1942 “Zero”
As for the purpose of doing so, Meng Chao noticed that most of the dead big-headed monster babies were showing slight signs of dissolving. Both ends of their bodies were connected and fusing together.

They were like amalgamated ice sculptures after melting and freezing again.

Crystal wires that were as thin as hair winded around their vertebrae that connected to each other.

This was quite similar to what he had seen outside. He, Lu Siya, and all the rescue team members had been tied up too.

He found many corpses of the big-headed monster babies. Their skulls were also covered in black scorch marks from the inside out, and their brains had burned away long ago.

Therefore, when the big-headed babies were alive, they were trapped in a nightmare of infinite reincarnations just like him. Back then, did they provide the ancient civilization’s decision-makers with endless “future possibilities”?

Meng Chao swallowed a mouthful of bitingly cold saliva.

He did not know whether the weird big-headed babies had volunteered or had been forced into becoming supercomputing units. Perhaps they had no self-awareness at all and had been subjected to genetic modification in the embryonic stage. Their limbs were weakened to the limit, and their brains were expanded to the limit. They could have been sent here as soon as they were born. Hence, they got lost in the endless hell that was collapsing and rebuilding as some kind of “computational network.”

No matter which possibility it was, it made one’s hair stand on end.

In the ancient war between the Ancients and the ferocious prehistoric beasts, Meng Chao had always subconsciously sided with the former.

Even if the former’s space-based orbital weapons had destroyed Dragon City at the end of the apocalypse, the former had at least created a brilliant civilization and possessed the appearance and social form of humans. In a sense, it was easier for the people on Earth to understand and relate to them.

It was only at this moment that Meng Chao realized that the Earthlings’ understanding of the Ancients and the essence of the ancient civilization was too shallow and puerile.

It was not easy for any civilization to survive. They had to pay an indescribable price, more so when it was a super civilization that could create a “transmigration engine” to travel across the universe.

“Fire Relayer, you’re finally here.”

At that moment, Meng Chao heard a gentle voice behind him.

At the same time, the Kindling and Contribution System that had been dormant for a long time were activated deep in Meng Chao’s brain. A tremendous amount of information was projected before his eyes.

It felt like his nerves were being torn apart, but he endured the excruciating pain. When he turned around, he saw a tall, beautiful, and bloodied Ancient floating in the middle of the secret chamber.

Even the most perfect marble statue on Earth could not capture one ten-thousandth of this woman’s essence.

Her facial features, limbs, hair, and even translucent internal organs that could be vaguely seen through her skin that was as thin as a cicada’s wing seemed to match the universe’s best proportions.

She looked like an intelligent humanoid creature. After several billion years of evolution and self-modification, she had reached the perfect state.

Before her, humans, Turan orcs, Holy Light humans, and other humanoid creatures were nothing more than apes with hair, or even bizarre-shaped insects.

There were no holes, gaps, or anything that could be considered an “orifice” in her body.

Meng Chao did not sense any movement either when she passed through the crystal wall and moved.

It was as if she had been quietly floating there since the day the ancient ruins were sealed billions of years ago. She had been waiting for the Fire Relayer’s arrival.

Wait a minute, a fire relayer?

The familiar name made Meng Chao’s pupils contract to the size of two needles.

He realized that whether it was kindness or malice, help or use, support or destruction, the truth of everything was right before his eyes. The final curtain had been lifted.

“Who are you?”

Meng Chao stared at the flawless crystal Ancient. He emphasized his words and repeated, “What… are you?”

The flawless crystal person laughed.

Her smile stirred up a storm of information in his mind.

The Deafening Roar of Ten Thousand Waves was her name.

She was, or at least claimed to be, the origin of everything, the end of all things, and the endless path between the origin and the end.
She was the embodiment of the ancient civilization and also the legacy of the ancient civilization.

She was the blade of the ancient civilization, the seed of the ancient civilization, and the billions of possibilities that had never really happened in the ancient civilization.

Her name was too long and too mysterious. Just trying to understand her name made Meng Chao’s brain ring with an alarm that was about to explode. Crimson blood flowed out from the corners of his eyes, nostrils, ear canals, and mouth.

“Don’t try to comprehend my name with your understanding. It’s futile for a carbon-based life form at your level.”

The perfect crystal Ancient spoke in a way that Meng Chao could understand. Her vocal organs vibrated and stirred the air. “You can simply call me Zero. Zero gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things. Zero is the origin, and zero is everything. And everything, no matter how brilliant, colorful, or magnificent, will eventually return to zero and walk toward destruction.”

“Zero…”

Meng Chao panted heavily.

She did not emanate any murderous intent or oppression, and it was very likely that she was just an illusion in the virtual world.

Even so, Meng Chao still felt a pressure that was even heavier than facing hundreds of Apocalyptic Beasts.

He bit the tip of his tongue hard and used the pain to keep himself awake. “You called me Fire Relayer, so the Kindling and Contribution Point System in my head were all your doing?”

“No, you’ve misunderstood.”

Of course, Zero could not answer his questions.

Nevertheless, she patiently explained with a calm expression, “As the inheritor of the ancient civilization, most intelligent humanoid creatures in this universe have the Kindling that has been passed down from generation to generation deep inside their brains. The Earthlings are no exception.

“However, too much time has passed. In the long years of living alone, most of the intelligent humanoid creatures have forgotten their ancient mission and sacred responsibilities. The Kindling deep within their brains has naturally vanished into nothingness.

“Only a very small number of intelligent humanoid creatures can remember their mission after hearing my summoning. They can ignite the Kindling and become a Fire Relayer.”