Reality, within a residential building in Unknown Province City.
This is an old two-bedroom apartment on the 4th floor, not large, but full of life.
The room is cluttered with various items, and if you look closely, you can find traces of a person from childhood to adulthood.
Toys, doodles, textbooks, posters, figurines, suitcases...
Every item remained in its original position and appearance before the arrival of the Gods, unchanged.
For half a year, not even a speck of dust accumulated on their surfaces.
As for the reason... it's obvious, someone has been constantly wiping.
This is the Old Cui family home, the place where Cui Qiushi and his father Cui Dingtian lived.
For the past eighteen years, two people had lived here.
Later, for reasons known to all, the owner changed, but not long after, the Old Cui of the Cui family returned here again.
Although he paid some price, he felt it was worth it.
But why Autumn Time, who loved home, didn't choose to return, the Lao Tou didn't know, didn't guess, didn't want to think, and didn't dare to think.
Actually, during the previous Trial, Cheng Shi wanted to ask Cui Dingtian why He didn't participate in the Praying Trial to find people, but then He understood.
Old Cui didn't not want to, He didn't dare.
But today, He changed His mind.
Because He no longer had Time to wait, His life only had... 3 days left.
Cui Dingtian held a rag, gently wiping His son's favorite model, and the scene of divinity scattered all over the ground during the previous Trial came to His mind again.
If He could have taken some back then, even if He had secretly hidden a portion...
No, Cheng Shi had already promised Him, that certainly wouldn't be considered stealing!
Just one portion, perhaps His life could be extended for a period of Time.
But He gave up.
He understood what human nature was, and even more so what greed was.
Normally, He might have been able to resist the temptation of greed, but not now, before the end of His life, He was afraid He couldn't control Himself.
Once that door was opened, He would directly leap into the abyss.
But this choice left Him with no options now.
Regret?
Regret!
But if He had another chance to choose...
The old man would still choose to regret.
My father named me Cui Dingtian, meaning He wanted me to live uprightly, to be a man standing tall and firm!
The Lao Tou wiped every corner of the house, washed the rag clean, tidied His clothes, sat in Autumn Time's room, and finally touched Autumn Time's suitcase.
In His clear old eyes, there was endless longing, and also... the anticipation of a reunion that was about to happen...
"All beings should rot, all things will decay.
Your devout believer prays to You, to initiate a Trial..."
...
Reality, a vegetable garden on a desolate mountain in Unknown Province City.
Tao Yi hadn't even opened Her eyes when She heard the sound of the phone beside Her.
"Ring ring ring—"
There were no network or phone lines on the desolate mountain; as for whether the rotary phone on the table was connected to the Void or something else, She had no idea.
This was a gift from one of Her friends, on Her last birthday, two months ago.
Tao Yi smiled and stood up, seemingly oblivious to the phone's ringing.
She walked towards the endless terraced slopes before Her, took out a shimmering light from Her spatial storage, and carefully sprinkled it on the fields below Her feet.
Only after finishing the "fertilizing" work did She leisurely return to where She had woken up and answered the still-ringing phone.
"Hello?"
"You're deliberately not answering my calls, aren't you, little Yi Yi, you've changed."
"No, I was just fertilizing, I didn't get to it in Time."
"Really? I'm skeptical of your excuse, but considering I'm in a good mood, I'll let you off this Time."
"What happened to make you so happy?"
"I ran into that madman (crazy person) today, and seriously, even though He's crazy, He's really generous. The four of us split a little bit of divinity fragments, so we gained something."
"Oh, what a coincidence, I also found a little divinity today, and I used the method you mentioned to sprinkle these divinity as fertilizer."
"Does it work?"
"For now, it doesn't seem to."
"Hmm, I just happened to flip through the biological experimental records of the Tower of Rationality. It might not be reliable, you..."
The person on the other end of the phone seemed to want to say something else, but Tao Yi suddenly interrupted the other party and asked:
"By the way, have you done human experiments?"
"Uh... huh? Too many, which kind are you referring to?"
"The kind where divinity is sealed inside someone else's body."
"Am I sick? Can't I hide it on myself or something? What kind of weird question is this, why are you asking this?"
"When did you join the Lǐ Zhì Association?"
"Huh? What did I..."
Tao Yi interrupted again: "That thing you gave me, I used it."
"No, little Yi Yi, you're a bit strange today, I..."
"Oh dear, I forgot to water, I'll go get busy first."
After saying that, Tao Yi decisively hung up the phone.
She stood on the mountain slope, facing the sunlight, and squinted Her eyes into a smile.
She looked like a little fox who had sniffed out a secret.
As for the other end of the phone...
"Beep beep beep—"
"?"
...
Reality, an apartment in Unknown Province City.
Gao Yu stood in the hallway outside the door, exhaling deeply a few era.
He tidied His clothes, put on a new backpack, and then raised His hand to knock on the door.
"Knock knock—"
"Who is it? Coming."
A man's voice came from inside the door, and after a moment, the door opened.
Standing in the room was a middle-aged man with a receding hairline. He stubbed out the cigarette in His hand and gave an awkward smile.
"Xiao Yu... why are you home from school so early today? I just smoked one, really, you just happened to catch me."
The man awkwardly tried to explain, and seeing that His lie wasn't working, He quickly threw the cigarette butt out the door.
