Chapter 14: Bearing the Weight of the World

“There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world. The price he must have paid for immortality and all those abilities is probably beyond anything we can imagine.”

Having thus cautioned the restless Su Mingyao, Su Bingyao continued.

“From what I’ve learned, Su Shang acquired an ability called the Path of Entropy in the Reincarnation Space. It lets him casually destroy and then reshape the very foundation of a world.”

“We don’t know its other effects yet. All we can tell is that destroying a world comes easily to him.”

Judging from the conversation between the System and Luo Shang, the difficulty level was probably about the same as Su Bingyao grabbing a bite to eat. If destroying the world had been any real challenge for Su Shang, he wouldn’t have done it just because his wheelchair broke.

“Which means any little thing that annoys him could prompt him to wipe out the world,” Su Mingyao added.

“He destroyed it today because his wheelchair broke.”

No, Su Mingyao thought, the real issue wasn’t the wheelchair breaking—it was that it broke right in front of you.

After some analysis, Su Bingyao felt much calmer than before. When Su Mingyao raised the point again, he zeroed in on the heart of the matter.

Su Mingyao: ……

Big Bro, I can hear you, Su Mingyao’s heart voice cut in. You might as well say it out loud.

“It’s mainly because of you,” Su Bingyao said. “The wheelchair was the direct trigger this time, but you were the root cause. Su Shang didn’t want anything like that happening in front of you, so he destroyed the world.”

Since his thoughts could be heard anyway, Su Bingyao saw no point in holding back.

“It’s like saving a game file,” he summed up Su Shang’s mindset. “If something doesn’t sit right, he just wipes the world and reloads.”

With that kind of power, Su Shang could play however he pleased.

Su Bingyao got it now. To Su Shang, they were like ants to a human—mere specks whose entire world he could snuff out on a whim.

And the people inside that world had no clue it had been destroyed, just like NPCs in a game save, ready to respawn endlessly.

Under those circumstances, Su Shang reloading whenever he felt like it made perfect sense. To him, everything was reversible; worst case, he’d just reverse the entropy.

He probably never imagined anyone could hang onto their consciousness after the world ended…

For everyone else, life went on unaffected—they never even knew the world had been destroyed—and Su Shang got his perfect do-over. On the surface, it was a happy ending for all.

Too bad two people had to suffer for it, cast into this endless Black Void with no idea when they’d escape, forced to hear each other’s every thought…

It was a little better now, Su Bingyao reflected with faint relief. At least there were two of them.

Before, he’d been alone.

He’d heard of a torture method where someone was locked in a pitch-black, soundproof room, fed just enough to survive, with no light or noise. Three days in, and they’d lose their mind.

But after enduring the Void, Su Bingyao saw that as a vacation by comparison.

It didn’t even come close to what he’d been through!

Back when he was alone in the Black Void, there was no direction, no sense of time or space, no food, no safety—nothing but his consciousness, adrift forever. He couldn’t even feel his own body.

Su Bingyao had figured he’d snap, go insane. But some mysterious force kept his mind razor-sharp, forcing him to feel every agonizing second without the mercy of madness.

That made it far crueler. He’d have traded his sanity for oblivion in a heartbeat!

That desperate urge was why he’d raced to the scene, hell-bent on stopping Su Shang from destroying the world.

He truly couldn’t survive another round!

But he’d failed at the crucial moment and gotten dragged in anyway!

The thought filled Su Bingyao with bitter resentment.

Hold on—Su Mingyao caught the inconsistency.

“This is the second time the world’s been destroyed???”

“Else why would it feel so damn familiar?” Su Bingyao replied weakly.

I didn’t want this either! his heart voice added.

Su Mingyao went quiet. Then quieter still.

“So that means…”

A grim possibility dawned on him.

“Yes, exactly that,” Su Bingyao confirmed.

One destruction led to two.

Two could lead to three, four…

This torment was just the beginning. They’d endure it again and again…

Su Bingyao let out a heavy sigh.

Now Su Mingyao understood the numb, defeated look on Su Bingyao’s face from the start.

He felt the same expression creeping onto his own features.

“But at least you’re here now,” Su Bingyao said. “We can talk, keep the loneliness at bay.”

“I’ve always spent them alone before.”

“When can we get out of here?” Su Mingyao asked. “When will he restore the world?”

Since Su Shang had destroyed the world just to roll it back, he would surely remake it and return everything to that original node.

The good news: Su Bingyao no longer had to worry about being trapped eternally in this endless void of emptiness and darkness until even his consciousness was worn away.

The bad news: He might end up here frequently, over and over.

“I don’t know,” Su Bingyao replied gloomily.

“That’s the worst part. There’s no concept of time here.”

This void held no tools for measuring time. They could only gauge it through their own subjective senses.

If they still had bodies, perhaps they could count the rhythm of their heartbeats.

But now they had no bodies at all—only their consciousnesses, drifting aimlessly in the void. Keeping track of time was impossible.

Here, the existence of consciousness was stretched out infinitely. Time itself seemed to stand utterly still.

“By the way, last time I was locked in here, it felt like a hundred years had passed before I went back,” Su Bingyao said.

“I thought I’d go insane. But somehow, a strange power protected my mind—or rather, it made me forget all the madness and agony when I returned. All that lingered was fear, and this desperate urge to stop him from destroying the world.”

