Chapter 473: Originally a Nameless Person

"When she came, I was about five years old, and we hadn't known each other long," Ning Qing continued to say to Chen Shu. "At first, she controlled the direction of the world, but later she gradually began to guide me to do so. However, out of various considerations, to avoid the world heading toward uncontrollable and unknowable results, she and I had been subtly adjusting this world in secret, at least until I was twenty."

"What do you mean by subtle adjustments in secret?"

"Trying our best not to affect that group of geniuses who would have outstanding performances in the future, trying our best not to affect you and me to avoid the results going bad, and trying our best not to cause changes in this world that the prediction lines couldn't react to."

When Ning Qing said this, her voice suddenly became quieter: "I was also afraid that if our lives changed, there would be some accidents I couldn't control, leading to unexpected outcomes in the feelings between us. Even if the probability was small, it was something I couldn't accept."

"In other words, you stayed by my side and kept following the original trajectory."

"Secret Sect Practitioners have always been able to glimpse the future; whether she was there or not, we have always been doing things like this."

"That's true."

Chen Shu nodded, not dwelling on it.

They had already discussed this matter long ago.

"When did she leave?"

"When she realized that I could already replace her... probably shortly after we entered university." Ning Qing's tone became lower. "She was always very silent, even more silent than me. She didn't say goodbye to me when she left; it was as if she just suddenly disappeared one day."

"I see..."

Chen Shu looked up into the distance.

They in the Zhu Ti Wei Mian and they in the Shadow Plane were exactly the same, so that Ning Qing would also pester that him to eat sour dishes, would also tell him solemnly on the train for the sake of them reaching the end together that he should only fall in love after twenty-three, preferably after twenty-five, and would also watch him go to sniff the Deep Sleep Flower when the water was full without indifference, waiting for him to faint, even stepping over him, yet picking up his clothes to sew for him...

When the twilight of the world descended, having thought they could save the world and save themselves together, only one person remained.

Arriving at the Shadow Plane, she could only silently watch another version of herself repeat everything, while the person who had walked a long way with her was already gone.

Chen Shu was very gratified that Ning Qing would do this.

If he didn't know the result and was given such a problem, there was a significant chance he would have thought Qingqing would sit by and watch this Shadow Plane be destroyed—what did another twenty-something version of herself and a twenty-something Chen Shu have to do with her?

In the end, she was still gentle...

Chen Shu felt this way with emotion.

"Then what about my Crystal..."

"It's real now."

"What about the New Saint?"

"..."

Ning Qing reached out and took out something that looked like a Wooden Bead in texture: "He spent a lot of time wandering in the universe. When he returned here to make plans and preparations for our victory, it was no longer suitable for him to come to the Shadow Plane. Plus, later on, the Ning Qing of the Zhu Ti Wei Mian was stronger than him, so in the end, he chose to walk toward the end of life together with his world, letting those two return here."

"Truly remarkable."

"Divinities are not just powerful in force, and besides being a divinity, he was also a Saint."

"Indeed..."

A person who spent hundreds of years bringing the world into a new era, how could he abandon his world in a time of crisis?

Chen Shu picked up the Wooden Bead; it felt very light in his hand: "It seems very different from the Crystal..."

"According to the New Saint, the birth of a Space-Time Item is very mysterious; they come in all sorts of shapes and forms, and their functions also have subtle differences," Ning Qing said. "The principle and energy of this one are the same as your Crystal, only its charging speed is faster."

"The performance is a bit more powerful."

"Yes."

"Then what preparations did you make?"

"Many, many."

"Tell me, I'm curious."

"Broadly speaking, for example, secretly supporting ancient Cultivators, having major top sects and the Government pour resources into those who might advance to the Ninth Stage to strive to create more ancient Cultivators in the next few years; for example, having the Origin Mark appear early after everyone turned twenty to let you grow up quickly; for example, some technologies that would help in this war, and so on," Ning Qing said. "There were also many small things, such as getting rid of Cao Ci in a faster and easier way, whereas the original version of him would have stirred up bigger waves than now and caused more harm."

"Can the Sky Carrier be brought over?"

"It would become scrap metal if brought over."

