CHAPTER 448: CHAPTER 445: 【PARADOX】

Chapter Four Hundred and Forty-Five [Paradox]

"No. 8 Middle School Boy Chen Nuo" is the ID.

"No. 8 Middle School Girl Sun Keke" is then the anchor of this identity.

The concept might be complicated, but Chen Nuo understood it nevertheless.

To put it precisely, the identity of Chen Nuo in the year 2000 did not exist for Chen Yanluo—because Chen Yanluo from his past life never met the boy named Chen Nuo. He never perceived or recognized this person, so this person did not exist in Chen Yanluo’s world.

Therefore, Sun Keke is the anchor.

She is the anchor of a world where "No. 8 Middle School Boy Chen Nuo" exists.

Chen Yanluo’s own world is a "world where No. 8 Middle School Boy Chen Nuo does not exist."

He needs to jump from his own world to a world where "No. 8 Middle School Boy Chen Nuo" exists, and Sun Keke’s world meets this requirement.

Therefore, Sun Keke is the anchor.

Or to put it more abstractly, Chen Yanluo essentially returned to "the year 2000 in Sun Keke’s memory."

More accurately, the year 2000 to which Chen Nuo returned was first based upon Sun Keke’s recollections.

The reality of this world’s structure—its first anchor—is Sun Keke herself.

Of course, as Chen Nuo spends more time in this timeline’s world, he will interact with more people and more matter, creating additional anchors.

For instance, his classmates, school teachers, even the school’s gatekeeper and the snack shop owner... family members, friends... and so on.

More and more anchors eventually make the existence of "Chen Nuo" more real, more concrete.

However, the first anchor is Sun Keke.

"The divergence point of memory is the first event when you returned to the year 2000."

"In Sun Keke’s original memories, on December 23, 2000, an unforgettable incident occurred."

"She accidentally fell from a school building and landed on a male student named Chen Nuo. Both were sent to the hospital. During the impact, the male student, Chen Nuo, suffered a ruptured brain tumor that bled, and he ultimately died."

"However, since the cause of death was determined to be the ruptured brain tumor, Sun Keke was not held primarily responsible by law."

"This incident also brought a tremendous shock to Sun Keke’s life. As the person involved, she was filled with guilt. Because of this incident, she became the focus of gossip in the school. Furthermore, because her father was the school’s director of instruction, the conclusion that Sun Keke did not bear main responsibility led to her facing societal criticism."

"The guilt from causing a classmate’s death in an accidental fall, combined with the pressure of being the focus of public opinion and accusations of evading responsibility through her father’s connections as the school’s director of instruction, placed Sun Keke under immense pressure."

"Afterward, Sun Keke’s family underwent changes. Her parents divorced, and Sun Keke left Huaxia with her mother to live in M Country..."

Seed spoke in a slow and steady tone, "...This was Sun Keke’s original memory in the timeline of your past life."

"Coincidentally, in 2009, when you took Lu Xixi to the Anderson Center for treatment, you happened to meet Sun Keke, who was interning there. While chatting, you learned that Sun Keke was also born in Huaxia Jinling, your hometown. During this casual conversation, you also became aware of Sun Keke’s memories of this incident."

"Most importantly, you found an ID you thought fit the requirements: ’No. 8 Middle School Boy Chen Nuo.’"

"A person who existed in the real world but had died was, without a doubt, very suitable for your time travel needs."

"To put it simply, such a crossing is akin to being a stowaway."

"Your original ID was automatically erased from three-dimensional space after stepping into the fourth dimension."

"The new ID, ’No. 8 Middle School Boy Chen Nuo,’ belonged to a real person, but that person died in 2000. By traveling into this ID, you could also alleviate your moral guilt—after all, possessing someone else’s body is equivalent to causing the direct death of its original owner."

"Furthermore, the year 2000 fit the criteria for what you wanted to do: it was several years before the Antarctica incident, giving you, in your estimation, ample time and opportunity to plan."

"In the end, you chose these things and went through with the time travel."

"What you need to understand is that this kind of time travel isn’t something you can do whenever you feel like it."

"You essentially abandoned your higher, four-dimensional state of life, reverting to a three-dimensional existence and re-entering the three-dimensional plane."

"Once entered, it’s irreversible!"

Chen Nuo took a deep breath. "Then what about my memories? Why did I choose to seal two years of them? Why erase the memories from when I met Lu Xixi during the Antarctica expedition in my previous life until her death—those two years?"

