The second son told me that after we left the sewers, people arrived—and they arrived quickly, bringing troops with them. It seemed they had been tracking us all along; it was a premeditated ambush.
"So the one who escaped was the third son, and the eldest is still locked up?"
The second son squeezed my hand, indicating that was the case.
Fine, fine. To think that Liu Xiaoyu, who just a few days ago was clamoring inside my belly for cake, was now leaving a trail of blood and corpses in his wake... The key was that as long as you gave him a piece of cake, he would surely lose all dignity, drool, and follow you anywhere. I felt deeply sorry for the humans and gods he had killed. Sometimes, the line between life and death was nothing more than a fragrant little cake.
We quickly found the laboratory where the eldest was being held. To be precise, it was a warehouse. When the third son fled, the eldest hadn't had time to be unchained. He was locked in an iron crate, which he had now mostly gnawed through. After not seeing him for a day, he had actually grown to be four stories tall. He was miserably curled up in the center of the warehouse, his massive head resting on the ground. The moment I stepped into the warehouse, he let out a low rumble and lifted his head. "Ye Xiao, they’re here."
I took a step back, clutching my gun. My son had learned to speak within a week of being born. Although he refused to call me "Mom," and his voice didn't match his appearance at all, he seemed to have a good temperament—gentle and soft-spoken.
As soon as he finished speaking, I noticed Zhang Litian and Old Chu standing in my eldest son's shadow. They stood between me and my young master.
The second son stepped forward to shield me. "They are no match for you. Do exactly as I say in a moment."
I stared at the back of his head, wondering who exactly was the son here.
Just as he finished speaking, the door behind us slammed shut with a bang. When the second son and I turned around, we found the door had vanished right before our eyes. Simultaneously, the light filtering in from several vents dimmed rapidly.
"This conversation requires an absolutely secure space," Zhang Litian said.
"No one wants to talk to you," my second son shot back coolly.
His tone and voice were far too similar to Old Liu’s. Looking at his silhouette, I had the fleeting illusion that Old Liu was standing right there.
But in the next second, Old Chu swiped through the air and sent my son flying! Each generation truly was worse than the last; Old Liu was always the one doing the swatting!
I panicked instantly! I flicked off the safety and fired, but the bullets seemed to vanish into thin air. Seeing that Zhang Litian and Old Chu made no further moves, I warily lunged forward, pulling my second son into my arms to protect him.
Zhang Litian’s amber eyes fixed on the boy. "You are a replica, but none of you are whole. You might think you are him, but you aren't. Realize this: all of your consciousness is merely a copy. Otherwise, he will kill you before we even make our move."
"What are you saying? Who wants to kill my second young master?"
Zhang Litian shifted his gaze to me and narrowed his eyes. "He is not your family, nor is he of your bloodline. He has nothing to do with you. He is not the product of your sexual union; none of them are. They are four warriors he cloned using genetic material. Each possesses a portion of his attributes. They are backups, meant to protect him normally, and to kill you when necessary."
WTF!
"Ye Xiao, it’s not like that. Don't listen to him," my eldest son said.
Zhang Litian told him to shut up. "You may be Wisdom, but you are not Memory. Let Memory speak."
With that, both he and Old Chu stared at the second son.
In my arms, the second son gasped for breath, remaining silent.
"You are his memory?" I held him, feeling like I was going crazy. "You inherited all of Liu Wukong’s memories? He actually wants to kill me?!"
The second son was just as much of a brooding type as the original; he didn't say a damn word at a time like this.
I could only ask Zhang Litian: "Why?!"
"Have you ever heard of twin brothers?" Zhang Litian asked. "You always thought you were only gestating three deities, but in fact, the third and fourth are twins. One is Light, the other is Shadow. You have only seen Light, never Shadow. But Shadow does exist."
I was trembling. "What are you trying to say?"
"You are also Liu Wukong’s twin brother, Ye Xiao. In our eyes, there is no way to distinguish between the two of you. I didn't attack you on purpose; I simply couldn't tell you apart." As he spoke, a mirror appeared before me. I realized that in the reflection, I and the boy I was holding shared the exact same face...
