Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 741 - 350. The Wave of Abandonment

Chapter 741: 350. The Wave of Abandonment

"I brought the person, Enrique."

Li Aozi had just stepped into the dojo when, without the back foot crossing the threshold, the dim and tranquil vision was instantly illuminated. Blue flames rose up to light the candles, revealing everything inside to Li Aozi.

The dojo was splendidly decorated, filled with various rare and precious items. Animals suddenly rushed in, instantly transforming into humanoid shapes—boys and girls—naturally picking up instruments scattered around and starting to sing and dance. Though it was a shrine, there wasn’t even a single clay figurine; there was only a cushion, upon which sat a small, mysterious beast.

Merid lit an incense stick, silently sitting cross-legged to one side, and gestured for Li Aozi to face the mysterious beast.

"You must have also come for it, Mr. Leoz from the Starry Abyss."

Li Aozi stepped forward, scrutinizing the mysterious beast.

It was about thirty centimeters tall, with three large, fluffy tails like those of a squirrel. Its moonlit fur was fresh and bright, mesmerizingly beautiful, and its head looked like a fusion of a fox and a white tiger, with bluish-gray patterns gently radiating a charming glow.

The reason it was called a mysterious beast was because its body shimmered with a gemlike luster, exuding an immaculate, vast, and sacred aura. Accompanied by the singing and dancing of the boys and girls, Li Aozi felt overwhelmed, as if he had entered the Heavenly Kingdom.

Li Aozi calmed himself, stepped forward, and glanced around at the children engrossed in the singing and dancing, their state starkly different from when they had been scrambling for food as animals.

At this moment, their faces were rosy, unaware of hunger and famine.

He turned to the mysterious beast and asked:

"Are you Zhi Xiang?"

The mysterious beast didn’t answer but instead raised its paw and softly asked:

"Visitor from the Starry Abyss, what do you seek here?"

Its emerald eyes gleamed green. When Li Aozi activated the "Eye of Truth," attempting to peer at it, his vision was immediately flooded with a torrent of useless information.

["Indeed... the ’Eye of Truth’ is of too low a grade, it’s useless for delving into secrets, especially for targets like the Primordial Species."]

This action seemed to verify its identity, yet Li Aozi did not openly confirm it.

In his impression, Zhi Xiang’s tasks were extremely troublesome and arduous long-term schemes. If he let Zhi Xiang take the initiative, he might easily become its laborer, exploited for free.

Moreover... the protagonist of the "Flower of Nothingness" was Merid, not Zhi Xiang.

Li Aozi vaguely sensed something but was not ready to draw a conclusion.

Hence, he didn’t hastily express his intentions but instead pointed at the boys and girls immersed in singing and dancing, questioning:

"Did you turn them into this? Transforming them into animals, then into these mindless puppets..."

"If I hadn’t intervened, they wouldn’t have survived till now."

Zhi Xiang, "Enrique," replied indifferently. Its voice sounded like that of an innocent child, pure and clear, carrying a tranquilizing sense of peace.

In terms of rank, Zhi Xiang, like Lord Entropy, was among the primordial entities that existed at the dawn of the cosmos, even comparable to the First Starry Abyss.

Unlike the unpredictable and violent Lord Entropy, Zhi Xiang had a shy and timid nature, wary of strangers, and did not repel civilized beings like Lord Entropy.

Li Aozi wasn’t sure if this was the same Zhi Xiang encountered by players in his past life, since a hallmark of the Primordial Species was having no name and no fixed form.

In the era of their birth, even the concepts of "void" and "forever" had not yet emerged.

In that chaotic period, movement wasn’t constant, void wasn’t purely empty, darkness could reveal things, and light couldn’t illuminate the space.

"Turning them into beasts and faith-obsessed corpses, is this what you call saving them?"

Li Aozi asked.

"Even if I didn’t turn them into animals, humans would still kill each other, clambering over each other to rise, no different from beasts. Even if I didn’t do this, when they grew up, they would start numbing themselves with various religious beliefs, or with alcohol, no different from corpses."

Zhi Xiang calmly answered his question:

"Since one can achieve it in one step, why do humans stubbornly preserve such forms?"

Li Aozi replied: "Because they are humans..."

"Humans always like to play the superhero among mortals, sometimes by wielding power, sometimes by displaying intelligence, or brutally by using martial force, and sometimes by financial means—yet when humans fall into a low point, they no longer praise ’survival of the fittest.’

Zhi Xiang said:

"If you value strength so much, why not become strength itself?

The body is meaningless; no matter how much you train, it will decay;

The soul is meaningless; no matter how much you read and cultivate, it will wither;

Procreation is meaningless; no matter how long your bloodline endures, they will not remember you, and might even curse you;

History is utterly meaningless; human history is just a few inciting many to die, glorified as a ’great cause,’ and every empire is eventually overthrown by its own people."

