The afterlife blew up Gensokyo

"Do you know how many times I've died since I debuted? My reason tells me I should be numb to death, but my emotions always bring me some pain. A truly human person won't become a numb machine from repeated deaths and witnessing death; they will only fall into endless anger time and time again because of accumulated resentment. A cold-blooded killing machine and a crazy avenger seem similar, but they are actually completely different."

"I still don't understand."

After thinking for a moment, Yukari Yakumo shook her head.

"If you could understand this, you wouldn't have watched Saigyouji Yuyuko die in front of you."

Shi Bai turned his head and glanced at Yakumo Yukari.

"Let me give you a piece of advice, and I hope it will help you feel less lost in the future... that is, choose decisions that you won't regret when you look back."

Shi Bai's tone was very calm, but it faintly carried a sense of nostalgia and reminiscence for the past.

"I can't remember that hundreds of thousands of years have passed since that day, but I still remember that at some point, I made a decision that I will regret because of my cowardice. I thought time would erase that memory, but it is like a scar that runs through a stone, becoming clearer as the stone is worn smooth."

"Time can never be turned back, so don't let yourself have regrets."

"You also have things you regret?"

Yukari Yakumo paused for a moment.

"Of course you do. Who doesn't have regrets? Aren't you the same? You regretted it because Saigyouji Yuyuko committed suicide in front of you. Fortunately, you still have a chance to make amends, but most people don't even have that chance anymore."

Shi Bai lazily held the comic book upside down in his face and spoke.

"I've basically finished what I needed to do, and now it's your turn. By the way, you should be ready, right? To experience one new life after another in dreams—that's a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

"...Even memories aren't allowed to be preserved?"

Yukari Yakumo looked slightly hesitant.

"Life is but a dream. What do you want with the memories of the youkai sage, Yakumo Yukari? It's simple if you want to regain your memories; they will automatically come back when you die."

Shi Bai yawned and rolled over on the sofa.

"I've already chosen the right world. I'll just try my best to live as an ordinary person in the next few worlds. I won't take action anymore; at most, I'll just watch from the sidelines as an outsider."

"Wait, aren't you going to go out? I'm all alone!?"

"Who knows? Anyway, I don't plan to take action again, or rather, I have to keep my whereabouts a secret. The highest bounty has been put back in effect, and I don't want to deal with wave after wave of attackers."

"But since you're so strong, you don't need to be afraid of anything, do you?"

After hearing Shi Bai's words, Yakumo Yukari was quite puzzled.

"If you have the strength, why run?"

“I had no weaknesses before, so they couldn’t do anything to me, but now I have weaknesses.”

"weakness……"

As if she had thought of something, Yukari Yakumo suddenly fell silent.

"That's right, they've discovered my fatal weakness. Otherwise, why do you think I went to all that trouble to meet with those old friends?"

Shi Bai's voice sounded rather serious.

"They've already discovered that I'm a lolicon, and they're very likely to take action against me. I'm absolutely not going to be able to resist a loli's seduction tactics."

Yukari Yakumo: "?????????"

...............................................................

A dream of wealth and glory, a fleeting dream.

The technique developed by Matara Okina is essentially like this: the physical body sleeps while the consciousness travels through lifetimes, experiencing one life after another in dreams. The only difference is that these lives lived in dreams are real.

Reality, dreams—what evidence can prove that your reality isn't someone else's dream?

Although Shi Bai did not intend to get involved in Yakumo Yukari's trial journey, that did not prevent him from using the technique to experience life in other worlds.

As the saying goes, the mortal world tests one's heart. Yakumo Yukari needed this trial, and Shi Bai felt that he needed it too... although it didn't have any effect.

Having learned from his previous experience as Qin Hesheng, he knew that his memories could not be sealed away. For him, that situation was like playing a real simulation game.

However, there are advantages to doing this, namely, it can effectively prevent those annoying guys from finding him. After witnessing and experiencing so much, he now only wants to live a peaceful life. After all, a simple and peaceful life is the best.

