Chapter 152

 The blade formed from condensed water drove into the human body. With a wet sound, it was pulled free, and blood splashed out, staining Ye Zheng’s white clothes with scattered crimson spots.

She could no longer remember how many times she had watched Pei Xi’s eyes widen in disbelief as he fell. Ye Zheng quietly closed her eyes and waited for the white light to flare and carry her into the next world.

When she opened her eyes again, Ye Zheng took out her pocket watch and glanced at it. The time had already reached 5 PM.

The system told her that it wasn’t possible to contact every “Wu Shu” across all world lines at the same time. However, it could reach the world lines that Ye Zheng had once stepped into, as well as the nearby ones. It had already grasped the coordinates of those world lines and could attempt this within the limits of its authority.

　Ye Zheng nodded in understanding, then quickened the rhythm of her jumps. The instant she encountered Pei Xi, she’d strike without hesitation. If she ran into Wu Shu, she’d immediately propose cooperation. Should she fail to meet anyone for a short while, she’d try to withdraw from Amber Lake altogether. She pressed on relentlessly, forcing the jumps to trigger at the 【Fate Singularity】.

She kept jumping again and again, waiting for that precise moment in time to arrive.

On the fifty-seventh jump, Ye Zheng lowered her gaze to her pocket watch, then slowly lifted her eyes. Golden ginkgo leaves drifted down before her, filling her vision. She knew, with certainty, that the most critical moment was about to unfold.

According to the manga spoilers, Pei Xi would fall into a coma aboard a small boat, while “Ye Zheng” stood before him, blocking Ye Di, who intended to harm him.

Even though she’d been rushing through one world line after another in quick succession, she could still piece together the general flow of events. After the Cloud Soarers team had been forced to accept the Royal Academy team, there was no way the two sides could truly coexist in harmony. And once the giant eel appeared again, a direct clash between the two teams would become all but inevitable.

Regardless of how that confrontation ultimately played out, the spoilers had already revealed that Pei Xi would fall into a coma for a certain period of time. And that window would be the most advantageous opportunity for her to make her move against him.

Pei Xi wasn’t especially clever, but after having been used once by Wu Shu in the Blood Flower Aberrant Realm, he’d definitely be wary of her ability during this competition. That meant it wouldn’t be easy for Wu Shu to succeed. Only if he lost consciousness could her chances of success truly be secured.

Moreover, Ye Zheng had taken into account another critical point: did Pei Xi need to consciously activate his 【Death Regression】, or would it trigger on its own?

If it was the latter, then there was no way Wu Shu could kill him. But if it was the former, then… Wu Shu might genuinely be able to kill an unconscious Pei Xi!

For Ye Zheng, this was essentially a double-layered gamble.

By forcing time regressions to occur simultaneously across countless world lines, she was testing the limits of the temporal fragility within the 【Fate Singularity】. Yet if the protagonist, Pei Xi, were to die on the spot, then what she’d be challenging wouldn’t just be time, but the very will of this manga world itself.

Ye Zheng stood beneath a towering ginkgo tree, her gaze fixed on the tranquil surface of the lake. Before long, she caught sight of the faint shadow of a boat.

“System, let’s begin.”

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『Go to that ginkgo grove, Wu Shu.』

『The Cloud Soarers team and the Royal Academy team will clash upon that stretch of water. Pei Xi will fall into a coma, and you’ll have the opportunity — to kill Pei Xi.』

『Do not question why you must kill Pei Xi. If you do, then among the countless world lines, there will certainly be one “Wu Shu” who secures victory.』

『For the sake of that Wu Shu achieving ultimate victory, please follow my instructions and carry out the actions that come next.』

The system relayed her voice to the Wu Shu across 3947 different worlds. After finishing her words, Ye Zheng remained standing quietly where she was, waiting for the Wu Shu of this world to reach the ginkgo forest.

The crisp click of high heels stepping over fallen leaves sounded clearly. Wu Shu made no attempt to hide her presence. Ye Zheng turned her head and smiled at her.

In this world, Wu Shu had slightly curly short hair, lacking the sharpness that straight hair carried. Her brows were tightly knit as she stared at Ye Zheng with clear wariness. “Ye Zheng, you shouldn’t be here.”

She pressed a hand against her temple, as though a headache was setting in. “That voice just now… you have a mental-type ability too?”

