Volume 1 Chapter 41: Can you come back to see me?

"Well, I am here to tell you that the core of this world has been polluted by the Demon Eyes. You had all better completely destroy this world to save yourselves the trouble later."

After the man finished speaking, the giant human face vanished into the void.

Leaving behind only the Third Arbiter, whose expression flickered with uncertainty, and all the members of the Ninth Squad, who were preparing to initiate war.

Wei Anlan asked, "Lord Third Arbiter, who was he?"

The Third Arbiter raised a hand to stop her, saying, "These are not things for you to ask. Go personally and inspect the core of this world. If it has indeed been polluted as he claimed, we must seriously consider destroying this parallel world."

Wei Anlan nodded with a solemn expression, "Understood!"

If it was truly as this mysterious person had said, and the core of this world had been polluted by the Demon Eyes, it would spell massive trouble.

Since the creatures surviving in this world were prehistoric dinosaurs, once they were polluted and evolved into Void-Devouring Beasts, it would simply be a disaster.

Soon, Wei Anlan led two teams aboard a small spacetime shuttle and arrived in this world overrun by dinosaurs.

"Initiate core scanning."

"Understood, core scanning initiated."

"Initiate pollution monitoring."

"Monitoring initiated."

...

After a long while, Wei Anlan and the others located the core of this strange world.

Just as expected, the spacetime core of this world had been polluted, and the source of pollution was continuously expanding outward.

The creatures surrounding the core had already mutated, evolving in the direction of Void-Devouring Beasts.

Seeing this scene, Wei Anlan and the others furrowed their brows deeply.

Fortunately, it was discovered early. Had they waited any longer, this world would have become a paradise for Void-Devouring Beasts.

Once a timeline overlap occurred again, it would become a nightmare for other parallel worlds.

Void-Devouring Beasts did not merely consume humans; they were entities capable of devouring entire worlds.

After uploading the on-site situation to the Order Bureau's database, Wei Anlan returned to the Ninth Spacetime Shuttle to report in detail to the Third Arbiter.

"Very well. Once the spacetime displacement is complete, we must conduct pollution testing on all humans in World 87. Anyone detected as polluted is to be directly eradicated."

"Understood!" Wei Anlan's expression was heavy.

The complexity of this incident far exceeded her imagination.

Meanwhile, the four teams had completed the scanning and positioning of this world.

Current data showed that the number of survivors in World 87 was just a little over three billion.

Originally, the parallel World 87, as deduced in the normal timeline, had a population of over six billion, but now less than half remained.

The cold yet profoundly persuasive data reflected the cruelty of this strange world.

Every member of the Ninth Squad felt heavy-hearted.

As guardians of spacetime balance, a sense of guilt welled up inside them.

"Alright, the occurrence of such an event cannot be blamed on you. Everyone, keep your spirits up." Wei Anlan noticed the gloomy mood of the group and spoke up to comfort them.

Indeed, the occurrence of such an event had exceeded their expectations.

The Third Arbiter's tone remained consistently flat: "Since the positioning is complete, initiate the spacetime displacement."

"Spacetime shuttle fully charged, requesting to initiate spacetime displacement."

"Initiate spacetime displacement."

"Received, linking all positioning points, initiating spacetime displacement."

The Ninth Spacetime Shuttle emitted a slight tremor, and a beam of light green radiance directly enveloped the strange world.

It then rapidly targeted and locked onto every human at each positioning point.

The humans of parallel World 87 had no idea what was happening before being swallowed by the light.

"What is this?"

"What happened?"

However, no one could provide them with an answer, and everyone simply felt their vision go black.

Moments later, they returned to the places where they had been surviving in World 87.

Spacetime displacement could only perform large-scale relocation based on their locations. When the humans returned to World 87, some might find themselves standing on a rooftop, while others might appear in the middle of a street, and so on.

Yet, at last, they no longer had to face those man-eating dinosaurs and unknown terrifying creatures.

Returning to their familiar world and gazing upon familiar surroundings, many people burst into tears.

"I'm back, I'm finally back."

"Heavens, why must you toy with us so?"

"Brother, I'm home, I'm home..."

