Zero knew very well that he was just an ordinary person.
He had never understood knowledge from the field of scientific research. Faced with obscure, hard-to-understand reports, how could he possibly understand them after reading them just once?
Had Zero, in some reincarnation he himself didn't even know about, forced himself to study a subject he wasn't good at? Had he become a researcher, like Marty?
If this guess was true, then aside from the two identities of Xianzhou Marshal and researcher, which other faction's ruler would he have been? And which Aeon's Emanator would he have become?
If the guess held up, then Zero could understand why Fuli had been so cautious.
According to the Path of "Erudition," the probability of him leading the universe toward its end was 99.99%.
If you compared it to a game, then that deity and Fuli were playing a gacha game with a 0.01% chance of pulling gold.
This time, could it be considered pulling gold?
Was it an early gold pull, or did it hit hard pity?
Zero didn't know, but he tried to think from their perspective.
If in every reincarnation he had a different identity… then those two Aeons might, possibly, maybe, be a little bit exhausted?
Zero followed this train of thought further.
If he always treated the entire star sea as his own playground, then he would be an undying, indestructible existence closest to a god.
In that case, no person or god could block his path, much less make him change his decision.
Perhaps only the Xianzhou could make Zero waver.
If his identity really was randomly assigned across the entire universe…
Uh, to exaggerate a bit, were those two Aeons farming relics?
Then the probability of him arriving at the Xianzhou and becoming its marshal, wasn't it as low as farming a perfect relic in an Emblem domain?
Surely the probability of getting a double-crit Lightning DMG goblet was higher than 0.01%, right?
Zero briefly felt guilty toward the two Aeons in his speculation.
He didn't continue thinking about it, and instead went back to flipping through the book in his hands.
No matter what, he had to deal with the urgent matters at hand first.
Zero spent a full month cramming psychology knowledge.
After that, he dug out the Cangcheng Laboratory report that Hua had given him.
According to Hua, because the nature of the incident was too special, she had deliberately instructed her subordinates to produce two different versions of the report.
If it were someone with normal values, they might be able to understand the behavior of the people described in the report.
People should know themselves well. Zero knew he clearly wasn't a normal person, so to avoid misjudgment, he deliberately crammed psychology beforehand.
He read the report over and over four times and still couldn't find any logical problems.
That meant that Marty and the others had first explored the nature of the world, then heard of his death, and finally… made that decision.
Just as Hua said, he was the last straw that broke the camel's back.
After reaching this conclusion, Zero felt a jumble of emotions and didn't know how to describe how he felt.
He dug out scrap paper and a pen from his workstation and found several sets of math exam papers on the StarNet, using them to regulate his emotions.
Zero forced himself to calm down and focus on the questions.
When he was studying at the academy, he only put effort into key and difficult points. His science grades always scraped by just above the passing line.
After graduating, Zero had never done math problems again. Those formulas that should have been long forgotten resurfaced quickly once he saw the corresponding questions.
After finishing one set of papers, he began checking the answers and correcting mistakes. After roughly sorting out the problem-solving logic, he started on another test.
Near the end of the workday, Zero finished the questions and checked the answers.
While staring at a test paper with almost no mistakes, he tried hard to search through his memories.
After thinking for a moment, Zero recalled that piece of paper that recorded "cats and dogs." Besides those few sentences, there had also been a fable written in childish handwriting.
He took out his jade communicator and asked Hua.
[Zero: Have I ever told you any fable stories?]
Hua seemed to be slacking off too and replied during work hours.
[Hua: Yes, it was tucked into the picture books I mailed you earlier]
Zero: "..."
Could it be that pile of children's picture books Hua had sent earlier just to mock him?
After receiving that pile of picture books, he had directly placed them at his workstation.
[Hua: Returning them to their rightful owner]
[Hua: By the way, no one actually gives picture books for ages three to six to a ten-year-old :)]
Zero: "..."
What a boomerang.
He didn't know how to raise kids, what was wrong with showing Hua picture books?
How could the successor he personally brought up turn out like this? In short, it must be Lan's fault.
At this moment, his colleagues, as if by tacit agreement, began packing up their things, preparing to leave early.
Seeing this, Zero sped up, rummaging through the pile of picture books in the corner of his workstation.
He had dinner planned with Jingliu tonight, he couldn't be late.
After searching for a long time, Zero finally dug out a book of fables.
Carrying this book, he passed by a flower shop and picked out a blue ranunculus.
Zero left early and arrived at the restaurant they'd agreed on, quickly ordered the dishes, and then Jingliu arrived at his side holding Jade.
Jingliu accepted the flower Zero handed her.
She lowered her eyes to examine it, a barely noticeable smile at the corner of her lips.
Jingliu asked, "What flower is it this time?"
Zero touched Jade, whom he hadn't seen in a long time, and was startled to find the cat had slimmed down quite a bit, her fat seemed to be turning into muscle.
"As expected of Sword Champion Jingliu, Jade has slimmed down a lot."
He sighed first, then answered Jingliu's question, "It's a color-absorbing ranunculus. I think it's pretty nice."
Jingliu nodded lightly. "The flowers you give me are always beautiful."
After the meal, Jade started acting up, either showing her belly in front of Zero, or using her paws to tug at his pant leg.
Jingliu sighed. "Why don't you take her back with you?"
Zero shook his head and refused. "No. If she comes with me… she'll probably get fat again."
He was already immune to Jade's little tricks.
Zero coldly stepped back, breaking free of the cat's tail wrapped around his calf.
After saying goodbye to Jingliu, Zero quickened his pace home and opened the fable book.
On the title page was a single sentence, Not being human is the happiest thing.
Zero thought the line made sense.
Having humanity meant having emotions, and having emotions… meant suffering over life and death, partings and farewells.
Zero read several fables in a row but couldn't find any hints.
Halfway through, he finally found a fable that seemed to be written by himself.
In the fable, a fish arrived at a strange tree. On the tree were wonders it had never seen before.
After many hardships, it finally found a place to stay on the tree. Then it met a mechanical cat with countless admirers.
The mechanical cat said it had long foreseen the fish's future, that the fish's appearance was very likely to bring catastrophic disaster to the tree.
[The fish had always been broad-minded. It didn't care at all about the mechanical cat's malice and said with a smile, "Then I'll be that exception..."
"I won't bring you catastrophic disaster. On the contrary, I'll save you and bring you new life..."]
Zero: "..."
'What kind of nonsense is this?'