Chapter 370 The End of the World

“My visa is all set, and I’ve bought my plane ticket. Tomorrow… I leave for Switzerland.”

In the Virtual World of 2045, Jiang Ran looked at Cheng Mengxue sitting beside him.

“When Puppet Pompey discovers the Virtual World’s flaws, he’ll most likely abandon his plan. At that point, the tornado from the Butterfly Effect will tear through the future once more.”

“Which means… Xiaoxue, today might be the last time we ever see each other.”

…

Right now, the two of them were at “the end of the world.”

This was the name Cheng Mengxue had given the place, and it was a fitting one.

After arriving in 2045 via the Positron Cannon today, Jiang Ran had gone straight to Cheng Mengxue. He then taught her how to use the powers of “Highest Authority,” “Words Become Law,” and “Modified World.”

After these past few days of practice, Jiang Ran had mastered many techniques for coaxing Cheng Mengxue and figured out how to help her quickly grasp this power.

It worked very well.

This time, it only took Cheng Mengxue a few minutes to completely master the ability. Then, a whimsical thought struck her—

‘What if I make everything in the world—every single thing, absolutely everything—disappear… What would be left?’

The idea was so peculiar that it left Jiang Ran stunned.

He felt as if Demon Satan might wake up one day to the surprise of finding he’d dropped to second place on the list of villains, and perhaps even find himself glowing with Holy Light.

But he couldn’t blame Cheng Mengxue.

Because of Jiang Ran’s “hypnosis” and “Suggestion,” Cheng Mengxue believed this was a game world she could do anything in—a world she could toy with however she pleased, just like building a castle with blocks.

“Er… You could give it a try.”

Jiang Ran nodded. He was just as curious.

“If you can, try to imagine everything in the Virtual World vanishing. Let’s see what’s left behind—or if anything is left at all.”

‘What would a world with nothing left in it look like?’

‘Would it be like the universe before the Big Bang—a void, yet filled with infinite possibilities?’

The power of a creator was truly intoxicating. Jiang Ran could hardly wait to witness the world in its primordial state.

And so, the two partners in crime exchanged a smile, like children about to play a prank, and quickly came to an agreement.

Cheng Mengxue closed her eyes and began to empty her mind.

‘In her subconscious, she was convinced that nothing in this world truly existed… because the world itself was false.’

‘So now, I’ll just delete everything that doesn’t exist and see what remains.’

In an instant, the sky vanished, replaced by a pitch-black backdrop dotted with distant stars.

The city vanished next. Cars, pedestrians, and buildings drifted downward like falling feathers.

But in a moment, all the clutter vanished. The entire world was empty, save for the two of them slowly descending.

THUMP. THUMP.

With two soft thumps, they landed on a white, flat plane, utterly smooth and without any decoration.

The white plane looked paper-thin, yet it was indestructible. It stretched endlessly into the distance. It seemed as though everything that had ever existed in the world—mountains and rivers, oceans and continents, even the sun, moon, and stars—had been nothing more than models built upon this plane as their foundation.

But when he turned, Jiang Ran realized he was mistaken.

Because…

Just a short distance behind them, they could see the edge of the white plane.

“Whoa…”

Cheng Mengxue opened her eyes, gazing in shock at the vast, magnificent scene before her.

Overhead was the distant, black backdrop of the universe, sprinkled with countless stars. They could clearly see swirling galaxies hundreds of millions of light-years away.

Underfoot was the endless white plane. It was probably the “perfectly smooth surface” high school physics teachers always talked about, something that could never exist in reality.

“Jiang Ran!”

Cheng Mengxue pointed to the end of the white plane, not far off.

“What’s that over there! Can we go take a look?”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

The two of them jogged over to the end of the white plane.

It was a perfect right-angled corner. Leaning forward, they could see the plane was somehow even thinner than paper!

But they could go no further.

Cheng Mengxue blinked.

“This… is the end of the world.”

Jiang Ran found the metaphor apt.

A place where one could go no further. A plane with no continuation. An unavoidable end.

This was the end of the world… and also the end of the line for Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue’s intersecting timelines.

“If only there was a place like this in the real world.”

Cheng Mengxue gazed into the depths of the universe.

“Here, we would be completely free, omnipotent. We could do whatever we want, create whatever we want… It would be like…”

She thought for a moment, then smiled.

“Just like Adam and Eve! Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden! The beginning of the world!”

“We could build an amusement park if we wanted, or an entire city. Our subjects could be Rhine Cats or Little Elves…”

“The trees could be alive, mermaids could sing… Here, we’d be in charge. We could have anything we wanted!”

However…

After indulging in these endless fantasies…

Cheng Mengxue let out a long sigh and gently tugged on the hem of Jiang Ran’s shirt.

“But really… all I want is our little courtyard, that pomegranate tree… and the two of us, back then, digging in the dirt with our shovels.”