Yama Reborn-Chapter 437 - 434 [Limit]
Chapter 434: Limit
"SSS... SSS... Brother Lei, Brother Lei."
"I’m here."
"It seems something’s not right."
Through the walkie-talkie, Zhang Linsheng’s tone was a bit strange.
Brother Lei stopped, moved to the wall of a nearby building, and concealed himself in the shadows. While looking around and listening intently to the surrounding sounds, he whispered, "What happened?"
Zhang Linsheng took a deep breath and slowly said, "I’m on XX Road over here... But there’s something off about the buildings."
Brother Lei frowned. "What is it?"
On the other end of the walkie-talkie, Zhang Linsheng seemed to ponder for a moment, then said softly, "I remember... there used to be a Huaxia Bank here on XX Road. Then, a couple of years ago, it moved, and afterward, it was turned into a wholesale-style KTV, right? Could you help me recall, I haven’t remembered it wrong, have I?"
Brother Lei thought for a moment and immediately nodded. "That’s right, that’s right. I’ve been to that KTV before. Xiao Juan and her colleagues went there after work one time, and I went to pick her up in the evening."
There was another moment of silence from Zhang Linsheng before he spoke softly, "Why don’t you come and take a look? I can’t explain it clearly with words; you’ll understand once you see it for yourself."
Brother Lei knew Zhang Linsheng’s personality; he wasn’t someone who got startled easily. If he was speaking like this, then he must have encountered something particularly strange.
Fortunately, the two had been maintaining a certain distance and were not too far apart.
A few minutes later, Brother Lei arrived on XX Road where Zhang Linsheng was.
Soon, he found Zhang Linsheng near a building.
"Over here!" Zhang Linsheng peeked out from behind a bus stop and waved to Brother Lei.
Brother Lei immediately crouched and ran over. "What’s wrong? Did you find something strange?"
Zhang Linsheng looked a bit odd and pointed at a building across the street. "...Just look for yourself."
Brother Lei looked up.
A four-story building, which looked quite old, bore a sign that clearly read "Huaxia Bank"!
Startled, Brother Lei blurted out, "That’s wrong! This place was changed into a KTV two years ago. What was its name... let me think, I think it was called something like ’Ledi’..."
Then, as Brother Lei got closer and took a more careful look, he broke out in a cold sweat.
Wrong!
Way too wrong!
Brother Lei remembered he had been on this street before!
He clearly remembered that where the Huaxia Bank stood, a KTV should have been by now.
And right by the roadside, there should have been a tobacco and liquor store—yet now it was a single-story residence.
Dozens of meters away, Brother Lei remembered there should be a parking lot.
But looking now, it was an old-style, state-operated unit’s courtyard!
The two men looked at each other.
Brother Lei looked at Zhang Linsheng. "What’s... what’s going on?"
Zhang Linsheng looked at Brother Lei. "Maybe... we remembered it wrong?"
After pausing for a moment, Brother Lei suddenly slapped his forehead and, pulling Zhang Linsheng with him, started sprinting forward!
They ran for several hundred meters in one breath. At an intersection, Brother Lei stopped, staring ahead in disbelief.
THUMP. Brother Lei sat down on the ground.
"What happened?" Zhang Linsheng pulled Brother Lei up.
Brother Lei took a deep breath and pointed ahead. "Look! Look quickly!"
Ahead?
Zhang Linsheng felt puzzled and looked.
He couldn’t see anything amiss.
Across the intersection was a section of old-district bungalows, a small restaurant by the road, even a barbecue stall...
"You haven’t been on this street before, have you?" Brother Lei looked at Zhang Linsheng with a wry smile.
"No, I haven’t. I seldom go to the northern part of the city."
"Then that’s it," Brother Lei let out a long breath.
Then, in a tone that made Zhang Linsheng’s hair stand on end, Brother Lei continued, "This section of bungalows was demolished half a year ago! I remember it quite clearly because a friend of mine used to live here! During the demolition, he insisted on treating me to a drink, saying he finally got his demolition compensation and was out of his misery. And that day, when we’d had too much to drink, he dragged me here to take a look... I vividly remember coming here with him that night! This place was already a construction site!"
