Chapter 21: World Girl
“Wait, Brother Jun, you just agreed like that?”
After leaving the hospital room, Ji Zhibai nagged me constantly, his chirping like a sparrow, making my head feel like it would explode.
“What else could I do? Seeing a girl covered in injuries, crying and asking for help, what man could refuse at a time like this?”
“…So you just agreed? Also… Brother, you’re surprisingly good at pleasing girls, even though you’re not as handsome as I am. Come to think of it, not all the star male hosts at the top host clubs rely solely on their looks.”
…Are you comparing me to a male host…
“This is a compliment to Brother Jun, but I didn’t expect you to directly contact a third party and agree to her request. Aren’t you being a bit too much of a good guy?”
What do you mean by third party? It makes it sound like I’m cheating on my girlfriend.
“Just treat it as accepting a side quest. Agreeing to it won’t cost me anything. Even if I can’t fulfill it in the end, I can just say ‘I tried’ and be done with it.”
…What a scumbag’s mentality.
That’s right, it’s an irresponsible thought.
I have no intention of taking action right away. I just want to comfort her a little, to offer some moral support.
As I said before, I have the will but not the strength. There’s a severe lack of information. Who exactly kidnapped her F, what does that F look like, and where did it happen? I know none of these things.
Besides, I can’t even sort out my own issues right now. How can I possibly have time to deal with other people’s problems?
But now there’s been a first victim… Then, perhaps Xue Qing and the others are also being targeted…
“Moreover, she was deliberately trying to gain my sympathy.”
“Are you saying Lou Ling was lying?”
“No, she didn’t lie to me, but it just doesn’t feel right…”
No one is deceiving me.
Although the initial message about collecting destinies came from a stranger’s call, it was later confirmed by Xiao An. There is indeed such a matter.
Then Ji Zhibai appeared, who happened to be a Master of Destiny, and gave me more detailed real-time information.
The conflict between the organization’s branches also makes sense…
But it still feels like something is off.
This feeling didn’t come out of nowhere.
SF Light Novel
Ever since I woke up in this completely new future, I’ve felt a sense of dissonance.
This discomfort is like being on a pirate ship and then a roller coaster, and in my dizzy state, I find myself completely alone.
Nausea coupled with unease.
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and then exhaled heavily, as if trying to blow away this feeling.
“Then I’ll be leaving. I still need to buy ingredients for dinner. Are you going to follow me around for this too? I don’t plan on inviting you home for dinner.”
“Ahaha, no matter how thick-skinned I am, I won’t follow you home. Then I’ll go this way. See you tomorrow, Brother Jun.”
“Ah ah…”
See you tomorrow.
After waving goodbye to Ji Zhibai, I walked alone on the street.
Buying ingredients for dinner was just an excuse. I just didn’t want to walk with him anymore.
Now I’m finally alone again, and my mood has improved significantly with the current state of having no contact with anyone.
Originally, I had given up on returning to this solitary state and chose the path of moving forward with everyone.
But who knew that just a small change like ‘I won’t die’ would make the future so drastically different?
No, precisely because I haven’t experienced death, the connection between me and others didn’t become as strong… As a result, it’s like nothing has happened.
The two sentences from my father’s diary flashed in my mind.
*–Then what is the meaning of all that I have done?*
*–What is the journey I’ve taken worth?*
I felt the same doubt.
“What am I thinking, An Juncheng, you ungrateful bastard…”
Zi’ai sacrificed herself to send me to this future, didn’t she?
Yet, I still feel that not changing anything would have been the best… No, that ending was proven to have no result by Zihua.
I don’t know what happened in the end, but Zihua, who didn’t hesitate to sacrifice everything, even killing others to change the past and the world, proved that the ending she brought about was a BAD ENDING.
So I thought, even if I don’t use such extreme methods to change the future, as long as I can stop Lan, make her give up on going back to the past, then she wouldn’t become Zihua, and others wouldn’t have died.
“It’s precisely because of your kind of thinking that Lanhua disappeared.”
“Who is it!”
No one is around.
I was shouting alone on the street, and the people around me looked at me with confusion.
But I definitely heard a voice. No, I saw her.
It’s not a stranger. In fact, we were just in her hospital room.
But how did she get here?
When I turned around, everyone around me had disappeared. Not replaced by extras, but completely vanished.
Did I enter the inner world… or did she create the inner world?
