Chapter 416: First World Line

"Now it's down to the last two coordinates." Wu Ruishu pushed up his glasses solemnly, "My personal preference is to be on this isolated island at the surface, which is our target next time."

"If my suspicions are correct, we will meet Bai six and his captive heretics head on on this isolated island, so I hope you will be ready tonight, get some rest, and we will leave tomorrow."

"Yes!"

After the meeting is adjourned.

After more than two years of high-octane searching, Lu Yizhan has grown accustomed to being in bed one minute, armed and ready to go the next - in short, not a second to himself.

Little did he know that now, at the end of the day, when he could have a brief respite, or a night off, Lu Yizhan would be slightly at a loss as to what to do.

He walked unconsciously to Yu Fu's infirmary.

The infirmary has been left empty, and Lu Yizhan occasionally comes to clean up and stand around for a while, smoking a cigarette to calm down.

Yes, that's right, he learned to smoke.

Fang Dian once caught Lu Yizhan, who was hiding in the Yu Fu infirmary to smoke, and looked at him silently for a moment, as if examining him.

Lu Yizhan was so frightened that he almost took off, but after a while Fang Dian reached out to him, smiling, and asked, "Do you have any more? Give me one."

Fang Dian took the cigarette and expertly lit it, bowing her head and leaning with him in Yu Fu's infirmary, smoking quietly.

The smoke drew up on her face and passed over the lapels of her uniform, dispersing into an unmistakable cloud of smoke, before Lu Yizhan heard Fang Dian say, with a smile, softly and indistinctly, "The order to ban smoking in the first detachment was passed by Yu Fu and the others behind my back."

"It was actually an order given to me that I smoked too much and they thought it was bad for my health and always said that I wasn't screwed by the heretics, but that I smoked myself alive."

"Didn't expect that." Fang Dian turned her head to look at a baffled Lu Yizhan with a smile, "They were screwed by the heretics before I had a chance to smoke them to death."

Fang Dian finished a cigarette in a few puffs and then naturally reached out to Lu Yizhan: "Have another one."

"No, no more." Lu Yizhan stuttered, "That one just now was the last one."

Fang Dian raised her eyes, her smile faint as she glanced over the untouched cigarette at Lu Yizhan's mouth, then naturally reached out and took it, waving it in front of Lu Yizhan's face, "Mind if I smoke this one?"

"No, don't mind!" Lu Yizhan's expression went blank and he felt like he was going to ascend to heaven.

"Thanks! I'm a bit of a smoker." Fang Dian gave Lu Yizhan's shoulder a big grin as she took the cigarette in her mouth and very gently held it in her teeth as she lowered her head and lit it with the lighter.

The light of the lighter shimmers on the side of Fang Dian's face with a gentle beauty.

"Smoking is actually a very degenerate act." Lu Yizhan heard Fang Dian whisper. Lu Yizhan hears Fang Dian whisper, "I often wonder if cigarettes are a low-hazard addictive heresy packaged and dropped by the Bai six guy, slowly, and silently corrupting many people."

Fang Dian exhaled a soft puff of white smoke, "Like me."

"It's hard for people to fight their negative desires, I understand that very well, and it's a bit ridiculous to expect to win Bai six when I can't even quit smoking myself."

Fang Dian lowered her head and she laughed very softly, "But as long as there is someone in this world who wants me to quit smoking who still exists, everyone who smokes has someone who wants them to quit."

"-then I won't lose."

Fang Dian finished her last puff, smiled and waved her hand at Lu Yizhan: "Quit smoking, Lu Yizhan."

After that, Lu Yizhan didn't sneak in for a cigarette for a long time, but perhaps it was because the night before he left was so tumultuous that Lu Yizhan couldn't resist and he came back here and couldn't help but light himself a cigarette.

Lu Yizhan turned around with a cigarette in his mouth to see Fang Dian greeting him with a smile and naturally walking up next to him: "Any more? Have one."

