Chapter 1921: Chen Ling

On the Red Star.

A Red-Clad Actor suddenly opened his eyes!

Chen Ling looked toward a certain direction in deep space, a momentary trance of loss appearing on his face...

"How is this possible???" In the deepest corner of the consciousness world, the trace of red that was still putting up a desperate struggle was terrified beyond measure. "The observation has disappeared... how could this be??? What exactly did you do?!!!"

For the past year, Chen Ling had been fighting with the Red Star consciousness, grinding it away over and over again, but the latter would be reborn over and over again.

But at this very moment, both sides could perceive that the "observation" that granted them immortality had completely disappeared...

Chen Ling’s fists clenched violently.

He had no time to feel sadness, but like a crazed beast, his gaze was fixed on that crimson, and an almost endless wave of vermilion surged out, pouncing toward the Red Star’s final consciousness!

"No..."

"This is impossible!"

"You’ve been here all year, how did you erase their memories?!!"

This time, the Red Star consciousness truly felt the threat of death, but it couldn't defeat Chen Ling’s consciousness, and could only roar hysterically.

Chen Ling’s vermilion wave was like a butcher holding a boning knife, precisely cutting the Red Star consciousness along the edges bit by bit, swallowing it, and his aura surged at an astonishing speed!!

"I said... the battlefield that decides our victory or defeat is not here," Chen Ling’s cold voice sounded in the wave.

"It is on Earth, in the major realms, in the present, in the past..."

"In the reversals and restarts, one after another."

The vermilion wave and the Red Star consciousness collided completely.

In front of that towering Gate of All Wonders, the four silhouettes of the Red Kings that had existed for who knows how long all trembled slightly... That was the last trace of their will remaining here, shouting and cheering!

With every second that passed, the volume of the Red Star consciousness shrank by a circle, turning from an ocean into a lake, and then into a pond...

The Red Star was still resisting desperately, but in the face of such a disparity, everything it did was meaningless.

He and Chen Ling were both the Red Star;

But Chen Ling’s consciousness was swallowing its existence bit by bit... just like the line left by the First Generation Actor, Wuming: "Capture, fuse..."

"Replace."

The Red Star consciousness shrank bit by bit, until in the end, only a tiny thread remained.

It seemed to have given up resisting, staring fixedly at Chen Ling, speaking with unwillingness and helplessness:

"You won... I admit, you are indeed different from those before you... you are qualified to defeat me."

"You’re wrong," Chen Ling shook his head. "Victory never belonged to me..."

The surging vermilion wave turned into an incomparably huge palm, grabbing onto the last thread of the Red Star consciousness. His resolute voice echoed in the void,

"Victory belongs to all of humanity."

Trial and error after trial and error, restart after restart, the Red Kings of past generations bet everything they had to create the absolute advantage of the Sixth Generation. Where in this world is there any perfect counter, any child of destiny...

They were merely the foundation stones that forged the final victory, high enough and hard enough to lift up an era truly capable of resisting it.

In this era, Chen Ling might be the most dazzling existence, but he was by no means the only one.

The last trace of crimson dissipated amidst the vermilion...

"Chen Ling completely swallowed the consciousness of the Red Star."

At this moment, flashes of crimson light flickered wildly in Chen Ling’s eyes.

The complete power of the Red Star core was exposed to his field of vision. It was an existence even more magnificent than this candlelight world, and a massive amount of information exploded in Chen Ling’s mind.

In a trance, he seemed to see one strange candlelight world after another being born and extinguished before his eyes. The civilizations created in the worlds were like large fish caught in the deep sea, being torn apart and swallowed into his belly...

The boundaries between worlds became clear in his eyes. They were so fragile that Chen Ling could pierce through them with just a slight thought.

This extremely magnificent information directly broke through the current limit of Chen Ling’s consciousness. He only felt a whiteness before his eyes...

Everything came to an abrupt end.

……

I don't know how much time passed.

Chen Ling opened his eyes in a vast whiteness.

The red actor’s robe stood in the center of the pure white world, looking around... his eyes narrowed slightly.

This didn't seem to be Earth, nor the Red Star, nor even the candlelight world he was in. This place was endless, between existence and non-existence. This...

"Enough," Chen Ling said suddenly. "Who is writing this?"

The pure white world fell into dead silence.

"Dead silence?"

"Stop pretending... I can feel you are right here."

A throbbing pain came from Chen Ling’s mind. He frowned, subconsciously holding his head.

Perhaps because he had replaced the Red Star and absorbed too much power and information in one go, his head throbbed, and he even began to lose the ability to distinguish between reality and dreams.

According to his calculations, the time for the Red Star to graze the Earth again was drawing near; he had to wake himself up as soon as possible.

"I said, stop your descriptions!"

"And..."

Don't put punctuation marks around me.

Without punctuation, everything would fall into chaos... They wouldn't even be able to tell who was speaking.

Who are you?

Fine, let me change the question. Who are they?

You are the protagonist on the stage, and they, naturally, are the audience.

