The boy walked among mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
Plots eroded his innocence. Lies whittled away his childishness. Betrayals put solid armor on him. Regrets and desires turned into his sharpest blades.
He grew up by stepping on piles of bones. At first, he turned into a young man. Then, he turned into a young man amid the bloody storms and perils. The young man raised his head and saw a throne of bones standing on the peak of the endless corpses, but all the bones were black.
He smiled and walked unhurriedly to the skeleton throne that was destined to be his.
But right then, a head popped up from the pool of blood nearby.
Vulture.
“You again.”
He frowned, not very happy.
He was dazed for a moment. He did not remember such a vulture. Why did he say ‘again’?
Such an eye-catching vulture with distinctive features would not be forgotten even if it was burnt to ashes. He would definitely remember it if he had seen it before.
“We are finally back online!”
Vulture was somewhat relieved, but he was still very nervous. “Listen, Bai Xiaolu. The interference is too intense. The ‘future you’ will destroy the connection very soon. We only have three to five minutes at best. We must talk!”
He did not understand what Vulture was talking about. He replied subconsciously, “I am not Bai Xiaolu. I am Wan Zanghai.”
“No. That’s what we’re going to talk about. You are Bai Xiaolu. You are not Wan Zanghai, nor are you a super body or a flood!”
Vulture hurried to say, “Alright. The inertia of the ‘time tide’ is too strong. It’s impossible for me to change the past. Every contact between us will be erased. You will eventually become a super body and a flood.
“However, I beg you, no matter how much time has passed, no matter how many things you’ve experienced, no matter how many things you’ve lost, never forget your true self, the innocent, kind, hopeful, and trusting Bai Xiaolu!”
His eyelids were twitching, as if the weakness deep inside his heart had been seen through. The scales, thorns, and armor all stood up. “Who are you exactly? Why have you snuck into my dream time and time again?”
“With your wisdom right now, it’s hard for me to explain who I am and how I got in touch with you. In short… I’m a future person billions of years from now, and I’m a super hero of a future world. I’m fighting a ‘future you’ in a space battleground that is unimaginably mysterious and boundless. But in fact, the ‘future you’ is not necessarily the future you. Let’s call you that!”
Vulture replied quickly, “To describe it in a way that you can understand, the ‘future you’ is too awesome. After billions of years of development, you’ve grown into a supreme cosmic big shot. When I slashed at him with my blood-boiling passion, he dodged it easily and hit me back with ‘Black Tiger Steals Heart’. Then, I took the opportunity to steal a monkey’s peach. But instead of stealing the peach, he locked his throat with a deadly scissor kick. Then, he bashed me so hard that I almost collapsed.
“…”
He found it hard to understand Vulture’s words. Was this how the future generations would speak billions of years later?
“But in fact, well, you won’t believe it, but in fact, I beat the crap out of the ‘future you’ on purpose. Hahahaha. Everything was within my plan!
Vulture smiled drily. “I pretended to be weak and peed my pants. Then, I finally fooled the ‘future you’ and infiltrated its ultimate core. I even hooked up with it sneakily and got in touch with the ‘original you’ through the barrier of billions of years!
“Our time is limited. To make a long story short, Bai Xiaolu, I need your help. The human civilization needs your help. The entire universe needs your help!”
“You need me?”
He rolled his eyes and smiled. “Alright. You help me, and I’ll help you. Since you said that you are from the future and have grasped the mysteries of time, help me turn back time, stop the war, and change everything! I’ll help you however I can if I can.”
“That’s the point.
Vulture said, “I can’t help you. If I help you change everything, all the history over billions of years will be changed. I wouldn’t have been born at all. Since I was never born, how can I help you change everything? This is a paradox. A time paradox that nobody can get around. I can’t get around it, and neither can you.”
“Hehe!”
His eyes were cold, and his lips curled.
“I know what you are thinking, but it is impossible.