Lu Yizhan: "......"

Why did this woman who said she was going to quit smoking take it for granted every time she asked him for a cigarette?

Fang Dian looked up at him, her eyes reflecting the moonlight outside the window, bright and shining, a very light smile on her face, the wind lightly ruffling the ponytail at the back of her head, and said, "You've grown a lot Lu Yizhan, you were about the same height as Little Wu when you joined the team, now I have to look up to you."

"The team has done well too, you've grown completely."

As if expecting to see a Fang Dian asking for a cigarette here, Lu Yizhan had actually brought a packet of cigarettes with him, but at this moment, the moment he heard those words, Lu Yizhan said, "...... is out, there is only one left. "

He knew what Fang Dian would do when there was only one.

She would take the cigarette right off his lips to smoke it, thus indirectly picking up ......

But before he had time to finish his thought, Lu Yizhan's pupils contracted.

Fang Dian reached out with two fingers to draw the cigarette from his lips, then stepped forward, stood slightly on tiptoe, wrapped one arm around the back of his neck, closed her eyes and kissed him.

--kissed.

The wind blew in through the window, hitting Lu Yizhan's blank side and Fang Dian's closed eyes for about fifteen seconds before Fang Dian stepped back and naturally lifted his hand from Lu Yizhan's pocket to take the new cigarette he had brought with him and put it to his lips to sip it, tucking the cigarette back into Lu Yizhan's mouth.

Lu Yizhan thought slowly in a daze -

Ah, Fang Dian saw that I had brought new cigarettes.

So she must have known that I just said only one was lying to her about kissing me indirectly, so she simply kissed me directly? ......

This doesn't make any sense, does it?! What strange logic is this!

So why kiss me? !!!!

"How long have you liked me?" Fang Dian suddenly spoke.

Lu Yizhan subconsciously stood up straight: "Two years, three months and eight days!"

"At that time ......" Fang Dian rubbed his chin, "you fell in love with me at first sight?"

Lu Yizhan was sweating profusely and her little face was red: "...... Yes, yes, when did Team Fang know about it?"

Fang Dian looked down and thought hard, "When you joined the team, I think."

Lu Yizhan: "!!!"

So early!!!

A strange sense of shame rushed through Lu Yizhan's mind, and he covered his burning face with both hands, wanting to dig a hole and bury it on the spot: "Then why did Team Fang pretend not to know that I liked you when my weapon was a heavy sword before ...... "

"It's not like you're saying it outright, and you don't seem to want to." Fang Dian scratched her head, "I've never been in a relationship either, so I don't know if I should respect you for a while and not poke around."

"So, that was just ......" Lu Yizhan paused.

Fang Dian replied with a straight face, "I just kissed it because I thought I might die tomorrow and you seemed so willing."

Lu Yizhan covered his face and did not move or make a sound.

Fang Dian held her cigarette next to her, not smoking it, and after a moment she dropped her eyes and whispered again, "I'm sorry if you don't want me to say sorry to you."

Lu Yizhan took a deep breath and let it out again slowly: "There is no reluctance ......"

And he was the one who had his heart set on it first, Fang Dian just saw it ......

Get out of your head! It's a shame!

Fang Dian looked at him sideways for a moment, "We'll kiss again if you want? In case you die tomorrow, you won't get a kiss ......"

Lu Yizhan dropped her arms and hugged Fang Dian and kissed her red-faced, stopping her from going on.

Fang Dian is quiet for a moment.

She slowly closed her eyes.

After Fang Dian had left, Lu Yizhan opened the window of Yu Fu's infirmary to blow a cold breeze in an attempt to calm down, but ended up walking out of the medical room almost in the same breath and reassuring himself that it was only a kiss, no big deal.

As soon as Lu Yizhan came out of the infirmary, he saw Cen Buming waiting outside with a subtle expression on his face.

Lu Yizhan: ......

