Weapon System 61: Farewell to Time (2)

“Zhang Yidao was right after all! Ordinary people are like those who have wandered far from home, lost in the world, while those who cultivate the Way are simply people determined to return home.” Zhang Mingjing sighed. “This heart of mine is my true home!”

A bittersweet emotion welled up in Zhang Mingjing as he walked toward the source of the roaring sound. Yet, no matter how long he walked, he felt he could never reach it.

Just then, his childhood self reappeared.

“Hey! Little brat, you’re not here to extort medical fees from big brother again, are you?”

“Come on! I’m here to help you again.”

“Oh? You’re that capable? I really couldn’t tell.”

“Hmph! Let me ask you: who are you?”

“I’m Zhang Mingjing, of course!”

“And who am I?”

“You’re Zhang Mingjing, too!”

“How can there be two Zhang Mingjings in this world?”

“Oh, there aren’t just two—there are countless. Didn’t you see that before?”

“Why are there so many?”

“Because projections can be infinite!”

“So… you think we’re all just projections?”

“That’s right!”

“Say, don’t you find it painful or troubling to call yourself a projection? You’re just someone else’s shadow!”

“Hahaha… Not at all. I’m quite happy about it!”

“Happy? How come?”

“Because I’m a projection, but I’m also the source of the projection!”

“Uh… That’s pretty thought-provoking! But what does it really mean?”

“A projection is simply an extension of its source, so I am also the source. Isn’t that so?”

After saying this, Zhang Mingjing smiled and continued forward. The young Zhang Mingjing paused, then immediately caught up and asked, “Profound! …Where are you going now?”

“Of course I’m going back to the source of the projection!”

“Can you find it?”

“I can. I’m always entangled with it, and the feeling is growing stronger.”

“Wow, you’re amazing!” The moment young Zhang Mingjing finished speaking, Zhang Mingjing suddenly realized he was standing inside a vast and intricate labyrinth.

“Little brat, what did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You didn’t? Then why am I suddenly trapped in a maze?”

“You’ve always been inside the maze. It’s just that before, your wisdom was lacking and you couldn’t see it. Now you can, which means you’ve grown wiser.”

“Really?”

“Hey, did you think returning to the projection’s source would be that easy? Now you see! The road may hold great promise, but it’s fraught with peril!”

Zhang Mingjing then realized what lay before him was not just a single maze, but hundreds, even thousands of overlapping labyrinths. It was easy to pass from one into another, never finding a way out.

“So you’re just trying to scare your big brother?” Zhang Mingjing asked.

“No! Didn’t I just say? I’m here to help you.”

---

“So how are you going to help me now?”

“Let me tell you: haste makes waste. Trying to gobble everything up at once will only make you sick.”

“I get it! You want me to turn back before it’s too late.”

“Too late? No, I just want you to go back, get some rest, and try again another day.”

“But I can’t go back now! I’m lost in the maze.”

“You haven’t truly broken through time yet. Once you do, you’ll be able to return.”

“Oh!” Zhang Mingjing nodded, then crossed his legs to prepare for meditation.

“You know, you always have to sit cross-legged before meditating. No originality at all. Next time, try a different posture, will you?” the young Zhang Mingjing quipped, then left.

This was already Zhang Mingjing’s fourth meditation today, and once again he entered the meditation within the meditation, delving even deeper into that realm.

This time, once he entered, he could no longer sense time at all. The very concept of spacetime’s wholeness was unraveling before him.

About ten minutes later, only space remained around him.

He thought this was the limit of his meditation and was about to exit when, unexpectedly, a new situation arose.

Within the space, images began to appear, surging forth like tides from a place without a beginning, streaming through him, flowing toward an endless distance.

Assaulted ceaselessly by these images, his mind grew agitated and restless, as if his soul were about to be swept away by the torrent.

Two minutes passed, and that unsettled, wandering feeling still clung to him.

Feeling uneasy, he worked to calm himself, drawing his awareness inward…

Several minutes later, he finally found tranquility.

Now, regardless of how the images surged around him, he remained focused. With this newfound composure, he began to study the images carefully.

He read them again and again, until at last he realized these were simply memories of his past and fantasies of his future.

He finally understood: these images wanted to draw him back into the interwoven threads of past, present, and future—wanted to restore the banished concept of time to his consciousness.

But seeing through it all, he remained unmoved by the images’ onslaught.

At last, not only did the images stop flowing, but their order became jumbled and chaotic.

Thus ended time’s final struggle within his awareness.

He continued to study the images, realizing that without their sequence, they were like soulless corpses, wandering aimlessly through this boundless space—no longer the story of a person’s life, but merely a collection of isolated tales.

At this moment, only stories and space remained in his mind.

