The apocalypse begins with a dungeon game.

Chapter 131 By the time you see this photo, I will already be dead.

On the body of the monster, which seemed to have been completely hollowed out and turned into a sieve, a wisp of pale golden remnant soul drifted up from nowhere.

Li Can stared intently at the shape, only to belatedly realize what it meant and was startled.

That wisp of a soul-like humanoid figure was none other than Little Monster, or perhaps the future old city lord...

His gaze was sorrowful, his eyes deep and unfathomable, filled with an unfathomable melancholy and worry.

He has a completely different personality from the naive and impulsive boy he was at that time.

Li Can was able to quickly distinguish the difference between the two.

Although it is the same person, the differences between him and others at different stages of his life are vast.

"Are you really dead or not? We've been through most of our lives together, let's talk this out. Let's remove the control effect of this [Mirror of the Past] and talk outside, how about that?"

Li Can was surrounded by a protective shield of golden energy, making his voice sound very soft and muffled.

He tried to reason with the old city lord, arguing that being trapped here like a ghost in a maze was not a good thing, no matter what.

Even if we can't get out of the mirror, we can temporarily remove the buff and let him fast-forward through the scene of jumping into the river.

He had seen how things were handled afterward, and he was still somewhat hopeful.

Of course, I certainly don't want to be killed by those perfect people in the end...

However, the old city lord's soul form floating above the monster's body seemed to be completely invisible to him.

His gaze was unfocused, gazing into the distance.

"By the time you see this photo, I should already be dead."

The old city lord spoke his first words calmly.

The moment the voice rang out, Li Can recognized from his attire that this was how he looked before committing suicide in the main hall.

It turns out that at that time, he picked up the [Mirror of the Past], charged up his energy, and poured the golden granular dragon into it, emptying his body of nutrients, in order to record a farewell to people from the past.

"For so long, I have been investigating and searching for your whereabouts in the future."

"But since you had not yet experienced the past, you were unable to recognize each other."

"I also have no way of knowing who will be who in my future life."

All I know is that two of you are defective products, and the other two are perfect people.

"While I was building the city lord's mansion in the upper city, I was also keeping an eye on everyone in the lower city."

"Until... the city suddenly exploded everywhere for no reason, destroying countless buildings. I saw a guy named Xing Dazhuang stand up in the crowd."

"He negotiated with my people from the city lord's mansion, carrying a fake family list that was longer than a piece of toilet paper, and finally obtained the authority at my behest."

"He was quite satisfied, so he drove his tractor over again, ready to demolish my casino..."

"Until I saw a young man named Yang Mo, who had been hiding his ambitions for many years, lying in wait, leading the Ironblood Mech Team, and fighting his way into the City Lord's Mansion."

"...until I saw two other young girls, one lively and kind-hearted, the other calm and resourceful."

"Until the four of you close the palace doors and stand before me."

"I know it's you, you've finally appeared, but it's too late for us to meet."

The more I try to grasp something, the less I can hold onto it.

"Only by opening the Mirror of the Past can everything be brought to a close. We met in the past, you will succeed in the future, and my price is to pay with my entire life."

"If I could truly be indifferent, I could simply run away or kill you all; there would be no need to go this far."

"But I was too greedy. I wanted an outcome. I wanted you to remember me."

I want you to remember me for all eternity...

"Therefore, the flying collector I created back then failed and was dissolved in the darkness."

"Even though I was covered in wounds, you were the one who dragged me out and never gave up on saving me, right... Xing Dazhuang?"

"This time it's my turn to step in front of you. After you all traveled through time, I achieved the second level of jump."

"Those golden energies were not tamed and would not normally protect anyone. I used a little trick."

"That's all I'm capable of."

"...By the way, remember that using the Mirror of Past Lives is extremely dangerous. Although it can allow people to see their past memories, or even travel directly to the past."

"But this would cost a person's entire life as collateral."

"Even I, with countless transformative energies on my body as the activation condition, cannot bear it."

"After I die, you will be separated from the Mirror of Past Lives. I have set a self-destruct mode, and it will be completely destroyed from the world."

"I do not want to see any of you inherit it and follow in my footsteps."

"So, don't even think about getting your hands on this thing, especially you, Xing Dazhuang."

"Time is running out. My last request is that after you jump into the river from the darkness with my past body, you must go through the process of the flashbacks I showed you."

"Avoid impulsively changing the course of the plot."

Before I leave, I still want to say one thing to you: Thank you.

"..."

After a long silence, just as Li Can's emotions shifted from shock to calm, then to astonishment, and finally to acceptance, he thought the old city lord had finished speaking.

He then began to huff and puff as he carried the small monsters, preparing to continue his escape.

"There shouldn't be any more ghost walls this time." Li Can sprinted forward, taking three steps at a time.

Then, a supplementary, emphatic remark suddenly came from behind the group:

"And one more thing! Ask that brat Yang Mo for me if he regrets knowing about the past!"

Li Can was so startled that she almost tripped over her own feet and got herself into a tight knot.

After saying these words, the old city lord vanished completely, having finally finished his explanation.

As Li Can ran wildly through the darkness, he recalled the time when he "forced the emperor to abdicate" at the city lord's mansion.

The old city lord did indeed ask Yang Mo repeatedly, asking questions like, "Will you regret it?"

This guy, even on his deathbed, was still concerned about this point.

A faint glimmer of light appeared ahead, indicating that the thick black curtain was finally nearing its end.

Li Can shook off the jumbled thoughts in his mind, and carrying the unconscious and dying Xiao Guai and the other three people inside his body, he leaped from the riverbank near the edge of the black curtain.

"Bang!" The little monster's body was large, and the area of ​​impact was also large, so the water splashed out with a loud bang.

"Splash!" Li Can felt that his current size was about the same as that of a kitten or puppy. The feeling of weightlessness when he fell was chaotic.

The icy river water continuously washed away the particles of dark matter that clung to them.

The sun hung high overhead.

It's as if you've been baptized by this river, and no matter what problems you encounter in the future, they won't be a difficult thing.

He felt this strange psychological feedback and finally dared to relax his mind to recall what the little monster had said in the darkness.

His tone of voice and the way he looked in the photos, every move he made, were so real.

Everything seems to still be vivid in my mind's eye, still echoing in my ears.

His mind was in turmoil.

What followed was almost identical to the flashback scene that accelerated the passage of time.

The golden dragon carried them from the river to the opposite bank, where two figures, one large and one small, lay panting on the grass.