Eric.
Eric, meaning eternal ruler.
'Eric.... Eric...'
Zero's expression slowly froze.
If the two of them were on opposing sides, then why didn't the other party step in to stop him?
If they were partners, then why didn't the other party work together with him?
Zero stared at the final line of the acknowledgments.
[Looks like I came out on top.]
Zero had more or less guessed the identity of Eric Fish.
Were he in his previous life and his current life the same person?
He thought they were.
Zero wouldn't waste time on such boring questions.
No matter how many runs he had gone through, he was still himself.
Of course, all of this came with preconditions.
If the identity in a certain run couldn't bring him any benefits and instead caused him trouble he didn't want to deal with, then that was another matter.
In that case, Zero would have to agree with the Vidyadhara's point of view.
You're looking for the Zero of a certain run, what does that have to do with him, the Diviner of the Divination Commission?
Zero lowered his head and continued reading.
In Zandar's acknowledgments, he exhausted every word of praise, lavishing Eric with compliments until the heavens, as if there were no one more outstanding than Eric in the entire star sea.
Zero's scalp tingled as he read. He had to read a few lines, pause to catch his breath, brace himself mentally, and then force himself to continue.
Only at the very last sentence did Zandar finally state his relationship with Eric.
[Heartfelt thanks to my teacher Eric. Without him, there would be no such paper. Looks like I still came out on top.]
Zero, "???"
He, someone who wasn't even good at science, what right did he have to teach a Zandar who could handcraft Aeons?
Zero knew himself well. Just from reading the acknowledgments, he could tell something was wrong.
Considering that this was something Zero himself had added into the fable, it inevitably carried personal emotions, so its authenticity was questionable.
There was a high chance the acknowledgments were written by Zero himself. As for that last sentence… was it deliberately meant to mess with someone's mindset?
The only thing Zero could be sure of was that he was not Zandar's teacher.
As for what their relationship really was... for now, Zero had no clue and could only keep thinking.
This so-called paper… strictly speaking, even calling it a paper was giving it too much credit.
Even someone like Zero, who knew nothing about the research field, could sense something was off after reading just a few lines.
This alone was enough to show that there were serious problems with this article. It absolutely could not be the work of Zandar, the first seat of the Genius Society.
If this piece of academic garbage were published… either no one would believe it, or Zandar's reputation would be utterly destroyed.
How should it be described? It was like a top-tier writer renowned across the star sea, yet only capable of writing things like "the sky is blue" and "the clouds are white."
Or like Hua, whom Zero had personally raised and guided, standing before starving people and saying, "Why don't you eat meat?", and then signing his name, claiming he was Hua's teacher.
Just thinking about it made Zero want to erase all his own information and flee the Xianzhou at top speed.
Oh, and before leaving, he'd have to leave Hua a message, [Contact me anytime if something happens, but don't tell anyone you're my student!]
There was no way he could have raised an heir who said things like "why don't you eat meat".
This academic garbage definitely carried some personal grudges.
Zero's mood was complicated.
He wasn't the kind of person who held grudges. If he had a grudge, he'd usually take revenge if he could. If he couldn't, he'd wait hundreds or thousands of years. Once he got revenge, he'd make peace.
Take his grudge with the Aeon of "Erudition," for example, one explosion, and it was instantly over.
So here came the question.
What exactly did Zandar do to make someone like him, who never held grudges, deliberately write Zandar into a fable?
Zandar didn't have many achievements on the surface, only two, but either one alone made geniuses across the star sea unable to even see his back.
The first was the theory of the "Imaginary Tree."
The second was handcrafting the Aeon of "Erudition."
Someone like that… calling him a chosen child of destiny who got the script in advance wouldn't be an exaggeration.
Zandar could be considered the person most likely to probe into the true nature of the world.
Thinking this far, Zero couldn't help but think more.
Had Zandar, like the Aeon of "Remembrance," also uncovered the truth and learned that the universe had gone through many cycles of reincarnation?
If Zandar knew the truth… then Zero sneaking personal baggage into the fable and writing such an academic trash piece made sense.
Or else, Zandar was an enemy on Zero's path of dimensional ascension.
Being opposed to such a brilliant genius was undoubtedly troublesome. Because of this, he might have left hints for his next self.
At the beginning, he definitely wouldn't have gone straight for the kill against Zandar. If he could recruit him, he would have tried his best.
