Chapter 475: His Birth

Although the Departed lost the game, this allowed the Terrifying Entity to discover another point of interest.

As the saying goes, solitary joy is not as good as shared joy.

Playing a game alone is never as fun as playing with a party.

The Terrifying Entity found delight in the game of go, feeling that competing against others in such a game was meaningful—especially when all living beings were the pieces.

The two previous creations of unprecedented golden ages merely satisfied his boredom; the game of go gave him an additional satisfaction of victory and defeat.

This may have been the Departed’s only true gain from his contest with the Terrifying Entity: it brought the Entity joy, and brought hope to the world.

As long as one wins the game, one gains leverage to negotiate with the Terrifying Entity.

Even more boldly, if one stakes the non-interference in the world as the bet and wins, the world will once again be filled with hope.

Unfortunately, the Departed dared not gamble.

From the moment he first proposed the game, the Departed never wagered the world’s hope; faced with the unknown, he lacked the courage to risk it—if he lost one move, he lost everything, and what he would lose was the world’s entire hope.

His caution was too heavy; even as the sole one of the world, the Departed dared not do so.

It cannot be said that the Departed was cowardly—anyone else in the world would act the same. It is like a gamble where, in the first round, you stake your entire family’s lives and fortune.

The Departed’s actions were not wrong; there was nothing wrong with caution.

Yet perhaps it was precisely this very trait—or perhaps other reasons—that caused the Departed to lose the game.

He was defeated.

But it wasn’t truly a defeat; at least the Terrifying Entity had become interested and granted the Departed another chance.

After all, in this world, only the Departed could compete against the Terrifying Entity. Throughout all existence, there was no other “sole one”—the Departed was the one and only.

All living beings lacked even the Zige to see the Terrifying Entity, let alone compete in a game of go.

The Departed neither proceeded to the next game nor refused to play another.

From the moment he lost the first game, the Departed had known full well that he could never defeat the Terrifying Entity—he simply could not be that reckless.

The moment he proposed the game without staking the world’s hope as the wager, he had already lost…

Utterly and completely.

Without the heart to risk everything, without the resolve to sever all ties, how could one possibly compete against the Terrifying Entity—heartless, thoughtless, and only interested in the satisfaction of victory and defeat?

Someone else must be found to play against it—a true player capable of contending with the Terrifying Entity.

This was the Departed’s thought—and Kamikawa Mitsu had also perceived the Departed’s intention.

“Is He about to emerge?”

Kamikawa Mitsu’s eyes narrowed slightly as his gaze settled upon the River of Time.

At this moment,

the future of the River of Time had grown even more horrific: the Terrifying Entity’s failed creation of an unprecedented golden age had led to an unimaginably brutal timeline, and now, with the Departed’s game of go, the brutality had intensified further.

He appeared.

The most horrific future imaginable—the very future forged by the Departed’s contest with the Terrifying Entity—was the era in which He was born.

“So am I, then, His past life? Not His future—no, perhaps His future, but reborn into the past.”

Kamikawa Mitsu recognized Him.

Though the other was still an infant in swaddling clothes, a mysterious, intuitive resonance of similarity told him that this was his past self—He.

To win the game, the Departed began searching—for a player capable of contending with the Terrifying Entity.

The Departed reversed the flow of time, traveling to the Primordial Age, beginning his search there.

He sought, within the entirety of the River of Time, a successor to replace himself as the player.

Then Kamikawa Mitsu suddenly understood.

Why had the Departed taught Nüwa to mend the shattered Primordial Realm and reshape humanity, elevating them to the pinnacle? Why had he saved Su Daji but not saved King Zhou? All along, he had been searching for the next player.

Nüwa, King Zhou—these were all candidates he had selected. Hence he taught Nüwa, hence he let King Zhou die, hoping King Zhou would be tempered and grow stronger; after all, he was still too weak, unlike Nüwa, who was only one step away from attaining the pinnacle.

Every time he appeared, he was selecting a player—that was why he remained mysterious, never revealing himself.

Because selecting the player was a secret, and could not be discovered.

Thus, from the Primordial Age of the past all the way to the future, he searched until, in the most horrific future, the Departed found Him.

He was so ordinary, yet so extraordinary.

He appeared utterly common, possessing only the Zizhi of a floating weed, yet he forcibly carved out a path to the pinnacle in that brutal future, achieving the pinnacle—truly remarkable.

Yet this was not enough. Having reached the pinnacle, he had also reached its limit—he still lacked the qualification to become the Sole One.

The Departed sought Him out and chose Him.

He revealed everything to Him, and without hesitation, He agreed to become the successor to the Departed as the player.

Born into the most brutal future, possessing only the Zizhi of a floating weed, He could be said to be the lowest of the low in the entire world—without exception. Precisely because of this, He had witnessed too much blood and fire, tears and cries, experienced the full spectrum of human life, and understood just how cruel the world was.

He hated all of it, yet did not resent it; he wished to protect the beauty he had seen, to seek freedom, to bring hope to the world.

Only by becoming the player could he accomplish all of this.

So…

The Departed took Him to the Primordial Age, carved a stone tablet there recording His existence, and He began to enact one life after another.

In one life, He was brilliant beyond measure, born at the highest peak.

In one life, He possessed extraordinary talent, yet was cursed—yet still ascended to the pinnacle.

In one life…

Without exception, each life was a different, brilliant existence—and in each, He reached the pinnacle.

It was simply terrifying.

Life after life, with no memory of past existences, yet each time He reached the pinnacle.

Finally, in that future life, the ninth life merged into one, and He attained the Sole One status, gaining the qualification to compete against the Terrifying Entity.

Throughout the entire process, Kamikawa Mitsu watched—and so did the Terrifying Entity. Neither interfered at all; instead, the Terrifying Entity watched Him with keen interest.

“No wonder the Script System could give me everything—it was created by Him. Such a legendary life—he could produce anything in this world.”

In a whisper, He attained the Sole One status, stepped out of the River of Time, and confronted the Terrifying Entity to play the game of go.

And this time…

Unlike the Departed, He staked the world’s hope as the very wager from the start!

Yes!

He threw everything into the game at once—reckless, desperate, unexpected, yet somehow inevitable.

This was precisely what the Departed lacked—otherwise, he would never have chosen Him.

No!

More accurately, it was precisely because of His desperate resolve that the Departed chose Him.

He was incredible—calm and steady, yet also mad and resolute.

Kamikawa Mitsu’s gaze settled upon the River of Time.

After watching so long, the River of Time had not yet evolved into the known past and future severed by the First Battlefield—none of these had yet appeared.

He knew: all of this was because of Him!

His contest with the Terrifying Entity gave birth to the past and future, to the First Battlefield.

…