Chapter 861

【 THE REINCARNATED AMNESIAC 】

Looking at the dimming star above her Divine Kingdom, Evé let out a soft sigh.

“A player has died in the real world…”

She had always known that this day would eventually come.

The fact that a player had only now died in real life, after Elven Kingdom had been operating on Earth for a year and a half and had already summoned more than two million players, could already be considered surprisingly late.

Although time flowed four times faster in the Universe of Seiguës than on Earth, elves lived, on average, twelve to fifteen times longer than humans.

In other words, even if Elven Kingdom continued operating indefinitely, the players would still be the first to reach the end of their lives and pass away, one after another, long before most of the NPCs ever reached the end of theirs.

And that was without even taking into account the various accidents and unexpected circumstances that could occur in the real world.

Life was powerful, but it was also incredibly fragile.

The players who feared no death and charged fearlessly into battle in Seiguës were, in the Universe of Earth, nothing more than ordinary people living ordinary lives.

A car accident, a sudden illness, or an unexpected fire could take their lives in an instant.

Not everyone was like Evé, capable of traveling to another world after death and directly becoming a lofty divine being.

For ordinary people, death meant the end.

It meant being forgotten.

It meant being left behind by a world that continued turning without them, indifferent to the lives that had already passed…

Death… for ordinary people, was something that became more terrifying and tragic the more one thought and imagined about it.

With another soft sigh, Evé raised her hand and swiped it through the air.

Divine power surged, and it morphed into an interface screen showing a particular scene on the trunk of the World Tree. It showed Nightingale painfully embracing Boxlunch’s body, along with his teammates standing nearby, their eyes red and tears welling up as they struggled to contain their grief.

“So it was Boxlunch…”

Evé murmured his name softly.

She knew this player.

He was the number one player on Elven Kingdom’s combat leaderboard, the record holder for the longest online playtime, and the player who had cleared the most dungeons in the shortest amount of time. Over the course of his time in the game, he had accumulated far too many titles and achievements to count.

And now, with his death, everything had come to an end.

In truth, Evé was not particularly surprised by Boxlunch’s death.

As the sole developer of Elven Kingdom, she knew the specific real-world circumstances of every player she had summoned. As such, she had naturally known about Boxlunch’s identity and the condition of his body for a long time.

Nonetheless, knowing it would happen was one thing. But actually witnessing one of the outstanding players she had personally summoned die in the real world was another.

Even Evé, who had witnessed countless separations between life and death in the Universe of Seiguës and had seen the same tragedies reflected in the memories of her believers, could not help feeling a trace of sadness.

Of course, being saddened by his death was one thing.

More importantly, his death had finally provided her with an opportunity to verify an idea she had conceived long ago…

With that thought, Evé quickly established a connection with Boxlunch’s dimming star and projected a portion of her consciousness toward it…

The moment she linked her consciousness to it, Evé felt as though she had crossed the boundless cosmic expanse, or perhaps traversed an infinite stretch of time as her consciousness seemed to break through some mysterious boundary separating the two universes.

Countless stars streaked past behind her, while the space around her seemed to stretch and distort into countless magnificent, boundless streams of light. For a moment, she felt as though she were being carried through an endless passageway connecting two completely different worlds…

Finally, after what seemed like eternity, the endless light appeared to reach its destination.

Her field of vision suddenly changed, and Evé saw an incomparably familiar planet.

Deep blue and beautiful, like a precious pearl suspended in the vastness of the universe.

It was Earth.

Her former home.

At this moment, through the brief link that connected her consciousness after Boxlunch’s death, Evé had, for the first time, truly projected her divine power into the world of Earth!

“Earth… I’m finally back.”

Looking at the beautiful planet before her, Evé murmured with a complicated expression.

The next moment, she lightly leaped forward, and the projection formed from her divine consciousness vanished from its original location.

༺⟐༻

Earth, Tianchao, Spring City.

High-rise buildings stood densely packed together, while automated electric vehicles streamed continuously through the streets. Drones responsible for maintaining the city’s landscaping flew back and forth through the garden-like parks on both sides of the roads, trimming the plants. Before long, the branches and dead leaves they cut down were cleared away by street-cleaning robots.

Suddenly, faint radiance gathered beside the road, and Evé’s figure slowly materialized among the passing crowds.

However, oddly enough, her sudden appearance did not attract anyone’s attention.

No one stopped to look at her or seemed to notice that another figure had suddenly appeared among the pedestrians.

In fact, Evé had not even deliberately used her divine power to conceal herself. Rather, it seemed that some unseen force had naturally separated her from Earth, preventing her from truly physically intersecting with this world.

In a sense, she had managed to return to Earth, yet at the same time, she was not truly here in the physical sense…

Her current state was more like an illusory projection that existed alongside reality without being able to interfere with it.

Evé was not particularly surprised or disappointed by this as ever since Elven Kingdom had become popular on Earth, she had repeatedly attempted to project her power into this world.

Even then, she had discovered that no matter how much divine power she expended to project herself into Earth, she was still unable to interfere with its actual physical reality.