Pausing for a moment, Chen Nuo stared at Seed in the Blood Mirror. "More importantly... I erased that memory myself... how do you know about it?!"

"How do I know? Hahahaha... because I watched you erase it with my own eyes."

Seed’s tone was very strange.

Chen Nuo shook his head. "I don’t understand."

Seed let out a deep sigh. "Chen Nuo... have you still not grasped that concept?"

"Do you really think that what you call ’your previous life’ is truly ’your previous life’?"

"And what you call ’this life’ is really ’this life’?"

Chen Nuo shuddered at these words, staring disbelievingly at Seed in the Blood Mirror.

"To be precise, your previous life is indeed your previous life; that concept isn’t wrong."

"You, as Chen Yanluo in your last life, died just before Christmas Eve at the end of 2021. Then, that life as Chen Yanluo ended. But you didn’t truly die. Instead, after making sufficient plans, you time-traveled back to 2000. The anchor for your journey was Sun Keke, a woman from your hometown whom you had met by accident."

"Then... you became Chen Nuo, the No. 8 Middle School boy in 2000. Afterward, you attempted to change things in this timeline."

"First, the No. 8 Middle School boy Chen Nuo whom you became would not die again; your superiority as a Four-Dimensional Life is enough to overcome the fragility of a three-dimensional existence."

"Then, you did many things, including actively seeking out all the people from your previous life who were related to you and whose fates were tragic... like those in your team."

"Of course, the most important was Lu Xixi; you also tried to change her fate..."

"You made many attempts."

"Unfortunately, you failed."

Chen Nuo looked perplexed and muttered to himself, "I... failed?"

"You failed."

"...Why did I fail? Did I do something wrong?"

Looking at the somewhat dazed Chen Nuo, Seed sighed lightly. "I’ve seen this look on your face many times now..."

"Chen Nuo, every time you fail, you have this same expression."

Chen Nuo hung his head in thought, then after a moment, lifted his face. "Tell me, where did I go wrong?"

"Because you couldn’t defeat your enemy." Seed smiled.

"...Enemy? Are you talking about The Fourth Seed?"

"Of course not."

Chen Nuo frowned, pondering. In her previous life, Lu Xixi’s death was due to the death of The Fourth Seed. Because of the symbiotic relationship between the Chosen One and the Seed—and considering that the Seed is dominant and the Chosen One subordinate—the Seed must not die. Therefore... if I want to save Lu Xixi after traveling back in time, I don’t actually need to be an enemy of The Fourth Seed. On the contrary, I must ensure that The Fourth Seed does not die! Then...

Chen Nuo suddenly understood.

"My enemy... is you!"

"This is a very interesting paradox."

"The first paradox is how The Fourth Seed died."

"The answer is: I killed it."

"But a more accurate answer is: in your previous life, I killed it."

"So, the question arises: can The Fourth Seed still be killed by me in this timeline, the one to which you traveled back to 2000?"

"The answer to this question is even more interesting, Chen Nuo..."

"In your previous life, why was I able to kill The Fourth Seed?"

"Because I found an exceptionally talented Chosen One—you!"

"With such an outstanding Chosen One, my abilities gained a significant advantage among the surviving Seeds. Consequently, my power, amplified by having you as my Chosen One, underwent a tremendous increase. You haven’t forgotten what I told you about the amplification effect a Chosen One has on a Seed’s combat strength, have you?"

"Then, the interesting thing happened."

"In your previous life, you entered the fourth dimension."

"And then... an interesting result occurred: in all three-dimensional spacetimes, in all three-dimensional parallel worlds, you disappeared. Because your life was elevated to a four-dimensional state, your existence in three-dimensional space was erased."

"That is to say..."

"If you had not traveled to this timeline in the year 2000."

"In this timeline’s year 2000, you do not exist... there is no you as the Chosen One there."

"Do you think that I, Seed, could still be so strong—strong enough to kill The Fourth Seed?"

Chen Nuo was stunned!

"Chen Nuo, you are very powerful and very impressive!"

"Especially after achieving a four-dimensional state, you have risen above all of us."

"But... within three-dimensional spacetime, you are still only at the level of a human life form."

"Among the strongest humans of your previous life, the top three were undoubtedly you, Lu Xixi, and the Wizard."

