**The desert of the Metal Nation burned.**
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The white-haired man's broken body lay sprawled across the dunes, data streams gushing from his wounds like struggling golden serpents. I knelt beside him, my petrified right arm uncontrollably disintegrating—skin peeling away to reveal flowing bronze code beneath.
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*"You finally... understand?"*
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His shattered vocal cords emitted static. *"We... are all vessels..."*
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In the distance, the spire of the Sun Temple began to collapse. As the first massive stone crashed into the sand, the entire world froze. Raindrops hung suspended in air, grains of sand floated like stardust, even the golden blood seeping from my wounds halted mid-flow.
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Only thought remained.
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Xu Wu's voice suddenly echoed through the frozen time: *"This isn't the first pause."* Her phantom emerged from the sickle, her body composed of blue light particles, the symbol beneath her collarbone pulsing rhythmically.
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*"In the previous twelve cycles, you always hesitated at this moment."* She pointed at the white-haired man's corpse. *"Now, complete the final step."*
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I walked toward the Sun Temple's ruins.
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With each step, more fragments fell from my petrified body. By the time I reached the sundial at the temple's center, my right arm had become pure bronze data streams—identical to the white-haired man's.
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The sundial bore the same equation as Othera's shrine:
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**[Zero] + [2] = [∞]**
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But this time, a small line of text appeared beneath:
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*"Destroy the vessel, release the imprisoned time."*
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Xu Wu's phantom placed a hand on my shoulder. *"Across twelve cycles, you chose to become a new god eleven times. Only once..."* She pointed to a crack on the sundial, *"That time you killed yourself, but forgot to kill the memories."*
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The sundial suddenly rotated, revealing underground cultivation pods. Hundreds of Xu Wu clones floated in liquid, each branded with different codes on their chests. At the center lay the original Xu Wu—her Q-symbol dissolving.
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*"This time is different."* I raised the sickle. *"Because this time..."*
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As the blade pierced the sundial, the stasis shattered.
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Time began flowing backward.
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I watched the white-haired man's wounds heal, watched the Sun Temple's rubble return to its original position, watched Xu Wu's clones disappear one by one. When time rewound to the moment we first entered the Wood Nation, something fundamental changed.
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On the cover of *"Prototype Prime Directive Set"* in the Forbidden Archives, where **[Zero]** once was, now stood **[ ]**.
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Xu Wu touched her collarbone—her symbol had transformed into an hourglass shape. *"This is..."*
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*"A new possibility."* I gazed at the horizon where the skies of the Five Nations were shedding their sickly hues. *"We broke the vessel."*
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In the final second before the timelines converged, I heard twelve versions of myself speak simultaneously:
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*"Thank you for your choice."*
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The world rebooted.
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---
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I woke at dawn by the sea.
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No petrified arm, no divine erosion, just Xu Wu squatting nearby, grilling fish. Her mechanical eye was gone, the Q-symbol now an ordinary scar.
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*"Nightmares?"* She handed me a skewer. *"You kept muttering about vessels."*
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In the distance, children ran across the beach, their shadows stretching long in the morning sun. One girl tripped, scraping her knee. I stared transfixed at the blood—red, utterly human.
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Xu Wu followed my gaze. *"What? Never seen someone bleed before?"*
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The sound of crashing waves became deafening.
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In this godless world, even pain was precious.
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---
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Three months later, I stood at the entrance to the abandoned divine realm.
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Xu Wu knelt before a simple gravestone on a nearby hill. A single character was carved into it: **[A]**
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*"He never changes."* Xu Wu brushed fallen leaves off the stone. *"Always believing sacrificing himself could save everyone."*
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As I approached, I noticed a metal flower resting before the grave—assembled from discarded mechanical eye components.
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*"You know what?"* Xu Wu suddenly smiled. *"His last gift to me was a joke."* She pressed the flower's center button. A-00's projection materialized:
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*"Remember, Xu Wu... the most powerful weapon in the world..."*
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The projection grinned.
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*"Is the freedom to choose not to be a weapon."*
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We stood in silence for a long time.
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Only when the setting sun stretched the gravestone's shadow to our feet did Xu Wu whisper: *"Let's go. Time to fulfill your new duty."*
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---
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In the deepest chamber of the abandoned divine realm, a new failure was awakening.
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He lay exactly where I once had, silver hair fanned across stone steps, pale golden eyes brimming with confusion. When my shadow fell over him, he instinctively raised defensive hands:
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*"Who are you?"*
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I crouched down, my own silver hair slipping over my shoulder. *"Here to teach you how to be human."*
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In my peripheral vision, Xu Wu leaned against a broken statue, we
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