Vulture said, “If you go back to the past and stop the war, or even revive the people you love, your life will be completely different. Maybe you will live a happy life together, and you will never be able to grasp such terrifying abilities. You won’t be able to touch the mysteries of time, and you won’t be able to go back to the past to change everything… Look, we are back to the time paradox, aren’t we?
“If one day you really change everything and return to a new timeline that seems to be peaceful and where all your mistakes have never happened, you will not really return to the past. Instead, you will create a new parallel universe with your supreme techniques. Everything in this parallel universe is just something you created to fool yourself. In the ‘old parallel universe’, nothing can be changed. On the contrary, it will become even more painful and dark because you have consumed too much energy.
“Do you see what I mean? It’s like you accidentally broke a very beautiful vase. You can go to the market and buy an identical one to replace it, but the old one is broken. The new vase can never become the old vase. No matter how you fool yourself, it’s impossible!”
“Asshole…”
He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Dangerous feelings were gathering in his black eyes like billions of lightning bolts.
“There are worse things.
But Vulture was not scared of his fury at all. He continued talking. “There’s an old saying that a man will die twice. The first time is when his body perishes, and the second time is when everybody forgets him. The saying has been around since the era of Earth, hasn’t it? It means that not only does a man live in three-dimensional space, he also lives in other people’s memories and feelings. Even if his body perishes, his ‘information’ is still alive.
“If you really choose to go back to the past, in fact, you will bypass the time paradox and jump to another parallel universe. I suspect that you will completely forget the people you truly love. You will forget the sacrifices they made for you, your love for them, and the beautiful days you spent together. In other words, you will erase them with your own hands. Nobody will remember who they are anymore!
“Even if there are other people in the new parallel universe, they are not the real them. They are just puppets that look like them. Clones and inflatable people. They are all fakes!
“Shut up!”
He finally couldn’t help it and roared, “I don’t know what you are talking about. Shut up and get out of my dream!”
“You are very smart. You can understand it. Even if you don’t understand it now, you will have billions of years to understand it later.
Vulture continued, “In terms of real age, you are more than qualified to be my eighteen generations of ancestors. But in terms of life experience, I am slightly richer than you were in the beginning. I am a father as well as an elder brother. Let me tell you, when I make certain sacrifices for my children and juniors as a father or elder brother, I really, really don’t want to see them torture themselves with endless hatred and regret. They will be trapped in the thorny maze of obsessions for billions of years without being able to free themselves. In the end, they will turn themselves into a beast, a monster, and a devil. They will do whatever they want, destroy themselves and other people, and destroy their own future!
“Really. I don’t want them to be like this. All the sacrifices I’ve made only have one purpose, which is to let them live a happy life with a brighter and brighter future than mine. That’s enough. Really enough!
“Your father and your brother, the people who gave you happiness and happiness in the past, must’ve been the same. They hope that you can live a happy life forever instead of being a monster that is consumed by hatred and resentment and punishing yourself for billions of years, right?
“Shut up!”
He held his head in agony. “Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!”
“Enough. Billions of years of pain and suffering, billions of years of wandering and colliding in the labyrinth of regret. It’s really enough. It’s time to wake up, Bai Xiaolu!”
Vulture opened his wings at him. “I can’t change the past, but you can change the future! The odds of me defeating the Flood Tide are only one billionth, but the odds of you defeating the Flood Tide are 100%! Because you are the starting point of the Flood Tide. You are the regret that the Flood Tide will never be able to repair. You are the ‘inner demon’ of the Flood Tide!
“Awaken from the billions of years of regret and the pain that you will never be able to get rid of. Listen to the real voices of the people who sacrificed themselves for you. Collect the past and stride toward a future with infinite possibilities!
“We need you. The civilization of mankind needs you. We need you in the future. Only you can completely transform the tides and bring the civilization of mankind billions of years in the future to a whole new level. Only you can lead us to defeat the ‘Great Purge Agreement’, the ‘Fast Child Collapse’, the ‘Lord of Singularity’ and the ‘Ancient Devourer’. With the sacrifices, hopes, and hopes of countless people over billions of years, we will create the most beautiful tomorrow! Only in such a way can the people who sacrificed for you be truly at peace!”
