Time continues to flow.

The young people were handled lightly, leaving them alive. Just like how Chao Yan thought of the past.

She had once repeatedly redeemed Su Ming'an from the godly large archive a thousand years later. Now Su Ming'an has become the "Deity" of the past, she looked at Su Wenqing and thought of her old self. They too were once furious at the inevitability of destiny.

He and the Deity are completely different. Yet in the eyes of the ignorant masses, they are the same.

In a situation where the truth is unknown, the depth of the iceberg is unknown... anyone can become the "sheep" in the rain.

...

In April, Noel was holding a searchlight, walking over the red-black land.

He picked up a stone, scanned it with a scanner, and placed it in his backpack.

"—Lord Strawberry Angel! You're back!"

Dozens of people waited in front of him—they were people from the Mechanical Armor Age (732), skilled at maintaining mechas. Mechas had good resource collection and mapping functions.

Noel came to his mecha, with a click, the iron panel moved aside, revealing a blue crystal shaped like a heart. He inserted the Resource Stone into the crystal, and with a few zizz sounds, the Resource Stone was transported into the energy reserve of the Holy City. This spatial teleportation technology was developed by people from the near-modern era (801)—it's a testament to the wisdom that embodies ten thousand "possibilities" of an entire civilization.

Noel named himself "Strawberry Angel." Although it sounds peculiar, he considers it about a hundred times more pleasant than Lv Shu's "Little Black Angel."

...

In May, Li Yuxuan sent the children under fifteen from the Holy City to the foster park. The following days grew ever more tense, and every group of people needed to be strictly regulated.

At this time, a little girl with twin tails waved to him through the fence: "Big Brother, do you know... where we are going next? Why do the adults look so nervous?"

The girl's eyes were full of longing. Li Yuxuan squatted down and looked her in the eye: "We are going to fly into the sky, very high... to the starry region. We are leaving the confines of the civilization of 'The World of Old Days,' so that the bad guy in the stars can't lock onto us with his word spirit."

The little girl blankly raised her head, looking at the beautiful and sparkling galaxy. She had understood since childhood that there was a big bad guy in the stars.

She asked, "Mom told me that long ago people loved to look at the stars, stars are beautiful, but why do they want to destroy us?"

Li Yuxuan thought for a moment: "It's not the stars that want to destroy us, the stars are not wrong. The mistake lies with the big bad guy dwelling between the stars."

"So we are... leaving our homeland?"

"Yes." Li Yuxuan didn't know how to explain the harshness of civilization's voyage to a little girl. After all, her lifespan at most was a hundred years, which couldn't even cover a tenth of the journey: "We indeed cannot return, but we..."

He glanced at the distant, towering Old Divine Palace, as if it were the most eternal Polaris:

"...but we will always overlook our... unreachable homeland."

...

In July, Xia Jiawen entered the vortex of time and space, setting up the Nine Serenities in various eras.

Before departing, Xia Jiawen proposed to his lover. Under the sky filled with thick black mist, he handed over a ring with blue and green hands.

Their love before the end of the world came with a promise of everlasting commitment unto death.

"If tomorrow is the end, if civilization is taken away, if spring doesn't come."

"I will still fall into this life unabashedly, marching towards you under the gaze of the high-dimensional ones. Whether I become dust among the universe, stardust at the galaxy's end, or the fuel burning in the Ark, I must say to you... I love you."

Applause was heard, and in the increasingly scarce resources, this wedding was very hasty, yet more solemn than any in a time of peace. The bride was even still in uniform, with no extra fabric to make a wedding dress, and even the bouquet was made of paper.

Thus, the two uniformed individuals held hands, kissed the ring and the paper flowers, as a lifelong vow.

Mentioning the raising of children, Xia Jiawen just smiled and brushed it off. He said, rather than let the children eat sweets in the perpetual darkness of the ravine, let them celebrate Peace Festival in the Holy City.

The piano's sound was beautiful, his lover ought to stay in the radiant sunlight.

...

In August, Mizushima Kawa Sora stated that she doesn't want to stay idle in the Old Divine Palace.

