From the end of the world

Chapter 773 The "End of the Age of Gods" Plan 2
Think about it carefully... No, you can understand it even without careful thought. The power of reversion is not the power to make things into their "correct form," but the power to turn things back into their "original form."

In this world today, there is no such thing as an "originally correct form." From the moment Willow Shadow summoned it, this world has been riddled with flaws. Therefore, if the power of return could truly make it correct, it would necessarily be in the form of the "previous world."

That would only fulfill Tai Sui's wish, but it would go against my own.

I once attempted to use the power of regression to repair human history, knowing from the outset that I could never succeed. It was nothing more than a test based on curiosity.

In reality, the power of reversion doesn't possess the ability to manipulate timelines. If you were faced with a human born with a disability, no matter how many times you reset them using the power of reversion, you couldn't create a healthy human body. This is because the history of this world doesn't contain any record of the other person ever being healthy, unless you were in a parallel world where the other person was born healthy.

I was able to achieve some effects with the power of return because I knew some information about the "previous world" and forcibly distorted the world with my own understanding. This is only possible if it is based on opening the third door. Even Asahi, the prototype of the power, could not do it on her own, but I, the "imitator," did.

Therefore, if Asahi truly wants to shoulder the responsibility forcibly imposed by the planet's natural will, pushing open the third door is just the beginning.

The reason she is now able to use the power of return to directly cleanse the Yellow Springs of Dushuo Mountain, and to erase and eliminate the "original product of the current worldview" and its power, which has become a monster, Da Wuchang, is because the power of the planet's natural will is "favoring" her.

"In terms of the outcome, using the power of reversion to repair human history could indeed turn our world into one that is similar to the previous world in terms of its setting, but doing so should not deviate from Brother Zhuang Cheng's principles," Xiao Wan said.

"Why is that?" I asked curiously.

"To make it easier to understand, Brother Zhuangcheng, I want to ask a question first—if a person suddenly loses all the memories he has accumulated in his past life, and then embraces a new life, thus accumulating a personality that is completely different from his self before the amnesia, would you consider 'himself' to have died?" Xiaowan asked.

"While I won't jump to conclusions, I think that's the general consensus," I said.

Xiao Wan continued, "In one's life, it's inevitable to forget past memories and accumulate new ones. Childhood, adolescence, adulthood, middle age, old age... people may have completely different personalities at different stages of life. Following the logic I just mentioned, a person will also die many times in their lifetime. Does Brother Zhuang Cheng agree with this?"

This sounds like the classic "Ship of Theseus" paradox. If a ship sails for a very long time, and people replace parts one by one to extend its lifespan, until finally all the parts are replaced, is the ship a completely different ship?
For post-apocalyptic survivors who often slowly lose their past memories as if cut by a dull knife, this is not a hypothetical predicament, but a terrifying reality they must constantly confront. Xiaowan and Ma have probably pondered this question countless times and have their own answers.

“These are not the same thing,” I said, offering my opinion. “No matter how much the latter’s consciousness changes, it still has continuity, while the former does not.”

"Suppose a person is cloned into a copy with the same memories as themselves. No matter how realistic the clone is or how complete the memories are, it cannot be regarded as the original. The clone's memories only begin from the moment of its creation and are not continuous with what it believes to be its past memories."

"Before and after my enlightenment and spiritual manifestation, my decision-making on important matters was vastly different. In the past, I would never have thought of stopping the end of the world. But would you consider me now to be a completely different person from me in the past?"

"In Brother Zhuangcheng's opinion, what's important is 'continuity'..." Xiaowan seemed a little surprised.

Fortunately, the answer did not catch her off guard. After a slight pause, she said, "So... the plan I want to propose is not to save the world in an instant with the power of return, but to save it step by step."

"Step by step?" I think I understand her intention.

“Brother Zhuang Cheng can delay the apocalypse to some extent because the rate at which the apocalypse accumulates errors exceeds the rate at which you can use the power of return to repair human history. But conversely, as long as the repair efficiency of the power of return exceeds the apocalypse process by even a little bit, the apocalypse will get further and further away from us without disappearing for the time being,” Xiao Wan said. “If human history were repaired in an instant, people living in the present would inevitably lose their existing personalities instantly and form complete memories and new personalities based on a ‘human history without errors’.”

