Chapter 831 - 830: The End

Chapter 831: Chapter 830: The End

Under Lucrecia’s control, the paper boat finally docked steadily on the floating "island" at the center of the Great Void.

"Is this really No. 66 Wutong Road?!" Erin looked up, her face filled with astonishment as she gazed at the house not far away that was all too familiar, "That door, that window, oh my, even that tiny skylight on the roof... Isn’t that the spot where I usually go to enjoy the breeze on the rooftop? The resemblance is uncanny!"

"Only the exterior is the same. This house has no interior design, and the doors and windows can’t be opened," Yu Sheng said as he walked forward, "In some sense, you could consider this house to be solid inside."

Erin quickly reacted, scurrying along with her short legs to keep up, chirping away, "Well, there are plenty of houses like this in Valhalla, especially on that street in the arena district where half the houses are solid..."

While they were talking, everyone had already arrived in front of the eerie No. 66 Wutong Road, and Yu Sheng looked up to confirm the surroundings—the roots and vines emerging from the city’s rift were visible here as well. Some tiny roots had crawled along the edge of the "floating island," but all the roots stopped a few meters away from No. 66 Wutong Road, leaving the large house’s surroundings clean and tidy.

"Is this the deepest part of the fault..." Kant said softly with emotion. He looked up at the muddled sky, the intertwined roots and vines forming a dome above the city, and his gaze passed through the gaps between those roots, seemingly piercing the denser darkness above, reaching the fragmented land floating at the base of the Council Tower. "For all these years, this is the first time I’ve come to this place."

"After all, this place used to be far less... ’peaceful’ than it is now," the Council President said softly beside him, and then his gaze fell on Baili Qing. "Colorless Dragon, you mentioned in your previous report that this house would turn into a large door?"

Baili Qing nodded slightly and looked at Yu Sheng: "Do you remember how you operated it back then?"

But Yu Sheng didn’t respond immediately, as if he hadn’t heard the nearby conversation. From the beginning, he had been staring pensively at No. 66 Wutong Road ahead. It wasn’t until nearly half a minute had passed that he suddenly stepped forward and placed his hand on the doorknob of No. 66 Wutong Road.

Just like opening the door to go home on any ordinary day, he gently turned the handle.

Roaring and rumbling emanated from within the building, and everyone instinctively stepped back. Almost simultaneously, No. 66 Wutong Road began to collapse and restructure. The familiar house crumbled before everyone’s eyes, its structure rapidly changing in the rising dust. In the blink of an eye, a massive, dark-hued triangular door rose from the "ruins," appearing before everyone.

Erin tilted her head back, letting out a drawn-out exclamation: "Wow—!"

Standing not far away, Lucrecia squinted slightly, and upon seeing the shape of the triangular door, she spoke as if talking to herself, "Is this the ’end’ standing at the deepest part of the Land of Death... Who sees this door has reached the end of life..."

Little Puppet immediately turned around: "Yikes, Sister Lucy, don’t say such scary things."

"Don’t worry, the master of this door is right here," Lucrecia laughed, "Moreover, Uncle Yu has already retired."

Hu Li then came to Yu Sheng’s side and looked up at the door with him: "Savior, what’s on the other side of this door?"

Yu Sheng didn’t speak for a moment, only recalling in his mind many things the Captain had told him before—especially regarding the Old World.

After a long time, he muttered thoughtfully, "If we view the new world and the old world as two ends of an hourglass, then here... should be the connection point between the two ends of the hourglass."

As he spoke, he walked forward and pressed his hand against the large, ancient, and solemn-looking door, attempting to push it.

He remembered that the last time he came here, he also tried this, but back then, the door didn’t budge an inch.

But this time, almost instantly upon his hand touching the door, Yu Sheng felt... something was changing.

An inexplicable sense of connection arose in his heart, closer than any blood relation, even like his left hand touching his right hand. He felt as if this door was part of his body, as if each of his breaths, each of his heartbeats, was resonating with this door.

With hardly any effort, just a fleeting thought, a deep and solemn rumble emerged from the door, and the tightly closed door opened a crack.

Yu Sheng: "...Whoa, it really opened?!"

Several people around immediately tensed up when the door opened, especially Hu Li, whose tail fluffed up, but Yu Sheng’s exclamation made everyone relax. Erin even jumped up and headbutted Yu Sheng’s leg: "Does this make sense, does this make sense, does this make sense..."

Yu Sheng hurriedly tried to fend off the Little Puppet’s headbutt while explaining: "I didn’t expect it either. Last time, it didn’t move at all, and this time I just wanted to try. Who knew it would work so well... What’s the principle behind this..."