It was simply too unbelievable. She’d been secretly observing the Cloud Soarers team the entire time. Ye Zheng, as one of its members, hadn’t left that boat from beginning to end. So how had she suddenly appeared here?

“Unbelievable, isn’t it?”

Ye Zheng stepped closer to Wu Shu and tilted her head slightly as she looked up at her.

Originally, she and Wu Shu had been about the same height, but in this world her height had inexplicably shrunk. By her own estimate, she was now no taller than 1.65 meters. This made Ye Zheng feel somewhat unaccustomed and faintly irritated.

Wu Shu looked down into those deep black eyes and couldn’t help but take a step back. “Ye Zheng, give me a reason. Otherwise, there’s no way I can believe something this inexplicable…”

Bang! The previously calm lake surface suddenly exploded into towering waves. Wu Shu instinctively raised her arm to shield herself from the splashing water. She brushed aside the wet strands of hair clinging to her face and turned toward the distant lake. A massive deep-blue fish tail rose and crashed back down across the surface of the water.

On the far side of the lake, the boat that had originally been heading in a different direction suddenly made a sharp turn and rushed straight toward the ginkgo forest.

Wu Shu’s expression stiffened for a brief moment. All at once, a hand settled on her shoulder, and Ye Zheng’s gentle voice drifted close to her ear. “The moment you chose to come here, you already believed me.”

“Right now, you’re certain that I haven’t lied to you.”

Wu Shu found herself unable to argue back for an instant. She fixed her gaze on the shifting scene across the lake’s surface. The boat carrying both the Cloud Soarers team and the Royal Academy team had already entered this stretch of water. Not far from them, they were locked in a fierce struggle with the giant eel. The battle was extraordinarily intense, the massive aquatic predator coiling and striking in a suffocating, near-strangling manner.

No, even so, she still had no reason to trust Ye Zheng and go kill Pei Xi. She had entered this competition to win, even if it meant resorting to any means necessary.

『You understand that your chances of winning this competition are extremely slim. You need me.』

『I also need you, Wu Shu.』

『Next, Pei Xi will be ambushed by the Royal Academy team. He’ll be rescued by his teammates onto another small boat, where he’ll fall into a coma.』

Wu Shu abruptly turned her head to look at Ye Zheng beside her. The other girl had pressed her smiling lips together, her large, bright black eyes locked onto Wu Shu. The voice echoing from the depths of her heart made it feel as though Ye Zheng was speaking directly to her through those vivid, almost bewitching eyes.

Wu Shu’s gaze shifted back toward the lake’s surface. Amid the roaring waves and surging swells, she truly caught sight of another small boat.

Everything unfolded exactly as Ye Zheng had described.

“And then?” Wu Shu asked, as though she were possessed.

『Then, you kill him, and I’ll claim the final victory together with you!』

Wu Shu’s grip tightened around the dagger at her waist. In the next instant, her figure vanished from where she stood!

At the same time, Wen Xiaoxing stood guard over the unconscious Pei Xi aboard a small boat. The vessel had already drifted away from the main battlefield and rocked gently on the surface of the water.

Earlier, while Pei Xi had been completely focused on dealing with the giant eel, Ye Di had ambushed him and dragged him into the water. Pei Xi had been using his ability to reinforce the boat while also assisting his teammates in attacking the giant eel. Already pushed to his limits, he had been submerged briefly and slipped into a short coma.

Wen Xiaoxing stared at him and let out a helpless sigh. He had absolutely no desire to save him, yet he had no choice but to do it.

After all, the one who should’ve rescued Pei Xi had been sent elsewhere by him, and Pei Xi was far too important. He absolutely couldn’t be allowed to die.

Wen Xiaoxing squatted at the bow of the boat in a listless manner, waiting for that idiot Ye Di to appear.

He could see the threads of how the world would unfold, yet he couldn’t see his own.

But as a favored child of fate, why should he worry about his own destiny?

Amid the noisy splashes and churning waves, Wen Xiaoxing suddenly dropped his lethargic expression and became alert. His ears sharply picked up the sound of something slicing through the air from behind.

Why would Ye Di come from the rear!

Wen Xiaoxing spun around. The moment he clearly saw what was behind him, his green eyes widened dramatically. The corners of his eyes nearly tore apart as his green pupils trembled, as if they might fall out.

At the stern of the boat, a woman dressed in black lowered her head as she pulled a blood-stained dagger from Pei Xi’s chest.

