Chapter 23: Do Not Live in Solitude; Die Together with Dignity

It had been too long.

In his later years, Insect Thirteen had fallen into a state of listlessness, remaining dormant for far too long. He longed to pick up his long-discarded holy sword and divine staff once more, to charge onto the battlefield and slay the evil dragon. But in this world, there was nothing left worth conquering... until now.

Something unknown had appeared once again.

If all these conjectures were true, then they were living in a truly desperate world. Civilizations rose and fell, one after another. What appeared to be mass extinctions caused by environmental shifts were, in reality, the result of the world changing due to the fall of the gods who once wielded divine powers.

Over the following period, as the Angel race dedicated their entire nation’s efforts to studying the traces within the geological strata, they uncovered a terrifying truth.

"Your Majesty," they reported, "according to the geological data we have gathered, each mass extinction wiped out over eighty percent of all living creatures, with the most extreme instance claiming more than ninety-six percent of all species. These geological structures are, without a doubt, the historical stone tablets left by the past! They record a horrifying history!"

Such data was enough to chill them to the bone. Some Angel scholars were so terrified that they began to doubt the very meaning of existence. Yet, upon reflection, it made sense; the cataclysmic shifts in the environment brought about a total, devastating collapse.

In this desperate world, someone had to explore those mysterious shadows, to seek the truth and find a way to survive. Despite the utter hopelessness of the world's reality, a faint smile appeared on Insect Thirteen’s face. "Good. Very good. My old life can finally serve a meaningful purpose for the Butterfly race once more."

For years, he had been plagued by guilt, seeking redemption. The gradual decay of his body over these years had filled him with a profound sense of dread—not of death itself, but of dying ignobly in a sickbed. He was a beautiful king, and he wished to pursue the most beautiful of ends, much like the time he had broken his cocoon to become a butterfly.

He remembered what the little larvae had said back then: "We weave cocoons to become beautiful; someone must always pave the way for their kin so that beautiful life may emerge."

It was the same now. Furthermore, this was a gift to be presented to the God of Longevity and the God of Wisdom.

Leaning on his long sword, Insect Thirteen suddenly asked, "Do you think the other beings of the Butterfly race are aware of this?"

Multi-Hand Butterfly pondered for a moment. "I doubt it. They lack the manpower and resources to excavate the earth and study the strata. As primitive butterfly species, they lack the psychic power to dig through the sand and stone. For years, they have remained at the Cangwu Tree, focused on how to fuse the treasures of the gods to evolve into new deities—which is, indeed, the most important task."

"Then," Insect Thirteen continued, "should we reveal the truth of the eras we have discovered to the God of Longevity and the God of Wisdom?"

Insect Thirteen shook his head. "No. Keep it hidden for now."

Perhaps the others didn't know. Or perhaps... had the Prophet known all along? Many of the Butterfly race had long wondered how the Prophet acquired such advanced knowledge. Perhaps their God of Longevity was a refugee from a previous era—a deity of an ancient age.

Insect Thirteen was a man of meticulous thought, and for now, he could only bury everything deep within his heart. Regardless, the world was far too mysterious for their young civilization. To understand the order of all things, to comprehend the composition of the universe, and to let the flower of civilization bloom step by step—that was what they were meant to do.

...

In Rehe City, in front of a computer, Liu Jun continued browsing through the data.

This world was somewhat unfriendly to those with cerebral palsy. Because resources were shared, the smart terminal was rarely at his side. Thus, only those with his condition still used traditional phones and computers to go online. As for using a discarded first-generation smart terminal as a daily communication device? That would be far too extravagant; Liu Jun usually rented his out to save money. After all, the experts were never wrong: low-income families could increase their earnings by renting out their spare rooms, cars, or even their brain-link capacity.

"To think it has come to this."

Liu Jun was naturally aware of the dialogue between the emperor, Insect Thirteen, and his aide. The human brain possessed immense potential, and the processing power of a smart terminal was exaggerated to the point of absurdity—it could memorize tens of millions of words at the drop of a hat. In order to ensure realism, Liu Jun had previously downloaded various Jurassic data packets from the cloud, which naturally included geological data. In the current era, other normal cities even had living dinosaur zoos where one could see plesiosaurs and tyrannosaurs. The resurrection of ancient creatures was no longer a rare occurrence. It was only in Rehe City that such zoos didn't exist—after all, dinosaurs could not compete with humans and could not withstand the acid rain.

Liu Jun checked the records. There had indeed been several mass extinctions before the Jurassic period: the Ordovician-Silurian, the Late Devonian, and the Permian-Triassic extinctions.

The more Liu Jun read, the more his head spun. He couldn't help but mock himself: "So, every time I adjust the bacterial broth, the collapse of a civilization and the fall of a god change the environment of the world and lead to a mass extinction of species? This is no longer the civilization of last week, nor is it the Jurassic; this 'historical patina' on my bacterial broth has been polished all the way back to the dawn of creation and the primordial chaos."

It was like an old man at a roadside stall pulling you aside to say, "Brother, you have a keen eye! What I have here is the long-lost Imperial Jade Seal—just look at the patina..."

Would you believe it was real? Of course not.

But for the Angels within the world, perhaps there were no flaws. Perhaps there remained many obscure and unclear details, but why did Insect Thirteen believe so readily and decide to pave the way for his descendants with his own life?

Liu Jun could understand Insect Thirteen’s state of mind. This seemingly strong old man, an emperor in the twilight of his life, had long lost the will to live and needed an outlet. He needed an enemy. He needed a goal; he wanted to die on the battlefield. He wanted to return to the glorious days when he fought side-by-side with his comrades. And so, even if there were doubts, he was willing to believe.

As for Multi-Hand Butterfly, the researcher of the Angels, he had compiled so much information that he could not possibly be foolish. Perhaps he had discovered many unverified conjectures, but he no longer cared—there was no time left to verify them. He did not want to watch his old friend simply fade away.

"Is it a turning point, an opportunity, that the Angels are looking for?" Liu Jun sighed inwardly. "Fine. Whether you trace history back to the dawn of time or through countless extinction events, it is all just a dream in the end."

"Since you desire a grand, final curtain call, how could I be so stingy?"

Liu Jun sighed again. Ever since he had brought Multi-Hand Butterfly into reality, he had stopped considering the world inside as just a dream. Because when he injected matter into it, the fungal organisms inside would rapidly evolve into something truly alive... so what difference was there between that world and the real one? It was just that Liu Jun was poor and lacked the resources to fully materialize that world.

Reflecting on the beginning, he had only wanted to eat mushrooms and simulate a world sandbox for his "Mushroom" race. He had intended to be a villain like the Rehe Company. Now, even eating a mushroom required him to be cautious.

Liu Jun looked at the adorable little Angel civilization in the [Bacterial Broth] world, at the vast grasslands, and at the guilty old emperor in the sanctuary, caressing the murals to remember the past. He turned his head to look at the rain outside the window, reached out to taste a drop, and the familiar, bitter, metallic tang spread across his taste buds.

"If it is dignity you want, I shall give you dignity."

"If you wish to depart as the Butterfly race—breaking the cocoon, flying into the flames, and meeting a romantic and beautiful tragic fate—I shall grant you that, too."