Super Righteous Player-Chapter 1202 - 243: Ash within Ashes, Shadow Within Shadows
Chapter 1202: Chapter 243: Ash within Ashes, Shadow Within Shadows
"Let me step peacefully into the grave—you only need to pray."
Annan murmured softly, "The unfortunate ones shall sacrifice themselves to the furnace of misfortune. My hands shall be scorched, thereby becoming strong; my feet shall be scorched, thereby becoming nimble. My pupils shall be scorched like glaze, thereby allowing me to gaze upon the chariot of the heavens..."
At this point, Annan suddenly paused.
He immediately asked Naifertali, "What kind of furnaces are inside the Grey Tower?!"
Naifertali, upon hearing this, paused slightly as well.
Then she quickly realized everything.
In a rush, she said, "Right below this floor! The Grey Tower has only one furnace... We didn’t know what it was for before. Generally, it’s used by the professor to incinerate some documents and books, and we call it the Incinerator of Corpses... because whoever goes in there, never comes out again..."
The Incinerator of Corpses—this could indeed be understood as a "grave," or as the "furnace of misfortune"!
He was planning to incinerate himself, to meet the chariot of the heavens...
"Dark Quadrant!"
Annan shouted loudly.
Dark Quadrant also realized at the first moment upon receiving the instruction... what Annan wanted to do.
"I understand!"
He said, placing his hand on the floor of the Grey Tower.
The floor lit up with electric blue patterns that spread out from the palm of his hand and crept across the surrounding floor... After covering about two-thirds of the room, they suddenly all turned red.
"Be careful!"
Dark Quadrant gave a word of caution, "If you can fly, then fly up first. Don’t fall down! Counting down, three, two, one—"
As his voice fell.
The floor beneath them was blown up with a thunderous explosion!
Under the increasingly skilled demolition techniques of Dark Quadrant, the blasted hole was very smooth, a perfect circle. Not a single stone flew upwards; the entire floor perfectly shattered downwards and spread evenly across the space.
The two girls who were not yet skilled at flying but had instead learned to teleport were held aloft by Niusel and Dragon Well Tea, hanging in the air to see what was happening below.
As a result, the shards of the exploding floor that sprayed downwards did not land on the ground.
Instead, they all hovered in mid-air as if the pause button had been pressed at the moment of their fall. It was like photos capturing people at the moment before they hit the ground.
Upon closer inspection, they were blocked by a semi-transparent grey barrier.
Afterwards, they began to dissolve on their own—much like snow melting in sunlight, except the melting process was accelerated by more than tenfold...
When they could finally see the person below, everyone except Annan showed a look of shock and astonishment on their faces.
"—How is this possible?!"
Ah-Dian suddenly exclaimed.
As the dust cleared... there appeared messy grey hair and a violet-colored toga robe. Grey cloth shoes, a dark grey stole... and those grey pupils looking up, stagnant as a pool of dead water.
The person standing underneath was exactly like Professor Bai who had died before them just a while ago!
It was an exact likeness, as if a player had resurrected...
But he should clearly be dead—
The one that should be alive now was another person who had his name and body stolen by Professor Bai!
Annan narrowed his eyes slightly.
Professor Bai looked up with a smile, not tense at all: "’How are you still alive’... I think that’s what you’re all curious about right now."
"I thought you had your eye on Niusel’s body."
Annan responded, looking around him.
The surroundings gave Annan an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
Soon, Annan remembered what exactly the "decorative style" of this place was.
Although it wasn’t the same location.
But the ceremonial site around him was clearly identical to the place in Husky’s final "Gemini" nightmare where he escaped from a dream within a dream and used Justus’s body to kill Tricino!
It was a furnace that resembled a human face with high cheekbones.
Right in front of the furnace there was a bed with some inclination—the end near the furnace was lower, and the other side away from the furnace was raised, at an angle greater than thirty degrees, looking like an extended tongue.
These two objects together would remind someone of the Gluttony Pot—the pink one.
Annan also understood why some students thought this was a cremation furnace.
This configuration seemed to suggest lifting one side of the furnace, then sliding the body laid on the bed directly into it.
"You guessed correctly."
To Annan’s surprise, Professor Grey withdrew the barrier and let them down, calmly responding, "Initially, I indeed wanted to become Niusel. His talent astonished me... I didn’t expect that I’d overlooked such a genius.
"I don’t know what you did. I had already entered his body, but suddenly you killed him once—I was already in despair.
"I thought you immediately saw through my existence and dealt with me ruthlessly, to utterly annihilate me. Unexpectedly, he came back to life, and I was ejected."
"However, you did not die."
"Of course I wouldn’t die."
Upon hearing Annan’s words, Professor Grey even laughed, "How would I die, Your Majesty?
"The gods are immortals, and The Worm is the god of all immortals. But in this world lies an immortality that transcends eternal life... and that is me."
He said gently: "Instead, what does the color Grey remind you of?"
"It’s impure black, as well as impure white; it’s dim light, bright darkness."
Annan replied calmly.
Professor Grey nodded: "Right. But you missed one thing—that is the god of memories and despair... The Grey Craftsmanship.
"This name means ’Creator of Grey’."
Professor Grey said gently: "And I am the grey that He created. From the very beginning, I’ve been merely a memory. I live in the past, so you can’t kill me—you could kill me many times over, but I would always be reborn from the ’ashes’."
"...So, from the very start, you were not a believer of the Tragic Writer?"
"No, I was. Just as you all are creations of the Goddess of Cup and Yawen, yet you each have your own faith?"
Professor Grey said calmly: "I am the ’grey’ given personality. I named myself Professor Grey, not only to borrow power from Professor Bai Chiron in the name of ’impure white’—but also because my true surname is indeed Grey.
"I can freely traverse past and future because I am just a void shadow. Not even The Worm can fully control me, for it can only taint another shadow of mine—that’s but a shadow within shadows."
"If you are merely a remnant image, a memory... then how can you possess the desire to ascend to Gold?"
Annan asked.
Professor Grey fell silent for a moment but still answered the question.
"Because of hatred.
"Only hatred... can grant one the most persistent strength. Pure love can be shattered by reality; past sentiments can be worn down by time; but deep-seated hatred—hatred for the past, for fate. This so-called defiance, fate-denying, in the end, is nothing but hatred."
Professor Grey declared:
"—I am the hatred once abandoned by the Grey Craftsmanship, and that’s why I’ve attained this immortality that surpasses eternal life.
"I will never die. Because only hatred will never cease."
