A few days later, 0002 appeared in front of me.

Now even the slightest differences in appearance have vanished. As long as 0002 doesn't speak, anyone would think he is Su Ming'an himself.

0002 waved at me, his eyes still full of vibrant light.

This time I didn't speak, because I suddenly felt it was meaningless.

If this matter had proceeded smoothly, I wouldn't have ended up in a wheelchair after being marked with the control seal by the deities. But... I clearly know, this matter didn't go smoothly.

Hei Que knows that all the tragedies in his life originated from me. Whether it's 0003 or 0004... they all disappeared in the dust unknown to anyone. The meaning of their lives ultimately didn't get an answer.

For the millennium plan, this work was just a backup solution, born to fill the gaps, with very low possibility of functioning. It's just a small screw in the machinery of destiny, whether it exists or not matters little, yet... it determined the lives of so many "Hei Que".

"Su Ming'an-3030..." I murmured this phrase.

Later, I walked through the corridor and accidentally discovered that the students had moved to other areas. The student dormitories were transformed into locked rooms, and occasionally piano, cooking, or livestreaming sounds would be heard inside… sounds identical to mine, at that moment I realized, I still witnessed everything fall into dust.

Head to tail connection.

I caressed the name of Hei Que on the Ring of Time, now he is not born yet, but his demise is already destined.

...

Another Peace Festival.

"God bless you."

Lv Shu pressed his palm on my forehead for a moment and quickly retracted it.

"I want to give candies to people, would you like to join?" Xia Jiawen asked me.

Every Peace Festival, Xia Jiawen would deliver candies door to door but instruct people not to eat them, perhaps it's some kind of custom.

I shook my head. Xia Jiawen went alone.

Lv Shu and I leaned against the Peace Tree, looking at the colorful gift boxes around us, while the lights twirled in halos.

"The first day is Christmas Eve, and the second day is also Christmas Eve." Lv Shu mentioned the night segment: "Hopefully, there will be more Christmas Eves."

"Hmm." I responded.

We leaned against the Peace Tree, sleepiness gradually brewing.

Until the alert sound went off.

"Beep—Beep—Beep—!"

I had never heard an alert sound before, the view dazzled with vivid colors. The dense black mist spread in, a sight never witnessed before.

"What's going on?" I realized, something had finally gone wrong with Nine Serenities.

Xia Jiawen quickly came to find me, still smeared with cream and ribbons: "... It seems Nine Serenities has been discovered. I don't know why the enemy can find it under the protection of The Republic, but it's no longer safe here. Ming Yue, come with me, to the safest place."

We didn't have time to think, the enemy was too fast. Just as Xia Jiawen found me, gunshots came from outside.

I instructed Xia Jiawen to stay and guard while I went to confront the enemy. He couldn't stop me, with so many children behind him, in the end, he led over a thousand people to shelter in the auditorium, which had many defense barriers.

"Dr. Li!" His shout was left behind as I walked away.

I walked outside, the enemy I saw was a blond man with beautiful blue eyes, leaning on a delicate cane. All the attacks that landed on him seemed to pierce through a gust of wind.

——It was Dieying, the invader.

I didn't say much.

After researching Word Spirit for decades, I had almost mastered all of them. Despite Dieying's ability to influence the world now, the extent was very low, capable only of spreading the black mist, unable to do much else. It was not the real body descending, just possessing a person to come over.

But behind him, he brought many people, their faces yellow and skinny, their clothes ragged. I could instantly see their resentment and dissatisfaction, which were directed at me.

"——Oh! We suffer outside, barely surviving, and you all live in such nice places!" These people looked at Nine Serenities, full of accusations:

"Is this the gathering place for the thousand-year plan? You have the heart to create such sophisticated instruments, yet unwilling to give us a piece of bread!"

"Outside, everything is chaotic, yet you 'keep watch for a millennium'—spouting millennium, millennium, what about our generation? You've never thought about it! Why should..."

What was my expression?

It must have been very indifferent.

Like seeing the mob that broke into Acto's house in the end. Turns out, no matter which world, humans are the same. I understood their indignation, but their anger wasn't aimed at the invaders but at those saving this civilization.

