Chapter 123: Chapter 123: Ashes of the Sun Puppet
"Oh, so you’re the priest from the mural." Qi Suian understood the whole story after listening to the bandaged face’s explanation.
In short, this wasn’t the first time the sun had been in and out of the bottle.
The cause was not much different from what Qi Suian already knew—the greed of the upper class had led to the creation of the sun in the bottle.
The difference, however, was that the moment the sun in the bottle generated its extreme heat and the polar day began, the entire Horizon Realm was plunged into a time loop caused by observational collapse.
It would restart every hundred years, forcing everything to begin anew.
This meant that the Desolate Beasts and humanity’s Power of the Limit hadn’t evolved in a mere hundred years, but had been shaped bit by bit over countless cycles.
The cycles continued, but the evolution of living beings never stopped.
"Then why are the clothes of the figures in each period different? The murals should be depicting events within the hundred-year cycle, right?"
"Based on your description, the hundred-year cycle resets to the point when the apocalypse began, so what follows is normal societal development."
"The changes in clothing are just normal modernization."
Qi Suian now understood why the technology in the Polar Day World was so strange. It was a case of being fractured, but never completely broken.
After every break, it was reconnected by the reset.
The living beings were a new batch each time, but everything else remained the same.
As for the creatures that died, they were fused and mashed together, eventually becoming the Sun Puppets.
That’s why the Sun Puppets possessed the power of Desolate Beasts while retaining human forms.
"It’s happened too many times. The final result began to change, even intersecting with past history, which ultimately caused the mural to change."
"This isn’t the safe house you think it is. Unless you leave the Horizon Realm, you can’t escape the sun in the bottle."
"We and the sun... we’re all in the bottle," the bandaged face said.
Qi Suian’s expression darkened. "Then how did *you* survive?"
’He’s just trying to trick me into a head-on confrontation with the sun in the bottle.’
"I... am also a puppet of the sun. Just a special one," said the bandaged face.
"Now that you mention it, I get it," Qi Suian said confidently. "When it comes to being ’special,’ I’ve never been outdone."
’I have a protagonist’s halo, after all. If I’m not special, who is?’
The bandaged face almost lost its composure. It thought Qi Suian was unbelievably narcissistic.
"Do you have any last words?" Qi Suian asked. ’If not,’ he thought, ’I’ll just kill him.’
’This is a classic case of discarding someone after they’ve served their purpose, but it’s true the guy had ill intentions.’
"You’re itching to kill me," the bandaged face said with a clearly mocking smile.
Since the creature had seen through him, Qi Suian... denied it without a moment’s hesitation.
"How could that be? You’ve helped me so much. I just want to coexist peacefully," Qi Suian said. ’Why would I admit it? It’s not like I’m some paragon of virtue.’
’I’ll string him along first and wait for a chance to strike.’
"If you can kill me, then do it."
"Just... I hope you don’t regret it after you kill me." The bandaged face didn’t believe Qi Suian’s lies for a second.
Hearing this, Qi Suian sighed. "Sometimes, it’s better to be ignorant."
With that, he activated the fully charged Floating Cannon, which instantly pierced the bandaged face.
The entire bandaged face began to disintegrate the moment it was struck by the Dark Energy Beam.
Its face, however, showed an expression of liberation.
"Thank you..." the bandaged face whispered, before turning into countless specks of ash that scattered to the ground.
’So this is the ash that can bury the sun,’ Qi Suian realized. The moment the creature spoke its final words, he understood it had been seeking death.
’Even its last two sentences were just to provoke me into acting.’
As the bandaged face died, the mural began to flake away.
"Is the temperature rising?" Qi Suian suddenly asked.
[Yes. The low temperature here was maintained not by its geological structure, but by the bandaged face, which was absorbing and dissipating heat.]
[Now that it is dead, the effect has vanished, and the temperature is naturally returning to normal.]
"Holy crap. So the bastard wasn’t lying, he really did make me regret it." If Qi Suian had known the bandaged face was the air conditioner, he never would have killed it.
’At most, I would have just imprisoned it and used it as a meat shield.’
He then bent down, picked up a pinch of ash, and a panel appeared.
[Ash of the Sun Puppet]
[Quality: E]
[Trait 1: Buried Resentment]
"Just a small handful is E-quality."
"With this much..."
Qi Suian gathered all the ash of the Sun Puppet. It still only had one trait, but its quality had risen to SSS-grade.
He compressed the pile and stored it away carefully.
"SSS-grade isn’t enough. That thing is X-grade."
Qi Suian sighed. The creature had been indulging in wishful thinking. The Ash of the Sun Puppet couldn’t possibly bury the sun in the bottle.
It probably couldn’t even stop the century-long apocalyptic reset.
Let alone actually "burying" it.
’Too bad I couldn’t get the technology for the sun in the bottle from him.’
