Chapter 1301: Stop

“Gao Yang, are you out of your mind?!” Nana screamed.

Gao Yang didn’t respond. He couldn’t.

He had given all to his mad attempt to kill God. Even the last trace of his rationality had evolved into an absolute will and command that repeated the same phrase in the universe—if a universe still existed.

Clank

.

Stop.

Clank

.

Stop.

Clank

.

Stopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstopstop!

Clack

—

Suddenly, an absolute stillness froze the infinite grey noise.

Click

.

Gao Yang had exhausted his soul. The Ring of Miracle in his chest stopped. Infinite white light rushed out of his body and flooded the entire universe. At the same time, black energy of truth surged from the Ultimate, spreading and expanding.

The black and white energy colored the essence of the cosmos. When one surged, the other receded, and their balance shifted nonstop until they split the universe in half and reached perfect equilibrium.

The black figure in the white turned into the ultimate point of truth. The white gear in the black turned into the absolute point of facts.

The two spots rotated, and the black and white universe spun at the same time. After an eternity and a moment, all came to be and returned to their original state.

Clank

—

The Ultimate continued its rotation.

The Divine Scion died.

...

River of Time and Space.

The hourglass vessel in the river jolted violently, shaking those standing on the deck. The invisible reef that had been obstructing the ship disappeared. The ship departed.

The Time-Space Rune Circuit flickered once more. The other eleven Rune Circuits emerged, changing shapes and assembling into an ancient clock, with a clock hand this time.

Tick

.

The clock hand took a step—that was ten thousand years. Then the clock reverted to the twelve Rune Circuits, quickly vanishing.

Everyone was put into sleep mode like passengers put in cryogenic chambers for an interstellar trip.

A gentle yet sorrowful limbo emerged at the tail of the ship, in which stood a black-haired young man. Right before their consciousness slipped away, the passengers realized to their surprise that the young man was no different from any of them when the titles were stripped away; he was just a regular nineteen-year-old.

Tall, slim, and alone.

Soon, the young man’s figure disappeared into the limbo like he had blended into a faceless crowd. A golden line split the sky and the land. Then warm, radiant light flooded and enveloped everything.

...

Workshop of Truth.

Having witnessed the farce from start to finish, Nana felt something other than boredom for the first time. She was surprised and pleased with a mix of sadness and pity, as well as anticipation and confusion.

Then she became bored once more.

Everything was as it had been, as it should be.

With a soft sigh, she sat down and turned around. Her little room returned. She kicked off her flip-flops and perched on the swivel chair. A pudding icedrop appeared in her hand. She licked it while typing on the keyboard with one hand.

The computer screen displayed the chat window of an old dating app. Her chatting partner was someone named “Burning Sun in the West[1]”. The IP address was located in “Moon City”. Nana had been chatting with him the most recently.

Nana snickered, deciding to tease him.

[Linlinxijuan[2]: I’m going to Moon City for work next week. Why don’t we go out and eat together?]

[Burning Sun in the West: Sure. I’m free.]

“Whoa, no hesitation. I thought you were shy!” Nana was surprised. She scratched her foot and pondered. “Hm, how should I respond...”

She paused, realizing something was wrong.

The silence.

The nonstop clanks had stopped.

Her head jerked up. Her eyes widened in disbelief. The Ultimate had stopped rotating at some point.

It stopped! It really did!

In this eternity, the Ultimate had never stopped rotating. Why did this mean? What was the implication? What would the future entail?

She didn’t know.

She did

not

know!

Nana broke into tears of joy for not having an answer.

Eyes wide, she stared at the Ultimate with awe. The world was silent.

...

Clank

.

[End of Act VI]

[End of Creatures that We Are (Main Story)]

1. As he had said when introducing himself, Xiran’s name combines “west (xi)” and “burning (ran)”. ☜

2. This is Lin Mengjuan with 梦(meng) divided into 林(lin) and 夕(xi). ☜