Simulating the primordial era? That's way too extreme.

Chapter 377 Materialism, the End of Dharma

West Continent.

A man and a monkey sat facing each other.

The aged Lin Liu sat in a wheelchair. Although his current physical limitations made his hands and feet less agile, he still easily picked up a wine glass and sipped it slowly, because an invisible divine hand could do everything for him.

A sip of wine, a bite of food—he was completely satisfied…

He ate happily, but the monkey opposite him looked distressed and asked again:

"My benefactor, are you really not planning to go to the prehistoric world?"

Lin Liu saw through its thoughts, put down his wine cup, and smiled:

"I'm not going."

"But... if you don't go to the Primordial World, how will you clear the level?"

The monkey scratched its ears and cheeks:

"You are the only anchor point. Without you, the primordial world would be doomed. This would be bad for all living beings in the primordial world, and also bad for that person from beyond the realm..."

Lin Liu shook his head:

"In essence, I have no reason to save the primordial world. After all, I am just a person in the dream of a sage, and the primordial world has no meaning to me."

"Besides, I have tried my best to save the primordial world, so much so that I have devoted countless efforts in three lifetimes... I have done everything I can for this world that has nothing to do with me. I give up now because I really can't save it."

"If that's the case, why should I stubbornly stick to a task that's absolutely impossible?"

At this point, Lin Liu picked up his wine glass and took another sip, saying cheerfully:

"Things that weren't my responsibility to begin with, are finally no longer my concern..."

His words clearly indicated his abandonment of the mission, yet there was not a trace of the dejection of a loser in his mind and body; there was only the relief of unloading an unnecessary burden.

The monkey hesitated, but ultimately had to admit it:

The benefactor has absolutely no reason to feel dejected about such a thing, because he is the protagonist of the world, the world exists because of him, saving the world is a favor, not saving it is his duty, and no one can use this to morally blackmail him...

"But even if you don't care about the survival of the primordial world, you can't be indifferent to your own life and death, can you?"

The monkey said pessimistically:

"When the world is completely materialized, immortality will no longer be allowed. You will die of old age, and the world you have painstakingly preserved will perish because it has no anchor point..."

No, it won't.

Lin Liu calmly explained the basic rules of the game to it, leaving the monkey completely bewildered...

"...So as long as I die completely, this world can reach its conclusion and be preserved."

After hearing the explanation, the monkey was bewildered for a long time before finally understanding, albeit with a vague sense of comprehension.

"I see... "

Lin Liu smiled and patted its head with an invisible hand:

"That's why I insist on going down this dead end... It's like a minimum guarantee. Even if I can't achieve a truly perfect ending, as long as I achieve a relatively acceptable ending, even if I die afterward, I can still preserve this dream world that I've created and modified."

"So rest assured, my death will only be a good thing for heaven and earth..."

Sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, Lin Liu argued for the benefits of his death.

These words were, of course, meant to comfort the monkey and prevent it from being saddened by his death.

But as the monkey listened, it inexplicably grasped a crucial point that Lin Liu had never considered:

"My benefactor, isn't this a bit odd? You are the only anchor point, and that fact will never change. But why is it that even after you, the anchor point, die, it doesn't affect the survival of heaven and earth after you achieve the ending?"

"What... is the principle behind this? The world needs anchor points, right?"

Ok?

The monkey's question immediately stunned Lin Liu:

Yes, why is that?

This question, which he had never considered before, suddenly stumped him. His intuition told him that there seemed to be some crucial information hidden within it...

……

Monkey, you've hit the blind spot!

While Lin Liu was confused by this, Zhao Si, who had been paying close attention to the plot, also felt a moment of hesitation:

"...If the anchor point is indispensable, the sole reason for the existence of the game world, then how do those worlds where even the protagonist's anchor point is dead continue to exist?"

Or rather, what exactly is the principle behind the so-called "achieving an ending"?

Zhao Si had never thought about this question before, because the system said "the ending has been achieved", so the ending was achieved. This process seemed to require no reason or explanation, and was completely a matter of course.

But as the plot unfolds step by step, the concept of "anchor point" gradually becomes clearer:

Because Jin Bing was the anchor point, he ultimately created an eternally prosperous and indestructible primordial world.

Because Bird Number Three is the anchor point, it ultimately ensures that the primordial world can remain eternally intact.

Because Xue Xuan was the anchor point, he ultimately anchored himself to the "Eternal Primordial Chaos" created by the saints, preventing it from falling into the "quantum superposition state".

Take them as an example. It is precisely because they are the anchor points of the protagonists that the world they live in can exist. The role of the anchor points is to anchor the world.

Therefore, when they die in a non-ending state, the world, having lost its protagonist's anchor, will perish...

It is clear from this that the core of these three chapters lies in the setting of "anchor point".

The problem is that, so far, the system has actually preserved many worlds without a protagonist anchor point!

"Jin Bing I and II, Jiao Ming I, II and III, Xue Xuan I and II, Lin Liu I and II... These worlds have no protagonists, yet they are still stable ending worlds."

What is the underlying principle that allows these "ending worlds" to continue existing without an anchor point?

It can't just be a departure from the established storyline...

"The anchor point theory proves that the existence of a world requires an anchor point. If worlds without protagonists can continue to exist, then there is only one possibility..."

Zhao Si seemed to be deep in thought:

"That means, besides the main character, there are other anchor points in the ending world..."

Zhao Si held onto this important discovery tightly:

"System, what is the anchor point of the final world?"

