Chapter 370: Fragments of a Dark Memory, the Gate Engraved with the Universe and All Creation

“I understand.”

Lucario slowly approached Chen Mo, raised one paw, and gently pressed it against Chen Mo’s forehead.

“Lord Chen Mo, use all your strength and release the maximum amount of Waveguide you can.”

“Okay.”

After giving Pikachu and the others, who had gathered around him, a reassuring smile that seemed to say Don’t worry about me, Chen Mo slowly closed his eyes.

Waveguide… resides within my heart!

In an instant.

Chen Mo’s vision expanded once again.

Within the transparent world of interwoven black and white, Chen Mo could clearly observe every change in expression on his Pokémon’s faces.

Even Marshadow, secretly poking its head out from the Shadow World, was visible to him, along with the faint trace of worry in its expression.

However—

at that very moment.

The expressions on Pikachu and the others suddenly stopped changing.

The entire world seemed to have been paused.

Ahead of him—

dots of azure-blue light began to glow like sparks.

Then they grew brighter and brighter.

The black-and-white world gradually stretched out, as though it were being sucked toward and swallowed by the light radiating from those blue points.

The scene before Chen Mo became increasingly blurred.

Lucario in front of him.

Pikachu to his left.

Gengar to his right.

All of them were stretched into indistinct shapes until they eventually became nothing more than black lines.

Chen Mo was captivated by the bizarre sight and didn’t know what to do.

Then Lucario’s voice seemed to come from beyond the heavens.

“Lord Chen Mo, move toward the place where there is light.”

“From here on, you’ll have to rely on yourself.”

“Also, remember the most important thing.”

“You are the master of your own consciousness!”

Lucario’s voice grew fainter and fainter, as though something were cutting it off.

“The place where there is light… You mean over there?”

Chen Mo muttered to himself.

He stopped hesitating and slowly walked toward the azure-blue light.

The closer he got, the more dazzling the light became.

Chen Mo raised one hand and closed his eyes once again.

Only when the blinding light gradually weakened and even the sound of his footsteps disappeared did Chen Mo open his eyes again.

What he saw—

was an entirely different world.

He looked around.

Countless fragments resembling pieces of glass floated through a pitch-black space.

Reflected on their surfaces were scene after scene.

“This is the deepest layer of my consciousness?”

Chen Mo recognized those scenes.

They were all things he had experienced before.

Some belonged to his previous life.

Others belonged to this life.

“But what am I supposed to do next…?”

According to Lucario, the scenery revealed in the deepest layer of every living being’s consciousness was different.

What one did here had to depend entirely on oneself.

“Whatever.”

Chen Mo shook his head.

Some of Giratina’s words earlier had made him suspect that there might be something wrong with his memories.

As it happened, these fragments floating around him were all memories from his own past.

Perhaps he could find something among them.

Chen Mo realized that he could seemingly fly freely within this dark space.

With a thought, his body drifted toward the memory fragments hanging high above.

“This is!?”

After rising a certain distance, Chen Mo suddenly froze.

Using the light reflected from one of the memory fragments, he saw another fragment floating nearby.

Its surface was pitch-black and covered in scratches.

“Could it be…?”

Chen Mo focused his attention and slowly scanned the surrounding space.

Sure enough.

He found another black fragment covered in scratches.

One.

Two.

Countless fragments like it filled the space.

Because the background of this memory space was completely black, those dark fragments were almost perfectly camouflaged against their surroundings.

That was why Chen Mo hadn’t noticed them earlier.

Suddenly—

Giratina’s words from the temporal rift once again echoed in his ears.

Chen Mo stared at the black fragment before him.

His body trembled faintly.

Confusion filled his eyes.

“What exactly… have I forgotten?”

With a thought.

All the glowing memory fragments reflecting familiar scenes began to arrange themselves in perfect order around Chen Mo.

There was nothing wrong.

His memories from his previous life, followed by everything he had experienced after crossing over—

all of them connected perfectly.

In theory, nothing was missing.

And yet—

as Chen Mo stared at the black fragments scattered throughout the darkness, his confusion reached its absolute peak.

He could feel it.

Those black fragments should also have been part of his memories.

But why…?

Chen Mo subconsciously reached out toward one of them.

