“Another possibility beyond destruction?”
“Is this asking me to play the role of a savior in this nightmare fragment instance? What is this, a savior drill?”
The system’s mission settlement threw Bai Yi into a brainstorming session.
“No, that’s fundamentally an impossible mission. The world where the nightmare fragment instance exists is beyond salvation. The time point when the instance begins is too late. If it were before everything happened, perhaps the fate of destruction could be changed. But at the point the instance begins, the world had already been destroyed by ninety percent, right?”
“So the key is ‘redemption’?”
“Every nightmare fragment instance’s mission comes from the deepest desire within the character’s heart. The so-called ‘redemption’ doesn’t necessarily mean stopping the world’s destruction...”
“In fact, the little girl in the instance might not even be aware that the world is being destroyed. So her belief and obsession should originate from her own understanding of the world...”
In an extremely short time, a massive brainstorming session unfolded in Bai Yi’s mind. He suddenly remembered something and couldn’t help but snap his fingers.
“Aha, I’ve got it, her obsession.”
“—Becoming the mother of a monster, and her mother’s long-standing yearning and pursuit of the sun.”
—If that child, in real history, had ended her life wandering and running in eternal night, even transforming into a monster, then, not knowing the world was being destroyed, her deepest wish before dying would surely be to see her mother in human form again, and she would absolutely not want to become a monster herself. Perhaps she had also longed to understand what sun her mother chased, unable to help but look forward to the day she might realize her mother’s dream.
By achieving these things, wouldn’t he have redeemed her entire world?
Bai Yi simply summarized. “So, what I need to do next is research how to restore the slime monster back to human form?” —This should be the core element of clearing the instance.
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Bai Yi stared eye-to-eye with Bai Xiaoxi, who was crouching on the blanket. He fell into a brief contemplation.
After his contemplation, Bai Yi let out a light sigh. He pushed up non-existent glasses on the bridge of his nose, put on a serious expression, and raised Bai Xiaoxi high with both hands, like lifting a magical artifact, his movements reminiscent of a magical girl’s transformation prelude. “Hmm hmm hmm, it’s time for Bai·Genius Researcher·Yi to take the stage!”
“Meow meow meow! Meow meow meow!”
“Pets created through special genetic coding are far more intelligent than ordinary humans. This is the terrifying power of a genius researcher!”
While Bai Xiaoxi struggled with flailing paws, Bai Yi brought the cat back down.
He stared seriously into Bai Xiaoxi’s gem-like eyes. “Assistant Bai Xiaoxi, I now have an important mission for you, concerning the redemption plan of an entire nightmare world.”
“...Meow!”
Bai Xiaoxi perked up its ears, its curious gaze mixed with wariness, a wariness seemingly born from being tricked multiple times.
“After visiting that pollution-filled nightmare, I feel I’ve had a breakthrough in healing arts. This might be the key to resolving pollution!” Bai Yi spoke with a cheerful, lively tone, but the next second he pouted, “Of course, this could also be my illusion...”
“So I need to verify it thoroughly.”
Other types of art creation were time-consuming and difficult to verify, but culinary art was the simplest. Especially since this was what Bai Yi was most skilled and confident in.
—He didn’t plan to feed the slime monster, but all art fundamentally involves manipulating spirituality. If he verified a breakthrough in culinary art and made new progress in spiritual manipulation, it would apply to other arts as well.
“As the long-time connoisseur of my culinary art, with an aesthetic sense beyond ordinary humans, Bai Xiaoxi, you are indeed the ultimate feline choice for advanced culinary art appreciation!” Bai Yi once again lifted the cat high, gazing at it with eager and excited eyes.
The soft body in his hands suddenly stiffened, with a subtle tendency to escape, but Bai Yi held it firmly. Three seconds later, Bai Xiaoxi’s perked ears drooped. Looking into the boy’s smiling eyes, it let out a sound of utter resignation.
“...Meow.”
“You’re already excited beyond control.”
Bai Yi pinched the cat’s paws.
“This is justified. You’re about to redeem an entire nightmare world. Hehe, savior cat, charge ahead!”
****
[You have completed seven consecutive world destructions.]
[You have obtained the achievement “Hundred Possibilities of World Destruction”.]
[You have obtained the achievement “World’s Undertaker”.]
[Due to your repeated actions of destroying the world, leaving a profound imprint on the nightmare fragment instance that cannot be completely erased even if everything restarts, your character “Day” has undergone a certain deviation in persona and route within the nightmare fragment instance.]
[Your character “Day” has transformed from an “ordinary little girl with no relatives” to a “mysterious girl with special powers hidden within, who might ignite and destroy the world in extreme emotions if not given positive guidance”.]
Upon entering the nightmare fragment instance again, the first thing that appeared in Bai Yi’s vision was line after line of system notifications.
The eternal night around him was silent to the extreme. He lay on soft soil, with polluted air continuously penetrating his nostrils.
Everything seemed to have started over again.
Only the system’s narration had changed—
[This is a world shrouded in eternal night.]
[From the day you were born, the world you’ve seen is nothing but endless darkness. And the monsters lurking in the depths of the night, said to devour human souls.]
[But you have never seen the existence of monsters.]