Seeing that Lu Yizhan was about to wind up embarrassed directly in front of him, Cen Buming mercifully averted his eyes, "Tomorrow the second team will be responsible for clearing the perimeter of the coordinates of the stronghold you are going to."

Lu Yizhan would instantly come back when it came to business: "What can I do for you?"

Cen Buming paused for a moment: "What are the chances of you surviving tomorrow?"

Lu Yizhan was stunned.

Cen Buming has had a number of handovers with him since becoming second team vice squad, but for the most part it's been business, and although they've been through some things together, they clearly don't see eye to eye, and Lu Yizhan doesn't usually have personal contact with people he doesn't see eye to eye with.

And Cen Buming is one of those people.

They basically don't talk about things that are not work-related, and they don't make connections outside of work.

That's why Lu Yizhan was stunned when Cen Buming's words, which were clearly intended to be personal, were spoken.

Cen Buming held his chest and turned his face sideways, his tone cold, "Don't give me that stupid look, I'm just seeing if I can make it over to collect your body on the way."

Lu Yizhan smiled as he thought seriously for a moment before replying, "Chances of survival? Actually, for the time being, we haven't found ourselves with a chance of survival."

Cen Buming was silent for a moment, his hands tightening around his body: "...... Lu Yizhan, if you don't want to go tomorrow, I can apply for a transfer to replace you ...... "

"Lieutenant Sham, why are you suddenly doing this for me?" Lu Yizhan was somewhat curious and puzzled as he scratched his head, "I don't think we ...... have reached this point in our relationship yet, have we?"

Cen Buming's head snapped around as he stepped forward and grabbed Lu Yizhan by the collar and pinned him against the wall, questioning him in an enraged tone, "Then why did you carry me out of the Rose Factory in the first place, and why did you stand in my way during the trial!"

"Why did you lie to me and make me hate you who saved me at that time!"

"Our relationship back then was nowhere near that either, Captain Lu Yizhan!"

Lu Yizhan looked down at Cen Buming, who was wearing a blindfold over his left eye and breathing heavily with anger on his face, Lu Yizhan pushed Cen Buming away slowly against his shoulder and leaned back against the wall and asked very softly, "You know?"

"Knew that a long time ago." Cen Buming looked away, his tone cold, "I still hate you as a person, Lu Yizhan, but I don't like owing people, so if you need me to die for you, I can take your place."

Lu Yizhan raised his head slowly: "What if I need you to live well for me?"

Cen Buming's pupils flinched.

"It's true that we were strangers at first, but I'm a year older than you, so I'm at least half your senior brother." Lu Yizhan straightened his uniform and smiled good-naturedly, "It's only natural for a senior brother to save a junior brother, isn't it?"

Cen Buming laughed coldly: "One term senior? Lu Yizhan you are shameless, my senior brothers should all be seniors in the second team according to reason ......"

Both men gave a lurch as they said this.

Almost all of Cen Buming's brothers were executed in that rebellion.

"And I'm not forcing you to acknowledge me as your senior brother." Lu Yizhan looked up and he patted Cen Buming's shoulder with a smile, "If your real senior brother is absent, then if you don't mind, you can briefly let me take this place you need."

Cen Buming coldly slapped Lu Yizhan's hand on his shoulder: "Go away, don't take advantage of me verbally, who needs a brother?"

Lu Yizhan was thoughtful: "Really? I was in the same ward as you at that time and I would hear you crying at night saying how much I wanted a brother to come and take me with him ......"

Cen Buming's right eye narrowed: "I'll kill you if you start any more rumours."

"Eh, you used to be someone who loved to cry under the covers, why are you like this now?" Lu Yizhan shook his head with a look of regret, "It's true that children become mean when they grow up."

Cen Buming, who was taken advantage of by Lu Yizhan in a roundabout way: "......"

He shouldn't have bothered to care about this man.

After Lu Yizhan had finished speaking, he turned to leave and was halfway there when he heard a very soft voice from behind him.

"Brother."