After all, just like Lu Mingfei, who once wielded the Seven Deadly Sins and slaughtered everyone, he eventually settled for a simple life and opened a small internet cafe with Erii, becoming an internet cafe manager. To be honest, as his senior, Shi Bai was quite envious when he saw the daily life of the young couple.

Someone's current wish is actually quite simple: to start building a world from Gensokyo and make that world powerful.

In the end—Gensokyo was blown up.

P.S.: Good morning!

Chapter Sixteen: Hidden Secrets

After watching Yakumo Yukari fall into a deep sleep, Shi Bai thought for a moment and then got up and brought the ticket hall from the front of the train back to the front.

As one of the ten wonders in the void, the Cross-Boundary Train naturally deserves this title. The ticket halls of each carriage are separated by an invisible force, so Shi Bai is not afraid of exposing anything.

When he returned, he saw Wuxiu lying on a chair with a lifeless expression, staring blankly at the ceiling. He was not the usual Buddhist monk, but the true face of the sentient beings he had been cultivating—a rather handsome young man.

"You seem to be doing pretty well right now?"

Looking at the unedited room separated by a glass partition, Shi Bai raised an eyebrow.

"...I don't want to talk to a shameless, despicable, vulgar, shameless, and morally bankrupt guy."

Wu Xiu silently turned his head away.

"That's all I have for fun, and you still have the nerve to scam me like that? Doesn't your conscience hurt? What a load of clickbait..."

"But you can't deny that the descriptions on those discs are true, can you? It's just the charm of language."

Leaning against the glass window, Shi Bai took out a bottle of wine and threw it in.

"Don't look like a dead man, I'll buy you a drink."

"What are you trying to do now!?"

He reached out and took the bottle of wine, looking on with suspicion.

"Let me make this clear beforehand: you've been here before, so you know that ticket sellers are just tools, and I can't give you much of a discount."

Do you want to come out from inside?

Without answering Wu Xiu's question, Shi Bai took out another bottle of wine and started drinking it by himself.

"If you want to come out, I can let you out."

"Hmph, you'd be so kind?"

With a cold snort, Wu Xiu also tilted his head back and took a big gulp of wine.

"Forget it, even if I could get out, I wouldn't want to. Is there any safer place in the void than here? I don't have your ability to survive no matter how reckless you are."

"Oh, are you sure you don't want to come out?"

Upon hearing this, Shi Bai couldn't help but appear somewhat surprised.

"Do you really think I'm a fool? If I go out, I'm definitely going to die. I have just as many enemies as you do."

Leaning back in his chair with his legs propped up on the counter, holding the bottle of wine in one hand, Wu Xiu wore a cold smile.

Instead of worrying about me, you should worry more about your own affairs. You used to have no weaknesses, but now you have weaknesses again. Do you know what that means?

"I used to think we were still friends."

Shi Bai sighed.

"But how many of your friends actually survived?"

"I think there are quite a lot."

After a moment of contemplation, Shi Bai nodded with a look of deep agreement.

"There are quite a few, because they all want to kill you now, including those disciples you personally trained. I heard that your disciples even formed an alliance specifically to plot against you?"

He rolled his eyes, looking utterly disdainful.

"I just don't understand how someone as crazy and reckless as you has managed to survive this long. Although your crazy drive seems to have disappeared now, your reckless drive hasn't changed at all."

“A scholar should be viewed with new eyes after three days of separation. I am no longer the ignorant fool I once was. Benefactor, you are too attached to appearances.”

Without anyone noticing, Shi Bai slowly poured himself a glass of wine from a bright green glass.

"Since you don't want to come out, then forget it. It's quite comfortable in there anyway... Do you know any leads about Rick? I need to talk to him about something."

"That mad scientist? Heaven knows where he's off on his adventures with his grandson right now. That guy is different from you; he just wants a peaceful life of adventure with his family. If he wants to hide, no one can find him. You should just give up."

Wu Xiu took a sip of wine, tilted his head back, and pursed his lips.

"Or have you finally changed your ways? I don't think you're the kind of person who would tolerate having your weaknesses."

Do you know what information I obtained inside the [door]?

After a moment of contemplation, Shi Bai took the initiative to speak.