"Although the three of you never fought to the death, it can be said that in various aspects, you three were a cut above other human Controllers."

"Among them, you and Lu Xixi were even a notch stronger than the Wizard."

"That is to say, in terms of absolute strength and talent, you and Lu Xixi were the two strongest humans."

"I could kill The Fourth Seed only because I had you as my Chosen One, a sufficiently powerful amplifier. Additionally, I had previously found and absorbed an avatar of the Mother, which allowed me to surpass the other Seeds in strength. But this crucial advantage depended on you! You are the amplifier—one of the two strongest human amplifiers."

"If you didn’t return to the year 2000."

"Then, without the strongest amplifier, I would not have an overwhelming strength advantage over the other Seeds."

"I might be able to kill a Seed one-on-one, but in a decisive battle, I absolutely would not have the ability to face three opponents and annihilate them all!"

"But oddly enough, you came back."

"With you present in this timeline’s year 2000, the result is... I am just as strong as the Seed from your previous life—strong enough that you cannot oppose me."

Chen Nuo remained silent.

"Your first time travel, when trying to oppose me, quickly failed."

"I, unsurprisingly, killed The Fourth Seed. Then, you were in extreme agony. After that, you decided to try again."

Chen Nuo asked, "Another try?"

"That’s right, another try!" Seed nodded, then shook his head. "However, time can only, and must, start from the afternoon of December 23, 2000."

"Because the anchor for your travel was already set, and an anchor cannot be changed. You can only travel to this specific point in time."

"Being able to perceive three dimensions from the vantage point of the fourth dimension is one thing, but actually traveling into one is another entirely."

"Thus, you started over and over again from December 23, 2000."

"In order to defeat me, you tried many methods."

"Once, immediately after arriving, you went to the South American Rainforest to find me, intending to kill me while I was still dormant. But you quickly discovered this attempt was futile, and it failed. You died at my hands."

"You once tried, after traveling back, to proactively contact the Octopus Monster and ally with it against me. However, because of your presence—and because the Octopus Monster’s Chosen One amplifier was far inferior to you—even an alliance with the Octopus Monster wasn’t enough to defeat me. So, I crushed your combined forces. The end result was still me killing all other Seeds, and Lu Xixi dying."

"You once tried cooperating with The Fourth Seed, asking it to sever its connection with Lu Xixi. But The Fourth Seed refused—because such a relationship is irrevocable, and severing it would cause great harm to the Seed. After The Fourth Seed’s refusal, you changed your terms and collaborated with both The Fourth Seed and the Octopus Monster against me."

"But you still failed. You failed, the Seeds were wiped out, and Lu Xixi died."

"After many attempts, you finally found a weakness of mine."

"This weakness was yourself, Chen Nuo."

"This attempt was your closest to success..."

"That was already your sixteenth time-travel attempt."

"You realized that my strength was built upon your own."

"The stronger the Chosen One, the greater the amplification the Seed receives."

"In your sixteenth attempt, you endeavored to suppress any growth in your own strength. You forbade yourself from any action that might enhance your abilities and even went as far as self-mutilation, damaging your own Consciousness Space to weaken yourself."

"Then you still collaborated with the other Seeds to confront me."

"Finally, in that sixteenth attempt, you and your allies managed to defeat me."

"In that final battle, you won, defeated, and killed me, erasing my existence."

"That time, you thought you had succeeded."

"Result..."

Chen Nuo asked, "How did it turn out?"

"The result is obvious. You standing here means you also failed that time."

Chen Nuo’s gaze was stern. "How did I fail? Hmm... You’re not planning to tell me? That’s right, since my greatest enemy is you, of course, you wouldn’t want to tell me how to defeat you."

Seed laughed uproariously. "Hahahaha..."

Then, after it finished laughing, it said, "No, Chen Nuo, you’re wrong. I don’t care about telling you how to defeat me... because even if you do defeat me... you will still fail."

Chen Nuo said, "Huh?"

"Because of the paradox!" Seed sighed helplessly.

Paradox? Chen Nuo frowned.

"You leaped from a three-dimensional being to a Four-Dimensional Life, and only then did you acquire the ability to travel through time. But your leap to the fourth dimension had to be predicated on devouring me."

"And if I were killed, then... the condition for you to leap to the fourth dimension would no longer exist."

"And without attaining the fourth dimension, there would be no time travel!"

