TOMWDET Chapter 218

Final Chapter (10)

Raising a weapon and aiming at an unbeatable enemy was reckless.

But gripping a straight blade and facing an opponent with a chance of victory would not cause Su Li the slightest hesitation.

The young man’s gaze was firm, his eyes: “If I possessed absolute power, I would choose to kill you.”

“But this is only under the condition that I possessed absolute power. The so-called ‘if’ has the subtext of being another kind of imagination different from reality.”

This statement was still ambiguous.

But Su Li knew that this current way of speaking was easier to completely control, even manipulate Him.

“In imagination, everything can be driven by the evolution of extreme emotions, but in reality, rationality is still the primary principle for actions without regret.”

The world consciousness froze in place.

Su Li glanced at Him, then continued: “You already know that kind of ‘if’ that only exists in imagination, so what do you plan to do now?”

“Will you stop the war, make yourself no longer able to be high above, and pursue that so-called growth that can exchange for a thread of survival; or will you choose to continue, destroying together with all other life in this world?”

“I won’t give you too much time to think about this question.” Su Li looked around at the other people who had been “paused,” “At least compared to your final choice, what I care more about is whether their current state will affect their bodies.”

He let out a deep breath.

The originally empty eyes seemed to contain something more, but because of still being confused and uncertain about the path ahead, this additional something was difficult to see in full.

“I choose to stop——”

When this choice was made, it didn’t seem as difficult as imagined.

But when He discovered that the young man with the same appearance as himself had a flash of understanding in his eyes, He suddenly felt himself very ridiculous.

All action trajectories had been predicted, all needs and cognition had been completely seen through.

So the seemingly two choices, in reality, no matter which one was chosen, would only be within his expectations.

For the sake of so-called growth, stopping a one-sided massacre against the other two races.

——He was simply like a joke.

But strangely, He suddenly began to think about why He felt like a joke.

Everything had been prepared.

Dragging the entire world to be buried together was a goal He had set after knowing He had no possibility of growth.

But when He suddenly discovered there was a possibility for growth, the world consciousness who considered Himself equivalent to the entire world had instantly become like a clown…

“This choice must seem very ridiculous to you.”

“So many Ji Xings died, so many humans and monster beasts fell, but the final result is this kind of so-called reconciliation.”

“Moreover, your desire to kill me truly exists, right? You’re very young, right at the time of growth, and with your abilities, you’ll someday have the power to surpass me. Given the growth possibility you provided, in your future, to do everything possible to become a world consciousness who won’t be killed by you…”

He smiled bitterly. “I think, I’m no longer without initiative, but have handed over the entire world to you.”

This was terrifying.

Those ways of thinking, those choices given, those unique abilities that unconsciously revealed themselves during conversation and stirred His mind.

Unknowingly, He had already become a butterfly on a spider web.

Captured with such ease.

Moreover, even with Him taking such an initiative to lower His head, He couldn’t see a trace of pride or satisfaction on Su Li’s face.

The world consciousness, an existence living above monster beast civilization.

In this world, He had no opponent that could contend with Him.

The submission of such a character should have some impact, right?

But Su Li didn’t.

He even felt that Su Li simply didn’t care about those things.

The young man’s focus was only on how to achieve his own purpose.

And in the end, he had succeeded just as he had imagined.

The world consciousness therefore felt himself even more powerless.

Everything had been calculated, even the heart that He didn’t know existed or not had been completely seen through. The soul’s turbidity and clarity were all reflected in the depths of those green eyes. The base excitement hidden under the surface of dejected emotions, the thoughts of being happy about not having to die, must have been seen by him as well.

Seen through with such ease.

All the lowliness and compromise were reflected thoroughly in those eyes that showed no emotional expression.

He felt disgusted, but the disgust was only toward himself.

His thinking and consciousness were about to be driven mad by this self-loathing emotion.

But as long as He looked at Su Li once more, continued to look at Su Li once more, and continued this endlessly, that pain seemed to be gradually cleared away bit by bit.

Compared to himself, compared to the [Spirit] He had created, compared to the [Tiger] produced before the complete destruction of monster beast civilization, Su Li looked like the truly abnormal one.

Such a person, such a being, was he really human?

Even a world consciousness who considered himself equivalent to the world had begun to uncontrollably question whether Su Li as a human was actually human.

If the word “god” absolutely needed some concrete image for reference, the only one He could think of was Su Li.

Strange, unwilling to look directly at, yet when truly gazing, always unable to move one’s sight away.

Bewitching, cold, lucid, terrifying.

These qualities were all mixed together in Su Li.

Su Li had a unique sense of danger about him, the world consciousness thought.

Compared to gazing at him as if unable to move one’s sight away, that strange sense of danger was more like poison—once contaminated, one would never want to leave again.

The body’s trembling, the soul’s shuddering, made Him involuntarily lick his dry lips. Time had passed for a long while, yet seemed like only a blink of an eye. In the end, He only said, “No matter what you’re thinking, or whether you truly plan to choose to kill me after having absolute power in the future, I don’t care about any of these anymore.”

