1882 Thousands of Possibilities
The road that had been eroded by time for billions of years let out a fragmented groan.
Meng Chao continued to blast his spirit power into the ground. With his palm as the center, the ground within a radius of several dozen meters rose up like an active, growing volcano.
After two or three seconds of a stalemate, the ground below his palm gave way and left a palm-sized hole.
However, Meng Chao looked through the hole and saw nothing.
From his observation of the surrounding roads, all the roads appeared to be more than three to five meters thick.
Yet, this holehad no thickness at all.
It was like a piece of white paper… no, it was thousands of times thinner than a piece of paper or a cicada’s wing. It was like a membrane made of nano-materials. In fact, it did not even have a “membrane.” It was just a two-dimensional plane that lay flat in a three-dimensional s.p.a.ce.
The moment Meng Chao looked into the hole, he was immediately devoured by the rolling black fog.
Lu Siya was clearly on the path right below him. Logically speaking, he should be able to see through the hole.
However, there was nothing in the hole except for the unpredictable black fog.
Meng Chao vaguely understood.
Whatever it was under his feet was more like a bridge than a road. This bridge ran across the vast ocean formed by the chaotic spatial slits…
No, it was not even a bridge. It was a “sea route,” one of the few safe routes on the raging ocean formed by the spatial slits.
As long as anything living or not left the sailing routes, regardless of how, they would be drawn into the random turbulence of the spatial slits and be broken and rea.s.sembled at the molecular or even atomic level. Then, they would be teleported to some random coordinates in the solar system, galaxy, or entire universe.
Meng Chao stood up and looked past the edge of the road at Lu Siya.
Lu Siya had already disappeared at the end of her path.
The corners of Meng Chao’s lips twitched. He did not say anything but retracted his gaze and continued on his path.
He did not know how long he had been walking.
Anyway, he had not felt too tired or hungry for a long time.
A three-way intersection appeared before him again.
The crimson afterimages that Battle G.o.d Lei Zongchao left behind, also split into two again. They then extended toward two different forks, one high and one low.
This time, Meng Chao did not hesitate.
He walked on the left path very naturally.
Once he stepped onto the left path and looked back, the three-way intersection, as well as the right path, disappeared behind him just like his previous choice.
There was only a straight path to the past behind him.
It was as if the choice never existed.
A similar intersection appeared five more times.
Twice, it was a three-way intersection, twice, it was a crossroads, and the most exaggerated time was when nine forks appeared before him. They were like a mess of spider webs.
As expected, Battle G.o.d Lei Zongchao’s scarlet afterimage split into nine and advanced toward the nine forks at the same time.
Without exception, Meng Chao chose the leftmost path.
Along the way, he met seven of his comrades in the same way he had met Lu Siya.
Wu Haibo, Long Feijun, Shen Yupeng
Even though they were on different paths, everyone persisted.
Meng Chao tried to call out to them, but they turned a deaf ear to him just like Lu Siya. It was as if they could not see or sense his existence.
Perhaps they had seen Meng Chao walk past them when they were on their own path. Perhaps they had also tried to call out to Meng Chao with all their might, but they never received a response from him.
It did not matter.
At least, everyone was still alive in one way or another.
That was enough.
One time, Meng Chao seemed to see himself on a road that was a thousand meters away, but he was not too sure.
Since the spirit interference in the depths of the ruins was too strong, Meng Chao could not enhance his vision to the limit.
The rolling black fog had swallowed too much light and spirit waves. Even objects that were only five hundred meters away appeared mottled and vague.
Meng Chao was not sure what he was seeing.
That “thing” seemed to have the exact same face as him.
However, he appeared a little older than him, like someone who had gone through more vicissitudes of life. There were dozens of crisscrossing scars on his face, which distorted his facial features and gave him an extremely cold, as well as cruel, temperament.
Moreover, there was a pair of purple horns that resembled bloodthirsty scimitars on its forehead. The long horns flickered with a cold light.
Behind him or “it” was a pair of wings that were covered in a membrane. Between the wings, a row of glittering and translucent bone spurs protruded out of the middle of his spine; they exuded a magnificent and dangerous aura.
Meng Chao vaguely remembered that he had seen something similar before.
He remembered now… It was in the depths of the Turan Holy Mountain. When the Mother of Origin stimulated his mind, and he fell into a deep sleep, he vaguely saw one of the several thousand versions of himself.
This was… his “monster self”!
Meng Chao widened his eyes as much as he could. His eyeb.a.l.l.s almost tore his eye sockets apart as he tried to see more details.
However, his monster version was too far away from him. In just a flash, he disappeared into the darkness.
Meng Chao’s imagination ran wild when he caught a glimpse of him.
Was this place real or an illusory world?
How many search and rescue teams were there?
...
Since there was a monster version of himself, would there be a monster version of Lu Siya, or even a monster version of Wu Haibo, Long Feijun, and Shen Yupeng? Were there also other versions of themselves out there?
And How did that “thing” come out?
What if he had made a different choice at every intersection earlier? For example, if he had chosen to go right all the time, would he have split into a brand-new version of himself?
Meng Chao shook his head.
Some could understand why the pioneers, who had entered the ancient ruins, went crazy after they listened to the Ancient Ruins’ Summon a little too much.
Perhaps they never went crazy.
It just surpa.s.sed the limits of the human mind, and the truth was buried in a puzzle that their weak human brains could not comprehend.
Fortunately, Meng Chao’s journey seemed to be coming to an end.
With guidance from Battle G.o.d Lei Zongchao’s scarlet afterimages, the broken walls around Meng Chao grew taller, larger, and more concentrated.
It was as if he had gradually moved from the urban and rural fringe of an ancient city to the city center where high-rise buildings stood.
...
Not far ahead, he saw a magnificent building that had collapsed, melted, and then condensed again. Despite its condition, it was still magnificent and comparable to a palace. It was as if the Heavenly Palace in the sea of stars had fallen to the human world.