477: One person's tears can prevent millions from shedding tears.

Jacob... is dead.

Looking at the splash of color that had appeared on the tear of the ocean, Liu Yan felt dazed.

He had never imagined that one day, after the enemy he had once wanted to kill day and night died, the tear of the ocean would light up with color because of him.

"Goodbye..."

Liu Yan spoke softly to the unconscious body on the ground.

This was Jacob's own choice, and it was also the choice Liu Yan had given him.

If he were to simply use the tear of the ocean to fabricate, rewrite, and reshape those worlds, he could have done it without going through the trouble of coming to ask Jacob.

But the current outcome also proved that even this real Jacob was the same as the Jacobs Liu Yan had met before.

Before leaving, Liu Yan still couldn't help but sigh.

"Right and wrong... what is the point? Isn't the result enough?"

Now, Liu Yan not only understood Jacob, but he also understood the version of himself that he had once found most incomprehensible.

After leaving this place, a display cabinet gradually emerged behind Liu Yan.

The portable military radar lit up.

A scan capable of covering the entire world spread out from Liu Yan as the center.

Experimental data spun.

The information of everyone in the entire world was laid out before Liu Yan's eyes.

The military information terminal activated.

A black hole instantly appeared in front of Cai Ning, who was far away.

Click!

Crushing the ruby in his hand, Liu Yan's figure disappeared from the spot instantly.

...

Liu Yan appeared in front of Cai Ning.

The latter had countless cyber cigarettes hanging from his mouth, and his eyes had long since lost their luster.

Looking at the other person's appearance, Liu Yan frowned.

The black box in the display cabinet lit up.

Everything that had happened here to everyone present flooded into Liu Yan's brain.

Back then, after Fuji piloted the Time Shuttle to the fake First World, this group of people had lived in this state ever since.

They could neither leave this place nor die.

This place did protect them, but at the same time, it was a form of torture.

"You've all worked hard..."

"It will be over soon. I will store away all your painful memories for you."

Liu Yan's voice rang out, and those phantom figures with vacant expressions lifted their heads in confusion.

Hiss!

At the same time, a torrent of data instantly struck beside Liu Yan.

Liu Yan turned his head slightly and locked eyes with Fuji.

"How did you know I was here?"

Fuji first glanced at Cai Ning and the others, his eyes full of guilt.

"The coordinates of everyone in the entire world are all with me." Fuji pointed at himself.

"Skynet version 10086.0."

After Fuji finished speaking, Liu Yan locked eyes with him, and then they both smiled.

"Meiling told me, um... about your plans and actions in other parallel worlds."

"But since the situations are different, I'm quite curious."

"Iron Egg, what would you do?"

Hearing this nickname from a million years ago, Liu Yan paused, then smiled and shook his head.

"I really didn't expect that there would come a day when I would miss such an ugly nickname."

"I am indeed different from them."

Liu Yan waved his hand at Fuji, and the two of them sat down in a spot where they could see all the phantoms of the crowd.

Afterward, Liu Yan told Fuji everything about those "selves," as well as the abilities of the tear of the ocean and the reshaping of the worlds.

The latter's expression became increasingly grave after hearing this.

"You are so soft-hearted, that one missing world..."

By now, Fuji already knew that Liu Yan was still the same Liu Yan.

Since it was that Liu Yan, Fuji dared to say he understood him.

In a situation where both palms and backs of the hands are flesh, it was very difficult for Liu Yan to truly make a decision.

"Do you have a cigarette? I haven't smoked in a long time."

Liu Yan didn't rush to answer but looked at Fuji.

Fuji reached out and tapped the ground.

The marble on the floor instantly turned into a 2D image, and after a few seconds in Fuji's hands, it became thin white paper.

Then, Fuji picked off a piece of wall plaster.

The plaster gradually transformed into tobacco in Fuji's hands.

A few seconds later, to Liu Yan's astonishment, a cigarette was handed to him.

"Is this smokeable?"

Fuji nodded.

"Don't worry, I just converted the materials, I'm not asking you to smoke wall plaster."

Liu Yan said "Oh," took the cigarette, and held it in his mouth.

After the tear of the ocean floated up and spun once.

Whoosh!

A small flame suddenly rose from the cigarette in Liu Yan's mouth.

Seeing this, Fuji couldn't help but tease:

"So, after all that trouble for a million years, it was just for a high-end lighter?"

Liu Yan laughed heartily after hearing this.