"I see..."

So twenty was a key point in time.

Before twenty, the changes in the world were always happening in secret, controlled by the two Qingqings, the divinities, and the big shots of the Secret Sect. The world Chen Shu felt should not have been much different from the world the other Chen Shu felt; as for his own life, it was exactly the same. After twenty, because many foundations would no longer go wrong, the changes gradually increased.

By now, Cao Ci had been wiped out, the Nanzhou calamity had risen, and Qingqing telling him these things meant that future developments were already completely different from the other Plane.

"When did you start to notice her existence?"

"When I was around ten or so."

"When could you start to view her memories?"

"Twelve or thirteen, I suppose."

"As time went on, could you view more and more?"

"Yes."

"Quite similar to my mechanism."

"She used it as a reference."

"You acted quite like her too."

"No need to act; that was me. I just needed to do the same things."

"But did you never make a mistake?"

"I did..."

Ning Qing looked up into the distance: "Approaching twenty, I started to become a bit lax. A few times I deviated slightly from the trajectory, just a little bit, but I didn't expect it to lead to very serious consequences in the end."

"What happened?"

"Do you remember asking me to guess your score after the Great Exam?"

"Of course I remember."

At that time, while checking the scores, Chen Shu made a bet with her and asked her to guess the score. Ning Qing refused at first, but Chen Shu pestered her, so she tacitly agreed.

The bet was that she would kiss him.

In the end, Chen Shu won.

That touch of lips, fleeting as it was, was truly unforgettable.

"Originally, in her world, she did not agree to the bet you made, because she believed she couldn't guess it—a Low Tier Secret Sect Practitioner cannot yet accurately guess that score; the risk was too high," Ning Qing said. "But I looked at you, and my heart softened. It just so happened that I knew what score you got."

"What was it you guessed?"

"1270."

"I seem to have scored one point higher than your guess." Chen Shu paused. "At the time, I thought you were just guessing blindly. Later, when I found out you were a Secret Sect member, I felt you were half relying on logical deduction and half on ability to confirm. Of course, in the end, you were still wrong."

"I found the ready-made answer."

"Is this matter very serious?"

"Do you know why you scored one point higher than originally?"

"I don't know."

"I deduced it for a long time afterward." Ning Qing looked at him askance. "Before the Great Exam, you killed Li Jiatu and were routinely questioned by the police. Although you felt you couldn't possibly be in trouble, you had family, you had me, you had Xiaoxiao; your heart was still somewhat uneasy, so you came to see me..."

Chen Shu's memories seemed to have been stirred up by her.

For a moment, he returned to that early summer; it was over five years ago. One day, the rain fell heavily, and after it stopped, the early summer sun was beautiful.

The scent of the Deep Sleep Flower seemed to still linger at the tip of his nose.

"It was going to rain again. I told you to leave, but you wouldn't. You said your heart was in chaos, said it would affect the Great Exam, said you needed to soothe your mood. You are a person who loves to ramble, but I knew your heart was truly in chaos that day. That was the first time my heart softened."

"The her in the other world didn't let him stay..."

"Yes, she felt he should have gone back."

"And then..."

Chen Shu fell into his memories, and began to ponder within them: "Then I went to your room, found a set of test papers, and looked at them for a while. After you discovered it, you quickly drove me away and wouldn't let me take the papers... Was it this set of papers that made me score one point higher? No, the extra point isn't important! It's because of a difficult problem on these papers that I went to ask Teacher Shi Qian!"

"Yes."

"And then?"

"This led Teacher Shi Qian to notice your talent for Spell Runes ahead of time. Originally, he wouldn't have gradually noticed until the second semester of freshman year, and before that, only Teacher Fu Jia had noticed your Spirit Sea talent and reported it to the Spirit Sect," Ning Qing said. "This not only caused you to be noticed by the Spirit Sect ahead of time, but also allowed you to join the group over half a year early."

"So?"

"Do you remember Nameless Person?"

"I remember..."

Nameless Person, Qingcai Keke, and Grandma Always Says were the three mainstays of the group chat before.

It was just that Nameless Person was a bit strange.

