Translator: AnubisTL
The truth had been laid bare.
Now, Jieming stood within the vast, tangible, yet "unnatural" model, facing its core.
The truth had swept over him like a torrent, but another crucial question quickly surfaced in his mind—a paradox concerning his own existence here.
"I have one more question." Jieming looked at the four faces, frozen like masks. "Why did you choose me? Or rather, why is my 'backstory' so uniquely special?"
He thought of Rex. "Someone like Rex could be an orphan with simple social ties—that would be easier to hide and control. Why go to the trouble of constructing a complete family for me, even including 'childhood friends' like Amy and Victor?"
The four mouths opened in unison, delivering an answer that took Jieming by surprise:
"Because you are a singularity, No. 721. My core system is unable to read and construct a life path that can fulfill your true inner desires. Creating close social ties for you was a compensatory measure based on the system's fundamental logic of 'maintaining the stability of an individual's social existence.' But without the drive of your true desires, the construction's precision was naturally insufficient."
"You can't read my wishes?" Jieming paused, slightly stunned.
"Correct. Tell me, No. 721—strip away all pretenses and excuses. What is the deepest, most fundamental desire within your heart?" The four voices overlapped, carrying a deeply concealed urgency.
Jieming fell into deep thought.
He recalled his experiences after transmigration: the Qi Refinement Method he had cultivated for over a decade without a single breakthrough; his insatiable thirst for knowledge in the wizard world; his desperate struggle to fuse two systems and create rune-imbued magical artifacts and the Black Giant... What was the most fundamental driving force behind all of this?
After a moment, he looked up, his eyes clear and resolute. He answered candidly, "Power."
"To grow stronger, to surpass all limits, and ultimately... to possess transcendent power that surpasses everything."
The moment the words left his lips, Jieming understood.
The underlying logic of "Justice" was to "suppress the transcendent power of all" to achieve absolute fairness.
Yet Jieming's core desire was to "acquire and continuously enhance his transcendent power."
At the most fundamental level of rules, these two forces formed an irreconcilable, absolute opposition!
One sought to suppress; the other sought to pursue. Together, they created a perfect logical deadlock!
Therefore, the "Wish-Fulfillment System" that Justice relied upon to maintain the entire world completely failed when it came to Jieming.
It could not "arrange" a life for him that both suppressed power and fulfilled his craving for it. As a result, he became a "BUG" the system could not comprehend—an "Anomaly" that could not be assimilated by "Happiness"!
On the four faces, the eternal indifference finally showed a ripple that could be called "emotion"—an extreme confusion and disbelief born from a logical conflict.
"Why?" The four-fold voice asked, bewildered. "The pursuit of power is a common behavioral pattern. But analysis shows that individuals pursue power essentially to achieve other goals: gaining status, completing specific tasks, satisfying a need for security, winning respect... Power is merely a 'tool' to realize these deeper wishes."
Jieming shook his head, his tone calm yet carrying an unquestionable firmness:
"The pursuit of power—especially transcendent power that allows one to continuously surpass their own limits and break through boundaries—is an end in itself. What other reason is needed?"
Observing the synchronized expressions of astonishment on the four faces, Jieming understood them perfectly. This wasn't a mere difference of opinion, but a fundamental divergence in worldviews.
Every civilization, shaped by its unique history, environment, and culture, gives birth to a distinct ultimate pursuit.
The cultivation civilization's initial quest was for "immortality." Thus, their power system sought the immortality of the fleshly body starting from the Golden Core Realm, and theoretical eternal life by the Nascent Soul Realm.
The wizard civilization's initial quest was for "knowledge." Therefore, they began studying the laws of the universe at the second-tier wizard level, and by the third-tier, they could perceive spatial fluctuations. All power was merely a means to better explore the unknown.
But the core of Jieming's soul was forged in his previous life's world—a purely technological world devoid of any transcendent power.
It is precisely because they lacked such power that they craved it.
In that world where individual greatness was unattainable, the yearning for "strength" itself had been etched into their cultural genes in a purer, more absolute form.
Unable to attain saintly power in the flesh, they sought spiritual "enlightenment," embracing the resolve of "if I hear the Dao in the morning, I can die at night."
Unable to split mountains with bare hands, they revered the power of machinery.
For the slightest gain in muscle, some were willing to sacrifice their health, and many men even chose to discard their testicles...
It was a primal craving, etched into biological instinct, to "transcend oneself and become stronger."
Jieming understood "Justice's" current confusion.
After all, in his own childhood, he had been just as astonished when he saw the children of the wizard civilization remain completely indifferent to a perfectly straight "naturally grown" branch, that he used to be fascinated with (a foreshadowing from Chapter Eighty-Five).
"Some people enjoy socializing, some enjoy tasting gourmet food, some enjoy exercising, and I... I just happen to enjoy becoming stronger." In the end, Jieming used the simplest words to mask the complex difference in their worldviews.
"Justice" fell silent. Those four faces froze, as if the massive system was operating at full capacity, yet still unable to find a logical path between "suppressing power" and "fulfilling the wish to 'pursue power'."
After a long silence, the cold voice spoke again: "Understanding failed. Your core parameters are fundamentally incompatible with the system's underlying directives. You are... a glitch."
Jieming suddenly recalled the intelligence he had seen earlier—the three wizards who had "died in battle" under mysterious circumstances during the early stages of the war.
"By the way, what happened to those three wizards who died? According to your logic, you don't seem like the kind of being that would proactively erase others."
"Justice" replied: "They also discovered other glitches and attempted to exploit them to reverse-engineer and disrupt the system's core rules. Their actions were judged as the highest-level threat to the 'Absolute Fairness Domain.' In accordance with the core directives, they were erased."
"I see..."
Jieming looked up, his gaze calm as he met the face of "Amy"—a face that now felt utterly strange. He asked one final question:
"Then, what will you do with me? A being who cannot be accommodated by your 'Justice,' a glitch in your very nature?"
"Justice" did not answer.
The next instant—
Without warning, without process.
Jieming felt his very "existence"—his thoughts, his senses, his everything—erased directly from the foundational layer of this world by a method that defied comprehension, description, and resistance.
Before he could even feel fear or regret, his consciousness plunged into absolute, eternal darkness.
He was dead.
(End of the Chapter)
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