Chapter Thirty-Three

Half an hour later, Cheng Yuan sat in the police station, recounting his experiences from the previous day. The police officer stared at him with wide eyes. "Are you saying you encountered an active monster that had completed an ecological reshaping, and you found evidence of a civilization resisting it?" Cheng Yuan nodded. The policeman drew in a sharp breath, while the older officer beside him mused, "If that's the case, then the resurrection of instances like the Yin-Yang Bus on our side isn't so mysterious after all."

The younger officer chimed in, "A predetermined future, endlessly replayed!" Cheng Yuan, reflecting on their words, recalled how this world defined instances: slices of a particular world at a specific moment in time. The thicker the slice, the longer the time it represented, and the broader its reach. The emergence of a disaster monster that reshaped the ecosystem meant that the instance had already headed toward a dark, hopeless future.

With the future fixed, just like a converging timeline, many other instances from the same world would become clues or consequences of that predetermined future. The disaster monster, the Ghost Emperor of Fengdu, having completed ecological reshaping, was nearly the incarnation of the world's end—its future already tipping toward ruin, with almost no force able to stop it.

The old police officer sighed. "A Bai, go report this. We need to prepare as well." "Understood." When the door closed, the old officer said with a hint of emotion, "Cheng, you'll guide us later. We need to document the rare ending brought by this disaster."

An hour later, a large group followed Cheng Yuan to the entrance of an instance. Cameramen pointed their lenses at the gateway—it was a once-in-a-century event. Disaster monsters were rare; encountering one that had completed ecological reshaping was rarer still. Scholars in their fifties wore expressions of regret, and a dozen soldiers escorted them into the instance.

Cheng Yuan sat on a nearby bench, suddenly surrounded by reporters. "Cheng, how did you discover this instance?" He looked up, innocent. "I don't really know. I woke up and found myself inside. For a moment, I thought I'd traveled to another world." A female reporter, visibly excited, pressed on, "Then how did you find the disaster monster inside?"

Cheng Yuan waved his phone. "Probably because of this. The network inside was much like ours, so I could easily connect."

Just as Cheng Yuan was about to answer more questions, the vortex at the instance's entrance suddenly burst with white light. Several prominent scholars rushed out, and spotting Cheng Yuan, ran up and grabbed his collar, their voices ringing with shock, "What exactly did you do?" "Huh?"

At that moment, the vortex's light shot straight into the sky. Everyone looked up as the glow pierced the heavens. The clear blue sky was inverted, revealing a colossal planet overhead. All could see a pitch-black region covering half of the planet, the other half shimmering with technological brilliance, and a boundary line gleaming white.

Suddenly, the vortex marking the instance entrance collapsed. The light vanished. A scholar, disheveled, sank to the ground. "Both civilization leap and disaster reshaping have occurred." The crowd erupted in astonishment. Cheng Yuan was startled, and everyone turned their gaze toward him, as if asking, "Just what world-shaking thing have you done?"

The scholar pointed to the sky. "Everyone, there is another matter to worry about. The 'gate' has vanished. Now, they can see us." Indeed, everyone sensed an inquisitive gaze sweeping over them, a feeling that it was watching them. Then, as if it had seen something, the gaze abruptly withdrew.

The scholar looked seriously at Cheng Yuan. "I saw your statue there. They call you 'Traveler from Another World,' 'Master of Spiritual Perception.' And they were waiting for us at the entrance of the instance."

Cheng Yuan blinked. "I have no idea." Just then, a bright light on the other planet grew larger, trailing a long tail as it streaked toward Cheng Yuan's world. With a 'ding,' everyone saw a new instance entrance vortex appear at the site of impact.

With the entrance's appearance, the light halted, revealing a humanoid figure. A scholar, producing an astronomical telescope from who knows where, handed it to Cheng Yuan. "You're not as strong, use this first." "Alright."

Through the telescope, Cheng Yuan made out the figure: neatly cropped black hair, sharp eyes, clad in a deep purple, heavy robe, a young man with a hint of confusion on his face, touching the entrance before him. He frowned and spoke, but Cheng Yuan couldn't read his lips.

A minute later, as if remembering something, the young man leapt through the entrance. In the next second, Cheng Yuan felt a tap on his shoulder. Suddenly, the surroundings grew eerily quiet. He turned stiffly and saw the young man he'd observed through the telescope standing behind him, smiling and waving.

The young man looked at Cheng Yuan's face, stepped back, and bowed deeply, his expression solemn. "Master of Spiritual Perception, kind traveler from another world, thank you for your help."

Cheng Yuan hurried to help him up. "Um, I still don't understand—what exactly did I do to help you? And what happened to you all, to end up like that?" He pointed to the sky. The young man coughed, happiness in his voice. "If you hadn't passed on meditation to our ancestors, our civilization would have collapsed. We might even have mutated into ghostfolk."

Cheng Yuan looked up, bewildered. "Meditation?" The people around him were equally puzzled. In their world, meditation was no more than a warm-up exercise. It was as if, on a whim, he had handed aliens a set of calisthenics, and they'd used it to forge martial arts—a situation bordering on absurd.

The young man saw Cheng Yuan's confusion and explained, "Master of Spiritual Perception, you came and went so quickly, you never really learned about our situation. Though we could distinguish people from monsters by their robes, most of us, upon reaching adulthood, struggled to reliably defeat the monsters. It was like barehanded combat against wild beasts. Only those with great talent could consistently win—they were like wielding clubs. Thankfully, our numbers ensured some extraordinary talents would emerge to protect us.

The meditation you gave us was incredibly effective. The gifted became stronger, and those without talent, as long as they practiced diligently, could gain talent. The development of the brain through meditation raised our average intelligence, and the increase in mental strength allowed us to save time in researching spiritual techniques and technology."