Collapse Iron: I just transmigrated! You want me to save the Black Tower?!

"Go ahead and ask, Aha is listening."

Jiang Jiu looked at the mask, paused for a moment, and then asked, "Why are you helping me?"

Aha blinked, but didn't answer immediately. He just floated around Jiang Jiu, circling him. He circled around three times before stopping.

"Because you want to do it."

"..."

What a useless answer.

Jiang Jiu didn't want this answer.

He hoped to hear something else from these star gods, such as how to stop the end times.

but.

He said nothing.

"System, has this line ended?"

『......』

The system did not respond.

But Jiang Jiu did not stop asking questions.

"Is this the end of the line?"

"Without the anchor of intellect, with both the Pioneers and Xilian present, Iron Tomb could be crushed, right?"

"Memories won't be the end; everything will go back to normal, right?"

"System...this line is over, right?"

『......』

"I'm sorry, host."

Chapter 254: Praise of Joy

Have we underestimated the value of "∞"?

Isn't the starting point for this line the Star God?

"..."

"Aha, did I do something wrong?"

Aha did not respond to him.

He probably left sometime ago, right?

After all, pleasure is only interested in interesting things, and now that the interesting things are over, it really has no reason to stay here any longer.

An absurd, yet plausible, idea flashed through my mind.

Is there any possibility...?

Whether they helped or the learned man sacrificed himself... was their reason for doing so simply because they wanted to?

Is it just because he felt it was worth a try that they were willing to help him even if the answer was wrong?

What an absurd idea.

"System, can killing Iron Tomb now change the end of the world?"

『......』

"What about killing the one who caused the end?"

『......』

"system."

『......』

"You're such a piece of trash."

"I'm sorry, host."

"You know what you can't do to change the end result, but do you know how you can change it? You've been denying it, so what's the right answer?"

『......』

When it encounters something difficult to answer, it stops talking.

Jiang Jiu felt a little tired.

It's not physical exhaustion, but the feeling of powerlessness that comes from doing a lot of things and traveling a long way, only to look back and find that nothing has changed.

Iron Tomb has been wiped out, and the erudite monk has been taken down, but the end seems to have remained unchanged.

He found a nearby asteroid, sat down, and enjoyed the breeze.

He felt he probably needed to calm down a bit.

Because rather than saving the world, he now wants to take this hopeless world with him to die.

Anyway, dying sooner or later is the same as dying.

It's better to die in his hands than in the hands of memories.

Does this count as escaping the end of memory?

"..."

He sat on the asteroid, resting his chin on his hand, recalling his conversation with Bo Shi Zun.

If the Venerable One was not lying, and He is not the cause of the end times, then His words have more credibility.

wrong......

He must be out of his mind to suspect that the God of Wisdom is lying, right?

No, no...

—Is the end of memory a predetermined ending?

--Yes.

Is there any way to change the ending?

--No.

—All the Star Gods are trying to avoid the end of the world, so why do you choose the end of memory as one of the futures you are anchoring to?

This is putting the cause and effect backwards. Death is the normal state of the universe, the inevitability of entropy increase, the final stage of the operation of all things, and the end of the future.

It is because the future has reached its end that it is anchored by intellect.

Rather than intellectual understanding anchoring the outcome, thus leading to the end.

—Even a star god as powerful as you are, can you guess what I want to do right now?

—You can't do it.

What is it that cannot be done?

If he could kill the Venerable Master Bodhidharma, what else would he want to do?

Changing the end of this timeline?

Can't do it?

He sat on the asteroid, replaying those words in his mind over and over again, each time feeling like chewing on a tasteless stone.

I can't swallow it, and I don't understand what I'm eating.

It is because the future is heading towards its end that He anchored that ending. It is not His fault, nor anyone else's fault; it is the future that deserves to die.

Jiang Jiu suddenly laughed, but the laugh was short and dissipated by the wind.

That line was a dead end from the beginning; it was a dead end whether the star was there or not.

Whether Iron Tomb is alive or dead, it is a dead end.

With the Venerable Master Boshi present, the situation is hopeless; without the Venerable Master Boshi... it is also hopeless.

He had just killed a Star God, and the Star God of Wisdom used his own life to tell him that the end of this line had nothing to do with Him.

How absurd.

It's so absurd it makes you want to laugh.

He closed his eyes, and the surrounding environment darkened without warning.

A shadow began to spread from him.

The void begins to radiate from a single point, until it envelops the entire planet, and then silently devours it.

So annoying...

It would be better if everything just disappeared...

Or... it would be better if everything were destroyed.

That way, there's no need to save anyone, no need to stop anyone, and no need to...

The asteroid behind them had completely vanished into nothingness.

This star field collapsed into a small black hole, and this black hole is showing signs of expanding.

Jiang Jiu didn't move or dodge.

He let the black hole's gravity pull him in.

It's not the first time anyway, and this storyline is beyond saving anyway...

Om-!

A sharp buzzing sound exploded very close by, leaving his mind blank.

It didn't feel like an attack; it felt more like... someone was banging a gong next to his ear, making a loud, frightening noise.

Before Jiang Jiu could react, a hand grabbed his collar from behind.