Eternal Night

Chapter 501 Echoes of the Soul
"How should I put it? My memory is a bit jumbled. Let me think about it and summarize it..."

The day after the attack, Wu Pifu used martial arts training as an excuse to fool the androids, which earned him another wave of bewilderment. Then, while the androids were working, he took three small animals and a golden tree bonsai to a distant place.

Only then did Beelzebub tell Wu Pifu what she had remembered.

"Do you remember your conversation with that person from the alchemical civilization? The core of the alchemical civilization is equivalent exchange. Both matter and spirit can be quantified and thus exchanged for equivalent value, but the soul cannot be quantified. Do you remember?" Beelzebub asked.

Wu Pifu nodded, and Beelzebub continued, "I remember now. Actually, it's not just the alchemical civilization that can't quantify the soul. To date, only two and a half civilizations have managed to quantify and cultivate the soul. All other civilizations, all forces, and all extraordinary paths are completely unable to do this..."

Wu Pifu said with dissatisfaction, "Stop making a fuss. If you can do it, you can do it; if you can't, you can't. What do you mean by 'two and a half civilizations'?"

Beelzebub ignored him and continued, "They are the Heavenly Court, the Buddhist Realm, and the New Heaven. The reason the New Heaven is considered half is because it has been a half-lost civilization since its birth. Its source, God, is also a half-lost source, making it almost impossible to communicate or cooperate with. That's why it's considered half... I'm serious, and you should listen carefully. Of the three realms of the extraordinary, only the soul is an exception. The biggest manifestation of this exception is that it violates basic logic!"

Wu Pifu asked, puzzled, "What do you mean by violating basic logic?"

Beelzebub paused for a long time, seemingly choosing his words carefully, before finally saying, "For example, conservation. The material world has the conservation of matter and the conservation of energy, and the extraordinary realm also has its own conservation. Although there is no specific conservation formula, just as a beginner in martial arts cannot destroy a planet with one punch, a low-level extraordinary person cannot break through the Zero Dream World, so too does the level and strength of one's extraordinary level correspond to the level and intensity of one's combat power. This is conservation, or rather, it conforms to basic logic. You gain some and you lose some; there can be no exceptions. You can't possibly gain superhuman power just by 'imagining,' can you? That doesn't make sense, does it?"

"However, the extraordinary path at the soul level contradicts this. This applies to both the corruption and distortion of the soul level and the extraordinary power at the soul level. It truly belongs to the category of having power simply by 'thinking,' and it possesses a powerful power that defies logic!"

Wu Pifu did not refute, but simply nodded silently.

When that unknown shadow descended yesterday, Wu Pifu did indeed experience several things that completely defied logic.

First, once he entered the shadowy area, the sounds he made were immediately isolated, and the androids nearby could not perceive them at all. At the same time, he could hardly escape the shadowy area and could not return to the camp from it no matter what. Moreover, this was not an illusion, nor was it some kind of spatial teleportation, but a power of another level that he could not understand at all.

At the same time, he could not perceive the shadow's true form. Once he did, he immediately felt himself begin to change. His physical body underwent uncontrollable distortion, and his mental consciousness also became uncontrollable. Even someone like him, who had a strong resistance to almost all corruption, experienced this change. That's why he decisively stuffed the three small animals and the golden tree into the special space.

Subsequent events proved this point. Fortunately, he shut down his five senses and sixth sense due to his premonition of danger, relying purely on his martial arts intuition to fight his enemies. Otherwise, he would have become something he himself could not even imagine.

Wu Pifu remained silent for a long time before finally saying, "...The sixth level of the Primordial Demon Prison."

Beelzebub was taken aback, then immediately exclaimed, "Yes, yes, I remember now. When I went to the sixth level of that primordial demonic prison, the last invisible fearsome thing that appeared was very similar to the target that attacked us this time. Apart from the difference in strength and size, there was a huge sense of similarity... If we follow this logic, could the so-called loss actually be related to the pollution of the soul?"

Wu Pifu shook his head. He didn't know if all of this was related. From the current perspective, the pollution and distortion of the soul and the phenomenon of loss might actually be possible.

