Celestial Human Diagram

Chapter 293 - 25: Change

On the small hill, the two-story building was engulfed in a raging fire. Billowing black smoke surged into the sky, and embers danced all around.

Following Teacher Wu’s instructions, Chen Chuan had doused his body and the house in algae oil and set them ablaze.

To completely eliminate all traces, he had just gathered the fragments of wooden planks shattered during their fight and tossed them into the fire.

Just then, something in the grass was caught by a current of air and flew toward him. He reached out and snatched it—it was the Molan Company advertisement. After a glance, he casually tossed it into the pyre.

After one last check to ensure nothing was left behind, he contacted Wubei with his Realm Token. "Brother Wu, no one observed the fight just now, right?"

Wubei’s voice came through: "Don’t worry, Brother Chen. While you two were fighting, I shielded the Biological Domain in this entire area. Besides, there’s almost no one here, so you don’t have to worry about anyone reporting it."

Chen Chuan grunted in acknowledgment. Central City was different; the existence of Realm Tokens and Boundary Points meant events in certain areas could be reported and viewed remotely. Therefore, it was essential to have someone responsible for intercepting such information.

And that wasn’t all. If necessary, he could have also had Wubei cause a minor malfunction in Teacher Wu’s Realm Token, distracting him for a crucial moment.

Wubei, for his part, was buzzing with excitement. In truth, he hadn’t been able to see anything clearly during the fight, except for the moments when the two paused. He had only witnessed bricks and planks shattering and massive craters appearing on the ground. The power on display was simply inhuman.

He had thought Chen Chuan’s previous fight against the Golden Shrimp mercenary company was already incredible. But this time, he truly understood what a truly powerful Fighter was capable of. It was on a completely different level.

Just then, he recalled something. "Brother Chen, about this Teacher Wu... his condition, uhm, it seemed like he had what they call ’stun sickness.’"

"’Stun sickness?’"

"Yeah. The official term used by the government and various companies is Functional Dysregulation Syndrome.

The theory goes that a person’s perception can start to waver between illusion and reality. This happens due to the long-term influence of the Biological Domain, prolonged use of Realm Tokens, and the combined stimulation of drugs and Implants.

They can’t distinguish their real self from the true world. In this state of cognitive confusion, they often do things a normal person would find unimaginable.

Oh, but that’s just a theory. The situation is very complex, so that’s all I really know."

Chen Chuan nodded slightly. He had felt it before. When he first arrived in Central City, the surrounding environment had a faint, corrosive effect on his Second Self. This was caused by the exchange of Biological Domains.

Prolonged exposure to this kind of environment might have a minor effect on ordinary people, but for a Fighter, it wasn’t really damaging. There were likely more complex reasons behind Teacher Wu’s condition.

Moreover, as he looked down from the hill, he realized the very ground he was standing on was also problematic...

But he had no time to investigate. After all, Central City was a hotbed of vibrant activity and fierce competition. He had neither the energy nor the ability to figure out every single thing.

Right now, something else warranted his attention more.

During his battle with Teacher Wu this time, even without consciously tracking it, he was certain his overlap time with his Second Self had definitely exceeded twenty-four hours.

He had a premonition that his Second Self might undergo some kind of change. It was very close to midnight now; he would know the answer soon enough.

He said a quick goodbye to Wubei, deactivated his Realm Token, and took his watch out of his pocket.

Time ticked by, second by second.

Finally, the clock struck twelve.

Chen Chuan put down his watch, ready to see what was different from usual, when he suddenly felt a strange sensation.

’This is...’

He looked out. As he focused his gaze, everything—from the dancing embers to the leaves and weeds scattering in the wind—seemed to be moving much slower than before.

It was just like when he overlapped with his Second Self.

The problem was, he hadn’t chosen to overlap.

He clenched his fist, feeling the immense and abundant power.

’So that’s how it is. After twenty-four hours of overlap, the Second Self has completely fused with my body. So... has the "Second Self" disappeared for good?’

’No.’

He glanced to the side. The "Second Self" was still standing there perfectly fine, with a faint, ethereal quality to it, still bearing the brunt of external incursions for him.

He shifted his thoughts and, with a mental command, overlapped with it. This time, however, apart from still being able to absorb damage, there seemed to be no additional effect from the overlap.

’No, that’s not right.’

It wasn’t that there was no enhancement, but that the enhancement was incredibly faint.

’It’s like... hmm, like I just overlapped with the strength of an ordinary person.’

His mind raced. He released the Second Self again and after a few more glances, he suddenly understood. The physical attributes of this new Second Self were those from the very beginning—from when he first crossed over.

He had previously judged that the Second Self was likely his alternate-world counterpart. It was still him, but his arrival had broken the boundaries between worlds.

