Mystery: When the Fool Meets the Masked Fool

Chapter 591 Crossing the Fourth Wall
“Don’t be silly,” Serres seemed to see through Klein’s thoughts, “the divine instincts of your world are aggregates centered on ‘I’.”

"If I truly generate a large amount of divinity, then I will begin to devour this world."

Serres thought for a moment: "Hmm... it's more likely that they'll turn the world into a game? Or collect surprise boxes?"

"In short, this is not the outcome you want to see."

"I see." Klein seemed a little disappointed. "How about becoming a personality OO?"

"Holy crap, you watch this kind of hardcore stuff?!" Serres exclaimed in shock.

“I’ve only heard of it. It would be strange if I hadn’t heard of something so famous!” Klein immediately retorted.

He used to be a keyboard warrior who surfed the internet intensely.

He's a max-level user.

It is a "mythical creature" that can spread pollution online even in the old days.

Klein suddenly realized his mistake: "And you, who likes tentacle monsters, have no right to talk about me like that, do you?"

"What's going on? Tentacles are obviously cute, okay?" Serris didn't even try to hide her fetish.

Klein silently retracted the tentacles that came with his mythical creature form.

"Don't worry, I prefer to be passive. I won't sneak around playing with your tentacles in the middle of the night," Serres waved his hand.

Klein hesitated to speak.

"Never mind." Klein glanced at the Mother Goddess again, then looked down at the translucent planet beneath his feet.

"So, why did you keep me trapped in this dream for so long?" Klein changed the subject, asking the question he most wanted to ask.

“I didn’t trap you,” Serres emphasized. “I gave you the key to leave the moment you first entered the simulated universe.”

“That makes sense.” Klein nodded. “So, what’s the reason? Is it a tribute to Inception?”

“I think so too,” Serres said, arms crossed. “However, it’s more of a ‘simulation,’ an experiment to acquire ‘data.’”

“I knew it.” Klein said knowingly. “That’s why the ancient sun god and Sunday would follow you to experiment on Earth. They shouldn’t be like that.”

“Haha.” Serres laughed. “No, you’re wrong. Of course they are that kind of people.”

"Moreover, one of them was hoping for the experiment to succeed, while the other was hoping for its failure."

"If successful, it will bring the world a breakthrough, transcendence, and unprecedented possibilities."

"But if we fail, it will be an eternal and blissful dream. Earth will become the happiest place in the entire universe, the second 'dreamland' that everyone pursues."

Serres turned around, his back to Klein, and took a step forward.

One image after another appeared as bubbles around Serres and before Klein's eyes.

Some of those are Klein's dark history, some are other people's, and some are things that Klein or others have experienced.

There's Klein's first tarot reading, Audrey being given a potion by Susie first, and Klein erasing his own ear while Alger is singing with a megaphone...

Some of them followed the original history, while others were altered due to Cyrus's intervention.

As more and more of his embarrassing past was revealed in front of him, Klein quickly raised his hand to stop it.

"Okay, okay, stop showing my embarrassing past."

Serres turned around, opened his arms, and countless bubbles containing various images floated around him.

"Klein, do you feel free?" Serris asked softly.

Klein thought for a moment, then shook his head: "No, I'm always being swept along by fate, and by other people's arrangements... like you."

“Of course.” Serres smiled and nodded. “You always seem to move forward under the dictates of fate and the opinions of others.”

"And now, you are powerful enough to become the true 'Lord of Mysteries,' the 'pillar' of this world."

Do you consider yourself free?

Klein shook his head again: "I still have responsibilities, and... a threat from the Celestial Venerable."

"What if the Celestial Venerable's consciousness completely departs and can no longer influence you?"

Klein thought for a while and nodded: "Then I should be completely free." "No, not at all," Serres denied.

He took out a die and tossed it upwards.

This die has 18 sides, each with a clown depicted on it, and each side has a different expression.

"Do you know Schrödinger's cat, Klein?" Serres asked softly.

Before Klein could answer, Serres continued, "That cat that was both dead and alive, although it wasn't free, at least before it was observed, its state was uncertain and beyond anyone's control."

"But when it is seen, all its possibilities are fixed at that moment, and its possibilities change from [infinity] to [one]."

"We are the same; whether we cry or laugh, whether we feel joy, anger, sorrow, or fear, our emotions are all fixed."

"Everything you do is something someone wants you to do, and everything you think is something someone wants you to think."

"Is it about the fact that our world is just a novel?" Klein countered.

“Yes.” Serres nodded.

"What? You want the novel to become reality?" Klein asked with a smile. "But even if the author really wrote it that way, the characters in the book can't come to life, can they?"

“Unless he’s Ma Liang with his magic paintbrush,” Klein added. “But this isn’t a comic book; even Ma Liang might not be able to work it.”

Serres shook his head: "The point is not whether it comes true, but whether it is observed, and whether it extends into infinite possibilities that no one can know at the end of the story."

"An open ending?" Klein asked.

“Yes, an open ending,” Serres replied.

“No one will care about a boring story,” Serres explained. “Therefore, if all the tragedies are erased and all the twists and turns are smoothed out…”

"A story without any ups and downs is just boring."

"If all the stories have a happy ending, what's the point of such stories?"

"The interest of a story comes from its twists and turns; a story without any ups and downs will lose its appeal."

“So you helped me create the [Anti-Despair Equation],” Klein whispered, giving his answer.

“Yes.” Serres nodded. “This is a safety net. If the experiment fails, then the [Anti-Despair Equation] will cover the entire universe.”

"I will deny the story's appeal and completely 'kill' the work."

“Then the story ended badly, and he was abandoned by everyone.” Klein understood Serris’s thoughts.

Serres nodded: "But for the people in the book, they found happiness."

"And what if your experiment succeeds?" Klein pressed.

“If you succeed…” Serres’s smile widened even more. “You see, you’ve broken free from the limitations of the dream, escaped my control, and broken free from the story I wrote.”

"You want to simulate the author, and then do something with this 'data'?" Klein raised an eyebrow. "You want to find a way for the characters in the story to break free from their constraints?"

“I don’t have that kind of ability,” Serres shook his head. “But I can let the author know that ‘readers like to read stories like this, readers like to see characters in the book break free from their limitations.’”

"Just as my determination is merely a setting set by the author, your departure is also achieved with my help."

"Therefore, an analogy can be made."

"Although we are ultimately dancing under the author's pen, the work is still affected by the market."

"An author will write as long as readers enjoy reading it."

"That's it."

"Obviously, I succeeded."

"Whether my actions were intentional or part of the author's plan, this story will end in an open-ended manner."

"All possibilities will transform from 'one' to 'infinity'."

"Thus, true freedom has arrived."

(End of this chapter)