“You don’t have to worry about going mad,” Su Mingyao transmitted, along with an emotion conveying a bitter smile. “You’ll stay perfectly sane forever. Endlessly, without end.”

“Maybe even longer than a hundred years.”

That phenomenon keeping his mind clear had to be some kind of protective mechanism. In truth, Su Bingyao’s memories of his previous confinement in the sealed void were already hazy, with only fragments remaining. That might have been another aspect of the protection—after all, an ordinary human brain couldn’t possibly hold memories spanning such vast stretches of time.

“From what you know, Su Shang is going to remake the entire universe,” Su Mingyao continued. “What if we end up stuck here from the Big Bang singularity all the way to the moment he wants? Watching it all unfold?”

“So, how old is our original universe?” he went on. “Something like over ten billion years, right? What if we’ve actually been here that long already?”

Su Bingyao shuddered.

There was no sense of time here, so they truly had no idea how long they’d been trapped… What Su Mingyao was suggesting was entirely possible.

Ten billion years… Such an immense span was beyond Su Bingyao’s comprehension.

Even if he could live ten billion years normally—interacting with other people, eating, sleeping, playing games, reading novels, enjoying every form of entertainment—he couldn’t imagine what kind of monster he’d become by the end.

Never mind enduring it in this pitch-black void, able to communicate only through Heart Voice with the brother he’d only just reunited with!

The mere thought of it made him want to die right then and there.

I don’t want to live anymore, okay?

I’d rather not live at all!

That suicidal impulse quickly transmitted to Su Mingyao.

After a moment’s thought, Su Mingyao pointed something out. “This still isn’t the worst part.”

“At least you’ve survived it once before, Brother Yao. That proves it’s survivable.”

“Now I get why that urge to stop Su Shang from destroying the world stuck with me so strongly,” Su Bingyao replied coldly.

If he’d truly been trapped that long last time, it explained the unparalleled, burning drive he’d felt upon returning—one that wouldn’t let Su Shang get away with it.

Because he’d endured far too much.

“And I have to advise you against suicide, Brother Yao,” Su Mingyao added. “Trying to escape this fate by offing yourself would be pointless.”

“?”

“Because Su Shang might just destroy the world again to save you—rolling back the file once more.” Su Mingyao speculated. “Then we’d both end up right back here, haha. Rinse and repeat.”

Su Bingyao: …

He quietly shelved any thoughts of dying.

“Speaking of which, why us? Why specifically?”

Having exchanged all their information, Su Mingyao now fixated on that question.

If they could figure out the selection mechanism, then even if they failed to stop Su Shang next time, they could just excise whatever part of themselves matched the criteria. That way, they wouldn’t end up in the Black Void again.

Going down with the world as it ended—that would be such a gentle, sweet release. He genuinely envied those people!

“Compared to the others who’ve interacted with Su Shang but didn’t end up in the Black Void, what’s so special about us?”

They were brothers, yes—but not by blood. They were bound only by circumstance and coincidence, brothers in name alone.

Su Bingyao was coping well enough. He had spent over twenty years with Su Shang from childhood, so there was at least some brotherly bond between them. But Su Mingyao shared no such brotherly feelings with Su Shang whatsoever.

So why me? Su Mingyao wondered.

It had made sense enough last time with Big Bro, but why drag me into this now?

Su Bingyao said calmly, “You can hear Su Shang’s conversations with the System too, just like me. That’s our common ground.”

“Yes,” Su Mingyao replied.

“Being able to hear Su Shang’s conversations with the System must be the entry condition here,” Su Mingyao summed up.

“But not entirely,” Su Bingyao continued.

“Because Mom can hear them too, but she’s not here right now.”

If hearing heart voices was the condition, Li Qingshu had overheard plenty back then. So why wasn’t she here?

It couldn’t possibly be because Su Shang was the respectful type who honored his elders and cherished the young!

Moreover, judging from Su Shang’s heart voice at the time, he didn’t hold much respect for his mother. He actually respected Su Bingyao, his big brother, more. That’s what Su Bingyao thought.

“Lady Li can hear them too?” Su Mingyao asked in surprise.

He still hadn’t gotten into the habit of calling her Mom.

“Yes.”

“And I suspect the driver who picked Su Shang up from the hospital could hear them as well.”

Su Bingyao had received the driver’s leave request right after the pickup. The driver had immediately applied for sick leave, claiming too much recent stress and needing to visit the hospital. Su Bingyao hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but in hindsight, it mirrored his own reaction perfectly—shocked by the sudden intrusion of Su Shang’s heart voice, then booking an appointment with a psychiatrist.

“But afterward, my assistant Little Liang couldn’t hear anything.”

“Xiao Zhang couldn’t either,” Su Mingyao added.

Xiao Zhang had been right there when Su Shang was muttering away internally to the System, yet his face hadn’t betrayed even a flicker of surprise. He probably couldn’t hear a thing.

“And out of those four people who could hear Su Shang’s heart voice, only you and I ended up here, enduring this… punishment.” Su Bingyao turned to Su Mingyao.

“The common thread between you and me.”

Su Mingyao said, “It can’t just be that we’re both Su Shang’s brothers.”

“I understand now,” Su Bingyao said.

Su Mingyao blinked in confusion.

“Our common ground,” Su Bingyao explained, “is that we’re both the reasons he destroyed the world.”