Chapter 1593: The Highest Good is Like Water

Restarting the world requires an era archive.

And an era archive requires the constant stacking of the Red Star Will within each of the nine Sovereigns. Each time it is stacked, the power of the era archive becomes more immense...

But each stacking of the Red Star Will is not a pure addition; rather, the portion of Red Star Will belonging to Sovereign Ruoshui within the era archive absorbs and assimilates the Will of the others. Therefore, Sovereign Ruoshui must become the base for everything. Just like Sovereign Wuji intended to turn himself into a robot, what Wen Ruoshui has to do is turn himself into a tiny USB drive.

If Wen Ruoshui didn't have this personality—if he were a bit more selfish or a bit duller and unwilling to sacrifice—then no one could force him to go this far, let alone talk about restarting the world.

At this moment, Chen Ling looked into Wen Ruoshui's eyes and felt incredibly fortunate for humanity...

Fortunately, the person who obtained this power was Wen Ruoshui.

The highest good is like water,

Water benefits all things and does not contend.

"If we absolutely must increase the probability, it's not impossible," Wu Tongyuan, who had been deep in thought, said after some deliberation.

"I think my 'Spirit Void Number' could be integrated into the probability calculation formula, but my current strength is too weak... Perhaps I could find a way to create a 'random field' to influence the probability of a specific event by changing the trajectory of microscopic particles..."

"Hmm... but this seems to involve some mathematical models of quantum mechanics? I don't have the knowledge for that right now; I'll have to ask Dr. Wen for advice."

Wu Tongyuan seemed completely immersed in the world of mathematics. After muttering to himself for a long time, he finally looked up at Wen Ruoshui.

Wen Ruoshui smiled helplessly:

"Those things in quantum mechanics can't be explained in just a few words... Let's find a time to discuss it properly after we return."

"Alright." Wu Tongyuan sighed and looked at Chen Ling apologetically. "It's a pity... it seems I can't be of much help this time either."

Wu Tongyuan desperately wanted to use his power to help everyone return to Earth from the Gray Realm, but after racking his brain for so long, he could only come up with a vague direction, and it was impossible to implement in the short term... This made him feel quite useless.

"It's okay, there will be opportunities in the future." Chen Ling patted him on the shoulder.

The two Poison Sovereigns sped across the land of the Gray Realm.

I don't know how much time had passed, but a massive shadow in the distance, resembling a forest, gradually appeared in everyone's field of vision.

Chen Ling checked the time on his phone. After this long trek, 22 hours had passed since he entered this era archive, leaving him with less than two hours... Within these two hours, he had to rescue Chu Changqing and bring these people back to Earth.

But the Bitter Flesh Turbid Forest was, after all, a disaster territory guarded by a World-Ender. Using conventional means to rescue someone from inside would be as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Chen Ling closed his eyes, his consciousness leaving his body once again to search for that trace of Chu Changqing's thoughts.

The good news was that Chu Changqing's thoughts were still there, meaning he was still alive.

The bad news was that his thoughts were moving extremely slowly; from Chen Ling's perspective, they were nearly stagnant... Unless his mind had been severely damaged and he had become demented, this situation shouldn't occur.

"Chu Changqing..."

"Chu Changqing!!"

Chen Ling kept calling out to Chu Changqing's thoughts, but he couldn't get any response. Through the storm of thoughts, he could only vaguely see that Chu Changqing's body seemed to have been completely assimilated into a plant, unable to move at all.

Chu Changqing... turned into a plant?

At this moment, Chen Ling seemed to realize something, and a flash of understanding crossed his eyes.

In the real world, Chen Ling had seen Chu Changqing in the South Sea Realm. At that time, he had shown absolute hostility toward him and carried the distinct characteristics of the Mockery Disaster... Chen Ling had been puzzled about how Chu Changqing had come into contact with the Mockery Disaster.

But now, seeing Chu Changqing assimilated by the Turbid Disaster, Chen Ling suddenly understood. The channels opened by missiles carrying otherworldly wakes were completely random; even a difference of a second would lead to a completely different outcome. The Chu Changqing before him had been dragged into the territory of the Bitter Flesh Turbid Forest, while the Chu Changqing in the real world had likely been extremely unlucky and dragged into the Ghost Mockery Abyss...

Therefore, that South Sea Sovereign in the South Sea Realm had fused with a part of the Mockery Disaster;

And the Chu Changqing of this world had become a part of the Turbid Disaster.

Clearly, although both were forced to fuse with World-Ending Disasters, their treatment was vastly different. The Mockery Disaster was not like the Turbid Disaster; once it discovered Chu Changqing as a toy, heaven knows how it would torture and toy with him...

"Is that the Bitter Flesh Turbid Forest ahead?" Wu Tongyuan couldn't help but frown.

"There's an indescribable stench of rot in the air... and another feeling I can't quite put my finger on."

"The disasters in the Bitter Flesh Turbid Forest release miasma. Inhaling too much will have hallucinogenic effects. It won't affect me, but you guys..." Chen Ling recalled the knowledge he had learned from the Fusion Faction, his expression troubled.

"Leave it to me." Qi Muyun smiled gently and snapped his fingers elegantly.

*Snap—*

The next second, a purified area seemed to have been carved out around them. The turbid air from outside was filtered directly, turning into the fresh air of a mountain, complete with a faint fragrance.

"Not bad, Old Qi." Wu Tongyuan's eyes lit up, and he took the initiative to put his arm around Qi Muyun's shoulder. "You can even act as an air purifier?"

After traveling together this far, and having faced life-and-death crises together, Wu Tongyuan, who had been somewhat reserved, gradually became familiar with Qi Muyun. Aside from Lu Xun, he had begun to actively accept the other nine Sovereigns... and the carefree, somewhat abstract Qi Muyun was undoubtedly the one he got along with best.

"Haha, in a useless place like this, I'm still quite useful." Qi Muyun also laughed and mocked himself.

"Director Chen, what should we do next?" Wen Ruoshui turned to look at Chen Ling.

Everyone else looked at Chen Ling as well, already treating him as their backbone. Now that they were about to enter that incredibly eerie-looking forest, it would be impossible to say they weren't afraid.

"You don't have to do anything, just follow me closely."

"...Then how are we going to save Chu Changqing?"

"It's simple..." Chen Ling narrowed his eyes, his ruby-like pupils flashing with both calmness and madness:

"Walk in and make the Turbid Disaster release him."

"Ah? Will they release him?"

Chen Ling didn't speak.

He watched the forest in the distance drawing closer. With a thought, the next second, the red-bottomed, black-patterned theatrical robe began to extend into endless red paper. His originally handsome human face split open like peeling wall paint, revealing the pitch-black flesh and blood beneath...

In an instant, Chen Ling transformed from a human into an incredibly eerie humanoid disaster!

"Well, let's see how well we can act."