From the end of the world

Chapter 689 To prevent the world from being destroyed

The dog still seemed unable to understand, and even looked somewhat confused. Seeing this, the little bowl patiently explained it to him carefully.

"Specifically, it means to 'possess' Ms. Ai Ye into your body... or rather, to let her spirit possess you," she said. "Of course, this is different from possession in the traditional sense. It's not about letting Ms. Ai Ye's soul enter your body, but rather letting her personality operate based on your soul."

"Originally, it was impossible to communicate with Ms. Aiye for a long time or many times. However, Mr. Xugou's existence was based on Ms. Aiye. This was not only a connection of fate that was far greater than physical connection, but it also created a space for her to exist in the real world."

"Mr. Xu Gou's existence occupies Ms. Ai Ye's existence—in other words, Mr. Xu Gou's structure clearly contains a part of Ms. Ai Ye, and then all that is needed is for Ms. Ai Ye to rely on him."

"Normally, it's impossible for one person's consciousness to be compatible with another person's soul. It's like trying to get someone into another person's body; unless you completely hollow out the contents and just put on the skin, there's no way it will succeed. This kind of behavior is usually called 'possession.' Even if you don't kill the original owner, you will inevitably squeeze the space where the original owner's consciousness operates, and only one person's consciousness can surface at a time."

"However, Mr. Xu Gou, as the Great Impermanence, possesses an incredibly vast soul. It would be more than enough for him to use a portion of his resources to operate Ms. Ai Ye's consciousness."

Ai Ye seemed to be carefully considering the details of this procedure, asking, "Won't there be any incompatibility issues if I place my consciousness on the soul of the Dog?"

“It will happen to some extent. Your thoughts will frequently come into direct contact, and you will definitely be influenced by each other to some extent,” Xiaowan said. “But it’s just a harmless influence. Communication and interaction between people naturally affect each other’s temperament, and what happens to you is just an amplified version of that.”

"You won't be swallowed up by Mr. Dog's consciousness; your own consciousness's essence and form can still be maintained. As mentioned before, a part of Mr. Dog's composition originally belonged to you, and the container that Mr. Dog is currently using to hold the soul's shape is also your body. You have essentially returned to where you originally belonged."

"After this, I will need to continue using the power of my divine seal fragments to maintain the spiritual connection with you. However, compared to this moment, the consumption will be reduced to the level required to maintain the spiritual connection with an ordinary person's soul, so as not to prevent me from continuing to maintain the blessing status on Brother Zhuang Cheng and the others."

Xu Gou said nervously, "But... I don't know how to get Ai Ye's consciousness to possess my soul. How exactly do I do that? Ai Ye, do you know how?"

Ai Ye shook her head, while Xiao Wan looked at me.

“It’s alright, I’ll provide support in this regard,” I said. “I can solve this using my power of words.”

As a human being, the Dog (戌狗) is subject to great impermanence and lacks many natural privileges, including the power of laws governing heaven and earth and the power of words. However, I am not subject to such privileges.

At the same time, after understanding what Xiaowan did, I was reminded of the method that the fortune teller had mentioned in the past, which could allow Xiaowan to continue living.

As long as a blank soul capable of accommodating the Little Bowl's consciousness is created, the Little Bowl can continue to exist even after fulfilling its mission as the embodiment of dreams...

Just as Xiao Wan and Zhu Jiu could not have coexisted, Xu Gou and Ai Ye could not have coexisted either. And if Xu Gou's existence is similar to Xiao Wan's in some way, then the method used to save Xiao Wan can also be applied to Xu Gou and Ai Ye to some extent. I truly didn't expect Xiao Wan to be able to utilize that method in this way.

The difference between these two sets of objects is that the small bowl represents the living, while the mugwort represents the dead.

That's why Xiaowan said it was just "equivalent to a resurrection plan"—"equivalent" means that Aiye was ultimately not resurrected.

This might seem like a puzzling result to some. Although it was merely placing her consciousness onto another, Ai Ye's consciousness was clearly reproduced. No matter how different it was from her previous form, it couldn't be said that she hadn't come back to life; she had simply changed the form of her life.

However, the reason why the dead are the dead is because their lives ended the moment they died.

The end means there will be no more. It's stopped, it's come to a halt, there will be no more changes, and certainly no more growth.

The Dog (戌狗) lacks any knowledge of mysticism, and even Ai Ye herself seems unaware of this for the time being—as a dead person, she is a frozen existence, a thing of the past, a memory. No matter what happens in the future, her ideology will not change.

Her interactions are always based on past experiences. Even if she experiences decades, centuries, or millennia with the Dog in the future, she will only make judgments and engage in dialogue based on her own twenty-odd years of experience while she is alive. It's not that she will have no memory of the future, but ultimately, she can only play that role now.