The Fourth Seed had lied to him. That was Chen Nuo’s conclusion.
This place was not at all the "world replicated from one’s own memory" as claimed by the Fourth Seed.
In fact, it was quite possible that the Fourth Seed had carved out a small part of the world it recognized.
And more importantly...
It wasn’t until now that Chen Nuo truly felt as if he was beginning to understand a bit of what Seed and the Gray Cat had told him.
The axis of space should be measured and coordinated by life!
"The so-called objective, real world is a concept that doesn’t exist," Chen Nuo tried to explain his thoughts to Xicheng Xun.
"For an individual, the so-called real world is what one can perceive; that’s called the real world. What one cannot perceive does not exist!
"For a blind person, if you tell him that this world has colors—red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and violet—but he simply cannot perceive them, then for the blind person, his real world is black.
"Following the same logic further.
"Suppose there are only three people in this world: Zhang San, Li Si, and Wang Wu.
"All three know each other.
"So, for Zhang San, the world he perceives only consists of three people: himself, Li Si, and Wang Wu.
"The same goes for Li Si and Wang Wu.
"These three individuals, each one of them, is the anchor of their own perceived real world, taking one’s own perception as reality.
"At the same time, each individual is also a part of the perceived world of others, a coordinate in the world perceived by others.
"Three people, three perceived worlds; three worlds overlap.
"Together they form a world that is commonly acknowledged by the three people.
"Now, suppose there’s actually another person in this world named Zhao Liu.
"But because the previous three people don’t know of Zhao Liu’s existence...
"So, in the consciousness of Zhang San, Li Si, and Wang Wu, this person does not exist.
"In other words, in a world where the axis is scaled by individual life:
"Zhang San’s world doesn’t have Zhao Liu!
"Li Si’s world doesn’t have Zhao Liu!
"Wang Wu’s world doesn’t have Zhao Liu!
"And if one day, Zhang San met Zhao Liu.
"Then Zhang San’s original perception of the real world would start to collapse, update, refresh.
"Then, Zhang San would tell Li Si, ’There’s another person in this world named Zhao Liu...’
"Li Si’s perception of the real world would start to collapse, update, refresh.
"And then he would tell Wang Wu..."
"But whether you know it or not, Zhao Liu exists, right?" Xicheng Xun frowned and argued.
"Yes.
"But we’re looking at a world scaled to the individual.
"In the cognitive world from an individual’s perspective, what you don’t know, what you can’t perceive, doesn’t exist in your world!
"Just like a very young child who doesn’t know that chili is spicy; he doesn’t even know the concept of ’spicy’ exists in this world.
"Until one day, he tastes chili, and thus... perception changes, ’his world’ starts to collapse, refresh, upgrade.
"Our previous notion was that time is a dimensional axis of space, but it’s very likely that this idea is wrong.
"The real axis is the individual’s perception of life.
"With changes in perception, the world one recognizes and perceives undergoes countless collapses and refreshes, upgrades, and updates.
"This is the scale of individual life, one’s own world.
"And the second part of four dimensions is spatial superposition.
"The perceived worlds of countless individuals overlap...
"Just as I said earlier, Zhang San, Li Si, Wang Wu... they are also elements in each other’s individual worlds.
"The cognitive worlds of the three people, superimposed, form what is called the four-dimensional."
Xicheng Xun sighed. "What are you trying to say?"
"I’ve suddenly understood something," Chen Nuo said, his expression growing quite strange. He took a deep breath. "This place... is ’my world’."
Seeing that Xicheng Xun still didn’t get it, Chen Nuo smiled.
"Have you ever met someone with amnesia?
"Memory loss.
"You can think of it this way.
"Like a bowl of rice.
"All of your perceptions and cognitions of this world are individual grains of rice in it.
