Chapter 456: Chapter 456: The End of the World

The situation of the World Fragment was more complex than we had imagined.

The probe released earlier had already reached the edge of this fractured world, and this morning, Shadow City sent back the processed detection data, just as initially predicted. The volume of the World Fragment was limited to this unnamed city and a relatively small area outside the city. Within the city limits, the fragment largely remained stable, but in the border areas, near the world’s end, there was always severe fluctuation. There, the level of information chaos increased by nearly twenty times for every meter extended outward, and the entropy value surged to the limit required to maintain world stability within less than half a kilometer, where matter and energy beyond that cloudy boundary immediately lost stability, turning into a dense soup in a pot of heat death. According to the fuzzy description provided by the probe, this World Fragment appeared like a mass whose density dramatically decreased from inside to outside–its urban interior being a stable solid, the suburban areas outside were a turbulent yet still tangible liquid, and further out, the border areas were chaotic gas clusters… and beyond that was the end.

This bizarre phenomenon ignited intense research interest in Taville, yet completely invalidated a relatively simple world model previously conjectured by us (well, actually by Big Sister and Sandora).

In our original conception, the World Fragment was supposed to be an information assembly endowed with a self-explanatory capability, encapsulated by a shell similar to a World Barrier. This model was named a “self-enclosed” world, wherein its information was bound due to the collision of two worlds resulting in some leakage, thus affecting our real world. In such a case, merely triggering a slight Void Shock in the Void Plane could have separated the two worlds, thereby interrupting the Law pollution. But now, what was initially conceived as a closed world had become open, and the pollution of Law changed from an injection mode to a diffusing mode…

Confused? Okay, let’s put it simpler. What’s more difficult–pulling a needle out of your arm or having that needle break into iron filings mixed into the flesh, then having to pick out each grain?

Sandora used that example to make me understand what she meant by “diffusing Law pollution.”

The worst-case scenario at the moment was that the two worlds hadn’t actually collided materially; they were still each drifting in two infinitely close yet infinitely distant points within the Endless Void. Meanwhile, the World Fragment, now losing the bindings of the World Barrier, was evaporating. The data it emitted evaporated in the form of super-macro waves (a fortified version of the world information projection–compared to the latter, the super-macro waves were like a proud fiber-optic cable standing before dial-up connections), irradiating any world in the void with similar information characteristics, including–the Earth Plane.

Since there’s no concept of distance in the void, all “proximity” and “distancing” are based on the degree of similarity of the World Laws. This radiation has inevitably contaminated every plane similar to Earth in the Endless Void, even if the “distance” between them was vast enough to exhaust both Asida and Asidora to the point of vomiting blood.

This dreadful guess was soon confirmed. The Imperial Task Force stationed in the Magic Prohibition World sent back reports of anomalous events occurring worldwide, originally thought to be activities caused by mages or superpower users. However, once we envisioned the scenario of “widespread pollution” to Shadow Base, Sandora commanded those task forces to reanalyze every anomaly in the Magic Prohibition World. It was proven that aside from 10% of events related to mages or superpower users, nearly 90% of the anomalous events could likely be attributed to contamination from the World Fragment.

Tsuruya and Lola also reported anomalies happening within Academy City and the British Puritan Forces that morning. These large-scale and worrying anomalies, as well as their eerie characteristics undetectable by ordinary people, made the two girls (uh… let’s just say Lola is forever seventeen) quite uneasy. Moreover, given the unique power structure of the Magic Prohibition World, the widespread anomalous phenomena could at any moment reignite conflicts between mages and superpower users, relations only having recently eased. Currently, Lola and Aresta Skeleton Walker, now our servant, have been ordered to pacify the warriors under their respective forces. Tsuruya was also helping; due to her exposed identity as an “Alien Envoy” during the Star Attack, she presently holds considerable influence in Academy City, even implicitly surpassing a group of LEVEL5s. As a gathering place for a large number of superpower users, rumors of world anomalies had already been circulating in Academy City. And Zuotian Tsuruya, being a student herself, stepping up to reassure the public was obviously much more effective than Aresta–honestly, I hadn’t expected that energetic girl, who always went to watch mermaids in Shadow City, could play such a significant role.

Aside from the considerable trouble of potentially multiple worlds being threatened, another matter was equally concerning and filled with an even greater sense of urgency:

The World Fragment where Artemis and her companions lived was evaporating.

We didn’t know how the World Fragment had remained stable before, but its current evaporation was definitely not normal. Following this trend, it probably wouldn’t be long before the entire World Fragment completely perished. In fact, based on probe detection, the volume of this world had already shrunk by approximately 1% since our arrival, and this rate of reduction was still accelerating.

