The wood carving gradually took shape, while the corpses beneath the stakes writhed restlessly, trying again and again to climb upward.
Bai Yi twisted his body and called out to The Reverse God, "The main NPC Alex is finally awake! Reverse God, hurry and complete his storyline so we can unlock the rest of the [True End] route!"
The Reverse God gave a quiet hum and looked up at Alex, who had just opened his eyes.
"Although I know this entire world is nothing more than a scam created by the evil god who granted you power," he said calmly, "I still don't understand why you ultimately became his believer."
"—To the point of sacrificing all these lives to maintain the illusion you wanted."
Alex moved his hands, which were bound behind his back, but remained silent.
The Reverse God continued, his tone steady:
"In this war-torn world, a massive explosion occurred in the town the night before last. Someone poured paint over the arsenal and set it ablaze. The entire rainforest was blown apart. Nearly all the soldiers stationed there were killed."
"Yet they did not truly die. Instead, they entered a half-dead state wandering the rainforest as corpses and dismembered limbs."
He paused.
"Was it you? Using paint to detonate the arsenal? Administering the special potion you invented to so many people? Did you do it alone?"
Alex lowered his head. Blood dripped from the tips of his hair. He let out two shaky, nervous laughs.
"I did."
The Reverse God sighed.
"…We found you unconscious, not far from the destroyed arsenal. After confirming you were still alive, we took you with us while evading monsters until we were captured by these indigenous living dead and brought here as sacrifices. You just woke up."
"You killed so many people. Isn't that the opposite of your original intention to save lives? Why did you do it?"
"…Because I can't save anyone."
Alex slowly lifted his head. His hollow eyes fixed on the broken wooden statue of the old evil god.
"Even in this illusory world, I can't save anyone."
The Reverse God followed his gaze, pausing on the statue's faint smile.
"What happened in the real world timeline?" he asked quietly.
"…What happened…"
Alex's expression twisted as if dragged into a memory too painful to endure.
"I saved Guy. But Guy… still died. Burned to ashes. There was no chance of resurrection."
"He died on the eve of the war."
"At the time, I desperately wanted to use my medicine to change everything—to save everyone, to undo the war…"
A bitter smile curled at his lips.
"But who could've known that in the end, I would be the one to ignite the arsenal with paint?"
"This cowardly, twisted country, the one I fought to protect, didn't even dare record the truth in its history."
Alex laughed sharply.
"They didn't dare write that it was me, a native son with an unblemished record, a doctor devoted to saving lives who set fire to the warehouse after witnessing the true evil of war."
"Instead, they wrote that a group of indigenous people attacked the munitions depot. They used it to justify starting the war, claiming the natives were as foolish and hopeless as their recruitment posters said, deserving of enslavement and annihilation."
The Reverse God asked softly, "What did you do during the war?"
Alex was silent for several seconds. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse.
"…After Guy died, I enlisted in the assault team. I wanted to use the chaos of war to infiltrate the indigenous tribe and find the evil god statue, the one that granted me power over life and death. I hoped it could give me an answer… a way to save everyone."
"It rained heavily on the day of the battle. By the time I swam across the lake, I had been shot five or six times. I was dying."
He tried to smile, but it collapsed into something close to tears.
"…But I didn't die. I saw the wooden statue of the evil god."
"I lay there in a pool of blood, staring up at it. I didn't even have the strength to speak. I could only pray in my heart, over and over: 'God, can you save everyone?'"
"…I don't know how long I prayed. Then I heard it speak."
The Reverse God reacted immediately. "Driven by extreme desire, you heard the evil god's oracle? What did it say?"
Alex's face went blank. "He said he could grant my wish. But I had to play a game."
"If I won, my wish would come true without cost. If I lost, I would remain trapped in the game forever."
The Reverse God's voice was steady. "What game?"
Alex's breathing quickened. "A game he designed. It was called 'The Dense Forest Frontier.'"
"What were the rules?"
Alex drew a long breath and glanced sideways at the broken statue.
"He would rewind the timeline to seven days before everything began. He would provide me with unlimited red paint to create an army of the undead."
"I had ten chances. He would reset the time to seven days before each time. If, in any one of those ten attempts, I could prevent the final war within those seven days, I would win. Otherwise, I would lose."
Alex lowered his head. "I agreed."
The Reverse God held his gaze. "What did you do in the first round?"
"In the first round, I stopped Guy from rebelling. I used the Undead Potion to persuade him to remain in our army. I told him I would secretly save both our soldiers and the natives using the potion."
A weak blink. "I was naïve. I still had unrealistic faith in my own side. I believed that as long as we achieved final victory, the war would end. I chose to assist our army."
"I tried desperately to keep the potion secret. But soon, those I saved realized they could resurrect after death and temporarily resist harm. They reported it to both organizations."
"There are no better soldiers than the not-yet-fully-resurrected undead. Since I belonged to my own organization, once they learned of the potion's effects, they forced me to mass-produce an undead army."
"Of course, I refused. No torture or threat could make me agree. I knew I still had resets."
He paused. "But I didn't expect them to find volunteers."
The Reverse God frowned. "Volunteers?"
Alex's breathing grew ragged. "They brought one hundred newly recruited soldiers. Blindfolded them. Pointed guns and flamethrowers at them."
"They told me that if I didn't use the potion to save them, they would shoot them—and then burn their bodies to ashes."
The Reverse God stiffened. He looked down at the dry, wood-like remains beneath the stakes. "…These are—"
"Yes," Alex said. "The bones of the volunteers."
"The first time, I refused. The second time, I still refused."
"They were shot and burned in front of me. Again and again."
"The youngest was fifteen. Gray-blue eyes. After being set on fire, he writhed on the ground for half an hour before he stopped moving."
"Some burned into blackened bones that could still be saved. Others were reduced completely to ash."
"After countless repetitions, I broke."
"I used the potion."
Alex fell silent for a long time. His face trembled with suppressed emotion.
"When those volunteers stood up, the senior officers applauded."
"The boys removed their blindfolds happily, saluted the officers, and proudly reported that they had completed their mission."
Alex's eyes were bloodshot.
"That's when I realized… they had volunteered willingly."
"Every volunteer who died would receive a five-cent martyr's medal."
"The officers told them I possessed a powerful biological weapon capable of transforming the dead into humanoid weapons."
"But that I was selfish and selective—unwilling to use it on just anyone."
"They told the children: 'We will kill you first. Then he will choose some of you to be transformed.'"
"Those not chosen would die as martyrs. Those chosen would become heroes."
"They told them the dead died because of my cruelty. The living survived the war."
Alex clenched his fists.
"They found my weakness. I couldn't endure watching them die like that."
"They brought volunteers in batches. Sometimes they tortured them deliberately, forcing me to watch, to push me into using the potion."
"I knew the volunteers accepted it willingly. For victory, they would endure anything."
"My undead army grew. The war erupted."
Alex exhaled slowly.
"But because only the undead soldiers and cold weapons were used—to cut costs—it didn't meet the evil god's required scale for war."
"So I didn't lose."
"The war with the natives ended on the sixth day."
"I thought I had won."
His teeth clenched.
"But the existence of the undead fueled the officers' and the government's ambitions. They saw them as perfect weapons."
"They secretly approved a new war to seize all territory beyond the rainforest."
"On the afternoon of the seventh day, I watched them fire the first cannon. They provoked retaliation. Then they filed a report claiming the other side attacked first."
Alex's voice was dry and hollow. "It was a horrific war. I lost the first game. And I asked the evil god to send me back seven days."