Time Travel: He is My Dad!

Chapter 182: Collapse of Stars, Leap of Consciousness

The collapse of stars and the leap of consciousness

Feng Jing's consciousness drifted like a discarded planet in the infinite void. Every time he tried to grasp a specific point, to make his existence clear and concrete, the surrounding space and time spread out like ripples, destroying all his cognition. Feng Jing was no longer the self-reliant, knowledge-seeking individual he once was. He became increasingly vague, as if he had never truly existed. Every flash of memory was an illusory illusion, completely devoid of fixed shape and boundaries.

"Are you beginning to understand?" the voice echoed from the void again, with a barely concealed sneer. "You've never left, Feng Jing. All your experiences, all your choices, are nothing but self-deceptions you've constructed within this void. You don't 'exist' at all, merely an image of time."

Feng Jing's consciousness seemed to be struck by these words. His heartbeat gradually accelerated, as if something was violently pounding his soul. But then, instead of pain, he felt a sense of freedom he had never experienced before—no longer bound by any material constraints. He was no longer an individual wandering in the universe, but a collection of endless fragments, floating in the cracks of time and space.

At this moment, Feng Jing's vision suddenly shifted dramatically. Instead of seeing a boundless void, he entered an entirely different dimension—a dimension where time and space completely lost their original laws. All material existence became unreal. Feng Jing saw not matter but vast "veins of consciousness," interwoven into a mysterious network connecting all possible universes.

Feng Jing tried to touch these veins, but every time his consciousness approached, they quickly deformed, leaped, and became unpredictable. Each vein seemed to contain endless possibilities, and behind each possibility were countless projections of Feng Jing. He saw himself—but no longer the familiar Feng Jing, but countless variations of Feng Jing, each Feng Jing traversing different dimensions and experiencing different endings.

"Do you think you're the only one in existence?" the voice sneered playfully. "You've never left this maze. You're just a part of countless Feng Jings, an abandoned fragment. All of you, all of your 'possibilities', jump and alternate in this endless network. There's no end, only an eternal cycle."

Feng Jing felt an unprecedented sense of oppression, as if the very laws of the universe had completely collapsed before him. Every thread tugged at his consciousness, and every time Feng Jing tried to sort it out, he found himself drawn deeper into the maze.

At this moment, a powerful radiance suddenly shot out from the deep void, piercing Feng Jing's consciousness. This radiance didn't originate from any star or substance, but rather a pure "light of consciousness," as if descending from some higher dimension. Feng Jing's consciousness violently trembled under the illumination of this radiance, as if his very being were being ripped into countless fragments.

At the center of that radiant light, Feng Jing witnessed an indescribable scene—the entire universe seemed to be destroyed and reconstructed by an invisible hand. Countless stars collapsed, time and space began to melt and distort, every event seemed to be reversed, and all the laws of the universe began to break down. Feng Jing saw that time was no longer linear; it began to flow upstream like a river, back to an unknown starting point.

He saw himself jumping through different time and space - some Feng Jing caused a disaster on a planet and became a tyrant in the universe; some Feng Jing was devoured by countless enemies on the interstellar battlefield, but burst into dazzling brilliance at the moment of death; and some Feng Jing floated alone in the void, trying to understand the truth of the universe, but could never come to any conclusion.

It all seemed like an unstoppable illusion. Feng Jing tried to control these images, but gradually found himself powerless. These images began to alternate, faster and faster, more and more chaotic, and finally Feng Jing's consciousness fell into complete chaos.

However, just when Feng Jing thought he had completely lost himself in this void, the voice reappeared, with an unusually calm tone: "Look, you've returned to the starting point. You thought you could escape, but you're just looping in your own maze. Every Feng Jing, every choice, is an illusion you created. You haven't gone very far."

Feng Jing felt an indescribable rage. His consciousness was no longer a solitary existence, but had merged with the void. He began to struggle, trying to break this endless cycle, but every effort was repelled by a more powerful force.

"You won't understand." The voice remained calm. "You are the constructor of the maze, and also its prisoner. You have never truly left this space, and your consciousness has long been bound in this endless cycle. Everything about you is a projection of countless Feng Jings, until in the end you discover that all you are is a hollow void."

Just as Feng Jing's consciousness was on the verge of another collapse, an immensely powerful force suddenly descended from the void. This force had no form, only a primal energy fluctuation, and Feng Jing's soul was quickly devoured by it. All fragments of consciousness began to disappear, and Feng Jing's existence became increasingly blurred. He was no longer an individual, but merged into this ineffable energy.

Feng Jing felt himself become part of something, an invisible force coursing through him. He was no longer the Feng Jing lost in the void, but a larger, more mysterious presence within the universe. Every choice Feng Jing made, every reincarnation, was guided by this energy, but none of it belonged to Feng Jing anymore; he was merely a tiny manifestation of this force.

Feng Jing tried to perceive all of this, but every time his consciousness focused, this force would quickly dissolve all his perceptions, causing him to fall into the abyss of nothingness again. Every time he struggled, Feng Jing felt that he was being gradually swallowed up, but he did not seem to feel afraid. On the contrary, he felt a peace that he had never felt before.

"Do you finally understand?" the voice sounded again, this time with a profound meaning. "You are but a drop of water, a speck of dust in the universe. Everything about you is an illusion. And behind this illusion lies your 'intersection' with the entire universe."

Feng Jing's consciousness lost focus again. He felt that he was no longer Feng Jing, but a void formed by countless possibilities. And whether all this was the beginning or the end, Feng Jing could no longer understand.