Now- where is he?
Du Ze opened his eyes and his field of vision was filled with pure white. He was alone. All of the wounds on his body vanished as if they had never been.
After a brief interval while he was befuddled, Du Ze began to look around to try to quickly sort out his current situation – why did he suddenly arrive in this place? Du Ze's thoughts were still on the god of light's unexpected self-destruction. He hadn't thought that the god of light would have such a surprise up his sleeve. Some silly, cute person thought that the so-called Final BOSS fight was just a formality, but the god of light used his ultimate skill "verdict" to wipe out their entire party.
"You are dead."
Du Ze looked at the boundless whiteness around him – is this the afterlife?
White, white, white, white and white. It was like falling into a vat of milk, or like being on a piece of white paper where he was only thing painted in color on it.
Du Ze examined his surroundings then had to close his eyes. He found out that all this whiteness was more uncomfortable than complete darkness. If he looked at the intense whiteness for a long time, not only were his eyes dazzled, he also felt like vomiting.
".... If I had known that I could meet you ahead of time, I would have let the god of light kill you."
In the next moment, Du Ze heard someone sigh. A silly, cute person's first reaction was happiness – just when he was wondering what had happened, the subject in question appeared – but once he understood the meaning of what that voice had said, he was dismayed.
Du Ze took a short breath of air; his heart seemed to spasm and his whole body seemed rigid as a block of stone. He opened his eyes and looked at the speaker. The moment he saw that other person, it was as though a bolt of lightning hit him on the top of his head. The one in front of him was totally beyond his imagination.
In that pure white space, "that one" greeted Du Ze.
"We meet at last, I am the Creator of this world."
When he heard this introduction, Du Ze felt as though his whole body was poked by needles until it was numb. The person who claimed to be the creator of the world had short black hair and was wearing a white shirt, black trousers, a pair of glasses and blue hearing aids – that other person looked just like him!
"Don't worry about that." He seemed to understand Du Ze's blank stare. "I have no fixed appearance and usually take on a form that is familiar to you.
****! You scared me! Du Ze's heart was like a TV screen that was filled with ****ing strong expletives. For a moment there, he thought that this was going to be a cliché plot development1, like that person had a relationship with his mother and that he and the god had a relationship – but it was just the Creator God using his image.
Finally, I knew the truth and my tears fell.2
After the initial shock, a certain silly, cute person realized that "Creator God = life-sized mirror." Du Ze thought that this was actually quite consistent with the novel's setting. As the god who created the world, the Creator of the world of "Mixed Blood" wasn't well-known among the people. He had no idols or temples and the information the people of the Chaos Continent knew about him was pitifully sparse.
Now that he saw the God, Du Ze conjectured that it was because the God had no fixed appearance and therefore one can't build an idol of him, which means building a temple for him was also problematic. Thus there was almost no information about the God except for legends.
How hard did this little student have to search just to find information about you?
Du Ze stared impassively at the Creator God who was his mirror-image. Perhaps because of this appearance, Du Ze's social barrier did not act up much – what sort of person was scared of confronting his own face in the mirror? At first, a cute, silly person was shocked by the visual impact of the God, but now he had gotten used to it. Though he wondered why he suddenly met the Creator, he was more concerned about Xiu. But is the Creator the best person to ask about this?
"How is Xiu?"
When he heard Du Ze's question, the Creator did not answer and asked: "What happened?"
Ah, the Creator God did not know what was had happened to them in the Tower of God?
The God of Creation saw that Du Ze was somewhat startled. The God of Creation's face, which looked the same as Du Ze's face, suddenly had a self-deprecating expression.
"The Creator God is omniscient and omnipotent. Every living person, including you, thinks so. But I'm just a prisoner now." He spread out his arms as if he was showing off his jail cell to Du Ze. "I've been cooped up here, with nothing to see and nothing to do, except wait for my death."
