Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 581 - 545 Doomsday Truth 1

Chapter 581: 545 Doomsday Truth 1

The notion of attributing the origins of Doomsday to humanity is something I’ve heard in another context before.

That was shortly after defeating Ming Zhuo, during a conversation with Gua Tianshi.

With the great power of Impermanence, achieving interstellar travel and extraterrestrial colonization is feasible, so attempting to partially recreate Earth’s ecological environment on another planet is not an impossible challenge. Hence, I once wondered why we can’t transfer humanity to Mars to avoid the end of the world?

Perhaps relocating all of humanity might be daunting, but as long as we can transfer some of the population, ensuring the continuation of the race would suffice as passing the basic requirement. Once this baseline is firmly secured, any further transfer of population, culture, and technology would be a bonus.

And Gua Tianshi gave me this answer—

"The source of Doomsday is closely related to human consciousness..." I recited.

This answer seems different from No. 7’s answer. One said "human consciousness activity," the other said "human history." If neither side is wrong, then there must be some commonality between the two.

"Consciousness activity..." No. 7 looked at me deeply, "Although I don’t know where you heard this from, it might also be considered a correct answer."

"How so?" I asked.

"First, let me explain why ’the source of Doomsday being human history’ would result in Doomsday descending upon the Post-mortem World first," No. 7 said, "Death and sleep are like twins. In human culture, death is often viewed as eternal sleep. Occasionally, in certain mythological systems, death gods and sleep gods are seen as twins, or as one entity, overseeing the same domain.

"And the essence of the Post-mortem World is similar. The reason why ancient people could occasionally contact the dead in their dreams or temporarily step into the underworld while dreaming is because the Post-mortem World is essentially a shared dreamscape of humanity.

"There’s a saying that ever since Homo sapiens appeared, the total number of humans who have died is approximately between one hundred billion and one hundred twenty billion. Although it’s unclear if this is reliable, in this land of death, virtually all souls and their memories from the past to the present have indeed settled. This means that this soul space-time not only symbolizes human history but also embodies it as a collective repository of all historical information of the human race.

"Although all external access to this place has been severed, it’s only because the traditional access methods have become unusable due to drastic changes here. It’s not truly disconnected from humanity; otherwise, the Post-mortem World wouldn’t be able to autonomously summon soul-loss patients’ souls. It remains a shared dreamscape of humanity, the ocean of deep unconsciousness, recording all human consciousness activities in an alternate form.

"This is why, when a significant lesion appears in human history, the Post-mortem World, as an equivalent to the human history itself, suffers first and foremost."

"I see..." I said.

Now, the answers from Gua Tianshi and No. 7 have been synthesized, and I also understand why Gua Tianshi mentioned that the more people believe in the existence of Doomsday, the more it advances the Doomsday’s process.

This is because the root of this great apocalypse, as No. 7 describes, is deeply entrenched in the shared dreamscape of humanity. And as the ordinary masses, who occupy an absolute majority of humanity, become more aware of Doomsday, it signifies that the virulent spores are further spreading within human collective consciousness, worsening the condition.

Conversely, once everyone believes that Doomsday is inevitable, it indicates that Doomsday has completely invaded human consciousness, and at that moment, it truly would flow from the Post-mortem World into the Living World.

On the flip side, if no one believes in the existence of Doomsday, will it never come?

It shouldn’t be that simple. If efforts of that magnitude could prevent Doomsday, then Impermanence beings, including Gua Tianshi who intend to stop Doomsday, would have started acting long ago. The "significant lesion" causing the apocalypse might expand its infectious scale due to subjective influence, but fundamentally, its essence should still be some objectively existing entity.

"So, this ’significant lesion’ you’re referring to... what exactly is it?"

I delved into the core of the matter, already having some thoughts in mind.

And what No. 7 said next confirmed my intuition.

"I’m sure you’ve noticed long ago that our history contains many inexplicable points," she said, "The group of monks wielding abnormal powers and the ordinary human group coexist in this world, yet human history develops entirely as if these people never existed.