Qi Suian was certain the creature had mastered the technology for the sun in the bottle, even if it was just a part of it.
Otherwise, how could it have created the Ash of the Sun Puppet? That in itself was an application of the sun-in-a-bottle technology.
"And I lost a safe house. This was a huge loss," Qi Suian muttered.
Qi Suian had no intention of using the Ash of the Sun Puppet as a module.
It was already SSS-grade, so installing it on the Tai Sui God would be useless.
’Besides, it looks like a huge trap. Why would I jump into it?’
’Day one of missing Qin Sheng. If he were alive, I could’ve threatened him into doing it.’
’In the Polar Day World, only Qin Sheng and I have protagonist halos. So what if...’
’Wait, that means the Polar Day World should have its own protagonist, right?’
Qi Suian suddenly realized that he, Qin Sheng, and even the Reborn were all protagonists of their respective worlds.
’So, logically, the Polar Day World must have a protagonist, too.’
’Then I can just let *him* take the fall.’
’He isn’t a Survivor, so he definitely doesn’t know I’m a Violator.’
’If I just give him the ashes, he’ll obediently go to his death... no, I mean, go bury the sun in the bottle.’
At this thought, Qi Suian felt he was an absolute genius.
[You may be overlooking one thing. Is the protagonist of the Polar Day World still alive? And if so, are you sure he is on humanity’s side, and not the sun’s?]
[Just like you. If you hadn’t possessed the Virus talent, the protagonist’s halo would have belonged to the Zombie Dominator, not you.]
[It was you who, step-by-step and through your own efforts, made yourself the protagonist and reaped its benefits.]
[However, what if the protagonist of the Polar Day World is in a similar situation?]
The smart brain reminded him.
Qi Suian’s excitement instantly cooled.
"That’s true," Qi Suian said, "but it also proves that a protagonist’s halo can be overcome. It just requires some crucial assistance."
’Let’s just give it a try. Protagonist halo, let me meet the protagonist of the Polar Day World!’
He had to admit, the protagonist’s halo was the ultimate cheat code. When in doubt, just rely on the protagonist’s halo.
It wasn’t like he had any other options. He had zero leads.
Of course, there was another possibility: that the dead bandaged face—the Sun Puppet who wasn’t controlled by the sun for some unknown reason—was the protagonist of the Polar Day World.
But if that were the case, after Qi Suian killed it, his own protagonist halo should have been enhanced by +5.
Since that didn’t happen, it meant there was a good chance it wasn’t the protagonist.
Beyond that, there was another possibility: because of the endless hundred-year apocalyptic cycle, no protagonist existed at all.
This was the worst-case scenario, as it meant Qi Suian would have to throw himself into the breach.
Actually, there was one surefire solution: Qi Suian could kill the protagonist of the Polar Day World, devour their halo, and then go bury the sun himself.
With Celestial Fate: Profound +5 and a native protagonist halo, his success rate would skyrocket. He might not be able to bury the sun in the bottle, but surviving for a month would be no problem.
But the risk was also enormous, because Qi Suian himself might not survive.
It was the best way to save the world, but it wasn’t the best choice for Qi Suian.
-----------------
Xu Tongming choked down the last of his water, but the brief coolness brought him no relief.
It vanished the moment it hit his stomach.
"A hundred-degree Power of the Limit... heh." Xu Tongming couldn’t help but laugh at himself.
The rising temperature, the onslaught of Desolate Beasts, and the invasion of the Sun Puppets had annihilated his forces.
By now, all the ordinary people without the Power of the Limit were dead.
Those visitors from another world, the ones who called themselves "Survivors," were also on their last legs. Even with the protection of some unknown entity, they wouldn’t last much longer.
"The cause of all this suffering."
"If I get the chance, I’ll bury you so deep you’ll never see the light of day again!" Xu Tongming stared at the sun with pure hatred.
But he was so dehydrated that even his rage felt powerless.
In his condition, he probably wouldn’t survive the day.
After stumbling forward a few more steps, he managed to find a shady spot and collapsed onto the ground.
He wasn’t wandering aimlessly; he was trying to avoid the Sun Puppets and Desolate Beasts. Both types of monsters were everywhere.
At the dual limits of his body and Spirit, he could feel the Power of the Limit within him stirring, as if it were about to break through to a higher temperature.
"Heh, even if you break past the hundred-degree limit now, what difference will it make?"
"It’s not like it’s going to help me survive," Xu Tongming said offhandedly.
However, as his Power of the Limit crossed the hundred-degree threshold and reached one hundred and one degrees, Xu Tongming had a different thought.
The strength he had lost was returning to his body, and the oppressive heat began to feel cool and refreshing.
"This... this is..." Xu Tongming’s expression was one of pure astonishment.
He could feel his condition actually improving, and his resistance to the high temperature seemed to have increased.
At the very least, the terrifying temperature outside was no longer so scorching. In fact, he felt like a fish in water.