Dieying was smiling, seemingly anticipating human nature to be like this.

"Once you take this place, you'll have food, drinks, and accommodations. You can enjoy this paradise too." Dieying tempted them so.

But even if it took this place, it couldn't possibly leave it to them. However, people didn't understand, they just wanted to survive.

We had no choice, and neither did they.

But they aimed their fire at the wrong target.

They——shot at the children.

...

The first gunshot rang, an eight or nine-year-old child fell to the ground, a bullet passed through his shoulder, and he screamed in pain. Yet, no one cared about his suffering.

Then the second shot, the third shot, the fourth shot.

I used Word Spirit to stop the spreading black mist but couldn't spare my hands to block these people who also mastered Word Spirit; Dieying had granted them Strength.

Like a stampede incident in a zoo, a succession of "animals" ran past me, making cries unlike human ones, trampling over the frail children, rushing toward the bread and cheese.

I could hardly see a human figure.

Visions filled with beast-like ferocious faces.

At this moment, I suddenly realized that "humans" themselves are the end of civilization when someone whispers to them, benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trust vanish quickly, shockingly fast.

In the end, I still managed to stop this disaster.

The blond man possessed by Dieying was cut down by my sword, and the mob was gradually killed by the mechanics and traps of the Experimental City. The preparation work for the millennium plan was very thorough, not losing all due to one turmoil, but the price was immense. The ground was full of corpses, although some people were taken to refuge by Xia Jiawen, many did not escape.

The black mist's lethality was huge, anyone who touched it would mutate. When everything ended, Nine Serenities already became very quiet.

I could almost see no living people.

The tier of "God" was too strong, He didn't even descend, just found a loophole to enter Nine Serenities, causing such a terrifying disaster.

By checking Nine Serenities' data, I finally discovered who caused this disaster—it was merely an inconspicuous researcher. To secretly transmit his child into Nine Serenities and enjoy the paradise, he delayed the closing time of Nine Serenities by a millisecond.

Just a millisecond.

Dieying sensed this millisecond whiff, after lurking for a long time, He brought people in. Even the Principal wouldn't have thought that such a small time gap could be captured by Dieying.

I ran to the auditorium, wanting to find Xia Jiawen. Many people were dead now, not sure if he was still alive.

Through the auditorium window, I saw people eating candies. It made me feel at ease... fortunately, part of them are still alive.

The light was somewhat dim, coinciding with the transition between dusk and nightfall. The auditorium's lights were off, thousands of people sat in the auditorium seats, peeling off the wrappers of their candies.

"Has everyone received their candy?" Lin Yawen indicated from the stage, waving her hand with a smile:

"Alright, everyone enjoy your candy, make a wish for peace and harmony in the coming year..."

As if it were the last Peace Festival before the end of the world, when the defense barrier runs out, the Black Mist will devour this hall. Yet people seemed oblivious, unwrapping the candy wrappers in their hands to the hymn of the Peace Festival.

"...Xia Jiawen!" I called out, but no one answered me.

The scent of candy.

The air was filled with a strong candy fragrance.

I didn't see Xia Jiawen.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

The sound of candy being crushed.

The fizzing sound of the Black Mist corroding the shield.

I didn't know how to dispel the Black Mist; the only thing I could think of was to use my own body to protect these people and send them one by one out of the Nine Serenities.

...But it was meaningless.

I could only send out a few; the rest would die.

Crunch, crunch.

Teeth crushed the candy with a crisp collision. The plastic wrapper rustled like a torrential rain.

I pushed the door open and entered, and the hall suddenly became quiet, with no sound of eating candy.

Thousands of people sat in their seats, heads slightly bowed, looking at me as if yet as if not. The light was too dim; the Black Mist had corroded the power system, and I could only see the dust swirling close at hand, the seats covered in a twilight hue.

They were too quiet, almost making me think that their eating candy earlier was an illusion.

I walked onto the stage. Lin Yawen sat behind the piano, her slender figure obscured by the large piano board. Only a white, jade-like arm was visible, resting beside the black and white keys, her index finger lowered.