She was sitting on the tree behind me. As the wind blew, I could see her legs, which were wrapped in bandages, only showing her thighs.
Her messy hair looked as if it had just been washed, and strands clung to her forehead. The exposed skin and lips on her face were deathly pale, yet her expression was a smile.
It felt like I had stepped into a horror movie, and Lou Ling was the ghost trying to kill me.
“It’s amazing that you so confidently agreed to help ‘me’ find the F, only to be tricking ‘me’. You really are a malicious playboy, the complete opposite of your name.”
Who is she?
“Heh heh, I am Lou Ling, a Master of Destiny just like you, and of course, an F.”
…No, she’s definitely not Lou Ling.
At least not the Lou Ling I just saw.
She has become someone else.
What’s going on?
Split personality? Or possession?
But something still feels different… Because I’ve seen real split personalities, Lianbing and Ruansui, I know the her in front of me is not.
Even if I asked, she probably wouldn’t tell me, so I càn’t be bothered to ask.
“What exactly are you? Why are the Master of Destiny and the F the same person?”
“Oh my, you’re asking about this first? Is this what you really want to ask? You’re not interested in these miscellaneous things at all, are you?”
“If you don’t want to fight, then don’t.”
“Well, since you asked, I’ll answer you first. The Master of Destiny and the F of the same destiny cannot be the same person because one person cannot bear the complete destiny alone. However, if they are different destinies, then it’s possible.”
“So that’s how it is…”
“In fact, a Master of Destiny who hasn’t gathered all the Fs isn’t even considered a Master of Destiny. After all, destiny is only useful when complete. A single F or Master of Destiny is meaningless. So you lost Lanhua, which is why you had to be dragged into this game, didn’t you?”
It was then that I suddenly remembered that everyone had forgotten Lan’s existence, but why did she remember?
Was Lan’s disappearance related to her?
“What? Is it strange that I know Lanhua? I also know everything you’ve done, and what the world was like before it was rewritten.”
“Who are you…”
“Let’s not talk about me for now. An Juncheng, what you want to do is the key. In reality, you don’t want to manage anything. Whether it’s the Godly War or the fight for destinies, you don’t want to interfere at all. You subconscious even don’t want to restore contact with the Witches of Calamity.”
I fell silent.
Because that was exactly my true feeling.
Should I escape rationally or bravely step forward?
Ultimately, there are only these two choices: either moving forward or stepping back.
But I don’t want to choose either. I just want to ‘maintain the status quo’. That’s why even when Lei Li told me to restore my connection with Lianbing and the others to ensure my own existence, I felt no motivation.
If I were really afraid, I would do anything, even lick every inch of their bodies.
But I really feel like nothing matters anymore.
There will only be two outcomes: either I will be rejected by this world in the end, or I will integrate into this world.
Either way is fine. I just want to get rid of this disgusting feeling.
SF Light Novel
“…You talk as if you understand me very well?”
“Heh heh, understand? Of course, I understand you very well. I understand you better than anyone. From your past life to this life, from your birth to your death, from your personality to your thoughts, there’s nothing I don’t understand. I can guarantee that even that stalker who is madly infatuated with you doesn’t understand you as well as I do.”
“That’s a truly hair-raising statement… One stalker is enough. Even though Lan has disappeared, you don’t need to replace her.”
“Because from the bottom of my heart, I want to utterly kill you and erase your existence.”
She didn’t say it with much emotion. It was as if Lou Ling was stating an objective fact, speaking in a lighthearted tone.
“Are you saying you…-”
How could it be… Does it really exist? But, how is this possible?!
Someone who wants to kill me like this… No, she’s not even human!
Not even a living being, just existing as a concept, an abstract term in people’s minds… I used to think that.
But I never imagined that she, no, it, actually exists! Not only does it exist, but it has also appeared before me in the body of this girl.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you often curse me? Although I didn’t appear before you in the image of an old man.”
I’m sorry, I’ll never casually curse you again…
Okay, this is equivalent to an admission.
“You really… how is this possible…”
I still can’t believe it. Anyone wouldn’t believe it.
“Why is it impossible?”
“I am ‘the world’, the ‘god’ you speak of, also known as ‘natural laws’. Within me lies the ‘myriad things’…
…Right, it’s this sky.
I might be the first one, right?
The first person to truly see ‘heaven’. Although what I saw wasn’t an old man, but a disabled girl.
Lou Ling, she *is* the ‘world’ itself.”
