Jing Yuan was now desperately hoping that Fu Zhu could quickly find the missing Dragon Egg and return. With his array of strange and wondrous abilities, he might just be able to break the crowd out of their current predicament. It was even possible that Fu Zhu wouldn't be trapped by this bizarre phenomenon at all!
However, what Jing Yuan didn't know was that at the very same moment Fu Zhu entered the portal at the center of the structure, the broadcast of the End Poem appeared before his eyes as well.
Fu Zhu's face was dark as he smacked himself on the forehead in annoyance.
Although he had a larger area to move around in, he too was hard-controlled in place, forced to watch the End Poem that had yet to finish playing.
"It's been too long since I triggered this thing, I completely forgot about it!"
If the Dragon Egg hadn't fallen into the portal due to Zephyro's ambush, he probably would have never triggered this Easter egg in his entire life!
After all, who plays a non-vanilla version of Minecraft and still uses the End Portal to travel? People usually just use other teleportation mods or die to return to their previous location!
Helpless, now that it had been triggered, all he could do was watch.
Fortunately, he could fast-forward through the End Poem just like in the original game, which would save him from standing here for too long.
…
At this very moment, the End Poem continued its broadcast. All living beings across the entire cosmos were forced to watch this poem, or rather, this dialogue between the Ender Dragon and a certain existence.
[What did this fuzhu dream?] [那个史蒂夫(付竹)梦见了什么?]
[This player dreamed of sunlight and trees., Of fire and water. It dreamed it created. And it dreamed it destroyed. It dreamed it hunted, and was hunted. It dreamed of shelter.] [他梦见了阳光和树, 梦见了火与水; 他梦见他创造, 亦梦见他毁灭; 他梦见他狩猎, 亦被狩猎, 他梦见了庇护所.]
[Hah, the original interface. A million years old, and it still works. But what true structure did this player create, in the reality behind the screen?] [哈, 那原始的界面.经历一百万年的岁月雕琢, 依然长存.但此玩家在那屏幕后的现实里, 创造了什么真实的构造?]
[It worked, with a million others, to sculpt a true world in a fold of the ■■, and created a ■■ for ■■, in the ■■.] [他辛勤地劳作着, 和其他百万众一起, 刻画了一个真实的世界, 由■■, 且创造了■■; 为了■■, 于■■中.]
"Why are there suddenly garbled characters?"
Jing Yuan looked at the glitched text that appeared in the poem with some confusion. From his initial shock, he had now been forced to accept the reality of his confinement.
Since he couldn't break free, his only option was to look for a way out from within these words. At the same time, he was curious as to why Fu Zhu was mentioned.
But the more he looked, the deeper his frown became. The text actually said that Fu Zhu, along with millions of others, had carved out a real world?
What did that mean? Was there a false world before Fu Zhu arrived? The few blocks of glitched text that followed were what concerned him the most!
Jing Yuan had a bold guess. This text was unfamiliar, yet for some reason, he could understand its meaning. Based on the number of characters, could those few glitched sections be referring to certain two-character words?
If that was the case, he guessed they might be referring to the Paths!
But he had no evidence to prove his theory was correct.
Jing Yuan could only continue reading.
…
Soon, the End Poem's broadcast reached its conclusion.
[And the game was over and the player woke up from the dream. And the player began a new dream. And the player dreamed again, dreamed better. And the player was the universe. And the player was love] [曲终人散, 黄粱一梦.玩家开始了新的梦境.玩家再次做起了梦, 更好的梦.玩家就是宇宙.玩家就是爱.]
[You are the player.] [你就是那个玩家.]
[Wake up.] [该醒了.]
With that final line, "Wake up," all who had been trapped were suddenly freed from their bonds. Everyone was on the ground, gasping for air, as if they had truly just experienced a long, long dream along with those words.
The tourists who had been dreaming on Penacony, the Planet of Festivities, were also forcibly awakened from their dreamscapes at the same time. Slightly terrified, they lay panting by the edges of the dream pools.
The moment Jing Yuan broke free, he immediately summoned the Lightning Lord. With his saber in hand, he rushed to the side of March 7th and the others, shielding them as he checked on their condition.
"Are you all alright? It seems you and I experienced the same thing just now!"
March 7th and the others, their faces pale with fear, all clutched their chests and nodded. The forced viewing of the End Poem had given them quite a fright, especially the Chrysos Heirs. They knew the Ender Dragon's voice very well and had naturally recognized it as one of the speakers in the poem!
"What in the world was that? What was that just now?" Mydei gasped, trying to catch his breath. The pressure from that scene was almost as intense as facing an Aeon! It was suffocating!
The others all shook their heads; they had no idea what had just happened either.
While everyone was still bewildered, Cyrene suddenly spoke.
She clutched her chest with one hand, as if she hadn't yet recovered from the effects of the poem, her eyes slightly dazed.
"That was a poem… a poem born from a sea of memories…"
"A poem?"
"Mhm… a poem dedicated to Fu Zhu."
After she finished speaking, a smile returned to Cyrene's face. She smiled and nodded at the crowd. "Don't worry, it's nothing."
Hearing her say that, everyone felt a little more at ease, but they couldn't let their guard down completely. Jing Yuan was about to take out his phone to contact Fu Zhu when he received a call from Yaoguang first.
Jing Yuan answered the call, and Yaoguang's voice came from the other end.
"Jing Yuan, were you also forced to watch a 'poem'?"
Yaoguang's words surprised Jing Yuan. He then realized that this End Poem was far more terrifying than he had imagined. Its influence likely wasn't limited to just their small group!
"Yaoguang, don't tell me, you saw it too?"
"That's right."
Yaoguang's reply completely confirmed Jing Yuan's fears. Yaoguang, too, seemed to have realized something and let out two cold laughs.
"I'm afraid all the headlines across the cosmos are about to change. And as for that Fu Zhu, his name will soon be known by all. That poem just now affected the entire universe. I used divination and discovered that it has been stained with an immense amount of causality! Jing Yuan, you best be careful!"
"Alright, I understand."
Jing Yuan hung up the phone and immediately called Fu Zhu. The call connected after a few moments.
"Yo? Old Jing, what's up?"
Hearing Fu Zhu's slightly flippant tone on the other end, Jing Yuan felt a sense of relief for some reason, and a smile crept onto his lips.
"Something happened. Did you find the egg?"
"Found it. I'm on my way back now."