Compared to the living, the souls of the dead are more like a fixed program. The abnormalities may not be apparent in the short term, but over time, both the Dog and the Leaf will become aware of the anomalies.

This is probably why Xiaowan was able to predict so accurately that Aiye would deny Xugou's "method of resurrection"—didn't Xiaowan consider that Aiye might not want to die a second time after dying once? Death is so terrifying that it can change a person's character and beliefs, and Aiye might completely lose the courage to sacrifice herself for Xugou again.

The truth is, Ai Ye would never say that. Since she made that choice in her last moments before death, she would only repeat the same mistakes after death. Whether she becomes braver or cowardly, that's a future only the living can have; the dead only possess the past. After finalizing the arrangements, Ai Ye accepted Xiao Wan's plan, and Xu Gou naturally had no objections.

Without further ado, I used the power of words to attach Ai Ye's consciousness to Xu Gou.

My power of words cannot affect Dog, but it can affect Mugwort. It would have been almost impossible to implant Mugwort's consciousness into Dog's extremely dense and solid soul, but in the process, Dog opened his heart on his own initiative. In addition, his soul was in an unprecedentedly weak state, and Mugwort already had a place in his existence. I feel that this work went much more smoothly than I had imagined.

Perhaps the most important factor was Xu Gou's own thoughts. Even without so many additional conditions, his complete lack of suspicion towards Ai Ye was enough to allow Ai Ye's consciousness to enter his soul.

The mugwort leaf transformed into a stream of white light and entered the dog's armor. The dog fell silent. It was impossible to tell whether it had succeeded or failed. But if it failed, it would simply be a matter of trying to summon the spirit again.

Suddenly, the black power armor on Xu Gou's body changed color, transforming into countless illusory silver-white magical energy that vanished instantly. It didn't seem like it was actively withdrawing; rather, it seemed unable to maintain its shape and disintegrated like bubbles.

After losing the armor, the wearer's figure was revealed to us—a young woman dressed in simple white clothes, with messy long hair, delicate features, and a slender figure, who was none other than Ai Ye from before.

She looked at her palm with emotion, then said to us, "I succeeded, my two benefactors."

"Are you Ai Ye?" I asked.

She didn't have the magical fluctuations of a dog, and looked like a female researcher who was completely powerless.

Was the dog hiding under the power armor really using Ai Ye's appearance all along? Or did it just temporarily change its appearance to look like Ai Ye?
“Xu Gou has handed over control of his body to me. This is temporary, just a test.” Ai Ye nodded and looked at Xiao Wan. “Just as you said before, it’s somewhat like he’s become a second personality. But the difference is that I can communicate with Xu Gou, who is the main personality, in real time. I can even see his figure now…”

As she spoke, she glanced at her side. It seemed to be an empty space, yet I could vaguely make out a tall, thin male figure in that spot.

That must be the Dog. He turned his head and glanced at me, then silently nodded in acknowledgment.

This is probably a subjective hallucination that only occurs between the Dog and the Mugwort; according to common sense, it's impossible for me, as a third party, to see it. But I am the Great Impermanence, and I can see it.

Or to put it more formally, in this illusory space where dreams and reality intertwine, the boundary between subjectivity and objectivity is inherently blurred, and those with extraordinary perception can relatively easily perceive this boundary.

"Dog, you should be satisfied now," I said.

“Yes, I am very satisfied…” said the illusionary dog. “From now on, I am one of yours.”

Ai Ye's consciousness still needs Xiao Wan's spiritual communication to be maintained; she is essentially our hostage, and Xu Gou cannot disobey us.

“Ms. Ai Ye, I hope you can serve us in the future.” Xiao Wan looked at Ai Ye.

The latter retorted, "Oh? You need even the power of a nobody like me?"

“There’s no need to belittle yourself. Although it was Ying Lingyun’s theory that gave Mr. Xugou a new lease on life, being able to keep up with his thinking shows that you are a genius scientist not to be underestimated. The fact that you were assigned to manage Mr. Xugou, such an important experimental subject, also shows how much he valued you.” Xiao Wan generously extended her hand. “Our camp needs someone like you, Ms. Ai Ye.”

"Don't worry that your wisdom will once again aid evil. The Humanitarian Department has now fallen, and the hope for Luoshan to coexist with secular society rests on the shoulders of our social order. Your knowledge will certainly be used in the right direction. On top of that, we also face the threat of the end of the world. Only by uniting as one can we open the road to the future."

"To prevent the world from being destroyed, to protect world peace, please fight alongside us."

Looking at the little girl in front of her who was sincerely extending an invitation, Ai Ye remained silent for a few seconds.

Then, she slowly reached out and shook hands with Xiaowan's.

(End of this chapter)