Eternal Night.

Chapter 922 Anchoring
(PS: My parents-in-law were a huge help. I stayed up for half the day, and they stayed up for the other half, which gave me some time to rest and write for a while... Let's see if there will be a second update at 9 o'clock. Don't get too excited.)
Wu Pifu's spirit and soul had been dormant for a long time. He didn't know how much time had passed in the outside world because he was trapped at this moment.

From the moment he arrived here, his consciousness and soul were subjected to some kind of pull and suppression. Something that sometimes transformed into a gaping maw of abyss and sometimes into a fish swam around his consciousness and soul. Whenever the fish appeared, water would appear. That water was sometimes an endless chaotic abyss and sometimes a pitch-black rabbit hole, containing endless mysteries.

Along with the fish appeared a butterfly that fluttered about, sometimes transforming into countless drifting skulls, and sometimes into a dazzling array of colors, dreamlike and vibrant.

The fish and the butterfly seemed both real and illusory. Wu Pifu couldn't sense them before, but now he could. The fish and the butterfly's power wasn't actually strong, but their status was unimaginably high, exceeding the limits of his comprehension.

He didn't know how to describe it. If you were to compare ordinary mortals, extraordinary beings, sublimated beings, and origins to fish and butterflies, ordinary mortals would be like air, extraordinary beings would be like water, sublimated beings would be like soil and rocks, and origins would be like metals and alloys. But these fish and butterflies would be neutron star matter—no, they should be black hole matter.

This unimaginably high status leads to certain effects, similar to how neutron stars distort the spacetime around them, and black holes can even directly create an event horizon. The fish and butterfly's extraordinary high status means that just by existing, seeing, knowing, or being aware of them, strange phenomena occur, and this phenomenon is that their own narrative layer is covered by them.

To be precise, they are real, and you are fake.

This wasn't Wu Pifu's own realization, but rather what the bewildered fruit... no, the Bodhi fruit told him.

That's right. Surrounded by fish and butterflies and their ill-intentioned approach, it was the bewildered fruit... no, the Bodhi fruit protecting him. Above the human form manifested by his spiritual consciousness and true soul, a Bodhi fruit emitted a blue light. This light prevented the fish and butterflies from completely touching Wu Pifu. At the same time, when Wu Pifu looked at the fish and butterflies, the Bodhi fruit would emit its specific information to tell Wu Pifu.

The fish represents the true nature of secrets. Any being, whether existing or non-existent, that possesses a desire to explore, seek mysteries, or perceive information will be enveloped by the fish. This envelope means that all their essence will be transformed into the narrative of the fish and ultimately return to the fish. This is unrelated to quantity, strength, etc. To reiterate, even if the fish is insignificant in terms of its extraordinary level, its status is already unimaginably high. Anything that does not reach its equivalent status will return to the fish, even including... the Root!
The self-enclosed information loop at the root is meaningless in the face of a being like a fish!

The butterfly represents the true nature of dreams. Any being or non-being that carries concepts such as dreams, illusions, reincarnation, or personality will be enveloped by the butterfly when it sees, knows, or becomes aware of it, and will eventually become part of its existence.

“What is a true person?” Wu Pifu asked.

To be true in oneself and false in all things is to achieve one's own indestructible nature, the ultimate limit beyond the ultimate limit. One must attain great freedom, great ease, and enlightenment in order to achieve this.

This was as if it hadn't said anything at all, but Wu Pifu knew that the difference in their levels was too great. So even if he was given a detailed explanation, he would not be able to understand it at all. This was roughly the same as explaining advanced mathematics to an elementary school student or describing the origin to an ordinary person.

"why me?"

Wu Pifu asked again.

Unlike before, when he had no sense of self and could only struggle and run for his life, he now finally has the leisure to start thinking about this issue.

He knew very well that whether it was the fish, the butterfly, or even the symbol of the blue sky, it could be the First Immortal, or the fat man who protected him, it could be the First Buddha. They all took him as their target without prior agreement. Why was that?
Is there anything special about him?
Magnitude.

This is the answer given by the Bodhi fruit.

Wu Pifu suddenly realized.

Fish and butterflies have only position but no magnitude, so they instinctively absorb everything that can fill their magnitude. That's why the fish contains one of the secrets of Buddhism. As for the butterfly, Wu Pifu doesn't know.

As for the source of the magnitude... Wu Pifu naturally knew, it was probably the endless negativity in his sea of ​​consciousness, so no wonder the fish said he was the bait, and no wonder the fish kept chasing him.

"Are you and the First Immortal also of the True Rank? Is the Azure Emperor one too?"

I am merely a Bodhi fruit. What you are referring to is the Bodhi attained by the first Buddha, which is close in rank but not in magnitude. The Azure Heaven attained by the first Immortal is also close in rank but not in magnitude. The Azure Emperor is not one of them.

Wu Pifu touched his chin, although he couldn't actually touch his real chin right now; he was just a manifestation of his instincts.