"Do you understand?"

Chen Nuo asked, "What would happen?"

Seed thought for a while. "In your sixteenth attempt, after you and your allies killed me, the world began to collapse. First, as a Four-Dimensional Life whose existence was predicated on that act, the basic condition for your own existence as such a being would vanish. Logically, if your four-dimensional self ceased to exist, then everything you did after time-traveling from that state would lose its fundamental basis."

"It’s like this: what’s the precondition for water to boil when you put a kettle on a fire? Is it the fire itself?"

"No, it’s you!"

"If you hadn’t put the kettle on the fire in the first place, then none of the subsequent actions or their consequences should exist."

"So, once the paradox takes hold, the very world that was shaped by your actions collapses first."

"And then... everything starts over from the beginning!"

"That led to your seventeenth time travel."

"Which is, the current one."

Chen Nuo understood.

To save Lu Xixi, first, The Fourth Seed must not die. But Seed was destined to kill the other Seeds, so to deal with Seed—Seed must be killed. Because as long as Seed is alive, being the strongest Seed, it would inevitably seek to destroy the other Seeds! But if Seed is killed, the precondition for my evolution to the fourth dimension and then time traveling would no longer exist, and then everything would contradict basic logic. So, actions become invalid, and everything starts over from the beginning...

This is damn... a vicious cycle!!

In other words, The Fourth Seed must not die; if it dies, it’s the equivalent of Lu Xixi dying! Seed must not die; if it dies, everything becomes unreasonable, and all starts from the beginning!

"So, even suicide wouldn’t work for me," Chen Nuo said with a wry smile.

"Sorry, it wouldn’t work. In fact, you’ve tried it... You tried once."

"Then, unfortunately, after you died, you would simply open your eyes to find yourself back on the afternoon of December 23, 2000."

"Everything started over again!"

"The only logical way to truly solve the problem is if... you had never traveled to this world in the first place."

"But unfortunately, since this all began from the fourth dimension, it must end in the fourth dimension!"

"If you want to stop this cycle of time travel, you must return to being a four-dimensional being!"

"Even if you die before that, you will only go back to December 23, 2000!"

Chen Nuo asked, "So, unless I never traveled here at all?"

"In a world you never entered, one where your current self doesn’t exist, the outcome would be different: without you as my strongest amplifier, I would likely die at the hands of other Seeds. Then Lu Xixi, as a Chosen One, would continue to survive."

Chen Nuo’s eyes lit up as a possibility struck him. "Is there any chance that if The Fourth Seed one day comprehends the same truths you did, it might choose to let Lu Xixi devour it, allowing her to evolve into a four-dimensional being? In that case..."

Seed laughed. "Theoretically, it’s possible, but in reality, this is also illogical."

"Because you and Lu Xixi have coexisted in the same three-dimensional space. From a four-dimensional perspective, your timelines, or axes, have overlapping segments."

"Therefore, you and Lu Xixi would become competitors for ascension to the fourth dimension."

"You must understand that the fourth dimension essentially encompasses countless superimposed three-dimensional spaces."

"But your three-dimensional spacetime and Lu Xixi’s three-dimensional spacetime have significant overlaps."

"Within such an overlapping three-dimensional space, only one Four-Dimensional Life can evolve."

"That is also why I and the other Seeds are competitors. In an overlapping space, only one can emerge victorious."

"If two were to contend for it, ultimately, only one can remain."

"But at least... if I had never come to this world, Lu Xixi wouldn’t have died so soon."

"Maybe she could have lived out her natural lifespan..."

"Theoretically, yes."

Chen Nuo asked, "Then can I jump out of this timeline world? Since I chose to enter, surely there’s a way to leave, right? To leave this world as if I had never come."

"Of course, you can leave. From the vantage point of a Four-Dimensional Life, you can indeed jump out of this three-dimensional world again."

"Which is to say... You devour me and then leave."

"But the precondition for devouring me is... just as in your ’previous life,’ I must first kill all other competitors. This ensures that the logic for evolution to the fourth dimension is uniquely sound. Only then would I allow you to devour me."

"Otherwise, I wouldn’t let you devour me!"

"Chen Nuo, haven’t you realized yet?"

"You have already evolved to the fourth dimension; your return to this timeline was predicated on you being a four-dimensional being."

"Therefore, with one four-dimensional being already intrinsically linked to this nexus of spacetime, a second cannot emerge from it!"