His intuition told Du Ze that the God of Creation was not lying, but Du Ze couldn't help but refute him: "You said earlier that you should have let the god of light kill me earlier. If you don't know what happens outside of this place, how did you know that I died at the hands of the god of light?"
"It's because I can't get out of here, so I can only do what I want with someone else's help," he said. "The god of light is my best pawn. He has my scepter and I can tell him what needs to be done through that artifact."
The Creator looked at Du Ze and deduced what had happened: "Were you killed by the god of light? You asked about Xiu, so you two must have been together when you suffered that fatal attack." The God seemed quite familiar with the god of light's skills. "I think I know the cause of your death – he used 'verdict', right?"
Du Ze involuntarily nodded. He listened to the God speak of verdict in an admiring tone: "Verdict is truly an ultimate skill; it can convert the user's body into pure attack energy. The more he sacrifices, the more powerful the skill becomes. If the user fully sacrifices himself, the skill will have unparalleled strength. It's the most suitable weapon for an angel. Before I gave the scepter to the god of light, he didn't have verdict. During his battles with Bael, the god of light was like a little mouse that the demon played with; he couldn't do the slightest harm to the demon."
"But the verdict isn't the most powerful thing in the world. 'The rules' are more terrifyingly powerful compared to verdict." The Creator looked at Du Ze. "Do you know about 'the rules'?"
Du Ze nodded then changed his mind and shook his head. Although at first, he thought that he knew about "the rules," when he thought more deeply about it, he couldn't really find the words to describe its exact nature.
"Life and death, the alternation of day and night, what makes them work the way they do is because of 'the rules'." The Creator understood Du Ze's head shake and explained it to him: "It's the order of the world and eternal law. We must abide by the rules and even if we don't know how it functions, we are forced to obey the rules. This type of coercion is irresistible."
In order for Du Ze to understand it better, the God gave an example: "Suppose that there is a 'you can't see me' rule. Even if you and I are only separated by a wall, you will never be able to see me. 'The rules' will make sure that even if you trip over a pebble and fall down, bleeding from the head, even if I come to you, there will be good Samaritans passing by who will help you and take you away before I can get to you ... In this way, we will miss each other many times and the rule that 'you can't see me' is always followed. We think of it as 'fate' but it's actually the way that 'the rules' work."
Du Ze listened to the God of Creation explaining that "the rules" are not just laws that must be obeyed but more like a mysterious existence. It has its own operating mechanism, like a "heavenly law" that creates the balance of the world. It's a sort of law of cause and effect – before this, he had seen the effect of "the rules" many times before. He had thought of it as "the plot god."
"The rule of verdict is an absolute hit; no one can avoid its attack." The Creator's gaze swept over Du Ze. "If the sacrifice's energy is strong enough, the result of the verdict's attack can only be 'death'."
Du Ze's heart sank as though it was filled with lead. Cold fear spread throughout his body. Until now they have been lucky because the novel's plot has been following the "protagonists can't die" law. The protagonist can't die because the plot has to move forward. Therefore, the protagonist can be cruelly hurt and suffer but some fantastic event always happens and the protagonist always survives.
But this law can be broken if the story demands it. If it was a different author, Du Ze wouldn't worry, but the author of "Mixed Blood" is that ****er Yi Ye Zhi Qiu! Du Ze isn't sure whether or not Yi Ye Zhi Qiu will write an ending that will make readers want to go home and hang themselves. The author's moral integrity has been a negative value since the beginning.
According to the God of Creation just now, once the rule is set, events will move along according to its predetermined path. Just like Xiu destroyed the elves and attacked the Sky City, the plot will always go towards the direction written by the author.
The God of Creation watched as Du Ze's face drained of blood. The black-haired youth's face had been impassive before. Only a few slight changes in his facial expression had revealed his emotion so his face becoming pale was the biggest sign of emotion he had revealed since he arrived here.
He reacted not because of his own death, but because of his fear of that person passing away. Although he had long known of the relationship between the two men from the god of light, the Creator was still unhappy when he saw with his own eyes that it was true.