For example, offering a huge sum of money, or using this paper to poach him.
"Zandar, you wouldn't want others to know you can write such a trash paper, right?"
If he failed to recruit Zandar and ended up becoming enemies with him, Zero probably wouldn't hold back.
He would only think of ways to completely ruin the other party's reputation in the research world.
That would explain why the Aeon of "Erudition" harbored such immense hostility toward him.
That Aeon cooperated with Fuli, so naturally he knew everything that had happened before.
Zero used a piece of academic garbage to ruin the reputation of the Aeon's creator… as Zandar's creation, how could the Aeon possibly look favorably on him?
Aside from being an enemy, Zandar might also have been a like-minded partner.
If they were like-minded partners… then it meant Zero and Zandar had a very good relationship, good enough to joke using each other's reputations.
Zero knew himself well. He didn't easily give his trust. If someone suddenly appeared and showed him goodwill, he would only become more cautious.
Hua and his subordinates all knew this.
That was why they always kept their distance, only coming to the Luofu after he had regained his memories.
At that time, his past self must have considered this too and left hints in advance, so that he could trust Zandar.
Zero had many questions. Given the lack of information, he could only temporarily set aside the fable and the afterword and continue thinking along his current line of reasoning.
When exactly had he added this piece of garbage into the fable?
If, at that time, Zandar was his closest friend, then… what happened afterward? Were they best friends from beginning to end? Or did they part ways?
Zero believed that the two of them most likely had a disagreement over the issue of dimensional ascension.
Perhaps it was because he proposed using Aeons?
So much so that Zandar, who had personally created an Aeon, broke with him?
Zero thought about it. If it were him, he probably wouldn't care about that issue.
If he were Zandar, if the Aeon of "Erudition" were his creation…
Zero only felt goodwill toward humans.
If he was the one who gave that machine a chance to exist in this world, then surely he had the right to decide whether it stayed or went.
So what if it was an Aeon? Without the researcher, how would it have become an Aeon in the first place?
Zero roughly sorted out his thoughts and then began recalling the fable.
There were very few characters mentioned in the fable, either a mechanical cat, or cats and dogs. Zandar wasn't mentioned at all.
The only ones that barely matched were probably the worshippers of the mechanical cat.
If Zandar were added to the mix, gathering the top research geniuses across the star sea… it would be only natural for them to develop weapons and equipment that shook the star sea.
Zero thought, it lined up with the fable.
At that time, his past self must have been full of confidence in them, believing they could ascend dimensions at minimal cost. But the results didn't meet expectations, so he halted the experiment and then… left a backup plan?
The more Zero thought about it, the more he wanted to punch someone.
'What was the other me doing, acting like some riddle-speaker?!'
He couldn't sort out the logic at all.
If his backup plan was the system, and Zandar knew about it…
If they were opposed, why didn't the other party step in to stop him?
If they were partners, why didn't the other party work together with him?
Zero stared at the final line of the acknowledgments.
[Looks like I came out on top.]
Did they go their separate ways, each wanting to prove themselves the most correct?
Or was it a fake falling-out, splitting up to act separately? That guess didn't seem to have any real problems either.
Why did Fuli know nothing about this? Zandar could handcraft Aeons, add in Zero, this high-dimensional existence, and making a device to block Aeons wouldn't be excessive, right?
Making another system together wouldn't be excessive either, would it?
Fuli was focused on walking his own Path. When Zero and Zandar first began attempting dimensional ascension, it was perfectly reasonable that he didn't notice the actions of these two ordinary humans.
Zero didn't continue thinking further.
This was just something that happened in a certain run.
Zandar wouldn't have memories from before. He had no relationship with him, he just didn't know whether he could poach him this time…
Thinking this, Zero opened the workstation equipment and searched for Zandar's name.
A colleague nearby, who had nothing to do and liked wandering around chatting with people, happened to glimpse the page Zero was searching and immediately leaned over.
The colleague was especially talkative and would chat with anyone he ran into. He spoke enthusiastically, "You're searching for Zandar!"
Zero nodded and said casually, "Yeah, just curious."
The colleague continued, "Got it, you're searching because of 'Nous,' right? Speaking of which, he was once put on a trash-tier journal by the 'Masked Fools.'"
Zero felt something was off and asked, "What journal?"
