Chapter 46: Past Cycles. Hela: Who exactly is your enemy? …

In this cycle, Yun Zhou had obtained a cheat.

At the start of the cycle, he had a dream.

The world was destroyed.

Thus, on that fated night, Yun Zhou rushed out of his dormitory in a panic, intending to wander the streets of the First District at night, only to run straight into the Scorching Ghost.

The Scorching Ghost, born from the power of Surtr, mistakenly believed that Yun Zhou was Y004 from the future who had caused the destruction of the Seventh District. Consequently, it uttered those words.

“Found you.”

However, the Scorching Ghost quickly realized that the current Yun Zhou couldn’t understand what it was saying. Thus, acting on Y009’s request, the Scorching Ghost merely left behind a warning.

“The prophecy is real.”

Please believe in Y009, Ratatoskr.

After leaving those words, it was finished off by a single shot from Chairperson Black Swan, who had arrived in haste.

The silk threads on his wrist gave Liu Ming a perspective he had never possessed before. For instance, he now saw something he hadn’t noticed during the seventh cycle – at that time, a winding golden silk thread hung slowly behind Chairperson Black Swan’s back.

Y003 had made its move.

Its very existence was to prevent all possible betrayals and leaks of information. To maintain the drama and opposition of each cycle, and to prevent the Kings of Anomalies from waking up from the civil wars they were manipulated into, Y003 would not allow any being to know the truth of the reincarnation ahead of time.

This was especially true for the Vessels who could give birth to the Kings of Anomalies – Yun Zhou and Ying Huo. To Y003, they were the same as Du Shui was to the Elder Council; in its eyes, these lives were all identical.

Their only value was to become a King of Anomalies one day in the future.

Aside from Y003, Liu Ming discovered another bizarre detail.

The content of that dream was different from what he had experienced in the seventh cycle. Rather than a vision of the future, it felt more like… a memory.

Liu Ming suddenly had a bad feeling. “Those split personality scenes of yours later on… they weren’t an act, were they? The personalities of Yun Zhou and the Exile don’t actually coexist, do they?”

After Hela became a King of Anomalies, the Jenny at the start of every cycle would receive Hela’s memories. Only one version of the self, future or past, could exist; the past self would receive the future self’s memories, directly obtaining everything belonging to the King of Anomalies. Yun Zhou’s situation must be the same.

Liu Ming gritted his teeth. “You’re quite the actor. You’ve really got the ‘playing the fool’ routine down. Since the destruction of the Seventh District began, the Yun Zhou of the second cycle has been the Exile all along, hasn’t he?”

The Exile remembered his advantage at this moment. He chuckled twice and began to play dumb.

Liu Ming was not someone who could be fooled so easily. “Since the Yun Zhou I’ve known from the start was you, why did you act like a lunatic with a split personality? Poor Scorching Ghost – if your explanation doesn’t satisfy me, you just wait.”

As a member of the Liu Family, Liu Ming had never been deceived by anyone, let alone by Yun Zhou, a person he rarely doubted.

His tone was flat as he spoke, but that only made him seem more terrifying.

The Exile, or rather Yun Zhou himself, immediately dropped to his knees. “I’m sorry, Liu Ming! I thought someone as smart as you would have noticed long ago and was just playing along! I couldn’t possibly go forever without using the power of a King of Anomalies, but my authority isn’t as convenient as Hela’s for controlling multiple bodies, and I can’t mold a new body for myself like Sister Liu Luo. So, I had to pretend to have a split personality to evade Y003!”

Liu Ming didn’t speak, merely staring at him with a darkened expression.

The black mist roiled, looking as if it were about to condense into a human form just to kowtow. “Y003 watches too closely! It can even manipulate Chairperson Black Swan. My authority as a Dragon Attendant only exists in the future after the world is destroyed and the Black Dragon is born. In the ‘present’, I’m no match for Y003 at all! Liu Ming, listen to my explanation-!”

Liu Ming let out a cold laugh. “No wonder you switched to your second personality from time to time and always showed a talent for being a hidden schemer. It turns out you’re black-hearted to the core. And your personality switches were unnaturally smooth; I should have realized it sooner. I wonder if you felt any guilt when you said, ‘Yun Zhou’s consciousness has disappeared’.”

“Liu Ming-” The Exile really looked like he was about to cry now, half out of shame.

Liu Ming sighed. “I also blame myself for being too unwatchful.”

Even after experiencing seven cycles of reincarnation enough to break anyone, a person like Yun Zhou hadn’t completely turned into a dark, cynical character. Instead, he still radiated the same sunny cheerfulness from the beginning. That fundamental nature wasn’t fake, which was why Liu Ming had been deceived for a time, believing that the vastly different Yun Zhou and the Exile had to be two separate entities.

He hadn’t expected it to be a one-man show from the very start.

Liu Ming sighed again. He felt that since meeting Yun Zhou and the others, he not only sighed more often but had also become quite soft-hearted.

Even though the other party was currently just a mass of black mist, he couldn’t help but recall Yun Zhou’s starry-eyed look and the way the guy had firmly said, “Because I just believe in Liu Ming.”

Even when he deliberately tried to seem dangerous while disguised as the Exile, he hadn’t been very successful. One could still see traces of that “Yun Zhou” in his words. At the very least, Y004 shouldn’t have reacted to every single one of his orders by executing them immediately. Even when asked to pull all four Kings of Anomalies, including himself, to the Seventh District, he had carried it out without hesitation.

“Forget it. Let’s deal with the imminent matters first. I don’t have time to be angry with you right now.”

