Chapter 192: The Historical Origin Of [artificial Great Origin]
Hearing Meng Xiyue’s irresponsible remarks that showed no concern for the future, the Mechanical Helmet couldn’t help but voice a rebuttal: “You know nothing about [Time]! Past, present, future—the three are closely linked and interconnected. How do you know that changes in the present only affect the future and not the past?”
Immediately after, he emphasized: “Moreover, you’ve already been drawn into this Space Fault, and you’ve had some contact with me. That makes you ‘witnesses + survivors’ who know the truth. Even if my mission fails and the Buddhist Expert seizes the key item that changes the future’s course, they will choose to silence you to temporarily cover up this karma, minimizing the impact and concealing the matter… And you will be forgotten by the world.”
Forget it, time to give up. Since he couldn’t win trust, he’d switch to intimidation!
The Mechanical Helmet thought so.
Meng Xiyue pondered his words carefully and countered: “Then if we help you take out the Buddhist Expert, once you flee, we won’t be hunted down by the current ‘Buddhism’ for revenge?”
The Helmet patiently explained: “Once our mission succeeds smoothly, the power behind us will make the ‘Fault’ return to the Present World. And everything that happened here will be blurred and rationalized… We can even erase all your traces, restore the ‘Space Bubble’ state as much as possible, reduce timeline error fluctuations, and minimize risks. At that time, your information will be absolutely confidential, the disguise seamless, and Buddhism won’t detect it.”
Yuan Zhu understood. This guy was definitely bluffing. He asked suspiciously: “Oh? …Why do I feel like there’s something wrong with what you’re saying? If you fail, won’t the power behind you send the [Fault] back to reality and repair it as much as possible? Are you tricking us into doing the work and dying for you to complete your mission?”
“Uh… [Wolf King], you’ve misunderstood. If we complete the mission smoothly, we’ll qualify as variables to guide and interfere with the power behind us, making the outcome more favorable to you and profiting you. Conversely, if we fail, everyone dies in battle or bears the stigma of failure—how could we qualify to interfere? At that time, the Fault’s return will ruthlessly follow the established rules to fulfill its mission, without considering you at all.”
Yuan Zhu now embodied a famous detective, seriously analyzing the other’s words, and nodded: “That makes sense! But… I think I just heard your female teammate shouting something about ‘Side Mission’ at us? So, our decisions and choices right now will determine your extra mission revenue, right? That’s why you’re earnestly spilling all this worthless info to gain our trust. You’re using us for profit while pretending to care about us?”
“…”
The Mechanical Helmet fell silent instantly, feeling mentally exhausted. Why were these old-era natives so tough? As expected of historical figures on record. I’m at least a Veteran leaning toward intellect—give me some face?
Yet he didn’t consider that whether Holy Light or Wisdom School, they all relied on brains, being ‘Law System’ classes leaning toward spirit and soul—also the long-brained type.
Seeing the other silenced by his pointed remark, Yuan Zhu pressed the advantage: “The power behind you isn’t [Space of Gods], is it? Has the future [Space of Gods] become so impressive that instead of sending you to explore and develop the [Bubble Layer], you’re invading Du Ling’s Present World? Or is your [Squad] exceptionally brave, using a noble mission to fool you into ‘going back to the past’ to die?”
“…” Silence was Cambridge tonight.
Yuan Zhu asked curiously: “Why aren’t you talking? Afraid of saying the wrong thing and getting points deducted, negative score wipeout? The future [Space of Gods] wouldn’t play so low-level and retro, right? Even our era’s [Space of Gods] doesn’t do these outdated tricks anymore—have you regressed to the level of ‘Boundless Terror’ from the ancient Four Great Classics?”
Facing the ‘old antique’s’ provocation and mockery, the Mechanical Helmet couldn’t hold back anymore: “There are no deductions or wipeouts. If I leak too much future intel, it lowers mission evaluation. You old antiques don’t get it—our era has no [Space of Gods] anymore! The [Space] and its organizers were all smashed by the [Law System], their nests destroyed, officially disbanded, and reorganized into the Time-Space Security Bureau. They still use the [Old. Space of Gods] Team Mode, forming multiple Space Squads to shuttle timelines. They silently maintain historical stability through missions.”
The fuming Mechanical Helmet couldn’t help spilling more. My restraint isn’t capital for your in-your-face provocations. This feeling of looking down on old-era remnants feels great!
“Ah? [Space of Gods] was actually smashed and disbanded?”
Hearing this, Meng Xiyue couldn’t help but be shocked and quickly asked: “What about [Space of Gods]’s organizers and participants? What was their fate?”
