Inside a luxurious and elegant underground study, Dorothy sat on an exquisite chair, looking around the surroundings with a stunned expression. Facing this sudden and drastic change, even her usually composed self couldn't help but feel surprised.
Thick, ancient bookshelves, clean and tidy floors, bright Lights, neatly arranged books, many people quietly reading... From every angle, the environment here looked almost exactly like a normally operating library, not an underground book storage that had been abandoned for decades.
The underground book storage where Dorothy was originally located suddenly transformed into this appearance, and it happened silently, which made Dorothy feel very surprised. She had thought that her main work of compiling false history might cause some changes, but she hadn't expected the changes to be like this...
'Where is this? Looking at the layout, it should still be inside the underground book storage of Bastis, but the decoration is completely different? And who are these people?' Looking around, Dorothy carefully observed the surrounding environment. She found that she and several of her Corpse Puppets had appeared together in this familiar yet strange environment. In this library-like environment, there were also many people wearing North Wu style robes browsing books. They had no reaction whatsoever to Dorothy and her Corpse Puppets, as if they couldn't see Dorothy.
Facing this situation, Dorothy couldn't help but furrow her brows in thought. Soon, she recalled the conversation between two student-like people near her after she had just entered this strange environment.
'Right... just now, a few people mentioned the name Hakya. Hakya isn't the one I wrote...'
Suddenly, realizing something, Dorothy couldn't help but be slightly startled. Then she immediately got up and walked towards the exit of the underground library. At the exit of the underground book storage where she had once been, she indeed found an upward staircase with the exact same direction and number of steps. Dorothy quickly stepped onto the stairs and walked up the entire passageway.
After pushing open a door, Dorothy entered a large space from the stairwell. This was a very spacious indoor area with tall pillars and rows of bookshelves. More books were stored on the shelves, and more people were moving among the bookshelves, searching and browsing. Bright sunlight streamed into the room from outside the large windows, providing ample lighting for the entire space. If the environment Dorothy was in just now was an underground reading room, then here was the real library.
After arriving in this library, Dorothy looked around, then quickly walked out the main door and came outside the library. What she saw then was a bustling street scene. Countless people wearing North Wu style robes bustled back and forth on the wide street. In the middle of the road, many camels led by people were carrying heavy loads, their bells jingling. Numerous small stalls along the street were shouting and soliciting business, the entire street presenting a lively scene.
Dorothy silently looked at the street before her. She had seen the direction and general layout of this street before, but it was unusually deserted, without this liveliness. That place was tormented by epidemic, controlled by cults, and filled with rot, while this was a normal city street.
Looking at the scene before her, Dorothy slowly continued forward. After descending the steps in front of the main door, she turned around and looked back. What she saw then was a tall, greyish-yellow building with countless large windows. Dorothy had seen the style of this building before, but it was the ruined version after being burned by fire.
This was precisely the national library established by the Santo Dynasty. The building that had once been destroyed by war now appeared before Dorothy completely intact.
"This is really... amazing..." Witnessing the scene before her, Dorothy couldn't help but sigh and mutter.
...
In the ancient oasis city in the desert, on a high tower in a palace, a middle-aged man wearing a luxurious robe, a bright turban adorned with feathers, and a thick beard was standing there, leaning on a railing and looking at the vast city before him. Beside him, an old man wearing a white robe was standing.
"Your Majesty, the damage from the sandstorm in the northern provinces this year exceeded expectations. Perhaps we should take some measures to reduce losses."
"Yes, I have already arranged for people to investigate the detailed situation there. Relief supplies should also begin to be prepared now. Also, we need to prepare some troops. Generally, after such disasters, banditry is particularly prone to arise, so we need to take more preventive measures..." While looking at the prosperous city scene before him, the middle-aged man arranged things. Afterwards, he turned around and began to sit down with the old man next to him at a Stone table and Stone stools, discussing the topic of disaster relief in detail. Not far from them, a pair of eyes was silently watching the scene of their conversation.
At this moment, Dorothy was also standing on this high tower, seriously gazing at the scene unfolding before her. Although her gaze was calm at this moment, there were considerable fluctuations in her heart.