The sound of Cen Buming's voice as Lu Yizhan's back lurches away.

Cen Buming was quiet for a moment, then calmly went on, "If you die, I won't cry for you."

Lu Yizhan smiled without looking back and waved his hand: "That's good."

The following day, the Judgement of the True Cross army flew to the island, with one team clearing the inner perimeter of the island and a second team clearing the outer perimeter.

It is an island that sits in an endless black sea, with no islands around it, as if it were at the centre of the universe, surrounded by waves and winds so fierce that ships can't get close to it, and beneath the surface of the sea swims black, unidentifiable, gigantic things that could swallow a yacht.

By the time Fang Dian landed on the island, there were already a number of dead and wounded.

The island was a magnificent temple, and Bai six was sitting with his jaw propped up on a rocky card table in front of it, looking at them with a smirk: "You're here at last, I've been waiting for you, I was falling asleep."

Fang Dian looked steadily at Bai six and she stepped forward, "We won the game with you."

"No, you have lost." Bai six smiled and raised his eyes, "Because the condition for winning the game is to capture my [tower], but you are just arriving now."

"This is my temple, which you cannot take, and even I myself have no means of destroying it."

Wu Ruishu looked furious: "You're cheating! Then this wasn't a way to win against you in the first place!"

Bai six fiddled lazily with his cards on the table, "No, I was actually hoping you would beat me and destroy this temple, but unfortunately, you just weren't able to."

"But I didn't lose either." Fang Dian continued calmly, "You can't take over the Heresy Handling Bureau because I brought all the heretics and all the players here."

"The equivalent of you moving the Bureau of Heresy Processing into my temple? At the risk of so many deaths and injuries?" Bai six had a slightly appreciative grin on his face, "I can't destroy my temple, so you won't lose the game either."

"Beautiful flip, Fang Dian, you are truly the finest human I have ever seen, cruel and merciful in power in equal measure."

"You've never won a game from me, but you've never lost a game from me, you've always been so determined in your goals." Bai six lifted his eyes to Fang Dian and smiled, "- you want to keep me, the evil god, trapped in a game with you so that more people from other world lines can survive."

"I'm curious, when did you know there were other world lines, this is already in the realm of [God's] sphere, how did you know about it?"

Fang Dian grinned broadly, "Guess so! Seeing as you keep wanting to run, thought other places should exist for you to have more fun."

"Even if the people of the other world lines you have never met, never made any emotional connection with you, you don't even know what kind of laws they are living in." Bai six took one step down the steps high above the temple, he looked at Fang Dian and smiled sardonically, "and you risk sacrificing yourself, and those around you, to save them."

"Why is that, Fang Dian ?"

"You have no basis for empathy with them, so why would you have a desire so strong as to come close to becoming a god, to save everyone?"

Fang Dian looked at Bai six, who had come down the stairs, and she tilted her head to look straight at him, "I don't actually want to save them."

"I just don't think they should be reduced to your playthings."

"But what if this is what they want?" Bai six spread his hands, "I receive many prayers every day, praying that I go to that world to fulfill their desires and bring evil."

The sea breeze blew violently through Fang Dian's long hair as she said calmly, "Want to play a game with me?"

Bai six raised his eyebrows, "What game?"

Fang Dian laughed: "Even if you let everyone in the world into your game, derive all sorts of weapons according to their desires, let them kill each other in your game, encourage them to gamble, commit crimes, fill the whole game with as many heretics as you like, and eventually- "

"You're bound to lose to them too, to their side of being a human being."

Bai six was quiet for a second and he curled his lips, "Okay, I'll grant your wish and play this game with you."

"I will take the game out of reality and bring them into my game only when someone grows desires in their hearts and prays to me, the evil god, for me to come down and grant them their wishes, while I will give personal skills to good quality desiring humans among them, like yourselves, so that they can survive in my dangerous game for a long time. "

"Also to facilitate what you, Captain Fang, call mutual help among humans, I will make it possible for them to see each other's games and to give each other their resources to help each other."

