Ye Cang shook his head, casting aside distracting thoughts.
He stopped imagining the tragedies that might be unfolding on the space station and instead recalled the useful information conveyed in Asta’s distress message: “Not just the Antimatter Legion…
the space station has been contaminated…
it’s…
an unknown…
meme…” “It all…
started…
when Madam Herta…
had an audience with…
Nous…” “…Everyone is…” Wait, Madam Herta had an audience with Nous?
Does that mean the voice he heard after replying was Herta’s?
[O all-knowing existence, I ask of you—] [What is divinity?] So, just because he heard Herta’s voice, he was contaminated by the meme?
Or was he contaminated by the “question” itself?
Why would Herta seek an audience with Nous at this time?
And why would she ask such a slightly offensive and presumptuous question?
Ye Cang didn’t know the answers to these questions, nor could he deduce the specific mechanics of the memetic contamination—unless he courted death a few more times.
That was not a pleasant experience.
A sudden idea struck him.
His gaze fell upon the only object with color in this grey world—a black-covered diary lying open on the table.
The *Death Diary*.
Ye Cang’s eyes lit up.
Could it be that in the [Dimensional Ascent] state, he could modify the diary on the spot?
How was that any different from using cheats?
Whatever.
If he wasn’t banned, it didn’t count!
He quickly walked to the low table, knelt down, and flipped open the *Death Diary* with one hand while reaching for the nearby fountain pen with the other.
However, he soon froze in place.
Though he could flip the pages of the *Death Diary*, he couldn’t touch the fountain pen—his hand passed through it without any resistance, sinking directly into the low table underneath.
Right.
He was currently a “spirit.” He couldn’t interact with any physical entities except for this diary, which didn’t exist in the physical world.
Ye Cang’s eyes dimmed, and he gave a bitter, self-deprecating smile.
“Was it just a false hope in the end?” He stood up, feeling a bit disappointed, but quickly rallied his spirits, his gaze turning resolute once more.
Everything that exists has its reason.
To exist is to be rational!
Since the *Death Diary* could exist in the [Dimensional Ascent] state, it meant he must be able to rewrite its contents in this state!
He paced slowly, staring at every person and object in the train car…
including his own corpse.
Suddenly, Ye Cang stopped.
He knelt down and quietly studied March 7th’s tear-stained, lovely face.
Feeling a sudden pang of sympathy, he instinctively raised his hand and gently wiped away the tear on the girl’s cheek.
“Alright, alright, don’t cry.
I’m not actually dead.” “Since I was a kid, no girl besides my mom has ever cried for me like this.” “After all, we’ve only known each other for a day.
Our relationship isn’t quite at the point where…” He suddenly froze, looking down at the tear resting on his fingertip.
It seemed he understood.
He quickly pulled out the *Death Diary*, dipped his finger in the blood from his own corpse, and wrote ten large characters at the end of the day’s entry: “Death” “Dimensional Ascent” “Blood and Tears” “Do Not Answer” After doing all this, he suddenly felt his body rising rapidly out of his control.
He broke through the ceiling of the Astral Express and entered the dead silence of the cosmos.
His speed grew faster and faster, until the entire galaxy, the entire universe, and even the massive Imaginary Tree appeared beneath him, laid out like a boundless, gargantuan sandbox before suddenly blurring!
Everything seemed to fall into eternal peace and darkness.
Until the first ray of light in the universe tore through the shroud of silence.
Countless shattered images drifted toward him like snowflakes accompanying that light, streaking past him like shooting stars toward the earth.
He saw monsters walking in the train carriages, a corrupted Aeon of Elation, the brewing of the Abundance potion, the gaze of the Merciful Medicus, the fall of Herta Space Station…
But those images were far too blurry; at most, he could only discern vague shapes and patches of color.
These must be the scenes that the previous host, “Cang,” had witnessed before his death.
Ye Cang remained silent.
It wasn’t that he was cold and indifferent to the previous host’s plight, but these scenes passed by too quickly like a revolving lantern.
He didn’t even have time to see them clearly or understand their meaning before they brushed past him and vanished into the eternal darkness.
As he struggled to take in the dizzying display, he also had to think about the connections between them, leaving him no time for other thoughts.
Perhaps all the memories consumed by the *Death Diary* were stored in this dark void.
Did that mean…
One day, he might be able to recover all the lost memories here?
Ye Cang’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks.
The light, seemingly originating from the birthplace of the universe, grew brighter and brighter, until it completely filled his vision, transforming the endless “black” into a vast, boundless “white.” Then, he saw…
a blinding surgical light.
“Beep…
Beep…
Beep…” “Beeeeeeep—” “Patient has cardiac arrest!
Administer shock immediately!” “Keep the oxygen flowing!
Energy at 360 Joules!” “Three, two, one, clear!” *Thump!* Ye Cang gasped.
He felt a powerful electric current surge through his body.
His entire frame convulsed, vaulting high into the air before crashing heavily back onto the bed.
His vision, which had just recovered, plunged back into darkness.
He could only faintly hear a woman’s weeping: “Ugh…
Doctor, please, I beg you, save my son!
He’s still just a child…” “His life hasn’t even begun yet…
*sob*…” “Ma’am, please calm down.
We are doing everything we can to save him.
No matter the outcome, all medical staff will fight until the very last second.” “Mom, Big Brother…
*sob*…” “It’s alright, Xiao Qiong…
Your brother…
will surely get through this…” “…” The voices stopped abruptly.
Ye Cang opened his eyes once more, his hands waving weakly as if trying to grab onto something, but he only opened his mouth in a futile, silent gasp, suppressing the tumultuous emotions swelling within his chest.
He had returned to the Astral Express.
Only this time, he wasn’t in his own room, but on the soft sofa of the Parlor Car.
And upon the youth’s handsome face, tears were streaming down at some point.
Mr.
Yue’s meaningful words suddenly surfaced in his mind: “As long as you want to, you can actually go back at any time…
of course, that is only after you understand what the ‘Eerie Cataclysm’ is.”