Beelzebub then began to ramble on, "Damn it, I have so many missing memories, fragmented and disjointed. And I have a vague feeling that many crucial memories are missing, such as the lost core secrets and the conditions for fighting against the lost... Anyway, I vaguely remember that because of the important information I brought back, many powerful civilizations and powerful origins have concentrated all their efforts on exploring the soul, which has caused quite a stir..."

Wu Pifu stopped asking questions and simply began to work diligently.

The wooden ship was quickly built. In the days following the battle with the unknown, the supernatural fear disappeared, and the evil spirits never attacked again. Beelzebub believed that Wu Pifu had injured the soul contaminant.

According to Beelzebub, soul contaminants are terrifying and almost impossible to cure once they appear. However, if they can be damaged, it will be very difficult to restore their essence. The immortality of soul contaminants only exists when they are not damaged, because almost nothing can harm the soul. But once damaged, their essence is almost impossible to restore. The real damage brought by the title of Wu Pifu is also a huge threat to this soul contaminant.

Regardless, Wu Pifu had no intention of backing down. This was his original intention in coming to this world. A high-risk mission was a high-powered mission. This was a high-powered mission that Chu Minghao had received. If he could complete it easily, he would be suspicious. Now that he had confirmed that there was a terrifying force in this world that could threaten him, what else was there to say?
Live to fight, die to live!
Let's go! Heading to Easter Island!

Without any delay, on the very day the giant wooden ship was completed, Wu Pifu didn't even need to conduct tests; he directly ordered the ship to sail. Although some androids offered various suggestions, Wu Pifu's subsequent actions only added to his bewilderment.

He actually went directly to the back of the wooden boat and propelled it forward by walking on the sea with his own body!
Fearing the wooden boat would break apart, Wu Pifu did not unleash his full power, but instead moved forward at a speed of about two hundred meters per second, cutting through the waves.

In fact, even at this speed, a wooden hull would definitely disintegrate. You should know that in the 21st century, the fastest experimental ships, which were basically gliding on the sea surface, were only about 150 meters per second. But the wooden boat that Wu Pifu pushed directly soared to more than 200 meters per second, and the entire wooden boat was practically gliding on the sea surface.

However, Wu Pifu's control over his strength was excellent. The huge ship carrying more than a hundred androids did not disintegrate under his propulsion. It took only a few hours to travel from the coast of South America to the Easter Island area. This was only because there was no accurate navigation system and they took a detour along the way.

The wooden boat did not go directly to the shore of Easter Island, because when it arrived near the waters around Easter Island, it saw that the area around Easter Island was filled with thick fog. This fog itself was supernatural, because no matter how the sea breeze blew, this fog always shrouded this area. It was not so much like fog, but more like some kind of solid object.

When the ship reached the edge of the fog, before even entering it, the androids on board began to show abnormalities. More than one-tenth of the androids fell into a "coma," a symptom that should only occur in humans. Their programs automatically shut down, and their internal processing chips became overloaded. Fortunately, the situation was not serious, otherwise they would have been considered "dead."

It was under these circumstances that the ship stopped outside the fog and did not go any further. After discussing with the androids, Wu Pifu finally managed to persuade them to let him go and explore on his own.

In fact, all the androids, whether they were the seven members of the Wakaba unit or the androids of the resistance, did their best to refuse Wu Pifu's decision to go on the exploration alone. It wasn't until Wu Pifu issued the order directly in the name of humanity that their underlying logic cut off their desire to go together.

However, Wu Pifu's decision failed in the face of the three small animals and the golden tree. All three small animals clung to him, even Daphne, the Samoyed, bit his thigh tightly with her mouth, and the golden tree even wrapped its branches around his arm.

“I have a feeling that if we travel with you, we might have a chance to survive. If you put us on this ship, we will definitely die when you come out, because… the four of us can barely be considered intelligent beings, and we are fundamentally different from those homunculus!” Beelzebub said.

Wu Pifu was speechless; he reluctantly agreed with Beelzebub's statement.