"But if we take it slow, the situation will be very different. For example, we can spend two or three hundred years, or even hundreds or thousands of years... We don't even need to make 'this generation' that remembers the flawed history of humanity change their memories. Instead, we can let them multiply and thrive generation after generation, allowing the historical memories passed down to future generations to gradually return to a correct and healthy form. In this process, human civilization may slowly make new archaeological discoveries, overturning its past historical understanding and aligning itself with the correct history of humanity. The witchers and strange creatures that inherit the power of the flawed worldview will also gradually disappear from the stage of history as generations die out naturally."

"There will definitely be many immortals who will be able to survive for hundreds or thousands of years, such as those at the Great Impermanence and Great Completion levels, including Sister Mazao and Zhu Shi."

"However, there is no need to actively alter their memories. As long as they are willing to cooperate with us, there is no need to even strip them of their power. Because the number of these people will not be too large. Just as the human body can resist a certain degree of disease, as long as the number of immortals is small enough, it will not have a truly detrimental impact on human history itself. The Gospel Institute's human extermination plan was originally intended to leave a small portion of humans as material for the continuation of the race."

"If those immortals want to spread false human history in future generations, or cause some terrible disasters, we can just use Brother Zhuang Cheng and the power of the Divine Seal to let them know our position. As for the strange creatures, we can also use the power of the Divine Seal to eliminate them all from the start."

“I call it the ‘End of the Age of Gods’ plan.”

Let the witchers and the strange creatures disappear...

To be honest, this development doesn't suit my taste. Or rather, I'm generally averse to endings where "incredible power disappears from the world at the end of a fantasy story." Even if I, as the planned user of the Divine Seal and the third gate, could unconditionally retain my power, the world would still lack something. However, compared to Tai Sui's wish, this solution is acceptable.

The biggest mistake in human history so far is the forced inclusion of elements like witchers and supernatural beings. Trying to save the world while preserving these elements is an impossible task. Therefore, I haven't raised any objections. At present, this seems to be the best solution.

“…Brother Zhuangcheng, you don’t seem very satisfied.” Xiaowan keenly noticed my mood. “I’m sorry, but this is all I can think of for now…I will try my best to think of a solution that meets Brother Zhuangcheng’s expectations later.”

"No, let's just use this plan directly," I said. "That way, we might be able to establish a cooperative relationship with Tai Sui."

"It's better not to reveal this plan to Tai Sui," Xiao Wan shook her head. "Although it will eventually form a world similar to the previous one, it's not the world Tai Sui desires. Our goal is simply to prevent the apocalypse. We'll consider it a great success when human history is restored to a point where there will be no end of the world."

"In other words, a lot of history that does not belong to the previous world but will not have a negative impact on human history will be preserved. The 'present' and 'future' formed in this way will certainly not become the result that Tai Sui really wants."

"If Tai Sui insists on continuing the repairs, it's not impossible to grant his request, but the more serious problem is that the project might not be completed for several centuries. The people Tai Sui cared about in his original world wouldn't live that long, let alone return. Moreover, civilization will continue to develop in the following centuries, and the future world will still be completely different from the one Tai Sui remembers."

"The current Tai Sui doesn't know that we've come up with this plan, so he'll likely underestimate us. But if we tell him and he disagrees... he probably won't agree, and then the situation will become unfavorable for us."

Tai Sui is clearly a person with a high sense of morality. The reason why he is so heartless towards the people of this world is probably because he had extremely important ties in his original world... Perhaps it is because of the contrast and gap between the past and the present that he has such a strong sense of alienation from the present world.

“However, all of this discussion is based on the premise that I can become the master of the Divine Seal,” I said. “The compatibility between me and the fragments of the Divine Seal is fatally poor. Even if I could imitate the nature of the Child of God, I would not be able to become like Tai Sui now. Tai Sui seems to be very confident about this.”

"Moreover, even if I could really defeat Tai Sui and become the ruler of the Doomsday Divine Seal, I don't know how to combine the Doomsday Divine Seal with the Reality Divine Seal. The doomsday process was caused by the complete divine seal, and to completely overturn it, it should also be achieved with the complete divine seal. And it seems that only Liu Shuying can merge the Doomsday Divine Seal and the Reality Divine Seal."

If I could push open the fourth door, I might be able to forcefully merge the Seal of the Present World and the Seal of the Doomsday into one, or even erase the doomsday process without needing the power of these two seals... However, I never expected to be able to push open the fourth door.

My intuition tells me the same thing. Even if I have now attained enlightenment and "manifested my power," it would be impossible to open the fourth door by my own strength alone unless I completely abandon the fundamental principles of my own soul structure and truly become another person. Otherwise, even if the world were turned upside down, it would still be impossible.

Xiao Wan must be able to think of these things too. Could it be that she even has a way to do this?
(End of this chapter)