Chapter 358 Origin of the Madness

Vivian rubbed her forehead, looking somewhat tired. Her mental state was not good after absorbing two segments of memories that did not belong to her. The memories from the "evil spirit" were gradually filling the blank spaces in her mind, making her understand what had happened here ten thousand years ago and what had happened to her, but they could not answer all her questions.

"The specific causes and consequences are still open to discussion. The memories I obtained from that 'clone' began when she arrived on this planet ten thousand years ago," Vivian said, now referring to the previous "evil spirit" as a clone, indicating that she had figured out the essence of the evil spirit phenomenon. "I saw her crossing vast expanses of chaos and light, and suddenly descending on this planet, which at that time had already been flung from the Dream Plane into the crevice of the Wall of Reality. It was shrouded in darkness, and the atmosphere was rapidly losing heat, so she used all her strength to barely preserve the ecosystem here—although the process is somewhat vague, it should be consistent with the local myths."

Vivian sighed as she spoke, looking worried. "It's really difficult to explain this process. I don't even know whether to use the first person or the third person—the one who initially descended on this planet was neither me nor the clone, but a complete individual, but we soon split into two. I was thrown to Earth through the first Gate of the Abyss in history, while the 'other me' who remained on this planet became the goddess worshiped by the locals. Over a hundred years, she guided the eldest son to build the layers of barriers you've seen, and led the people to build Dorashir and the underground Necropolis—while I was wandering on Earth during that time, hunting mammoths on the great plains of the late Ice Age. My poor brain… I completely forgot that I had split apart after arriving on Earth."

Hao Ren scratched his head, trying hard to keep up with Vivian's description. "Do you know what caused you to split?"

Vivian shook her head. "I'm not sure, but it might have been damaged when crossing the Wall of Reality. The only scene I saw that I could use as a reference was 'me' standing on the upper surface of the Abyssal planet, with a huge vortex portal opening. On the other side of the portal were frozen rivers and plains, which should be Earth. One me walked towards the gate, and one me stayed in the Abyss. I was watching this scene from a first-person perspective, so it was like I watched myself leave this world, and then the first-person perspective was that of the clone… Hey, hey, big dog, hang in there, don't faint, don't faint!"

Lili lay half-dead on the table, her ears drooping, her eyes full of swirling mosquito coils. "Well… Bat, you don't need to talk about the details of those years, I can't keep up with your switching of pronouns at all…"

The others nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we can't keep up either."

Vivian "uh"-ed, scratching her head embarrassedly. "Okay, anyway, you just need to understand the meaning. I'll call the one who stayed on the Abyssal planet the 'clone.' Although we should have been two equal individuals, I'm the only one who survived, so let's just call it that."

Hao Ren sorted out the logical relationship in his mind, deduced the entire timeline, and found that Vivian had split apart as soon as she arrived on the Abyssal planet, and then was sent directly to Earth. This tiny time difference in between could be ignored, so the time she arrived on Earth from the Dream Plane could still be roughly set at forty-eight hours before the fall of the goddess. After that, Vivian and her other "half" lost contact. The one who was sent to Earth, needless to say, became the oldest alien on this planet, while the "half Vivian" who remained in the Abyss became the goddess in local legends.

But what happened after that? Why did the "goddess" who stayed on this planet actually degenerate into a mindless, crazy wraith?

"She replaced the soul of the eldest son with her own will to ensure the stability of this planet, but something went wrong, and she went mad," Vivian frowned. "The eldest son on this planet did not remain rational, it was also one of the crazy guardians. The twisted creatures we saw on the upper surface were created by the eldest son during a rebellion. In order to suppress it, the 'other me' chose to assimilate herself with the eldest son, and then controlled the eldest son to assimilate with the planet."

"I don't know what method she used, but she removed the soul of the eldest son and destroyed its brain core. After building this underground city, she connected herself to the main nerve node of the eldest son, using a joint sealing method in an attempt to control this creature for a long time. The lullabies of the Ancient Spirits and the thunderstone pillars in this city are all safety devices based on this. For ten thousand years, the outer safeguards of this system have been operating as planned, but…"

"The most critical core of the system went wrong first," Nangong Sanba wiped his forehead. "Was the 'other you' contaminated by the remaining spirit of the eldest son? Or did the self-sealing time lead to mental breakdown?"

"Both are possible," Vivian nodded. "I can't see the process of the 'clone' going crazy from the remaining memories. That part is completely chaotic. In short, what is certain is that the 'other me' had already foreseen the possibility of losing control when she chose to replace the brain of the eldest son—this underground city, the lullaby rituals of the Ancient Spirits, as well as the sealing crystal and the surrounding iron chains and tentacles of the eldest son, these things are actually cages. She built so many things so that these cages could lock herself up when she went crazy one day."

"So she foresaw it from the beginning…" Hao Ren rubbed his chin, lost in thought. "If we hadn't come this time, how long could these insurances have lasted?"

Vivian thought for a while. "Possibly thousands of years, or possibly decades. There are too many uncertainties. Even if Graggon and the other Ancient Spirits waver a little, it could damage the system. We can only be thankful that the situation hasn't worsened—even if this place could really last for another thousand years, we can't rely on such luck."

Hao Ren suddenly thought of a very crucial question. "Wait, now that you have 're-merged' with that clone, who is controlling this planet now?"

"No one," Vivian pursed her lips. "The soul and thinking organs of the eldest son are gone. The 'other me,' who acted as a temporary brain for the past ten thousand years, has also disappeared. Now the eldest son on this planet is truly brainless. It won't die, but it's not alive either. That's why I asked Graggon and the others to maintain the 'lullaby' ritual. The lullaby can not only soothe the eldest son, but also maintain the activity of its nervous system to prevent the tentacles supporting the earth's crust from suddenly twitching and tearing the entire planet apart. But I estimate that this can't last long. Those Ancient Spirits have been serving for ten thousand years, and I really can't bear to let them continue like this forever."

As Vivian spoke, her gaze fixed on Hao Ren. Before she could speak, Hao Ren knew that he would have to find a solution himself. He pulled the data terminal over. "Have you analyzed what this 'lullaby' system is?"

The data terminal projected a hologram, showing many towering, needle-like devices standing on the ground. "Its hardware functions can be replaced by a series of large electrodes and perpetual generators, but we also need to decode a set of 'software' from the rituals of those Ancient Spirits. This unit needs the original design of this city and all the information on the 'lullaby' art, with or without annotations."

Vivian immediately said, "Graggon has it."

"Okay, that problem is solved," Hao Ren clapped his hands. "We'll build a large computer-controlled electrocution device in Dorashir to free the Ancient Spirits from the ritual."

Then he looked at Vivian. "Then let's discuss your… uh, splitting problem. Since the first 'evil spirit' was split from you, then the one we summoned from the magic book last time… could it be the same?"

Vivian gave a wry smile. "Probably."

Lili shrank her neck. "Can you control your splitting at all? Will you suddenly 'pop' into two people while you're cooking at home, and then one of them will start chasing us all over the world?"

Vivian: "I think… probably, perhaps, should, maybe… it won't happen, right?"

Lili's face turned green on the spot. "Don't say it so uncertainly, okay?!"