"The ten [wonderful objects] currently in the void, such as the [interdimensional train] that can travel to any world, and the [desert oasis] that isolates any supernatural power and does not allow any disputes or killings to exist... were all created by those [creators] who once lived inside the gate."

"........."

He straightened up slightly and squinted at the man leaning against the glass window in front of him.

"Even so, so what? Everything behind the [Gate] has long been completely destroyed. All that remains is the endless, dangerous void turbulence. The [Creators] have long since disappeared. What you're saying is meaningless."

"Does it have no meaning at all?"

Shi Bai's face remained noncommittal.

"Actually, it's not accurate to call the beings residing behind the [Gate] the [Creators], but rather the [Guardians]. They reside within the [Gate], protecting countless parallel worlds... You should understand the theory of parallel worlds, right?"

"...corresponding to our void world, there exist an infinite number of parallel void worlds."

Wu Xiu frowned slightly.

"What are you trying to say? That there's another version of you in other parallel worlds? Have you gone so far as to even target other versions of yourself in other parallel worlds?"

"...The [Gate] is the central passage connecting countless parallel worlds, and it also maintains the stability of everything. If there's a problem with the [Gate] here, it doesn't mean there's a problem with the guardian behind the [Gate], understand?"

Shi Bai glanced at Wu Xiu with a twitching mouth.

"Just like the world Rick lives in, the destruction of one parallel universe will not have any impact on other parallel universes. That's why Rick, that madman, was able to destroy one universe after another without any scruples when he was young. The teleportation gun is his greatest invention."

"Hmm... I think I understand now. You want to see if you can use Rick's teleportation gun to reach other parallel worlds where the [Gates] haven't been destroyed yet, find the [Creators] behind the [Gates], and get those [Guardians] to help you?"

With his arms crossed, Wu Xiu looked thoughtful.

"That's strange. You don't seem like the type to pay attention to these things. Why did this thought suddenly come to mind? I remember you're the type who would always stand up for yourself when things go wrong."

“I made a point of visiting my worthless apprentices before.”

Shi Bai held up a finger in front of him, his face serious.

"The apocalypse is getting more and more rampant, and they're about to collapse. Although I'm very disappointed in these unworthy disciples, as their master, I should at least try to help in some way, right? Even if Rick's teleportation gun might not be useful, it's still an idea, isn't it?"

"...I really think you've taken the wrong medicine."

"But I feel so cute right now, running around for my apprentice's sake!!!"

"...Fine, I'll keep an eye out for any clues about Rick, but do you really think the 'Gate' in our world was destroyed by the apocalypse?"

Wu Xiu reached up and pressed his forehead, suddenly feeling a headache.

"Who knows? Anyway, when I debuted, the [Door] had already been destroyed. I only heard some rumors about the [Door] from others. It wasn't until I entered the [Door] last time that I managed to find out some useful information... Don't you think the timing of the apocalypse is quite coincidental?"

Glancing at the empty beer bottle in the other person's hand, Shi Bai casually tossed a few more cases of beer into it.

"The danger of the apocalypse is obvious to all. It is a terrifying and incomprehensible existence. It is more like a concept that should not exist, capable of forcibly reversing and rewriting the laws of nature. Although I was once a part of the apocalypse, you know my situation at that time. I was unable to obtain much useful information... But I don't think it's that."

"Oh?"

Wu Xiu raised his head.

"It's a very simple line of reasoning. If the apocalypse can destroy the [Gate], then there's no reason why they can't even destroy a [Wonder] like the [Interdimensional Train]. You see, the [Gate] is the greatest [Wonder] in the Void."

Shi Bai shrugged, completely unconcerned.

"So what destroyed the [Gate] was definitely not the apocalypse, but a power even more advanced than the apocalypse. As a bonus, here's some information I got from my disciples. Over the years, the number of high-level apocalypses we've never seen before has been increasing, and it's very likely that an ultimate apocalypse will be born in the future. At that time, the [Interdimensional Train] might not be able to withstand the onslaught of that kind of apocalypse... Are you sure you don't want to leave?"

"But at least for now, this is the safest place."

Wu Xiu remained unmoved.