If she had to make an analogy, her projection was like a mirror that could not itself be observed.

As a “being” within the mirror, Evé could see, observe, and perceive the world of Earth as it truly was, yet she simply could not directly affect anything within it.

The only things Evé could influence were the digital world of the internet and the incorporeal world of human consciousness that had become deeply interconnected with the internet in the post-modern information age…

What she could truly touch was “consciousness,” something that even Earth’s most advanced scientists had yet to fully understand.

Of course, it was precisely because of this that Evé had gained the ability to summon players’ consciousness and subtly influence the consciousness of certain high-ranking and politically influential individuals on Earth, causing them to pay less attention or outright ignore the increasingly popular game she had created.

However, throughout all her previous attempts, she had only projected a portion of her divine power into this world.

But this time was different.

This time, she had projected her primary consciousness here.

As she walked through the city’s streets, looking at the scenery that was more familiar to her than anything else and sensing the mysterious force of rejection exerted against her by this world, Evé was filled with complicated emotions.

This was the world she knew.

The world she had once lived in.

Yet now, it was rejecting her.

That force of rejection… gave her a very familiar feeling. It seemed to originate from Earth itself, yet at the same time, it seemed to come from deep within the blue sphere that existed within Evé’s soul.

And the more she walked through the city, the stronger that mysterious force of rejection kept becoming.

It was as though the world itself was gradually becoming aware of her presence and was instinctively attempting to push her out.

Not only that, but Evé seemed to sense a vague hostility and warning being transmitted through that force of rejection.

In other words, this force of rejection that she was feeling… seemed to possess a consciousness of its own.

The discovery surprised Evé greatly.

After her initial surprise, however, her gaze gradually deepened.

“Is it… the power of the seal surrounding the Seiguës Universe? It can actually even interfere with worlds in another universe?”

Evé murmured.

Her eyes brightened slightly before gradually becoming deeper. Within that profound gaze flickered a strange light, as though she had suddenly discovered something particularly interesting.

“This is… fear…?”

The corners of her lips lifted slightly.

Since this invisible force of rejection was warning her, that meant she had come to the right place.

It meant that the shadow shrouding the Seiguës Universe was afraid.

Afraid that Evé would project her power into Earth.

Afraid of what she might do after coming here…

“Whatever one’s enemies opposed, one should firmly support.”

As someone who had grown up under the Red Flag,¹ Evé was quite in agreement with this saying.

The stronger this sense of rejection became, the more determined Evé was to continue.

Rather than retreating because the mysterious force was attempting to drive her away, she became even more certain that there was something here worth investigating.

With that thought, she cast the force of rejection aside and continued toward a certain location within the city.

She had come here with a specific purpose.

After passing through an old residential complex, Evé arrived at a somewhat dated apartment building. Compared to the modern high-rises and highly automated streets outside, this place seemed noticeably more modest and old-fashioned.

With a flash of light, her figure quickly vanished from outside the building and reappeared inside the apartment.

Looking around, Evé found that it was a simple and somewhat barren room. There was only a bed, a virtual gaming pod, and a desk covered with medals and awards.

Lying inside the pod was a thin young man.

His features were extremely gaunt, and it was evident that his body had long since reached the end of its strength. The lower portion of his right leg was even missing.

Yet despite his frail appearance, his current face wore a peaceful and satisfied expression.

Sensing the mysterious connection, Evé naturally confirmed his identity: Boxlunch.

—Or rather, his real identity on Earth, the renowned anti-narcotics hero, Li Weiguo…

Of course, that name was not known to outsiders.

In the living room outside, a woman could be heard making a frantic phone call, apparently calling for emergency medical assistance.

Of course, it was already too late.

At this moment, the body inside the pod had already completely lost all signs of life.

Evé slowly walked over to Boxlunch’s body.

She looked at him quietly for a moment before extending a hand and gently pointing forward.

The dim star representing Boxlunch separated from her Divine Kingdom and materialized within the world of Earth.

The moment it appeared, specks of radiant light began gathering around it. The faint starlight gradually intensified, and an illusory figure slowly took shape before Evé.

It was the soul of the player known as Boxlunch.

Then, Evé gently waved her hand and pulled the illusory figure toward herself.

༺⟐༻

Boxlunch awoke to the crisp sound of birds chirping.

Slowly, he opened his eyes and groggily looked at his surroundings.

Before his eyes was a magnificent and imposing divine temple.

Outside the temple, lush forests stretched as far as the eye could see, filled with fragrant flowers, creating a scene that resembled a verdant paradise.

Looking at this unfamiliar sight, Boxlunch’s gaze was somewhat dazed…

—Wait.

Shouldn’t he already be dead?

He lowered his head and looked at himself. To his astonishment, all the injuries he had suffered over the years had completely healed!

He hurriedly stood up and looked around the temple, still unable to make sense of what was happening.

Eventually, he caught sight of his reflection in a nearby mirror.

It was not “Boxlunch.”

It was his real appearance as “Li Weiguo.”

Only, this was a healthy and completely unharmed version of himself!

“Is… is this a dream?”

