【Zhou Ye】The Foot of Time

Many years ago, Zhou Zekai once read a problem called the Ship of Theseus in a philosophy book on the earth.

A ship called Theseus, which can sail at sea for hundreds of years, thanks to constant repairs and replacement parts.As long as a board rots, it is replaced the first time, a nail is rusted, and a new nail is put in its place, and so on, until all the parts on the ship are no longer the original. of those.So, is the resulting ship the original Ship of Theseus, or a completely different ship?

Certainly not the original ship.

The same is true of this universe.

Those all-consuming cracks are everywhere in the universe, and at any time, if you repair them one by one, even if you copy the exact same thing and fill the cracks, it will no longer be the original part eaten by the cracks, but a Parts of the new universe.After all the cracks are covered by small explosions, patches of the new universe are pasted one after another, and finally everything in the old universe is replaced—even if it looks exactly the same as the original universe, there is no doubt about it It's a whole new, vibrant universe.

This will be a replacement of the old and new universes lasting tens of thousands of years.

The new universe still has Ye Xiu, Zhou Zekai, and everything about them.

It's just...the premise that Ye Xiu can accomplish all this is because he is a fixed point in time and space. If the current universe is still compared to a coordinate axis, as long as there is a small corner in the old universe, Ye Xiu will be one. An unchangeable point, from a certain point of view, can even be regarded as the origin of the coordinate axis.

As the cracks are repaired one by one, the old universe will be gradually replaced by the new universe, and when the new universe is fully formed, there will be no traces of the old universe—the coordinate axis that carries Ye Xiu as a fixed point , will cease to exist.

The moment the new universe is completed, Ye Xiu will no longer be a fixed point in time and space, but will return to a human being who will be injured, grow old, and die.

He will die in the time storm at the moment of saving the universe and completing the task.

This will be a slow suicide lasting tens of thousands of years.

"can."

Sitting on the round table, Ye Xiu nodded, his eyes were as calm as a dead deep sea.

"If I don't go, there will be nothing left. There is nothing to hesitate about. It's just that although I am a fixed point, it will take time to regain consciousness after death. Once I enter the storm, I may always be in the cycle of death and resurrection. There is no way To explode. And the explosion needs tools? How can the tools not be lost in that case? I will probably be torn to pieces."

"Yes, you need tools to make explosions, and what you want to repair is the entire universe. The number of explosions is almost incalculable." The black-haired wise woman replied, "But there is TARDIS, so don't worry about it. It can hold it. And the TARDIS...I don’t know if anyone has explained to you that the TARDIS is strictly a living thing.”

Ye Xiu nodded: "I know."

After getting the answer, she continued to explain: "There was once a time lord who strayed into the time storm. In almost desperate situations, he connected himself with the TARDIS. The time lord has the energy of rebirth, and this kind of Energy can be transferred to others, so this time lord shared his rebirth energy with the TARDIS. With the rebirth energy, the TARDIS shield can be restored instantly once the gap is torn, and At the cost of the time lord's six rebirth chances, he successfully escaped from the crack and created a miracle. And you, as the fixed point, possess infinite vitality that is far more surging than the rebirth energy of the time lord. Once you connect with this TARDIS, use your vitality to construct the TARDIS shield, which will be an indestructible barrier in the universe. In this way, you can stay safely in the time storm without Worried about being torn apart by the storm."

Ye Xiu made a relieved expression: "That's good, I'm still afraid of pain."

"...Speaking of which, perhaps this is its mission." The female wise woman caressed Lord Grim's body, "After so many years, it will enter another time storm."

Both Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng were taken aback.

"You, you mean, he was my brother back then..." Su Mucheng finally couldn't hold back after getting a nod, and a hazy mist appeared in her eyes, "I just said how he was reborn so quickly , and told me that he died from an allergy to seafood..." She turned her head and didn't continue.

Ye Xiu jumped down from the table: "Okay then, since we already have a solution, now only the tools needed to prepare for the explosion and teach me how to use them are left, right?"

From the time he started explaining the plan to save the universe until now, he never looked at Zhou Zekai again.

And Zhou Zekai didn't look at him either.

He dared not look.

No one wants to see the person they love the most go to die, even if Ye Xiu dies and comes back to life, he will be heartbroken, let alone a real death?

But he couldn't say anything to stop Ye Xiu.In this situation, if this task, the mission of sacrificing himself to save the universe falls on his shoulders, Zhou Zekai will definitely bid farewell to his lover without hesitation, and resolutely walk towards the center of the storm.

He could not support Ye Xiu in giving his life, nor could he stop Ye Xiu from saving everything.

He can only keep silent.

He knew that Ye Xiu must be doing the same at this moment.

But he couldn't tell, but there was another person present, a person who knew everything about them, it could be said that he watched their love until today.

Su Mucheng.

"...This is too cruel."

She raised her head, not hiding her reddened eye sockets at all.

"It's already cruel enough...Your timelines are opposite, mutual cause and effect, your future is his past, you can't meet again after separation, none of you would like to see the consequences of meeting. After so many years... They can only ask me how the other party is doing, and they dare not even let me hand over a letter."

"And now you are going to die, and he has to go back to see the young you again and again, and after knowing that you are no longer there, he will see the young you again and again..."

Tears spilled from her eyes.

"Why are there such cruel things in this world...why are you guys?"

The teardrop rolled down her cheeks, and was wiped away by a beautiful hand just halfway.

"Mucheng," he said with a sigh, "if this is really fate, then I will also be grateful for it. We all met the most mature and gentle partner when we were the youngest and most immature, and then we stayed with each other In the process of being young, make yourself a better person, and then bid farewell to the most youthful and loveliest partner."