"You don't have to worry about Xiu." The God said to Du Ze, "That person will not die."
He was not comforting Du Ze. He merely wanted to keep the conversation going.
"The world has established a rule that 'Xiu can't die'." A slight trace of regret flashed through the God's face. "The rule of the verdict is nothing compared to laws that 'the rules' set for this world."
Life is like a rollercoaster full of exciting ups and downs.3 Du Ze shed bitter tears over the author's almost nonexistent conscience. The Moe Lord's life has been hard enough, don't add a fatal blow at the end!
When he learned that the Moe Lord was safe since the "protagonist can't die" rule was still in effect, some silly, cute person's heart became tranquil. He began to focus on the God of Creation. Previously, the Creator God referred to the god of light as his "pawn." Although his conjecture about the god of light and God of Creation's relationship was thus proved, Du Ze wasn't happy at all since it meant that it wasn't just the god of light who wanted to kill Xiu. The Creator also had the same goal.
"You want to... kill Xiu."
"Yes." The God calmly admitted it. He looked at Du Ze. The black-haired youth's expression did not change but, through careful observation, the God was keenly aware that Du Ze was on guard against him, which made the God feel even more displeased. "You should not regard me as an enemy, because you and I are in the same position."
The Creator of the world suddenly came closer and Du Ze saw his own face magnified in front of him, so close that he could even feel the other's cold breath on his skin.
"In this world, I am the one who has the closest relationship with you." The two faces had only a slight difference between them. The God of Creation's fierce eyes firmly locked onto Du Ze's. When he spoke, his voice was full of complex emotions: "Do you know why you came to this world?"
Du Ze involuntarily took a step back, avoiding the God's aggressive action. He had heard this question before from the same person when he broke the god of light's scepter. At that time, he hadn't had much time to think about it; the reason for his unscientific travel into this world was beyond his abilities to figure out.
Although he retreated, Du Ze did not avoid the God of Creation's eyes. The God was hinting at something; he obviously knew the answer. Therefore, even if Du Ze scented the trap, he still had to jump into it.
"Why?"
"That's what I'm going to talk to you about – you, me, Xiu, 'the rules', this world." The Creator sighed: "I know you have many questions. It's the same for me. I have a question to ask you, too... person from above."
Above ...?
Du Ze didn't understand what he meant but the God of Creation continued his narrative: "Where should I start... let's start from the beginning. What do you know about the God of Creation?"
"... The God who created the world." The question was simple so Du Ze gave an equally simple answer.
When he heard Du Ze's answer, the expression on the God of Creation's face changed, but the complex emotions that flitted through his face were hard to describe. "In the beginning, I thought so, too: I am the God who created this world and all things were made by me. I never doubted it until one day I saw a birth. In a pool of her own blood, a beastkin struggled until she gave birth to two sons then died. Seeing this, I thought that, compared to me, these creatures are too weak. Just to create new life, they must exhaust their own life force. Because of this, I wanted to create a new mother for those two young beastkin. This should be easy for me since I created everything in the world."
The God stopped speaking.
Du Ze was confused when he saw the expression on the God's face. He had a glimmer of an idea: could it be ...
"I couldn't do it." The Creator was depressed as he narrated: "I could resurrect the beastkin but I couldn't create a new beastkin. I am the God of all Creation but I couldn't create just one creature – isn't that absurd? This scared me and I tried to remember how I created this world. Do you remember when you were a baby? You can't, right? It was like that for me. My memories of my earliest days are blurry, as if I was born when I created the world. That's fine for other people but I am the Creator of this world, the source of everything that exists."
The God took a deep breath and seemed to be suppressing some dark emotion. "It was then that I realized that although I was the Creator, I had no memory of the process of creating this world; I just thought that this world was what I created. To prove this fact or to disprove it, I began to try to create the world again – the reverse side of the Chaos Continent is my unfinished work."
