Yama Reborn-Chapter 493 - 490 [A Step Away]

Chapter 490 A Step Away

Amid the crackling sound of firecrackers, smoke swirled around.

The colleagues from the factory who gathered around for the excitement, young lads and girls, chuckled and pushed each other forward to get a closer look.

The young and strong fellas in the two vehicle teams pushed Chen Jianshe, wearing a shirt crisply starched and ironed in advance, out with all their might.

Getting married in this era was that simple. A big red flower was pinned on Chen Jianshe’s chest, symbolizing the groom’s status, then his face was greasy... probably having rubbed on half a bottle of cold cream that morning.

Then Ou Xiuhua came off the car coyly and shyly.

The car was simple, neither a sedan nor a passenger car—In the eighties, such cars were reserved for leaders. Far too distant for the average person.

It was actually a small transport truck from the factory fleet.

A big red pompom-like ornament was tied to the front of the truck, adorned with ribbons on both sides. A gigantic red "double happiness" character was pasted on the windshield.

After the firecrackers burnt out, Chen Jianshe, amid the encouraging shouts of those around, scooped up Ou Xiuhua, who had just jumped down from the truck, in a sideways embrace and strutted home, triumphantly like a general returning from a victorious battle, while everyone laughed and cheered around them.

Home was still the same dormitory within the factory.

However, because of the wedding, Chen Jianshe had pestered the leaders for almost a month and finally succeeded in securing the allocation rights to this dormitory—it would belong to him alone from then on.

And after pulling some strings and giving gifts, rumor had it that in the next batch of housing allocations at the factory, the names of the newlyweds Chen Jianshe and Ou Xiuhua were moved up to a fairly high spot on the list.

Chen Jianshe carried the bride into the room, and two of his friends began to hand out cigarettes outside—one by one. The cigarettes weren’t anything special, just something like Da Zhong Jiu or Zhongyuan.

In that era, let alone premier cigarettes, Hongtashan was considered a luxury brand.

Not a lot of wedding candies were distributed either.

There was no way around it; in the early eighties, resources were scarce.

In that era, sugar, tobacco, and alcohol were all controlled commodities, monopolized by the state.

In that era, every place had a concept that would be hard for people several decades later to understand—a state-owned enterprise that could be found everywhere, called "Sugar Tobacco and Alcohol Monopoly Company."

The wedding candies were mixed.

A small portion was purchased from the Sugar Tobacco and Alcohol Monopoly Company using sugar coupons, candies like Da Bai Tu or Shuang Xi.

But these treats were precious goods back then, scarce, and not bought in large quantities.

Mostly, however, were loose candies that Chen Jianshe had people buy from the countryside—maltose made by farmers themselves, then cut into small pieces.

Fortunately, in that era, not many people were affluent.

Having these things was enough to make people happy.

This was a factory living area, and the so-called neighbors were all employees from the same factory; everyone was quite familiar with each other, living more or less similar lives.

Chen Jianshe’s mother, the old lady, naturally was brought over as well.

Once inside the house, the originally cramped single-room dormitory was tidied up cleanly and neatly.

The bunk bed that used to be there had long been moved out, replaced by a newly crafted wooden double bed with brand-new sheets and pillows.

New items—a washbasin stand, a spittoon, and a thermos—were all in the room, and the red "double happiness" character was also stuck on the glass.

As for home appliances... there weren’t many.

A light bulb, plus a radio.

Forget about a television—back in those days, if a household had a black-and-white TV, they were already the brightest star in the neighborhood.

Even this radio was second-hand, traded by Chen Jianshe after asking a friend; they got it from an appliance repair shop, and after being repaired by another friend, its ability to tune into the radio station was already gone.

But the single-cassette tape could still be played. Occasionally, it would get tangled—however, it was tolerable.

The single room in the dorm was not big, so forget about having things like sofas.

One reason was the lack of money to buy them... Even if you got a carpenter to make one, there was simply no place to put it in the small home.

Therefore, as the head of the family, the old lady could only sit on a stool, as the couple bowed to her in salute.