The First Buddha and the First Immortal were actually close to the True Rank. He now knew just how awesome this rank was. Although it was only close, it was already incredibly powerful. No wonder all beings in the entire dream world recognized the First Immortal and the First Buddha as being in a class of their own.

One attained enlightenment, and the other attained enlightenment in the clear sky?
But the Azure Emperor is not one of them, so why do the butterflies always appear in response to his words?

"And what about the Azure Emperor?"

I don't know, I'm just a Bodhi fruit.

Wu Pifu thought for a moment, then asked, "What's my situation now?"

The multiple true persons' derivative interference means that in the perception of the true persons, time, space, causality, etc. are all illusions. At the same time, the true persons are omniscient and omnipotent in the concepts they have realized. You are currently at one of the points in time, space, and causality under the interference of multiple true persons.

Wu Pifu fell into deep thought.

The true nature of the fish represents the desire to explore, seek mysteries, or perceive information—the realm of secrets. The true nature of the butterfly represents dreams, illusions, reincarnation, and personality—the realm of dreams. Combined with the unknown realms of the Bodhi fruit and the blue sky, all of these represent…

What does it represent?

Wu Pifu gave up thinking.

This means you appear in countless times and countless places. Perhaps all of them are you, or perhaps they are all illusions. Or rather, for the true person, neither reality nor illusion matters, although it is very important to you. If you fail, you will become one of these countless people, while you, as "Wu Pifu," will disappear. If you succeed, you will deny these illusions, revert to "Wu Pifu," and continue to exist in your time and causal information.

Wu Pifu immediately knew the real drama was about to begin; this was the most crucial information. "What constitutes success, and what constitutes failure?" Wu Pifu asked earnestly.

Slay the fish and the butterfly.

Wu Pifu remained silent for a long time. He reached out to grasp the Bodhi fruit above his head, but although it was only in the shape of a fruit and seemed to be right above his head, he could not touch it at all. His senses told him that they were in different dimensions, just like the characters in the paintings in the book trying to grasp real objects, which was simply impossible.

"Are you fucking kidding me? If I could kill him, would I be in this situation now? Come on, you idiot, tell me, how do you kill him?" Wu Pifu cursed.

You are unique and special, born from countless coincidences with a probability infinitely close to zero, yet not zero. You are a possibility, a hope, obtained through the selfless sacrifices of countless Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Vajras, and countless great gods of the Heavenly Court, as well as those with extremely powerful origins like Beelzebub… When you gained this ability, the entire dream world trembled, because this ability should not have appeared, yet it appeared in reality. You…

There is a possibility of killing the true rank!
Wu Pifu was stunned. A flash of inspiration struck him, and a certain possibility appeared in his mind.

Subconsciously, Wu Pifu raised her hand towards the fish and the butterfly, and then...

"Holy crap! We can actually anchor them now!"

Wu Pifu was so excited that his whole body was trembling.

When he encountered the fish, he actually tried to fight against it, but once he fell into the fish's true position, that is, when the narrative layer was covered by the fish, he could not even think or act, and was like a walking corpse. However, when the narrative layer was not covered by the fish, he could not find the fish, perceive the fish, or anchor himself to the fish.

That's right! He discovered that I, this humble man, can use it on fish and butterflies at this time!

Although the anchoring is very weak, as long as the anchoring effect is continuously increased, then when a critical point is reached, he can indeed pull the fish and the butterfly into my own space to fight them, and then...

Eliminate its essence!

Fuck.

Am I really that amazing, that incredible, ordinary person?

Wu Pifu himself was stunned.

Hurry...

Anchor them and kill them before I run out of resources. If you succeed, you'll be saved; if you fail, you're gone.

"...Besides just watching them, what other way do I have to anchor them? Just watching them can anchor them, but the effect is too weak to pull them into my own space to kill them."

After probing for a long time, Wu Pifu finally asked dejectedly.

The space, time, and causal nodes within which your physical body resides contain derivative information about fish and butterflies. Explore, understand, and experience it...

Be quick.

Hurry...

"Fast my ass! My body is an idiot, okay?!"

Wu Pifu roared loudly.

Meanwhile, outside, his body was being pulled by a thin young man named Qing as they ran quickly through a metal path that was about to turn into ruins.

"Dude, don't worry! I won't abandon you!"

The thin young man had a limp and his steps were unsteady when he ran, but he still firmly pulled Wu Pifu, who looked dazed.

"...We're almost there. After passing this path, we'll reach the Twelfth District. Nuwa's main control system in the Twelfth District is still largely intact. Once we get there, those trashy guys behind us won't dare to come back..."

"Hey, this cripple is calling us trash."

A cacophony of noise erupted behind them as a group of scavengers, or perhaps bikers, dressed in tattered metal armor and wielding broken metal blades, roared and chased after Wu Pifu and Qing.

Qing's face turned deathly pale.

But he still held onto Wu Pifu tightly, not letting go for a moment.

(End of this chapter)