Chapter 142: The Converging World
“Miss Fox, I think I need an explanation.” Kailun’s gaze was chilling.
This fox had long harbored thoughts about his body, once clamoring about turning him into a puppet for research.
But Kailun believed Fox was all talk. She wouldn’t actually do such a thing.
However, even if Fox hadn’t done anything that outrageous, she must have done something unusual. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have the title of Fate Thief.
“Explanation? What explanation can I give? This is clearly slander.” Fox tucked her tail between her legs, her eyes darting around. “Isabella saw it too. You’re clearly standing right in front of us, alive and well. The words on the tombstone are complete nonsense.”
For some reason, Fox felt very guilty looking at the inscription on the tombstone, as if she had really done such a thing.
Isabella tugged at Kailun’s other sleeve. “Huh? What happened? I don’t know anything about this.”
The rational Isabella didn’t side with Fox. She knew who to listen to for her own benefit.
Kailun pulled Fox’s wrist, bringing her closer. “Miss Fox, you have five seconds to think. After that, I’ll start rubbing you.”
Some things were better left unknown. Once he knew, he couldn’t easily forgive.
The environment and rules of this town were quite special. The things recorded here should be true to a certain extent.
He couldn’t believe it completely, but he couldn’t dismiss it entirely either.
When it was time to “rub” Fox, he wouldn’t hold back. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to avenge the “rubbing” he received from her in his past life.
“This wasn’t my doing. Why should I admit it? Besides, this place is clearly very strange. Are you sure this grave is real?” Fox quickly explained. She noticed Kailun’s gaze lingering on her ears and tail, and even worse, he had paused for a moment on her chest.
So Fox hurriedly covered herself with her arms, but even the tight-fitting bodice couldn’t conceal her shapely figure.
“Confirm? No, I don’t need to confirm. I just feel hurt, so I want to rub Miss Fox to get revenge.”
Kailun took a step closer to Fox. Looking at her drooping ears, he had the urge to take a bite.
It was all because of this stupid fox that he had developed some strange fetishes in his past life. He couldn’t resist those fluffy ears.
“That’s outrageous! Your arbitrary behavior should be punished! You… Ugh~”
Before Fox could finish her accusation, Kailun pushed her to the ground and squatted down. Her ears became the main target as Kailun relentlessly ravaged them with his wicked hands.
If he continued rubbing like this, Fox felt like she would go bald. So she started to resist.
But the result of her resistance was naturally not pleasant. Not only did Fox fail to protect her ears, but even her tail, tucked between her legs, was exposed.
After being thoroughly played with by Kailun’s skillful hands, Fox almost collapsed to the ground.
“Don’t touch the base of my tail… It’s going to… break…”
Her eyes glazed over, and Fox’s brain short-circuited.
Like a cat encountering catnip, Kailun’s “rubbing” technique could only be described as intoxicating.
She couldn’t resist at all. It was even more intense than the first time, so pleasurable that it felt like her tail was about to break off. Every touch perfectly hit her sensitive spots, to the point that her eyes… moistened.
[Fox feels like her soul is floating on clouds. Goodwill +10, Total Goodwill -55]
“Can I rub it too?”
Isabella looked at Fox eagerly. She also wanted to rub her fluffy tail. It would be so comfortable to use it as a pillow.
“No, Fox is my exclusive pet,” Kailun replied instinctively.
“Get lost! I’m not your pet!”
Fox pushed Kailun away and escaped from his clutches. She looked at her messy tail with regret and sighed.
She shouldn’t have come with Kailun. Now she couldn’t even run away.
Fox felt that with her eighth-rank strength, she could only barely protect herself in this place. This town had undergone changes she didn’t understand.
If she observed carefully, it was a bit like that day.
“We’ll talk about further punishment later. Let’s focus on the present for now. Miss Fox, please don’t interrupt.”
Kailun patted his hands with satisfaction and discarded the fox fur he had inadvertently pulled out.
He walked towards the grave with a calm expression, looking at the low mound like a passerby.
Apart from the inscription left by Fox, which had messed with his mind, he felt very peaceful.
“Boom!”
In an instant, an eighth-rank magic circle covered the grave. Under the immense pressure, the ground within a five-meter radius sank.
“Eh? Aren’t you going to check it?” Isabella asked, looking at the flattened grave.
“No need. This grave shouldn’t be here. Seeing what’s inside would only add to our troubles. If you really want an explanation, you can look at this parchment scroll. It has a certain connection to this town.”
Kailun took out the parchment scroll he had tucked into his pocket before leaving.
Out of the two parchment scrolls, he had focused on studying one of them and had made some decent progress.
Kailun glanced at the grave, which had completely sunk into the ground, and waved the parchment scroll in his hand. “Isabella, haven’t you wanted to see this for a long time? Come here.”
In fact, the moment Kailun took out the parchment scroll, Isabella rushed over excitedly.
