The Fire-Chasing Herrscher Who Destroyed the World

"Uh-huh... ah--Hello everyone, my name is Wang Dachui. I wake up from a big bed of 10,000 square meters every morning... Oh, I am tired from saying such a long list of words every morning.

Snapped--

He reached out and patted the buttocks of the woman beside him. He endured the stinking smell in his mouth when he got up and ordered:

"Go get me some water."

The woman stood up immediately and ran towards the bathroom obediently like a puppet.

"Hey, it would be great if I could directly cast some dust-avoiding technique like in Xianxia novels. Uh, wait, this can also be done, right?"

Thinking of this, the man suddenly felt that the smell in his mouth disappeared, and it still had the freshness of mint, as if he had brushed his teeth automatically.

"You need to wash your face too."

With a certain attitude of trying, he touched his dry palm across his cheek. What he felt on his cheek was the touch of a towel dipped in hot water.

"It's so convenient. Why didn't I think of it before... I'm so stupid, really."

Time seems to be endless - this is not an objective description, but in a supervisory sense, time has truly become endless.

On what day did it start? Wang Dachui himself can’t remember clearly. Whether he was called [Wang Dachui] before that day is also a question worth pondering. Because it was so long ago that I can no longer remember what happened before that day.

What was my previous name and what did I do before. I don’t remember any of it.

In short, from a certain moment, life suddenly became like a dream.

It is still so real, and all the senses can identify everything experienced as [reality], but the underlying rules of how the world operates no longer seem to be the same as before——

Everything you want can be achieved, it's like heaven.

Only once... Wang Dachui remembered that when he woke up a few mornings ago, the bed was still soft and he couldn't see the end, but his body felt extremely cold. The three women who were beside him before falling asleep last night were nowhere to be seen. , which shocked him directly.

But he fell asleep quickly after that, and had an extremely clear [dream] that even felt clearer than [reality] - From that day on, Wang Dachui never dreamed again. Dreams themselves seem like a strange thing.

In that dream, he turned into a monster with only four limbs, being pulled by thin leads and attacking a purple-haired girl.

A voice in his mind told him that it was a messenger sent by hell, vowing to break their existing happy life and make everything turn into what it should be.

Wang Dachui didn't know what this meant, so he just attacked like crazy. Even though he didn't touch her, she was broken into many pieces.

The pain hit me, and when I opened my eyes again, it was a new day.

Fortunately, nothing has changed. He is still in the reality he loves.

Uh, wait.

There does seem to be a change.

Wang Dachui rubbed his eyes vigorously, looked at the little white-haired girl next to him who was staring at her with blue eyes, and opened his mouth in vain:

"That's not right... I should have no idea about that for the time being... And why is it such a young girl... Could it be that I am actually a perverted lolicon?"

"Yes, yes, you are a pervert!"

Theresa resisted the urge to take action, put her hands on her hips and said through gritted teeth.

"Huh? You can actually talk?"

Wang Dachui gradually realized something was wrong.

Because the women who appeared in response to his desires, except for some mechanical, pre-recorded performances, most of the time reacted like artificial retards, and it was almost impossible for such a distinct individual to appear before him.

Is it a real person?

He spends most of his time sleeping on this 10,000-square-meter bed, and he really hasn't seen many real people.

He was still thinking, and Theresa had resisted the urge to hit someone for the second time. She took several deep breaths before trying to explain in a calm tone:

"My name is Theresa Apokalis. You may not have heard of my first name, but you should have heard of my last name, right?"

"Apocalis... seems to have some impression?"

"Destiny."

"oh oh?"

Seeing his sluggish reaction, Teresa gradually lost the thought of being angry:

"You can't remember anything about what happened outside. Are you completely immersed in this dream?"

"Dreamland? You said this place I'm staying in is a dreamland?"

"Yes, you have now been involved in a dream called [Stigma Project]. All of this is your imagination in your dream, not reality..."

"Oh... I said so."

Wang Dachui nodded, seemingly not too surprised.

"You already knew?"

"No, it's just a dream. It's no big deal, right?"

"Well……"

Similarly, Theresa was not too surprised. It was obvious that this was not the first time she had faced this attitude.