A team leader from the factory motor pool came—considered a part of the leadership—and gave a brief speech in simple terms.

He said what was free of charge: respect each other like guests, and be filial to the elders.

Of course, he did not forget to add a fundamental national policy of that era: adhere to family planning.

As for having a grand wedding banquet—in that era, it was out of the question.

But the working class had its own ways of celebrating.

They held it in the factory cafeteria.

In the cafeteria, Chen Jianshe gritted his teeth and spent two months’ salary to set up a few tables.

And regarding Chen Jianshe’s rather proud demeanor, Ou Xiuhua actually felt a complicated mixture of emotions today.

In fact, she herself was somewhat muddled.

The progression from courting to marriage with Chen Jianshe all seemed too fast.

So fast that the young Ou Xiuhua even felt she hadn’t quite reacted before she was married off.

Actually, a man like Chen Jianshe wouldn’t normally meet Ou Xiuhua’s criteria for choosing a spouse at all.

Despite his good looks, this man didn’t seem reliable at all, with his smooth-talking but irresponsible actions, liking to dress up, enjoying the limelight, but always making excuses when it came to work.

And he had some bad habits to boot.

Ou Xiuhua was considered the top beauty in the factory, with countless young and promising guys secretly eyeing her.

So how did she end up marrying Chen Jianshe in the end?

Actually, even Ou Xiuhua herself couldn’t explain it clearly.

Thinking back carefully, several months ago that inexplicable young lad suddenly appeared and caused her to unwittingly get Chen Jianshe in trouble with the factory security, resulting in a beating...

Because of that, she came to know Chen Jianshe out of the blue.

But Chen Jianshe had been avoiding her ever since, until a few months ago.

During a Mid-Autumn Festival employee gala at the factory, the eloquent Chen Jianshe performed a piece on behalf of his team, and indeed, he made quite an impression.

At the dance party following the gala, the two of them unexpectedly bumped into each other.

In the early ’80s, dance parties like this were very popular among the young workers in the factory.

It was as if the trend had just breezed into a society that had been closed off for so long—the so-called dance party was just taking advantage of the factory’s auditorium after the Mid-Autumn gala, where the young people used a borrowed recorder from the factory office and played a few prerecorded dance tape mixes, chaotically dancing to the very popular disco of the era.

The hottest, most popular singer among the youth at that time was a female vocalist named Zhang Qiang—decades later, she would be the lady that appeared on variety shows with the explosive hairstyle.

It was that very dance party evening that inexplicably mended the severed thread of fate between two people, which had been sharply cut off by Chen Nuo’s interference.

That night, Chen Jianshe, who had had a couple of drinks, inexplicably gathered the courage, even forgetting the previous warnings and threats from Chen Nuo, and went to strike up a conversation with Ou Xiuhua.

Ou Xiuhua, because she had inadvertently gotten Chen Jianshe into trouble resulting in a beating at the factory’s security, felt somewhat guilty. So, seeing Chen Jianshe coming over to talk to her, she, unusually, did not give him the cold shoulder but instead had a pleasant exchange with him.

In the days following the dance party, Chen Jianshe seemed to suddenly grow bolder, intentionally or unintentionally hanging around Ou Xiuhua in the factory.

And Ou Xiuhua, every time she thought of refusing, would incomprehensibly hear a voice in her heart convincing herself, "Seeing is believing, maybe Chen Jianshe is not as unreliable as the rumors suggest?"

Ou Xiuhua had the thought of "it wouldn’t hurt to meet him."

Chen Jianshe, on the other hand, thought, "That little star of doom has left, no one’s watching over me now."

After a few encounters, they became a couple, though somewhat confusedly.

A few minor accidents happened along the way.

For instance, once Ou Xiuhua twisted her ankle after leaving the factory from work, and just so happened Chen Jianshe drove by in the factory’s truck and gave her a lift.

Or when the factory distributed welfare materials, Ou Xiuhua was carrying them home after work, and Chen Jianshe helped to move them, but ended up tearing his clothes on a hook sticking out of the wall by Ou Xiuhua’s house.