"Liu Wukong, as the Chief God, is incomplete, because from the very beginning, there were two Chief Gods. Two is one, and one is two. This is why in all mythologies, outside the domain of the Almighty Lord, there always exists a rebellious force that never admits defeat. Light and Shadow fight eternally, slaughtering each other forever. That is you. You are the Titan, the Giant, Shiva, Set, Satan. You are the war that never ends. You never compromise."
Zhang Litian took two steps toward me, then retreated under the aim of my gun, raising his hands. "He is continuously weakening; he is about to die. That is why he wants you. He wants to return to a state of wholeness, but at that moment, you will vanish. You can go ask him; he is the embodiment of Truth, he cannot lie. You can ask him all of this, or ask his memory."
I looked at the face in the mirror that was identical to mine. The second son said nothing. His tightly pressed lips made my entire body turn cold.
"He imprisoned us in the sunless abyss; this has gone on long enough. Do you still want to go back? To wear shackles forever, to be tortured forever, without end." Zhang Litian slowly walked forward and extended his hand. "The one who shattered our prison was you. The one who kills him should also be you. Once we release Ouroboros, sleeping at the bottom of the abyss, everything can finally end."
I stared at that hand, feeling time stretch out exceptionally long. Zhang Litian was very patient, waiting for the moment I would speak.
"So, what you're saying is... I'm not exactly a 'good guy' either?"
Zhang Litian arched an eyebrow. "Dualistic morality is the standpoint of foolish humans."
"I *am* a foolish human." I slowly climbed to my feet, helping up my stiff second son. "And foolish humans are actually very complicated—much more complicated than you... uh, yeah, you guys. For example, even if he wants to kill me, I still won't lift a finger against him, let alone because of a few words from you. Hermes, your reputation isn't great. Lu Daoshi even suspects you're Loki. All the world's deceits come from your mouth. If you dare to tempt me again, I would be more than happy to throw you all into the Great Hell—Lao Er, do you know how your dad turns gods into oil?"
The second son clutched his chest and coughed twice, looking at them with cold eyes. "It’s very simple."
Zhang Litian took a step back, shaking his head. "You truly are still so foolish and barbaric."
At that moment, a massive sound erupted from outside. The entire warehouse was being crushed like building blocks. It felt as though things were crawling all over the exterior, ripping away the reinforced concrete walls and tossing them aside. Large chunks of brick fell, mixed with a thin spray of lime powder. I saw the pale moonlight shining in; it was already night outside.
Zhang Litian and Old Chu’s expressions changed drastically. Before they could leave, my third son gripped the outer wall and poked his head in. Beside him were the pitch-black, glistening Abyss Sentinels. The third son was still hideous and wretched-looking. He pushed aside the roof and lowered his head toward me, roaring excitedly at the two across from us. As he roared, his translucent light-blue body, bloated to the point of being see-through, began to contract, as if he were charging up a finishing move. Green saliva dripped down in front of me, causing the floor tiles to hiss with smoke. I quickly helped the second son retreat. Reaching the end of the warehouse, the door we had entered through reappeared, and someone was knocking on the other side. I summoned my courage and opened it; Ren Xing and Lu Daoshi scrambled inside.
"What is going on here!"
Pale-faced, I shook my head. The room had descended into a total brawl. I originally thought that with the Abyss Sentinels and the third son here, things would be settled, but they were followed by all sorts of grotesquely shaped monsters crawling in from outside to besiege them. Some even tried to attack me, but they were all swatted away by the second son. It seemed that while he couldn't beat Zhang Litian or Old Chu, he could still handle these low-level subordinate divine races.
Our side was doing okay, but the most endangered was actually my eldest son. He lay there unable to move, and anyone passing by could give him a stab. I even saw Zhang Litian condense a beam of light in his right hand, moving toward him amidst the chaos!
My eldest young master asked the second son in despair: "How do I transform?!"