Bai six smiled: "From now on, all world lines I will let devolve this game."

"The criteria for winning and losing the game will be set - if one of the heretics in the game is brought into reality and contaminates the world, it wins for me, if not, it wins for you, and the whole world is [the tower] for both of us, how about that?"

Fang Dian retorted perceptively, "Winning this game is harder for us because there is no time limit on the defensive period."

"That's right too." Bai six propped up his jaw for a brief moment of contemplation, then he quickly smiled again, "Tell you what, take me out of the whole game as well, I won't be entering any of the games or reality."

Fang Dian's eyes really lit up this time, "Really?"

It would be so much easier for everyone without the bug-like presence of Bai six!

"True, but accordingly." Bai six turned his head and smiled, "I will place a coordinate derived creation of my own in each world line, and like you, this derivative will be a mortal body with mortal fighting abilities, and I will set it to look exactly like me on the outside to make it easier for you to find them."

"This derivative of me is the hourglass for both of us, he is your time limit, the game ends when you kill him, if the whole world is not tainted by that time, then you win, and vice versa, I win."

The terms of the game sounded too good to be true, and Fang Dian knew more than enough about Bai six's nefarious ways to ask warily, "What about the requirements for us?"

"A request of you?" Bai six smiled with arched eyebrows, "Naturally, to sit across from me, the evil god who has been sent down, and play the game with me."

"In all world lines, I will set up each world line to have your presence in it, and normally each of you will have a different presence, but I will set up the soul of all of you to be unified, which means-"

Bai six smiled a cloudy smile, "You will experience the reincarnation of all world lines, with one soul."

"If any of you are tempted by one of my derivatives in one of the world lines and sell your soul to him, then your soul will be completely nullified and turned into a stone statue in my temple, with no chance to start again."

"I will project your souls into the world lines as if they were my derivatives, but at the same time, you will be like game npc's whose archives are cleared and will remember nothing, each world line is a brand new game."

Bai six stood on the dais with his eyes downcast, looking down at Fang Dian who stood below: " Team Fang, as a reward for your touching the gods, and to add to the fun of this game, so to speak, I can give the members of your [Cross Judgement Army] the skills that only the gods have, to facilitate their fight against me. "

"But they have these rules skills that only gods have per worldline, as well as each worldline can play this game with me, and accordingly, you pay a price for them per worldline."

Fang Dian asks, "What is the price I have to pay?"

Bai six smiles: "Pain."

Wu Ruishu and Lu Yizhan both looked quickly at Fang Dian, but Fang Dian stopped them with a raised hand and nodded blandly, "Yes, I promise you."

"You give the skills first."

Bai six gives a slight nod to the air: " Wu Ruishu, a Taiji use that nullifies all attacks and strikes with force."

" Su Lan, worldline overlap, can briefly stack two worldlines that you know together."

" Ren Yuxin, a memory fold that alters the memories of all creatures in an entire worldline, completely erasing any trace of something that happened, but is only used three times in a worldline."

"......"

"Finally, I give you two rules skills that can determine the course of the game." The smile on Bai six's face deepened, "The first skill, [Listen to just a word from God]."

"For each worldline, although I won't be playing, I will design my own one game background script for each worldline and use the players in the game, the heretics, to get the whole worldline on my predetermined path."

"But it would be boring to keep following my path."

Bai six nudged Lu Yizhan and said with a smile, "- so you can use this skill to stage to spy on what I'm going to do and then come and stop me, so you could also say it's a prophet skill."

"The last skill - Judgement of the Evil God."

"This is a skill that can be used to judge all heretics associated with me as an evil god in every world line, including me."

"After the trial, the heretic's weakness is exposed to you and continues to be weak, so no matter how strong the heretic is, you can use this skill to house your opponent."

Wu Ruishu's reaction was quick and he stared straight at Bai six: "You just said six skills, you didn't give Team Fang skills."

