Transforming Succubus: Almost Doomsday

Old Zhou Baiyu was indeed surprised because he seemed to hear the voice-over of another himself.

And the expression of the new Zhou Baiyu gradually turned serious,

"I've always been thinking that the moment you appeared, it also meant that you'd traveled through time to a moment you had once experienced..."

"So, according to reason, you should also meet another you at this moment,"

"But you didn't encounter yourself, right? It is precisely because you didn't meet yourself that you didn't know the pollution source would grow rapidly later on, becoming a significant menace."

"So... in order to stop the impact of this menace and return everything to the beginning, you chose to use your privilege."

"That is to say, in your 'history', there was always only you."

Old Zhou Baiyu nodded; he understood the meaning of what the new Zhou Baiyu was trying to convey in an instant.

This sounded somewhat convoluted; this is one of the many "bugs" in the time loop.

It's like using a mirror to reflect another mirror, instantly creating an endless loop.

Old Zhou Baiyu and new Zhou Baiyu meeting each other, then in the "history" of Zhou Baiyu, he would have encountered himself once.

If he were to meet himself, he wouldn't let Ryan grow stronger unchecked and, naturally, would not have happened to use his privilege to return to the past.

That is the paradox.

This type of paradox could likely create a closed loop with neither beginning nor end.

But it wasn't until new Zhou Baiyu heard that sentence—

Lin told us we must meet after completing the mission.

That moment, combined with old Zhou Baiyu's experiences, new Zhou Baiyu understood the essence of the matter.

And listening to new Zhou Baiyu's statement, old Zhou Baiyu also, at this moment, roughly grasped his meaning,

"Yes, I had been hiding and not appearing earlier, afraid to affect history... I always thought this was a true traversal, now I realize, everything is still under 'our' influence."

New Zhou Baiyu chuckled,

"You should shave off your beard; I'd prefer that feeling more, the feeling of communicating with oneself is truly wonderful. It can't even be called understanding, but rather telepathy."

Having said this, he sat down on the ground.

Old Zhou Baiyu nodded and sat down on the ground too.

He had to admit, communicating with oneself was indeed a very worry-free and effortless thing.

Their conversation was always to the point.

Both understood the nature of the traversal—it was a summoning.

Yes, it was not a traversal.

Just like every previous summoning to the Advanced World he had taken part in.

For instance, An Ya on the apocalypse cruise, many pioneers had experienced An Ya's timeline.

But the pioneers didn't meet at the same time because the summoning was equivalent to an instance of a parallel world.

Ultimately, what could be anchored and become the real history was the one that had the best impact on humanity.

This time was no different; old Zhou Baiyu hadn't met a "much older" Zhou Baiyu at a specific time because essentially...

He had just arrived at a new instance.

And when the impact made in this instance was more beneficial to humanity compared to the original outcome...

Then the instance would overlay the original reality and become the new reality.

This is the new mechanism of traversal constructed by the new God of Games and Entertainment, unaffected by the old Time and Space God.

The more one relies on time, the more it benefits the lineage of the old gods.

Even though the God of Games and Entertainment once boasted outrageously, promising to turn the old gods into game props during the war of the gods,

It quickly became the rule; among the new gods, it is indeed a very powerful being.

Of course, this rule was clearly utilized by the old gods too. Thus, so many pioneers came and went in a heap of timelines...

Yet, the world did not exhibit any bugs.

Old Zhou Baiyu suddenly understood new Zhou Baiyu's deeper thoughts.

New Zhou Baiyu then patted old Zhou Baiyu's shoulder, smiling as he said,

"Can you first tell me what impact this pollution source ultimately had? What did you go through?"

Old Zhou Baiyu began narrating his experience at that particular node.

After listening to the whole story, new Zhou Baiyu gradually became somewhat disheartened:

"So, that question, have you found an answer to it now?"

"When the person we want to save is not worth saving."

"Actually, I thought about this question when I was about to ring the bell, but I switched the concept, so I could act decisively. Yet, I still haven't figured out the answer to that question."

Old Zhou Baiyu shook his head as he said:

"I've been lying low here for a long time, trying my best every day to erase my own existence, not letting anyone notice. Fortunately, due to special physique, most humans despise me and can't be bothered to deal with me."

"During this process, I've pondered for a long time, I don't know if this qualifies as an answer."

New Zhou Baiyu said:

"Listening eagerly."

Old Zhou Baiyu paused briefly and then slowly said:

"I love this world, so I must accept its bad side."

"Is that it?"

"That's it."

New Zhou Baiyu was silent.

He originally thought the answer would be long, but perhaps fitting the saying 'simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,' old Zhou Baiyu had pondered the question 'are they worth saving' for so long, yet the answer was such a simple statement.

They are essentially the same person.

Therefore, new Zhou Baiyu quickly showed a smile of relief,

"Thank you, I think I understand now."

Hibernating in this city full of eerie tales for over half a year, old Zhou Baiyu lived like a vagrant, and no one would care about the actions of a vagrant.