Ou Xiuhua could only ask Chen Jianshe to leave his jacket, and being kind-hearted, she mended it herself and returned it to him at the factory the next day.

Similar minor incidents and accidents occurred several times over just one or two short months.

And then... somewhat bewilderingly, they became a couple.

Ou Xiuhua slowly came to feel that, although Chen Jianshe was a bit impetuous, he was very enthusiastic and articulate when it came to her.

Moreover, in that era, being a driver in a large state-owned factory—that was a very good job! Mentioning it was like saying, forty years later, that you were a lawyer or doctor.

A secure job, great benefits, and many unseen advantages.

As for his impetuousness, well, let it be.

They were all young; how many were calm and composed?

It probably wasn’t such a serious flaw... right?

Besides, Chen Jianshe did have his merits.

He... was handsome!

A good-looking guy!

Which girl doesn’t like a handsome man?

As for Chen Jianshe, he naturally liked beautiful women.

Although he had previously been intimidated by the sudden appearance of Chen Nuo, that little star of doom.

But Chen Nuo hadn’t shown up for several months, so... Chen Jianshe wasn’t afraid anymore.

Amid the teasing of the onlooking neighbors and colleagues, Chen Jianshe, with a gleeful smile, took out their marriage certificate from the street office, tucked it behind the photo frame of their wedding picture, and solemnly hung it on the wall.

The wedding photo was taken at the factory’s photo studio.

Then they all cheered, heading to the factory canteen in groups to have the wedding feast.

All of this was witnessed by Chen Nuo.

He stood among the crowd on the roadside with Zero, inconspicuous.

The two of them looked utterly ordinary, blending into the crowd seamlessly.

Watching Chen Jianshe carry Ou Xiuhua from the car into their home, Chen Nuo couldn’t help but sigh.

It still came to this...

"Be happy, after all, if it weren’t for today, you wouldn’t be born a year later," Zero said softly with a grin standing beside Chen Nuo.

Chen Nuo shook his head, "This really harmed Ou Xiuhua. That guy Chen Jianshe is no good."

Speaking at this point, Chen Nuo suddenly frowned, turned his head, and looked at Zero, "So... the historical trajectory... Chen Jianshe is going to get worse and worse, abandoning his wife and child, devoid of conscience, all because you led him on, right?"

Zero didn’t speak, but it was an evident agreement.

Chen Nuo frowned, "Everything was for me? To create an environment and identity for me to exist?"

"You need to understand that what makes you ’you’ is composed of everything you’ve been through, your family background, experiences... all of it," Zero said.

Chen Nuo narrowed his eyes, "Explain it to me clearly."

Zero sighed.

Suddenly, he waved his hand, and the two of them disappeared from the spot silently.

Nobody around them noticed.

「A second later, Chen Nuo and Zero reappeared by the riverside.」

This place wasn’t far from the factory’s river transport dock.

A hundred meters away, the dock bustled with activity.

The two stood on the flood embankment by the river.

Gazing at the rolling waters of the Yangtze River, Chen Nuo scrutinized Zero.

Although he was certain this appearance wasn’t Zero’s true form—in fact, he suspected that this entity called Zero might not have a fixed physical appearance at all.

"You’ve manipulated me for so long, it’s time you let me know some things, right?" said Chen Nuo, arching an eyebrow.

Zero smiled.

"You must become Chen Nuo. What I mean is... from Chen Yanluo to the Chen Nuo from Jiangning No. 8 Middle School later on."

Chen Nuo’s expression changed slightly!

Indeed, it was just as he had previously guessed!

This Zero... he knew the secret of his rebirth!!

"Don’t doubt it. I know more than you could guess," Zero said, looking at the Yangtze River with a distant smile. "Do you know, there is probably nothing in this world that I don’t know. If I don’t know it now, I can know it as soon as I want to."

Chen Nuo’s expression turned sour, and after a long while, he slowly forced out a word, "Omniscient?"

"Yes, omniscient, and also... nearly omnipotent," Zero replied candidly.

Chen Nuo took a deep breath, his tone slightly strained, "Omniscient and omnipotent... that’s practically the same as being a God."

