Chapter 879: The sign of the death demon's power returning to its death

“What happened to their sudden disappearance?” Li Qi was a little puzzled.

The man laughed, “I don’t know. At first, I was as confused as you. I just went to sleep, and when I woke up, everyone was gone. Only Suya and I remained.”

“Everyone in this world disappeared.”

“If it’s truly as you say, then you’re really… calm,” Li Qi said, looking at the other party’s reaction with some surprise.

Waking up to find everyone gone, with only a ship girl and himself relying on each other.

Then, suddenly encountering another living person.

To still be so calm, for a Mortal, this is truly an extraordinary measure of composure.

“Calm? Haha, if you had come in the first three years, I probably would have gone mad with joy. But so many years have passed, no matter what happens, I shouldn’t be surprised anymore, right? So, young man, how’s your body? Can you still eat?” the middle-aged man asked.

“It must be very difficult living alone in this world, right? I’ve started a vegetable patch over there, so we don’t lack food. I’m planning to build an irrigation ditch here and I’m currently working on it. Come join me,” the man said, grinning.

Li Qi looked at the other party and nodded slightly.

Digging an irrigation ditch alone…

Ah, this person is dispelling the worries in his heart through labor, which is why he survived. And that weak ship girl next to him, she must also be relying on his strong willpower to survive with only one person’s spirit.

“How impressive, living alone for so long, and even able to sustain a spirit,” Li Qi exclaimed.

“Haha, if it were just me, I definitely wouldn’t have lived this long. Thankfully, there’s Suya. Rather than saying I support Suya, it’s more accurate to say Suya supports me,” the man said.

“I understand,” Li Qi said.

At the same time, Li Qi’s Dharma bodies had already appeared all over the world.

Almost every surviving person was greeted by a ‘Li Qi’ of their own.

Li Qi lived with them for about a week, listening to their stories.

There were middle-aged men living alone, and also young people who were uselessly immersed in virtual worlds.

There were young girls diligently trying to survive in the wilderness, and also old women quietly waiting for Death, their lives flickering out like a dying lamp.

All sorts of people.

But without exception, they were all alone.

Some had spirits accompanying them, some did not.

The only similarity was their experience: although they encountered many different things, without exception, after one sleep, when they woke up, everyone in the world was gone.

Li Qi tried to guide these people to meet each other.

However, to Li Qi’s surprise… they couldn’t see each other.

They could perceive what the other person was doing, for example, if the man dug a ditch today, the woman would see the ditch appear.

But they simply couldn’t see each other, as if it were psychological invisibility.

What was going on?

Li Qi tried to penetrate the truth with his third-rank Divine Ability, but found he couldn't.

This was definitely related to the Demon of Death, but he didn’t know why, nor did he know what the Demon of Death had done.

He couldn't understand it.

It was truly unimaginable that there was a mystery a third-rank could not comprehend. It seemed further study was needed.

However… this was the result Li Qi wanted.

Understanding was good, but not understanding… was also good.

This indicated that there was something to understand, and Li Qi believed his wisdom could thoroughly research it in a short time.

After all… it was just the aftermath of a Demon of Death remnant.

If he couldn't even handle this, then he might as well give up, forget about exploring the Desire Realm, and just go home and sleep.

So, let the research begin.

Li Qi immediately began his research. He divided the remaining thousands of people into groups, and then, using thousands of Dharma bodies, categorized them, set up experimental groups and control groups, and through the investigation of True Knowledge, conducted profound and subtle observations of each person.

His Dharma bodies lived with these remaining people, becoming their companions and friends, working and entertaining with them, living out every day.

Perhaps because Li Qi was too capable, many men and women developed feelings for Li Qi. However, Li Qi politely declined these advances. Yet, these emotions caused more subtle influences, so subtle that Li Qi noticed disturbances but didn't know what consequences had arisen. Thus, he prepared to conduct even more profound observations.

The observation continued until…

Everyone died of old age. That way, this civilization would end, and he should also be able to observe Death.

Thinking this, Li Qi accompanied everyone. Those who were alone suddenly had companions.

Some were happy, some indifferent, some wary, and some infatuated. Thousands of people had thousands of different reactions, but generally, they fell into those emotions.

Li Qi, at his own pace, accompanied them, telling them that other people might exist in the world.

Subtly, more than ten years passed.

Then… a portion of the people suddenly became aware of and could perceive the existence of others.

This portion was ecstatic; they finally met—

And then, they found that Li Qi had disappeared.

Li Qi didn't care what they thought afterward; he just wanted to create a control group.

He stopped observing, even actively sealing off his senses that perceived these people, and then focused on another group of Mortals who couldn't see others.

Then, in this way, after subtle and exquisite psychological guidance, Li Qi separated the two groups of people.

After about twenty-six years, the last person living 'alone' died of old age. Li Qi collected their body and held a funeral for them.

Then, Li Qi glanced at the control group.

After the initial chaotic free-for-all, they had stabilized their social order and begun construction.

So, he sealed off his perception.

He wanted to know if there would be any variables for these people when he wasn't observing them.

Li Qi returned to the mountain again and closed his eyes.

He decided to get up once every ten years to observe the development of this last civilized settlement.

The first decade saw prosperity, everything developing in a good direction. A large number of newborns were born, the population more than doubled, and the settlement began to see the emergence of non-producers, starting to reclassify positions like artisans and teachers.

The second decade, the newborns of the settlement had replaced the elders, growing even stronger, reaching well over ten thousand people.

The third decade, the population continued to swell. Utilizing the legacy of the previous civilization, they had begun basic mechanized farming, and food was no longer an issue. However, industrialization could not progress further; they could only continuously conduct archaeology, maintaining their lives with old equipment.

