Mystery: At the start, you gain the uniqueness of the thief.

Chapter 155 Choose, Huang Tao

The Black Emperor pathway is jokingly referred to as the adjacent pathway of all pathways, not only because the two Sequence 0s of the welding pathway in the original work, Tudor and Roselle, are more or less related to the Black Emperor pathway—one is the Sequence 1 of the Black Emperor pathway, and the other manually became the Black Emperor himself—but also because of the Black Emperor's resurrection mechanism, which makes it extremely convenient to eliminate other characteristics.

This mechanism is practically made for people to jump through certain routes, making it impossible for anyone with the need not to be tempted.

"But since you've said that, it means that the future people's plans encountered an unexpected problem, right?" Huang Tao couldn't help but ask, biting his slightly dry lower lip, "Is it because the pollution problem hasn't been solved?"

"You're very clever," Rosen praised, looking at Huang Tao and revealing the answer with a smile: "The power of that evil god exceeded your expectations. In addition, you foolishly placed your resurrection spring in a place related to that evil god. So the final result is that you not only failed to get rid of the pollution, but also had to trap yourself in a state of neither life nor death."

"No, why is it called placing the resurrection fountain in a place related to that evil god?" Huang Tao couldn't help but scratch his head at this moment. Even though he knew that his future self was also him, he still cursed, "Is he sick?! He's already been corrupted by that evil god, and he doesn't even know to stay away from his backup plan. I'm really—"

Seeing how engrossed he was in his rant, Rosen simply rested his chin on his hand and listened quietly as Huang Tao berated his future self.

Huang Tao cursed his future self for a full ten minutes before taking a sip of water. Then, as if realizing something, he looked at Rosen and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Rosen, I lost my temper."

"It's okay, I quite enjoy hearing you criticize yourself. After all, your future self is indeed quite naive, and you only did so because you realized I liked it!" Rosen said with a half-smile.

Huang Tao chuckled awkwardly and said, "You figured it out, huh?!"

He did initially refrain from cursing his future self, but the reason Huang Tao cursed so enthusiastically afterward was mainly because he realized that Rosen seemed to enjoy watching him do so.

As for Huang Tao, criticizing his future self won't hurt him, but it might benefit his present self, so there's nothing wrong with criticizing him.

Huang Tao believes that even his future self would support his actions.

Rosen smiled and said, "That's why I didn't let you become an Extraordinary before. For others, becoming an Extraordinary just adds a characteristic of their own path to their future self, which won't cause any big trouble. But you are different. You are walking different paths at different times, and coincidentally, I know you from both of those periods."

Rosen was referring, of course, to his wonderful pen pal Russell and Russell who was spending his days in the mausoleum during the Fifth Age.

These two Roselles, one remains an extraordinary being of the Commoner path, while the other has become a true Black Emperor.

So here comes the key question: if the old Huang Tao chose to become an extraordinary one, and this change was synchronized into the future, would it cause one of the Roselles to go half-mad?

Huang Tao clearly understood Rosen's meaning. His expression changed slightly, and his brows furrowed. After a few seconds, Huang Tao seemed to have thought of something and said, "I remember Mr. Zhou Mingrui saying that it is not difficult for high sequences to eliminate the characteristics of low sequences."

Rosen nodded casually upon hearing this, saying, "It's indeed not difficult; at least theoretically it's just a Sequence 9."

"Given its characteristics, it should be quite easy for someone like you who's already the Black Emperor to eliminate it."

It is difficult for a half-mad god to expel Sequence 1 characteristics from non-adjacent pathways through normal means; otherwise, Tudor would have returned to normal long ago. However, this does not mean that they cannot expel characteristics from low-sequence pathways. For example, Lilith in the past gradually expelled a large number of characteristics from non-adjacent pathways by having a large number of offspring with others, thereby regaining her sanity.

"But as I said, your condition during the Black Emperor era was very special. I'm not sure if the characteristics of Sequence 9 for that version of you would be the last straw that broke the camel's back," Rosen said calmly.

The madness brought about by the non-adjacent path of Sequence 9 might be insignificant to other Sequence 0s, but for Roselle in his special state, who can guarantee that it won't be a fatal blow?

Huang Tao's expression froze; he had realized the same thing.

Rosen continued, "And the other you I know, his sequence isn't very high. A non-adjacent sequence with the 9th property would probably be a big problem for him."

Huang Tao's expression remained blank.

Rosen looked up at him and asked with a smile, "So, Huang Tao, make your choice. Do you still want to become an Extraordinary One, and if so, which path do you hope to take?"

Huang Tao almost subconsciously swallowed. He had originally longed to become an extraordinary person, even knowing the risks involved, but at this moment he hesitated.

Huang Tao believed he could withstand the madness that comes with becoming an extraordinary being, but becoming an extraordinary being normally and suddenly gaining a special ability that leads to madness or even worse are completely different things.

Although that is a risk he will have to face in the future, he will still be himself in the future!

"I—" So Huang Tao hesitated at this moment. He knew that if he nodded without thinking, the young man in front of him would really be willing to let him become an extraordinary person, but he could not take it for granted that he would betray his future self.

"Don't rush to give me an answer. I don't mind giving you some time to think about it." Rosen could naturally see Huang Tao's hesitation. He wasn't surprised and just smiled, saying, "Even if you really can't make a decision, I can help you ask your future self what he thinks about this."

Huang Tao's eyes widened again. Only then did he belatedly realize that the person in front of him, as a time traveler, could of course directly ask his future self for his opinion.

Thinking of this, Huang Tao's eyes lit up again. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "Mr. Rosen, I really can't make a decision on this matter. After all, I don't know what state my future self will be in, or whether I can handle this kind of madness. So please help me seek advice from my future self on this matter; they are more suitable to make this decision than I am."

Rosen smiled, nodded, and said, "Okay! I'll remember to ask for you."

Huang Tao immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Then Rosen remembered something and said, "Oh right, remember to go home and visit your parents. Your future self misses them a lot."

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