"It can do anything. If you want, you can use it to flush the toilet."

"Let's talk business."

"Yeah." Fuji nodded.

"Do you remember my earliest memories?"

"In my mind, all of this was a game—Hafke, Asara, GTI, and so on."

Fuji nodded.

"Now that you mention it, I do have an impression of that."

"But what does that have to do with this?"

Liu Yan took another puff of his cigarette.

"It has a lot to do with it."

"It gives me the feeling of agonizing over a test for a long time, only to realize the answer was right next to the table."

"The tear of the ocean in my hand is enough to reshape the other worlds."

"With these remaining scraps, it is absolutely impossible to reshape a complete world, including people and such."

"But I can fabricate a game."

"A game?" Fuji frowned. "I don't understand. Keep going."

"Just like the games in my memories."

"Using the scraps of the tear of the ocean and a large amount of the heart of africa to achieve this."

"A game world that requires a price to sustain."

Liu Yan raised his hand, and a spy pen abruptly appeared in his hand.

Seeing this, Fuji immediately understood and tapped the floor beside him.

The floor first turned 2D, and over time, it became clean white paper.

"This ability is really convenient." Liu Yan clicked his tongue twice.

Then he picked up the spy pen and drew two circles on the white paper.

"The circle on the left is the world they live in; there is no difference from their original world or timeline."

"The one on the right is the game."

"The price for the existence of the world on the left is the game on the right."

"By having people from all other worlds play this game, it supports the operation of that world."

Speaking of this, Liu Yan's expression dimmed slightly.

"But what if, one day, no one from any world remembers this game, or almost no one plays this game?"

Liu Yan pointed to the circle on the left.

"This world will also disappear."

"However, as long as we ensure that most people continue to like this game, we can keep them running."

"This is the answer I came up with, the one the heart of africa reminded me of."

"That's why, from the beginning, I had a large amount of memories about games in my mind."

"After all, in 'Infinity,' with so many variables, it is almost impossible for all versions of 'me' to have the same idea."

"So, one tear of the ocean must be sacrificed to restrict the other tears of the ocean."

"Therefore, there will inevitably be one less world that cannot be reshaped in a realistic way."

Fuji, listening from the side, had already experienced a brain crash.

Even after all this time, it was still the same as before; whenever he was around Liu Yan, he could never keep up with his train of thought.

Which led him to feel like he was a waste.

Only after leaving Liu Yan did he realize that he was actually a once-in-a-ten-thousand-year genius.

But now, that feeling had returned.

"I don't know how to evaluate this anymore."

"I can roughly understand your train of thought. You're awesome, brother."

"Both palms and backs are flesh; other worlds get reshaped, but this one world that cannot be reshaped is sustained by the others."

Liu Yan nodded.

Fuji pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked:

"Wait, why not just move those people to other worlds?"

"Spread them out, and it would just mean more population in other worlds."

Liu Yan shook his head decisively.

"That would make everything completely chaotic."

"Just reshaping all the timelines while retaining the memories of a portion of the people is not easy."

"Think about it: different technologies, different languages, different cultures."

"I can use the tear of the ocean to change some people, but do I have to change all of these things for everyone in the first world?"

"In that case, there wouldn't be enough energy."

"If I use the heart of africa."

"I only have about 600,000 of them right now."

"How many people are in that world? It wouldn't be enough."

Hearing Liu Yan's explanation, Fuji nodded in realization.

The approach he just thought of hadn't been well thought out.

But it didn't matter; his external brain was right beside him, so why should he bother thinking about those things?

"I won't touch your memories and abilities. Also, if you have any unsaved technological blueprints, save them now; don't waste them."

"I'm going to start."

Liu Yan reminded him.

Fuji waved his hand, urging him on with anticipation:

"Don't worry, those data are all there. Hurry up and start."

"By the way, don't you go and erase my Meiling!"

Liu Yan smiled and shook his head.

"Don't worry."

"Your Meiling is the one I returned to you."

"Otherwise, did you think her physical form was self-generated?"

Finishing with a smile, Liu Yan raised his hand, and in an instant, all the tears of the ocean floated in the air simultaneously.

Each tear of the ocean gradually began to spin.

Space-time began to be rewritten.

Time began to flow backward.

One by one, the full tears of the ocean became transparent at a speed visible to the naked eye.

At this moment, Liu Yan truly understood the meaning of the tear of the ocean.

A tear for the masses, trading one tear to stop millions from crying again.