She had been craving Kailun’s scroll for a long time, but because the price he offered was too high, she hadn’t received permission after discussing it with her family.
The Loya Ball wasn’t like the Abyss. In terms of resources, they were far behind.
Even though the Xiya Kingdom had lifted the restrictions on knowledge, ninth-rank magic books were still undeniably valuable items.
Isabella was willing to part with them, but others weren’t.
Now that she had the opportunity, she quickly ran to Kailun’s side and stood on tiptoe to examine the scroll in his hand.
Fox hesitated for a moment. If Isabella hadn’t been so eager, she might have hesitated even longer.
On the way to Kuye Town, she had learned about Isabella’s identity from Kailun. She had heard of this famous “pure lustful woman,” but she hadn’t expected her to be so petite.
Cautiously approaching Kailun, Fox hugged her tail and looked at the scroll in his hand. It was an extremely complex magic circle.
Even she felt a headache at first glance. It was a magic circle she had never seen before, and its complexity surpassed even the ninth-rank magic she had seen.
She glanced at Isabella and saw the excitement in her eyes.
“Miss Fox, can you really not see anything?” Kailun’s voice reached her ears.
Fox: “What?”
Kailun: “The special aura on this scroll, in other words, the scent of fate.”
Fox frowned, her jade-like hand tightening its grip on her tail, flattening the fluffy white fur.
Kailun looked thoughtful. “It seems Miss Fox is truly useless now. Isabella saw it the moment she saw the scroll.”
Fox couldn’t have lost her talent for no reason. At this time in his past life, Fox had already returned to the Abyss, and her strength should have been intact.
Logically, the loss of her talent should be related to something that happened after his death.
At this moment, Kailun suddenly remembered the scene in his dream. He seemed to be gradually replacing Fox.
According to the normal course of events, it should have been Fox who found Carol, but in his dream, the figure by the river was him.
A bunch of questions filled Kailun’s mind. Helplessly, he increased the allocation of his mental power.
“Yes, I’m useless. You should be happy to hear me say that, right?” Fox lowered her head.
Her heart was filled with complex emotions, a sense of powerlessness overwhelming her. “If you knew this would happen, why did you bring me along? I can’t be of any help.”
Sensing the change in Fox’s mental state, Kailun handed the scroll to Isabella for her to study alone.
He placed his hands on Fox’s shoulders and shook her gently. “Do you remember what I said before we left? I asked if you wanted to investigate what happened back then with me. It should be very important to you, right? So, we should focus on the present and cooperate, try to find out what happened in this town and what’s hidden here.”
This was the first time Kailun had encountered Fox acting sulky. In the past, she always projected the image of a capable older sister, always in control, always strong.
The few times she fulfilled Kailun’s wishes were out of her own kindness, as there was a huge gap in their strength.
Seeing the opportunity, Kailun placed his hand on Fox’s ear and pinched it gently. “It’s fine if your talent is gone. Just be a “fox”.”
“You have ulterior motives. You’re even admitting it openly now.”
Fox sensed the hidden meaning in Kailun’s words and quickly swatted his hand away.
She almost fell for it. She was almost touched.
Fox took a wary step back. Kailun had never had good intentions. He had always wanted to “rub” her.
“That’s right. I’ve wanted to keep a fox as a pet for a long time. Miss Fox, you can try to escape. Of course, if you really run away, I might bully Bella. Once I have Bella, there will be no place for you in the entire Abyss. You’ll have to come back obediently.”
He nodded, not denying it.
Fox froze. “You demon…”
Seeing Fox back to normal, Kailun turned his attention to Isabella, who was carefully studying the scroll.
Feeling Kailun’s gaze, Isabella looked up and said, “Although I can sense the aura, I’m not capable of understanding this magic circle yet. It’s too difficult for me. I can’t decipher it.”
“It is indeed difficult to decipher. I only managed to understand it partially using special methods. The magic recorded on this parchment scroll is quite special, a type I’ve never seen before. It’s a corner of a massive magic circle. This piece in your hand has a peculiar effect. To use a vaguely accurate term, it’s called ‘chaos’.”
“Chaos?” Isabella’s confusion deepened. She asked, “Shouldn’t magic strive for stability? Why would this part have the effect of chaos? Aren’t the creators afraid of the magic circle collapsing and exploding?”
Kailun shrugged. “My guess is that this part of the magic circle plays the role of disrupting something within the larger magic circle. Similarly, there might be another magic circle with the effect of reorganization following it. Of course, this is just speculation.”
After saying this, Kailun carefully observed Isabella and Fox and noticed that they both looked contemplative.
It wasn’t that he suspected them. He just felt that Fox and Isabella in the later stages should be aware of these things.
Based on the currently known clues, they would gradually be connected to these events.
Actually, Kailun had a more direct method, which was to go back and ask the other Vivian.
But his reason told him not to do so. Her existence was, in a sense, illogical. If he allowed her to reveal any more information, Kailun felt that something unexpected might happen.
