Chapter 689 - 445: Dialogue

Chapter 689: Chapter 445: Dialogue

There really was a response.

Pari had also told them they could try asking this person.

Aikator.

"Hello?" Kumironi offered a polite greeting.

"We have a friend who entered this place and got trapped in an infinite Time loop."

"We’re very worried about it, so we thought we’d come and see for ourselves."

Kumironi explained their purpose in a friendly manner.

Kumironi didn’t immediately assume the person was an enemy, still intending to have a friendly conversation and understand the situation first.

"Since you know that coming here will subject your Time to a Curse, trapping you in an endless loop of resets and Reincarnation, why did you still come?"

It was Izparut’s decision to come here.

He believed he had a way to solve the problem of temporal Reincarnation, and besides, he was very interested in this place.

So, he wanted to come and have a look.

Because if what Lu Cang said was true, then this world was indeed already in danger.

"Because... we were worried about our companion, I suppose."

Kumironi responded.

The voice from inside vanished again, leaving only the lingering, indistinct noise.

’Did the person on the other side not want to respond, or were they just thinking about how to answer?’

Iz studied the patterns on the door, pondering the Magic of Time.

Lu Cang had been to this door more than once.

In fact, he’d learned something new each time.

For example, when he brought others into these ruins, they were still able to leave normally—at least from his perspective.

Lu Cang could lead them out without any issues.

He wouldn’t see them vanish into thin air, entering their own temporal Reincarnation.

At first, he had wondered if they had already entered the Reincarnation of Time.

That when he led them out, they were actually versions of themselves who had already been through the Reincarnation.

But if that were the case, their experiences should have been much richer.

Yet after he brought them out, they still acted lost and clueless.

They didn’t know what had happened, nor did they show any signs of having actually experienced a time reset.

Later, he learned of Izparut’s theory.

Izparut’s theory explained that the time experienced during a reset also passes in real time.

And the version of oneself in real time would be equivalent to someone who entered the ruins and never came back out.

As if they had vanished into thin air.

If this could happen to him, then he should see the same thing happen to others.

Therefore, Lu Cang guessed...

The time reset didn’t happen to everyone who entered the ruins.

The biggest variable was encountering the Future Izparut during his first time in the ruins.

According to Izparut’s speculation, Iz also felt that his future self was the one orchestrating it.

It seemed he had deliberately triggered the ruins to trap Lu Cang in the reset.

"Worried?"

"Isn’t he in a great state?"

"In one temporal Reincarnation after another, he has gained a near-eternal amount of Time."

"An opportunity like this is something most people could only dream of, wouldn’t you say?"

The voice from inside was extremely flat and flippant.

Devoid of any emotional fluctuation.

But it seemed she was finally willing to talk.

"Mm..."

"Yes... it is quite good, I suppose," Kumironi replied.

"But this space-time isn’t ultimately his own."

"The people in his own space-time must be worried about him too."

Hearing Kumironi’s answer, Aikator paused for a moment.

Her tone tinged with confusion, she retorted, "Have you ever considered that you are all just people existing within a simulation?"

"That in this entire world, he is the only real one."

"If he truly leaves and goes back, all of you will dissipate along with him."

As soon as she said this,

everyone froze.

Her words had all but negated the existence of everyone present.

Leaving only Lu Cang.

To Iz and the others, it was as if she was saying that everything they had experienced, everything they had done, was all fake.

That everything revolved around him alone.

And once he returned to his original world,

their world would disappear.

"Is that really true?"

"If I’m not mistaken, this isn’t some simulated space-time, is it?" Iz replied earnestly.

"You have that much faith in your own judgment?" the voice from inside questioned.

Iz laughed. "Haha, if a person doesn’t believe in themself, who can they believe in?"

"Besides, so what if we disappear?"

"Whether real or virtual, I am who I am. The me that exists right now is the real me."

Iz’s every word was resolute, without a hint of wavering.

The voice from inside paused once more.

Then, it asked again with a hint of confusion, "And what would happen?"

"To not exist is to disappear."

"You are not the real you. Isn’t that terrifying? For someone to suddenly tell you one day that you aren’t real, that you were simulated by someone else, a by-product of their world, and that you will completely disappear the moment time is up, or even at a single thought."

Chi Cheng scratched his head and answered, "It does sound pretty terrifying."

"But in reality, it doesn’t really matter, does it?"

"I’m an Adventurer. When I face danger, I’m sometimes already prepared to die."

"For the vast majority of Adventurers, even when we know our lives are at risk, don’t we still take action anyway?"

"Instead of thinking about such profound questions, I’d rather think about what to eat tomorrow, or wonder if using a different move during my last fight with that Demon would have been better."

"You’re telling us all this... Don’t tell me you’re the one with this problem?" Chi Cheng asked curiously.

At this question, however, the other side fell silent once more.

For a full five minutes, there was no further response from the other side of the door.

"Uh, did I hit his sore spot?" Chi Cheng whispered to the others via telepathy.

"Looks like it," Lu Cang responded.

"Usually, people who bring up these kinds of issues have experienced something similar themselves..."

"I’ve heard that Aikator once had a tragic and deeply regrettable past. You might have just hit a nerve."

Uhh...

Chi Cheng felt a little awkward.

Hitting someone’s sore spot right off the bat probably wasn’t a good thing.

’Maybe she’ll fly into a rage out of sheer embarrassment.’

"Should I just tell her I was just making things up?"

Chi Cheng muttered under his breath.

"Wouldn’t that just make her angrier?"

"You’re probably right."

Just as Chi Cheng was wondering how to take back what he’d just said,

the voice spoke again.

"You... want to come in, don’t you?"

Lu Cang: "Can we?"

The many times he had come to this door before, he had never been able to open it.

An Su had tried to force it open, but she ended up suffering a backlash.

She had been thrown even further into a past space-time.

Now, unbelievably, he was hearing an invitation to enter.

The voice from inside said uncertainly, "Mhm."

"Perhaps... perhaps you can."