She was extremely curious about her own boss [Mao Mao King]’s fate, imagining a group of [Law System] super Investigators kicking open [Mao Mao King]’s home door, serving a search warrant to arrest him, cuffing him, hooding his head, and escorting him away.
Then, she and Yuan Zhu subtly and tacitly exchanged glances, communicating with their eyes: Hey! Look, this [Space of Gods] is lame! Officially stormed and disbanded + bankrupt reorganized.
Yuan Zhu hurriedly nodded with his eyes: Exactly! Exactly! Weak, really weak!
Learning that [Space of Gods] would be disbanded and reorganized in the future made this Happy Home Level 2 Employee ([Mao Mao King] Level 1 Contractor) a bit unwilling to continue. No future at all!
Originally, upon just joining Happy Home and learning of Happy Paradise of Gods’ existence, Yuan Zhu had ambitions to contract a [Space] himself. Now the glamorous filter on [Space of Gods] was starting to crack.
Facing Yuan Zhu and Meng Xiyue’s back-and-forth questioning, the Mechanical Helmet decisively shut up: “Um, first, I’m not very clear on the Time-Space Security Bureau’s historical changes. Second, many things I want to say, I can’t—signed a Confidentiality Agreement before the mission.”
He never expected that a random passerby of this era (Meng Xiyue) would know future-sealed secrets ([Space of Gods]). But thinking it over, history books show this current period as the most chaotic disordered expansion era, with vast swaths of history hidden in unknowable fog.
For capable passersby, [Space of Gods] probably wasn’t much of a secret. (Meng Xiyue: Oh, it’s not that impressive! I just part-time at Happy Home and happened to know.)
With Yuan Zhu and Meng Xiyue this dog-legged assist, no need for A Miao to act—they probed the Mechanical Helmet’s origins.
A Miao didn’t care about the other’s ‘origins,’ whether it was a helpless true reveal or a skillfully guided impeccable acting setup.
She just played along with his words and continued: “Whether what you say is true or false, if you want to cooperate with us, you must show sincerity and stop hiding. Your mission details, our Side Mission content—what do we need to do, and what remuneration? Show sincerity, or we’ll stand by, stay away from the Erosion source, find a safe spot, and wait out the time for the [Fault] to return.”
The Mechanical Helmet thought it over, then helplessly sighed deeply, looking resigned: “Fine, we’ll be open, but I hope you keep it secret. This intel concerns future fate—don’t leak it, or it’ll cause more twists.”
A Miao showed an expression of compliance and nodded: “Go ahead.”
“Our Main Mission is to reach this spacetime node and stop Buddhist forces from acquiring an important item, the [Star Core], from inside the [Star Realm Bank]—something that shouldn’t appear here. In future history, Buddhism has no connection to the [Star Constellation Plan]. And your time point is precisely the [Star Constellation Plan]’s origin period.”
A Miao listened in a fog, utterly uninterested. Instead, the knowledge-thirsty Meng Xiyue and gossip-loving Yuan Zhu showed strong curiosity.
So the two started asking, one after another:
“What’s the [Star Constellation Plan]?” “Can you explain?” “How important is it that you’d reverse spacetime to stop it?” “Yeah, yeah! If you don’t interfere and let Buddhism get it, what happens?”
Seeing the two turn into mouthpieces, A Miao smiled without speaking, waiting for the follow-up.
“You really don’t need to know, I can only briefly describe. The [Star Constellation Plan], also known as [28 Mansions] or [Twenty-Eight Star Lords], appears in ancient Taoist classics and myths—you’ve probably heard of it?”
Meng Xiyue: “Of course, but in this world, there don’t seem to be any [Star Lords]?”
Yuan Zhu only listened, didn’t babble. As an Earthling, he knew the least. Despite cramming knowledge and skyrocketing in the Supernatural Domain, he still had massive knowledge gaps.
Like pre-[First Magic Resurgence] feudal ancient times without supernaturals, the [Myth Systems] worldwide; versus post-resurgence, the [Myth Systems] manifested by Pollution Roots—how much overlap, how real or fake?
Ancient myths highly overlapped yet differed subtly from Earth; contemporary real ‘Pollution Roots’ highly overlapped yet differed subtly from ancient myths…
Right now, from his words, these [Twenty-Eight Star Constellations] exist in ancient books but not reality, and will appear in the future, fully real, claiming the position as true Roots like today’s [Kunlun, Buddhism, Holy Church…]?
Intense curiosity and burning thirst for knowledge ignited instantly! He wanted to know!
