Chapter 513 - 510: An Unattainable Ideal

Chapter 513: Chapter 510: An Unattainable Ideal

The colors of the starry sky shifted continuously. The voice of the Eye of the Stars traveled along the red light, reaching every point of light. But under the suppression of a brown filter, those points of light were rendered immobile.

Moreover, a deep lens drew ever closer, staring intently at the starry sky. The brown filter grew darker and darker, and a low hum filled the air, making the atmosphere increasingly oppressive. It was as if warning the Eye of the Stars to abandon its resistance.

But the Eye of the Stars remained adamant, continuing to voice its deepest hopes.

"If light understood darkness, it would not so recklessly venture into the shadows."

"If darkness understood light, it would not hide in lonely corners, fleeing that piercing warmth."

"If Life and Death could understand one another, they would not torment each other. They exist because of each other, yet the opposition of their physical forms makes them mortal enemies. They could have been the best of friends."

"Children would not wait until they were grown to understand their parents, and parents would realize they had created an independent individual with a mind of their own. Once they understood each other, they would be closer than ever before."

"Wars would not begin, conflicts would not erupt. All beings would have the leisure to appreciate the world’s beauty. Consciousness would have no hierarchy; they could inhabit any physical form and experience lives they never had before."

The Eye of the Stars described all the hopes within its heart, its voice gradually beginning to tremble.

"What a beautiful starry sky that would be. A sky of absolute freedom."

It tried with all its might to convey the vision in its heart. But even after hearing all this, Lord Ying merely gazed at it with indifference. From within the deep lens, an endless cold emanated.

"Cease activation. This is a warning."

"Why! Don’t you have a heart? Are you truly so selfish? Is the unification of the world so worthless in your eyes?" the Eye of the Stars demanded angrily.

"You are the selfish one. You should have seen it long ago—it’s an impossible dream. It is precisely because the stars are separate that they create a dazzling night sky. What’s important isn’t the stars, but the unremarkable darkness between them. You’ve known this all along. Stop being so obstinate."

Lord Ying’s cold words stung the heart of the Eye of the Stars. The starry sky flickered once more as a fierce red light illuminated the land.

"How can we know if we don’t try? It must be possible... It must be possible to connect all the stars..."

But Lord Ying cut it off again, its voice devoid of mercy.

"You can’t even persuade me. You can’t even break through my defenses. How do you expect to break through the defenses of the entire abyss?"

"You are too naive. You believe activation is the prerequisite for linking consciousness, but activation will only bring disaster. All beings are selfish. They pursue only their own interests, clinging desperately to their own consciousness. They will not share the world with other minds; they will only seek to seize an ever-larger portion for themselves."

"As wolves, they will want to eat more sheep. As sheep, they will want to eat more grass. As grass, they will strive to absorb more nutrients."

"Greed is the nature of life. Or rather, life itself was born from greed. The desire to seize more matter gave birth to the cell. To compete with other cells, they combined into more powerful multicellular organisms, constantly evolving, constantly struggling, all to satisfy their selfish nature."

"They fight for food, for living space, for mating rights... Life is an infinitely spreading plague of greed. Selfishness is their very nature. And you want them to abandon their sense of self to rule the world together?"

"They will only try to eliminate other consciousnesses or ensure their own consciousness dominates. They won’t care about any dazzling starlight. Give them freedom, and they will just take control of one star and smash it into another, forcing all matter to fuse into an even more powerful star."

"Once all that matter has coalesced, it will only collapse under its own mass. Endless greed will stitch all consciousnesses together, becoming a black hole of consciousness that devours everything."

"You are not creating a sky of freedom, but a black hole that will destroy everything."

"Extremes breed their opposites. Trying to fill the gaps between the stars will only turn everything to nothing. The gaps don’t exist to separate us, but to protect us... to protect us from being devoured by each other’s gravity and collapsing into pure, disordered chaos."

Lord Ying’s words struck like a heavy hammer, sending the Eye of the Stars’ emotions into turmoil once more. The piercing red light flashed like an alarm, nearly penetrating the brown filter.

"A black hole... of consciousness? Disordered chaos?" the Eye of the Stars repeated in disbelief.

The Block where the starlight converged stood like a silent statue, a constant reminder to the Eye of the Stars that the void was indeed real.

Infinite darkness, endless silence, an absolutely insatiable greed. Consciousness poured into it like a flood, yet it could never be filled.

When the starry sky is extinguished, only darkness will remain. All the starlight will be drawn into that void, swallowed whole. All consciousness will be utterly destroyed, and everything in the world will become inert, "dead matter."

"Is this the ’world peace’ you desire?" Lord Ying’s chilling voice rang out again, echoing through the forest shrouded by the filter, striking again and again at the Eye of the Stars’ heart.

’Yes... when everything is "dead," it is indeed "world peace."’

’But by then, there would be no starlight left. The stars would all be dead. Everything would be over.’

’And of course, there would be no more struggle, no more war, no more conflict...’

The red light pulsed for a long time before finally subsiding once more.

"You brought the void to me just so I could see it with my own eyes, just so I could feel despair firsthand... didn’t you?" the Eye of the Stars asked, its voice laced with despair.

’It understood now. This was all part of Lord Ying’s plan.’

’Lord Ying’s primary objective wasn’t to find it, but to bring this void of consciousness into the starlight, to make it witness the extinction of consciousness firsthand, to lay the cruel truth bare before its eyes and completely shatter its illusions.’

"How cruel..."

Upon realizing all this, the Eye of the Stars felt, contrary to expectation, a profound sense of calm.

Faint starlight flickered. Facing the deep lens, it spoke with self-mockery, "You must understand me very well to have devised such a tactic."

"I don’t understand you at all," Lord Ying retorted directly. "I simply know more than you and consider things more thoroughly. I am not as naive as you, nor as foolish."

Hearing these deeply insulting words, the Eye of the Stars felt no anger. It knew that everything Lord Ying said was the truth.

"Still... where did you find this void?"