"Grains of rice piled together make a bowl of rice, which constitutes the entire world of your perception and cognition.
"You know there’s a convenience store downstairs from your home.
"You know an ex-lover lives in the next city.
"You know about a newly discovered star tens of thousands of light-years away...
"And then, suddenly, you lose your memory. You lose a specific memory.
"That is, a grain is picked out of this bowl of rice and thrown away.
"So what happens?
"For example, you forget that your ex-lover lives in the neighboring city."
Xicheng Xun immediately retorted, "I don’t have any ex-lover!"
"I mean, suppose!" Chen Nuo said with a wry smile.
"So... a memory has disappeared, leaving a void?" Xicheng Xun ventured.
"Yes, but it’s like a bowl of rice; if you pick out a single grain, a void won’t appear. Instead, the other grains quickly squeeze together to fill it.
"In other words, even if you forget that your ex lived in the neighboring city...
"But, you might step out and bump into a friend who mentions that your ex is in the neighboring city...
"And then, you remember—the hole in your memory is filled.
"After your world collapses, it’s pulled back by the anchors of others!
"Because our world and space are constantly flowing and changing!
"Once an individual’s perceived world experiences a void, the overall world still has countless individuals, countless anchors! These anchors will repair that void and gap.
"The thing you forgot will be brought to your attention through other channels or means, and then the gap will be filled.
"It could be a photo you see, a reminder from others, a keepsake from the past, and so on.
"So, in your perception, your ex-lover’s existence persists. Even if you forget, even if your perception collapses, you will be reminded, and then it will be repaired.
"Because the anchors of your ex-lover’s existence in the perceived world aren’t just you! There might be their family, their classmates, your mutual friends, and so on.
"Countless anchors determine that your ex-lover, this person, exists! They exist in the perception and cognition of many, many people.
"Being perceived and acknowledged by countless people makes them truly exist.
"And you, with a piece missing from your perception, will also be repaired by this world. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎
"But the problem is... this is based on one premise.
"That is, the world-space is constantly flowing, changing, updating, and self-repairing!
"But..."
Reaching this point, Chen Nuo took a deep breath.
"This place is different!"
"...Different?"
"Yes, this place is... my world!
"Moreover, this world has been cut out separately.
"It’s independent!
"Static and unchanging!
"In this world, I am the only anchor!
"Here, there are no intersections or superpositions of my world with other people’s worlds!
"Here, the ’reality’ of this world is established solely based on my memory, my cognition!
"If it’s in my memory, then it exists!
"If it’s not in my memory, then it isn’t real!
"In this place, I am the sole anchor!
"More importantly, the Fourth Seed has cut this space out on its own! Let’s not worry about how it did that for now.
"But obviously, since this space has been cut out by it alone, an interesting thing happens.
"This is a static world, one that doesn’t change, doesn’t flow, doesn’t upgrade, doesn’t update, and doesn’t self-repair!
"It’s like throwing something at that fog, only to have it bounce back.
"Because this is my world, not yours. You can’t be an anchor in this world!
"Only I can!
"This world can’t intersect or superimpose with other people’s worlds."
As Chen Nuo spoke, he suddenly burst into laughter.
He immediately closed the window, then pulled Xicheng Xun back into the room and began to manipulate the staggered space to move.
A moment later, Chen Nuo opened his eyes.
"You know... even if you’ve lived in a city for decades... you can’t possibly explore every corner of it!
"In this city, there are always places you might never go to in your lifetime.
"No, it’s not enough just that you haven’t been there.
"Some places, not only have you not been there, but people around you haven’t either; you might not even have heard them mentioned.
"You might not even know the name of a certain street in this city.
"At that point, those are the blank areas your perception has never reached...
"And in your perceived world, these places do not exist.
"Now is the time to prove it!"
With that, Chen Nuo went back to the window.
He opened the window and then gazed out at... a vast expanse of fog!
"This is not the edge of the city; judging by the direction, it should be somewhere in the north of the city.