The reverse side of the continent was made by this ****er! Du Ze realized that this was a case of "For the sins of your fathers you, though guiltless, must suffer."1 Thinking of that time when he had to run from the black rain, some silly, cute person wanted to punch this person in the face.2
I'm not asking you to make an idyllic Garden of Eden but, at the very least, you should get rid of those elemental storms that rage about like naughty children destroying everything in their path! OMG!
The God didn't notice Du Ze's inner turmoil and went on: "I said that I 'created' the reverse side, but the truth is that I didn't really create it out of nothing. All I did was to move elements from one side of the Chaos Continent to the other. Then I used magic to compress those elements into new shapes – something that even the minor gods can do. That was when I found out that I was just a more powerful version of those minor gods, not the Creator of this world."3
The God gazed at Du Ze. "If it was you, how would you feel?"
If he was the God, Du Ze thought that his reaction would have been to think that he had been brainwashed and that all of his memories were false.
The Creator didn't wait for Du Ze to answer. It looked as though the God had been suppressing these feelings for so long that all he wanted was for someone to listen to him. "I began to doubt my own existence. In order to find out the truth about myself, I searched the Chaos Continent for clues and found something terrible: everything in the Chaos Continent that has consciousness – dead or alive – see me as the God of Creation and feel awed."
The God's voice became softer and softer, like someone confiding a secret that can't be spoken too loudly in case it disturbs an unspeakable existence. "That was when I realized that this world was being manipulated by an existence that is powerful beyond my imagination. That existence is the real creator and God of this world. In order to obey its will, 'the rules' enforce its desires into this world. 'It' has willed that every person or thing has its own role to play and my role is that of 'God of Creation'; just this and nothing more."
Despite his customary facial paralysis, Du Ze couldn't help but be moved. He looked into the God of Creation's eyes admiringly. Du Ze is someone from outside the novel so naturally, he knows what this is all about: the Creator was given his role in the novel by Yi Ye Zhi Qiu. Incredibly, the God discovered this truth! This can only be called a BUG.
The God seemed to enjoy the admiration in Du Ze's eyes. The Creator smiled and continued to explain: "That existence is not the only one; I found many others similar to that existence but the others are only observers. Only 'it' has the power to control this world. However, those other existences are also unimaginably transcendent beings."
He reached out to touch Du Ze's face, too fast for the black-haired youth to avoid it. The God stared at Du Ze with a look of wonder and madness on his face. "There is no difference between us. In fact, you are even smaller and weaker than the ordinary creatures of this world, but you are a higher form of life. You don't have to follow 'the rules' and you understand everything in this world. This world's effect on you can only last a day."
Thank you for explaining the origin of this little student's 0-point restore but a wise person uses his tongue, not his fists.4 You can't expect us to become friends after that.
"Let go."
The God of Creation saw Du Ze's icy expression and, perhaps because of awe and some scruples, he slowly loosened his fingers. He resumed the conversation as if nothing had happened.
"We have just talked about the truth of the world. Only I have found out about this. The other beings in this world are not omniscient or omnipotent, therefore they will never find out that there is an even higher power. Ever since I became aware of the truth I have been able to sense its workings a little bit.
"In order to form a good relationship with it, I took the initiative to help it: it wanted to weaken the demons so I stepped in during the god of light and Bael's battle; it wanted to weaken the elves so I induced the elves to place their feelings into the Tree of Life; it wanted to destroy the gnomes so I gave them the Wheel of Time..."
Du Ze listened blankly as the Creator detailed all the things that he had done. Some of it, Du Ze already knew but some of it was new to him. Of course, most Hidden BOSSES were talkative; they would often burst out into verbose explanations at the drop of a hat. The God of Creation had inherited this fine tradition and Du Ze felt honored to learn about all of the hidden behind-the-scenes information about the plot of "Mixed Blood." Although some of the spoilers made him feel sad, these shady secrets that were suddenly revealed erased Du Ze's doubts. Before this conversation, Du Ze had been puzzled as to why the Creator would sabotage his own creation. Now it all makes sense. The God was the God of Creation in name only and everything he did was to please the real Master of the World.