"Obviously, anyone from the former group could easily surpass religious leaders who merely pretend to be deities and deceive people, becoming a revered sage or immortal in the eyes of the masses; and if a powerful individual emerged from there, they could easily overpower any ancient dynasty’s army, becoming a supreme emperor or an eternal military general of unrivaled fame...

"But such things did not happen. Throughout history, both domestically and abroad, not a single such case can be found. Do you think that’s possible to be reasonable?"

I intentionally said, "But... isn’t there an explanation for all this? Because long ago, someone made a wish on the divine seal, separating the world of common sense from the abnormal world, allowing them to not interfere with each other."

"Such a far-fetched reason... does it really make sense?" No. 7 retorted.

Of course, it doesn’t make sense.

In the past, I could accept such reasoning, but as my power grew stronger and my perspective broadened, I increasingly felt this reasoning had a tremendous flaw.

"I want to hear your opinion," I said.

"My opinion is simple: it’s impossible for the abnormal world and the world of common sense to truly coexist without interfering," No. 7 said. "Take Luo Mountain, for example. The history of humanity’s normal development has not seen Luo Mountain remain entirely stationary. On the contrary, over the past millennia, Luo Mountain has been continuously expanding its sphere of influence.

"Wherever the culture of the Central Plains Dynasty has spread in the world of common sense, Luo Mountain’s sphere of influence has expanded accordingly... Yet this sphere of influence doesn’t shrink even when imperial domains shrink, and even in places where imperial domains haven’t expanded, Luo Mountain attempts to expand.

"Today, Luo Mountain already governs the entirety of Asia, and even parts of Europe, Africa, North America, and Oceania are covered by its sphere of influence. Throughout this process of expansion, how much warfare and bloodshed has there been? Although human history in the world of common sense doesn’t record such things, the abnormal world has a long history of its own, filled with conflict... How could that not influence the world of common sense?

"Without delving into anything else, simply within the history of Luo Mountain, there have been dozens of Impermanence beings across generations, each possessing great powers that would make them god-like figures. Describing them as ’walking nuclear bombs’ would be an insult to their immense might.

"They possess the capability to physically annihilate this planet’s surface, causing a sixth mass extinction event... Just like you, Zhuang Cheng,

"Doomsday might sound like an unimaginable catastrophe, but for you, it’s not, right? As a God of Fire, if you wished, you could instigate Doomsday with your own hands.

"In ancient myths, you all should have long since ascended to Heaven or the Divine Realm - places that wouldn’t interfere with mortals, but in reality, many beings like you still crowd this small Earth. What kind of joke is this?

"The real question isn’t whether human history in the world of common sense could have been influenced by you all, but why this ’fragile’ world hasn’t already been unwittingly destroyed by many gods... isn’t it?"

Her words hit the mark.

In fact, there have been explanations about the influence of Impermanence on the world throughout history.

For instance, many demon hunters believe that part of the Earth’s ecological environment today has been shaped by the Fatian Xiangdi generated by the Impermanence beings. The Little Ice Age recorded in the history of the world of common sense during the Ming and Qing dynasties is also thought to have been caused by the actions or inaction of a certain Impermanence being.

Global warming and the greenhouse effect are considered consequences of human industrial activities and carbon emissions in the world of common sense, but there’s also a narrative that the source is Impermanence. Or rather, human beings have been so proactive in their industrial efforts and carbon emissions because the existence of Impermanence unintentionally influences human collective consciousness. This influence is expected to intensify in the future since, with my emergence as a "God of Fire," the greenhouse effect will inevitably continue to rise.

But... such "lukewarm" influence is still far from explaining the issues raised by No. 7.

The existence of Gods and the abnormal world’s influence on the documented history of the world of common sense should logically have been much more significant than that.

No. 7’s next words shattered my prior understanding of past histories even further.

"Splitting the world of common sense from the abnormal world... such an event, from the beginning... it never occurred," she concluded.

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