"This place, I’ve never been to since I was a child, never heard of it, nor do I have any relatives, friends, or classmates living here.
"To me, this place is completely unknown! It doesn’t exist in my perception!
"So now..."
After casually opening the window, Chen Nuo picked up a book from the table and tossed it out, into the foggy area.
The book sliced through the sky, falling into the mist.
Then, a scene that astonished Xicheng Xun unfolded!
The fog gradually dispersed.
But the scene before her?!!!
After the fog dissipated, the ground, roads, and buildings started to appear.
Only, the scene before her began to inexplicably change.
The roads on the ground, one moment dirt and stone, the next asphalt, seemingly writhed as they switched back and forth.
And the buildings in front—there were low bungalows as well as high-rises, there were those tube buildings filled with a sense of age, and also more modern structures.
But these buildings were frantically collapsing, then rebuilding, renewing themselves over and over again.
Until a few minutes later... it stopped.
But after it stopped, a bizarre scene appeared.
Even to Xicheng Xun’s eyes, the street that emerged after the fog dissipated was extremely discordant!
Had an ordinary person been standing here instead of Xicheng Xun, they would have noticed the problem.
On this street, revealed after the fog had cleared, the roads, buildings, and decorations... their styles were a discordant mix.
There were styles from the eighties, nineties, post-millennium, and even... after 2020!!
"Because, in my memory, I have never perceived this place!
"So, when I arrived here, there were no other individual anchors to provide spatial support for me.
"I’ll say it again: the space we are trapped in right now is the Jinling carved out by that Fourth Seed, according to my personal scale.
"To be precise, it’s not the real Jinling.
"It’s the Jinling as I perceive it!
"The parts I haven’t perceived don’t exist.
"But space naturally has its rules. When I, the anchor, appear in a place I’ve never perceived...
"Like rice in a bowl, the empty spots need to be filled, need to be repaired.
"But I’m the only anchor here!
"There are no other anchors!
"So, this repair can only draw from my personal perception.
"That is to say, the material library only contains my, Chen Nuo’s, perceptions and memories!
"We often say a phrase... XX limits your imagination.
"Here, my perception, Chen Nuo’s perception, is the limit of this world! It is the upper limit of this world!
"Look at that store over there... if I remember correctly, the style of this building should match a supermarket near my home.
"Also, that bus stop sign—I remember it’s the one from outside my school.
"This road... hmm, it’s the one I pass every day on my way to school.
"Only, half of that road is asphalt, and the other half is under construction.
"And there, there... look.
"That place is a bank. I remember there’s a street behind No. 8 Middle School with an identical bank! The building structure is completely the same!
"So, this is what was happening when the space was self-repairing. For the parts I haven’t perceived, my perceptual space will self-repair; it won’t allow a void to appear in space, as that violates the rules.
"So, to repair the space, the rules could only extract materials from my memories."
At this, Chen Nuo suddenly let out a long breath and, looking at Xicheng Xun, said, "My world... I can’t control it.
"But my cognition can determine the upper limit of this world.
"Including everything in this world!
"Also including...
"That guy, the Fourth Seed!"
Chen Nuo touched his head. "Actually, I’ve always felt that, encountering this guy, chasing, fighting, capturing, and fleeing in this trapped city...
"I’ve always wondered about one thing: the abilities of this Fourth Seed don’t seem to be anything special.
"I’m not saying it isn’t strong.
"It is strong.
"But its abilities seem very similar to another Seed I’ve fought before.
"At first, I thought maybe the abilities of Seeds are all quite similar.
"Now it seems...
"I’m afraid I was wrong."
Chen Nuo had reached a conclusion in his heart.
The reason the Fourth Seed’s abilities, showcased since their encounters began, had been so similar to Kamisou Ichiro’s... it probably wasn’t because those were its true abilities. Rather, it was because "in my memory," a Seed’s abilities were like that! The Fourth Seed was in "my world"! My perception dictated what a Seed’s abilities were like; therefore, in this world, that was the only way it could be!