Gao Yu smiled and glanced at Him, then walked straight in.
"Smoke a little less, Dad."
"I usually don't smoke, it's not your mom..."
"What about me? What about me again? What did I do again to make you, Old Gao, so upset that you can only smoke, huh?"
A roar came from the kitchen, the man shrank His head, pointed at the kitchen, and whispered to Gao Yu:
"See, I'm scared."
Although the man's reaction was real and His speech was fluent, if one observed carefully, one could still see that His movements were somewhat uncoordinated, as if suffering from joint disease, all actions slightly slow and stiff.
"Ah, Mom just takes too good care of you."
Gao Yu casually threw His backpack onto the sofa and shouted towards the kitchen:
"Mom, what are we eating today?"
"I'm already full from being angry, what are you eating? Keep it down, Xiao Lin is resting in the room, don't wake Her up."
Gao Yu really wanted to say "Whose voice is louder than Yours?", but after thinking about it, He decided against it, exchanged an innocent look with His father, and returned to the room with a pout.
The bedroom wasn't large, but it was very cozy, not like a boy's room.
Lying on the bed in the bedroom was a girl with delicate features, breathing evenly, taking a nap.
Gao Yu didn't wake Her up either, He just carefully moved a stool, and then, took out a... from the workbench...
Scalpel.
He lifted His shirt, looked at His chest, and then with an upward stroke, directly cut open His skin.
Blood spurted out, staining the desktop red.
Just as He was about to cut the wound deeper, a strong little hand grabbed the handle of the knife.
"Awake?"
"Mhm, I'll do it."
The little girl's hand holding the knife didn't tremble at all, as if this action had been done thousands of era. She carefully cut open the skin on Gao Yu's chest, dissected along the muscle fibers, and soon, touched the outer casing of the metal heart hidden beneath the flesh.
She carefully took out a button-sized object from beside the heart, and then began to stitch.
Gao Yu gritted His teeth and endured the most painful moment, holding the button-like metal in His hand, lost in thought.
"This Time, whose story is it again?"
"This Time isn't a story, but a prophecy."
"?" The little girl was startled, and asked with a smile, "What prophecy?"
"Hiss—"
"Sorry, I wasn't careful, let me see, it's okay, I just poked a little off, no big problem, perhaps the spatial locator in my left hand is broken again..."
"...It's okay, I'll make another one."
"Mhm, thank you. Aunt Qin's left leg's extension muscle unit is also having trouble, and Uncle Gao, His simulated lungs... Xiao Yu, you really need to persuade Him to smoke less."
"Sigh, let Him be, He just likes this one thing in His life. I'll go find materials in the Trial again to make a new one."
"Okay... It's stitched up, can I listen to the story now, oh no, can I listen to the prophecy now?"
"Mhm, okay."
Gao Yu first took down a small box from the wall, then put the button into the box, and immediately after, the sound in the room became vivid.
"This is not a joke, Zhao... Oh right, Zhao Qian.
It seems you don't quite believe me, fine, since that's the case, I'll give you a reason to die."
"Don't be angry, perhaps after knowing these things, you won't just willingly die, but you'll also be deeply grateful to me...
Do you know how I knew the names of you Fire-Bearers?
At the first Ladder to the Audience, a Beast Tamer, in order to please Him, shared His story of refusing a Fire-Bearer...
Then, this poor Beast Tamer was killed by Cheng Shi.
Don't be surprised, you didn't hear wrong, it was Cheng Shi, the same Cheng Shi who died before your eyes.
I know He didn't die, I didn't want to kill Him, and I couldn't kill Him.
At that Time, He was merely the tenth-ranked underdog on the Ladder to the Audience, but He acted so decisively when He made His move, as if... He Himself was also a Fire-Bearer.
You're curious about His identity, aren't you?
Unfortunately, He is not.
He told us that Fire-Bearers are unknown to the Gods because He is helping to conceal them, hahaha, Zhao Qian, I like your expression now.
This is not a lie, although I and Cheng Shi are indeed His believers...
I was also very shocked at the Time, but from then on, everyone present reminded themselves to forget everything they heard.
Because exposing you would make Him displeased.
He values you, no, perhaps it should be said, He values a performance that is about to begin, and His believers, in order for this grand performance to start normally, can only choose to conceal.
It wasn't until a long Time later that we knew... Sigh, never mind, this piece of history is not glorious.
So... what I want to say is:
If I don't bring a corpse back today, Cheng Shi will still die, He will continue to be hunted by the person who sent me back through Time.
But if He really dies, the fate of you Fire-Bearers...
It's obvious.
How about it, Mr. City Builder, what do you think?"
"..."
"..."
"Borrowing greatness from God, diligently building a New Country!
For the continuation of humanity!
For a New Country!
Goodbye, this world!"
"Boom—"
Finally, there was the sound of fire burning.
"This is..." The little girl's unchanging eyes showed no shock, but Her physical reaction still revealed the fact that She was almost stunned and frozen.
"Mhm, a piece of history that should have been buried in the past... concerning the future..."
Gao Yu took out the button and solemnly placed it on the cabinet.
Looking up now, the cabinet covering the entire wall was densely filled with identical metal buttons.
History is known by later generations because there are always devout record keepers.