Chapter 10 - Author: The space-time corridors of the past and future

Chapter 10.1 – Author: The space-time corridors of the past and future

If there is a single word that can describe the Lost Land then it is: tsundere.1

The Lost Land is enormous and mostly featureless. The only landmark is the giant column of light. The person who wants to go somewhere can’t walk forwards, and he can’t walk backwards either. He can only place his left or right hand facing the column of light and then walk around it … what a tsundere Lost Land!

An ordinary person would only think of walking forward or backward, so most of the people who strayed into the Lost Land died. Only Louis, the undead Lich, survived, found a way out, and afterwards wreaked havoc on the continent.

Du Ze and Xiu, in accordance with the method written in the Magic Codex, walked around the column of light for one month after leaving the abandoned temple. They are unable to use magic.2 Therefore, they can only honestly take road 113 and walk there. It was boring to walk and walk. Du Ze had plenty of time to think back to the beginning of it all. Back then he would never have thought that he would get transported into the world of “Mixed Blood” and meet the protagonist.

… and be abused by him, shi*,4 haha.

Du Ze involuntarily glanced beside him at Xiu. Xiu’s long, wavy black hair was casually tied over one shoulder, exposing a pale, gloomy face. His only colors were black and white. The black was too black and the white was too white, making people feel frightened from the bottom of their hearts. He looked unreal. Xiu walked by Du Ze’s side, his steps neither too fast nor too slow, but perfectly keeping pace with Du Ze. When the reader was tired and stopped to rest, Xiu would also stop and wait for him silently.

Du Ze was moved – the protagonist was black enough to break through the sky so this rare thoughtfulness is like a holy light to him. Even if someone told him the protagonist doesn’t want to expose his back to Du Ze and wants to prevent his test subject from escaping,5 …. still, walking side by side with Xiu, he is …

Du Ze was quiet. Why is it that once the protagonist’s behavior is attributed to his blackening, it always seem like it’s the truth?6

Xiu suddenly stopped walking. This was the first time that the tireless Lich stopped of his own accord. Du Ze was stunned for a bit then realized that they had finally reached the column of light. One moment the pillar of light looked out of reach, then the next moment they saw a huge wall of light that disappeared into the clouds high above them.

According to Louis’ Magic Codex, the Lost Land’s exit was inside the light. If one looks carefully, the wall of light is actually made out of countless dots of light rising up into the sky. The dots of light that are not dazzling are gathered together densely, blocking their view of what’s inside. The reader, who had read the novel, knew that there was no danger and wanted to cross the wall, but he was pulled back by the scruff of his neck by the protagonist.

… This young man is a homo sapien type, not a carnivora felidae cat!

“There is no danger,” he said unemotionally, fiddling with his headphones.

Xiu stared silently at Du Ze. His brows contracted, giving his face a hint of gloom and contemplation. Du Ze’s face was stiff and, because he was being stared at, he began to suffer. Du Ze was also extremely annoyed, depressed, and grumpy.7 he thought that if a normal person were to replace him, that person would have already used the spoiler function on the protagonist.

– Ah8 Ze, he is an idiot, always giggling and saying things that make other people laugh themselves to death.

The hand was icy cold. Du Ze came back to his senses to find that Xiu had let go of his neck but was holding his left arm. Because Xiu grabbed his arm, the doujinshi that he was holding under his armpit almost fell down. Du Ze immediately let go of his headphones to catch it. The unlucky reader broke out in a cold sweat. If the protagonist saw the hardcore doujinshi, and himself in the throes of passion …

System: Your teammate [doujinshi] received an angry strike, [doujinshi] was killed.

System: You’ve been fatally hit, you’re dead.

… It’s so brutal.

neck grab

Xiu pulls back Du Ze by the back of the neck. Kinda like a cat…

Xiu looked gloomily at the doujinshi with dim eyes. Du Ze was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. His first reflex was to hide the doujinshi under his arm again, disguising his intent by suddenly moving into the light wall. Even Xiu was not fast enough to respond to this unexpected action and was dragged into the pillar of light.

A bright light filled their vision the moment they stepped into the light column, then suddenly it darkened. It only took a moment for them to experience the change from the very bright to the very dark. They lost consciousness for a second and when they regained their senses, they were in the middle of an enclosed space. It was a corridor. The long corridor seemed endless and the sides were covered in murals. Du Ze was standing there alone. Xiu had disappeared.

Du Ze was a little surprised. “Mixed Blood” described this scene. He is now in the “Time Corridor.” This is a place where you can see the past and the future. The creatures who pass through the beam of light have a small chance of entering the Time Corridor. Since he was not a being that belonged to this world, he wouldn’t have thought that he could actually enter this legendary place.