“I only hope that you can truly provide me with ‘growth’.” His eyes looked at Su Li with extreme greed.

A human who fundamentally couldn’t resist Him in terms of power, yet could provide value that He had no way to refuse.

So what if it was base? There was nothing shameful about life wanting to survive, just like these humans—didn’t they also choose to resist Him for the sake of their own survival?

The world consciousness had even learned to persuade himself.

Su Li’s facial expression showed no change. He was too calm. When he didn’t speak, the world consciousness himself would uncontrollably think: Why?

Why not speak? Looking at Him coldly—was it because He had thought wrong? How could he make him speak, and what should be done so he wouldn’t be unhappy?

He wished he could place all the important things in the entire world before him, hoping he could provide that growth which was insignificant to him personally, yet also hoping Su Li wouldn’t actively make it clear, but would give Him sufficient time to comprehend by himself.

This psychological self-abuse made the world consciousness’s gaze toward Su Li gradually become wrong.

Those originally blank and vast eyes suddenly gained some heat.

He began to think about why He would suddenly develop various fervent emotions toward Su Li.

Upon deep consideration, He quickly judged that He might just be a dying person gazing at life-saving divine medicine.

Thinking this way about himself, clearly He was relying on his height to look down at Su Li’s figure, yet His gaze toward Su Li was like looking up from below.

Everything progressed faster than imagined——

Thinking this in his heart, Su Li on the surface spoke unhurriedly, “Is this your final choice?”

“Choosing to believe in the growth I grant you means that no matter what I say, you must maintain a believing attitude.”

“Is that so?” Su Li made eye contact with Him.

“Yes.” The world consciousness nodded without any hesitation.

That posture seemed to demonstrate in all aspects that He trusted Su Li so much.

“But what if I told you to die?” Su Li gripped the blade in his hand tightly. The tip had already pierced into His heart. Blood flowed down the blade’s edge, dripping to the ground drop by drop, overly obvious in the silent environment.

He didn’t hesitate and walked straight forward one step.

After all, being a carbon-based organism, the body’s pain made Him involuntarily grunt, while the deeper wound caused blood to surge in His throat.

He looked toward Su Li and said word by word. “If the growth in your eyes must possess comprehension between life and death, then I can also choose to experience death for the sake of this growth.”

“I’m in great pain.” He said, “But my brain is telling me that what truly hurts is not just the body, but the reality of fearing death. It’s saying, you cannot accept death.”

“My unwillingness to accept death is no longer fear of death, but fear that even though growth is right before my eyes, I cannot obtain it.”

“I don’t want to die. Reality tells me that staying by your side can harvest more growth. Death is a choice that only comes once. Although there would be incredible growth between life and death, choosing to die is equivalent to giving up other possibilities, and is far inferior to staying by your side for a long time.”

“I don’t want to die. Only now do I discover how much I’m attached to the mortal world.” His voice was so soft it was barely audible.

When He chose to actively step forward, He knew He would truly die.

Just like the [Tiger], that strange thing merged with darkness fundamentally didn’t possess the characteristic of being killed.

The only one who could kill Clemens was Su Li from another world.

And the only one who could kill Him was likewise only Su Li from another world.

Would He die?

He suddenly began to think about what He could experience in this trial if He died here, and what He might gain in the future if He didn’t die.

The former was a thorough tragedy, because even with growth, He would have no way to obtain the living that existed because of growth.

The latter seemed completely impossible.

From beginning to end, Su Li wanted to kill Him, right?

Yes, Su Li had no trace of killing intent on him, but He just knew that Su Li wanted Him dead.

Wanted to live.

Unwilling to accept——

When the possibility of growth was right before his eyes…

He suddenly paid attention to those other humans and monster beasts who had always been treated as background by Him, even those Ji Xings whose faces were almost identical to his.

When they chose to fight with the Ji Xings, were the thoughts filling their hearts also simply wanting to live?

Only by living would there be a future.

He wanted a future.

Didn’t want to die.

But…

What He even less wanted to do was launch an attack on Su Li.

Didn’t want to hurt him—this was no longer just out of fear of another world consciousness whose existence was unknown, but simply not wanting to harm Su Li.

His heart was pierced through, his thinking began to blur, and the “core” deep in his heart was already vaguely on the edge of shattering.

But Su Li pulled out the blade.

Surprise, joy, disbelief—various emotions were displayed.

He could only hear the young man before him say coldly: “Undo the ‘stop’ on this world.”

Even if it was just a command, even if it might only be because Su Li had no way to resolve this stoppage that He was allowed to act and continue living, He would still feel happy about it.

“I seem to be… going mad.” He covered the heart area that rapidly healed after the straight blade was withdrawn.

The thump-thump beating sound made Him feel for the first time in history what it meant to be truly alive.

But at the same time, the stopped world also began to operate again.