"... In the seventh era, I found that it began to focus on a person." When the Creator finished speaking, he saw that Du Ze's eyes were covered with a layer of black light. "Yes, it was focused on Xiu."
Is he finally going to come to the point? Du Ze was caught in a complex state of excitement and agitation as he waited for the next words of truth.
"Xiu is very special. In the Chaos Continent, he is the only person who has the blood of all eight races. I was very curious about him so I have watched him grow, watched him awaken his bloodlines, ... watched his ascent to the Sky City."
The Sky City? Is that the part of the novel when Xiu lead the demons to attack Sky City? Then it wasn't a coincidence that it was the last chapter of the novel that he read? Du Ze's heartbeat quickened.
"Even though he was attacked by an ultimate weapon, he survived and became more powerful." The tone of the God of Creation's voice changed slightly. "When verdict was used, I was able to get a glimpse of 'the rules' design for that person and saw the terrible future it was creating – it wanted to make Xiu the Supreme God."
"Do you know what this means?" The voice of the God rose and his voice was full of anger and grief. "It means I must die!"
The Creator's words exploded in Du Ze's brain, shocking his mind into pieces. The God of Creation looked at the speechless Du Ze and smiled, his expression full of helpless sadness.
"To the Supreme God, the one who will stand on the highest throne, no matter how high he climbs, he can never be compared to 'the God who Created the World.' Except for the God of Creation, is there any other God whose Godhead can be used to ascend to the status of Supreme God?"
Du Ze swallowed his saliva, his throat dry, and he couldn't find anything to say as he looked at the God.
"The god of light is only afraid of his position being usurped. What I fear is being killed." The God's expression became calm again but that calmness wasn't the absence of anger – it was the absence of hope. "Because killing me is the best way to become Supreme God."
The Creator God said to Du Ze: "Do you think I'm going to sit here and do nothing?"
No. Du Ze's heart was bitter and painful. He finally found the reason why the God of Creation wanted to kill Xiu, but he couldn't find any reason to condemn his actions.
"I don't want to die, so I have to do something. I've said that 'the rules' can't be violated but I thought of erasing that person before 'the rules' could latch on to him. So I used the Wheel of Time, but I could only go back to when he was being hunted." The Creator sighed: "The Law of Time is one of the fundamental building blocks of this world, therefore 'the rules' don't allow anyone to meddle with it. Once a violation of the Law is discovered, they are immediately obliterated. Even I could only use the Wheel of Time once."
Even though he knew that the Moe Lord had emerged from that danger alive and well, Du Ze couldn't help but break out into a cold sweat. The God of Creation had almost eliminated Xiu before he was even born.
"I knew it was impossible but I still tried a lot of things but couldn't kill the person who was protected by 'the rules.' I could only watch as that person grew stronger and stronger until he is strong enough to take my Godhead. Then I began to think: Since the people in this world can't, then ..."
The God of Creation stared at Du Ze. Du Ze had become familiar with that particular expression since the god of light had also looked at him with that kind of warmth. Clearly, that person's gaze was very hot but as Du Ze listened to the words of the God, a chill crept up from the soles of his feet and froze his brain.
"...only those from beyond this world can kill him."
At that moment, Du Ze's heart stopped beating and his face became pale. He didn't want to hear the God's next words but they drilled into his ear, stabbing him painfully.
"Do you now know why you came to this world?"
"..."
—— I know.
It was never clearer than at this moment why he had traveled to the world of "Mixed Blood."
Eric wanted him to kill Xiu. The god of light wanted him to kill Xiu. He had heard many similar things, but none of that was as true as the words of the God of Creation.
Du Ze closed his eyes and felt as if he was being suffocated.
As the god of light said, he came to this world with only one purpose: to kill Xiu.