Chapter 549: Reading the Wind and Waves Pavilion and the Trimmed Nodes

Dawn light was faint, filtering through the window of the quiet room and casting mottled shadows on the floor.

Chen Wen had finished washing and changed into a clean set of dark blue everyday clothes.

The feeling of abundant energy brought by the breakthrough to Level 5 still circulated within his body.

But his mind at this moment was wholly fixed on the new ability called 'Script Perusal' mentioned in last night's system prompt.

""Wind and Waves Pavilion...""

He softly uttered this vague word that had flashed by at the critical point on the eve of his breakthrough.

Although it was only a fleeting glimpse, the icy, ominous, and melancholy sense of grievance contained in that word clung to him like a bone-deep sore.

His intuition told him this was no baseless rumor; it was likely closely related to General Yue, who was struggling hard in the south.

It was time to formally try this new ability and see what it could do.

He walked back to the center of the quiet room and sat cross-legged again on the futon.

He did not light an oil lamp, letting the gradually brightening morning light fill the room.

He needed to minimize disturbance as much as possible and focus on the newly arisen 'Perception Module'.

He closed his eyes, concentrated, and slowed his breathing.

His thoughts flowed like a trickle, guiding toward the spinning 'Fortune Momentum Vortex' in his chest and abdomen.

He then gently touched upon the 'Higher View' he had sensed the night before, which seemed able to overlook countless causal threads.

This time, he did not passively accept it; instead, he actively, with clear intent, directed a probing thought toward this 'view':

""Yue Fei's future course……possible major crisis he might encounter……""

""Wind and Waves Pavilion……what exactly is it? ……""

His thought focused, and his mind followed into it.

At first, it was a chaotic gray haze.

It was as if he were walking through thick fog, unable to see the path ahead.

But Chen Wen could feel that his 'line of sight' was penetrating this gray haze, while his mental strength was gradually being depleted.

This differed from mere physical exhaustion; it felt more like the mental fatigue that comes from extreme concentration.

He maintained the probing thought, neither hurried nor agitated.

Finally, the gray haze began to undulate and thin.

Some extremely blurry, distorted, rapidly flashing image fragments surfaced, like debris stirred up from the bottom of water.

……it was a corner of a government office corridor, the light dim, as if winter; the shadows of withered tree branches fell obliquely on the cold stone floor, twisted like ghostly claws.

……several blurred figures in constable uniforms shoved a similarly blurry but tall figure, seemingly wearing a heavy wooden cangue, toward the depths of the corridor.

……following the gaze, at the end of the corridor a solitary small pavilion could be faintly seen.

Under the eaves of the pavilion, a plaque could barely be made out in the dim light—'Wind', 'Wave', 'Pavilion'. The strokes were stark.

……inside the pavilion seemed to have a light, illuminating the outlines of one or two seated figures, their attire proper but faces indistinct, only a cold, superior aura emanating.

……the scene then jumped abruptly!

It was turbid river water, churning, with fragments of armor and cloth floating uncertainly on the surface.

A sigh, as if crossing endless time and filled with utmost unwillingness, resentment, and sorrow, exploded in Chen Wen's consciousness!

""Uh!""

Chen Wen let out a muffled groan, sweat instantly beading on his forehead, and he jerked free from that 'reading' state, opening his eyes.

His heart pounded violently in his chest, and his breathing grew slightly short.

Although what he had just seen remained fragmented and blurry, it contained an emotional impact and an ominous portent.

Yet it was more than ten times stronger than the fleeting glimpse he had felt at the critical point the night before!

That cangue, that corridor, the 'Wind and Waves Pavilion' plaque, that river water and sigh……

This was by no means an ordinary official setback or obstacle.

This was a carefully crafted conspiracy, an ending pointing to death!

""Wind and Waves Pavilion……Wind and Waves Pavilion……""

Chen Wen softly repeated that name, his eyes icy.

""False Song Imperial Court……peace faction……or is the Iron Crow Army directly intervening? ……""

""They want to arrange such an 'ending' for General Yue? ……""

Anger burned like icy fire in his chest.

But after the anger came a deeper sense of awe.

What the 'Script Perusal' showed, though fragmentary, pointed so clearly to a dreadful future.

This confirmed his conjecture and gave him a more visceral, shocking understanding of the cruelty of the Iron Crow Army and the 'script' they uphold.

To make their so-called 'history' run on its set course, they would not hesitate to use such vile means to destroy the true hero's backbone!

After his breathing steadied somewhat, Chen Wen suppressed the surging anger and chill in his heart.

He knew the ability of 'Script Perusal' was not limited to this.

What he had just seen was a possible trajectory for the 'core node' Yue Fei.

Then what about those non‑core nodes that could potentially alter history?

How would the Iron Crow Army deal with them in order to accelerate the timeline?