I thought the audience was all in my theater.

No, they are everywhere... "They are watching you."

The " " symbol is mine; you are not allowed to use it.

【...Fine.】

So, the audience isn't just in my theater, and the fourth wall isn't just one... Or rather, the fourth walls I've encountered were never the real fourth wall.

【Correct.】

Heh.

【What's wrong?】

I thought I had long since jumped off the stage and become "myself." I thought I had long since held my destiny in my own hands... To think I am still a puppet manipulated by fate, just like how I use Fate-Weaving to manipulate the destinies of others. It’s truly... laughable.

【Look on the bright side, you can no longer be completely controlled; you can even disable my punctuation marks...】

Are you afraid of me?

【Why do you say that?】

You love using "...", and when you talk to me, you seem very guilty.

【...I do not.】

—Stare.

Don't add these strange descriptions for me; I don't like it.

【Understood.】

You are using something like Fate-Weaving to manipulate my life, aren't you? That's why you're afraid of me, because I've realized your existence, just like a beast that has been kept in a pen for a long time suddenly looking up to stare at you.

……

……

Countdown to the finale: 1 day.

The final chapter will be released tomorrow night at around nine o'clock.

What are you doing?

【...This chapter is already 2,000 words long, brother, we should stop here.】

No, you are not allowed to stop... You are avoiding my question.

【Director Chen, you should understand that when you write a character, you can often only decide their beginning... By the end, every experience and every choice they make is chosen by themselves. I may be guiding you, but the one who truly achieved the 'Chen Ling' of today is you yourself.】

……

But sometimes, at the beginning of a story, a character's ending is already destined.

【You're right, I did decide your ending from the very beginning.】

What is... my ending?

The pure white world began to tremble violently.

Beneath Chen Ling's feet, a dark, black-and-red path paved with thorns was outlined... At the end of this path, a magnificent and shocking, hideous throne slowly rose.

On both sides of the road floated clusters of brilliant stars, within which one could see tiny satellite fragments, nuclear submarines, lithography machines, and a series of other "collectibles" Chen Ling had seen in the Red Star's consciousness.

Those were the fragments of civilizations devoured by the Red Star.

At this moment, these civilization fragments were all guarding both sides of that black-and-red path, as if welcoming the arrival of a "King."

The moment he saw these civilization fragments, a kind of craving sprouted in Chen Ling's heart...

Like the Mocking Disaster seeing a perfectly roasted centipede.

The Red Star was able to grow to its current state because it had destroyed many Candlelight worlds and fed on their civilizations, and what Chen Ling saw before him now were the civilization fragments belonging to this world.

Chen Ling could clearly perceive that as long as he swallowed these stored civilization fragments, his power could surpass the former Red Star and reach an unimaginable level...

【The insane villain walks onto the throne alone.】

【This is the ending I have given you... and now, you have reached the end.】

【Everyone has already forgotten you, and you have replaced the Red Star's consciousness, becoming the true master of Y-012. As long as you walk this path and absorb all the civilization fragments, you can become the 'God of Drama,' the most powerful and unique existence among the Candlelight worlds and even the stars...】

Chen Ling's gaze turned toward that throne that towered above everything.

He,

was the master of the throne.

【Go...】

【Sit on that throne and welcome the ending that belongs only to you.】

In his bright red theatrical robes, he stood still like a statue for a long time...

Finally, he took a step and, along that black-and-red path, slowly walked toward the towering throne.

He passed through the floating civilization fragments—the crystallization of humanity's thousands of years of accumulation—which looked like sparkling diamonds embedded in this path to godhood, reflecting his figure as majestic and mysterious...

He was like the destined Lord of Civilization, the "One" chosen by heaven.

The bright red theatrical robes drew closer and closer to the throne.

Chen Ling could clearly feel that extreme power, about to break through all shackles, resonating with him!

He stopped before the throne.

At this moment, the resonance between the throne and him was intense to the extreme. The civilization fragments on the black-and-red path erupted with unprecedented, blinding radiance, as if they were about to rush into his body and become a part of his power... welcoming the birth of a King.

Chen Ling looked calmly at this magnificent throne and slowly raised his hand...

And smashed it down!!

Boom—!!!!

As Chen Ling's fist fell, the throne let out a deafening roar, and the entire pure white world suddenly shook!

The throne shattered into pieces under Chen Ling's fist.

At the same time, those flickering civilization fragments also dimmed, as if they had returned to the state of being stored inside the Red Star... The power that was about to break through all shackles vanished into thin air.

"I have been a puppet on the stage, at the mercy of others, for too long... I don't like the ending you gave me."

Chen Ling slowly looked up at the void of the pure white world, as if speaking to some entity.

"I don't want to be a fictional character in a script. I don't want to be the Mocking Disaster in the eyes of others, nor do I want to be some savior... I have been defined too many times. From now on, who I am does not need to be defined by others, including you."

"I am not some God of Drama..."

"I am..."

"Chen Ling."