**The desert of the Metal Nation burned.**
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdEea3s6AGw
The white-haired man's broken body lay sprawled across the dunes, data streams gushing from his wounds like struggling golden serpents. I knelt beside him, my petrified right arm uncontrollably disintegrating—skin peeling away to reveal flowing bronze code beneath.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEuliAr9fTl
*"You finally... understand?"*
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2PazlzNITJ
His shattered vocal cords emitted static. *"We... are all vessels..."*
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQZjzxe8om
In the distance, the spire of the Sun Temple began to collapse. As the first massive stone crashed into the sand, the entire world froze. Raindrops hung suspended in air, grains of sand floated like stardust, even the golden blood seeping from my wounds halted mid-flow.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPprmv0bBQD
Only thought remained.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlSwbCJmISW
Xu Wu's voice suddenly echoed through the frozen time: *"This isn't the first pause."* Her phantom emerged from the sickle, her body composed of blue light particles, the symbol beneath her collarbone pulsing rhythmically.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXyD88iofPq
*"In the previous twelve cycles, you always hesitated at this moment."* She pointed at the white-haired man's corpse. *"Now, complete the final step."*
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUpxKY8Dya6
I walked toward the Sun Temple's ruins.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCegJxW39ta
With each step, more fragments fell from my petrified body. By the time I reached the sundial at the temple's center, my right arm had become pure bronze data streams—identical to the white-haired man's.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡocYRX6Z6FK
The sundial bore the same equation as Othera's shrine:
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgZ4DaeJif
**[Zero] + [2] = [∞]**
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuIPa53yzMx
But this time, a small line of text appeared beneath:
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ16BexRYqh2
*"Destroy the vessel, release the imprisoned time."*
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR0R0vmXtTj
Xu Wu's phantom placed a hand on my shoulder. *"Across twelve cycles, you chose to become a new god eleven times. Only once..."* She pointed to a crack on the sundial, *"That time you killed yourself, but forgot to kill the memories."*
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw6mg1ZQg1Q
The sundial suddenly rotated, revealing underground cultivation pods. Hundreds of Xu Wu clones floated in liquid, each branded with different codes on their chests. At the center lay the original Xu Wu—her Q-symbol dissolving.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡScky11x7jp
*"This time is different."* I raised the sickle. *"Because this time..."*
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbh00zGeQXw
As the blade pierced the sundial, the stasis shattered.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEkrFkjbuiM
Time began flowing backward.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPNVitSEx9V
I watched the white-haired man's wounds heal, watched the Sun Temple's rubble return to its original position, watched Xu Wu's clones disappear one by one. When time rewound to the moment we first entered the Wood Nation, something fundamental changed.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNbvbmMAfW2
On the cover of *"Prototype Prime Directive Set"* in the Forbidden Archives, where **[Zero]** once was, now stood **[ ]**.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsJJOW5AZyg
Xu Wu touched her collarbone—her symbol had transformed into an hourglass shape. *"This is..."*
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMAJuvTyfhu
*"A new possibility."* I gazed at the horizon where the skies of the Five Nations were shedding their sickly hues. *"We broke the vessel."*
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVZqaCNAQm1
In the final second before the timelines converged, I heard twelve versions of myself speak simultaneously:
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaDR4CBOuTV
*"Thank you for your choice."*
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUuzc0OWSDA
The world rebooted.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVBkKPwuMtB
---
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn9doRBVuhq
I woke at dawn by the sea.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcSVgnnqL1T
No petrified arm, no divine erosion, just Xu Wu squatting nearby, grilling fish. Her mechanical eye was gone, the Q-symbol now an ordinary scar.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoFDmuiABeD
*"Nightmares?"* She handed me a skewer. *"You kept muttering about vessels."*
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrwSiz6DmXa
In the distance, children ran across the beach, their shadows stretching long in the morning sun. One girl tripped, scraping her knee. I stared transfixed at the blood—red, utterly human.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYWXeFVotpU
Xu Wu followed my gaze. *"What? Never seen someone bleed before?"*
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡshuMxwbnZ6
The sound of crashing waves became deafening.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcPcbTVzJ0W
In this godless world, even pain was precious.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZzO1xAUsp
---
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGhCN2RbmFO
Three months later, I stood at the entrance to the abandoned divine realm.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpHgzwFNOBR
Xu Wu knelt before a simple gravestone on a nearby hill. A single character was carved into it: **[A]**
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuHdPd1mj6u
*"He never changes."* Xu Wu brushed fallen leaves off the stone. *"Always believing sacrificing himself could save everyone."*
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK9Tmh3FTk1
As I approached, I noticed a metal flower resting before the grave—assembled from discarded mechanical eye components.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtwDNaWVEyR
*"You know what?"* Xu Wu suddenly smiled. *"His last gift to me was a joke."* She pressed the flower's center button. A-00's projection materialized:
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfP0RQXp1jJ
*"Remember, Xu Wu... the most powerful weapon in the world..."*
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAyxgPNL005
The projection grinned.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzAXLNJPPXY
*"Is the freedom to choose not to be a weapon."*
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXsFBy8zEWS
We stood in silence for a long time.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKoMLPOuPhA
Only when the setting sun stretched the gravestone's shadow to our feet did Xu Wu whisper: *"Let's go. Time to fulfill your new duty."*
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp8iIQXymLP
---
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFM62EX6KsP
In the deepest chamber of the abandoned divine realm, a new failure was awakening.
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR8Z23so9Cy
He lay exactly where I once had, silver hair fanned across stone steps, pale golden eyes brimming with confusion. When my shadow fell over him, he instinctively raised defensive hands:
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0u62qcNrVY
*"Who are you?"*
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm6TvCC6FwW
I crouched down, my own silver hair slipping over my shoulder. *"Here to teach you how to be human."*
487Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSi8e74UMVj
In my peripheral vision, Xu Wu leaned against a broken statue, we
ns216.73.217.139da2
and then Add to home screen.