**The desert of the Metal Nation burned.**
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡALWXx0wNL3
The white-haired man's broken body lay sprawled across the dunes, data streams gushing from his wounds like struggling golden serpents. I knelt beside him, my petrified right arm uncontrollably disintegrating—skin peeling away to reveal flowing bronze code beneath.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8oc0vW1Bb
*"You finally... understand?"*
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0rDggrkR4g
His shattered vocal cords emitted static. *"We... are all vessels..."*
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbWiJ1Sh5rz
In the distance, the spire of the Sun Temple began to collapse. As the first massive stone crashed into the sand, the entire world froze. Raindrops hung suspended in air, grains of sand floated like stardust, even the golden blood seeping from my wounds halted mid-flow.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOhrPyR1PBL
Only thought remained.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOiBefaHzuE
Xu Wu's voice suddenly echoed through the frozen time: *"This isn't the first pause."* Her phantom emerged from the sickle, her body composed of blue light particles, the symbol beneath her collarbone pulsing rhythmically.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe1ZpVSfUHH
*"In the previous twelve cycles, you always hesitated at this moment."* She pointed at the white-haired man's corpse. *"Now, complete the final step."*
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE3yXrQ4tFt
I walked toward the Sun Temple's ruins.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbyDo9MDT8k
With each step, more fragments fell from my petrified body. By the time I reached the sundial at the temple's center, my right arm had become pure bronze data streams—identical to the white-haired man's.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡChKeV4icad
The sundial bore the same equation as Othera's shrine:
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR8M8ugSFkv
**[Zero] + [2] = [∞]**
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD5pVmS3sZd
But this time, a small line of text appeared beneath:
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAbm2L9b6Ia
*"Destroy the vessel, release the imprisoned time."*
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBUo146g946
Xu Wu's phantom placed a hand on my shoulder. *"Across twelve cycles, you chose to become a new god eleven times. Only once..."* She pointed to a crack on the sundial, *"That time you killed yourself, but forgot to kill the memories."*
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡorbNP5l9p0
The sundial suddenly rotated, revealing underground cultivation pods. Hundreds of Xu Wu clones floated in liquid, each branded with different codes on their chests. At the center lay the original Xu Wu—her Q-symbol dissolving.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyRpD1Fj0AQ
*"This time is different."* I raised the sickle. *"Because this time..."*
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWq3lpGL3mx
As the blade pierced the sundial, the stasis shattered.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCAUzc4aXM2
Time began flowing backward.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEHco69kvxt
I watched the white-haired man's wounds heal, watched the Sun Temple's rubble return to its original position, watched Xu Wu's clones disappear one by one. When time rewound to the moment we first entered the Wood Nation, something fundamental changed.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUinmMLVpuB
On the cover of *"Prototype Prime Directive Set"* in the Forbidden Archives, where **[Zero]** once was, now stood **[ ]**.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8aSFVuMdJT
Xu Wu touched her collarbone—her symbol had transformed into an hourglass shape. *"This is..."*
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡppN8MOYB67
*"A new possibility."* I gazed at the horizon where the skies of the Five Nations were shedding their sickly hues. *"We broke the vessel."*
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBsdMbjHiXE
In the final second before the timelines converged, I heard twelve versions of myself speak simultaneously:
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsMGl3W0gpg
*"Thank you for your choice."*
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMsHiV3Zskn
The world rebooted.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQwRYA90WFS
---
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQ66XbCoQ6
I woke at dawn by the sea.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡinPt5vseM7
No petrified arm, no divine erosion, just Xu Wu squatting nearby, grilling fish. Her mechanical eye was gone, the Q-symbol now an ordinary scar.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBM9Osdidz
*"Nightmares?"* She handed me a skewer. *"You kept muttering about vessels."*
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ11hykPIa97
In the distance, children ran across the beach, their shadows stretching long in the morning sun. One girl tripped, scraping her knee. I stared transfixed at the blood—red, utterly human.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtYSDnZnL1m
Xu Wu followed my gaze. *"What? Never seen someone bleed before?"*
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ28OMA2vtK
The sound of crashing waves became deafening.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq4IOWVQZ9a
In this godless world, even pain was precious.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4jTEC3E6IC
---
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWnpm9TUlTL
Three months later, I stood at the entrance to the abandoned divine realm.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLjhjOu40T8
Xu Wu knelt before a simple gravestone on a nearby hill. A single character was carved into it: **[A]**
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnq5ySSPtN2
*"He never changes."* Xu Wu brushed fallen leaves off the stone. *"Always believing sacrificing himself could save everyone."*
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwrWJ0qWX5s
As I approached, I noticed a metal flower resting before the grave—assembled from discarded mechanical eye components.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡICgdQFgQs5
*"You know what?"* Xu Wu suddenly smiled. *"His last gift to me was a joke."* She pressed the flower's center button. A-00's projection materialized:
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxYdN018rW5
*"Remember, Xu Wu... the most powerful weapon in the world..."*
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN7sZjeAEj6
The projection grinned.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLzvtgcX029
*"Is the freedom to choose not to be a weapon."*
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPSJYgucl2g
We stood in silence for a long time.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWBCmHUVZB1
Only when the setting sun stretched the gravestone's shadow to our feet did Xu Wu whisper: *"Let's go. Time to fulfill your new duty."*
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ7nVSkc6CA
---
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPdq5e8Vns
In the deepest chamber of the abandoned divine realm, a new failure was awakening.
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqdBi9u9sp9
He lay exactly where I once had, silver hair fanned across stone steps, pale golden eyes brimming with confusion. When my shadow fell over him, he instinctively raised defensive hands:
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcXhWqOfEaV
*"Who are you?"*
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSRDgLSSf0l
I crouched down, my own silver hair slipping over my shoulder. *"Here to teach you how to be human."*
462Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqMceqFaAaM
In my peripheral vision, Xu Wu leaned against a broken statue, we
ns216.73.216.134da2
→ Request update
and then Add to home screen.