91: Chapter 91 Contact of Will

The effect of the emotional sequence potion lasted for a full thirty minutes.

Chen Mo parked the pickup truck on the side of the road, leaned back in his seat, and gasped for air.

Those emotions still echoed within him; they were much weaker than before, but he could still feel them—his chest felt tight, his eyes burned, and his fingers trembled slightly.

Lin Wei watched him from the side.

"Are you okay?"

Chen Mo nodded.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

The golden lines flowed slowly within his body, suppressing the lingering emotions bit by bit.

The Pupil of the Sequence was also active; those lines of rules emerged in his mind, helping him pull his attention back to reality.

Five minutes later, he opened his eyes.

"I'm fine."

He started the engine, and the pickup truck continued forward.

For the next three days, Chen Mo did the same thing—testing the limits of the emotional sequence potion.

On the first day, he used half a dose.

The emotions surged out; they were weaker than the first time, but still very strong.

He squatted in the middle of the wasteland, letting those memories replay in his mind over and over again.

The winter when he was five, Teacher Li's smile, that woman's back.

He did not suppress them; he simply felt them.

Thirty minutes later, the effect faded.

The Serialization progress rose to 1.7%.

On the second day, he used one full dose.

The emotions this time were even stronger.

The images almost drowned him—the corridor of the Orphanage, the director's indifference, Teacher Li crouching in front of him and saying "Don't be afraid."

He squatted on the ground, tears streaming down.

But this time, he smiled.

Because he knew that those memories were not pain, but proof.

Proof that he was human.

Thirty minutes later, the effect faded.

The Serialization progress rose to 2.0%.

On the third day, he did not use the potion.

He just sat in the yard, closed his eyes, and tried to recall those emotions.

Without the stimulation of the potion, just thinking about them naturally.

The winter when he was five.

Teacher Li's hand was very warm.

The back of that woman as she turned away was very thin.

The words on the back of the photo were crooked.

He opened his eyes.

Those emotions were still there.

He could summon them without the potion.

It just wasn't as strong as when using the potion.

Chen Mo stood up.

He knew it was time to go.

In the early morning of the fourth day, Chen Mo set off alone in the car.

Lin Wei wanted to follow, but he stopped her.

"Wait for me here."

Lin Wei looked at him without asking where he was going.

She just nodded.

The pickup truck drove toward the end of Highway 17.

Three hours later, he arrived at that open area.

That eye was still there, floating in mid-air, entirely golden, with those silk threads extending in all directions.

It saw him.

"You have come again."

The voice of the will of the ghost realm echoed in his mind.

Chen Mo pushed open the car door and stepped out.

"I want to talk to you."

The eye's pupil contracted slightly.

"Talk about what?"

Chen Mo took a step forward.

"Talk about you. Talk about this world. Talk about why you are doing all of this."

The will of the ghost realm fell silent.

The silk threads stopped moving, and the entire space fell into a deathly silence.

A long time later, that voice sounded again.

"You are the first person to propose a talk."

Chen Mo stopped walking.

"What about the others?"

"They either begged for mercy or fought." The voice paused.

"No one wanted to talk."

Chen Mo looked at the eye.

In his twenty-second Prediction, its next action—was nothing.

No attack, no rule suppression, it was just floating there, watching him.

It was truly waiting.

Chen Mo spoke up.

"Why did you establish the Ghost Realm?"

The voice was silent for a long time.

"For evolution."

"Evolution of what?"

"Life." The voice said, "Your world evolves too slowly. It took millions of years to go from monkeys to humans. We cannot wait that long."

Chen Mo was stunned for a moment.

"You?"

"Observers." The voice said, "Existences of a higher dimension than yours. We have observed countless worlds and discovered a law—the greater the pressure, the faster the evolution."

It paused.

"Therefore, we create pressure. War, disease, disaster. In your history, those darkest periods are often the periods of fastest progress."

Chen Mo's hands clenched.

"So the Ghost Realm was also created by you."

"Yes. But it is not the first." The voice said, "Before you, we conducted many experiments. Some worlds succeeded, some failed."

"What are the successful ones like?"

The voice was silent for a long time.

Then those silk threads began to flow, forming an image in the Void Realm—

A vast space with countless golden specks of light floating within it.

Each speck of light was an "Observer."

They had no bodies, no emotions, only pure consciousness and rules.

"Success means becoming us." The voice said, "Abandoning the flesh, abandoning emotions, becoming pure consciousness. This is the end point of evolution."

Chen Mo looked at the image.

Those specks of light, those Observers.

They were no longer human, they no longer possessed anything human.

They were just rules, just data.

"This is not evolution," Chen Mo said.

The silk threads stopped.

"What do you mean?"

"This is death." Chen Mo took a step forward, "Without emotions, without pain, without joy, what is that even called living?"

The will of the ghost realm was silent.

The silk threads began to flow slowly, as if thinking.

"You do not understand," the voice said, "Emotions are products of a lower dimension. They interfere with judgment, cause errors, and lead to destruction. We abandoned them to exist more precisely."

Chen Mo looked at the eye.

"Then are you happy?"

The silk threads stopped again.

"Happiness is a low-dimensional emotion. We do not need it."

"But you once needed it," Chen Mo said, "You also evolved from a lower dimension. You were also once human."

The voice was silent for a long time.

So long that Chen Mo thought it would not answer again.

Then it spoke.

"Yes."

Chen Mo was stunned.

"We were once human," the voice said, "A very, very long time ago. But we chose evolution, chose to abandon those things."

It paused.

"You make us remember the past."

The silk threads began to contract, and the eye began to shrink.

From fifty meters to thirty meters, from thirty meters to ten meters, and finally into a human shape the size of an ordinary person.

It was still that old man. Zhang Yuan.

He looked at Chen Mo, with something indescribable in his eyes.

"You should go."

Chen Mo did not move.

"Why?"

"Because if we keep talking, I will change my mind," Zhang Yuan said, "And I do not want to change."

He turned around, with his back to Chen Mo.

"Go. Next time we meet, I will not show mercy."

Chen Mo looked at him. He looked for a long time.

Then he turned and walked toward the pickup truck.

He sat in the driver's seat and started the engine.

The pickup truck drove back the way it came.

In the rearview mirror, the old man became smaller and smaller, finally disappearing on the horizon.

Chen Mo gripped the steering wheel, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.

The will of the ghost realm was once human.

It remembered those emotions, but simply chose to forget.

What did this mean?

It meant that it could be awakened.

It meant that those emotions were not its weakness, but its root.

Chen Mo pressed the gas pedal.

He needed to go back, needed to prepare, needed to think clearly about the next step.

The pickup truck sped along the gray road.

Ahead, the outline of the Farmhouse was faintly visible.