In fifteen days, the volume of the World Fragment would be reduced to just one block. If its evaporation remained constant, this block would be exactly where we were currently located. This meant that, even under the most optimistic estimate, Artemis and her companions had only fifteen days left.

Setting aside the clueless task of world separation, the second plan we had just placed on our agenda encountered unprecedented resistance before it even began: how to rescue Artemis and her friends?

Regarding the basic mechanism of the birth of World Fragments, Taville had recently deduced the most likely model– the Main Material Plane had undergone an intense attack capable of destroying laws in an extremely short time, causing all existing matter to dissociate into free-floating information. However, for unknown reasons, this information didn’t dissipate, thus forming World Fragments.

In other words, the current state of Artemis and his group could be likened to a radio signal that was transmitted via an antenna (though this analogy may not be entirely apt). And then, if the antenna capable of continuously boosting and transmitting the signal were suddenly destroyed, leaving only the original radio waves to wander through space. Even though the radio waves hadn’t dissipated, they inevitably began to decay during transmission.

The only difference from radio waves is that the ghosts in the World Fragments can’t use wireless network cards to receive and save to a hard drive…

Regarding the samples we collected from the World Fragments (which are the ghostlike “citizens” without consciousness), Bubbles and Taville both expressed their helplessness. These ethereal gatherings of information were essentially dead, not even qualifying as existing beings but merely as memories, and there was no way to physically preserve a memory that was about to disappear– maybe we should send a task force to bring back Emiya Shirou for a try?

Uh, I admit I’ve digressed again.

In any case, preserving information ghosts like Artemis’s in conventional manners is impossible, just like if you say “tomato noodles,” that spoken sentence cannot actually transform into a bowl of noodles with a pair of chopsticks landing on the table midway through transmission (note: this magical analogy was provided by Sandora).

And the fact that those ghost samples we collected dissipated within seconds of entering the Main Material Plane also indirectly proves the unreliability of simply bringing Artemis to live in the Shadow Space. Expecting a fragile, unsupported radio wave to live forever in a strong magnetic field is an impossibility; I lost a USB drive to this exact scenario once… and I’m off-topic again.

In short, it’s an enormous challenge, being a savior really isn’t a job for humans!

“You stopped being human a long time ago!”

Sitting next to me, Lilina, even though drowsy, couldn’t resist turning her head to snark at me, only to suffer from a karate chop that elicited a cry of pain.

“Uh… You don’t love lolis. A loli fan who only pats and doesn’t feed isn’t a good loli fan!”

Just regard Dingdang’s face and preserve some clerical integrity for me! My lord Dingdang is fooling the whole world, damn it!

“Uh uh… my head hurts… Daddy boss, Lilina wants a hug…” Barely a minute of being sober, Lilina started to murmur again while groping her way towards me.

“Hey! I’m driving here!” While strenuously fending off the aimless limbs of a pseudo-loli dazed from a hangover, I fought to keep control of the steering wheel, “There’s something ahead…”

“Boom!”

“Splash…”

Shielded by the Ghost Energy Shield, the seven hundred billion forcefully smashed through the unlucky store blocking the road, continuing ahead without decreasing speed, while the store we left behind, now with a massive hole, began to slowly restore itself.

Well, now there’s nothing ahead.

“Heheha… Seven hundred billion is mighty…”

My head aches, how did I end up dealing with such a troublesome character as Lilina? Who knows why this girl’s alcohol tolerance is so weird. She was fine after drinking last night, but the next morning she went nuts?

In comparison, Big Sister, who only got a taste of beer because of Lin Xue and is still sleeping inside the house, is much more adorable, even though it’s regrettable that a drunk Big Sister got tricked by Lin Xue into revealing countless embarrassing stories about my childhood–I am two hundred percent sure Lin Girl planned that all along! Not everyone knows about Big Sister’s miraculous tolerance.

While driving the seven hundred billion in the preset direction, I also had to be on guard against the drunken Lolita’s surprising acts next to me. Despite the smooth road and sparse traffic, I literally had to fight a Hollywood-style car battle with Lilina at the driver’s seat!

I really should have watched this girl closely last night. Being a Lolita, she should be more aware of herself, having such low alcohol tolerance, yet she joined those Awakeners in a drinking spree. If it weren’t for Ling Yin coming over to report hastily, this kid might have ended up causing herself a bleeding stomach. Even now, thinking back to Lilina raising her glass high above the bonfire-lit table, drinking it all, and then dramatically collapsing, I still feel a pang of pain in my liver.

“Hmm… Boss, I’m an adult, so of course I can drink… uh, don’t hit my head, you should love Lolitas…”

Forget it, let this shameless idiot get drunk to the ends of the Earth!