The instant his fingertip touched its surface—

the black fragment suddenly moved.

And it wasn’t just that one.

Every black fragment in the entire dark space shot rapidly toward the same direction.

Chen Mo had no time to think.

He hurriedly followed.

Ahead of him—

the black fragments suddenly came to a stop.

Then they began colliding with one another.

Before his eyes, they rapidly assembled into an ancient gate radiating a faint, eerie glow.

“Could it be… that if I enter this gate, I’ll find out what I’ve forgotten?”

Desperate for an answer, Chen Mo rushed toward the gate.

“Eh!?”

Just as Chen Mo placed both hands against the sides of the gate and prepared to push it open, he discovered that it didn’t move at all.

It was as though it were locked.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

After several attempts, Chen Mo was already panting.

He crouched down and stared at the gate before him.

He stepped back.

Gathered his strength.

His gaze gradually became resolute.

Chen Mo wasn’t someone who would give up easily.

And besides…

With a thought, his entire body shot toward the gate at maximum speed.

At the same time, his right fist was already fully charged.

Boom!!!

A heavy impact echoed throughout the entire dark space.

“This is my consciousness!”

Rumble…

Whether it was because Chen Mo’s attack had been fierce enough, or because of the overwhelming determination behind his desire to open the gate—

the ancient gate slowly cracked open.

A narrow gap appeared.

However—

before Chen Mo could celebrate, a powerful force of attraction suddenly surged through the opening.

Bang!!!

Chen Mo, who had been charging forward only moments ago, had no time to react.

The instant he passed through the gate, his body lost its balance and crashed heavily onto the ground.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow…”

His entire body felt sore and painful.

Chen Mo’s face twisted slightly.

It was also at this moment that he realized something.

That sensation of complete freedom he had possessed within the dark space had disappeared.

It was as though…

he had entered a place that didn’t belong to his consciousness anymore.

Blinding light came from ahead.

Chen Mo slowly opened his eyes.

A pure white world stretched before him.

Not far away, the ancient gate that had blocked his path earlier now floated within the white space.

The darkness had previously made it difficult to see its true appearance.

Now Chen Mo could finally see it clearly.

The gate seemed to have been carved from some special stone.

Even at a glance, it radiated an ancient, weathered aura.

Chen Mo observed it while slowly getting to his feet.

Then—

his movements suddenly stopped.

His pupils contracted.

An expression of disbelief appeared on his face.

“That emblem…”

At the very top of the ancient stone gate was a symbol radiating a dark-red glow.

Concentric circles.

With a triangle connected to the center.

There was no mistaking it.

It was the emblem that had once appeared in the ruins of Cangqing Mountain.

The emblem representing the Lord of the Distortion World—

Giratina!

But that wasn’t all.

Chen Mo’s gaze moved downward.

Within the patterns connecting to the bottom of the ancient stone gate were two more faintly glowing emblems.

Chen Mo recognized them instantly.

The first—

an emblem radiating a purple glow.

It represented the deity who controlled space, the one whose birth had given rise to boundless space throughout the legends—

Palkia!

The second—

an emblem radiating a blue glow.

It represented the deity who controlled time, the one whose birth had caused time itself to begin flowing—

Dialga!

Chen Mo was completely bewildered.

“Why… is there a gate like this in the deepest layer of my consciousness?”

As he stared at those three glowing emblems, Chen Mo seemed to catch glimpses of the universe, and even all creation, rapidly evolving under the influence of three overwhelming forces.

An enormous amount of information flooded into his mind.

Chen Mo couldn’t bear to keep looking.

He instinctively lowered his head.

Then he turned around and raised his head again.

And froze once more.

His entire body began trembling uncontrollably.

Ahead of him—

another ancient stone gate stood within the white space.

It radiated the same ancient, weathered aura.

But this gate emitted no strange light.

Instead, the ancient patterns engraved upon it caused Chen Mo’s mind to explode.

“Arceus…”

At the very center of the ancient stone gate was a single enormous emblem occupying most of its surface.

A wheel shaped like a cross.

There was no doubt.

It was the emblem representing Arceus.

Chen Mo couldn’t tear his eyes away.

As his gaze followed the strange patterns unfolding from the cross-shaped wheel, his head felt as though it were about to explode.

