Too Many Reincarnators? I Bring the National Team to the Field - Chapter 160

Chapter 160

Old Man Qin murmured to himself.

His voice wasn’t loud, but everyone present was a Superpower User and the carriage was quiet, so his words reached every ear with perfect clarity.

They all turned to look at him simultaneously, frowning.

Old Man Qin pointed at Qin Xuan, who was sleeping soundly in his arms, and stammered, “I… I’m just repeating Xuanxuan’s Prophecy. He may be young, but his Prophecy has never been wrong.”

Hao Jingye asked, “Old Man Qin, what exactly are you trying to say?”

Behind his glasses, his eyes were filled with suspicion-suspicion toward Old Man Qin himself.

Old Man Qin gave an embarrassed smile. “I was just thinking… this Prophecy seems to concern the future of humanity. Whether or not we should collect the Fragments is likely the defining direction of that future. If something is ‘wrong,’ could it mean that collecting the Fragments is wrong?”

Jiang Yu’s heart skipped a beat.

Hao Jingye and Song Linwei stared intently at Old Man Qin.

Qi Lingwu said nothing, but his Supernatural Ability enveloped the man. An invisible Anchor in the void locked onto Old Man Qin with lethal precision.

Old Man Qin turned pale with fright.

His entire body began to tremble as he stammered, “I-I’m just speculating! Just speculating! I didn’t mean anything else!”

Hao Jingye barked, “What do you really know?”

Old Man Qin looked utterly bewildered and shook his head violently. “I don’t know anything!”

Wan Yuan sent a telepathic message. Long Tianyu then used Flash to appear beside them with Wu Buyu. Squatting down next to Old Man Qin, Wu Buyu activated his Mind Reading to its full extent, listening carefully to the old man’s inner thoughts.

A moment later, Wu Buyu shook his head.

“He’s just confused and afraid. He mentioned the Prophecy because it’s been weighing on his mind. He feels like he hasn’t contributed anything to the Apocalypse Special Affairs Department and is just freeloading, so he wanted to share his thoughts as a warning to avoid being kicked out. Everything about him is normal.”

Qin Xuan had been startled awake and was looking at them with a dazed, confused expression.

Sensing the tense atmosphere, his mouth puckered, and he looked ready to burst into tears.

Old Man Qin quickly began to coax him. “Xuanxuan, it’s okay. Don’t cry. Everything’s fine, everything’s fine. Are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?”

The tension dissipated, and Qi Lingwu withdrew his Supernatural Ability.

Sheng An handed the remaining strawberries to the boy.

Qin Xuan’s tears turned into a smile.

Old Man Qin sighed. “I really did just suddenly think of the Prophecy. The power of the Fragments increases when they are brought together. Is collecting them truly a good thing?”

With the suspicion cleared, they returned to the main topic.

Wrong?

What exactly was wrong?

Jiang Yu raised her voice. “Does that mean the Fragments shouldn’t be collected, but destroyed instead?!”

If that were the case, their entire plan was flawed!

However, Dr. Yan shook his head immediately. “The suggestion to destroy them was tested the moment the Fragments were discovered. In fact, compared to collection, destruction would be much simpler.”

The Research Institute was filled with countless brilliant minds.

They never researched only one direction. Collection and destruction had both been proposed early on as parallel contingencies.

Dr. Yan held up a Meteorite Fragment. Under the lights, its silver-white surface shimmered with a faint luster, carrying a chill that made one shiver.

He let out a long sigh. “You all should have studied them as well. They are incredibly hard. Forget destroying them-we can’t even cut them. Destruction has always been a goal for the Research Institute, but so far, there has been zero progress.”

Li Xin reached out and picked up a piece.

He pushed his Supernatural Ability to its limit. After a moment, his face turned bright red. He shook his head and put the Fragment back. “It’s no use. It doesn’t seem to be metal. I can’t control it at all.”

If he couldn’t control it, destroying it was out of the question.

What on earth were these things?

They weren’t metal, yet they were incredibly hard and indestructible…

Li Wanyun asked, “Is there really no other way?”

Dr. Yan sketched something on a piece of paper and shook his head.