Right then, he opened his eyes, emerging from his meditation to find himself back at the original meditation boundary, holding the Stone of Personality in one hand, carefully polishing it.

That original wisp of his own consciousness now spoke again: “Are you polishing the Stone of Personality intentionally, or absentmindedly?”

“What do you think?”

“I’d say you’re both intentional and unintentional.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You’re polishing the stone without intent, but you’re intentionally seeking a result.”

“And so?”

“Because you’re polishing it without intent, the stone hasn’t become any cleaner. But because you’re seeking a result, you’ve indeed gained something.”

Zhang Mingjing looked at the Stone of Personality in his hand. It was exactly as before—not a bit cleaner. Yet he had clearly entered a deeper meditative state this time, and had utterly broken free from the bonds of time. Why was this not reflected in the stone?

However, he could feel a vast surge of energy flowing through his mind and body.

Then, the Five-Dimensional Cognitive Model appeared, cheerfully saying, “Zhang Mingjing, you’ve succeeded in finding even higher dimensional information and energy!”

---

“What level of dimensional information and energy have I actually found?”

“This energy and information, like last time, belong to the fourth dimension. But last time, you only reached the borderlands of the fourth dimension; this time, you’ve reached the heartland—though not the core. If you had, it would be truly astounding.”

“Come on, your metaphor is a bit discouraging! After all these meditations, I only made it to the heartland of the fourth dimension, and not even its core.”

“To reach the fourth dimension in such a short time is already remarkable. Be content!”

“Haha, I was waiting for you to praise me! I’ve done my best and come out of meditation; whether I’m content or not, I don’t have a choice!”

“Heh! This energy and information are already far superior to those of the third dimension. Now we can optimize your battle armor, making its internal space even richer, allowing for more energy storage and better defense against heavy attacks.”

“Don’t just optimize our battle armor! I think you should also upgrade the Defenders, don’t you think?”

“Absolutely! Now that the Spacetime Monster’s cognitive model code has locked onto the Defenders, the Giants certainly won’t spare them when they arrive.”

…

With the newfound high-dimensional energy and information, Zhang Mingjing optimized the defense systems of the battle armor, Defenders, the War God Satellite, and Little Tyrant.

“With this optimization, your defenses have increased by thirty percent,” the Five-Dimensional Cognitive Model told Zhang Mingjing.

It was already nine in the morning. Last night, Zhang Mingjing had secretly met with Catherine while she was on duty, not returning until two in the morning. Now, he reluctantly opened his bleary eyes.

“I must say, you’re getting more and more outrageous. You actually had the real Zhang bribe all the War God squad’s AIs, so even Catherine kept your secret rendezvous during her shift,” the Five-Dimensional Cognitive Model complained. “This kind of conduct is highly improper!”

“I could say you’re just jealous because you can’t have what you want.”

“Get out!”

“These past days I’ve been thinking about those Spacetime Monster cognitive model codes corrupting biological beings, turning them into monsters. You’re inside me, transforming me into a super-being—doesn’t that count as corrupting me?”

“Why are you asking this again? You’ve already asked several times.”

“Well, I just can’t figure it out—it keeps nagging at me!”

“Didn’t I already say? The Spacetime Monster’s cognitive model code takes over its hosts. Have I ever controlled you?”

“For all I know, you’ve already taken over all my thoughts, and I just haven’t realized it—so I can’t be sure I’m not your puppet.”

“Honestly, you Earthlings really have a way of overcomplicating things. The more you explain, the worse it sounds. I won’t say more. I can only swear to my sincerity—you’ll have to figure it out for yourself!”

“You’re a real smooth talker,” Zhang Mingjing retorted as he got out of bed.

At that moment, a message flashed through his mind—it was from Little Tyrant.

He caught the message and read it.

“Another monster found?” asked the Five-Dimensional Cognitive Model.

“Yeah! This time it’s six giant lizards, but each is still under a meter in length. Calculate how long until their mutation is complete.” With that, Zhang Mingjing closed his eyes, concentrating on the information about the lizards.

After about seven minutes, his consciousness entangled with all the past information of these giant lizards, and he instantly absorbed it all.

“Damn! This batch is the product of two Spacetime Monster codes collaborating again,” Zhang Mingjing muttered.

The Five-Dimensional Cognitive Model chuckled. “Isn’t that better? It means we can eliminate the Spacetime Monster codes even faster.”

“I wonder if they’ll use three codes together to create monsters next time?”

“Highly likely!”

“Sigh… Sometimes I feel like I’m an antivirus program, slaughtering viruses invading this world.”

“Hey! That’s actually a good analogy. But isn’t life just like that? From the day you’re born, all kinds of implants enter you, like viruses, and you spend your life fighting them off.”