Facing an Ancient God for a Year

Chapter 873: Chapter 871: Ignition (Complete) Chapter 873: Chapter 871: Ignition (Complete) “I must be frank, it sounds like there’s no difference, and I even have to wager on whether I can be resurrected?”

After Yuan Fang finished explaining the two options, Fu Qian commented with a smile that was more sardonic than joyful.

“That’s correct, but do you know what’s even more correct?”

Yuan Fang did not deny it and even smiled very heartily.

“What is it?”

“Your opinion is still unimportant. The significance of this meeting is that I conveyed this choice to you. The future I foresaw only extends this far.”

Whether it was his tone or expression, Yuan Fang exuded an unbearable smugness.

So this is your answer? You want me to empathize with your predicament?

However, Fu Qian ignored him and gazed into the darkness, lost in thought.

A future that seems utterly hopeless, and an adventure filled with the unknown, how to choose?

…

As mentioned earlier, no matter how good Prophet Yuan felt about himself, to Fu Qian, his only significance was as an oscilloscope.

Therefore, at this very moment, even though he had specifically come for a fresh and natural reason, Fu Qian’s first reaction was still to interpret it as patient feedback.

For example, the “only extends this far” meeting, urged by someone, was like a subconscious rebuttal—under a future destined for failure, why wouldn’t one start to doubt one’s original self?

Indeed, it was a very tough question to answer.

Unsurprisingly, if it weren’t so, how could it trouble a higher being?

Fu Qian reflected on this privately.

But it doesn’t matter. To a doctor, even the worst feedback is good news; communication is the first step towards solving a problem.

Even the answer to this problem, I can tell you right now.

“Name, age, how long have these symptoms persisted?”

The next moment Fu Qian looked at Yuan Fang and naturally adopted the doctor’s investigative approach.

What do you mean…

Clearly, the latter had no understanding of this behavior.

“Your condition seems quite severe, you need to cooperate actively with the treatment.”

Luckily, Fu Qian hadn’t expected him to understand but spoke to himself.

Just kidding.

Let Sa Jia teach you, how a true man deals with desperate situations.

What it means to be impervious to deception, never yielding to coercion, impervious to any influence, immune to both softness and hardness.

Facing a seemingly hopeless future, never easily denying oneself, striving to find opportunities.

“Playing the fool is of no use.”

Prophet Yuan, brimming with pride, clearly couldn’t digest this bit, his brow visibly furrowing.

While speaking, he even casually deactivated the mental space.

Indeed, as thought and action combined, the message was delivered, your reaction was your own to deal with.

…

“There’s something I need to confirm first, in the infinitely possible and beautiful futures you’ve seen, is there one where I’m resurrected, or even where I leave this place?”

The private meeting concluded, and Fu Qian’s questions seemed much more normal.

This…

Faced with Fu Qian’s baffling changes, Yuan Fang was clearly bewildered, and after a moment of silence, he slowly spoke.

“It’s quite marvelous, before you asked this question, I couldn’t even give you an answer…”

“But just now, I truly saw such a future, and even your real name.”

“You know that too? So what’s my real name?”

Fu Qian blinked and casually asked.

“Don’t test me, I’m merely an audience member retelling the future, Mr. Ji Feng.”

Yuan Fang answered with a cold smile, showing off his pretensions.

…

Ji Feng? This name…

Years later, the boy, aged and experienced, had he once again believed in the light!

At that moment, instead of reacting to Yuan’s triumphant truth-revealing expression, Fu Qian simply sighed deeply with sheer contentment.

Although because of the special nature of Unseen Hillock, self-destruction could indeed argue that the mission might not necessarily fail, so the images Yuan Fang mentioned earlier couldn’t be entirely denied as being possible.

But this name was really stretching it; I couldn’t think of any causal relationship with myself—unless this was not my name but an answer to the earlier question.

I asked the patient his name, and He answered with the vision of a future.

If that was indeed the case, it suggested a very serious problem—the credibility of the beautiful future Yuan Fang saw was diminished.

This brought up the current paradox: to complete the mission, I had to immerse myself in the world and interact with patients as a doctor.

But once I became a part of the world, the outcome of the patient’s madness was already foretold, and all actions would only hasten that future.

So how exactly should this seemingly insoluble mission be completed?

Now the answer had come—make the impending future an illusion.

Beneath the inspirational effect of the hero’s role and firsthand demonstration by a toxic doctor, Brother Ji Feng eventually won the tug-of-war within himself, choosing to return to his original intention.

And perhaps due to objective laws, even He couldn’t change the future that Yuan Fang saw.

But why not make that future an illusion on top of the true world?

The natives would indeed welcome a world blessed by the Flame Blessing, but essentially it was just a disguise over ashes.

The so-called infinite possibilities were just intricately woven multiple endings by the World Will; they were completely different from a truly open world.

With this, all the logic suddenly became coherent.

Indeed, the only ones who can overcome the disease are the patients themselves.

Of course, this was just one possibility, and I’d have to wait for a prompt to prove it.

“You know all this, worthy of being a Prophet.”

As thoughts raced, Fu Qian watched the three natives calmly.

“But if you don’t mind, when you see this form again, just call him Ballard.”

“Ballard?”

This name made Akasha furrow her brow slightly, inevitably glancing over.

Unfortunately, Fu Qian disregarded her, instead listening to the voice that rose in his mind.

[Current mission complete, containment successful for subject 1-039]

But at the same time, a strange sensation arose within him.

Fu Qian felt as if his own will penetrated layers upon layers of flowing light, reaching beyond the skies.

And within the boundless Void beyond, it seemed a fire deeper than the darkness swirled and merged into a face.

[SAN Points reduced by 1]

[SAN Points reduced by 1]

[SAN Points reduced by 1]

…

With just a glance, Fu Qian felt his brain seethe, and his SAN Points drained away like water.

What kind of play is this? Losing SAN Points even after the mission is completed?

In the face of such low blows, Fu Qian complained while he promptly grabbed the Pseudo-Divine Being, ready to initiate damage control should things become unmanageable.

Fortunately, the next moment the storage appeared before his eyes, and the dropping SAN Points ceased.

Without rushing to assess the damage, Fu Qian sat in his chair, recalling the sensation just now.

Unlike many previous harrowing experiences, those higher beings, though odd in shape, usually caused SAN Points to drop as a side effect of their mere presence, commonly known as ‘don’t look and it won’t hurt’.

But this time, Fu Qian felt a deep malice, as if he were utterly beyond redemption.

Could this be the Arsonist?