Chapter 878: Eternal Machine Express

Yes, if following the original, Fujiki You Xuan remembered that the Dark Signer arc wasn't over yet here.

Everyone had originally thought that defeating the Dark Signers' leader Rudogu would end everything. But even after all the Dark Signers were defeated, the old Eternal Machine site still erupted with immense energy, and the gate to the Underworld remained open.

The final boss of the anime arc was Gaudwin. Budong You Xing, Cro, and Jack fought him three-on-one, losing two of their own before finally defeating Gaudwin and repelling the King of the Underworld.

Only after that did the deceased Dark Signers reincarnate as ordinary people.

But now Gaudwin has been replaced by Fujiki You Xuan. He had assumed that after defeating Rudogu, the events would unfold as in the original— the gate to the Underworld would still open, and the King of the Underworld would appear, attempting to devour this entire world. Yet it didn't.

Nothing happened.

It seemed as if defeating the Dark Signers had truly ended everything, and the world had genuinely been saved.

But the deceased Dark Signers remain dead, and none have resurrected as they did at the end of the anime.

Fujiki You Xuan frowned.

In that case, has history truly been altered compared to the original?

But Fujiki You Xuan had a strong premonition that this arc hadn't ended so simply. The overt Dark Signers had indeed been eliminated, yet the gate to the Underworld might still open. The King of the Underworld hadn't appeared directly as in the anime—perhaps he was merely lying in wait, biding his time.

This matter isn't over.

So what should be done next?

If following the original, the final battle should have been Budong You Xing's trio against Gaudwin—but the real Gaudwin is dead. So should he now take Gaudwin's place, become the Ultimate God, summon the Lord of the Underworld, then let Budong You Xing defeat him?

Nah, forget it.

With no clear direction on the aftermath of the Dark Signer incident, Fujiki You Xuan temporarily set it aside. Instead, he would follow his earlier plan: attempt to contact Emperor Taiyi and see if he could obtain any intelligence from them.

Emperor Taiyi was an organization spanning time, long hidden in human history. Ordinary people couldn't even hope to hear of it. Contacting them was theoretically impossible. Yet the Public Order Maintenance Bureau was, to some extent, a pawn planted by Emperor Taiyi to control New New New Tongshiye—so there was still a chance.

At this moment, Fujiki You Xuan had already used the Public Order Maintenance Bureau's intelligence network to identify an organization with confirmed ties to Emperor Taiyi.

The Eternal Machine Express, one of New New New Tongshiye's largest Eternal Machine development institutions.

Today, the Eternal Machine was the core of all human technology; as a development institution, the Eternal Machine Express was naturally a research-focused agency centered on cutting-edge science.

And due to the close link between the Eternal Machine and card dueling—especially Synchro summoning—the institution also maintained close cooperation with companies involved in card printing and D-Rail development.

Intelligence from the Public Order Maintenance Bureau indicated that this publicly known Eternal Machine development agency was the only one in New New New Tongshiye potentially more closely tied to Emperor Taiyi than the Bureau itself.

Seeing this, Fujiki You Xuan suddenly recalled from distant memories: the anime had indeed featured the Eternal Machine Express.

The Eternal Machine Express was indeed one of the organizations most closely linked to Emperor Taiyi—and the reason was simple. This research institute, disguised as an Eternal Machine developer, was in truth a revisionist agency planted by Emperor Taiyi in this era to rewrite history.

Hidden within its central facility was not merely the Eternal Machine, but also a time machine capable of traversing time. Members of Emperor Taiyi in this timeline used this machine to alter the past and manipulate history.

As the controlling body of this time machine, the Eternal Machine Express held direct authorization to contact Emperor Taiyi's Three Emperors—a privilege even the current Gaudwin lacked, let alone Fujiki You Xuan's current "Gaudwin" disguise, which seemed already exposed to Emperor Taiyi's Three Emperors.

Thus, through this Eternal Machine Express, the opportunity to contact Emperor Taiyi seemed even greater.

That afternoon, Fujiki You Xuan—or rather, Commander Gaudwin—personally arrived at the Eternal Machine Express.

"Commander Gaudwin."

A middle-aged man with glasses and golden hair entered the reception room and extended his hand cordially to Fujiki You Xuan.

But Fujiki You Xuan did not shake it; he didn't even rise, only sat on the sofa, watching him with an ambiguous smile.

The golden-haired man didn't mind. He naturally retracted his hand and sat across from Fujiki You Xuan, smiling: "I'm the head here. My name is Clark."

Clark.

That name, combined with the square-framed glasses on his nose, immediately made Fujiki You Xuan think of a certain world-saving man in red underwear. If his golden hair were black and his hair curly, he'd be an exact match.

Clark, unaware of Fujiki You Xuan's inner mockery, continued politely: "I've heard about recent events. The war between the Dragon Marked and the Dark Signers—your days must have been difficult, Commander. Especially yours, I imagine, with your countless duties?"

He shook his head and smiled. "A commander like you surely has no time for idle chatter. So, what brings you here?"

"Wind? If you must name it, it's light." Fujiki You Xuan smiled.

"Huh?"

"The beautiful, magnificent light from the machine of dreams—the Eternal Machine." Fujiki You Xuan said calmly. "An invention of infinite potential for humanity, a milestone that rewrote human history."

Clark paused, then smiled. "Indeed. Uncovering the mysteries of the Eternal Machine, creating a better future for humanity—this has always been our researchers' dream and ultimate goal."

"If an ordinary person heard 'create a better future,' they'd never imagine those words could be taken literally, would they?" Fujiki You Xuan chuckled lightly.

Clark's smile subtly changed.

He fell silent for two seconds, studying Fujiki You Xuan.

Gaudwin. Does this man even know that?

Emperor Taiyi was using a forbidden facility within the Eternal Machine Express to interfere with human history—but that should be known only to their own inner circle.

Commander Gaudwin may rule New New New Tongshiye with an iron fist, but he shouldn't have clearance to know this.

Realizing this, Clark smiled and said, "I don't understand what you're implying, Commander."

"Won't you say it? That's fine."

Fujiki You Xuan smiled, then abruptly shifted tone.

"Let's play a simple little game instead."

(End of Chapter)