The second young master rattled off a long string of words in some unknown dialect. Then I saw the eldest's massive body flash. The light Zhang Litian thrust down blasted a meter-wide hole in the floor. A moment later, a pale, tall young man stumbled through the battlefield. When he was about two meters away from us, he was nearly impaled by a severed limb falling from the sky, but Ren Xing finally pulled him over.
Seeing me, he brushed the dust off the elbow of his suit and smiled. "Ye Xiao."
What could I say? "...H-hello."
The eldest actually shook my hand. "It’s not that we are entirely unrelated by blood. According to Zhang Litian, if you are Father’s twin brother, then we should at least be uncle and nephew. Furthermore, we stayed inside your belly for a time; we are absolutely family. I’m embarrassed to call you 'Mom' only because I look more mature than you; you might not be used to it."
When our eldest young master became human, he was truly a striking figure—handsome and imposing, even wearing gold-rimmed glasses. He looked like a real member of the social elite. I was still in a T-shirt and cargo shorts, wearing flip-flops, so I said sheepishly, "...It’s fine."
The second son hugged me from behind, resting his head on my shoulder and nuzzling me. "Mom."
Oh crap. Critical hit.
I patted him. "Good boy."
The eldest glared at him.
"By the way... can the third son beat them?"
The eldest rolled up his shirt sleeves and watched the battle leisurely. "He replicated Father’s primordial power. He is very strong, but he doesn't know how to use it. The opposition, however, is very experienced."
The second son said calmly, "I know how to use it, and I have experience in war, but I have no power."
The eldest and second sons looked at each other. "One of us is Memory, the other is Wisdom."
Lu Daoshi chimed in, "Are you the two ravens on Odin’s shoulders from the legends?"
He then looked at the third son, who was fighting like a whirlwind in the center of the warehouse, and the shadow on the wall that was clearly out of sync with him. "And they are the twin wolves beneath the Chief God’s throne. I finally understand. The twin wolves have the same name—Geri and Freki both mean 'greedy' or 'gluttonous'—but they are two individuals because they are twins!" This time, he didn't even need to make it a question.
My head throbbed. I had long suspected Liu Wukong was a Virgo; every single attribute had to be categorized so clearly.
Having confirmed their identities, Lu Daoshi grabbed my second son. "Is there a way to kill those two? At least one of them is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."
The second son stared at Old Chu. "He is the god who first controlled the soil. All things are born of dust and return to dust. Life and glory, rot and decay, all belong to him. Thus, he can bring the spring equinox, but he can also bring plague. The only thing that can kill the spring equinox is the autumn equinox. What day is it today?"
Ren Xing checked his watch. "The autumn equinox has passed. It was yesterday."
They all turned to look at me in unison.
Me: "Why me?"
Ren Xing pointed at me. "Time control. When I was turned into oil, the time on my body was altered. I fermented in that corner under high temperature and pressure for millions of years, do you know that?"
Me: "Holy shit."
Ren Xing: "Later, he turned time back five minutes. You’re familiar with that scene, aren't you? Can you give it a try?"
"I’m very familiar." I swept my gaze over all of them. "But what I don't understand is why you all know who I am. My eldest and second young masters—one is Liu Wukong’s memory, the other is his wisdom—it makes sense for them to know. But why do you, Lu Daoshi and Ren Xing, know that I have the ability to reset time?"
Lu Daoshi said shamelessly, "I guessed."
Ren Xing stole a glance at him. "He told me after he guessed right."
I was so angry I wanted to roll up my sleeves and fight them, you know? But then the eldest stopped me, pointing at Ren Xing’s watch. "The watch is running backward."
A sight I had only ever seen at a watch repair stall was now happening: the second hand blurred into an arc of light. The minute hand wound back circle after circle. The hour hand slowly crawled toward yesterday. The sun vanished rapidly from west to east, the shifting light in the warehouse moving too fast for the eyes to adjust. Then night fell, and the moon rose to the center of the sky.
The eldest curled his lips into an elegant smile.
"Father is here."
***
