NOVEL WEB Chapter 20: Never Dreamed
As soon as Lord Entropy spoke, the entire world rapidly darkened.
Fierce winds arose, and Nomi's body quickly decayed and rotted, turning into a dried corpse.
Wild grasses and flowers flew all over the sky, the world spinning around. Li Aozi's gaze followed the flying petals, as a train roared past with the scent of flowers, across the railroad stood the statue of a female prosecutor. His eyes fell on the base, where was inscribed in large golden letters:
'Every injustice in judgment becomes a basis for rampant crime—People's Prosecutor Alicxia.'
〖Dedicated to duty, a name remembered through the ages.〗
The ground shook violently, and the world suddenly collapsed downward. When Li Aozi's feet landed again, he found himself in a mechanical workshop. A young man with a mix of black and white hair was diligently teaching basic logic and various algorithms in a classroom.
Li Aozi walked to the back door, listening through the small window:
"That's all for today's class. You can now freely assemble."
"Teacher Du Zexin, when are you getting married?" a child asked innocently.
"With all you kids, why would I think of getting married?"
The young mechanic smiled, sensing something, he pushed open the classroom door and looked into the corridor, but didn't see the familiar figure.
——only the oncoming wave of ashes.
Li Aozi climbed out of the abyss, the ashes on him quickly dispersed by the vacuum, and upon regaining his senses, he found himself on an ancient battlefield. Corpses of deities and spiritual bodies turned into rays of light and dust, continuously spreading and splashing in the void.
〖That person named Du Zexin seems to have helped you before—now, the best future belonging to both of you has ended.〗
"Li Aozi…"
He looked up, a pale-haired woman looked at him in surprise, then showed a comforting smile, pointing to her eyes:
"Look, I've broken free from the secret, from now on, let's fight side by side."
Li Aozi opened his mouth:
"Dai Yawen—"
Splatter!
Dai Yawen's face was torn apart, and the entire universe erupted in a terrifying shockwave, ultimately ending in a vacuum decay.
〖Who would have thought you had a trace of softness in your heart—was it others' love and hope that motivated you as well?〗
Lord Entropy offered half of Yawen's skull, a smile still on her face, but it quickly decay, completely disintegrating.
〖I know the goals you all fight for are nothing more than three things: desire, survival, and protection.〗
Lord Entropy's voice suddenly changed, and Li Aozi immediately realized: that was the voice of everyone he had ever met.
〖In fact, I don't fight at all.〗
〖I can only completely exile and destroy the goals of desire, survival, and protection that you all yearn for, that's all.〗
Lord Entropy's statement lacked any malice.
To be honest, even if Lord Entropy destroyed 114514191810 possibilities, it was hard to feel any hatred toward him in battle.
It destroyed a lot of futures that never appeared, and apart from a few of the present, the lost futures were really hard to resonate with.
And amidst this numbness, the scales of victory tilted little by little toward Lord Entropy.
It's just that simple and pure.
No fancy moves, no destructions of stars or burning of the cosmos, not even any flashy special effects.
It doesn't enter a second phase, has no attacking desires, and the way of battle is constantly reporting numbers and writing essays with Li Aozi.
Lord Entropy doesn't speak harshly, doesn't taunt, doesn't lie, without a battle goal, its actions hardly qualify as a 'battle'.
It calmly states everything, and silence is its greatest arrogance.
Meanwhile, Li Aozi naturally also knew: Lord Entropy's angel envoys were wantonly spreading on the ground, and the players and Azure Star's military and civilians paid an extremely heavy price, barely managing to hold them one for one.
Without violence, it's the deadliest form of violence.
Facing Lord Entropy, not even despair could grow, only able to numb indeed watch as the other side unfolded, accepting this disorder entropy increase until destruction.
——generally speaking, that's how it is.
Li Aozi gazed ahead. Throughout, he held no negative emotions.
〖You are, quite odd.〗
Lord Entropy noticed Li Aozi's overly calm demeanor:
〖Are you not afraid at all of those eliminated possibilities and the end narratives I unfold?〗
"Why should I be afraid?" Li Aozi retorted.
〖So many beautiful futures are utterly lost, you'll never reunite with Nomi Anderson Guesette, the ancient woman named Alicxia won't meet a good end, your good friend Du Zexin will never realize his dream, Dai Yawen will be completely swallowed by secrets—even your partner is destined to be lonely and forget you…〗
Lord Entropy counted one by one:
〖You've already lost nearly all beautiful and perfect endings, even defeating me to exile me, what awaits you is still a bleak life. Why, are you still so calm?〗
"Yes, why indeed?"
Li Aozi's azure eyes glimmered with a hint of mockery:
"Because I never expected such so-called beautiful endings."
With this sentence, Lord Entropy fell silent.
"You should know: in a past life, I was the cannon fodder deity, the usurping Tyrant Leoz, who was never recognized until death, always working unconditionally for Starry Abyss, even having to seize my divine name and mandate by myself. Now, I've completely broken with Starry Abyss, killed the seed they sent, and taken everything away—you think, having done all these things, I could have a happy ending?"
Li Aozi laughed:
"When you talk about a happy ending, I find it laughable."
"What kind of happy ending could I have? I'm no good person, I've bombarded planets, slaughtered mortals, disregarded others' feelings for efficiency, many have died because of me, I've never really thought about saving anyone, ruled internally like a tyrant, outwardly pretended to be the compassionate Starry Abyss Hero—if someone like me were to have a happy ending, how would that be fair to all those who lived honestly and diligently?"
"I have already lost everything, thinking of these happy endings, I dare not even dream of it, when I first came to this land, I just wanted to survive, then to ascend to godhood, and then to take back what's mine from Starry Abyss."
"Dreams, family, friendship, romances, bonds—ah, such beautiful things, but those don't belong to me, I dare not even imagine, from the moment I came to Starry Abyss, my ending was already determined."
Li Aozi's gaze sharpened:
"Either win or die."
"If I lose, Starry Abyss will completely abandon me, obliterate me—if it really comes to that, I might as well just join Society. But then what difference would it make from being dead?"
After a long while, for the first time, Lord Entropy asked sincerely:
〖Even knowing full well that fighting me to the end will leave you in total failure, sacrificing everything, will you still fight?〗