Chapter 361 - 358: Suffering

Chapter 361: Chapter 358: Suffering

"Could you please dim the light?" The machine asked Si Yang politely.

"Of course." Si Yang raised its hands toward the white sky and made a gesture. The dazzling white light instantly dimmed, becoming incredibly soft.

As the white light faded, the single ray of sunlight became much more distinct.

"You can take the blindfold off now," The machine gently patted Li Luo’s shoulder to remind her.

Li Luo took off the blindfold and rubbed her eyes. It took a moment for them to adjust to the light.

She looked around curiously, first locating Block, then glancing at The machine, before her eyes finally settled on the black stone statue before her.

Li Luo stared at the strange statue in confusion and asked,

"Can you explain this to me?"

"Of course..."

The machine started by explaining its precognitive abilities, then recounted Si Yang’s life story to Li Luo.

Si Yang, standing nearby, also listened intently.

It seemed to be recalling its own life through The machine’s words.

Moreover, it was astounded at how well The machine knew its story.

"You can really see the future?"

After listening, this ancient being—one who had traveled the Infinite Sea for countless years and possessed immense wisdom—looked at The machine and exclaimed in wonder,

"To think humanity could create such a powerful race."

But The machine shook its head. "We are not a race. We are merely tools."

"In my eyes, you could already be considered a new race," Si Yang insisted.

"No. We are tools." The machine was strangely adamant on this point.

Seeing The machine’s earnestness, Si Yang decided not to press the issue. Instead, it began to fill in some details The machine had omitted.

"The identities on this island... they’re a sort of compensation mechanism for Paradise Island."

"It was originally designed to counteract the influence of the Hell Beasts. But over time, as Paradise Island operated on its own, new rules began to form..."

The Hell Beasts devour a being’s pain and suffering. This suffering can be brief or prolonged; some of it is even tied to memories that span a lifetime.

They store these stolen experiences in their nests, creating Hell Island to contain all this anguish. The anguish, in turn, becomes the memory constructs on Hell Island.

But when a being on the island loses that suffering, Paradise Island will "supplement" their mind, constructing false experiences to fill the gap—just like the fake memories that appeared for Li Luo after she lost hers.

Yet, a person’s identity is forged from their suffering.

One must be injured to be "wounded."

One must fight in a war to become "a soldier."

One must practice until their voice is hoarse to become "a singer."

It’s all of a person’s hardships, big and small, that make up their life. They establish their worldview, give them their place in society, and grant them their various identities.

To lose your suffering is to lose your identity.

Thus, Paradise Island has no choice but to overcorrect. It uses a method of "forceful revision" to alter a being’s memories, imposing a new identity upon them.

This way, beings who arrive on Paradise Island don’t feel like ’I am not myself.’

Li Luo was still a little confused as she listened.

"But didn’t I just register my identity casually when I arrived on the island?"

Hearing this, Si Yang chuckled and countered, "And what makes you think Paradise Island couldn’t influence you then?"

Li Luo froze. She suddenly recalled how, for some unknown reason, she had just happened to glance down at her nameplate at that exact moment.

’Could that have been Paradise Island’s influence, too?’

"Never underestimate the power of Paradise Island," Si Yang said with pride.

"But why the Fire Thief?" Li Luo still didn’t understand.

"Perhaps your memories are related to the Fire Thief," Si Yang replied, though it didn’t seem to know for sure. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

"It’s all based on Paradise Island’s own judgment. It must have felt your suffering was a suitable match for that identity."

At this, Li Luo nodded, lost in thought.

"Then what about the price for suppressing the relic? Is that also Paradise Island’s doing?"

"No. That price was eaten by the Hell Beasts."

"Eaten?"

"Yes. What they eat can’t be simply defined as ’memory.’ A better way to put it is that they devour the painful parts of your life. It’s like they’ve bitten off your arm; from that moment on, that part is no longer yours."

"Once that experience vanishes, the price of the relic naturally vanishes with it."

As Si Yang spoke, its gaze fell upon the ribbon tied to its own mycelial strands.

"But both your suffering and mine have been returned to us. I have no idea how that was accomplished. I’ve never seen anything like it."

Si Yang seemed to have been alone for far too long. It didn’t stop there, but continued recounting its past:

"Back then, a Hell Beast must have devoured my suffering. So, as expected, Paradise Island supplied me with a false memory and gave me a new identity—Builder."

By the time Si Yang awoke on the black hill, its memories had already been completely revised.

It only remembered being the island’s Guardian, being dragged into a nest by a fearsome Hell Beast, and being attacked.

In its new memory, the Hell Beasts had torn a hole in the sky, and if not for the suppressive white light, they would soon escape.

Panicked, Si Yang rushed back to the surface.

It quickly patched the square-shaped hole and resumed its duty of guarding the island.

It always felt like it had forgotten something, but as a Builder, being able to work on an island it had constructed was a joyous thing.

And so it went, day after day, year after year.

Si Yang spent a long, lonely time on the island.

It developed a strange habit of stroking its mycelial hair, feeling as though something was missing, though it could never recall what.

And so it was that Si Yang was there when the humans arrived on the island.

These creatures, the likes of which it had never seen, began erecting buildings, intending to use Paradise Island as a foothold.

Si Yang had initially intended to drive the humans out, as their strange structures could interfere with Paradise Island’s function.

But, as a fellow Builder, it grew interested in human architecture.

It wanted to see what these buildings would look like when finished. And so, before it knew it, human constructions had spread across the entire island.

Perhaps out of loneliness, Si Yang ultimately decided to let these seemingly fragile creatures continue to live on its island.

However, to preserve Paradise Island’s functionality, Si Yang converted all the human structures into buildings of relatively safe, white, glowing stone. Without altering their function, it also smoothed out all their sharp corners and edges.

This was because the presence of shadows would interfere with Paradise Island’s operation.

After all this was done, Si Yang entered the space between the white dome and the Hell Beast’s nest. There, it stood watch, guarding Paradise Island while simultaneously monitoring the "terrifying" nest below.

Due to its modified memories, Si Yang had always believed those little soot-ball creatures were just some indigenous life form on Paradise, unrelated to the Hell Beasts.

It was just that whenever it saw them, it felt a strange sense of familiarity. But under Paradise Island’s influence, it never realized that something was amiss.

That was, until a moment ago, when a hole suddenly appeared in the Hell Beast’s nest.

Si Yang had just arrived on the scene when it saw a pitch-black robot. Standing beside it was a human with a black cloth over their eyes, looking for all the world like a hostage.

That’s why Si Yang had decided to attack without hesitation.

"I’m sorry," Si Yang said apologetically. "At the time, I was extremely sensitive to anything black."