Su Ming'an wanted to test her resolve, so he sent her out.

Her mentality was still one of jealousy, but she suppressed it. She quietly completed tasks, collected Faction Contribution Points, increased Combat Power... without doing anything extra. Su Ming'an could not discern what she was thinking.

...

By September, the preparations for the ascent were nearing completion. As Dieying approached, many areas of the Holy City experienced outbreaks of pollution. But under strict deity control, the casualties were minimal.

Now people finally understood why the deity's control was so strict—only by regulating each person's destiny trajectory could efficiency be maximized.

...

In October, Su Ming'an met once with Li Mingyue.

Li Mingyue handed him a book, the yellowed pages full of words.

"The Rule Book..." Su Ming'an slowly read the title. This book ran from start to finish, beginning with it, ending with it.

He leafed through the book, suddenly realizing—it was already completed.

From the first page to the last, a total of 10,431 Instant Death Rules... all written down.

The shock was no less than... an entire civilization's scientific laws, all the rules of the universe, had been fully probed by humans.

And the one who probed these, all along, was just a single person.

"My various futures have pieced together these Instant Death Rules one by one. It should help you in the final battle," Li Mingyue calmly picked up the peach blossom brew: "The Instant Death Rules originate from the polluting word spirit of Dieying, one of its attack methods. However, now you need not fear."

Li Mingyue's appearance remained young, just as when they first met in Dao Ya City.

Su Ming'an found it difficult to describe his feelings towards Li Mingyue, who was once a symbol of safety, now still the most silent support.

He had been silent for a thousand years, had safeguarded for a thousand years. At the final moment, he completed the book and handed it plainly to Su Ming'an.

"...Godfather."

Even as time changed, people and things all might alter... even if it felt like he had lived several lifetimes, Su Ming'an still called him this way.

"Hmm," Li Mingyue also calmly responded. As if it should be so.

"You said before, if I feel cold, add a layer of clothing, if still cold, add another layer." Su Ming'an looked at his layers upon layers of robes: "Now... I indeed have countless layers of clothing on me."

Li Mingyue put down the cup, the fragrance of peach blossom brew lingering indoors.

"Are you still cold?"

Having donned so many layers of clothing, nearly wrapped himself to an unrecognizable extent... being like this, do you still feel cold?

Su Ming'an's gaze stalled for a moment, said:

"Cold."

Still cold.

This is a cold that no matter how many layers one wears, it cannot be escaped, a chill that seeps into the bones.

"The Holy City is about to ascend. Godfather, is there any last place you want to go?" Su Ming'an asked.

Li Mingyue shook his head, saying nothing.

The closest distance between them seemed to end here.

Although they were the first ones to know each other, it seems they have never truly gotten close. Li Mingyue was always reserved, and Su Ming'an would not actively close the gap. In a vague sense, they seemed to always have something between them.

Su Ming'an understood it clearly.

...It was Su Wensheng between them.

It was Li Mingyue who ultimately caused Su Wensheng's death, personally extinguished the hope he watched grow, snuffed out Su Wensheng's dreams, and welcomed Su Ming'an.

Every time he saw Su Ming'an, Li Mingyue could not help but think of Su Wensheng.

Su Ming'an turned around and left.

"If you travel to other eras, say hello to Shaoqing and Wensheng for me." Came Li Mingyue's voice from behind.

"...Alright." Su Ming'an did not turn back.

The door behind him closed, and he held the rule book stained with ink, as if the pages were not written with words, but with Li Mingyue's blood from dying again and again.

...

In November, preparations for the ascent of the Holy City were completed.

People gradually moved from the edges of the Holy City to the core area to prevent falling from the edge. Trucks endlessly transported various building materials, food, and firewood throughout the day.

Mechanical steamships, magical airships, floating brooms, mechas, immortal hero flying swords, modern airplanes, hot air balloons... Air transport equipment from different eras constantly coming and going above the Holy City, fantastical and magnificent like a painting.

On the ground, streams of people in various attires flowed. Armor, robes, long shirts, uniforms, priestly garments...