The Mechanical Helmet nodded in approval: “In your time segment, the Star Realm has masses of [Stars], numerous alien Demon Gods stranded, lost, settled… but no ‘true Star Gods’ or ‘Star Constellation Masters’, ‘Star Lords’ recognized by Du Ling Star.”
“The [Star Constellation Plan] is artificially postnatally creating the [Twenty-Eight Star Constellation Gods], dividing the [Star Realm Four Domains], redefining Star Realm rules, Star Constellation operations, spacetime divisions… creating a [Star Constellation] Supernatural System. The Star Seed now in the [Star Realm Bank] is the core element of an as-yet incomplete ‘man-made Star God’.”
“The future mature [Star Constellation System] has no Buddhist traces. Now Buddhist forces suddenly appear, competing for a ‘Star Seed’ that shouldn’t be here, and this time is the ‘Star Constellation budding period’. If Buddhism gets the ‘Seed’, with their power, they’ll inevitably meddle in or control the Supernatural Root of [Stars of the Heavens]. Thus, it must be stopped!”
“Damn! So epic, it fires me up.” Meng Xiyue clapped, feeling like a character in epic myth, a strange sense of mission surging.
Yuan Zhu looked resistant: “What’s it got to do with us? Sounds like massive trouble—get involved and get crushed, not even a splash.”
A Miao asked again: “What about our ‘Side Mission’?”
The Mechanical Helmet hesitated, then said carefully: “After just contacting you, a mission prompt triggered: you mistakenly entered this [Space Fault], shouldn’t be here. Once involved, your fate shifts. If I greatly alter your fate line, I get extra rewards. So, I want you as external aid to clash with Buddhist forces—whatever the result, it’ll change your life.”
Meng Xiyue scoffed: “Didn’t you keep saying traversing spacetime back to preserve the world line unchanged? Now for profit, you want to change others’ fates?”
The Mechanical Helmet justified: “No conflict—we preserve the world’s general trend unchanged while maximally reversing personal fates, accumulating Merit.”
Meng Xiyue: “So my Sister Miao really becomes an ‘World-Destroying Witch’ in the future?” Three-Phase Mental Illness?!
A Miao spoke then: “I don’t care about future or fate—what’s the remuneration? I won’t casually provoke strong terrifying Buddhist cultivators. From what we’ve seen, their strength far exceeds mine—I’m not interested in dying.”
“One remuneration: if you’re willing to cooperate, after success, we allow you one contact with the [Star Core]. I don’t know how to alter your life, but one touch will inevitably upend your future!”
This is the [Star Constellation Plan]—what massive karma?! Extension and completion of [Four Symbols Cycle], one of the future world’s top [Man-made Roots].
Letting you incur karma at the source will drastically twist your future life, easily completing the Side Mission with good results. As for good or bad? Only trust the [Timeline’s inertia].
Meng Xiyue nudged Yuan Zhu and whispered: “This guy’s such a hypocrite, says one thing does another. What he’s doing now is totally opposite what he just said!”
Yuan Zhu griped: “That’s what makes it believable.”
A Miao shook her head: “Not enough.”
“Of course I know!” The Mechanical Helmet thought angrily, “I can copy knowledge of ‘Steam System, Alchemy, Mechanics’ not exceeding current time progress and give it to you. My knowledge is the top-tier, finest Inheritance in your era. Not just now—even a decade or two past, it’s still cutting-edge secret knowledge! Even if you don’t master it, sell it or pass it down to cultivate subordinates.”
A Miao: “Acceptable, but still not enough.”
“Didn’t prepare much for this trip, brought little.” The Mechanical Helmet helplessly rummaged his pockets, finally pulling out four green wriggling ‘plant clumps’. Looked like intertwined roots, veins, nerves.
Mm, the projection footage showed a controlled Pumpkin Head Sword Immortal self-destructing his head to dig out this thing, performing [Immortal Hand on Head] for two female teammates.
“Not rare, but has some value. This is Star Realm Pumpkin Clan Sword Immortal-bred ‘Rogue Immortal Dao Seed’, a ‘Rogue Immortal Spiritual Root’ combining [Pumpkin, Stars, Sword Qi]—four portions total.”
A Miao shook her head: “Still not enough!”
At this, Yuan Zhu and Meng Xiyue were totally sidelined, unable to chime in. They saw it: the Side Mission had nothing to do with them, aimed straight at the [Yellow Springs Witch].
The so-called ‘Wolf King’ and pink-haired passerby were just NPC extras. The Mechanical Helmet kept pulling out real gold and silver just to buy A Miao off.
