Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 568 - 478 Transformation_2

He was considering whether to adopt the method the Raven had provided. He was somewhat tempted. It was as if the Raven had known all along how he would choose; Huai Shi, too, knew he could hardly resist the method's temptation. Cultivating his own Hell Swarm... It truly was a case of killing three birds with one stone. He could take his time and consider it carefully.

"But the problem is..." Huai Shi voiced his main concern, "if I do this, will it cause a distortion in the Current Circumstances?"

He was a Red Stick Fighter for the Jurisdiction Bureau. Being a secret snitch for Utopia was one thing, but to also furtively communicate with Hell and raise a bunch of demons and monsters as underlings? This was no longer a matter of knowingly breaking the law. No one knew about the Book of Fate in his pocket, but raising a group of Hell Clans wouldn't escape notice. What if his old superior filed an anonymous report, and the Four Great Legions descended from the heavens to wipe him out?

"Distortion of the Current Circumstances? From you?"

The Raven laughed. "Fool, I don't mean to look down on you... Even if you were to solidify right now, you wouldn't pose any threat to the Current Circumstances.

Besides, isn't raising demons and monsters in the Abyss a tradition for Utopia? In the past, they treated Hell like a pigpen, raising and slaughtering them in waves, just like harvesting leeks. If this were truly investigated, they could execute the top hundred offenders and still not get to you. You can boldly go earn that Correction Value without any worries.

Even if this world met with disaster, it definitely wouldn't be solely your fault."

Correction Value and distortion degree. Both were terms for change, units quantifying the transformation of the Current Circumstances, and simultaneously, factors for measuring depth. The changes wrought by miracles and disasters depended on these.

Regarding this, the Raven didn't say much. "If a change is good, it can generally be called a correction. If a change is bad, it can be called a distortion," she simply and straightforwardly told Huai Shi. "Neither is constant. They can sometimes transform and influence each other. The specific calculation method is likely only understood by the department at the Existence Institute that manages the Doomsday Clock.

There's only one thing you need to know."

"The higher the Correction Value, the closer this world comes to Paradise," said the Raven, "and the higher the degree of distortion, the closer this world gets to Hell..."

Huai Shi suddenly realized. "The two counteract each other, forming the current situation, right? I understand."

"..." The Raven remained silent, looking at him, perplexed, until she sensed something was wrong.

"What's wrong?"

"No, I just realized you might have misunderstood something."

The Raven lifted a wing to scratch her small head and, after a long silence, asked, "Do you think the two values are actually two sides of the same coin, like weights on a scale that can offset each other?"

"Isn't that the case?"

Huai Shi felt something was wrong.

"I truly wish that were the case, but unfortunately, it's not," the Raven sighed. "The most tragic part is... they're actually calculated separately.

There's no such thing as positive and negative canceling each other out, or a balance of good and evil. Huai Shi, both coexist and exert their own influences."

This world exists between two poles, like the rope in a tug-of-war—infinitely close to Paradise and, simultaneously, infinitely close to Hell, hovering madly between them. It might belong to both, yet often, it's impossible to distinguish.

In the long silence, Huai Shi stood there, stunned.

He recalled the visions from his dreams during his advancement: the resplendent Current Circumstances, the myriad dazzling Borders encircling it, the somber Abyss, and in the deepest reaches of Hell, the Wasteland World where all life had ceased.

In a hazy stupor, he felt as if he understood something, yet the understanding remained elusive.

"What exactly is Hell?" he asked the Raven blankly. "What kind of state, what kind of world, can truly be called Hell?"

This simple question, however, made the Raven fall silent.

After a while, she said softly, "Huai Shi, what is called Hell is a place devoid of transformation."

"Transformation?"

"Yes, transformation. It doesn't matter if you call it entropy increase or heat death. At that stage, everything becomes stagnant, falls into eternal stasis, and should end.

To be more precise, it's a world that has reached its end, a former world, long dead, a place with no hope and no future…

When a world dies, its remains become Hell.

Then, what you see are outlines completely changed from what they once were, the ashes remaining after glorious pasts have burned away, records that have lost their original form over vast stretches of time…

A world's tombstone and grave, the final resting place for all things.

The old world meets its destruction and is buried with its past. Then, a new world rises upon Hell, greeting a new tomorrow, until tomorrow comes no more…

Everything changes, and everything also ceases to change, just as stars fall, suns extinguish, and heroes meet their deaths.

Layer upon layer, old worlds are continuously buried, becoming fossils hidden deep beneath the earth, sinking into eternal darkness."