“There are too many Fragments. Even if we carefully plan the location of every single piece to minimize the impact, it wouldn’t work. How long has it been? The land can no longer support crops, plants are almost extinct, and the very air has become toxic…”
“Even if we produce oxygen artificially and live in hazmat suits, humanity won’t last long. We’ll still go extinct, to say nothing of the Aberrants’ existence.”

Since there was no way to destroy them, and scattering them was merely a form of slow suicide, the Research Institute finally decided to continue the collection.

They would first collect as many Fragments as possible. Once they had gathered more information through research, they would plan their next move.

Song Linwei rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. His tone was conflicted as he spoke: “In the Prophecy, Sister Sheng sounded so despairing when she said she was wrong-she even mentioned that everything might restart. That means something major must have gone wrong. Whether or not to collect the Fragments is indeed a massive decision that will determine the future. Is that what the Prophecy was reflecting?”

If the Prophecy referred to the collection of the Fragments…

Then, based on current information, collecting them was wrong, but not collecting them was also wrong. They were caught in a dilemma.

Ke Jiaxue murmured, “Maybe the ‘wrong’ in the Prophecy didn’t refer to collecting the Fragments?”

Wu Buyu nodded. “It’s possible. Furthermore, even if collecting them is wrong, we might find a way to destroy the Fragments before they are all gathered.”

If that were the case, then starting the collection wasn’t necessarily out of the question.

However, the mere thought of that Prophecy left a heavy, uncomfortable weight in their hearts.

Wan Yuan frowned and suddenly said, “It’s a contradiction. If the Fragments cannot be divided, then why are they ‘fragments’? Can they really be assembled into something?”

If they were pieces of a whole that had shattered, how did they shatter in the first place?

How could something so indestructible be broken apart?

Dr. Yan’s eyes shone brightly. “I have a premonition! The moment we solve this mystery will be the moment we learn the truth!”

“Then, back to the original question.” Hao Jingye spread his hands. “Are we going to continue collecting the Fragments?”

If this was exactly what Qin Xuan had prophesied, and if a way to destroy the Fragments was never found…

Then their collection would be nothing more than repeating a mistake.

And there was no guarantee this world could restart again.

At this moment, the decision to collect or not was critical. Even Dr. Yan couldn’t provide a definitive answer.

Qi Lingwu looked at Sheng An. “What do you think?”

In the course of their discussion, Sheng An had remained silent for a long time.

Hearing his voice, she looked at Qi Lingwu.

Their eyes met, their gazes overlapping. They saw the same thought in the depths of each other’s eyes.

Qi Lingwu smiled.

As expected, this was the true Sheng An.

Sheng An smiled as well. She stepped forward, slowly walking over to Old Man Qin, and crouched down.

Her phoenix eyes were naturally sharp, but they held no edge now. At this moment, her expression was calm and composed; not a single ripple of emotion could be seen on her face.

Her voice was equally steady.

“You’re right. It’s possible that my ‘I was wrong’ in the Prophecy refers to collecting the Fragments. But whether it’s the Prophecy or the future, both are unknowns-mysteries. I don’t want to remain forever ignorant out of fear and worry.

“No matter what the truth is, we have to open the box and take a look.”

Old Man Qin sighed. “Isn’t the way things are now good enough? Regardless of the Fragments, we should just live as long as we can. Why make things… so heavy? Perhaps it’s all just a futile struggle. Everyone dies sooner or later anyway.”

Since they didn’t know if they should collect them or not…

It was better to stop caring about everything and live each day as easily as possible.

Old Man Qin’s optimism was tinged with negativity, yet that extreme negativity carried a strange sort of optimism. It was a jarring contrast.

Sheng An gave a slight smile. “It’s not a futile struggle. I have never believed that the world is meant to be destroyed. Individuals die sooner or later, but the human race shouldn’t die out.”

As long as there was a chance to live, they had to live as much as possible.

They would not wait for death to arrive in a state of decadence.

Hearing this, Old Man Qin lowered his eyes.

His drooping eyelids carried a sense of listless exhaustion. He said nothing more.