Chapter 1013
Chapter 1013 - 999: Son of Sin
1,638 words
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9 min read
"She is my... sin."
"She is your daughter?"
Although Big Cat was still speaking in riddles, Lu Ping’an was not foolish; he quickly thought of the most likely option.
When he made eye contact with the little girl, Lu Ping’an remembered the astonishment he felt the first time he saw Kerdalais.
Beneath the austere nun’s robe, draped in resplendent gold and the tranquil, lake-colored eyes... Lu Ping’an felt that the girl who called herself Little Zhi was like a past version of Chris.
Perhaps another way to put it, Kerdalais was like a warped future of Little Zhi.
"No, I have no descendants."
The calm words carried an ironclad will.
"Is it that you cannot have any, or you do not want any?"
"... Both."
Although the words were somewhat ambiguous, the two actually understood each other.
Professionals often need to bear the price and the Curse.
Low-level Curses have limited effects on High-order Professionals, who can often gain substantial freedom - except for "Self-cursing."
But there is one Curse that cannot be refused.
"The Curse of Origin..."
The strength of a Curse comes from its source; Rule-level can resist and ignore Decree-level, but there is a Curse that is probably impossible to resist forever.
"... Those who trace back to the source of Life are doomed to have no offspring."
Normally, they cannot produce offspring naturally, because the one who casts the Curse is the very source of everything.
But unconventional methods... well, there are many Lu Ping’an knows of that could work, like somatic cell cultivation, cloning, and such.
"... Not such low-end things."
"Then what exactly is it?!"
Lu Ping’an was made completely confused by Big Cat, hesitant to speak and then not speaking.
"I’ll just go ask her directly, and if I reveal my identity..."
"She will kill you."
There was no hesitation in those words.
But finally, Chris sighed, the faces from her memories emerging one by one, and in the end, there was only a sigh.
"They, they are all me... they are all Kerdalais."
"Isn’t that cloning?"
"I’ve said, it’s not something so superficial... they are the real Kerdalais, the complete Kerdalais."
This time, it went beyond Lu Ping’an’s comprehension.
"Fate is not just a single straight line."
"Life is not just one possibility."
"So, if a change occurs from the source, does an individual have infinite possibilities?"
"They are one possibility... they are Kerdalais of different fate lines, of different world lines."
This time, Lu Ping’an was utterly stunned; he had repeatedly overestimated the depth of Kerdalais’s strength.
But he had not expected that even at this moment, he still underestimated what it meant to be a "Quasi-God."
"... Can it be done?"
"It’s difficult, but I did it. I used my flesh, divided from my body, as a vessel to guide this ’possibility’ to grow within it, like a complete soul growing in a clone, eventually becoming a complete individual. Of course, the cost is extremely steep, each one worth a Small World..."
At this moment, even the most placid words could not hide the defiance of the heavens within them.
"In some world lines, Kerdalais is the hero who saves the world, raising the holy War Flag and leading her people to drive out the Magic King..."
"In some world lines, she is a tailor and a pharmacist, yearning for marriage and romance..."
"In other world lines, she succumbs to Contamination and Chaos, becoming a destroyer of the land..."
Kerdalais is a Quasi-God, even an old-timer who has accumulated more than many True Gods, and when she gives it her all, she reverses most of nature’s laws.
Of course, what she obtained are not all the "Exotic fates of Kerdalais," but a part of the incomplete, part of the possibilities, yet as a major figure in the Life system, she has the ability to make them whole in an alternative form, allowing them to be ’reborn’.
Those who lack arms, she gives wings.
Those who lack reason, she fits with lethal fangs.
"They are all Kerdalais, some know, some do not, and some I don’t even know if they are aware..."
Though convoluted, Lu Ping’an understood what she meant.
This mess of relationships... so to speak, they are more like the sisters of Kerdalais.
But that was not the point; the key issue always was...
"Why would you do this? Just for power, it wasn’t necessary. Just thinking about the cost is ridiculously unimaginable."
"...They were all very ’expensive,’ but this was once my path to Ascension..."
Big Cat’s path to Ascension? The Life Mother Tree? That pile of everything that devoured all to achieve all?
