Chapter 76 - The Truth of Everything!

At this moment, Richard was very calm, without much surprise or wavering in his heart.Because such a reaction from Pandora was anticipated, but the goal had already been set, so the steps forward wouldn’t stop for anyone or anything.

Because he very much wanted to clarify a truth.

Looking up at the sky, the stars twinkled.

When he was explaining to Pandora just now, he had been observing Polar Star, but now he was looking at the constellation arrangement of the entire starry sky.

The so-called earth, the world, in the end, is nothing more than a planet that revolves around a constant star while continuously rotating. Otherwise, gravity, the atmosphere, the cycle of day and night, the changes of the seasons, and so on could not be explained.

In the far-off reaches surrounding this current planet, there were many constellations formed by numerous constant stars, artificially divided and formed into imaginable shapes. Their positions were unchanging, or rather relatively unchanging, like coordinates, indicating a planet’s space and time.

The spatial coordinates of this world, as per the background map of stars, were quite clearly the Milky Way–Solar System–Earth. As for the temporal coordinates, judging by the position of Polar Star Gouchen Yi, it should be around the Earth’s year 2100 A.D. In other words, this world, in a sense, is the Earth of the year 2100 A.D.—a Medieval world of the future, a backward yet mysterious Wizard World.

Is this transmigration? Is “transmigration” the only word that can explain this?

When countless entertainment novels describe utterly impossible fantasies a thousand times, a ten thousand times, everyone becomes used to them, believes them to be reasonable. But… when such things truly happen, can a completely different otherworldly realm be explained?

How can it be explained?

Parallel theory? Mirror theory? String theory? Or perhaps… Box theory?

“Transmigration, conquer the world,” if it truly happens, would it really be as wonderful as in the fantasies? Enjoying it, immersing in it, and then struggling within it?

Someone tells you that in this world the strong are revered, so work hard on your training to become the strongest. Someone tells you that in this world the barbarians rule, so push out the invaders to reclaim our rivers and mountains. Someone tells you the “system” aids everything, so don’t think, just follow the “system’s” orders, whether it’s punishing evil and promoting good, or rape and pillage, there’s absolutely no harm.

Is there really no harm? Is the world benevolent? Or malevolent? Does survival and evolution rely on true goodness and beauty, or on beastly instincts and brutality, or maybe the light of wisdom in the darkness?

When it all truly happens, can you truly accept it all?

When you wake up to find the world has greatly changed, and you, with your fully developed personality, have become another existence, would you find that okay? Even if it is a completely different Medieval world?

What if, to take it to an extreme, it’s a world replete with monsters, an Elf world? You have become an elf with the body of a bull and the head of a horse, your family members drink blood and eat flesh, and your companions delight in slaughter. Wounding oneself is the ultimate pleasure, and the first thing to do upon waking up each day is to slice one’s body with a knife, watching with a cackling laugh as the blood pours out. Here, relations between the opposite sexes are mortal feuds of extinction, and to reproduce, one needs to mate with the same gender.

Can you accept that too? What if it’s even more extreme?

You arrive in a Dead World filled with Dead Spirits, and you have become a Skeleton Soldier, ruled by a powerful Skeleton Lord. Without freedom, every day you are compelled by the Skeleton Supervisor to carry heavy black stones to build majestic cities. There’s no way to become stronger, no chance to revolt. Nor do you have the ability to speak to communicate with your peers, unable to incite them to rebel.

So, you can only keep working, feeling the intense agony of bone rubbing against bone at each moment of your life, until your bones weather away and crumble to dust. Then the Skeleton Supervisor takes the Soul Fire from your skull, inserts it into another skeleton to activate it, and you continue laboring.

How does that kind of experience sound?

Most people eventually feel that the change from 0.5 to 500 is greater than from 0 to 0.5, even though the former is a quantitative change and the latter is a qualitative change.

When fantasy turns into reality, within the range of acceptability, giving one a better setting, can it be truly accepted?

It elevates you to a noble status, places you above thousands, and fulfills your past fantastical desires. You could exercise the right of the first night, chop off a Thief’s head, strategize and conquer the world in the castle. You would be admired by thousands, hailed by all creatures.

This is naturally great, but will you truly not wake up from sleep in shock, questioning who you really are, cautiously asking those around you what your identity is, or perhaps discovering your identity has suddenly changed?

Becoming the farmer’s daughter you once asserted your right of the first night with, becoming the thief who was about to be beheaded, becoming the poor person whose house was burned and food was taken away in a conquering war?

If there exists a power that can instantly transform you, allowing you to reign supreme, then it could just as quickly cast you down to struggle in the dirt—could you truly be indifferent? Could you really accept everything as it comes, happily embracing any and everything, and then, with passion and fervor, begin a new life in an otherworldly realm?

Too many beautiful fantasies, far too few seeking the truth. Because fantasies are always light, comfortable, revealing the truth, however, defies common sense and makes one an outlier.

But no matter what, when abnormal occurrences unfold, do those experiencing them really hold no doubts, truly have no desire to understand the truth?

When you knew that the so-called “911 event” might have reset Earth’s timeline, did you truly feel nothing?

When you found that your memories had suddenly diverged from many others, were you not affected?

For instance, you discover an author named “Kurt Vonnegut” who wrote his final work and had passed away—you even remember how sad you were when you heard the news. But then, one day, you find he’s still alive, that he broke his promise after his last work and continued writing, living on for ten more years beyond your original memory of his death.

And his supposed “final work” turns out to be called “Timequake”—a story about time suddenly reversing ten years, forcing everyone to repeat exactly the same actions of those ten years.

Or take the example of the African president, “Nelson Mandela,” known as “an old friend of the Chinese people.” He too had died, with national news even broadcasting his obituary. Then, one day, you find out he has died again. Between his two deaths, he even experienced the low-probability event of being cured of cancer.

Or take a few actors, such as “Fei Mao” Zheng Zeshi and “Yan Chixia” Wu Ma, they too have created discrepancies between you, others, and reality. Some you remember having certainly died, yet they live on in reality. Others you recall as having passed away a long time ago, but in reality, they have only just recently died.

What exactly causes these phenomena?

Just coincidence, coincidence upon coincidence?

Can coincidences really explain everything?

Could it be like the box theory: The entire world, the universe, is under an unknown control, usually operating without a trace, but at certain times, in the face of some unforeseen major events, some unknown errors occur?

That’s why your memories differ from others. That’s why some people die and then live. That’s why some things that only exist in fantasy novels actually happen.

Or is there some other theory that can explain it?

But no matter which theory, is it possible to find the hidden truth behind it?

Richard was very keen to find out, ever since this so-called “transmigration” happened.

Richard really wanted to know if everything past, present, and even future truly existed? Or were the people and things experienced and seen merely false illusions, segments of virtual data, or NPCs in a game?

To Richard, the fifteen years he’d experienced felt more like playing a game than real life. That’s why he didn’t invest much emotion into things like his so-called father the King, his brother the Prince, the Court Old Butler, the Personal Team Captain, or the Palace Maids. He treated the events around him more like cutscenes in a game, making choices with reason or in jest.

After that, it was leaving the Newbie Village-like Blue Lion Kingdom to discover a broader world. After all, this isn’t the internet era of modern Earth, where all existing information and knowledge can be obtained in one room. One must travel, explore, and experience firsthand to uncover the secrets and to step by step approach the possible truth.

Meeting Gregory and Pandora, the feeling was similar; they might seem more interesting than those before, but he wouldn’t stop for them.

Richard was very clear about what he wanted, definitively, unwaveringly.

So, leaving was inevitable.

That settled it then.

In the night, Richard whispered softly.