Chapter 539 - 480: Fu Tailan - Bullshit Guest

Chapter 539: Chapter 480: Fu Tailan - Bullshit Guest

...What was entropy again?

Fu Tailan felt like he’d heard of it somewhere before—at school, maybe? Or was it in a science book? A sci-fi novel?

But he couldn’t for the life of him understand why it would appear in a Nest, why it would appear here and now.

’...Is entropy something you can see?’

But even as he stared at it, dumbfounded, Fu Tailan couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing.

He couldn’t even describe it.

Normally, if his eyes "saw" something, it had to be because light was reflecting into them and forming a visual signal. He may have skipped a lot of classes, but he knew that much. Yet when Fu Tailan instinctively widened his eyes to get a better look, the sensation was like wearing a VR headset to view reality.

No, that wasn’t right.

It felt more like... like wearing "reality glasses" to look at VR.

Though he knew Kai Luonan was right behind him, and that this was no time to indulge his curiosity, Fu Tailan couldn’t help but close his eyes.

The ’entropy’ was still there, present in the darkness of his vision.

If he had to make an analogy, ’entropy’ was like a thick, billowing cloud of steam, omnipresent, filling his senses. But it was definitely not steam.

Countless motes of ’entropy’ roiled and scattered, expanding outward from the Illusion, overwhelming everything. They seemed to scald the very texture of space until it warped—charred and hardened, fibers loosening, swelling and cracking, flaking away, screams detaching, decay spreading, silt depositing, suffocation cocooning...

For a moment, Fu Tailan’s consciousness ceased to exist.

The distinction between ’entropy’ and himself dissolved. There was no longer a Fu Tailan, for his body had long since disintegrated, swept away with the rest of the world into countless chaotic, disordered torrents. It wasn’t until he gasped and forced his eyes open that he felt his own body again. The world spun, and he nearly collapsed.

Kai Luonan spoke.

"Giving up so soon?" he commanded. "Keep watching."

He didn’t need to be told. Fu Tailan couldn’t help himself; his gaze returned to the ’entropy’.

He could see it whether his eyes were open or closed.

And whether he understood it or not, he couldn’t *not* look.

The ’entropy’ filled heaven and earth. The moment he directed his gaze into it, it seemed to multiply more and more and more more more more morechaosdisintegrationfragmentationreassemblydiffusionclutterredundancyconversionconversionconversionunusuableunusableunusableuncertainuncertaindegeneration-scream-degenerationrandom-extinctionanti-extinctionlife life life random random lifedisorderstrikemoremorerandomlycannotfindnoformshatter

When Fu Tailan came to his senses, he realized he was screaming. He had no idea how long he’d been at it.

The sounds and language erupting from his mouth were no different from those of the denizens—

"What’s happening what’s happening don’t look I don’t want to look what’s going on give it back I can’t hold on my sanity give me back order I I give it back me why can’t I hold what I’m producing entropy why why entropy wh—"

He abruptly choked off the scream.

Fu Tailan couldn’t stay on his feet. He stumbled backward and fell to the ground, drenched in a cold sweat. The Perception Illusion lay several feet away, as if he’d thrown it for burning his hand.

He didn’t even remember throwing it.

The underground hall was empty and clean, save for the Candle Tears, himself, and Kai Luonan.

There were no scattered entrails, no father, no Path. And he could no longer see the ’entropy’.

Fu Tailan touched his throat. He opened his mouth, but couldn’t say anything—no, he didn’t dare to.

He was a Genius Hunter; he recognized the voice of a denizen.

"Those without ??? cannot bear the truth of the world. Damian thought it merely blurred the boundaries of reality. He wasn’t wrong, but he didn’t understand *how* ??? blurs those boundaries. Alas, hatred makes one as blind as love."

Kai Luonan slowly squatted down beside him. The shadow of his face gradually pressed in from the edge of Fu Tailan’s vision.

It eclipsed his peripheral view like a solar eclipse.

"You saw it, didn’t you?" Kai Luonan said in a low voice. "The massive amount of ’entropy’ that burst from the Perception Illusion?"