"Not yet... because I’m only nearly omnipotent, not truly so," said Zero.

As he spoke, Zero raised his left hand and lightly snapped his fingers! POP!

Chen Nuo felt as if in an instant, he was wrapped in a mass of invisible energy!

It was like being submerged in water!

And as far as the eye could see, the surrounding world began to change rapidly in all directions!

The waters of the Yangtze River rose and fell!

The green hills on the distant shore turned to greyish yellow, as spring came and autumn went!

From the blazing summer, to snow-covered scenery!

The dock of that distant factory bustled with ships coming and going, transforming from a rundown simplicity to an expanded scale!

And then later, gradually falling into disuse and decay...

The flood-control embankments along the river bank changed from earth and stone to granite.

Then Riverside Avenue appeared alongside, and a cable-stayed bridge crossed the river in the distance.

The towering factory chimneys were knocked down, replaced by newly erected buildings...

This snap of the fingers was like fast-forwarding at a hundred or a thousand times the normal speed.

In an instant, decades of change occurred!

Chen Nuo was stunned!!

This kind of time control ability, akin to "a thousand years in a blink," made Chen Nuo, experiencing it firsthand and witnessing it with his own eyes, unable to help but be shocked by the palpable reality of it!!

And Zero, standing to the side, smiled softly.

He snapped his fingers again. SNAP!

All the changes abruptly reversed, like a fast rewind, the tall buildings once more transforming back into factory chimneys.

The cable-stayed bridge across the river vanished.

The beautiful Riverside Avenue and scenic belts reverted to bare flood-control embankments.

And the distant transportation wharf returned to its old and shabby state.

Chen Nuo forcefully swallowed, only to discover that his throat was parched and his tongue was dry.

"So... you can freely control the speed of time?"

"No, no, no, it’s not that I can control the time of this world, but that I can traverse freely through this stream of time. I’m not speeding up time; I can just jump to any point in time at will."

Zero answered earnestly, "This is my first ability: Time."

"If there’s a first, then there must be a second one."

"My second ability is space."

Chen Nuo frowned, "Space... Many Seeds have this ability; I have it too. Spatial transmission, right?"

"No, they don’t. Neither do you," Zero actually shook his head seriously, "You possess a kind of ’Subspace’ ability, not a Spatial Ability."

"...What do you mean?"

"You exist within this world, so you can only perform spatial transmission within the world you inhabit."

Upon hearing this, Chen Nuo seriously contemplated for a moment, "...this world... the world we exist in... are you saying there are worlds beyond what we know?"

"This isn’t hard to understand... You know about parallel worlds, right?"

"I understand."

The concept of parallel worlds, in the years Chen Nuo later experienced, was a commonplace feature in various films and literary works.

There was no need for Zero to explain further.

"In theory, let’s say you are Chen Yanluo. Then, there are countless parallel three-dimensional worlds, and in each one, there exist countless Chen Yanluos. Unless...you become a Four-Dimensional Life! Once you become a Four-Dimensional Life, the countless Chen Yanluos in the various spaces cease to exist, leaving only one Chen Yanluo. This Chen Yanluo then becomes the unique being in the four-dimensional world, or rather, the only Four-Dimensional Life. You can look down upon all three-dimensional worlds. Well, to put it in a very pretentious way: Step out of the Three Realms, not within the Five Elements."

After a moment of contemplation, Chen Nuo suddenly took a sharp breath and stared at Zero, "You mean, you?"

"Correct, in all the parallel worlds, there is only one me. I am the unique existence. In each parallel world, there is a you, there are other Seeds, there is Lu Xixi... But across all parallel worlds combined, there is only one me! I am the unique existence."

Zero’s tone remained calm, "And the ’Spatial Ability’ I possess is not the kind of ’transmission’ you’re thinking about. It’s that... I can jump to any parallel world I wish! That is the true Spatial Ability!"

Saying that, Zero let out a soft sigh, "Time, together with space, these two abilities allow me to do many, many things."

Chen Nuo’s expression grew even more troubled!

"Why are you so much more powerful than... than Seed and the others, even though you are all Seeds?"