"Since annihilation is the end, why not directly embrace it?"

[You are under worldview erosion, undergoing a spirit check, your [Will] attribute is too low...]

[Specialty: ’Unilateral Action’ activated!]

[Charm check passed.]

[Detected your worldview: ’Materialism’: you are immune to this spiritual attack]

[You can combat ’nihilism’ with the following options:]

A: "Perhaps everything is meaningless, but at least at this moment of my existence, I need food, water, and things to sustain my life. As for meaning, I’ll consider that after I fill the material void."

——Realism victory +1.2%

B: "Yes, it’s so tragic, everything is rootless disaster, I hope the whole world perishes quickly."

——Nihilism victory +10%

C: "No, it doesn’t lack meaning. Just as the sun rises and sets, without the process in between, there’s no way to measure the passage of time; without the process of growth and aging, no one would cherish youth. For me, maybe everything is meaningless, but the journey from birth to void... it’s beautiful, isn’t it?"

——Romanticism victory +5.3%

This barrage of questions, laden with worldview impact, caused Li Aozi’s panel to light up with dozens of mind erosion signals in an instant.

Li Aozi thought for a moment, not choosing the A that best suited him but opting for C:

"Have you seen fireworks, Zhi Xiang?"

"In my years, I have seen countless stars head toward destruction, their brilliant lives a mere blink to me, vanishing without a trace."

Zhi Xiang said coolly:

"Even the sun will ultimately extinguish, living by burning hydrogen in its core to undergo nuclear fusion, shining and heating. It also relies on the immense energy generated to counteract the collapsing gravity, keeping its body stable."

"When all is burnt out, it will become a red giant, crushed by its own weight, much like humans fall victim to high blood pressure and heart disease, with temperatures dropping continually."

"When it can no longer sustain the high temperature for nuclear fusion, the red giant will gradually cool, with outward gas forming a nebula, ultimately transitioning from a burning pearl to a white dwarf star in a vast mist."

"Stars have lifetimes spanning billions of years, surpassing almost all life, even through countless wars, famines, revolutions, and plagues, you cannot witness the sun’s demise."

"Though your description is lofty, with a charming high-tech blur that surpasses a bachelor’s degree, I’m sorry, I asked about—’fireworks.’"

Li Aozi blinked:

"Don’t you find fireworks beautiful?"

"Beauty is meaningless."

Zhi Xiang’s tone bore a feeling ashen to the heart:

"No beauty can withstand the trials of spacetime, and time itself is a non-existent entity. Both time and beauty are limited by your subjective perception; they don’t exist and bear no significance."

"Stop saying so much. Just tell me, when you see the sun fall, collapsing inward from a red giant to a white dwarf, or witness a gamma-ray burst twinkling in the stardust, with vacuum decay bubbles surging one after another—what do you think?"

Li Aozi asked casually, continuing the conversation.

"It has no meaning. Objective existence doesn’t shift because of my subjective feelings; you and I, our wills are meaningless."

Zhi Xiang said solemnly:

"Fighting natural laws will lead to repeated failure; nothing can thwart the fate of demise. You come from the Starry Abyss, perhaps enslaving deities brought you comfort, maybe striving for ascension made you proud, maybe narrative civilization mastering spacetime made you despise mortals, daring to challenge the world."

"Then, let me tell you a harsh truth."

It said, rising slowly from the cushion:

"No one can surpass the rules. The more you try to challenge them, the more you fall into the Starry Abyss’s trap. As you struggle with the rules, the Starry Abyss filters out cannon fodder and slaves."

"Billions of years ago, the Starry Abyss fished out batches of infants from the Chaos, tempting them with the promise of a ’name,’ tricking them into treading the timeline, battling insurmountable enemies. Then blessed them with the title of ’deities,’ akin to cannon fodder fed to death."

"Billions of years later, the Starry Abyss still selects batches of youngsters, wilder and more numerous, deluded by narrative and civilization to ’ascend to godhood.’ They fight various enemies, ultimately perishing, only a few qualifying to become deities—becoming the Starry Abyss’s cannon fodder and slaves."

Zhi Xiang’s jade-like eyes looked at Li Aozi:

"Tell me, master of the Mandate of Gravity, what is your purpose here?"

"If you seek ascension and godhood, to gain the mandate from me, then leave; even if I grant it, your narrow understanding will only lead to your death on the pathway to godhood."

"If you seek to save the masses, to liberate the Dragon Satellite from the Void, then leave; your actions will only taint this planet, turning the tranquil land into a battleground for the Starry Abyss’s machinations, countless people falling into endless conflict, never to rise again."

"If you merely stumbled upon here, then I will personally see you out, erasing all your memories, bestowing you with some power. This planet will silently become part of the void in the tides of chaos, no longer touched by any enslavement."