……Why was it Wu Shu?

……She had killed Pei Xi?

Why, why, why!

Wen Xiaohang clutched his face with both hands, his fingertips digging into the soft flesh of his cheeks. His delicate, obedient features twisted into madness. Carrying a terrifying aura, he moved toward the bow of the boat. Suddenly, he heard a crisp sound, as though something had dropped.

Under Wu Shu’s astonished gaze, Wen Xiaoxing crouched down and picked up an eyeball that resembled a green glass bead. He rubbed it forcefully with his fingers, as if trying to wipe away dust. With a sharp crack, the eyeball shattered.

The glass bead-like eye split into countless tiny fragments. Each fragment clearly displayed a scene—

A silver dagger had pierced straight through Pei Xi’s heart!

Not only in this world, but across countless worlds! Pei Xi was dead, and his death would trigger a time regression…

Wen Xiaoxing raised his head. With his left eye socket now a pitch-black void, he looked ahead. Wu Shu had disappeared, and Pei Xi lay unharmed in his original position.

At some unknown moment, time had reversed.

Wen Xiaohang lowered his head and stared at the fragments in his hand. Even after the time regression, the 【Fate Singularity】 could no longer be restored.

Fate was like a river surging endlessly forward. Standing within the dimension of the 【Fate Singularity】, he could see the future, yet with his current level of control and development over his ability, he couldn’t look back into the past.

Ye Zheng had used some unknown method to stack the regression abilities of countless worlds, forcefully dragging the head of fate backward!

The 【Fate Singularity】 simply couldn’t withstand so many worlds regressing at once. It had collapsed outright!

Wen Xiaoxing’s eyes nearly split apart from rage. He glared at the fragments in his hand for a long while before suddenly letting out a dazed, almost unhinged laugh.

The collapse of the 【Fate Singularity】 didn’t mean Ye Zheng could return. She might’ve been cast into an even more unknown place, somewhere that even he, the wielder of the ability, couldn’t perceive!

He had lost, but Ye Zheng wouldn’t be able to win either.

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【I didn’t expect the invincible Crown Prince to suffer from such severe seasickness.】

【Say one more word, and your entire team will be thrown overboard as fish feed.】

When Ye Zheng opened her eyes from the blinding white light and the sensation of weightlessness, these two lines of dialogue entered her ears, and she vaguely realized that she seemed to have finally returned to a past timeline.

At this moment, the Royal Academy team should’ve just boarded the Cloud Soarers team’s boat, and she had only just encountered Wen Xiaoxing.

Ye Zheng turned her head to the left, then to the right, yet she didn’t see Wen Xiaoxing anywhere.

How strange. Could it be that this wasn’t the main world?

The system had indeed warned her that this method, while shattering the Fate Singularity, would very likely trap her within an unknown situation.

Ye Zheng blinked slowly as she observed her surroundings. She realized that she had become much shorter once again.

She walked to the right and quietly moved closer to Ye Di, who stood at 1.7 meters tall. After comparing their heights, she realized she was probably not even 1.6 meters anymore.

Most likely around 1.55 meters.

Ye Zheng found this utterly absurd. She walked to the side of the boat and leaned forward, intending to look at her own reflection in the water below.

Then, to her even greater shock, she discovered that she didn’t know how to tilt her head downward.

Ye Zheng stared blankly ahead at the blue expanse of the lake. Then she turned in another direction and saw that Ye Di was deep in thought.

　【If the Crown Prince hates Pei Xi so much, and I kill him for him…】

Ye Di’s thought was enclosed within a white speech bubble, drifting above his head.

Ye Zheng frowned slightly. Could this be some kind of new ability?

She wanted to lift her gaze and check whether a similarly strange bubble would appear above her own head. She tried hard to tilt her head upward, but then abruptly realized what exactly counted as “up” in this kind of space?

Ye Zheng tilted her head to the side and looked straight at Pei Xi, who stood directly across from her. A rectangular box had already appeared above his head.

Even though she seemed to have forgotten the very concepts of “up” and “down,” she still remembered that this thing was apparently called… a dialogue box.

Ye Zheng’s expression gradually settled into calmness. Her dark eyes deepened even further. At last, she understood what kind of place she had stepped into.

She was Ye Zheng. The world she belonged to had supposedly originated from a manga.

But now, she had genuinely entered the interior of a manga itself.