"The Strong devour the Weaker, the flesh of the Weaker becomes nourishment for the Strong, and after an endless struggle for survival, the one who devours everything will become unique... Then, how can you be sure that the final victor will still be ’Kerdalais’."
"You really are a bastard."
Lu Ping’an had understood.
But even after repeatedly underestimating Big Cat’s moral depths, she still challenged the very limits of what was extreme.
Fearfully, if she really did it, her moral depths might be even lower than a Blood Feast.
"How many did you... eat?"
After a long silence, the answer was negative.
"...None. I gave up."
Yet such an answer left Lu Ping’an momentarily stunned.
"I fell back to a contingency plan, allowing them to explore their own paths and then use that as a reference for me... As long as I am alive, they won’t veer too far off course."
That sounded much more reassuring.
"...But they all betrayed me..."
The calm words were laced with piercing hatred and anger.
Back then, she had a backup plan in place, but...
"...They, too, are Kerdalais, ambitious Kerdalais."
Now, Lu Ping’an completely understood.
"That little girl doesn’t seem like..."
"She didn’t; she constantly shouted about rebellion and was always rebelling, but..."
"The one who’s always shouting about rebellion is perhaps the least likely to succeed. Does she see you as the Creator? As family? As an older sister? Or as a mother..."
"...I don’t know."
At this moment, Kerdalais seemed weary and uneasy.
She truly hadn’t expected to stand here and see ’her’.
"...Was I wrong?"
Recalling the madness for Ascension of the past, the feverishness at that time that spared no cost, and the way her ’sisters’ looked at her, Kerdalais, now having a moment of clarity, was reflecting for the first time whether the one who was wrong was herself.
"Of course. It’s all your fault."
A normal person would offer consolation, but Lu Ping’an simply continued with calm criticism.
He paused, and then said,
"After you put out that doctrine, everything was destined. This outcome is actually not greatly affected by you or your ’sisters’ actions... "
Remembering the Big Tree, a terrifying assimilation of innumerable flesh and spirit bodies, Lu Ping’an didn’t think Big Cat was completely oblivious; she just didn’t want to face it.
"...Mutual devouring and fusion into that grotesque form is something you rushed into eagerly, but since other Kerdalaises possessed different potentials from you, naturally, they would be extremely repulsed by your possibility..."
"...They would worry, worry that one day they won’t meet the standards, fear they’ve made a mistake, or simply that you’ve progressed so fast you no longer need them and would just hang them up on the Tree..."
"Perhaps among them, there indeed were ambitious ones, or maybe some truly did wish to replace you, to become a new Kerdalais, the new Mother Goddess..."
Lu Ping’an sighed; it really was hopeless.
A Deity’s doctrine is the direction of a Deity, their starting point, and the end they seek; they cannot deny the foundation of their existence, otherwise collapse means an instant end.
When she and her people still pursued ’unity in everything,’ those who did not want unity were bound to rebel sooner or later.
Without stating it outright, Lu Ping’an also speculated... perhaps if this Kerdalais died a natural death, he might be directly revived through another Kerdalais, and maybe those ’sisters’ were all backup bodies for her.
Such a superior, even if she appeared harmonious and affectionate, as long as she didn’t change her ultimate goal, there would always be those who wanted to live and whose hearts were not with her.
"The Twins were my last attempt. The older sister, I trained her to be the spokesperson for the earth, while the younger sister, in a sense, was a hostage, and had been put to sleep shortly after her birth for about ten years..."
"Wait, she’s only ten years old?!" Now, Lu Ping’an somewhat understood why she gave off a subtle sense of disharmony.
"Her physical age is gradually developing, but as for her mind... It likely wasn’t until after she died that her seal was lifted. Don’t worry, the body will also foster mental growth, and she’ll soon mature... well, probably."
But thinking of that most dangerous little girl, even Big Cat could not assure.
"Damn, that’s really tough. So, the question is, why do I favor her so much, and why do I feel that odd sense of relaxation and joy..."
On the other side, Big Cat fell silent; could this answer really not be given?
"’Contamination’ doesn’t disappear; it only ’transfers.’ You took everything from me—bloodline, power, God’s Keystone, and so on. Naturally, you also took away the burdens and emotions contained within... heh, you, created from all of my being, in a sense, indeed share a kinship with them."
— End of Chapter 1013 —