"I just said, how can there be 10,000 square meters of beds in this world, and those women don't look like real people. If it is a dream, it can be explained. It's just that this dream is a bit too exciting and too real. - Let me ask you, if I don’t wake up, will I die?”

"Uh... no."

Theresa hesitated for a moment, but in the end she couldn't bring herself to lie.

"Look, isn't this good? I don't remember what kind of life I experienced before the dream, but it was definitely not so comfortable. I have whatever I want, and this is enough for me not to leave. "

"But if you remain immersed in dreams..."

"What will happen? Didn't you say it? You won't die. Everyone likes to sleep in. It's just that in reality, dreams can't go on forever, and people will always wake up. No matter what, if you don't wake up If you eat breakfast, you will starve to death. Now that you won’t die and won’t be forced to wake up, isn’t it good to just keep dreaming?”

Theresa was speechless for a long time with her mouth open, and finally she could only leave in anger.

…………

"Stop playing with kids, this is just a dream..."

"It's a dream! No wonder, if we were like this normally, our parents and teachers would have taken us back and spanked us long ago."

"Then...how about returning to reality with my sister?"

"Sister? You're good enough to be our sister, right?"

The children looked down at Theresa and wondered.

"..."

"However, we don't want to go back. When we return to reality, we have countless homework, and we have to be scolded by teachers and parents. If we stay here, we can play how we want, play whatever we want, and play as long as we want. . If you really want to learn, the knowledge will come into your mind by itself. "

…………

"Uncle, do you know, this place is actually just a dream..."

"Dream? Oh kid, I already knew it."

"Then...don't you want to wake up?"

On the sunny beach, the old man squinted his eyes with a complex expression, and unconsciously turned his head to look at his mother-in-law, who was smiling and motionless on the lounge chair next to him.

"The old woman died in the collapse half a year ago. It's true... She has always been in better health than me. I also got cancer and I couldn't live for a few years. Originally, I selfishly thought that I would be better than me. She left first, and it would be her who would be sad instead of me. Unexpectedly, she would be the one to leave first in the end... In this dream, I can be with her, and my own cancer is gone, so... I can let her go. Can I stay with her a little longer?"

"Grandpa..."

Teresa couldn't say anything in the end and could only leave.

…………

"Well……"

There was a slight tingling sensation in her brain, and Theresa opened her eyes. Her eyes were first sore from the bright light, but this pain also made her realize that she was back to reality.

"Oh, it looks like you have failed?"

With her lowered eyes, she caught sight of two small legs like ham sausages. Fairy Ellie floated to her side as soon as she returned to reality, and gently pressed the love-shaped staff against her big head. Sha immediately felt light in her mind.

"yes……"

Gazing across the pairs of expectant eyes in the conference room, Theresa lowered her head in embarrassment.

"I failed... basically no one wants to wake up. Some of them have spent countless nights in dreams and have even forgotten everything that happened before entering the dream. Some of them..."

Otto shrugged, spread his hands, and said nothing.

The rest of the people had similar expressions, a little disappointed, but not that disappointed. After all, this was an expected result.

Originally, no one expected to overturn the entire Stigmata Project with just words. That is, the forerunner named Alicia said it with certainty, so everyone had some expectations, but only a little, so there was only a little disappointment. .

"So, Ms. Alicia, do you have any other ideas?"

"What would you do if I said, no?"

Fairy Ellie's childish little face turned to Otto.

Otto gently pinched his chin and gave the answer without much hesitation:

"wait."

"Hey?"

"This is the only way I can think of at the moment. After all, a dream is just a dream. As long as the time goes on long enough, the dream will reveal its flaws: if it is a real dream, that's it. But according to Mikael, since the dream In the story, personal wishes are fulfilled because the Stigma shares the experiences of others and everything in the past, so the flaw is actually obvious - there is no future in the dream of the Stigmata Project.

"There may not be any problem in the short term. After all, the Stigmata Project has captured more than 7 billion individuals. Such a large number of samples is enough to ensure the freshness and non-repetition of dreams for a long time. But once the time is extended to the extreme , in the end there will inevitably be recurring dreams with nothing new, and in the end, this seemingly beautiful dream will actually become a kind of prison and a kind of torture.