When humanity was in the Steam Age, their ultimate wisdom manifested in advanced high-altitude airships. When in the Mechanical Armor Age, it was exhibited in precise mechas that insulated against the Black Mist. In the Magic Age, it was shown in creation magic that could store food and fuel.

Human wisdom is unlimited, eternal, transcendent. When the wisdom of humans from ten thousand eras is gathered, the resulting outcome can even rival high dimensions.

The assembly of an entire civilization's wisdom. Each era has its contributions, and everyone is a grain of sand in this vast sandcastle.

Su Ming'an watched as people entered their respective living areas, received their number tags, like passengers boarding a flight, reaching their designated locations.

Everett once proposed a "Many-Worlds Hypothesis," suggesting that when an electron passes through a double slit, two worlds overlay. In one world, the slit the electron passed through is on the left, and in the other, it's on the right. This way, the wave function does not need to "collapse" to choose left or right, rather it's expressed as an overlay of two worlds.

In the case of "Schrodinger's Cat," the two cats are in different worlds. When the Observer looks into the box, in one version, the atom decayed, and the cat died; in another, the atom did not decay, and the cat lived.

These two worlds evolve independently and in parallel, what is known as parallel worlds.

At this moment, humanity's means to combat Dieying can be likened to this theory. Under the blessing of time authority and the fracture of Word Spirit, the Holy City departs from the domain of "The World of Old Days." Even though it originates from ten thousand timelines, it overlays on ten thousand timelines—because it would inherently experience each era represented by those timelines.

They are like the left and right slits, independently parallel, and simultaneously becoming both a living cat and a dead cat.

Dieying would have to personally uncover the box to detect which cat is alive and which is dead. Its Word Spirit can only choose one box, which is the surface world.

After the Holy City ascends, the era will fracture, the people of the Holy City will leave their homeland, becoming a planet circling the surface, never to meet again in this life.

"... Will you be going too, Dad?"

"Of course."

"Everyone here will embark together."

"Thinking about us rising into the sky, facing Dieying directly, is pretty interesting."

"This way... will we become stars?"

"Mom, I'm going to the sky..."

"Overlooking our civilization, forever shining upon them, watching as they cross millennia to greet a spring with no further pollution..."

"Will I become the North Star?"

Faces disappeared in the passage of time.

...

In December, Su Ming'an met General Qin. This principal, once vibrant, had become emaciated in just a year.

Upon seeing Su Ming'an, he gave him a warm hug.

Su Ming'an realized General Qin's fate... He was to become the largest life hard drive, enduring over a millennium, remaining undying, becoming a cat in a box. Eventually, Su Ming'an would personally uncover the lid to determine General Qin's death, taking on the burdens General Qin carried for a millennium.

This was unimaginable loneliness.

General Qin leaned into his ear, showing a gentle smile:

"Su Ming'an, wait until a thousand years from now, in the Nine Serenities, awaken me. Although by then, I probably won't have consciousness, just merely a container of life force."

"A thousand years later... when you call out [General Qin, I'm back], I'll recognize it's you."

Su Ming'an sighed softly, lifting his hand to embrace General Qin, whose true form he had still not seen.

Suddenly, he recalled what Chao Yan had once told him in several major return archives.

...

["The starry sky is beautiful." Chao Yan said, looking up, "A long time ago, I heard a saying that when people die, they become a star. That's why the starry sky is so beautiful."]

["The deceased will become stars in the sky. So the vast universe and those brilliant star rivers are people watching over us."]

...

It turns out this is the origin of that tale—after a thousand years, when people look up, those from a thousand years ago really become stars, watching over them from the sky.

Su Ming'an originally thought it was just a beautiful fairy tale.

Who would have thought, it was real.

"General Qin." Su Ming'an said softly, "Have you... already made your preparations?"

... Preparing to become the cat in the box, enduring the wear and waiting of a millennium, finally perishing in darkness.

"Yes." The black-haired young man, gaunt and skeletal, yet smiling gently.

"I am going to..."

His brows arched, his smile tender.

"...become a star."

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