"That’s the paradox!"

"In the timeline where you exist, Lu Xixi cannot possibly evolve into the fourth dimension!"

"The precondition for her to evolve to the fourth dimension is the death of other Seeds, myself included! But if I die, your own ascension to the fourth dimension—the very event that enabled your time travel—becomes a paradox. This timeline, built on that flawed premise, logically shouldn’t exist!"

"Do you understand?"

"Within an overlapping three-dimensional space, there is only one slot for evolution into a Four-Dimensional Life!"

"Otherwise, do you think the competition among us Seeds is a joke? Must we fight and kill each other?"

"Can’t we all evolve happily, you go your way, and I go mine?"

"There’s a fundamental reason for our hostility and competition: there is only one slot!"

Chen Nuo fell silent.

All possible directions seemed sealed off! The Fourth Seed cannot die. Seed cannot die. Lu Xixi cannot devour The Fourth Seed to survive through evolution. Then... The only condition for Lu Xixi to survive is... that I had never come to this timeline! This world, the one where I exist, is the root of the problem!

"But you have already entered, and you did so by regressing from the fourth dimension to the third!"

"Once you start, the end is no longer up to you."

"If you want to end this cycle of travel, the only way is to become a four-dimensional being again!"

"Time travel began from the fourth dimension, so it must also end with the fourth dimension."

"That is the inherent logic of this framework."

"But the condition for you to become the fourth dimension again is that the other Seeds must die, Lu Xixi must die!"

"And this outcome contradicts the purpose of your travel. You certainly wouldn’t bring yourself to do such a thing."

"So... Chen Nuo, I warned you long ago."

"Time travel like this isn’t fun at all."

This time, Chen Nuo’s silence was longer than ever before.

Like a prolonged deliberation during a game of Go, he pondered for a long time before finally letting out a breath. His face appeared calm as he said, "Now, tell me what happened after the sixteenth failure."

"It’s simple. After the sixteenth failure, you finally realized that it was a paradox; all your paths were sealed off."

"Any action to achieve your primary goal would lead to a paradox. So, with that goal unattainable, you could only settle for the next best thing."

"You realized that since you couldn’t directly save Lu Xixi, you had to aim for a secondary goal."

"That is to extend her life as much as possible."

"You erased two years of your memories—those detailing your close relationship with Lu Xixi."

"Then, you thought, as long as you didn’t go looking for Lu Xixi and didn’t get involved in the war among the Seeds..."

"In your human terms: Lay low!"

"You wanted to hide, avoid participating in the war of the Seeds, and minimize your impact as a variable on this world as much as possible."

"In the end, perhaps Lu Xixi can live a little longer."

"There was even a faint hope that perhaps this could buy her several decades."

"If you weren’t found by me, you wouldn’t become my amplifier, and the final battle among the Seeds would be postponed..."

"With luck, you might have been able to drag things out until Lu Xixi lived out her natural life."

"And from my understanding of you, there was another reason for this decision: your human emotions had been pushed to their absolute limit!"

"You had endured failure sixteen times, watching Lu Xixi die before your eyes sixteen times."

"Including your previous life, that made it seventeen times."

"You couldn’t bear such failure any longer."

"You wanted to end this endless cycle of time travel."

"But the conditions for ending it necessarily included one thing... Lu Xixi’s death!!"

"You despaired."

"So you erased your memories. This was partly in the hope that by hiding yourself, you could delay Lu Xixi’s death for as long as possible and reduce your involvement in the Seed war. At the same time, you simply couldn’t bear to witness Lu Xixi dying yet again."

Seed sighed at this point.

"I’ll give you a piece of advice, Chen Nuo."

"Based on my calculations, the best course of action for you now is actually what you are currently doing in this iteration of your travel."

"Hide by any means necessary. Minimize your involvement in this world’s Seed war. This can delay the final battle of the Seeds as much as possible, extending Lu Xixi’s survival. The more you participate, the stronger you become, and the faster Lu Xixi will die!"

"Moreover, avoid direct participation, so once Lu Xixi dies, the guilt in your heart won’t be as heavy."

"Then... wait until the Seed war is over. After that, devour me once again and return to your four-dimensional state."

"Then... All of this will be completely over."

"Just as you planned before you began this particular journey through time."

"It’s the seventeenth time. It’s time to end."