Dorothy knew who these two men before her were. They were King Hakya and his advisor Hassan. These were characters that Dorothy had created out of thin air when compiling the false continuous history for the Santo Dynasty. Hakya was the non-existent sixth King of the Santo Dynasty.
'Fictional historical characters have actually come true now? This is truly unbelievable... No, compared to this... what's even more unbelievable is the fact that a fictional dynasty has come true...'
Dorothy sighed like this in her heart. While sighing, she turned her head to look at the railing of the high tower beside her, at the vibrant city under the sunlight. Although there were many more tall buildings, and the city's scale had extended to a large area outside the city walls, Dorothy could still clearly recognize from some of the city's structures that this was Bastis. This was different from the decaying place in reality that was constantly affected by plague, war, and cults. This was the Bastis that had been stable, peaceful, and prosperous for decades, existing in the false history.
Even now, Dorothy still found it somewhat hard to believe that she had actually come to a historical world she had written herself. She couldn't believe that a fictional history could form such a real world.
'Is this... the miracle created by the remnants of the Judge of Heaven's divine power? It's truly unbelievable...' Looking at the scene of the city ahead, Dorothy sighed and muttered again. In her words, she began to seriously examine the world she was currently in.
'Although I don't know the mechanism by which that power operates, from the current situation, if I want to find Heopolis, I must trigger this power from the perspective of historical compilation... As for now, I must learn more about what this world of false history is like. Perhaps I can gain a little more understanding of that divine power from this...'
Dorothy thought to herself like this, and then she decided to seriously investigate the situation of the current world.
...
Several hours later, Dorothy conducted a preliminary investigation of the world of false history she was in through various means, thereby learning some of its characteristics.
First of all, Dorothy and some of her Corpse Puppets suddenly arrived in this world without any warning. This world is not an illusion; every single object is substantial. The people here can speak and seem to have their own will and lives, not like puppets.
The entire society of the pseudo-history Bastis was quite complete; from commoners to officials to royalty, everyone had their own life trajectory. Society here existed entirely according to the settings Dorothy provided in her historical compilation. Dorothy's history detailed how the Santo Dynasty's bureaucratic system was reformed, and whatever official positions existed during King Hakya's reign were present here. The third generation King erected a monument in the center of Bastis city, and there was truly a monument here. Dorothy set the fourth generation King to marry a commoner woman named Horna as his Queen, and Dorothy truly found a portrait of Queen Horna in the palace.
The world here completely followed the events and settings Dorothy provided when compiling the history, and for areas Dorothy did not specifically set, such as festivals established based on the Santo Dynasty, or the traditional customs of the people, these were also fully expressed here. This made the world seem like a real world formed after extensive processing, filling, and expansion based on Dorothy's settings and benchmarks.
Secondly, there was Dorothy's connection to this world. Strangely, Dorothy and some of the Corpse Puppets she brought over could not be perceived by the people of this world. In the eyes of the people of this world, Dorothy and her Corpse Puppets were as if they didn't exist at all. No matter what actions they took or sounds they made, they could not elicit a reaction from the residents of this world.
However, this did not mean Dorothy did not exist in this world. Dorothy and her Corpse Puppets could pick up items from this world, drink water from this world, and eat food from this world. If Dorothy had a Corpse Puppet tap a person from this world on the head, he would feel pain and then look around in confusion, but he wouldn't see who tapped him. Dorothy and her Corpse Puppets were like invisible beings in this world.
Furthermore, Dorothy also tried to explore the boundaries of this world. After a brief exploration, she found that this world was very large, and even if boundaries existed, they were very far away. She could see the complete Bastis, and beyond Bastis, she could see many settlements. Many merchants from other parts of Buserite gathered in Bastis, and they discussed news from other parts of Buserite.
However, Dorothy had never heard any news about places outside of Buserite from these merchants, nor could she find any foreign merchants from outside Buserite in Bastis. When Dorothy searched the library for information about foreign countries, while she did find some, the content was extremely scarce. The entire Bastis had no presence of foreigners or even foreign traces, which was unimaginable in the capital of a relatively stable and prosperous Kingdom.