The Exile, or rather Yun Zhou, refused to let it go. “No way! I have to apologize! My conflicts with Du Shui and Ying Huo have never lasted overnight. I won’t let you run away!”

Despite being the one at fault, Yun Zhou strangely perceived the deeper reason for Liu Ming’s change of subject at a glance.

This guy was avoiding the issue.

That wasn’t a good habit, so he was going to fix it.

“I’m begging you, just be angry with me now!”

The entire mass of black mist lunged onto Liu Ming’s legs, making him both laugh and cry. “Let go already! Fine, I’m not angry with you anymore, okay? Just let me be!”

Yun Zhou was overjoyed. “Really?!”

Liu Ming gritted his teeth. “Really. Now get lost and stop bothering me! I still have to search for information in the upcoming past cycles. We still have a pile of questions without answers!”

Yun Zhou instantly put distance between himself and Liu Ming, as obedient as ever.

Liu Ming continued watching, nursing a headache.

In the second cycle, everything developed no differently from the seventh. Even knowing the final outcome, Yun Zhou was unable to change anything this time. In the Third District, after killing Kraken, Du Shui still died. In the Fifth District, in an attempt to stop Hela from awakening the King of Anomalies, the Pitch-Black Cocoon of the Black Dragon was born, and Ying Huo also died.

A black spatial tunnel appeared, and the silk threads on his wrist pulled Liu Ming toward the next cycle.

【This is the third time.】

…

Nothing changed. Yun Zhou tried to take the Umizukigiri in Du Shui’s stead, but in the end, it only resulted in Du Shui meeting Kraken earlier. Kraken didn’t even have time to say a word to Du Shui before turning into a massive monster and destroying the entire Third District.

Yun Zhou chose to move to the next cycle.

【This is the fourth time.】

…

Nothing changed. This time, Yun Zhou decided to take Du Shui and Ying Huo far away from it all, choosing outright escapism.

But this time, the speed of the world’s collapse was faster than ever before. Tens of millions of black-gold Plot Strings descended from the sky. This time, the Plot Strings were no longer the original gold but leaned more toward black, as if stained by the darkness of the Black Dragon.

The Plot Strings fell, and everyone except the Kings of Anomalies became puppets on strings. Their energy was offered to the great Cocoon of the Black Dragon, atop a twisted throne composed of parts from the seven districts between heaven and earth.

The familiar scene once again filled Liu Ming’s vision. The world was destroyed.

“Let’s go.”

In the heavy atmosphere, Yun Zhou was the first to speak. He looked toward the nearby black spatial tunnel. “Let’s go.”

His voice carried a bit of a bitter smile. “At least the next scene… should be a bit gentler.”

Liu Ming sighed. “Yun Zhou, I hope you won’t talk to me like that.”

He would rather Yun Zhou be hysterical after watching his friends die so many times.

Breaking down is a human right. It isn’t pathetic, and it isn’t shameful.

Yun Zhou curled his lip. “I’d like to cry, actually.”

Unfortunately, after becoming a King of Anomalies, it was very difficult for him to cry.

【This is the fifth time.】

As Yun Zhou had said, this time was a rare, heartwarming scene.

Yun Zhou had done everything possible to notify Chairperson Black Swan in advance, forcibly dragging her along to the Third and Fifth Districts. He also successfully thwarted all of Hela’s schemes to resurrect the King of Anomalies. After the sun rose in the Fifth District, Yun Zhou slumped to the ground.

He thought this endless cycle was finally coming to an end.

However, Y003 did not grant his wish.

On the day of revelry, when everyone was celebrating, cheering, and watching the sun rise, the Plot Strings descended once more.

The world was destroyed amidst the clamor.

Yun Zhou murmured at Liu Ming’s side, “I had succeeded that time, but the ending was still a failure. The Plot Strings are like a program that reboots itself the moment it detects an error.”

“Rebooting upon an error… back then, I started to question whether everything I was doing was right. Perhaps the future I dreamed of is a tomorrow that can never be reached as long as the Black Dragon does not awaken.”

Yun Zhou paused, his voice tinged with complexity. “…Yes, so in the gap between the fifth and sixth cycles, my thoughts underwent a certain shift. If a voice hadn’t woken me up, I might have actually killed you at the start of the sixth or seventh cycle. Don’t be angry when you see it in a moment.”

Liu Ming gave a cold laugh. “Giving me a warning now? What, could your thoughts shift any further than acting out a double personality for yourself?”

Yun Zhou fell silent.

Of course, Liu Ming soon realized that what Yun Zhou said was likely true.

Because next, Yun Zhou did not immediately use a Spatial Tunnel to leave. Instead, on that road of yellow sand leading to the next cycle, he encountered Hela.

“Yo, isn’t this our future Dragon Attendant? Why the long face? I recall you getting exactly what you wanted in the fifth cycle?”

Hela laughed with considerable schadenfreude. Yun Zhou ignored her, walking forward on his own, preparing to find a suitable spot to open a Spatial Tunnel and head to the next cycle early.

“Don’t go so fast.”

The smile vanished from Hela’s lips. She stopped her mocking and her voice turned serious.

For the first time, she used a tone resembling a warning to advise the youngest Anomaly King before her.

“003, you must remember, we all come from the Dragon’s bloodline. We are all brothers and sisters.”

“Father’s throne hangs high in the sky, and so does Father’s cocoon.”

“Even if we kill Father, his blood flows into the earth, and it can still scatter Anomalies across the entire world, even polluting humanity. He never dies thoroughly enough; he can wake up at any time.”

“003, you have been opposing me all this time, yet you don’t seem to realize this one point.”

“Who is your real enemy?”