"And I believe we don't have to wait too long. According to Theresa, the time flow rate in the dream of Stigma Space may be different from that of the outside world. Only three or four days have passed in the outside world, but there are people in the dream who have spent more time. A long time, so long that you can’t even remember the memory before entering the dream. According to common sense, time in dreams usually flows faster than reality, because dreams have a jumping nature. Of course, it does not rule out that it is just a single person. in this way."

"Oh! You have thought of everything! You are indeed a human being that both Mikael and Mei are optimistic about!"

Alicia spun around in mid-air, but then issued a soul torture:

"But... how long will it take to wait? Regardless of how long it takes [most people are unwilling to continue to stay in dreams], Mikael will not give us much time, right?"

"Yes, of course I understand this. So...grandma, please help your descendants?"

"Ah - your grandma, who is that?"

Just as Alicia was about to smile, her face froze.

"You see, Shaniyat is the blood of you and Mikael, and Kaslana has been intermarried with Shaniyat for a long time, not to mention that my mother is also a Shaniyat, so the blood in my bones is yours. Blood, you can’t bear to see us helpless, right? Grandma-chan?”

Otto held his voice and continued to explain like a dazed young man, and he used his palms to cover up the smile at the corner of his mouth.

A warm smile bloomed on Fairy Ellie's face——

"Haha, if you mention that title again, I will go back to the Paradise of the Past! If I give you another chance, what should you call me?"

"Miss Pink Fairy!"

"This is so ridiculous! Ahem -"

Alicia cleared her throat, and her sadness was covered up and disappeared in a flash.

"Oh, it's true. I promised Mikael that I wouldn't fight him... But helping you crack the Stigmata plan doesn't seem to count as fighting Mikael - then leave it to me. Well, after all, you have given your plan, and it is indeed a feasible plan, but it would be better if you add a little more power from the Herrscher of Corrosion!"

…………

Where no one noticed, the time in the stigmata space was split into two parts with completely opposite flow rates in different dimensions.

Through the modification of the data, the time fringe of the stigmata space itself has been stretched to an extent that exceeds seconds and years, but the speed of human reaction still follows the original time flow rate. The result is that people in the dream have not yet had time to In the time it took to react, it took far longer than the interval between two epochs.

Then, a girl with long pink hair appeared in this green space.

"Oh, it's really a classic Mebius color scheme. This guy can really cause trouble for people. If he stays here for a long time, his eyes will definitely become myopic, right?"

Lifting her hair, Alicia walked into the dreamland. In the Stigma Space, she doesn't have to rely on Fairy Ellie to exist.

"Oh! It's really a big bed of 10,000 square meters!"

"Hello, my name is Wang Dachui. I wake up from this 10,000 square meter bed every morning...ah, what else should I say..."

In the middle of the big bed, a man with a haggard appearance, a deep complexion, and full of shadows lay motionless in a big letter shape. Hearing Alicia talk to herself, he just said something mechanically and feebly in response.

"Do you still want to stay in this dream?"

Alicia knelt down next to him gently.

"No... no more. I have to sleep on the floor every day after I go out. No... I want to become a monk. I never want to sleep in bed again, and I never want to see a woman again..."

In the silent smile, Alicia's figure slowly faded away.

"Hi! Kids, did you have fun?"

Some of the children fell asleep in front of the computer, some spread their mobile phones on the table and stared up at the ceiling, and of course there were also some who were staring at cards, flying chess and the like. Someone even held up the test paper, but after hearing Alicia's voice, they threw the test paper out with relief.

"unhappy--"

"Please, big sister, let us get out of here... We have played games until we are going to vomit..."

"That's right, there are always just these games. There will be some new games coming out at the beginning, but they are all like half-finished products. Even the online games have been discontinued... Sister, you see, we have done our homework several times. Now, if we really have nothing to do, just let us out..."

Alicia picked up the discarded test paper from the ground and saw that the reverse side was covered with backgammon grids, while on the front side, it could be seen that these children had made countless corrections, and even the blank areas were Covered with drafts.

"Don't worry, as long as you have this heart, everyone will return to reality soon."

After the figure disappeared, Alicia appeared on another beach.

