A drizzle dampened the weary streets.

Traffic was at a standstill.

When Feng Bujue came to, he was sitting in the back of a taxi.

An odor reminiscent of overnight vomit assaulted his nostrils, quickly sobering him.

His gaze first landed on the car window. Through the water-streaked glass, he could only see a hazy scene. Vague shadows flashed past outside, he couldn't tell if they were people, cars... or something else.

"We're almost there, don't worry," a man's voice suddenly came from the driver's seat after a few seconds.

"Where to?" Feng Bujue asked almost reflexively.

"To where you're supposed to be," the man replied. "Every journey should have an end, shouldn't it?"

Feng Bujue didn't comment on the enigmatic answer. The next second, he asked a more direct question: "Are you 'God'?"

As he asked, Feng Bujue tried to sit up and lean forward to see the other person's face.

But he soon found that... despite his intention, his body seemed nailed to the back seat, completely unresponsive. At most, he could see the driver's body below the neck through the rearview mirror.

"'God'..." the driver echoed thoughtfully. "You could say that... but, as you said before, if you were in my dimension, I might just look like an ordinary person with poor execution."

"Why didn't you stop 'Fate'?" Feng Bujue asked immediately.

"Ah... you see, I'm stuck in traffic," the driver replied, somewhat irrelevantly.

"Are you sure you should be so relaxed?" Feng Bujue pressed, his tone heavier. "After the dimensional erosion is complete, 'Fate' will replace you. Where will you go then?"

"Heh..." The driver chuckled at that. "Let me ask you a question... when you're sitting in front of the screen playing a game, does the real you suffer any substantial harm from the death of the game character?"

That made Feng Bujue's expression change.

"You..." Brother Jue wanted to say something.

But the driver interrupted him. "That's right. For me, this world, this universe, and even more multi-universes... are all similar concepts..." He paused. "Since I never existed here, what's there to talk about 'where will I go'?"

Feng Bujue was silent, silent for a full minute.

A minute later, he spoke again: "Then... am 'I' important to you?"

He suddenly asked a somewhat inexplicable question, but in fact... asking that question showed that he had understood what the other person was saying.

The driver sighed. "Ah... of course, you're important."

"Then why do this to me? Why destroy what I cherish?" Feng Bujue questioned.

"Don't you think it's childish of you to ask that?" The driver's tone was slightly disappointed. "Which is more important, what you take for granted or what you've lost?"

He paused for half a second, then raised his voice slightly. "While you and I are sitting here chatting, Shi Long is bleeding to protect his family... Little Ma is being besieged by a large number of monsters for a group of strangers... Jin Fugui, Honghu, Uncle Waste Chai, and the players you saw on the scorched earth of Chaos have all lost everything, including their lives.

"These people... these 'not so important' people, who cares about the suffering they've experienced? Who will ask 'why' for them?"

At this point, the driver took a deep breath and stretched his neck before continuing. "You... want to save everyone, save the whole world... but if I tell you now that you can only choose to save either 'the whole world' or 'what you cherish', what will you choose? More importantly, if this choice was destined from the beginning, then do you understand... the meaning of this choice?"

"I don't understand... don't want to understand, and won't understand," Feng Bujue replied coldly. "I beg you... reseal my fear. That way, I can do what you want me to do."

"It's useless..." the driver replied. "What my 'hope' is, is irrelevant; where you're going is no longer up to me..."

"So... it's no coincidence that we're in this stinky 'taxi' right now," Feng Bujue said. "Even you have to admit... I'm the one who decides where to go, and you're just responsible for taking me there."

"Yes," the driver replied.

Feng Bujue repeated sharply, "Then I want you to reseal my fea..."

"Fear..." the driver interrupted Brother Jue again, saying, "... is not something that really exists. 'Fear' only exists in the level of human consciousness, a purely imaginary entity; it makes people afraid and wary of things that don't exist in reality or may never exist...

"'Danger' is what objectively exists, and 'fear' is just a choice."

Screech—

Just as the driver said the word "choice," a sharp braking sound suddenly came from outside the car on Feng Bujue's side.

Before Brother Jue could react, a violent impact, accompanied by a loud crash, made him lose consciousness.

............

A silent black space, like endless nothingness.

When Feng Bujue "woke up" again, he found himself in it.

Standing in front of him was a figure, a figure half-melted into the black void.

"Come, make your choice." Even though he was close at hand, the figure's appearance was still indistinguishable, but from the sound of his voice, it could be known that he was the "driver" from just now.

As his voice fell, a black guillotine appeared on Feng Bujue's left.

"Choosing the guillotine will create a universe where 'Feng Bujue doesn't exist'," the figure said. "There, you were never born, and everyone you know or don't know will live a life without any intersection with you; and you... will return to nothingness, no longer remembered by anyone in any form." He paused for a second, adding, "In such a universe, 'Fate's' plan will naturally end in failure at a very early stage."

As he finished speaking, a black throne appeared on Feng Bujue's right.

"Choosing the throne will create a universe where 'Feng Bujue stopped Fate'," the figure said. "There, you successfully killed 'Fate' before the dimensional erosion was completely over, but the shattered world can no longer be restored... You will become the savior and ruler of mankind as the 'Candidate Game Winner'... leading the survivors to rebuild civilization in a world full of monsters."

Immediately afterwards, a black bed appeared behind Feng Bujue.

"Of course, you can also choose the bed," the figure said again. "That way... you will return to fifteen months ago, back to the day you lost your fear, with the memories you have now, wake up from a 'dream' and start your journey again."

After saying these three "choices," the figure stopped speaking, just stood there quietly, waiting for Feng Bujue... to make his decision.