So what exactly was the "backup plan" mentioned in both the parable and the afterword?
The first thing Zero thought of was the aether-phase engine, but after seeing the words "add merit," he became a bit unsure.
That other version of himself could strip "Nous" of all its Emanators and still call himself broad-minded…
It was really hard for Zero to believe what the book said.
Zero recalled that parable he hadn't finished reading yet. After connecting the context, he realized that the "backup plan" seemed to refer to different things.
In one cycle, he left behind a backup plan before dying. In the next cycle, he actively abandoned it, and in doing so, understood why his former self had left such a backup plan in the first place.
There was no other reason, it was to let him become a god, so that he could remain rational and make choices in the trolley problem.
Seen this way, aside from the aether-phase engine, the backup plan seemed more like… the system.
Zero had originally thought that the system and the items in his inventory were cheats he naturally came with as a "high-dimensional invader."
If the backup plan really was the system, wasn't that way too unimpressive? He was a high-dimensional invader, after all! Couldn't he at least come with some awesome built-in cheat?
What, he had to research everything from scratch himself?
Did that mean his maxed-out characters were pulled for nothing? His weapons were lost to bad luck for nothing? All the money he spent on gacha games was completely wasted?
Then where did the items in his inventory come from? Don't tell him it was really like the afterword said, that he was the savior of countless worlds? Just how many years did he work himself to death like a 007?
Zero took a deep breath.
He couldn't dig any deeper.
If he kept digging, he might want to die again.
Zero flipped back to the parable.
Looking at it this way, the earliest version of himself had no cheat, no system.
At that time, perhaps all he had was a lifespan far beyond ordinary people? Someone like that developing feelings for people in a lower-dimensional world, then choosing death over activating the aether-phase engine, was perfectly normal.
As for why, after obtaining the system, the version of himself who still saw through the truth and abandoned the system would set his sights on the Aeons, Zero thought this was easy to understand.
On one side were only a few dozen Aeons; on the other were humans whose numbers couldn't be precisely counted. Giving up the former to gamble on a stable, non-collapsing future for the latter.
In his view, this was an incredibly worthwhile trade.
Zero lowered his head and continued reading the unfinished parable.
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[After becoming the master of the tree, the fish once again began trying to save it. Perhaps because several evil forces had already died before, it failed again.
As the tree was about to collapse, a being not belonging to the tree, calling itself Little Gray, appeared before the fish.
Little Gray could leave the tree and travel to different worlds. It was an outsider, both the same as the fish, and not the same.
Little Gray said: "I think we'll get along great! This is going to be an unforgettable grand adventure!"
"I will pledge my loyalty to you for the next two thousand years, no, five thousand years!"
The fish refused, saying: "Five thousand years… that's far too long. I can't imagine myself living that long. How about… we set that as the time when I retire and become an ordinary person instead?"
The fish asked Little Gray: "Do you want to try saving the world? You're different from me, you can leave this tree, you can find others like me."
"Do you want to save, together with them, those worlds whose branches and leaves can only be controlled by their creators?"]
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Zero recalled the unchangeable fate mentioned by Fuli and Aha.
Just looking at this line in the parable, it seemed that only high-dimensional beings could change fate.
So this was… telling Little Gray to go to his hometown, kidnap people, and bring them along to save other worlds?
But how did they arrive at the conclusion that only high-dimensional beings could change fate? How was that even done? It didn't feel logical at all.
Zero forcibly skipped over this question. He had roughly guessed his own choice and continued reading.
Sure enough, the fish handed all the treasures collected from the tree, along with its backup plan, to Little Gray, letting it leave before the tree completely collapsed.
Zero guessed that the treasures weren't just the strange items collected by his subordinates, there were probably drops from Aeons as well.
After all, his subordinates had counter-killed quite a few Aeons in order to let him rule the entire universe.
As for the backup plan given to Little Gray, it could only be the system.
At the point in time when ascension failed, Little Gray appeared.
At that time, he believed he didn't need Little Gray, so he let it leave with all the treasures and the system, to find more people who needed help.
Zero could understand his own decision. Hoarding the treasures had no meaning, letting Little Gray take them away was the only way to maximize their remaining value.
But he couldn't ignore the logical problems in the book.
He really couldn't stop caring about them.
What even was this?
Didn't it say they only omitted unimportant details?
Zero coldly skimmed ahead at high speed.
After that, following the failure of his plan, he met Little Gray once more.
They reunited in different cycles and then parted again, and each time, Little Gray would take away the strange items and Aeon drops Zero had collected.
At this point, the parable abruptly ended. The author didn't mention what happened to the fish afterward, nor whether the tree survived. Instead, completely breaking immersion, they left behind a line: "Give my regards to the Lotus Cat for me. Ask it: 'How's the data collection going? Can the tree be saved with one hundred percent certainty now?'"
Zero: "..."
Lotus Cat, the "Remembrance" Aeon, Fuli.
After understanding the hint, Zero had only one thought.
'Can riddle-speakers just get out of the universe already?!'
'Other me, what kind of mindset did you have to leave a line like that for Fuli?!'
In the parable, the fish said it lacked nothing but patience. If one attempt failed, it could always try again.
But repeatedly failing at the same thing already says something in itself.
What exactly was the reason ascension failed? Was the fourth wall destined to be unbreakable?
Or was there something wrong with the aether-phase engine itself?
If it was a research problem…
Then did some version of himself make a deal with Fuli early on? Agreeing to let it record the data of the aether-phase engine, to leave information for later generations and increase the success rate of ascension?
Or did he unilaterally make an agreement with Fuli, deliberately saying those words just to mess with its head?
Aside from those two reasons, could the failure of ascension also be related to the materials he chose to extract?
In previous cycles, was it a choice between Aeons and the tree?
Could it be… that drawing Aeons and drawing the tree was wrong? That both had to be drawn together for it to succeed?
To meet that condition… would take quite a bit of effort.
Zero's thoughts spiraled out of control.
Wait, this time, he wasn't planning to start over again, so why was he even thinking about this?
After careful consideration, just in case, Zero got up and went to the study. He found a pen and added a line at the end of the afterword and on the piece of paper in the system inventory.
[Bring all the cats and dogs to the tree and draw together]
He had no intention of deceiving himself.
The parable and the afterword omitted far too much content. Zero didn't want missing information to lead him to a wrong judgment.
He forced himself to stop thinking, took out his jade communicator, and used it to distract himself.
Just then, Daiyang sent a message saying that the previously customized clothes, rings, and the resized antique jewelry had all arrived at the Luofu.
Zero thought about it and told Daiyang to store them for now.
The property he was preparing to give Jingliu hadn't finished renovations yet.
Zero planned to wait until the renovations were done, then give Jingliu the clothes and jewelry together with the house.
He might as well buy some more things for her place.
Zero went on an online shopping spree for three months straight.
The bearded executive, surprisingly, finished customizing the engagement ring, renovating the house, and having the clothes and jewelry packed up in an extremely short time.
Zero praised him as usual and put the engagement ring into the system inventory.
After transferring several payments to the company executives, he picked a day off and sent invitations to Jingliu and her friends.
After thinking it over, Zero printed out a property gift agreement in advance.
With Jingliu's friends there, she surely wouldn't get angry.
Maybe he could even successfully give the house away.
That's what Zero thought.