The system remained silent for a long time...

It wasn't until Zhao Si became increasingly suspicious that it answered:

[What kind of world do players think would be without a protagonist?]

Zhao Si was taken aback:

"You're asking me?"

Although caught off guard by the question, Zhao Si thought about it carefully for a while before shaking her head:

"have no idea……"

I'm just a gamer, what kind of advice could you possibly get from me?!

[To rephrase the question, which world have players seen that doesn't have a protagonist?]

Zhao Sile:

"What world could I, a typical shut-in, possibly have ever seen? Aside from the worlds in games, I've never actually seen any of them..."

and many more!

Zhao Si suddenly paused, scratching his head:

"The world I've seen... isn't that the real world? And in the real, materialistic world, there really isn't the concept of a protagonist..."

Yes, there is no protagonist in reality, because reality is materialistic, and in a materialistic world, there is no "protagonist" based on idealistic concepts.

Therefore, the real world does not perish because of the death of any one person, nor does it exist because of the birth of any one person.

The course of Heaven is constant; it does not exist for Yao, nor does it perish for Jie! The life of an individual is irrelevant to the survival of the world, because the will of the individual is not the origin of the world; the origin of the world is the world itself!

This is materialism.

……

Zhao Si suddenly realized:

"So you're saying that those ending worlds are able to continue existing without a protagonist because they've become materialistic worlds?"

【…】

[Do you think a primordial world where gods and immortals roam freely could be a material world?]

Zhao Si paused for a moment:

"It shouldn't be..."

That's definitely not it!

Just as the Bodhi Patriarch couldn't make a monkey's illusion become reality, this system can't turn a world of idealism into a world of materialism. At best, it can only simulate it, making it appear as a material world in some aspects...

Zhao Si frowned:

"How do you simulate it?"

[In a game world driven by idealism, the existence of a protagonist is inevitable... So, who do you think the protagonist would be to make the game world seem like the real world, without a protagonist at all?]

Upon hearing this, Zhao Si seemed to have grasped something again, her eyes showing a mixture of understanding and confusion:

"It seems like I'm starting to guess... Can you just tell me the answer?"

[Sorry, this system has no comment on this. If you are still confused, just keep reading...]

Is this... to avoid spoilers?

Zhao Sixin understood something, so he stopped arguing with the system and continued to watch Lin Liu's plot developments carefully.

His intuition told him that Lin Liu's seemingly suicidal choice might actually be the path to a perfect victory...

……

The monkey's words suddenly made you think seriously.

Why does the world continue to exist even after the protagonist dies?

This question, which you considered "as it should be" and thus never thought about carefully, suddenly caught your eye and drew your attention.

[But in the end, you only thought about it and didn't delve any deeper into the issue. Firstly, you didn't have enough information to understand it, and secondly, whatever the answer to the question was, it was irrelevant to you.]

Because all you need to know is that sacrificing yourself can save others, and that's enough; you don't need to worry about the underlying principles...

【…】

In the days to come, you continue to quietly observe the hard work and struggles of ordinary people.

[In the 135th year of the New Heavenly Court, the world's first truly significant electric light was born and quickly went into production, eventually reaching countless households in large quantities.]

The light from the electric lamp, like the sun's rays piercing the darkness, officially proclaims to the world: the night now belongs to humankind!

[In the 140th year of the new Heavenly Court, wired telegraphs officially went into production, marking the beginning of a new era for the transmission of information among mortals!]

【…】

[In the 150th year of the New Heavenly Court, after various new-era inventions were put into production, the electric industry officially replaced the original steam industry. Many factories switched from steam engines to electric motors, thus greatly increasing productivity!]

Aside from factories, people's lives have also become much more convenient due to the large-scale use of electricity.

Electric lights, telegrams, electric fans, electric blankets...

These things may not be very technologically advanced, but they will significantly improve the lives of ordinary people!

The entire world is entering a new era with the widespread application of electricity, an era unlike any before...

What may displease you is that these achievements are still largely based on burning charcoal... Although they have started using electricity, there are no readily available natural resources for electricity, so they need to use other energy sources to generate it.

[For example, we use thermal power to generate electricity, hydropower to generate electricity, and wind power to generate electricity... but we don't use solar power to generate electricity!]

Because solar energy is difficult to utilize for power generation, and its utilization rate is very low, it's simply not cost-effective.

This frustrates you because you finally managed to materialize the sun, thinking everyone would be able to use it soon, but it turns out no one can use it at all...

But you weren't too angry, after all, it was a technical challenge, and you couldn't force them to achieve supermodel-level results.

The only solution now is to trust in the wisdom of future generations!

However, you don't know how long it will take to achieve all this, because you can clearly sense that the world is gradually becoming unrecognizable, something you dare not even imagine...

Soil, water, air, plants, animals, the sun, moon, and stars... Although they appear to be the same as before, under the careful perception of divine power, you clearly discover that they are definitely not the things you are familiar with!

The monkey is right. Materialization means that the difference between the dream world and the primordial world will become increasingly greater, until they are completely different... At that time, all traces of the primordial world in this world will be completely erased, to the point that the two are completely unrelated...

And the more this is the case, the more you feel it: this materialistic world is gradually rejecting everything non-material.

Among these rejected entities are gods and cultivators; many of your subordinate deities have already reported this trend to you!

Of course you know this, because you're also part of the exclusion effort...

At the same time, an era of decline is gradually approaching!

The disaster you caused has arrived...

……

(End of this chapter)