NOVEL WEB Chapter 19: Beautiful Wishes
The strength of Zhi Xiang Merid tends toward reality, particularly in the composition and disintegration of basic matter. To ordinary life, Merid is almost akin to a master.
But what about Lord Entropy?
The power of entropy permeates the entire cosmic order, even time and age are merely its most superficial manifestations.
What is entropy?
In the academic world of Starry Abyss, there are countless understandings and interpretations of entropy.
Some theologists believe that entropy represents fate; no matter how one develops, they invariably proceed towards collapse and self-destruction, eventually returning to an initial state.
Physicists consider entropy as a chaos token; the more it accumulates, the more material existence steers towards uncontrollable chaos.
The Life Commune constantly seeks the answer to immortality, hoping to excavate a life's 'information entropy' from the Sequential Arcane Energy. This is crucial to the continuous existence of life.
And Lord Entropy is the sum of all these known concepts and all the unknowns.
From the Society and the gods above to the air and Insecta below, no one can escape the control of entropy.
Lord Entropy eternally maintains calmness; even as its minions sing praises continuously, they cannot affect its mood. Li Aozi even doubts whether it truly possesses 'emotions'.
〖This is one of your endings.〗
Lord Entropy explained to him:
〖I can continuously control the increase in entropy within you, causing all the information belonging to you in this patch of the cosmic order to become increasingly chaotic, from the feeble sensory system to timelines and fate. You can see as much as you wish.〗
The world before Li Aozi's eyes instantly turned gray and white, all the information belonging to 'Leoz' in this timeline plunged completely into chaos, impossible to interpret or understand.
This process is highly abstract. To put it briefly: he was permanently killed in a potential development. Statistically speaking, the more possibilities are lost, the greater the probability of Lord Entropy's victory.
Humans cannot comprehend this method of combat.
In Lord Entropy's worldview, there are no punches and kicks, no explosions or radiation. To it, all these are ordered pieces of information, easily destroyed by a casual swipe, like a child knocking over wooden blocks.
Humans often judge combat power with stark simplicity: smashing stones.
Crushing an insect, crushing a tiger or lion, demolishing a county-level city, shattering a continental plate, smashing an asteroid, extinguishing a star, obliterating a black hole.
No matter how strong mortals become, their impoverished imagination inevitably leads them to heavily rely on these intuitive phenomena.
But the combat of Lord Entropy cannot be measured by destructive force.
Ultimately, its combat method employs only one weapon:
——Mathematics.
〖No matter how many times you attempt, your end is predetermined.〗
Lord Entropy spoke slowly:
〖The Starry Abyss has granted you quite a bit of blessing, giving you myriad possibilities, endless permutations and combinations. However, even if one side of the balance is heaping with goods, as long as the balance isn't just, even unlimited goods won't suffice. I just need to place a single atom on the other side to achieve victory.〗
"Don't you find this fighting method tedious?"
Li Aozi chuckled.
At this moment, he saw another new timeline: Lord Entropy is extinguished along with the Azure Star by the cannons of the Narrative Civilization, yet Li Aozi did not escape the bombardment zone. He watched as his body was engulfed and devoured by antimatter, eventually vanishing completely.
Each time he saw this scene, his body would instinctively experience phantom limb pain, as if he truly perished from the antimatter cannon's destruction.
As the world turned dim and gray-white, this mutual destruction timeline also became chaotified——just like excluding a negative result during programming.
"Your combat, at its core, is no different from a programmer writing scripts to cheat, altering constants."
Li Aozi understood and casually teased:
"Your capability is not simply killing and destruction, but controlling 'probability' and 'information'. I wasn't wrong in saying that."
〖This is not combat, I don't need to fight, only you beings require combat.〗
Lord Entropy wasn't averse to conversing with him:
〖I comprehend your desire to survive. I witnessed the first single-celled organism split on the Azure Star and the massive extinction brought by oxygen. Whether a humble paramecium or a demigod like you, you all continually combat the outcome of entropy increase.〗
〖Reproduction, passing on the torch, building civilization, spreading doctrines, opening pathways, ascending to godhood.〗
〖You fear death, more so being entirely extinguished. You fear most of all that your information won't be passed on. I understand, I understand it all.〗
Lord Entropy's demeanor can't even be labeled as that of a villain; it peacefully narrates various possibilities:
〖This is the ending where you ascend to godhood, ruling everything as the ruler of Starry Abyss, yet lose all those by your side.〗
Li Aozi saw the crown of stars fall upon his head. The majestic Cosmic Emperor merely cast a glimpse, instantly causing a divine soul tremor, and in a moment, the entire world shattered and vanished completely.
〖This is not what I destroyed.〗
Lord Entropy then accelerated the entropy increase, showcasing a new possibility:
〖This is where you choose your true love, meeting a wonderful partner. You live a safe and happy life together.〗
Li Aozi stood among the wheat fields, watching himself working in the fields from afar. His muscles were solid, his physique robust, though not nearly as beautiful as now, his face radiated happiness and satisfaction.
He turned his gaze, and on the path between the fields, two children who resembled him, half-Dragonkin, ran around. In the distant sky drifts a half-mechanical female White Dragon. She gently folded her light wings and particle accelerator cannon, releasing a whale from her mouth. Seemingly sensing a presence, she immediately turned her gaze, her delicate blue electronic dragon pupils falling upon Li Aozi.
Then, she shook her wings, instantly transforming into a humanoid, her long white hair fluttering, ready to run toward this direction.
伏——
The next moment, this beautiful timeline instantaneously turned to ash.
〖It never belonged to you.〗
Lord Entropy whispered in Li Aozi's ear:
〖That girl's name is Azafina. In that timeline, she would have saved you, and you would have peacefully spent your later years. It is the happiest possibility.〗
〖This possibility has been completely eliminated, and you'll never obtain this ending, you'll never meet her.〗
Then, Lord Entropy presented many dreamlike scenes:
In a blooming meadow, a 567-year-old Nomi Anderson Guesette removed her goggles, revealing deep smile lines. She smiled slightly, moving towards a red-haired girl.
"Finally met you."
Nomi placed one hand on her waist and sighed:
"I've figured it out. I'm better off alive; if I were dead—hehe, I wouldn't be able to see you anymore."
〖A reunion with an old friend.〗