[Until recently, when your mother, who was obsessed with chasing the sun and everything related to it, was stalked by monsters while pursuing light, and gradually transformed into a monster before your eyes.]
[Only you miraculously escaped the monsters’ pursuit. You even accidentally ignited the power deep within your soul, transforming into a black sun suspended in the sky, burning away all the pollution before you.]
[You suddenly realized that you are different.]
The calendula radiating solar brilliance was engulfed by the slime monsters.
And Bai Yi standing to the side was completely ignored.
“Just as I thought...”
Watching this scene, Bai Yi completely understood what had happened to the character he was controlling.
Slime monsters themselves were indeed not aggressive and would not hunt humans, but humans merely approaching slime monsters was like approaching an abyss, becoming polluted by their chaotic murmurs.
Because of this, the eternal night world was filled with stories of monsters hunting humans in the black night, as most humans near slime monsters would be polluted and transformed into monsters.
However, slime monsters themselves were like stones, disinclined to move. So walking through the eternal night, if one was lucky enough to avoid places where slime monsters existed, one would be safe.
The only exception was when one carried “light” on themselves.
That would incite the slime monsters’ frenzied pursuit. Even though they would not attack humans, merely approaching during the chase would be a terrifying disaster for humans.
—This was the truth behind “light represents death”.
But this did not mean the slime monsters’ purpose was to eliminate “light”.
Bai Yi’s gaze swept over the slime monsters still continuously gathering, countless monsters almost forming a turbid swamp before him, and in the center of that swamp, amidst the undulating slime, a tiny calendula bloomed, with sun-like flames burning in its core.
All the slime monsters gathered around it, as if in pilgrimage.
The facts were already clear: the slime monsters’ purpose was never to eliminate the “light” suddenly appearing in eternal night. Instead, “light” held infinite attraction for slime monsters in the darkness, and they instinctively approached the light source, like sunflowers yearning for the sun.
Bai Yi quietly observed the scene before him.
“Having lost all reason and emotion, with souls already transformed into misshapen forms, reduced to empty walking corpses, yet still retaining an instinctive longing for light?”
...What a terrifying, what a persistent pursuit this was!
...And how tragic!
“How tragic, isn’t it?”
At that moment, a voice sounded from behind, flat and hoarse, with an uncontrollable tremor. It seemed to contain an emotion that even the voice’s owner could not control.
Bai Yi suddenly turned around, as if just discovering the person’s appearance, his gaze falling on the other, his expression wary.
The person who had suddenly appeared was indeed enough to provoke wariness. Just from their attire, one could frantically sound an alarm.
The newcomer was entirely wrapped in a white robe, from head to toe, without even a hint of a gap, even wearing a white mask on their face. Golden patterns crawled across the mask and robe, seeming to contain a special power that bore some similarity to the healing arts Bai Yi was proficient in.
—Bai Yi roughly discerned that this outfit could weaken the slime monsters’ spiritual pollution, which was why the person could approach this area. After all, this was not one or two, but a large group of slime monsters. Yet even so, the person stopped ten meters away from Bai Yi, showing no intention to come closer.
—It seemed this was the limit of the outfit’s capabilities.
He had almost guessed the other’s identity.
The system’s narration never gave useless information. When first entering the instance, the narration mentioned three people: this character, the deceased mother, and the person who guided the mother to chase the sun—the person appearing now must be similar to that guide.
...Looking at this equipment, they might even have formed an organization.
As these thoughts crossed their mind, Bai Yi was overjoyed. “Great! The guidance NPC from the nightmare fragment instance has come to me!”
...This person must know far more than he did, right?
Moreover, this world clearly possessed extraordinary powers. Perhaps this NPC could even help him change to this world’s extraordinary class?
The newcomer couldn’t know what was going through this seemingly fragile little girl’s mind. He only saw the little girl quickly turn around, her gaze scanning him up and down, her childish face showing unconcealed surprise. Seemingly startled by this strange person’s appearance, she couldn’t help taking a step back, looking at the newcomer with caution and vigilance.
“Who are you?”
The suddenly appearing white-robed person didn’t mind the little girl’s vigilance and wariness at all. His eyes behind the mask burned with wild joy.
“Who I am isn’t important. What’s important is you.”
“I originally came following the guidance of the light element...” but at this moment, he completely ignored the calendula that had attracted him, focusing all his attention on the little girl, “I never expected to find you.”
At this point, his voice trembled even more intensely.
He looked with immense joy at the girl who stood before the swamp formed by countless slime monsters, yet remained completely unaffected by them, like a devotee finally seeing the divine creation described in sacred texts.
Strong excitement drove the white-robed person to involuntarily step forward, but in the next moment, the endless chaotic mumblings from the slime monsters broke through his barrier. He stumbled, his body suddenly dropping to his knees, letting out a slight tremor of either pain or excitement.
But he clearly didn’t care about any of this.
The white-robed person raised his head while trembling, looking up at the girl who had somehow walked in front of him, as if a drowning person had grabbed their final lifeline, as if earnest prayers had finally brought about the descent of a deity.
“Child of the Sun...”
“The prophecy is true...”
He stared at Bai Yi, yet seemed to be looking at someone else. A non-existent, illusory deity in whom all hope was placed.
“O Child of the Sun, forever radiant! Have you finally descended?”
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