Now, it seemed that after reaching a certain limit or meeting a specific condition, his counterpart would achieve a perfect fusion with him. The Second Self wouldn’t disappear, however. It would simply reset to its original state—back to how it was when he first arrived.

He didn’t even need to test it. As he overlapped, he could clearly tell the overlap time was now one day and four hours. It seemed he had broken the twenty-four-hour limit and was pushing toward an even greater duration.

He could feel that this Second Self’s power would gradually grow over time. To be precise, it wasn’t exactly growth; its power would continuously approach his current level. He would likely have to drive this process himself.

Whether it would eventually match his current, fused strength, or just his strength before the fusion, he didn’t know. But even if it was the latter, the enhancement would still be immense.

And during the overlap, he discovered he seemed to have a new option.

He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he found his body had returned to its previous state.

When he chose to overlap with the Second Self, he could suppress the expression of his physical attributes back to their pre-fusion levels. It was, in effect, like stripping away the now-fused Second Self once more.

’Now this is interesting.’

This wasn’t a useless ability at all; it was incredibly useful. The more powerful an individual becomes, the more matter and energy are required to sustain their existence and activity.

For example, the nutritional intake he needed for training now was far greater than before. If he reached an even higher limit, the energy required merely to exist would probably be substantial. But if he could maintain a low-limit state for extended periods via overlapping, he could reduce or avoid this problem.

’And there might be other uses for this, too.’ He had already thought of one and decided he could test it when he got back.

He looked at the leaping flames ahead, recalling something He Xiaoxing had once told him. The so-called "limit" meant that a person’s power had its extremes. As long as one was still human—no matter how powerful a Mutated Organization became—there was a definitive ceiling within any given stage, one that only a theoretically perfect individual could reach.

Back during the test, even when overlapping with his Second Self, he hadn’t been able to reach that theoretical ceiling, only get close. Now that he had fused with his Second Self, had he reached that ceiling within the Second Limit? Or was there still a ways to go?

He felt there probably still was a gap. But with his Second Self, he believed that one day he might be able to reach or even surpass that limit.

He stood there quietly before the crimson blaze, the silent, dark night at his back. The Snow Monarch Blade was stuck in the ground beside him. A distant wind blew, causing his scarf and trench coat to flutter ceaselessly.

He waited for over an hour more until the fire finally died out. The entire house was completely incinerated. After confirming nothing unusual remained, he opened his Realm Token and, with Wubei’s help, cleaned up the last few traces. Only then did he pick up the Snow Monarch Blade and leave.

By the time he reached the station, it was nearly two in the morning. Yet, when he boarded the tram car to return, the carriage was at least half full, mostly with company employees.

These employees used drugs and Implants to maintain long work hours. For them, this was only an hour or two later than their normal clock-out time, something many of them were accustomed to.

On the tram, Chen Chuan used his Realm Token to look up the two people Teacher Wu mentioned at the end.

Yuan Binshu was likely not affiliated with the academy. His name didn’t appear among the teachers or senior staff, and he didn’t seem to be a student either. He could look into him again later.

As for the other person, Teacher Wu hadn’t finished his sentence. However, Chen Chuan noted that among the academy’s teachers and senior staff, only two had the surname Ling: an academy consultant in his eighties who didn’t even teach courses, and the vice-chancellor’s assistant, Ling Jianxing.

He had a feeling the person Teacher Wu was referring to was most likely the latter.

Teacher Wu’s case might be connected to these two individuals. If so, would they—and anyone else involved behind the scenes—give up just because Teacher Wu was dead?

’If there’s a deeper purpose to all this, then it’s highly unlikely,’ he thought.

Lost in thought, he rode the tram all the way back to the academy. By the time he got out of the station and walked toward the Profound Palace Building, it was already past three in the morning.

Just as he was about to step into the lobby, he looked up and saw Hong Fu standing on a level above. He gave her a nod.

When Hong Fu saw him, her lively eyes looked over from above her veil, and she nodded back in acknowledgment.

Chen Chuan retracted his gaze. From the moment he had descended the small hill, he had overlapped with his Second Self, keeping his body suppressed in its previous state.

The expression of his Biological Domain was nearly identical to when he had left the academy.

He walked into the lobby and entered the elevator. As he watched the floor indicator rise, he mused, ’Even though my overlap time with the Second Self has now exceeded twenty-four hours, using it to suppress my own state or transfer damage will undoubtedly reduce that total time.’

’And to get the Second Self back to a state close to my own power, I still need to find a way to extend the limit further.’

The elevator doors slid open. He walked out, pushed open the door to his dorm, and set down the Snow Monarch Blade. After a glance at the brilliant nightscape outside, he drew the curtains, took a quick shower, and then went to rest.

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