This person loved to chat, but was very bad at it. He spoke in a strange way, and when he tried to strike up conversations with group members, he always seemed impatient, which sometimes made him seem a bit greasy.

Even for someone as talkative as Zhang Suannai, she would only chat with him when she was in a good mood; when she was in a bad mood, she couldn't be bothered to pay him any mind, and sometimes when she found him an eyesore, she would even mock him a few times... and this was already after Chen Shu had joined the group. Before Chen Shu joined, very few people spoke in the group, so it could be inferred that even Zhang Suannai rarely paid him any individual attention.

Later, it was learned that he was naturally a person who was not good with words, and the reason he suddenly talked so much was simply because he realized his days were numbered.

If I hadn't joined the group so early...

"The original him didn't go to Duqin?"

"Wrong, he went," Ning Qing said calmly. "It's just that if you hadn't joined the group early, by the time you did, he would have already known the method to treat his Genius Disease, so even if you had joined the group, he wouldn't have been talking in it."

"No wonder there was a period where he felt preoccupied and didn't like to pop up in the group."

"He was blaming himself, he was conflicted."

"So what is the method to treat the Genius Disease?"

"Lanya established a Spirit Poison Research Institute in Duqin. Fortunately, our country discovered it in time; otherwise, once it leaked, the three million-plus people in the entire city..." Ning Qing said in a very cold tone, "It's an exaggeration to say that not a single one would survive, as the news claimed, but at least hundreds of thousands would die."

"I seem to have seen this news..."

"This has nothing to do with gods; it was Dayi's decision. They found the method to treat the Genius Disease and learned of Lanya's actions in Duqin. The methods of great power games have always been this dirty. Originally, this was their bargaining chip to restrict Lanya, and now it's perfect—used to obtain an unprecedented, peerless genius."

"..."

Chen Shu fell silent.

How is this any different from Cao Ci?

It's likely even more terrifying than Cao Ci.

Chen Shu asked: "Did he succeed originally?"

"Yes."

Ning Qing said to Chen Shu, extending her fingertip: "Let me show you the Nameless Person from the other world."

Chen Shu sat still.

That finger tapped between his brows.

Frame after frame of frozen images, carrying some information, formed the general life experience of Nameless Person.

The information was very rough, rougher than a trailer.

It was like watching a jumpy comic book.

Nameless Person, named Li Zhang.

From birth, he did not have a good life. With a family that was not prominent, parents who were weak toward the outside world but had a strong desire for control at home, and constant pua, he became a person who was extremely lacking in self-confidence and silent.

Until he went to university.

Because his grades were good, he originally studied finance at National Comprehensive University. His family felt this school was great; inside the school were either the children of the powerful, or proper nobles and small-nation royals, and even descendants of the Imperial Family, and it was lucrative. Most importantly, because his grades were good and National Comprehensive University had a tradition of "buying students," applying to National Comprehensive University could immediately earn a large sum of money.

But how could such a person get along in National Comprehensive University, which was full of the children of the wealthy and the descendants of the powerful?

Others didn't discriminate against him or bully him, but they talked and laughed with ease, while he couldn't even speak; they liked to play this and that, but he hadn't participated in a single sport from childhood to adulthood, so how could they play together?

Lonely, very lonely.

But he was lucky. After opening his Spirit Sea, he suddenly discovered his talent was ridiculously strong, shocking the school, shocking the Imperial Family, and also shocking his parents.

However, his parents did not become sycophantic.

Those who PUA their children will never lower their status.

It was a more intense form of PUA, making you feel that no matter how strong your talent was, you were still worthless.

Not long after, he was diagnosed with Genius Disease.

An incurable Genius Disease.

It was like riding a roller coaster.

Now, his parents had also given up on him.

The one who did not give up on him was the Imperial Family.

He was transferred to a Military Academy, met the group owner, and was invited into the group; the group owner said he would find a way to treat him, but how could that be possible? Still, spending his brief remaining life this way was fine; at least he was away from his parents, at least the group owner was quite good to him, and the grandmother in the group always chatted with him occasionally.

Yet unexpectedly, a method to treat Genius Disease was actually found.

It just required sacrificing many people.