In a daze, he seemed to see the formation of the world.

The birth of the universe.

The power of creation.

The scene of creation itself.

They repeatedly replayed within Chen Mo’s mind.

The sheer volume of information caused his entire body to go limp.

Just as he was about to collapse to his knees, a voice suddenly came from ahead.

“Focus your mind!”

The voice was loud.

And familiar.

Chen Mo’s unfocused vision gradually recovered.

He suddenly snapped back to his senses and hurriedly looked away, no longer daring to pour his entire attention into that ancient stone gate.

The instant his gaze dropped—

Chen Mo saw a naked, thin figure standing beneath the ancient stone gate.

“You are…?”

Chen Mo’s gaze slowly moved upward.

He saw a familiar face beneath short black hair.

An ordinary, unremarkable face.

The kind that would disappear completely into a crowd without attracting the slightest attention.

Yet to Chen Mo—

it was incomparably familiar.

The young man spoke calmly.

“Have you forgotten what you originally looked like?”

“I…”

Chen Mo wanted to say something.

But the words seemed to catch in his throat.

He could only watch as the young man slowly approached.

Eventually, the young man stopped about four or five meters away from Chen Mo and simply sat down.

His voice sounded again.

“Don’t be nervous.”

“I’m you.”

“I just look different.”

The young man looked up at Chen Mo.

“Want to sit down and talk?”

“…”

After thinking for a moment, Chen Mo sat down as well.

A faint smile appeared on the young man’s face.

“I know you’re full of questions.”

“But I can tell you directly that I can’t answer those questions either.”

“What do you mean?”

“Let me put it this way.”

“I really have always existed here.”

“It’s just that before you opened the gate, I didn’t possess any conscious awareness.”

“After you came in, I finally became conscious, and I gained memories as well.”

“But those memories are all things you’ve experienced before.”

“As for those black memory fragments, I have no idea what’s going on either.”

“However…”

At this point, the young man turned his gaze toward the gate behind Chen Mo.

“Most of our problems probably have something to do with Giratina.”

“…”

Chen Mo stared at this other version of himself, speechless.

He wasn’t stupid.

The gate engraved with the emblems of the three gods of the Distortion World, Time, and Space was right there.

And considering the strange things Giratina had said in the temporal rift—

how could they possibly have nothing to do with it?

“Not them.”

“It’s Giratina.”

As though knowing what Chen Mo was thinking, the young man calmly corrected him.

Chen Mo froze.

“What does that mean?”

“Although I was born from you, there are some differences between us.”

“Perhaps they’re caused by those black fragments.”

“But in any case, unlike you, who feel unfamiliar with Giratina, even wary of it…”

The young man smiled faintly.

“When I think of Giratina, what I feel is something closer to familiarity.”

“And a feeling that it’s someone I can trust completely.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“…”

Chen Mo fell silent again.

His face was filled with confusion.

“Could we already be on New Game Plus?”

“Or perhaps… my future self had some kind of contact with Giratina?”

The Pokémon world was already incredibly complicated.

With its countless parallel universes and abilities capable of traversing time, Chen Mo couldn’t even figure out what kind of existence he himself was anymore.

“You’ll have to find the answer yourself.”

The young man spoke slowly.

Just as Chen Mo was about to ask another question, the young man slowly stood up.

“Looks like our time is up.”

A deep rumbling sound came from behind.

Chen Mo abruptly turned his head.

The gate engraved with the three divine emblems was slowly opening.

The force of attraction pouring from the stone gate was like countless invisible hands grabbing Chen Mo’s body and urging him to leave.

“Wait! I still haven’t figured this out!”

Chen Mo struggled desperately against the storm.

Ahead of him—

the young man spoke softly.

“We are different, yet fundamentally the same.”

“But I can feel that the restrictions are gradually being lifted.”

“And regarding your knowledge of Waveguide…”

“You should have already received it.”

“Don’t doubt Lucario and the others’ judgment.”

“That truly is our own Waveguide.”

“From this moment onward, it belongs entirely to you.”

“So…”

As the handsome young man was gradually swallowed by the gate, still shouting something indistinctly, the ordinary-looking young man smiled and slowly closed his eyes.

“Goodbye, my other self.”

Boom!

The stone gate slammed shut once again.

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