His eyes widened as he stared at his reflection in disbelief.

“No. This is the Goddess’s Divine Kingdom.”

A clear and melodious voice came from behind him, immediately attracting Boxlunch’s attention.

His heart stirred. He swiftly turned around, and his eyes immediately widened.

What greeted him was a beautiful being with butterfly-like wings, her entire figure bathed in holy light.

It was none other than one of the most renowned Mythical-rank NPCs in Elven Kingdom, the Fairy King, Feynir!

“L-Lady Feynir!?… I… huh? Am I still in the game?”

For a moment, Boxlunch’s gaze was filled with confusion.

The Fairy King smiled gently.

“No.”

“You are already dead, Sir Boxlunch.”

Boxlunch: “…”

He stood there in a daze for two seconds before falling silent.

Because he discovered that there was no longer a game interface in his field of vision, nor was there a logout button anywhere.

“What… what’s going on?”

He could not help asking.

“You are currently in the Garden of Eden.”

Feynir gave him a mischievous smile.

“Sir Boxlunch, everything you have done for the World of Seiguës, for the elves, and for our great Goddess has been seen by Her Grace.”

“You truly are one of the best Chosen Ones! Therefore, to thank you for your contributions, Her Divine Grace has provided you with a new choice after death…”

As Feynir spoke, she smiled at Boxlunch.

“Sir Boxlunch, would you like to begin a new life in another world?”

Boxlunch froze.

To say that Feynir’s words delivered an enormous shock to him would be an understatement.

However, as someone whose thinking had always been meticulous, he managed to infer something from her words. It was something he found difficult to believe, yet had no choice but to accept if he wanted to make sense of his current situation.

That was…

Elven Kingdom might not merely be a game after all.

And the Goddess of Life… might actually exist!

And the World of Seiguës was not simply a fictional world created for a VR game!

“Looks like you’ve already figured it out.”

Feynir smiled faintly and continued:

“That’s right. Elven Kingdom isn’t merely a game. It is a real, fully functioning world, and the Goddess of Life truly does exist.”

“The game’s setting in which the Goddess summoned players from another world, and everything else aren’t merely meant to create immersion. Her Grace really did summon you players from that world called Earth, specifically your consciousnesses, and link them with your avatars.”

After hearing the Fairy King’s explanation, Boxlunch fell silent.

It was not until her next words reached his ears that he suddenly raised his head.

“Sir Boxlunch, as a Chosen One who has earned the recognition of Her Grace, would you like to truly be reborn in the World of Seiguës and become an elf?”

Reborn in the World of Seiguës?!

Could it be… the thing he had fantasized about countless times in the past can actually happen?

Could he… really begin a completely new life here?

At this moment, Boxlunch suddenly became excited.

No one understood the value of life better than he did. If given the opportunity, he truly wanted to see that beautiful world again, talk with his friends again, and watch the sunrise over the Elven Forest with that adorable elven girl…

“Is… is this really true? Or am I dreaming right now?”

Boxlunch could not help asking.

“Of course it’s true.”

Feynir smiled.

“However… as a reincarnated person, you will have to pay a certain price. You can only obtain the qualifications for reincarnation if you agree to pay that price.”

“What is it?”

Boxlunch was silent for a moment before looking up and asking.

“Your memories.”

Feynir replied.

“My memories?”

For some reason, Boxlunch suddenly felt nervous.

At that moment, Nightingale’s figure flashed through his mind, followed by scenes of him playing the game with his teammates.

He… did not want to lose these precious memories.

“That’s right, your memories. More precisely, all your memories of Earth. Everything you remember about your life on Earth will be erased, or rather… sealed.”

“Of course, your personality and personal abilities will be preserved. With the power of Her Grace supporting you, your sense of self will not change when your memories are sealed. In addition, your memories from the game will be preserved, as will your memory of having once had your memories erased.”

Feynir continued.

Having said that, she looked at Boxlunch with a smile.

“In other words, you will descend upon the World of Seiguës as a reincarnated person with amnesia. Not only that, you can even retain your in-game character’s strength, your attributes, as well as your avatar’s appearance.”

“However, from the perspective of the players in the real world, from the moment you appear, the player named Boxlunch will have passed away on Earth. At the same time, Elven Kingdom will gain an NPC who inherited Boxlunch’s in-game memories, an NPC character commemorating the player Boxlunch, a memorial character, so to speak, whose setting is that of a reincarnated person who has lost his memories.”

“From the NPCs’ perspective, you will be a Chosen One who died in another world and was reincarnated in this world as an elf.”

“This method is not something being forced upon you. It is a choice being offered to you. Alternatively, you can also choose to erase all your memories, completely start from scratch, and reincarnate as a new Primordial Elf, beginning an entirely new life.”

“Of course, no matter how you choose to reincarnate, you will no longer be the immortal Fourth Calamity player you once was, and shall lose your ability to repeatedly revive.”

¹ The 红旗 “red flag” in this sentence refers to the Chinese Communist Party and the socialist state, particularly the political and ideological environment of the People’s Republic of China.

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