In fact, in Wu Pifu's memory, many horror movies, horror animations, comics and novels do have protagonists who leave injured supporting characters or weak characters who are not suitable for action in safe zones, and then go on adventures alone. As a result, the protagonist does not die, but the supporting characters in the safe zones die a terrible death.

Based on this memory, Wu Pifu thought about it carefully and confirmed that it was safer for him to stay by her side. At worst, she could just use all the dimensional space rings here. After returning from this mission, she could ask the chairman to get ten or eight more... This thing should be easy to manufacture, right?
Just as Wu Pifu was thinking this, he was in the Land of Redemption, discussing the issue of supplies with Chu Minghao. The company's supply warehouse, which had been depleted due to the creation of the dimensional space ring, had almost affected the normal operation of the four Singularity Companies that had sided with the human government. Therefore, the chairman, who had been negotiating with Chu Minghao more than a dozen times, couldn't help but sneeze several times while listing the excessive supplies consumed to Chu Minghao.

Without further ado, Wu Pifu, carrying three small animals and a potted plant, plunged headlong into the mist.

The fog was so thick that it was almost impossible to tell which way to go once inside. Wu Pifu could only rely on his martial arts intuition to rush forward. After only a few thousand meters, a street appeared in front of him.

A street that appears directly on the sea surface?
The neighborhood was packed with people, and there was no fog to obscure it at all.

Wu Pifu paused for a moment in the mist, then broke through it and rushed into the street.

From the pedestrians, signs, and language in the neighborhood, Wu Pifu confirmed the location of the street in a few seconds... This was somewhere in the city of Neon.

Just as he was about to ask the passersby, everyone suddenly looked up at the sky and saw a huge spatial rift open in the sky, from which a giant dragon emerged. On the dragon's head stood a man covered in wounds and spitting blood.

The dragon roared as it burst out of the spatial rift, seemingly trying to evade an attack from behind or breaking free from some kind of restraint.

Wu Pifu couldn't see what was behind the spatial rift, but a strong sense of palpitation vaguely came through him.

"Ha, ha ha ha... It's a success, it really is a success... A new reality has actually appeared, we're saved, we're saved..." The man on the dragon's head shouted wildly, extremely excited.

At the same time, Wu Pifu's eyes suddenly narrowed. He saw several white, ethereal figures drift out of the spatial rift at the gap, but they immediately vanished as soon as they crossed it.

At the same time, just as the dragon emerged from the spatial rift and was about to spread its wings and take flight, dozens of missiles flew straight in from outside the city and crashed into the dragon with a roar.

A visible protective layer appeared on the dragon's body, with numerous inscriptions spreading around it. The initial missiles were unable to shake this protective force field. Just as the dragon was about to escape, it suddenly stopped moving, and the man on its head also fell into a state of stillness.

Others might not be able to see it, but Wu Pifu could vaguely see the white phantom that had appeared from the crack earlier reappear, transforming into ropes that bound the dragon and the man, wrapping them up layer by layer. Then, the remaining dozens of missiles came one by one, and without the protective layer, each missile slammed heavily into the man and the dragon...

A tremendous roar, the light and shockwave of the missile explosion spread across the earth, and the streets began to crumble inch by inch. In the dim light, Wu Pifu could only see the giant dragon struggling with all its might to break free from the restraints of a few white phantoms and pour its power into the man.

The man's flesh and blood were burned away, leaving only a golden skeleton holding a silver spear. At the last moment, his spirit separated from his body, carrying away a portion of the dragon's power...

boom!
The entire block exploded...

When Wu Pifu came to his senses, the street in front of him had completely disappeared. The dragon, the explosion, the golden skeleton—everything had vanished.

Wu Pifu stood on the sea, still shrouded in endless fog.

"Did you see everything that just happened?" Wu Pifu asked.

Chirp, Daphne barked, and Beelzebub said, "I saw it, it's an echo of a soul..."

"...Yes, echoes of the past."

Wu Pifu hummed in agreement, looking at the thick fog ahead, and continued to step forward without hesitation.

He... perhaps knows about the changes in this world, and the fate of the real individuals in the previous era.

(End of this chapter)