"Ah... the one who came this time is not the little girl from last time."

The old man seemed to have expected someone to arrive. His withered hands tightly held his wife who could only smile beside him, and there was no fluctuation in his narrowed eyes.

"It's okay, old man, don't you need to spend more time with her?"

Alicia looked at the overlapping hands of the two people, obviously thinking of something, and the smile at the corner of her mouth gradually faded.

"No need. After all...she is not the real her. The real her is dead, and she...is just a dummy created by me, an old man, using my own memory...no matter what I say or do. , all her reactions are exactly the same as in the memory, but there is something missing... Moreover, if I continue to stay here, will it cause trouble for you young people? "

It is normal for the old man to know about the Stigma Project. After all, the information possessed by everyone in the Stigma Project is shared by everyone. A large number of members of Destiny, Anti-Entropy, World Snake, and Taixu have also been captured by the Stigma Project. Under the circumstances, the Stigma Project itself is not a secret in a sense.

If you are willing to understand, you will know.

Even so, looking at that skinny and old face, Alicia's first choice was still a white lie:

"No way, it's just..."

"Okay, don't comfort me, old man. People will always die, and staying here is just an escape. However, when I died like that before, I was just a person who no one cared about. It's just death. But now, it seems that I can make a little contribution to your victory over Honkai, right? That's enough... I've lived long enough, and I've figured it out. It is impossible to create the future, so... the next road will be left to you young people."

As she said that, Alicia's eyes were already empty.

The old man returned to the real world almost in a "scramble" manner.

The dream belonging to the old man has not yet collapsed.

Alicia sat down on the beach. The waves kept rolling and the sea breeze blew, almost exactly like reality.

"Speaking of which, everyone seems to have made a movie..."

Ellie lay on the beach and slowly closed her eyes.

The sun burned the sight under her eyelids into a fiery red, but behind the red, Alicia seemed to see the deep starry sky.

She suddenly thought of a conversation she had had a long time ago——

"Unlike some scientists who view aliens as friendly, I once viewed every star in the sky as our enemy. But sometimes, I wonder if my thinking is also a manifestation of human arrogance. What? So far, we have not been able to master the means to allow humans to leave the solar system in our lifetime, so what qualifications do we have to regard the people in the sky as enemies... What do you think?"

This is a question May has asked.

It seemed like everyone gave a different answer, but Alicia couldn't remember it anymore.

She only remembered Mikael's answer:

"Because we never give up looking at the stars."

No matter how arrogant or unattainable your dream is, as long as you never give up, it will definitely be possible to realize it.

But if you succumb to the dreams of the Stigma Project and rely on dreams to realize your ideals, this is nothing more than false sensory deception, and... the reason why humans are satisfied with the realization of their dreams is just because of a result?

Isn’t it the process of making a dream come true, the sweat, tears, and blood, that gives that dream meaning?

Reality is of course painful. Choose dreams to escape reality, choose dreams to retaliate against reality, choose dreams to make up for reality... There is of course nothing wrong with this. When you are tired and don’t want to move forward, you should escape for a while and rest for a while, but Doing so doesn't really escape reality.

Because dreams are a continuation of reality, they are just things that depend on reality.

Reality is the end of dreams. Only if you are willing to step out of dreams and face reality bravely can you embrace the future.

"Mikael...Is this the last lesson you want to leave to mankind..."

Tears were constantly flowing out of her closed eyes, and the beach next to her face had been moistened into another color.

No...it's more than that.

Obviously facing reality is the more positive and beautiful side, while escaping reality is the more negative and less beautiful side.

But what drives people to indulge in dreams is the yearning for beauty. What makes people willing to take the initiative to get rid of dreams is not the realization that "tomorrow may be worse, but it may also be better", but the boredom and dissatisfaction with repetition...or rather More importantly, what makes most human beings have to leave the dreamland is their desire to fill the past that can never be delimited by the Stigma Project.

How ironic... But it is this kind of human beings that makes people more and more fascinated...

Alicia thought of Mei's words again.

Maybe it would be a good idea to end this story:

"The bad traits that you think will lead to human extinction - that's exactly what I believe is the key to their longevity."