Chapter 80 – Rewind
Zhou Ning could fully relate—Wendegoon was indeed a madman, but a brilliant one.
What intrigued Zhou Ning most was what Wendegoon ultimately intended to do. Something in his words had hinted at an unthinkable possibility, a theory so insane that the more Zhou Ning thought about it, the more it made his skin crawl.
The more he mulled it over, the more horrifying it seemed… Could Wendegoon be planning to dissect a god?
The rest of the content was likely recorded in another book. Until he got his hands on it, there was no point dwelling on it, no matter how curious he was.
He opened the control panel. Sure enough, there was a new life skill listed: Life Alchemy. Upon clicking into it, he found only one formula—how to create a miniature alchemical lifeform. The ingredients? Pristine Earth, Primal Life, and human sperm. Zhou Ning felt absolutely no interest.
At the very least, this would be lower priority than Puppet Alchemy.
Zhou Ning took out his pocket watch and glanced at the time—it was already 3:30 a.m. But perhaps due to just having finished reading Wendegoon's passage, he wasn't sleepy at all. Opening the simulation panel, he saw that after the last lottery draw, he still had 11 Traversal Coins left. With the daily stipends from the past couple of days, he now had 13.
Why not dive into a game?
The new simulation world War of the Gods required 60 Traversal Coins, which wasn't worth rushing into just yet. Instead, Zhou Ning turned his attention to the Rewind interface, curious to try out this new function.
Upon opening the Rewind panel, three selectable worlds appeared: Mist-Lost London City, Endless War, and Across the Seas.
Rewinding into Mist-Lost London City or Endless War required 20 Traversal Coins, while Across the Seas demanded an insane 50.
After a brief hesitation, Zhou Ning chose Endless War to rewind into.
If he remembered correctly, there were still around ten empty slots in the Hall of Curiosities from Endless War—lots of good stuff left.
[Preparing Rewind... Traversal Coins -20]
[Please select your traversal mode…]
[1. Traverse using a random template.]
[2. Traverse using an existing template.]
Oh? A brand-new feature—even the method of traversal had changed!
At the moment, he only had a one-time-use Godfather template, and it didn't seem worth using on this first attempt.
After a moment's thought, Zhou Ning selected option one and initiated the Rewind.
Five cards appeared before him. Three were familiar: Mad Clown Zhou Ning, Spartan Zhou Ning, and Genius Architect Zhou Ning. The other two were unfamiliar, but neither seemed particularly powerful.
"How anticlimactic," Zhou Ning muttered, curling his lip.
He tapped the reshuffle button. All five cards flipped over to reveal their backs. Zhou Ning casually clicked one, and it flipped over—revealing himself dressed in a purple suit and clown makeup.
His personality traits were: erratic, unpredictable. Talents: Criminal Genius (Purple), Evil Charisma (Purple), Explosives Expert (Purple), Firearms Master (Purple), Dyslexia (Gray – negative trait). Skills: Intimidation & Extortion (Master), Explosives Crafting (Expert), Negotiation (Expert).
[Match successful. In this parallel world, you are a mad clown roaming the dark underworld. You disregard law and order, delight in danger, explosions, and death. Fear and madness are etched into your soul. In your view, there is no such thing as justice—everything good is a lie. You want people to resist you. You want the entire world to rise against you, so you can destroy it. What kind of chaos will someone like you bring to this world? Let's find out.]
[Current World Exploration Progress: 95.2%. This is a previously explored world—Earth-83716. Be aware of your alternate selves.]
[Note: If you die in this rewind session, the game ends.]
[Note: Using a template allows you to freely select time and location for traversal.]
[Note: In Rewind Mode, template characters exhibit strong agency. Mad Clown Zhou Ning's alignment is Chaotic Evil. You have zero control over the character's actions.]
[You are currently deciding when and where to traverse.]
[You selected Manhattan, New York, USA, in the year 2006.]
[You have arrived in New York City in 2006. From this moment, the wheels of history begin to turn.]
[March 1st, 2006 – You stood alone and penniless on the streets of Manhattan. No money, no gun. Not far from you stood the towering headquarters of the world's largest tech company—Starlight Corporation. Stark Industries was also nearby. Faced with such a hellish beginning, you whistled and grinned. "Isn't this fun?" That afternoon, you mugged a police officer in an alleyway, stole his service pistol, and picked up $500 in cash. You used the money to have a hearty meal, and then spent the rest—at $56 a piece—on three homemade bombs. That evening, you robbed a blonde woman at gunpoint. When she thought you were about to assault her, you instead only took her underwear. Staring at her dumbfounded expression, you said, 'Why so serious?']
[March 2nd, 2006 – You dismantled the underwear and extracted a flexible steel wire. Using it with an alarm clock and one of your bombs, you created a crude time bomb. You began planning a bank heist.]
[March 4th, 2006 – Using your silver tongue, you persuaded five criminals to join your cause. You needed helpers—and fall guys. Under your plan, three would rob the bank, one would disable the alarm, one would crack the vault, and one would serve as the getaway driver. Of course, each had a secret assignment as well: kill one of the others.]
[March 5th, 2006 – You hit a mafia bank in Manhattan's West Side. As you orchestrated, everything played out like a macabre symphony. The one who cracked the vault killed the one who disabled the alarm. Then the robbers killed the vault guy. The driver gunned down the robbers. Finally, your time bomb blew up the driver. You walked away with all the money. Wealth +10.]
[March–June 2006 – Word of you began to spread through Hell's Kitchen. Naturally, S.H.I.E.L.D. launched an investigation. But as a criminal mastermind, you left them nothing to hold on to. During this period, you recruited several notable supervillains from the Marvel universe—Max Dillon (Electro), William Baker (Sandman), and a disgraced electrical engineer nicknamed the Vulture. You won them over with your astonishingly evil charisma.]
[July 2006 – You saw a news report that Stark Industries had successfully developed a human enhancement serum. You immediately set your sights on them. Under your command, Max Dillon kidnapped Pepper Potts and demanded the serum from Tony Stark. Having predicted that S.H.I.E.L.D. would intervene, you set up explosive traps in advance. Your meticulous planning not only killed several elite agents, but also allowed you to seize the enhancement serum without issue. You have obtained the item: Tony Stark's Enhancement Serum.]