"Ding——"

The hall echoed with the reverberation of the piano.

"Lin Yawen, Dieying has already left. The Black Mist will be automatically expelled by The Republic after a while. But the Black Mist will soon erode the hall, and I must get you all out, but I can only save a few..." I stopped speaking here.

The sweet scent of candy spread.

The woman's face was vacant, her spine straight as she sat on half of the piano bench as if leaving space for someone. Her other hand held a talisman.

...It's a Life Hard Drive. Her own Life Hard Drive.

At this moment, the electricity returned, and the hall suddenly brightened. Under the illumination of countless red and green crystal light balls — I suddenly saw the whole hall.

I saw Hell.

Shattered candy lay on the ground, wrappers scattered everywhere.

Thousands still sat quietly in their seats, heads slightly bowed. Regardless of what actions I took, they wouldn't make a sound, because a line was connected to their foreheads, extending underground in the hall — leading all the way to the rooftop seats.

No wonder as I walked along this path, not a single person greeted me, though they always liked to greet Teacher Li. It turned out they didn't want not to say hello, but... they couldn't anymore.

The moment I saw them eating candy through the window, the moment before I pushed open the door — thousands died at the same time.

Candy wrappers fluttered down, heads drooped.

With the impending fall of the Nine Serenities, according to the backup plan — recognizing survival was hopeless, they could "store themselves" in time. And so, Lin Yawen led the people here, every single one connecting to the line, storing "themselves" into the largest Life Hard Drive.

I picked up a partly eaten candy, sniffed it, and suddenly felt suffocated.

I discerned the ingredients within — it was to dull the sensation of pain, consciousness waning, ensuring they wouldn't feel the pain of death in the final moments of their Souls being "stored".

This was the truth of eating "candy".

Every year Xia Jiawen would distribute the candy to them, yet warn them not to eat it. Not because he was stingy, but because he knew ... once they ate the candy, it meant the storage of their Souls and the end of Life. Every person clearly understood, the Nine Serenities wasn't one hundred percent safe, and the possibility of a fall existed. Even if the plan went smoothly, it didn't mean everyone would survive. We were merely enduring the end times together with effort.

...My throat felt like it was being strangled, like being soaked in an icy cavern.

In the hall, a thousand seats were filled, shoulder to shoulder.

Surrounded by people, yet completely empty.

A pair of hollow eyes stared at me. In the end, they smiled, perhaps knowing they would have another life, perhaps not regretting this fleeting life.

"Crack."

I stepped on a Gundam model.

It was made by a child... that day, he excitedly handed it to me, saying he wanted to be a great mech engineer. Another child said he wanted to taste the flavor of sweets.

...Did they achieve it?

I held the small Life Hard Drive in my arms.

...I didn't know.

I looked at Lin Yawen's Life Hard Drive. She had engraved some small words, probably inscribed before she swallowed the candy.

...

[Jiawen:

"The Selfish Gene" mentioned that when newlyweds marry, they should place their hands on "Evolutionary Psychology" and "The Selfish Gene" and swear: "I will go against my nature, defy my instincts, and love you forever."]

[I can't guarantee that I can defy my instincts and love you for a long time, but my life is too short, not even reaching the word "long".]

[So if there's an afterlife, my genes will still drive me to love you anew. Because the us in the afterlife won't change, so the same me will still fall in love with the same you. Loving you is my instinct.]

[Thus I promise—]

["I will follow my nature, obey my instincts, and love you forever."]

...

Outside the window, the twilight slanted.

The nightfall descended inch by inch.

I clutched the hard drive in my hand, walked slowly towards the door, and suddenly turned back one last time, looking at thousands of smiling faces—

They bowed their heads, gripping candy wrappers, surrounded by the clean glow of the Peace Festival's lights, their smiling eyes veiled by the night.

—And then I saw thousands of cold, silent smiles, on thousands of corpses, with hollow eyes gazing at me.

This made me suddenly realize,

…

We had inescapably... with a smile, gently... entered this good night.

…

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