attire, instead a scientist's white lab coat.

This left me feeling a sense of discrepancy.

A millennium later, the person filled with religious aura was born a thousand years ago solely for the science side, avoiding contact with the mystical side. It turns out a person can truly undergo such a transformative change over the long years.

"Dr. Li, are you okay? I heard you escaped via transmission." Xia Jiawen stepped closer.

"I'm fine." I gazed at the room with a touch of emotion. Tens of thousands of surveillance screens were dormant, the flower pot on the high platform was empty, devoid of the white morning glory that Su Wensheng picked a millennium later. Everything was as primitive as it could be.

Nothing had started yet.

I had arrived at the very beginning.

The millennium plan spans a long, extensive endeavor, connected to the fate of an entire civilization. Under the principal, millions ranging from operatives, researchers, military personnel, to politicians were involved. The colossal efforts of millions allowed the plan to be executed, with countless preparatory tasks and boundaries.

To evade the High-dimensional beings, only about twenty true insiders of the plan knew every detail, and each person was responsible for different segments. This was to prevent anyone from revealing the entire plan if captured. The entire millennium plan encompassed the preparation phase, the beginning phase, the implementation phase, and the completion phase, ensuring any errors in one stage could be compensated elsewhere.

For instance, my possessed avatar Li Mingyue, the fourth principal, was responsible for the "recording, researching, and passing down of Word Spirit and rules," in simple terms, "writing a Rule Book." Therefore, my information was limited to this and I couldn't grasp the entirety of the millennium plan. Topics like "what is the essence of the Life Hard Drive" or "why the Old God must awaken after a millennium" were not within my domain of responsibility.

In layman's terms, this is a saturation plan. No matter who falters, others can step up, ensuring the plan doesn't collapse due to any single loss. Simultaneously, this is a divide-and-conquer plan, where except for the first and second principals who know the full picture, the remaining millions just focus on their tasks, receiving orders layer by layer from their superiors.

... Its vast scale, long cross-era, broad involvement, and profound impact are unimaginable.

But I can imagine the pressure borne by the thirteen principals—they only had a lifespan of a century, yet they had to arrange plans extending to a thousand years beyond, even without seeing the dawn themselves.

Xia Jiawen opened a cabinet.

I saw many decorative items inside the cabinet. Light balls, hexagonal stars, ribbons. Such serious Experimental City actually stored these trinkets?

"What's this?" I asked.

"Tomorrow is the Peace Festival." Xia Jiawen squatted, packing these small items, a hint of nostalgia on his face: "The children have already done a lot of festival preparations. These little trinkets should be given to them. I want to give the children a joyful Peace Festival."

The Peace Festival should be a festival from the World of Old Days, similar to Christmas or Fuyuan Festival.

I thought, Xia Jiawen really is a gentle person.

As the fifth principal, Xia Jiawen was responsible for "guarding the Life Hard Drive Central Experimental City and assisting with the Life Hard Drive's slumber"—in simple terms, he was the security of the Experimental City (Nine Serenities). Before the plan started, Xia Jiawen needed to guard Nine Serenities, nurture future heirs, and assist in completing all central-related plan contents. After the plan began, he needed to immediately seal Nine Serenities, reincarnate there for generations, maintain basic operations until the Old God arrived a millennium later.

This mission is lonely and painful. Once the plan started, everyone within Nine Serenities is confined there for life, with isolation from the world, no one knowing about their existence. Generations would live and die there, like generations of island keepers on a distant solitary island.

... This makes me sad.

A millennium later, I had never heard of them shouldering such a responsibility. Fame and fortune, they gained nothing, devoting generation after generation to waiting.

At this moment, I finally understood why a millennium later Nine Serenities appeared the way it did—clearly, no one resided in Experimental City, yet there were devices for human livelihood everywhere, automatic cars, coffee brewing machines, trash cleaning robots... all prepared for Xia Jiawen and his descendants.

After all, they were going to live their entire lives there.

But evidently, there was an unexpected turn. A millennium later, Xia Jiawen and his descendants did not remain in Nine Serenities. If everything went according to plan, when I arrived at Nine Serenities, Xia Jiawen's reincarnated descendants would have welcomed me and prevented me from waking the Dieying, but they didn't.

People from a thousand years ago had anticipated almost every situation. Unfortunately, time crossed too far, and many plans failed over the long years, leaving Nine Serenities empty in the end.

Xia Jiawen, holding a light ball, took a long stride, heading outside.

"By the way, Mr. Xia, what are these surveillance screens...?" I quickly caught up, pointing at the thousands of surveillance screens around us.

Xia Jiawen explained:

"The board I'm responsible for includes guarding Nine Serenities, nurturing reincarnated heirs, cultivating Old God vessels, and establishing a surveillance room. I need to set up a surveillance room capable of monitoring every corner of the world. It's preliminarily built but temporarily non-functional due to tech constraints for signal-free monitoring. But the first principal said he'd eventually come to Nine Serenities to activate the surveillance room. I'm not sure what method he'll use."

Xia Jiawen explained several sections, which were simple and understandable, and I comprehended them.

I speculated that the first principal might be "General Qin" often seen in mythology.

"Can I help with anything?" I asked. Though I couldn't yet research Word Spirit, maybe I could help.

We thirteen principals surely trust each other immensely, like entrusting life and death, comparable to the Nine Thrones of the Ruined World. However, unlike the Ruined World where all responsibility weighed on Acto, these thirteen principals had respective duties.

Xia Jiawen raised his eyebrows and placed a silver bell in my hand.

"Of course, you can help." Xia Jiawen smiled: "Since the millennium plan preparation began, I haven't seen you in a long time. Join me tomorrow in decorating the Peace Tree."

... Such a simple task really looked after me.

I gazed at the bell in my palm.

It was just an ordinary decorative bell, ringing tinkling as my hand trembled slightly.

The countless surveillance screens reflected the images of Xia Jiawen and me, like dim prisms illuminating a future a thousand years ahead.

With Xia Jiawen's smile in view, I fiddled with the bell, almost hearing faint laughter from deep within the rift of time and space.

...

[Daylight·Day One]

[Possessed Character: Li Mingyue (Fourth Principal)]

[Responsible Direction: Recording, Research, and Transmission of Words and Rules]

[Reward for Completing the Scenario: Occupation Advancement]

[Current Scenario Direction: Deity Announces Erasure of History → Transmission Escape into Experimental City (Nine Serenities)]

...

Upon expressing my unwillingness to remain idle, Xia Jiawen suggested that I take the role of a teacher. After all, "nurturing reincarnated heirs" was the most crucial task. Xia Jiawen's main task was indeed teaching the children.

I stood at the podium, reading from the lesson plan in my hand:

"After we die, we will reincarnate. Therefore, we need to find suitable individuals to succeed the principal's Life Hard Drive, termed as 'Eligibles,' meaning the 'Principal of the Contemporary Era' in cyclic reincarnation."

"In reincarnation, due to changes in appearance or personality, it may be challenging to identify the 'Principal of the Contemporary Era.' Thus, I propose a scheme for body modification; if differences arise between the body and ordinary people, it becomes an undeniable identification mark. Once implanted in the Life Hard Drive, the Eligible's body will significantly differ from ordinary people in their flesh and blood..."

At this moment, a child raised their hand.

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