"Mom, Mom, where are you? I'm home, sob..."

Some wailed bitterly, while others stared blankly at the familiar environment.

Everything that had happened over the past few days felt like a waking nightmare.

If it were merely a nightmare, it would have been fine, but everything that occurred was chillingly real.

They had survived, but countless family members and friends had died—perishing in that unknown and perilous world.

After completing the spacetime displacement, the Third Arbiter said, "Regarding whether this world should be eradicated, I need to report and consult with the higher-ups. Your Ninth Squad should first go to World 87 to carry out memory weaving and restructuring."

Wei Anlan nodded. "Understood, we will head over immediately."

Soon, all members of the Ninth Squad arrived in parallel World 87.

The Ninth Squad consisted of 11 teams, totaling 33 people.

These 33 individuals split up in different directions and began positioning scans.

Following that, the Ninth Spacetime Shuttle would perform memory weaving and restructuring.

Only by doing so could the people of World 87 resume their normal lives moving forward.

Fortunately, the Order Bureau had collected the developmental trajectories of humans across numerous parallel worlds, providing massive data support for memory weaving and restructuring, making it a manageable task.

Li Yan was assigned to the southwestern region of World 87, centered around the South Jiaotong University campus.

Moving swiftly, he completed the positioning scans for his entire assigned jurisdiction.

"Team 11 Li Yan has completed all positioning scans for the assigned area."

"Ninth Squad received."

After uploading the data, Li Yan stood quietly beneath the eaves of a building near South Jiaotong University. He glanced at the street, still frozen in the year 2001, and at the people who had yet to fully recover their wits.

A wave of emotion welled up inside him. If this had happened in the parallel world where he lived, he could hardly imagine what his own mindset would be.

"May you all forget everything and restart your lives. Such things should never happen again."

This was his blessing for everyone in World 87.

Yet, just as he finished speaking, he heard the sound of faint, shuffling footsteps behind him.

Turning around, he was startled to see Ye Lele, walking with a limp, appearing behind him out of nowhere.

"Why are you here?" Li Yan asked in confusion.

Ye Lele's eyes fixed unwaveringly on Li Yan. Although every step she took was painful, she bit her lower lip and walked toward him step by step.

"So your name is Li Yan. You lied to me. I knew someone as young as you calling yourself Old Bai was way too old."

Li Yan furrowed his brow, though he figured that since memory restructuring was about to take place, Ye Lele wouldn't remember him anyway.

"Well, now you know. Hurry back now. You can go home." Li Yan looked at Ye Lele and softened his tone.

Ye Lele shook her head. "Go home? I don't even know if my family members are still alive."

Li Yan couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for this outwardly resilient girl.

"Start a new life properly. After a good night's sleep, everything will get better." He could only offer comfort, believing that when she woke up tomorrow morning, Ye Lele would forget everything, and a new set of memories would allow her to carry on.

Ye Lele looked at Li Yan, a complex mix of reluctance to part and deep attachment flashing in her eyes.

"Li Yan, I guessed right, you must belong to some mysterious organization. I heard you earlier talking about restructuring our memories. Perhaps after this, I won't be able to remember you anymore. Thank you for saving me. Even if I forget you, you should still remember me. Will we ever meet again?"

Hearing Ye Lele say this, Li Yan felt a complex swirl of emotions.

"Perhaps."

"Can I give you a hug?" Ye Lele looked at Li Yan, her pretty eyes filled with entreaty and reluctance.

Li Yan hesitated for a moment before saying, "Alright!"

He stood still, waiting as Ye Lele limped over and threw her arms around him.

"Li Yan, you are my hero. How I wish I could see you again in the future." Tears sparkled in Ye Lele's eyes. Having brushed against life and death, she felt she couldn't bear to leave this safe embrace.

Li Yan said nothing, simply standing quietly.

The next moment, however, Ye Lele suddenly leaned in and planted a kiss on Li Yan's cheek.

"Remember me, okay? If possible, can you come back to see me? Even if by then I might not recognize you anymore." Ye Lele's voice choked with a pleading sob.

Li Yan suppressed his surging emotions and offered a comforting reply: "Alright!"