In “Mixed Blood,” the protagonist’s halo allowed Xiu to enter the Time Corridor and then see his past. In addition, the protagonist put his life box in the space-time corridor.

This corridor is unique in the “Mixed Blood” setting. A person can only enter it once in a lifetime and he can only enter his own version of it. Therefore it’s the most suitable hiding place in the world.

When the protagonist was in his undead form, he was unkillable. His enemies turned over the entire continent to look for his life box but they never found it. They could only cough up blood as they watched the protagonist carry out his anti-social, anti-life, anti-mainland agenda.

Full of enthusiasm, Du Ze began to examine the murals. The protagonist saw his past here, what will Du Ze see? His past life? It would be funny if the murals showed computers … it gives one the feeling of _(:3」∠)_ 9

– Du Ze’s moral integrity has gone offline. –

The past was behind him while the future was in front. Du Ze didn’t hesitate and walked forward.

The Time Corridor’s murals tell a story.

Chapter 10.2 – Author: The space-time corridors of the past and future

The first mural depicted a group of creatures waiting in line to buy train tickets … Du Ze stopped himself from mentally joking around1 and began to seriously examine the mural. The painting is not abstract. He soon understood the content: A glowing person is on top, surrounded by glowing spheres. Each race is represented by a group of people and the leader of the angel race is in front of the glowing person, stretching out a hand to receive a ball of light.

Du Ze doesn’t understand but he feels that it’s very interesting.2 He looked at the second mural. It’s a group of birds in combat – *cough* – No, it’s a group of demons and angels fighting. The angels seem to be in trouble as the demons are much more numerous.

The third mural is divided into two halves. The lower half shows the demon race and on the top half is the angel race which has been joined by a group of elves. This time, the beautiful creatures with pointed ears are the most numerous.

Looking at these scenes, Du Ze had a feeling of deja vu,3 as though there is something that he should remember. But even though he tried, he simply couldn’t recall what it reminded him of. The cute reader decided to leave this vague feeling behind him and continue to look at more murals.

The fourth mural depicts the end of a battle. The defeated-looking elves were at one corner while opposite them were skeletons and zombies that were rising up from the battlefield.

The fifth was very modern and out-of-place, full of machines. Du Ze saw a group of giant robots4 with gnomes sitting on them. The robots were obviously being controlled by the gnomes and they were fighting the undead army.

When he saw this, Du Ze finally realized the truth: “This is the history of the world of ‘Mixed Blood’!”

In the historical setting of “Mixed Blood,” the chaotic continent has experienced seven eras of history. The first era was the war of the angels and demons. At first there was a stalemate, then the “destruction” talent of the demons slowly began to dominate. Finally, the elves joined the war and allied with the angels, driving back the demons to a corner of the mainland.

The angels were victorious, but they were weakened by internecine warfare, so the elves began to rise in prominence. That was the second era.

Then, due to the death of many powerful creatures who were turned into undead, the undead began to grow stronger. The elves could not resist the undead’s tactics and retreated into their forest to live in seclusion. That was the third era.

Then the fourth era began. For the undead who could turn living things into their allies, the gnome’s robots5 are their greatest nemesis. The gnomes wiped out the undead army and built up a huge mechanical empire. Then one day, the gnomes suddenly disappeared, the flourishing mechanical civilization declined, and the fourth era ended.

Next, the dragon race dominated the fifth era but they suddenly retreated to an island and were rarely seen on the continent.

The beastkin race began to expand their influence. That was the sixth era.

Now the world is in the seventh era. Each period of history has seen the rise and decline of a race. The seventh era is the time of the human race. The humans drove the beastkin into the wilderness and established three empires. The protagonist was born in a small town in the Empire of Light.

Du Ze continued walking down the corridor and, sure enough, the sixth mural showed a large number of Western dragons perched on a steel tower, their wings spread open to block the sun.

The seventh mural had various forms of beastkin but the shadow of a dragon can be seen in the horizon.

The beastkin in the eight mural is running away to a distant place while everywhere, humans are raising their shields and cheering.

Looking at these murals, Du Ze came to a realization: because he isn’t a person of this world, the Time Corridor showed him the history of the world. Stupid person ~ you underestimate this extreme, crazy fan.6 He can recall the history of “Mixed Blood” as easily as he can recall his own birthday. As for the first mural, that scene was not in “Mixed Blood.” The transaction between the god of creation and the eight races … wait, that was the god of creation?

Du Ze turned and walked back. He hadn’t paid attention to the BOSS’s appearance, unforgivable!