The fourth decade, they disappeared.

Again, they vanished into thin air.

Li Qi didn't even understand what fluctuations occurred during these four decades.

However, it was a good thing he had set up a detection device this time.

That's right, although Li Qi himself didn't conduct any observations, he left behind some things that could passively record images.

It wasn't a subjective recording device like a video camera, but rather a 'mirror'.

That's right, just a mirror.

He installed a mirror in the sky, and this mirror constantly reflected what was below.

The reason a mirror can reflect light is because light strikes the mirror surface and is then reflected.

Therefore, by observing the reflection and deviation of every molecule on the mirror surface, one can trace the path of every photon, thereby forming an image.

Although it sounds absurd, a third-rank could indeed do such a thing.

Li Qi could truly trace every single trace left by every photon on the mirror during those decades, which allowed him to deduce what had happened.

“They suddenly disappeared in their sleep,” Li Qi concluded after his calculations.

It was indeed as expected.

When everyone was 'lonely', they unknowingly vanished into thin air.

Everyone lonely?

When there are many people, society will inevitably begin to specialize, and thus, moral disorganization and interpersonal alienation will arise.

Only when he became estranged from his other companions, when he clearly saw that others were connected to him only for private interests, only due to social division of labor, when that false connection that couldn't withstand even the slightest test completely disappeared, only then did interpersonal relationships begin to become alienated.

The decoupling of individuals from the public world, the dissolution of the social attributes of physical space, and the change in the perception of time left people confused about how to find their way of dwelling.

In other words, they became engrossed in their own worlds, just like a shut-in could survive alone.

They all fell into their own worlds, briefly believing that all life in this world, except for themselves, had disappeared.

And so…

They truly disappeared.

In other words, once a civilization develops to the point of 'atomization', then they will disappear. Is this Death? Or… something else?

However, this wasn’t right.

Even if they were atomized, in reality, people's social connections were even tighter.

For example, a shut-in might think the world only consists of him, living alone, eating alone, shrinking at home playing on his phone, surviving by selling in-game gold.

Then, there are the people who buy the gold, the game operators, the maintenance personnel for mobile phone signal towers, the internet cable operators, and the unmanned supermarket downstairs where he buys things.

Goods don’t spontaneously appear on shelves. In this atomized society, although you might not be aware of others' existence, in reality, your connections with other people are very precise.

Compared to non-atomized societies, such as 'villages' or 'communities', which seem very close-knit, in reality, most people one can interact with are just relatives or villagers. Before leaving that land, the 'Family' and 'village' were everything in society.

A social butterfly in a rural village and a shut-in in an apartment building—the former is actually far more alienated from the overall society than the latter.

So, why didn't the former disappear while the latter did?

Li Qi was quite puzzled, but also very pleased.

He realized that this point was where the power of the Demon of Death intervened.

Li Qi was so powerful that it was almost impossible for him not to perceive the reason. If there was a place he couldn't perceive, then that place must be where the Demon of Death's power had intervened.

Thus, the result was also obvious.

“This is where Death takes effect,” Li Qi nodded gently on the mountaintop.

There was not a single living person left in this world. He had stayed here for hundreds of years, from the steam age until the extinction of civilization.

He had found the place where the Demon of Death's remnant had made changes.

“The root of beginningless life and death is, as it is now, with all sentient beings, using the conditioned mind as its nature. The other is the beginningless pure body of Bodhi Nirvana, which is, as it is now, the essence of consciousness, originally bright, able to give rise to all conditions, but abandoned by conditions. Due to the abandonment by sentient beings, this original brightness, though moving all day, is not self-aware and enters various realms in vain,” Li Qi muttered his realization, sighing deeply.

'Destiny', or 'connection'.

The essence of a person is the sum of all social relations.

It is determined by all social relations, among which the relations of production play a decisive role.

Without social relations, you are merely an object, not a 'person' existing in society. Without social relations to fill you, you are an empty shell.

If there is a person who exists outside of society, whom no one knows, whom no one recognizes, does that person exist?

Philosophers have long given the answer: if something cannot be seen, touched, or smelled, and has no effect on anything and is never discovered, then that thing does not exist.

And atomized individuals are the same; to others, if they cannot be seen or touched, then they do not exist.

And for this world, it is also true; this is what is meant by “abandoned by conditions, due to the abandonment by sentient beings.”

Buddhism states that the world 'arises from Destiny'. The world is full of Karma, and every person has their own Karma. When the threads of Karma touch each other, the point of contact is 'Destiny', which is 'arising from conditions'. And when the threads of Karma separate, and the two sides no longer have interaction, that is 'the cessation of Destiny'.

Therefore, when a certain person's 'Destiny ceases', that is when that person dies.

The Demon of Death merely made this step a reality; he truly achieved 'the cessation of Destiny'.

When these Mortals stepped into the starry sky, the Demon of Death's power had already silently invaded him.

When a certain person's 'Destiny ceases', that person will disappear.

Similarly, when the Destiny of all sentient beings is completely exhausted, the world should disappear.

This civilization perfectly exemplified this.

“This is the power of the Demon of Death, so… what about a third-rank?”

“If a third-rank, a being with substantiality, capable of generating its own 'Destiny', experiences 'the cessation of Destiny', will it die?” Li Qi pondered.

Or, if one can maintain one's own 'Destiny', can one resist this fragment of the Demon of Death?

He felt he had found the truth of the Demon of Death, so, could he try to approach the Demon of Death remnant now?

Let's try.

Thinking this, he left this silent world and headed towards the Demon of Death remnant.