At this moment, everyone else also gathered around. Baili Qing furrowed his brows slightly, staring at the pitch-black crack in the door, pondering for a long time before speaking: "Is the other side of this door... the Old World?"

"Should we go over and take a look? Can we really go over?" the lamp on Fault’s neck flickered with uncertainty in its tone, "It’s very likely these roots and vines around us came from the other side..."

"We’re already here, we can’t just turn back now," Kant said, crossing his arms, "Besides, with Boundary Land in its current state, we won’t sleep well until we understand what’s below."

Baili Xue’s voice came from somewhere unknown: "Even if you figure it out, you won’t sleep well. You’ve been insomniac for years."

Kant: "..."

Eventually, all eyes were once again on Yu Sheng—the only person present who could fully open the door.

"We definitely have to go take a look," Yu Sheng evidently had already decided, nodding without hesitation, "This place is almost completely covered by the roots of the Tree Angel, whether it’s dead or alive, awake or out of control, we have to check it out."

As he spoke, he glanced at the crack in the middle of the door that had just opened — different from the usual teleportation gates, the slit in the door only revealed a very narrow patch of ground on the other side, and further beyond was nothing but a blur of black fog, obscuring the view of what lay beyond.

"I’ll scout it out first." Lucrecia said, taking a paper crane from her bosom and gently tossing it. The paper crane gained a temporary life, flapping its wings as it flew towards the crack in the door.

However, the moment it crossed the threshold, the paper crane suddenly stopped, and then immediately seemed to endure centuries in an instant, disintegrating rapidly in front of everyone’s eyes, turning into paper ashes scattering to the ground.

At last, even that little bit of ash left from the paper crane was swept up by an invisible wind, sucked into the great door.

Erin’s hair stood on end instantly: "Whoa, what the hell?!"

The others, who were about to try stepping through the gate, were all dumbfounded, even Lucrecia showed a hint of bewilderment.

The fox girl grabbed Yu Sheng’s arm nervously: "Savior, what’s going on?"

"Hold on, hold on, I’m thinking." Yu Sheng saw what happened and was baffled, waving his hand quickly while speaking. Just at that moment, a thought, or rather a piece of "knowledge" related to the door, suddenly flashed through his mind.

He suddenly lifted his head, staring intently at the massive triangular door.

The door stood silently, but various understandings about it began "growing" from deep within his heart.

"I think I understand, it’s the gate..." Yu Sheng furrowed his brows tightly, speaking slowly, "This is the Gate of Life and Death, it’s a one-way passage — living beings that cross this gate cannot return."

Erin blinked, and suddenly realized something, abruptly glancing at the withered roots and vines covering various parts of the city.

"...So all the roots of the old tree that spread this way have withered!?"

"I don’t know, but it’s very likely," Yu Sheng said quickly, "Although these roots didn’t come directly from the gate, I think the entire fault at its base is affected by this door..."

"So what do we do?" Erin was a bit at a loss, "This thing is a one-way trip to death... does that mean only you can go over?"

Upon hearing this, the fox girl tightened her grip on Yu Sheng’s arm.

"Gentle, gentle, you’re gonna break it," Yu Sheng quickly patted Hu Li’s hand while thinking at a rapid pace, "Don’t jump to conclusions, it’s not necessarily impossible..."

All eyes were on Yu Sheng, and Lucrecia’s gaze showed curiosity: "Uncle Yu, have you thought of a way?"

"I’m not sure, I need to try," Yu Sheng said, eyeing the door with slight hesitation, "I can sense the connection between this door and myself... Strictly speaking, this thing can even be considered part of ’me,’ and its one-way passage characteristic should’ve been bestowed and designed by me a long time ago, so theoretically, I can make some adjustments to it..."

Erin blinked her eyes: "Adjustments? How?"

Yu Sheng didn’t reply, he simply pressed his hand onto the door again and slowly closed his eyes.

The knowledge regarding the door resurfaced once more, requiring no deliberate comprehension nor control, Yu Sheng already understood the door’s secrets.

He understood.

He began modifying the door.

A slight trembling and continuous rumbling emanated from the door, its massive surface began to change. On the lower part of the door, the heavy panels were visibly deforming and reorganizing...

All eyes were drawn to the door, filled with confusion, bewilderment, and shock — within mere minutes, even Baili Qing’s expression had noticeably changed.

Yu Sheng opened his eyes, gently exhaled a breath, slowly withdrew his hand, and smiled at the people around him: "It’s done."

Erin stood there, eyes widened to the extreme, raising her hand to point at a particular structure in the lower half of the triangular door —

On the imposing and solemn ’Gate of Death,’ a newly appeared structure was slowly rotating.

"...Did you just put a revolving door at the end of life?!"

Yu Sheng: "Yes."