He hugged the female general who hadn't cried for thousands of years, and stroked her curly hair gently like an older brother.

"Even if I spend my eternal life remembering this period of time, even if there is no intersection between us, even if I am going to die here today... I am still glad that this timeline allows us to meet and make us fall in love with each other."

He hugged Su Mucheng, raised his eyes, and met Zhou Zekai's eyes that finally looked over.At this moment, the vicissitudes of the universe in Ye Xiu's eyes were ignited by a huge but silent explosion, glowing with new vitality.

"I'm very happy."

He lowered his eyes again, avoiding Zhou Zekai's gaze, and kissed Su Mucheng lightly on the forehead.

"...Then Mr. Ye, please come with us. We will tell you how to make an explosion. Since it is a local small explosion, it is not a complete whole like a big explosion, so it is more controllable and can even be used Blank matter to fill - that's how we tried to close the cracks in time in the first place..."

The wise men began to urge Ye Xiu to let go of Su Mucheng. Ye Xiu nodded, then turned around, and wanted to follow them to leave.

"Wait...wait a minute!"

Everyone paused, and looked back at the person who spoke, the youngest child who hadn't spoken a word since he came to this parliamentary court.

"...Even if the universe is reborn, the Dalek, the Sons of Nightmare, the Cybermen, the Santars...they are still there. They will continue to create cracks, and sooner or later the universe...will be destroyed again, which is useless."

Zhou Zekai clenched his fists, his hands trembling slightly.

"Small explosions, which can be manipulated. Replace them with blank matter...destroy the enemy once and for all."

"What are you talking about!" A female general said in shock, "We don't have this right, we have signed the Shadow Declaration - every species in the universe must be protected, even ours Enemies, they also have the right to live. Even if they are evil and warlike, we cannot destroy them all directly, what is the difference between this and an executioner?"

executioner...

The leader of the council also nodded: "Yes, if that's the case, we would have destroyed their home planet long ago, making them disappear in time. How could you have such an idea..." He looked at Ye Xiu , I suddenly understood something, "Is it because you have been in contact with humans for too long? Your idea is indeed very similar to that of humans. They always say 'cut grass and roots'."

human thoughts...

"Yes, even if they always commit a lot of crimes, we can't just sentence them to death like this, right? We are Time Lords, and this is not something we will do."

No.

"Yes, we are the guardians of time. No one has the right to decide the survival of a species. This is terrible."

no--

Zhou Zekai suddenly took a step forward, almost roaring angrily at these old men——

"He's dying! At least! Make his sacrifice worthwhile!"

The entire council court fell silent, leaving only Zhou Zekai's voice echoing in the empty room.Zhou Zekai was panting, the sound just now almost consumed all the strength in his whole body, the blood in his whole body rushed to the top of his head, he even felt slight numbness in his hands and feet.

"...I think what Zhou Zekai said makes sense." Huang Shaotian, who was not at odds with Zhou Zekai, was the first to speak up and express his support, "Even if Ye Xiu repaired the universe, our enemies will still Continue to poke holes in the universe insatiably, and after a certain period of time, the universe will be destroyed again—isn't this an endless loop? When the time comes, where will we go to find a second Ye Xiu? Create another one Fixed point? Is this something we can make casually?"

"But……"

"But what? We want to protect them? Then I wonder, why should we protect them? We are the highest civilization in this universe, so we have an obligation to protect those weak and protect them from being violated. But what about them? How many races have been destroyed, how many people's homes have been destroyed, don't they need to pay any price? What's more--" Huang Shaotian raised his arms and pointed to the top of his head, "If there were no them, where did these time rifts come from? They were murdered The murderer of this universe. The universe is going to die, is there still no one responsible for this crime?"

This man who was always chattering so annoyingly that his ears hurt, his long speech at this time did not make people think of interrupting him.

"This is an opportunity to solve everything at once, and it is also our only opportunity. We only have one fixed point, and after he leaves this parliamentary court, he will eventually die. If we wait another hundred billion years, our descendants of Garifrey , we children of time are once again faced with the impasse we are in today, when they no longer have a human being who can willingly go deep into the storm of time... what will they do then."

"I support Zhou Zekai. I suggest that Ye Xiu replace them with blank matter and make them disappear in the universe. This is a once-and-for-all solution—if you don't mind another rescue timeline that lasts hundreds of millions of years, sacrifice so much Soldier, I'm still tired of the universe."

While everyone was deep in thought, Su Mucheng also wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, and raised her head: "Let's vote. I support Zhou Zekai."

"...I suddenly feel that it makes sense." The black-haired wise woman smiled wryly, "I am so excited by such an opportunity."

"...I agree." A general said in a deep voice, "I don't want any more soldiers to die. They sacrificed their lives for the universe, but we refuse to stop all this for them, making their sacrifices like Like the joke - I can't do it."

Such words made the generals present empathize instantly.

"……I agree."

"agree."

"Yes."

……

In a short while, more than half of the fifty time lords present agreed, and most of them were soldiers.And the rest, even if they had no support, kept silent.

...It's too long, this tug-of-war with time cracks, no one will feel tired, it's time to put an end to all this.

"Well, of course I agree." Seeing this, the only human present finally smiled, "I always thought you were all saints, and I was finally not disappointed. Treating the enemy should be as cold as winter." , Compared with humans in this respect, you are really far behind."

The head of the council took a deep breath: "Then, we..."

Ye Xiu interrupted him: "I'm sorry, although I know the time is tight, but before that, can you give me some private space? I'm going to save the universe, so I need some time for me and my Lover talk, say goodbye."

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I want to say anything, and I don't want to say anything...

Xiao Zhou, Lao Ye said he was very happy.