"Because I am a backup," Zero shook his head. "A backup of Mother. Mother’s origin, Seed has already told you much about it. About the path of evolution. About the mental virus that was fatal to Mother, everything it told you was correct and nothing was withheld. As a pure Spiritual Life Form, Mother had a severe bug in its evolution, so it never made the leap to four dimensions and stopped just before the threshold of the fourth dimension. Therefore, to solve this issue, Mother had to make many assumptions. Seed, that cat, the octopus, and all the other Seeds like them represent an attempt by Mother: to start over, to begin evolution anew from the starting point of three-dimensional life, and find a way to fix the bug before evolving further."

"And I am another kind of attempt."

"Another kind of attempt?" Chen Nuo frowned.

Zero laughed, "You’ve played video games, right? Not online games, but the kind of more old-fashioned video games. The kind where you can save and load."

"If you mean single-player games... of course I’ve played them."

"Good, then let’s use a single-player game as an analogy. Imagine evolution as a single-player game, and Mother has reached the final level, facing the final boss. Suddenly it realizes that no matter what, it can’t win. Because maybe in a previous level that was played, it missed an item, a clue, or didn’t meet a certain condition necessary to defeat the final boss. Of course, this is just speculation and not certain. But what is certain is that Mother just can’t beat the final boss and finish the game. So, the question arises—if you were the player, what would you do?"

Chen Nuo thought for a moment, "It’s confirmed that no matter what, the final boss can’t be beaten? Completely impossible to finish the level?"

"Yes, it’s confirmed."

Chen Nuo slowly said, "Then... I might start a new save... and play from the first level again! To see if I missed any quests or key items during the replay of all levels."

"Exactly... That new save is Seed and that batch of Seeds! They represent Mother’s attempt to start over, to walk the path of evolution from the beginning again, looking for what was missed, trying to solve the bug."

Chen Nuo nodded, "I understand that... but you? If Seed and them represent the new save, then you..."

Zero laughed.

It laughed calmly, but its gaze gave Chen Nuo an indescribably profound feeling.

"Let me ask you... when you play a game, before you start a new save... what do you usually do?"

"I would..." Chen Nuo suddenly had a lightbulb moment!

He took a deep breath, solemnly, "I would save first!"

"Right, if Seed and their kind are that new save, then I... I am that save Mother made just before giving up on beating the final boss, as a precaution! That’s always a strategy: make a save, just in case. If the new path doesn’t work out, one can always try again with the old save. After all, having played the game for so long and reached the last level, there’s no need to abandon it completely. Stand at the door of the final boss, make a save, then start over."

Zero spoke calmly, "Of course, these are all analogies we’re using based on the game. But in terms of actual operations, considering the problems we face, there is even a more cost-effective method!"

Chen Nuo thought deeply for a moment, then suddenly, his gaze became incredibly terrifying!

Even a deep fear flowed through Chen Nuo’s eyes!

"I... understand now!"

"Do you really understand?"

"I really do," Chen Nuo sighed.

Games are games, reality is reality.

Games are just metaphors.

But when it comes to actual implementation, there’s an even more brilliant and efficient method!

Which is...

The new save, leading Seed and that batch of Seeds to evolve again!

In the process of evolution, find the bug, fix the bug!

And then what?

Then they finish evolving?

No!

That would be too much trouble!

Because even after correcting the bug, it might still require countless eons of evolution!

After all, starting anew from the first level and playing to the last level would still take a very, very long time.

Isn’t that too much trouble?

What’s the easier method?

Once Seed and those guys start the new save and find the bug as well as the solution to fix it...

They are no longer needed!

They don’t need to continue evolving!

Just let...

The save already standing at the final boss’s door—Zero!

It’s already there, at the door of the final boss!

It’s only one step away from completing evolution!

It doesn’t have to replay the game from the first level!

It’s already at the last level!

It doesn’t need to start over from the beginning like Seed and the others!

It’s already a step away from the finish line!

At this point, all Zero needs is to get the solution to fix the bug from Seed and those guys.

Then it can just push the door open and directly defeat the final boss using the bug fix.

Game cleared!