Looking at the foggy town, Kailun pondered his next move.
……
“Thud!”
In the brightly lit, wide-open underground prison, Vivian was diligently carving the wooden figure in her hand.
It was already three in the morning. After taking a bath, she gradually felt sleepy.
She didn’t know when this wooden figure had appeared in her hand, but looking at it always reminded her of Kailun. So she subconsciously started carving it to look like him.
Make a wooden figure that looked exactly like Kailun. This thought lingered in Vivian’s mind.
Vivian felt that she had become sleepy these past few days. Strange and blurry memories would occasionally appear in her mind, like dreams, but not quite.
Placing the half-finished product on the table, Vivian propped her chin on her hand and examined it carefully.
It felt like something was missing. It wasn’t as good as she had expected.
Unable to continue carving, Vivian stood up and left the chair, intending to go back to bed and sleep.
Passing by the mirror on the dressing table, she noticed something unusual and quickly approached it for a closer look.
Vivian gently touched her face and muttered to herself, “That look in my eyes just now wasn’t mine. Was it an illusion?”
She waved at the mirror, and her reflection did the same.
After verifying it again with rock-paper-scissors, Vivian didn’t find anything unusual.
“Maybe I’m just seeing things after arguing with my sister…”
Rubbing her eyes, Vivian left the dressing table and stumbled onto her soft bed.
She was so tired that she fell asleep without even taking off her clothes. Her mental energy had been depleted much faster than expected today.
However, Vivian didn’t notice that her shadow had disappeared as she walked towards the bed.
Instead, the “Vivian” in the mirror smiled wearily. After a moment, the illusion stepped out of the mirror.
She looked exactly like Vivian, carved from the same mold, equally cute, petite, and charming.
Perhaps the biggest difference was their temperament. The illusion was much more intellectual and mature.
The illusion first looked at her gradually solidifying hands, then pinched her own face. After confirming its reality, she quietly walked to Vivian’s bed, took off her shoes, and covered her with a blanket.
After doing all this, she returned to the still-warm chair Vivian had just been sitting on.
Picking up the knife and the wooden figure, she slowly carved the unfinished artwork.
With each cut, her body became more translucent.
But the illusion didn’t care about the changes in her body. She focused all her attention on the wooden figure in front of her.
She shouldn’t exist in the first place. Her existence confirmed the existence of the past life, which wasn’t a good thing for this world.
If the world was to operate stably, Vivian could only be Vivian.
In her understanding, there could only be one world. Otherwise, unexpected situations would arise.
All the threads of fate had converged due to human intervention. The changes in the world stemmed from the Xiya Kingdom, from Kailun.
In fact, at one o’clock in the morning, Vivian had left the underground prison and asked a maid for some late-night snacks. On the way, she encountered Carol and learned that Kailun had left the Royal City for Kuye Town.
At the same time, she also learned that Kailun’s sudden departure was because Isabella’s divination had suddenly changed.
This information was useless to Vivian, but it was very significant to the illusion.
She felt that her existence might be causing these changes. Every second she existed, every impact she had on the world, might be pushing these changes towards an unpredictable direction.
That was why she didn’t dare to reveal any more information to Kailun.
The illusion stared at the wooden figure in her hand and sighed. She also wanted to be more selfish, but she couldn’t.
The current situation was the result of the cooperation of many people, including her, Isabella, Fox, and Carol…
There were also others, but it was better not to mention them.
Judging from the dreams that Hilna and Vivian had, everyone seemed to harbor the consciousness of their past selves to varying degrees. This was a very bad sign.
If the dreams continued and progressed, a situation similar to hers might occur.
Her existence, in a sense, increased the likelihood of this happening.
“If only there was more time…”
The illusion sighed. Although her heart was in turmoil, every cut she made on the wooden figure was surprisingly steady, as if she had carved it thousands of times before.
……
Alaye, the headquarters of the Temple of the Celestial God.
The Pope had found the Empress and was discussing their strategy regarding the Xiya Kingdom.
At the same time, the Empress was fiddling with a massive fate divination device.
Upon closer inspection, one could see that the device the Empress possessed was different from the Temple’s. It had been modified and, in addition to divination, also had the ability to alter fate.
But both divination and alteration required Fate Stones to function.
“Click!”
A giant golden device that resembled a clock made a clicking sound. A long wave merged into the world, and the magic circles related to fate surrounding the device were operating frantically.
“It seems this attempt was successful. But I’m curious, what exactly did you do? Why wouldn’t you tell me?”
It was the Pope who asked. She was standing behind the Empress.
Empress: “A seed of chaos.”
Pope: “What is it for?”
Empress: “To break a game set up by someone unknown.”
Pope: “When did it start?”
Empress: “Over ten days ago.”
The Pope asked persistently, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
This time, the Empress remained silent for a moment. She raised her head and looked up at the giant “clock”.
“You’re not in the game…”
Leave a Reply