VIP Chapter 514: The Anchor’s Confession
Carver remained silent, gazing at Daisianwei across the table from behind his wine glass.
“…”
Then, he chose to sidestep the question he disliked.
“Since we’ve already agreed to cooperate, there’s nothing else to discuss today. Your true form seems to be waiting for you to return and sleep.”
Carver’s deep blue eyes flickered towards the “disgusting” statue behind Daisianwei, then, in a rather ordinary manner, he revealed a secret about Daisianwei that no one knew.
As if following Daisianwei’s script, he pretended to “threaten” her with the words she had so brazenly spoken.
“Never mind. It seems the person who can truly make you ‘experience death’ has not yet arrived. However, I have one small question.”
Daisianwei called out to Carver before he could leave.
“What?”
“I want to know, where exactly was my understanding wrong just now?”
“Miss…”
Carver’s voice held a smile, but not one of mockery. It was more akin to the pleasure of finding a kindred spirit.
“Haven’t you realized? When you use yourself as an example, you believe time moves forward, that everything you experience is constantly progressing. Yet, you believe I am ‘looping’.”
” ! ? ”
Struck by Carver’s words, Daisianwei’s eyes widened, as if she had recalled something in an instant.
“It seems, Miss, you understand.”
“…I only consider our most commonly perceived linear development as ‘time’, so in my millennium, the world has been changing. If this layer of experience were applied to you…”
Daisianwei abandoned her hitherto superior posture and began to murmur her thoughts.
“That’s right. On my ‘horizontal axis’, it’s clear that the period I’ve observed has never ‘repeated’; it too is constantly moving forward.”
Hearing this, Daisianwei understood Carver’s statement.
“The previous world has already turned to dust. Although it appears to be exactly 20 years, nothing remains except myself.”
Carver paused.
“Just like this world you’ve experienced, the rules are the same, yet it has already moved forward. Correct?”
That was the only time Daisianwei saw an emotion of Carver’s own on him.
“Interesting, truly very interesting. As expected, the two of us were meant to meet here, and meant to cooperate here.”
Daisianwei smiled and raised her wine glass filled with blood once more.
Alas, she had already put away the glass she had offered Carver, and it was no longer the right time for a “toast.”
However…
Through the red wine glass, she gazed at the man before her, a man who held deep secrets…
Even Daisianwei, who believed she could truly see through people, could not discern at this moment whether his emotion was another form of “numbness” or his “true feelings.”
“Moreover, just like you, you wish for your vertical axis to remain at this moment, at this moment before the dungeon reaches its deepest parts. And I wish…”
He chuckled softly, turned around, and pushed open the door to the final floor of the Death Hall.
He closed the door.
Leaving the latter half of his sentence more to himself.
“And I wish for my horizontal axis to also stop at this instantaneous moment and reach its true ending.”
*Bang.*
Carver opened his eyes behind the door.
There was no need for further explanation. Before this thirteenth time, Daisianwei had not appeared as the vampire lady she was now.
However…
It was from Daisianwei that Carver had gained such an interesting perspective.
He and Daisianwei were constantly moving forward on the “horizontal” and “vertical” axes that constituted this world.
For him, these were not twelve “loops” but twelve “rehearsals.”
Before this, no one had ever offered an answer like Daisianwei’s.
His lengthy memories played back rapidly as they reached their conclusion. His memories beyond this point were even things Will knew.
He raised his head, finding himself at the end of his memories.
He had now reached the end of this memory extraction, leading to Zero Demon City. According to Will, from this point onward, there was a high probability of encountering his most troublesome and “terrifying” enemy.
“Then I am very curious, who will be the one I fear, the one I cannot defeat.”
However…
At the end of his memory lay indescribable “noise” and “static.”
He stood there, yet he did not sense Will’s presence.
In this space filled with noise and static, he couldn’t discern any direction.
“Heh.” He chuckled self-mockingly, his grip on his axe loosening slightly. “If it weren’t for this outsider, I probably wouldn’t want to recall my ‘twelve times’ with such clarity.”
He looked at the space before him, wanting to exit.
But…
He immediately realized that in this dungeon, which was essentially centered around “contracts,” he had made a contract with Will using demonic magic. Thus, to proceed, he had to yield something.
—Likely, it was what Will truly desired.
His true thoughts, the “information” so crucial to him within this vast and hazy memory.
“You haven’t attacked. It seems this memory review isn’t over yet?”
He plunged his axe into the ground.
He discovered that the blood flowing from him had “frozen.” In this space filled with noise and static, his injuries had also stopped.
“I know. Outsider, there’s one thing you love to say the most…”
Carver returned to the state of negotiation with Daisianwei from his memory.
Polite and distant, yet safeguarding his own interests, yielding not an inch.
“—Fate is predetermined.”
“You believe this narrative strongly, you’re certain of this theory, perhaps it’s related to the outsider information you possess. If so, why not use this as a starting point…”
He stared at the field of static before him.
As he spoke, the static grew significantly fainter.
Allowing him to vaguely see what appeared to be a blurry human figure in his vision.
“Let me tell you what this world’s fate looks like. Come, let’s recall the story of the actor on the pitiful stage named ‘Carver Hysterm’.”
“For the first time, Carver played the role of a too common, clichéd hero. As a weak youth, he joined forces with his childhood friend, the mage Mits, to become the strongest adventurer.”
In the world devoid of any visuals, filled only with static, he spoke as if his voice were battling the noise.
“For the second time, Carver played the role of a heartbroken old man. He had his wife Mits, who loved him, inherited the Hysterm Family, and became its head. However, Mits died giving birth to their only child…”
His voice, as calm as if reading from a textbook, suddenly stopped.
“The third time, fourth time, fifth time, sixth time…”
“He was like you, at the very beginning. He mistakenly believed that if he had the ‘script of the story,’ he could definitely change it.”
After saying this, he didn’t evoke anything in this space; it remained an endless static.
Only the density of this static had slightly lessened.
“Since for Mits, ‘she would die after giving birth to their child’ was her fate. Then, as long as that child didn’t exist, this possibility could be severed. Then, he discovered he couldn’t defeat ‘chance’.”
“You’ve tried too, and you should have discovered that this ‘chance’ is an unavoidable force in fate.”
“Whether one tries to kill the possibility physically, mentally, or emotionally… what fate decrees will happen, will happen.”
His voice, from that of an outsider telling a story, gained a hint of “warmth.”