For the first time, Fu Tailan was struck by the powerful realization that he wasn’t grown up yet. He was just as scared as he had been when he got lost in a department store as a child.

Helpless, he could only nod.

"You’re an Illusion Hunter, too. Have you ever wondered why our world produces Nests, denizens, and Illusions?"

’Our world?’ he thought. ’Are there other worlds?’

The thought flashed through his mind. Fu Tailan paused, then answered in a low voice like a child being asked by a teacher if he knew he’d done wrong, "I... I’ve never wondered about that."

’That’s right,’ he thought. ’He’d never wondered why there were Nests in the world.’

It wasn’t surprising, when he thought about it.

He’d probably seen his first Nest at age three and entered his first one at twelve. For Fu Tailan, Nests were just a normal part of the world. It was like how few people ever wonder why the world has a sun, why there are other humans, or why they can see.

Kai Luonan shook his head, seeming to have realized this as well.

"Making a twelve-year-old boy enter a Nest for money... Your father was far too shortsighted. He held a piece of fine jade, yet used it to hammer nails."

He gave a low laugh and stood up. "I’ve thought about this question my entire life. Only tonight did I finally understand that Nests are our world’s way of saving itself."

’What does that mean?’

’He said ’our world’ again...’

Fu Tailan gradually calmed down a little. The shock of seeing the ’entropy’ was already beginning to feel like a nightmare receding from his consciousness.

The life-or-death problem right in front of him was too urgent to allow for any distractions. He had to stall Kai Luonan, just so he could—

’So he could do what?’

’Grab an Illusion and fight back?’

’Turn and run?’

Even though his resistance had been crushed almost as soon as it began, Fu Tailan still had a feeling: the few Illusions he had on him were probably no match for Kai Luonan.

But he still had to try to stall for time, to postpone his own death.

"I don’t understand. Saving itself? Saving itself from what crisis? How can the world save itself? And why would that create Nests?"

As Fu Tailan spoke, he backed away a few steps, putting distance between himself and Kai Luonan. A quick glance had told him that the staircase, which had turned into a wall, was a staircase once more.

"Don’t you find it strange?"

Perhaps it was because Kai Luonan finally had the answer to a question he’d pondered his whole life, and he wanted to talk about it a little more before delivering the killing blow. Or perhaps it was because he held the ???, and that gave him confidence.

"A Nest is such a chaotic, dangerous place that defies all common sense, so why does it always crudely imitate and copy the rules of the human world? Why do the traps in Nests always have patterns and rules to them? Why do Illusions have clear functions, like electronic devices?"

Whatever the answer was, if Fu Tailan wanted to live, he had to prolong this conversation.

"What’s the reason?"

The words had barely left his mouth when Fu Tailan added, "And what exactly is ’entropy’?"

"Entropy is chaos, disorder, uncertainty. It is degenerating energy. An isolated system always develops in the direction of increasing entropy. The universe is one giant, isolated system."

Kai Luonan glanced around the hall, a sudden wave of emotion seeming to wash over him. "The increase of entropy in our world has far exceeded the normal rate. If we don’t hit the brakes, if we don’t fight against it and just keep accelerating toward a state of maximum chaos, the world will fall into heat death—in other words, the death of the universe."

’If I’d known this was coming, I would’ve gone to class more often back in the day.’

"However, the increase of entropy is irreversible, yet our world continues to experience it at a high and sustained rate. So, it has to save itself. It has to turn disorder into order. And that is why there is—"

Kai Luonan stopped mid-sentence.

His eyes were still fixed on Fu Tailan, but his attention seemed to have been called away.

In the vast, deathly silent hall, Kai Luonan slowly tilted his head, as if listening to something Fu Tailan couldn’t hear.

"Ah, and here I was, hoping to have a proper chat with a bright kid like you."

Kai Luonan sounded somewhat regretful. "Such a nimble mind. It’s a real shame it has to be destroyed by my own hand before it can serve its final purpose and offer me a few more possibilities."

"Wait, I can chat with you, don’t be hasty—"

"Too late," Kai Luonan said with a slow smile. "We have company."