However, when Du Ze turned around, he saw that that the corridor behind him was gone, leaving only a black void. To step on it would mean falling down into the other side of the world. There was no opportunity to pay tribute to the god of creation. He was heartbroken and could only walk forward again. The face of the god of creation is not something you can look at whenever you want to … his tears fell…

Du Ze was very curious about what the next mural would show him. Before he crossed over he had read that the protagonist led the demon army against the angels. According to the author, the next story arc would be “The Rise of the Human Race” … I want to read it. Du Ze wanted to scratch the wall. The most grievous thing in the world of “Mixed Blood” is that he won’t be able to read the story’s next update!

While he was glaring at no one, his gaze accidentally fell on the doujinshi. The despondent Du Ze swallowed the blood that he was about to cough up:7 why am I here with you, why are we together?

Doujinshi: this is absolutely true love.

In front of Du Ze’s sad eyes, the ninth mural finally appeared.

******

******

Walking into the wall of light, first there was light, then darkness. When he was restored to consciousness, Xiu found himself standing in an endless corridor. This was a surprise. Louis’ Magic Codex did not write anything about this. The whole place was empty and the spirit beast was not with him. His calls went unanswered.

Here is … where is this?

– The Time Corridor

A voice seemed to reply from somewhere he could not see.

Suddenly, a strong will seemed to squeeze into his brain. It was an extremely strong and Xiu could only endure as that will invaded his soul, leaving behind a consciousness.

Then he knew where he was. This was the Time Corridor – a place where he can see time and can enter only once in a lifetime.

Forwards is the future, backwards is the past. Xiu hesitated for a moment then walked backwards.

He wanted to know what he was and why he has become like this. He was always an orphan in his memory and no one can tell him his story.

Soon, the first mural appeared in front of Xiu. It was a painting of a cloaked woman, who was stooping to put a baby in the doorway of a house. A cloaked man with his back turned to the viewer seemed to be on the lookout. His hands were on the hilt of a sword and there was a distinctive cross-shaped scar on the back of one hand.

Xiu stood as still as a statue in front of the mural for a long time. He recognized the painting of the house. That was the orphanage that he lived in until he entered the Magic Martial Arts School. So the two people in the painting … are they his parents?

Xiu involuntarily moved forward a step. Closer to the painting he could see many details. The two looked travel-worn. Although the cloak covered most of the woman’s face, he could see tear tracks and a silver birthmark. Xiu could not help but reach out a hand, wanting to take the cloaks off to see their faces. When his fingertips touched the icy wall, he stopped. It was just a mural, it was … the past.

Stopping for one last long look, Xiu finally turned to walk forward again.

mom and dad

Xiu’s mother and father leaving baby Xiu at the steps of the orphanage.

The second mural was twice as big as the first and it was divided into two halves. The one on the right showed a magnificent house. A half elf with silvery scales on her face was sitting on the bed, looking lovingly at the baby in her arms. Standing next to her was a tall man whose face was not visible. On his back were two wings – one demon and one angel wing.

The painting on the left was set in a prairie. A woman with cat ears was holding a pale gnome close to her bountiful chest. The gnome was gingerly holding a baby as if he was scared of dropping it. They sat on the prairie, full of happiness.

Xiu stared at the two babies: the baby on the right side looked very familiar, especially the silver birthmark. The other baby was waving his left hand in the air and it had a cross-shaped scar.

He felt like he was suffocating. There was a very scary conjecture in his mind. Like a hunted animal he stepped forward and saw the third mural.

The third mural is a painting of several pairs of men and women with babies. It was divided into four. The first painting was of a male and female of the demon and angel race. The baby they held had two different kinds of wings. The second showed the elf and dragon, the baby lay on the dragon’s back and the silver scales on its face were sparkling. The third painting was of the beastkin and human race. The cat-eared baby is rubbing the face of the woman. The fourth painting showed a gnome lying down on a spell circle while a Lich is holding the Magic Codex in his hand.

Xiu fixed his eyes on the Magic Codex that the Lich held in his hands. He discovered that the hand that held Qian Bian8 was trembling. Qian Bian quickly changed into Louis’ Magic Codex. Xiu looked at the two books. Their appearance was identical. He hung his head and could not stop trembling.

What is he?

– excerpt from “Mixed Blood”

xiu history

Click image for bigger version. Xiu’s family tree!!! He is descended from all eight races and this shows how.

The author has something to say:

Author: In the Time Corridor you can see the future.

Protagonist (into the time and space corridor → the first mural: Human form pushes down the reader → the second mural: Beastkin form pushes down the reader → the third mural: Demon form pushes down the reader → … The last mural: “Advice: Make a move quickly”): … *Qian Bian is changed to Magic Codex* (Silently writes it down)

Reader (into the time and space corridor → The first mural: Pressed down9 by the Human form of the protagonist → The second mural: Pressed down by the Beastkin form of the protagonist → The third mural: Pressed down by the Demon form of the protagonist → … the last mural: “Advice: Accept your fate”): … the way that I entered was not certainly right!