Therefore, Dorothy speculated that the boundary of this pseudo-history world might be the entire Buserite. Whether places outside Buserite existed was a question worth investigating, but Dorothy's time was limited for now, and she didn't have the leisure to specifically travel to the Buserite border for verification.
Afterward, Dorothy also examined the relationship between this pseudo-history world and the real current world. After entering this world, Dorothy's spiritual thread connection to the original world was interrupted. However, the information channel based on the system could still operate normally. Dorothy could contact Neff and Vanya in the original world as usual. Only after confirming that the situation on their side had not changed at all did Dorothy confirm that she had come to another pseudo-history world, rather than the original world having transformed into its current state.
Finally, Dorothy began searching for a way to return to the original world. Dorothy had come by compiling historical records, so naturally, she needed to return using a similar method.
Dorothy discovered that not all of her Corpse Puppets were sent to this world. Only those Corpse Puppets who participated in compiling the historical records with Dorothy and whose hands were touching the historical record pages at the moment Dorothy was sent over were sent over. The other Corpse Puppets responsible for security and auxiliary compilation were left in the original world. In other words, whoever participated in the compilation of this pseudo-history would enter the pseudo-history.
And the trigger for Dorothy entering the pseudo-history world was that she had compiled this pseudo-history for the Santo Dynasty for sixty years, allowing the Santo Dynasty's fictional history to continue in the forged historical records until today, 1361, achieving a certain synchronization. In this synchronization, Dorothy and her Corpse Puppets were sent over together.
'Since... we came over because of the temporal synchronization between real history and fake history, wouldn't it be fine to just eliminate this synchronization?'
Sitting in the underground library of the fictional history's Bastis, Dorothy silently thought as she looked at a thick stack of manuscripts on the wooden long table. This stack of manuscripts was the pseudo-history she had compiled for the Santo Dynasty. After she and the Corpse Puppets were sent into the pseudo-history world, this batch of manuscripts was also sent over.
"Light Year 1361, Royal Year 64, April 11th. King Hakya receives reports of the great dust disaster in the two eastern provinces and urgently summons advisor Hassan to the palace for discussion."
The above text was the last paragraph Dorothy wrote in the pseudo-history. It was after writing this paragraph that she and her Corpse Puppets were sent into this pseudo-history world. April 11th, 1361, was precisely the time Dorothy was in real history, and also the time in the current fake history.
'If the temporal synchronization of these two histories was the trigger for crossing over...'
Dorothy thought this in her heart. Then she reached out and picked up a pen, looking at the last paragraph she had written on the page before her. After thinking for a moment, she first picked up the fruit placed in the fruit basket on the adjacent table and put it in the pocket under her robe, then reached out and drew a line through the last paragraph of text on the manuscript.
The moment Dorothy's pen was lifted, the scene before her suddenly became chaotic. Except for herself, the manuscript before her, and the few Corpse Puppets who were touching the manuscript pages, the light and colors of the entire world distorted abstractly, began to change incessantly, and then rapidly stabilized again.
After the light and colors stabilized, Dorothy could once again see concrete objects. A stone desk, dust-covered bookshelves, tattered books, a dim oil lamp, gradually appeared before Dorothy's eyes. Finally, the elaborately decorated underground library completely disappeared, and the desolate and decaying underground library reappeared in Dorothy's sight. She had returned to the original history.
"Phew... As expected, as long as the synchronization is removed, I can go back again..."
Standing up, Dorothy let out a long sigh and murmured. She looked around and found that the Corpse Puppets who had not been sent to the pseudo-history world because they weren't touching the manuscript were lying there, motionless, while the Corpse Puppets who had been touching the manuscript with her in the pseudo-history world had also returned.
However, some Corpse Puppets whom Dorothy specifically prevented from touching the manuscript when returning did not come back; they seemed to have been left in the pseudo-history world.
Next, Dorothy reached into the pocket under her robe, searching for the fruit she had put in earlier, but she found it empty.
"Things from the pseudo-history... can't be brought back to real history, can they..."