Wise was stunned; he didn’t understand anything that was happening. He was lost in the Extracosmos a second ago and now he was standing in an empty white room.

  Opposite him stood a figure, back turned. The figure turned slowly.

  It looked exactly like him.

  Or rather, exactly like Lu Zhiheng.

  ‘Lu Zhiheng who?’

  Just as the thought occurred, a sudden burst of information flooded him.

  Thousands of different vistas of life flashed before his eyes, including his time after exiting the Extracosmos.

  The original Lu Zhiheng was long dead. He was Lu Zhiheng now. And the one standing before him was also him? Maybe Lu Zhiheng’s remaining consciousness? Maybe a heart demon?

  “So, you were the one peeking and doing all that? And here I was suspecting Sky.”

  "We finally made it, huh?" the figure said, disregarding Wise’s question. Its voice was identical to his own thoughts.

  “It seems so,” Wise replied calmly.

  "You never really cared about all the people you killed, did you?" The figure looked upward with his hands clasped behind his back.

  “I am regretful about it. If I could, I would’ve preferred not to. There was a reason why I went as far as to personally go to mars to activate #939. Everything I did was necessary for the whole plan to work. And it worked, didn’t it?”

  "What if you still can't succeed? What will you do then?"

  “I'll keep trying until I die, I guess. Why do you think I want to achieve longevity? True immortality? Eternal life? The only case where I don't succeed is when I die and if I die what is there to do then?”

  “Hah, you are afraid of death.” The figure mocked.

  “No, I am not.”

  “Then why were you crying?”

  “You want me to be happy when I was actually dying? I was content with the way I lived my life but not that content. And after Sky told me that a world with infinite possibilities exists, I died in such a way, what do you think I’d feel?”

  "And what about leaving your mother and father like that?" the figure challenged aloud looking at him straight in the eyes.

  "You had a chance to give them a better life, yet you didn't. The moment Sky appeared, you jumped into her shenanigans.

  And now? What are you going to do—live with your pathetic new life? Forget them as if they never existed? Just continue chasing your dreams while abandoning those who gave birth to you? You really are the worst scum on the planet, aren't you? What would your parents think if they saw you now? Going around killing millions?"

  Wise smiled faintly; their faces still vivid in his mind.

  "No. I never forgot them. They gave me everything I have today—my dreams, my purpose, all of it is possible because of them.

  But they also wanted me to live freely. They wanted me to pursue what I want and follow it to eternity, no matter what.

  They lived a great life and died as they wanted."

  His voice grew quieter.

  “They lived however they wanted, they both died content, with a smile on their faces. I didn’t.

  Father… he didn't die in a workplace accident. And mother...

  You should know the reason.” Wise looked at him, his expression indifferent.

  At that moment, he could feel something inside him healing rapidly. It felt as if his head was muddled before but then everything became clear. Not to mention that he could now feel his soul as clear as day. It was more vivid and much purer than before.

  The figure opposite him smiled back.

  Instantly, countless chains erupted from nowhere, binding the figure's hands, mouth, and legs.

  In the center of the white room, an altar appeared. On the altar lay a small dagger.

  The dagger was slightly bigger than a kunai knife, shaped like a miniature spear tip fused on top of a crescent blade doused with red, black, and purple. While the hilt was made of a certain type of wood that he didn’t recognize.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Wise—now Lu Zhiheng—picked up the dagger and found it strangely comfortable in his hands, to the point it felt as if the dagger was a part of his own body.

  Instinctively, Lu Zhiheng knew what he was meant to do. He had to stab the figure with the dagger and end it all.

  But he didn't.

  Instead, he picked up the dagger, tucked it into his breast pocket in his robe, and sat down to meditate. He focused on his soul trying to get a better understanding of it.

  The fragment was relentless, a few minutes later it sent a message.

  [Kill the split soul using ‘Heaven’s Efface’ to gain true control of your soul and body.]

  Lu Zhiheng opened one eye to look at the message and ignored it completely.

  [Beware if you choose to make peace with the split soul you may face many setbacks in future, including but not limited to betrayal, disagreements, infighting or various complications related to growth.]

  [Are you sure what you are doing is worth it?]

  Lu Zhiheng saw the warning and waved his hand closing all of the messages. He didn’t say anything and continued his meditation.

  …

  After what felt like three hours of perfect stillness, a crack echoed through the pristine whiteness. The room shattered.

  He was back in the small, familiar room from before.

  A screen materialized in the air before him.

  [You have relived your past with a brave mind and strong willpower.]

  [You have no Uncertainties in your soul.]

  [You have completed the Soul Awakening Trial.]

  [You have received the Soul Gift.]

  [Congratulations, you have received a gift from The Fragment due to your exceptional feats and endless potential.]

  [Congratulations, Unawakened. You are now a Ranked.]

  In a flash, he was teleported to another sterile, white room.