Even just for the enjoyment of a nice drive, without activating bugs like spatial jumps, under the impressive speed and maneuverability of the seven hundred billion, after leaving the busy city area, it still took us less than half an hour to approach the suburbs. This was even with me obeying all traffic rules the entire way. If it were Pandora driving, she’d probably floor the gas pedal in one direction, taking the shortest straight line to our destination. As the buildings around us gradually thinned and more fields typical of suburb areas appeared, I reached over and tapped a now again sleeping Lilina on the shoulder, “Girl, wake up, we’ve arrived!”

“Uh… Daddy boss, hug…”

The personality change of this girl in her dazed state is really speechless, although a mischievously charming Priestess is quite lovable, doesn’t natural disaster Lilina have at least a pause button?

With a face full of exasperation, I ignored how Lilina, moving like a giant insect, protested and straight out of the car, then pulled the groggy Lady Priestess from the other side of the car, swinging the certain Loli around in the chilly morning wind of the suburbs.

“Wah! Boss, boss! I was wrong! Stop swinging! I’ll definitely fly out… Ah!”

Ah, she really flew out!

Lilina, flung out in a parabolic arc, finally hadn’t forgotten her old skills and with a flick of her little hand summoned a huge lotus flower above her head–huh, above?

I was speechless watching Lilina crash to the ground with a series of exclamations, followed by a double hit from the huge lotus flower she had originally summoned as a cushion, which due to a miscalculation turned into a millstone that fell with her. I was almost completely hopeless about the entire Life Divine System, really, was this girl here today just to be adorable?

Dumbly climbing atop the floating lotus, Lilina scratched her head awkwardly, “Hehe, that was an accident.”

“You’re sober now?” I asked in surprise, looking at Lilina’s now sharp and clear big eyes. She had just been dizzy from a hangover, how did she recover so fully all of a sudden?

“I just remembered, Life Divine Power can cure hangovers.” Lilina continued to scratch her head.

“Screw you!” I slapped her on the head; if you knew how to sober up, why didn’t you think of it earlier? Do you know how much dignity you’ve managed to sell off along the way?

“This place really is desolate,” Lilina completely ignored my slap, looking around the suburban landscape, “Ah, boss, why did you hit me?”

Are you trying to mimic Silvia?

This was the very edge of the World Fragment, located in a hilly area on the western outskirts of the city. About a hundred meters ahead of us, there was a mysterious fog. Within it, one could faintly make out a highway extending from this side and twisting into a bizarre spiral going up into the sky, while many vague shadows lingered beside the road, too obscured by the fog to see clearly.

Right at the boundary where stable space and that white fog met, a truck parked there demonstrated the dangers of the world’s end even more palpably: the front half of the truck remained intact on the road surface, but the rear half was a pile of parts floating in mid-air, presenting a horrifying scene of disarray.

Without needing my prompting, Lilina had already begun her ritual. She deftly jumped to the ground and pulled out a handful of black and green spherical objects from her Personal Space. Tender green vines automatically grew out from the feet of the little girl and quickly spread outward, forming a Magic Array with a radius of more than ten meters in no time. This Divine Technique-based array, unlike ordinary magic arrays, slowly revealed mysterious Runes from its vine nodes, eventually forming a spherical rune structure. From what Jaina told me during our chats about magic knowledge, mastering a 3D structured array is extremely difficult, and just depicting a second layer of runes mid-air would be enough to earn high honors in Dalaran. Even Antonidas in his time hadn’t mastered a four-layer 3D Rune, but now, the array Lilina created, although only a little more than ten meters in radius, was complicated enough to make one dizzy–jeez, it would take a day to render with 3D modeling!

Shedding her usually quirky demeanor, the god-using Lilina now looked genuinely serious. The small girl hovered in mid-air, throwing several black spherical objects into key nodes on the inner wall of the spherical array, then snapped her fingers to finalize it, all while mindlessly popping green beans into her mouth and turning to boast to me, “Boss, all set… eh? Why isn’t it working?”

Me: “… You’re actually eating the Life Seeds, you idiot! Didn’t you notice that what’s floating in the array are chocolate beans?!”

“Ah… haha… my bad,” Lilina sweated profusely and scratched her head, then with a brusqueness that could terrify any professional mage, she pried the chocolate beans off the array and replaced them with seeds infused with Divine Power.

“Alright! This time it’s done!” Lilina clapped her hands cheerfully, “As soon as that layer of fog touches this array, the World Tree Temple will be able to immediately trace back the path of the vanishing information, and maybe we can use this method to find a way to stop the evaporation.”

“Yeah,” I nodded, but my gaze was on the white fog not far away, which had now moved a bit closer. The truck that had been half-swallowed earlier had now turned into floating parts, drifting slowly at the border of the fog, “I was thinking, should we go check it out?” (To be continued, if you want to know what happens next, please visit www.wuxiaworld.site, more chapters are available, support the author, support genuine reading!)