“I…”
For the first time, he hesitated. He could not see himself clearly in the pool of blood. “The future me is so awesome… What about you?”
“Me?”
Vulture said, “As long as you can be awakened, I will recognize you as a big shot immediately. I will be satisfied if I can be your leg accessory.”
“A leg accessory?”
He was confused. “What is that?”
“The leg hair.”
Vulture said, “You are the real unparalleled expert in the multiverse and the well-deserved top expert in the billions of years of human civilization. I will be a hair on your leg and follow you to the multiverse and the high-dimensional space to cheer for you. I will be satisfied when I see you sweep across billions of universes. Now, you should know how sharp and important you are, right?
“So, so it was like this…”
He was confused and felt that something was not right.
“Of course it is. Do not doubt it. Maybe you don’t know me, but in the future billions of years from now, I will be known for my honesty and integrity.
Vulture said, “Not good. The ‘future you’ has discovered me. It is harassing me again. I have to retreat. Don’t forget the secret code!”
“Secret code?”
He was dazed. “What secret code?”
“It’s that everyone has a duty to protect Vulture!”
Vulture shouted, “The inertia of the ‘time tide’ is so strong that it will erase all traces of me billions of years ago without leaving a single ripple. Therefore, you will forget the dream and me very soon.
“But I still hope that, no matter what, you don’t forget that you are Bai Xiaolu, the Bai Xiaolu who is righteous, kind, and full of hope for tomorrow. And I hope that you can firmly bind your ‘belief’ to the words ‘love the Vulture, everyone has a duty’ and imprint it in the deepest part of your soul.
“In such a way, in the space battleground billions of years from now, when the ‘future you’ and I are engaged in the most intense battle, I will shout ‘it is everyone’s responsibility to protect Vulture’, and you will be able to awaken and recall your past. You will be able to recreate your true self, the original Bai Xiaolu!
“Remember, you must remember. Give your real self a chance. Give the future civilization of mankind a chance. Give ‘hope’, ‘tomorrow’, and ‘belief’ a chance. This is the only possibility for us to defeat the flood. I believe you, Bai Xiaolu, Bai Xiaolu, Bai Xiaolu—”
Vulture seemed to have been grabbed by the throat and dragged back to billions of years later.
Very soon, he forgot the existence of Vulture, the conversation just now, and the embarrassing secret code.
However, the throne of bones on the bloody ocean was somewhat dazzling and showing signs of collapse.
When he lowered his head, the clear face in the pool of blood was blurred again. There was no telling whether it was ‘Thousand Treasures Sea’ or ‘Bai Xiaolu’.
…
Brother, we’ve made it. I’m not dead. I’ve entered the underground metropolis of the ‘Alliance’. They don’t have any doubts and really think that I’m the ‘Thousand Treasures Sea’!
Brother, I’ve been sent to a hospital. The medical treatment here is very good, and the wounds will be healed soon. They didn’t find any traces of you. Haha. Your plan is indeed marvelous. I am now an ‘Underground Clan’!
‘Brother, the director of this hospital is named ‘Urey’, too. Of course, he is not the terrible Yuri Aix. He is a good man, an angel without wings. He took special care of me and helped me solve a lot of unnecessary problems. He also said that I had a rare gift and that he was going to recruit me as his student! Hehe. It seems that our luck has changed for the better. Our future will be better and better, won’t it?’
Brother, I seem to remember that, when Boss Gold Tooth died, and when you… died, you said something to me. What did you want me to do? Damn it. I forgot it.
Please, come to my dream and tell me again. The underground metropolis is very prosperous, but my heart is a bit lost. I don’t know what road I should walk on in the future.
But it didn’t matter. There was still a long way to go. There was still a lot of time. Eventually, I would remember, right?
[Other than that, the replay of yesterday has concluded.]
