Faintly, a call was heard.
"Wen Xishu."
At first, it was just a sound, muddled and indistinct, like the cries for help heard by a drowning man from the shore.
But gradually, the sound multiplied, growing louder and louder.
"Wen Xishu!"
Wen Xishu heard it clearly, someone was calling his name. It was like a beam of light piercing through the dark dust. Or like an endless descent... suddenly a hand emerged from below, supporting him.
More and more lights, more and more hands, and the calling grew ever louder.
He suddenly opened his eyes, the dust dissipating rapidly, countless versions of "me" from the shattered mirrors in dim obscurity, replaced by...
It was Tang Rui, it was Albert, it was Jack Jennifer, it was the An Family Brothers, it was Xiaoxing and Xiaotong, it was Ah Miao and Zheng Zai, it was Liu Jinsen and William Hawker, it was Horn, it was Master Lingqing, it was Nissen Yue Yun, it was Wenren Mirror and Xun Hui, it was Jiang Xue and Liu Jianxin, it was the nameless ones from Balance Tavern, it was countless ones he saved from the great devouring, it was countless ones who once wandered in the bunker...
The ice that imprisoned consciousness showed great cracks.
At the most brutal moment in this Realm of Hundred Selves... in a world of only "us," innumerable "yous" appeared.
It was those whom he had once shielded now, at this moment, responding to him with the same fervor.
Every fragment of the shattered mirror held someone he had crossed paths with, the seemingly doomed shattered mirror was successfully resolved at this moment.
Black mist slowly dissipated, and the board quickly entered the next round.
When Wen Xishu truly stepped out from this grid, he did not feel much.
He just vaguely realized that he was very tired, as if exhausted to the point where he cared for nothing anymore.
Then, he heard many voices calling his name, and he seemed to gradually regain strength.
He began to slowly recover, slowly regaining his spirit.
This process was fraught with danger, but because it was so perilous, to the point of quashing any desire to resist, he personally felt little.
But 001’s gaze upon him had long changed from before.
The sunset would soon disappear, the night of doom felt interminable. 001 once believed, in such an environment, trees growing towards the sunset would only have bare branches, conveying a sense of solitude and desolation.
But now, he saw countless flowers blooming on another tree in the same situation.
They were flowers, or like stars illuminating the night.
At this moment, he seemed to understand everything and sighed deeply.
Such trees still have growing to do, such flowers should still have more.
This was not yet at the level of unity of hearts, but at least, it was trending that way.
This is a trend never seen in his own universe. Because he misunderstood, the suffering in those Deceit Tower was not purely a path for self-empowerment, it carried much more.
The game was quickly entering the next round.
Wen Xishu, getting ever closer to the central throne, turned back and found 001 surprisingly in a daze:
"It’s your turn, time to roll the dice. The game isn’t over yet."
Wen Xishu felt that his physical state seemed to have recovered.
He was a bit nervous, uncertain if he could calmly pass the next round.
001’s expression was complex, and he spoke slowly:
"The game is already over."