The colleague's tone turned odd. "Huh? You don't know? It caused a huge uproar back then…"
He paused, then suddenly realized something.
"Oh, right, no wonder you don't know, you're still young! This was hundreds of years ago."
The colleague pretended to type and search for him. Zero leaned back slightly, resting against the chair.
Very soon, the colleague pulled up a news article from several hundred years ago.
The report included the journal the colleague had mentioned.
The first author of the paper had no name.
As for the second author, it was the famous Zandar, renowned across the star sea.
The colleague, clearly enjoying the spectacle, said with a grin, "Back then, not many people believed it."
"After all, that was Zandar. If it were really him, wouldn't that be way too miserable?"
"Getting stuck with a student like that… all the reputation he built up in the research world over so many years, completely ruined!"
Zero's expression remained calm as he skimmed through the article, quickly reaching the acknowledgments at the end.
They were largely the same as what he had seen in the fable, only with the names swapped.
As if, in this world, there were no one more outstanding than Zandar.
[Heartfelt thanks to my teacher]
[Zandar One Kuwabara. Without him, there would be no such paper. It seems our victory or defeat has yet to be decided, but I have always felt that I will win.]
[After all, I determine your standing in the academic world. I determine whether you are utterly disgraced, or become famous across the star sea.]
Zero, "..."
His expression froze for a moment.
That last sentence was really shameless. And it sounded exactly like something he would say.
Zero pulled his thoughts back together and reached a conclusion, Zandar possessed memories of the past.
And not only that, he understood Zero very, very well.
It seemed he truly wasn't Zandar's teacher.
Zero thought of the opening lines of the fable.
After enduring countless hardships, he finally found a place to stay in another world, and soon after met the Aeon of "Erudition."
Could the one who gave him that place to stay have been Zandar?
And also, what did "victory or defeat undecided" at the end of the acknowledgments mean?
Did it mean that the two of them split up and tried to ascend dimensions separately, but neither succeeded?
Then why was Zandar so confident, so sure that he would succeed? Because he had experimental data preserved from multiple runs?
Zero spared part of his attention to reply, "That really is… pretty miserable."
The colleague sighed emotionally, "The first author doesn't even have a name. Nine times out of ten, that first author was the 'Masked Fool.'"
He added, "As for why the 'Masked Fools' and members of the 'Genius Society' don't get along… that goes even further back."
After thinking for a bit, the colleague continued, "It seems they already had conflicts one or two thousand years ago."
"As for the reason… nobody knows. Anyway, neither side can stand the other. Either a Masked Fool ends up thrown in prison, or a Genius Society member gets messed with by that bunch of fools."
Zero, "…I really don't know how that group of fools managed to anger that group of geniuses."
He gradually understood everything.
Zandar understood his suspicious nature, understood his personality, and knew many things Zero himself didn't know.
At the very least, after seeing this piece of academic garbage with Zandar's name on it, Zero no longer had any doubts.
Zero recalled what the cats and dogs had once said to him in the fable, this was a necessary sacrifice.
In some run, had Zandar also said this to him? And what exactly was the "necessary sacrifice" spoken of by this genius?
Probably countless cycles of reincarnation.
Zero thought he now knew what the backup plan was.
It was Zandar.
The other party might not agree with him, might even want to stop him.
He didn't even need to consider Zandar's stance.
Whether the other party opposed him or cooperated with him didn't matter at all.
Because their goal was the same.
Zandar would not cooperate with Aeons.
Could cooperating with Aeons yield experimental data?
Zero relaxed instantly.
After all, who could refuse a worker who solves problems for him and doesn't even ask for funding?
Since Zandar knew the universe had gone through multiple cycles, rounding it up, he definitely had a way to preserve experimental data from many runs, right?
Humans couldn't bear such massive amounts of information, but Zandar had an Aeon. He could just hand the data to his own creation for processing.
Whether they were opposed or cooperating, Zero could lie flat and slack off, leaving Zandar to shoulder the burden and press forward.
Their only real difference was probably just the methods they used.
This was an uncontrollable, but still useful, backup plan.
That was precisely why he hadn't written Zandar into the fable.
If killing Aeons for the sake of the entire star sea counted as a crime…
Then what about Zandar, who knew everything and tacitly allowed him to kill gods?
He was an accomplice who helped conceal the truth, a murderer who committed the same crime.
They were co-conspirators in deicide.