Void Jigsaw Puzzle

"You are Patch... Your mission has been successfully completed..."

Zhong Chenmu could see nothing, could not touch anything, and it seemed that all he had left was hearing. Hearing echoed in his ears over and over again. Judging from the tone, the words came from an old man. Although the old man's speech was not very clear, he could still sense the firmness in his tone.

He clearly had never seen this old man before and had no impression of him in his memory, but he had an inexplicable sense of intimacy, as if he was connected to him in some way.

"I am Patch... My mission has been successfully accomplished..."

After muttering these words over and over again, Zhong Chenmu felt an unprecedented sense of relaxation. Everything that had just happened, everything that had happened earlier, everything that had happened since the first moment he could remember, all flooded into his mind in an instant.

There had already been a system running there, with dim green numbers, a string of binary digits that he called "unyielding values" flipping leisurely, growing slowly but steadily.

He recalled standing on the cliff edge of Ma'anshan Mountain, gazing at the abyss and roiling river below, and leaping without hesitation, toward the source of a mighty river. In that instant, he reset the system's indomitable value to zero, thereby reopening the rift to Taibai Star and directly meeting the Hydrogen Clan leader, Hydron Yi.

Faced with Hydrogen Memory, he had to use his only bargaining chip - the Silicon Clan, and finally persuaded the high-ranking Hydrogen Clan leader to order an end to the "Reunification" game and give all people in Wuming City equal and open treatment.

However, in exchange, he had to reset his already fully restored system and indomitable value to zero again in order to perform his first attempt at resetting the Nameless City.

Fortunately, he succeeded. From that moment on, everyone in Nameless City experienced a reset, and all bodies infected by the Silicon Clan became pure again. His system began to function again, and the unyielding value that had been reset to zero began to accumulate again. Until this moment, his system truly worked at all times and remained transparent to him. He and the system finally became one.

Unfortunately, he could only watch the system operate in an orderly manner, but found that he could no longer restore his body. He wanted to return to Nameless City, he missed the Jigsaw Team, and he missed the young body that once belonged to him.

However, he only had consciousness now, an extremely clear consciousness, and other than that, he had nothing. He didn't even know where he was at the moment. He only felt that he was trapped in the void, all perceptions did not exist, even the hydrogen memory was not by his side.

Zhong Chenmu came up with some terrifying speculations. The more he thought about the changes in himself and his system, the more he believed that his speculations might be true.

However, in order to verify his hypothesis, he would need to return to his body, something he currently couldn't do.

......

Compared to the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall structure, it is difficult to say whether the Pisces-Cetus Supercluster is larger or more extensive in the universe. The only certainty is that it is very, very far away from the former.

No one knows why the equally ancient helium family, a group that was born at the Big Bang, chose to stay so far away from the hydrogen family, quietly and peacefully occupying the Pisces-Whale Supercluster.

Xumi holds a position within the Helium Clan's territory similar to that of Taibai to the Hydrogen Clan. It lies at the very center of this vast supercluster, guarded by countless glittering yet dangerous stars. For any external force, force, or even light, to pass unscathed through these stars and reach Xumi, it's a challenge. However, since their last victory over the Silicon Clan, led by the Hydrogen Clan, the Helium Clan has experienced no foreign invasion or hardship in a long time. Perhaps reflecting their clan name, the Helium Clan's overall temperament is indolent, avoiding trouble. Due to Xumi's inherently hidden location, they are also less likely to be discovered by external forces.

Until one day, they captured a signal from the depths of space. The signal format was extremely outdated, but it incorporated conjugation technology for remote backup. This stark contrast piqued the interest of Helium Clan leader Helium A. With nothing else to do, he didn't let the signal slip away. Instead, he interpreted it and, following the instructions within—which sounded like a plea—reproduced the data contained within and granted them embodiment.

The Helium Clan itself lacked a physical form, so Helium A followed the instructions in the signal exactly and implemented it. He placed the civilization he had recreated from the data in the signal in the city of Kunlun on the planet Xumi—a name he had chosen based on the information in the signal, and Helium A thought it sounded pretty cool.

After that, his attention was drawn to other things, and he soon forgot the existence of Kunlun City. After all, reproducing the data on such a string of signals was just a piece of cake for him.

......

Kunlun City's terrain is completely flat. Steps follow steps, slopes follow slopes, and when you finally find a small, open, flat area, it's often the beginning of a steeper uphill or downhill slope.

A middle-aged woman was laboriously walking up the stairs, holding the hand of a boy. She was about thirty or forty years old, with a beautiful face and a well-proportioned figure. Her hair was neatly combed into a ponytail, but from the constant climbing, a few strands of hair had escaped the rubber band and were now draped over her face, forcing her to frequently push them back with her hands and wipe away the beads of sweat that had seeped through her face.

The boy, about ten years old, was carrying a large square schoolbag, which looked very strenuous. However, he did not ask his mother to help him carry the schoolbag, but endured it silently.

"Hurry up, hurry up, there are only ten minutes left... They have an exam today. If you don't arrive in the classroom a few minutes early and relax a little, it will affect your performance." The woman urged the boy while panting.

"Mom...it doesn't matter, it doesn't make any difference. I'm not ready anyway..." The boy answered guiltily, his voice becoming smaller and smaller.

The woman glared at him. "How many times have I told you! Since you're in cram school, study hard! Mom has to work three jobs to support your schooling. Don't waste money, and more importantly, don't waste your precious time!"

“Here we go again… I didn’t ask you to work three jobs…” the boy muttered.

The woman raised one hand angrily, but it remained suspended in mid-air, and she ultimately did not strike.