He hesitated, he struggled, he could not bear it, he did not want this, and he dared not show his face in the group anymore, unable to face the world.

Yet he had never enjoyed this life.

The Government persuaded him, saying those people were harmed by Lanya and were going to die anyway, so it had nothing to do with him; he was just going to Duqin to collect life force, and if the laboratory's spiritual poison leaked, it would happen naturally, and if not, he should just let nature take its course and accumulate it slowly, as Duqin happened to be at war, with many people dying every day.

This was a lie.

He knew what was really going on inside.

Fortunately, apart from the approachable group owner, he still had no friends in this world.

He was just a nameless person.

Having nothing to begin with, how could this world be worth it?

So he agreed.

It just so happened that someone in the group was going to Duqin, so he went along.

Having not spoken in the group for a long time, he could tell that the grandmother did not like him much; although the new group member was a very good person and always tried to chat with him, he kept his distance from him, and when that Daoist said the light on him was blindingly bright, he just remained silent and did not respond.

He dared not get to know them anymore.

The Square Body opened, and Cao Ci appeared.

Everyone had their own destinations.

The spiritual poison in Duqin leaked, hundreds of thousands of people perished, Lanya was denounced by various countries together, and sanctions followed one after another.

The nameless person gained a new life here.

The world was unprecedentedly beautiful.

The nameless person started talking and chatting in the group again; no one knew what a great price his life had paid.

That group member who went to Duqin as a history expert was indeed a very good person; he gave them Mooncake during the Mid-Autumn Festival, gave them zongzi during the Dragon Boat Festival, invited them to his home for meals, and taught him how to play Go, though it was a pity that this group member had poor sportsmanship—when he couldn't win, he would call his parents.

He reached the High-Tier first, and reached the Eighth Stage first.

The group made a bet on who would reach the Ninth Stage first.

Of course, it was him.

Having paid such a great price, he had never slacked off in his cultivation, refusing to miss a single second.

Decades later, someone finally found the connection between the clues of that year, pointing to his relationship with the Duqin spiritual poison leak, but by then he was already at the Ninth Stage, the other most powerful Ninth Stage in the world; the truth had just surfaced, only to sink back down again.

Yet somehow, the older he got, the easier it was to look back on those years; having friends and more attachments, he began to care about his friends' opinions.

It was truly vexing.

He could not sleep at night.

He was always woken up by dreams, and in his dreams, he always returned to the beginning.

It just so happened that the world had reached its darkest hour, only one step away from destruction, and the world needed them to stand up. No one refused, no one was afraid, but everyone was heavy-hearted, worried or nervous, except for him, who felt exceptionally relaxed.

"There is a scar in my heart, a place of demons; it allowed me to survive, but it also caused me a lifetime of torment. This is liberation, and also redemption."

This was the suicide note he wrote before setting out.

"In the previous world, although we were defeated, the nameless person was still our strongest weapon against the other world," Ning Qing said to Chen Shu, "This was a huge mistake I made."

"Is this a mistake..."

"To me, it is."

"Then what about him?"

"In the end, I intended to make amends, and I went to find him. But I could not stop his redemption, nor could I help him choose how to redeem himself; I could only tell him what the future looked like, and let him see and choose for himself—whether to save his own life, or to save his own life's journey."

"So that's how it is."

He was originally a nameless person, with no ties or burdens; in a strange world, there was no need to care about so much, and even the most evil things could be accepted, but because of an indescribable deviation that gave him friends, he had to start caring about some people's opinions.

This world was worth it after all.

"..."

Chen Shu sat on the mountaintop, blowing in the night wind, unable to speak for a moment.

This seemed to be a matter where no fault could be found.

Could it be considered a mistake? Who made the mistake?

Would this result be worse for him?

For a moment, he felt a complex mix of emotions, yet he was still marveling and sighing at some inexplicable things.

The development of history and life is such a marvelous thing; it is an incredible and unpredictable construct of countless coincidences, and every decision leads to places one cannot know, even the World Will often predicts incorrectly, and if one were to measure right and wrong by the result, it is clearly incorrect.

The interlocking history and the unpredictable future all make one feel that it is beyond words.