  [Please wait a few moments. The Second Trial will commence shortly…]

  Lu Zhiheng looked at the hovering screen. A sensation, foreign for centuries, bubbled up from his core. It began as a tremor, then grew into a shuddering laugh.

  “I'm back!

  After so many years.

  After so much work.

  After so many sacrifices.

  Finally, I'm standing exactly where I always imagined myself to be."

  "Hahahahaha!"

  The sound of laughter came again, this time it originated from behind him. Lu Zhiheng turned around slowly to see.

  …

  Seeing the figure in front of him, he remembered the time when it first started.

  At that time, Wise’s sole focus had been his work. Beyond using wealth to sate his base physical desires, he had severed almost every genuine, meaningful connection to other people.

  He spoke to them, of course; he was a master of performance, effortlessly crafting masks to make others believe in a persona, but within, he remained utterly indifferent, a solitary island in a sea of humanity.

  Trust was a foreign concept. He couldn't confide in anyone, not humans, not machines, not even AI—Nana being taken over was evident enough—nothing except himself.

  The reason?

  A belief he held sacred: If you can't even keep your own secrets, how can you expect others to?

  This philosophy had propelled him to the zenith of his career without even a single scandal staining his name. It helped him in ways that he didn’t even know about.

  The sole breach of secrets, his human experimentation secret, occurred precisely because he hadn't been the sole participant from the start; the conspiracy had begun with multiple accomplices.

  That failure vindicated his isolation perpetually, reinforced his conviction tenfold.

  Yet, despite his iron will, he was human, after all, and he craved the things all humans crave: recognition, companionship, a witness to his existence. He wanted someone to talk to, someone to share with, someone who could acknowledge his brilliance.

  He was no romantic fool who believed immortality demanded solitude; but no one ever came close enough, or rather, he simply permitted no one to cross the threshold.

  So, he walked his path alone, steadfast in his goal.

  Until the day the silence became too heavy, his own voice began echoing back.

  A second persona. A second identity.

  He had gone insane.

  At first, it was quiet murmurs in the dark. Then full conversations.

  Even then, with a corner of his mind aware of his fraying sanity, he maintained the facade.

  Then came the extracosmos.

  In that lightless, soundless vacuum where he drifted for an eternity without food, water, or air. With only his own existence for company, the nascent personality grew, nurtured by infinite solitude, evolving from a whisper into a distinct, vivid presence.

  …

  The figure was still laughing, head thrown back, eyes alight with manic glee.

  “Hahahahaha!”

  A slow smile crept onto Lu Zhiheng’s face, which then erupted into his own peal of laughter.

  “Hahahahaha!”

  “I can’t believe we succeeded,” the figure mused, its laughter subsiding into a sigh of profound relief.

  “What happened to you? You seem… different” Lu Zhiheng asked, his mirth fading into solemn curiosity.

  “Long and complicated,” the figure replied.

  "Based on my understanding, I think, when we first re-entered the universe, the transition ruptured our soul, shattering it into many fragments.

  Although we should have died the moment our soul shattered, we didn’t die. Our prolonged exposure to the Extracosmos might have caused some changes.

  And at the critical moment, instead of shattering into infinite pieces, the ruptured soul nearly split into two actual souls: one major, one minor, both hovering on the precipice of death, along with countless, irrecoverable pieces.” The figure continued.

  “When we merged with Lu Zhiheng, we took over his body and consumed his soul to repair our own, buying a sliver of continued life. I took the majority and you took the minority. While on the other hand you took the majority of our original soul.

  Then the Soul Trial started and he and I were both sent into the same soul trial. I killed him in his own soul trial. His remaining soul fragments were already much weaker than mine, so I was able to take over. I still don’t understand how but I did. And after the soul trial was over, I was given a choice by The Fragment to sabotage you and take over.”

  “You think Fragment helped you with all the complicated stuff?”

  “I am ninety percent sure. Oh, on that note did I mention that I didn’t actually sabotage your trial? All I did was to gather important memories otherwise we would have lost all the crucial moments of our life and only the useless ones would remain. You should try, I don’t think you will remember anything other than important events of our life.”

  “That too shouldn’t be possible according to how the soul and memories work. But still you did all of that with just a few memories of our teenage and final years as an anchor for your identity? That’s impressive.” Lu Zhiheng clapped in admiration.

  “Anyways now that our initial connection is restored, let’s check that gift from the Fragment.”

  The figure gestured toward the air as an interface materialized before them both.

  Name: Lu Zhiheng (Lu Yi, Lu Er)

  Age: 16

  Species: Human

  Soul Gift: Equisentia (1%), Barriera (1%)

  Rank: Acolyte (Rank 1)

  Ranked Spells {Grade}: Massless (1%) {D}, Wood Barrier (1%) {E}

  Physical Forms: Human Form (current), Unseen Shroud Void Body {unavailable} {95% merged}

  [Unawakened]