The corner of Bai six's lips turned up, "She has no skills."

"For she, like me, belongs to the [God] position and does not go down."

As if she had expected it, Fang Dian gripped her heavy sword and calmly stepped forward onto the steps of the temple, "You give good skills, and I will pay the price well."

" Team Fang ---!!!" Wu Ruishu, in a hurry, tried to follow.

Fang Dian didn't turn around, "Lieutenant Wu, stand by until I come out."

Wu Ruishu stops with clenched teeth.

"This worldline game hasn't started yet, I'll let Team Fang and you guys take the cost after a proper goodbye." Bai six yawned slightly, "Please."

Lu Yizhan stood motionless as he watched Fang Dian's back as she stepped onto the shrine, the sea breeze blowing her ponytail loose, like the texture of the night breeze that had hit him in the face last night.

He clenched his fists slowly.

Inside the darkened shrine is a huge swimming pool connected to the deep sea, with many unknown underwater creatures swimming in it, surrounded by pillars with chains hanging from them.

"It's been so long." Bai six looked over at Fang Dian, "You are the first person besides me to have the right to step foot in here."

Fang Dian looks out over the pool and says calmly, "Is that where you're going to keep me?"

"Of course not." Bai six smiled up, "It would be so disrespectful to a being as close to a god as you are to being locked up in a pool that I would lock you up at the bottom of the ocean."

"Of course, this physical torture doesn't bring you pain at all, does it, Team Fang."

"You're incredibly tough, the death of close teammates, betrayal, the constant stream of heretics, none of it has managed to break you down in pain, and still you've stuck it out so far." Bai six said with slight distress, "I thought long and hard about this game that could make you feel pain."

Fang Dian looked up at Bai six with bemused eyes, "What game is it?"

"In each world line, I will completely erase your memories and make you look like a normal person with a pair of happy parents, excellent appearance, a perfect brain, and access to everything that would make a normal person happy." Bai six looked to Fang Dian as he smiled and went on, "And then make you lose again."

"And then at the end of each world line game, if the Crusaders lose the game, and you have someone you love dearly at that time, I will bring that person here to the temple, to your own soul trapped at the bottom of the sea, and I will tell him that because you love him, I will now shatter his soul and turn him to ashes in agony --"

"-there is no way to be reincarnated for all eternity."

Bai six looked over at Fang Dian, who hung her head to look unreadable, and continued with a smile, "And then at the start of the next world line, you will continue to have your memory wiped by me and fall in love with another person under my design."

"And then proceed to witness his soul destroyed before you again because of your love."

"And I'll be on the sidelines, enjoying your pain before the next round of the game begins."

Bai six smiled and asked, " Team Fang, willing to pay the price?"

Fang Dian looked up and said with no emotion on her face, "Fine, I'll pay the price."

Lu Yizhan waited outside the temple for only ten minutes, feeling as if he had been there for half a century, and was relieved to see Fang Dian walking down the steps of the temple with a calm expression on his face.

Lu Yizhan saw Fang Dian's ponytail swinging in a light arc in the air as she ran, but when Fang Dian reached the bottom half of the steps, she suddenly darted up the steps with her heavy sword in her hand and jumped down them.

Then she slammed into Lu Yizhan's arms, who had opened her arms to embrace Fang Dian in a panic.

Lu Yizhan was knocked back several steps, but caught her steadily.

Fang Dian hugged Lu Yizhan so tightly that she buried her head in his shoulder, and Lu Yizhan was almost in pain from the hug, but in that moment he suddenly felt as if Fang Dian, who was holding him, was in a million times more pain than he was.

But the feeling was short-lived and Fang Dian released some of her hold on Lu Yizhan.

Lu Yizhan heard Fang Dian whisper in his ear in a very soft, soft voice, " Lu Yizhan ah."

"- you must remember to hide away from me when you see me when you reincarnate in the world line in the future."

"Never, never let me fall in love with you again."