NABC Chapter 54 The Gathering
Chapter 54 The Gathering
He saw it.
He saw the red-haired girl in his arms in the unfathomable depths of the water, white bone spurs piercing her body, blood gushing from her, staining the river red, and also staining the boy's eyes red.
Seeing that comical face, his fiery golden eyes turned leaden gray, and his body, along with the enormous creature beneath him, sank into the bottomless water.
I saw a withered girl curled up amidst endless white silk in a bottomless space...
He saw the cold-faced young man covered in blood in front of him...
He saw himself in those countless images, and he also saw those countless stories interwoven with regret and struggle.
And at that very moment—
The figures in the scene seemed to have sensed something, and they all turned their heads to look in Lu Mingfei's direction.
wrong!
"Enough, stop!"
Realizing something amiss that transcended the realm of memory, Lu Mingfei abruptly raised his eyes. His eyes blazed with golden light, as intense as the sun, and he issued commands to the supernatural space like an emperor.
Just like a television screen that has been turned off, the image connected by countless lines of fire is abruptly cut off, and the same goes for the image that Lu Mingze is showing to the outside world.
Those images were abruptly dismantled, becoming countless tiny fragments scattered across the sky. They drifted and melted in the air like snowflakes, eventually disappearing without a trace.
The hotel is still the same hotel, but without the scenes shown by Lu Mingze, the entire space has returned to its original appearance.
Time seemed to have been frozen.
Lu Mingfei glanced at the two people next to him; their eyelashes didn't even tremble.
Compared to his time zero, the latter is more like time standing still, stretching time to a near-eternal length.
"Looks like you saw it too, brother?"
Lu Mingze remained seated on the stool in the distance, as if it were all just a dream. He looked at the former with his molten gold eyes and said, "That is a corner of countless futures, some futures that are destined to happen."
"But I'm not a viewer, and I shouldn't be able to see the trailers in the movie."
Lu Mingfei stared at him with the same golden eyes.
"If this was the inevitable ending, an unchangeable fate—"
Those golden eyes shone like the sun, burning with countless regrets and resentments. The boy seemed to transform into a blazing sun at that moment, even his voice like rumbling thunder:
"Then what I should do is to trample these endings under my feet."
Lu Mingze looked at him, then at the glaring sun before him, and a slow smile crept onto his lips.
"Yes, brother."
Fate is something that is destined to be trampled underfoot.
And now, you have already gained the power to change your destiny.
Even though he hadn't seen what Lu Mingfei had seen, he already knew it from the heavy aura of destiny.
The boy before me has already mastered the ability to glimpse fate.
The future is reflected in our eyes; we influence the future with the present.
Lu Mingfei looked at Lu Mingze in front of him, his emotions gradually calming down, and made the most traditional gesture in human history with his hand.
"Go to hell."
Lu Mingze simply smiled in response to Lu Mingfei's sarcasm.
"Since you've made up your mind, brother, I, as your younger brother, must also deliver an excellent performance."
"Power, authority—these are things you were born with, and now that you have the strength to control them, then..." He paused, his voice as low as a whisper:
"The Gathering".
Lu Mingfei knew what this word meant. It was a commonly used cheat code in the StarCraft game, meaning infinite energy, allowing players to infinitely produce units.
But why is this guy talking about this kind of thing now?
Can it change reality?
But the next moment, Lu Mingfei's doubts were answered. This command did not change reality, but rather the World Tree supernatural power within him.
The World Tree was still under his control, but under the influence of that 'secret manual,' it seemed to have been infused with endless energy.
In an instant, the World Tree, which had absorbed most of the dragon race's primordial energy but remained motionless, began to sprout branches and grow its trunk. Most importantly, dozens of fruits were visibly produced.
This means... dozens of supernatural effects!?
Lu Mingfei was startled.
But the next second of his investigation poured cold water on his enthusiasm. Of the dozens of fruits, only a handful had any contents; the interiors of most fruits were... like blank pages.
There wasn't a single piece of content, let alone any usability.
"What's going on? Are you cheating?"
After a moment of silence, Lu Mingfei suddenly spoke.
He couldn't think of any other explanation besides this one. What this guy did was almost the same as giving him a cheat code, even though most of the 'fruits' were empty, just blank.
But he had a feeling that this might be the state the World Tree's powers should be in.
Just like the game called Pokémon in the gaming magazine.
The World Tree was originally just a basic form, but after Lu Mingze's intervention, it grew into a pre-evolutionary form in a flash, just waiting for him to obtain the so-called "evolution item" to achieve its final evolution.
"What cheating? This is just letting it reveal its true form."
"Are you helping me?"
Looking at Lu Mingfei, Lu Mingze suddenly sneered, as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world.
"Don't flatter yourself. This is just a gift from me to you, a gift for that enlightenment."
As he spoke, the boy turned around, walked to the window of the room, and pulled back the curtains. His golden eyes stood out against the dimming sky.
"I never said I was a good person. All of this power is something you obtained on your own. I just used the dragon's essence to do something, that's all."
I am the devil from Faust, and what I need is your soul! In business, you have to make an impression on your customers first, right? How can I get you to willingly part with your soul in a transaction without some benefit?
Lu Mingfei sneered inwardly upon hearing these words.
"That makes a lot of sense, but what salesperson would serve tea and water to a customer before they even pay a deposit? They'd probably only resort to such a desperate measure if they were really broke."
"snort."
Almost imperceptibly, Lu Mingfei thought he heard a very soft, cold snort. Lu Mingze still had his back to him, so his expression was unreadable.
"I am the devil, how can you mortals understand the thoughts of a devil?" He paused for a moment, then his voice returned to its light and airy tone, "However, if... brother is in dire straits and needs the power to break through the predicament, you can try calling my name, and I will appear and give you—the power to break through the predicament."
After saying that, he reached out and pushed open the window. The night wind blew in from outside.
My whole being seemed to transform into a thin shadow, gently dispersed by the wind by the window.
In the blink of an eye, he had disappeared from Lu Mingfei's sight.
"Tch, you're just a show-off brat, calling your name..."
Lu Mingfei muttered to himself, but a smile involuntarily crept onto his lips.