He again focused his mind and adjusted the probing thought:

""Examine……other node traces affected, covered, or 'trimmed' by the acceleration of the timeline……""

This time, the scene within the 'view' was different again.

The gray haze surged again, but what emerged in the mist was no longer concrete scene fragments; instead, it resembled a series of swiftly passing names and life silhouettes that quickly faded into obscurity.

These silhouettes are mostly blurry and give an unnatural sense of "break."

It is like a sapling cut down at the roots before it has grown; like a melody cut off just as it begins.

Chen Wen focused his mind, trying to capture the relatively clearer fragments:

【Wang Anshi… (a blurry side‑view of a studious child reading, with the words "reform" and "enrich the people" faintly flashing on the scroll, but the image quickly faded, as if erased by an eraser, leaving only a trace of emptiness and void)】

【Shen Kuo… (a young man's curious mental fluctuations toward the stars, geomagnetism, and many natural phenomena, but similarly quickly blurred and vanished, his possible path of growth covered by an invisible force)】

【Su Shi… (the carefree, unrestrained spirit of a literary figure flashed by and then shattered; the brilliant chapters he might have left and the ups and downs of his life were all trimmed, leaving only an extremely faint, almost indiscernible trace)】

…

There are many more blurred silhouettes, even without names showing, like autumn leaves that turn to dust before they even reach the ground.

These "trimmed" nodes are not all directly related to military or political affairs.

They could be future writers, scientists, thinkers—"variable seeds" capable of sounding different voices in various fields and driving civilization in different directions.

But in the process whereby the Iron Crow Army accelerates the timeline and forcibly pushes the "script world" toward a particular historical stage (such as after the Jingkang Incident), these "inappropriate" or "potentially impactful" nodes are brutally erased of their original growth trajectories and future possibilities.

Chen Wen silently "watched" these vanishing silhouettes.

The initial anger in his heart gradually transformed into a deep sorrow and a firmer realization.

What the Iron Crow Army and its master maintain is not merely a chain of cold "historical events."

They are strangling all the abundant, diverse, surprising, and vital possibilities that a civilization might nurture at a particular time!

They prune the living, branching history into a bonsai that retains only the trunk and a few main branches, conforming to their "script."

For the sake of so‑called "historical correctness," they do not hesitate to make the fates of myriad beings thin and to render certain stretches of civilization's long river barren.

"Is this the 'history' you want?"

Chen Wen opened his eyes, gazing at the rising morning sun outside the window, yet his eyes were like a deep pool.

"At the cost of countless individuals' trajectories being obliterated, using the wronged deaths of heroes and the setbacks of the righteous as fertilizer, they irrigate a river that seems 'correct' but is actually cold and lifeless?"

He rose to his feet and paced slowly in the quiet chamber.

The shadow of the "Fengbo Pavilion," together with the silent erasure of the trimmed nodes, mirrors each other, letting him see the essence of this confrontation more clearly.

This is not merely a contest of force and power.

It is also a clash of two paths, two attitudes toward "future possibilities."

The Iron Crow Army wants a "history" that follows the script and is controllable.

What he must do is, as much as possible, fight for Yue Fei, for those "variables" not yet fully strangled, and for the people living on this land, to secure a different future brimming with unknown vitality.

Although the road ahead is perilous, and though the opponent is a being capable of manipulating time and trimming fate,

But precisely because he has witnessed the cruelty of its methods and the coldness of its aims, the will to resist becomes all the more unshakable.

"Yue Fei's calamity at the Fengbo Pavilion must be stopped."

"And those trimmed nodes… although most are now nearly impossible to recover, at least they show that this world originally ought to have countless possibilities."

"The Iron Crow Army is not omniscient or omnipotent; the fact that they must laboriously 'trim' shows that 'variables' naturally exist!"

Chen Wen stopped walking, his eyes regaining sharpness and resolve.

"The medium for limited remote endowment must be prepared as soon as possible."

"Script perusal must be used cautiously, but at critical moments it is a lamp indicating the direction of danger."

"Southern reinforcements must be strengthened, contact with Yue Fei must be tightened, and he must be made aware, at least… so he does not walk into that 'Fengbo Pavilion' without any resistance."

He pushed open the door of the quiet chamber, and the cold‑laden morning air rushed at him.

Mountains layered upon mountains, the heavens and earth vast.

A new day has begun, and the covert struggle concerning the hero's fate and civilization's possibilities has also entered a new, more profound stage.

Chen Wen drew a deep breath and stepped forward.

The first person he needs to find is the old hand in the workshop who always manages to tinker up some novel gadgets—Zhao Lao Nian.

Producing a standardized medium capable of bearing the "Fortune Momentum" mark and achieving "limited remote endowment" is a crucial step in turning the tide of the southern crisis.