Chapter 460: Cyclic Explorations

Above the gray fog, the ancient temple-like building stood quietly.

After noticing some abnormalities in the series of coincidences, Klein

entered the mysterious space after lunch, in an attempt to confirm a

guess in his mind.

He picked up a fountain pen he conjured, paused for two seconds, and

then wrote: "I am involved in a series of coincidences created by Sealed

Artifact 0-08."

Putting down the dark red pen, Klein held the silver chain in his left

hand and began his divination.

Finally, he opened his eyes and looked at the spirit pendulum just

inches away from him.

The topaz pendant stood still without any rotations.

This meant that the divination had failed!

Divination cannot be completed---*possibly due to not

fulfilling sufficient conditions, or it could be because 0-08 is

resisting it... In both cases, a similar result would occur...*

Klein changed his statement and tried to direct it at different targets,

but all of them failed.

He tapped the edge of the long mottled table with his finger, hesitating

on whether he should go to Red Rose Manor the day after tomorrow.

*If there's no 0-08 or a similar power to arrange these matters, then my

sudden escape will definitely raise Prince Edessak's suspicion. No, my

escape might not be successful. Prince Edessak's men live next door...

Of course, since I'm already a Faceless, it's easy for me to find a

chance to escape when I'm out, but is there a need to go this

far?*

*Tomorrow afternoon, I'll be able to "leave" Backlund without attracting

too much attention by honestly seeking an audience with Prince Edessak

and normally handing over the mission. His Highness will likely not

force me, an unaffiliated Beyonder, to accomplish too difficult a

task...*

*If there really is a Sealed Artifact or demigod like 0-08 influencing

the recent events, then from my past experience, I should just be a side

character who mistakenly entered the stage and haven't received enough

attention. In this case, escaping is tantamount to telling the other

party that I have detected your presence! I'm highly

problematic!*

*In this way, relying on my Faceless powers wouldn't necessarily allow

me to escape the "attention" that has locked onto me...*

*The best method would be to calmly go to the Red Rose Manor and go

through the normal procedures to exit the stage. After graciously bowing

from the curtain call, I'll fade away from the "attention" of the

unknown party...*

After combining the two elements, Klein finally decided to pretend that

he hadn't discovered anything and to "leave" Backlund according to plan.

The bonfire in the campsite was burning with flames, and there was

someone standing guard inside the campsite the entire time.

Derrick Berg leaned against a stone pillar and slept to recover his

strength.

At this moment, he was dreaming of the endless grayish-white fog, an

ancient chair situated at the highest point in the center, as well as

the indifferent figure sitting on that chair, overlooking everything.

Mr. Fool... Derrick said the name in a chanting manner in his

mind.

Following that, he heard The Fool's voice: "Prepare for the gathering."

Yes, Mr. Fool. Derrick answered silently and began counting

his heartbeats.

His eyes never opened, as if everything that had just happened was just

a prelude to a dream.

*There's still quite a bit of time before we set off. There's enough

time to attend the Tarot Gathering...* he thought with relief.

He originally imagined that he, who had joined the exploratory team,

would miss this gathering.

After a thousand heartbeats, Derrick waited a little longer before he

felt himself entering that quiet and serene divine hall.

The moment he opened his eyes, scenes flashed through his mind. It was

as if an external force had instantly injected all his lost memories

into his head once again.

The scenes were: crumbling city walls; buildings crisscrossed with white

and blue; the temple of the Fallen Creator with a similar architectural

style as the City of Silver; murals detailing the approaching apocalypse

and the Fallen Creator's protection of the remaining humans from the six

great evil gods; the beautiful and dangerous "mushrooms;" and Jack, the

eerie pale yellow-haired boy of unknown origins.

These kinds of scenes had repeated over and over again for a total of

five times, but each time there was a slight difference in the details.

The first time, outside the Fallen Creator's Temple, all of the animal

hide lanterns had been extinguished, nearly causing a tragedy. The

second time, someone lost control of themselves and almost swallowed a

"mushroom," fortunately, Chief Colin stopped them in time. The third

time, the little boy, Jack, told a story, which was that he and his

father had been searching for the Creator's holy residence in the

endless ocean, and they ended up encountering a huge storm. The fourth

time, Joshua was severely injured by Jack who had mutated without any

warning. The fifth time, the temple completely collapsed, blocking the

exit of the underground area.

And all of these occurrences ended with Demon Hunter Colin killing the

little boy, Jack, and then started off with their rest in the camp,

preparing to enter the ruined city. The beginning and end were connected

as it repeated in a cycle.

*We've explored the temple five times... We have been living through

this experience all this time, and there is no way to truly end

it!* The more Derrick understood his sudden new memories, the

more frightened and terrified he became.

Audrey, who was sitting on the other side of the long bronze table,

originally wanted to greet Mr. Fool and the others with a cheerful and

light voice as usual. However, when she glanced over, she immediately

noticed that Little Sun's mood wasn't right. She immediately asked, "Mr.

Sun, did something happen? Has the exploration of the True, uh---Fallen

Creator's temple not gone smoothly?"

Derrick seemed to have grabbed onto hope as he hurriedly described the

rough situation once. When he was done, he said, "After that little boy

was dealt with by His Excellency, we all closed our eyes and woke up in

the campsite outside the city in preparation to begin a brand new

exploration. We no longer had any memories from before.

"This process has been repeated five times, with only the details being

slightly different.

"If it wasn't for Mr. Fool's alerting me to this, then I wouldn't have

even known that I've been living a recurring life all this time."

He took it for granted that the extra memories from his arrival above

the gray fog were the result of Mr. Fool's reminder. He stood up and

gave a solemn salute to the blurry figure seated at the head of the long

bronze table.

*I only understood the situation after listening to your

description...* Klein was still in a daze.

He maintained his original posture and lightly nodded his head in

response.

*In a situation where the reasons are unknown, a superior wouldn't so

easily express his opinion, so I can't rashly open my mouth...*

Klein secretly reviewed what he had learned from his past life as a

keyboard warrior.

Seeing that Mr. Fool seemed to be an imperturbable ancient wall, Derrick

felt a lot more at ease and felt that the matter could finally be

resolved.

He turned to look at The Hanged Man, The World, Justice, and The

Magician, and he sincerely asked, "Do you know the root of the problem?

How can this be resolved?"

The zealous Audrey instinctively wanted to answer, but she found herself

without a clue or even a guess.

Fors was in a similar state as she was.

Filled with rich knowledge from Earth and having read many novels of

being stuck in the same day, Klein originally wanted to control The

World to give out ideas to give everyone some inspiration to consider

regarding the matter, but after thinking about it carefully, he chose to

stay low-key and prepared to observe first.

After listening to The Sun's description, Alger remained silent for a

long time. At this moment, he said in a measured tone, "I can only think

of two possibilities. First, you have encountered a Nightmare or

hallucinatory power at a level that exceeds a demigod. After regaining

your memories with Mr. Fool's help, you should be able to immediately

detect something amiss once you return to the real world. That way, the

problem will easily be resolved.

"Second, you were forced to or you proactively entered a strange space

or state at a particular node where time is controlled to flow in a

certain manner, but the time is fixed within a certain range which is

cyclical and the continuation is balanced, that is to say, it is

relatively static.

"In this situation, there aren't many ways to end the cycle. Either

there is an external force that can forcefully break the balance, or you

find the key point that connects the distortion of time."

An external force that can forcefully break the balance? Upon

hearing this, Audrey, Fors, and Derrick all subconsciously glanced at

the calm and leisurely Mr. Fool sitting at the end of the long bronze

table.

*No, I can't always seek Mr. Fool's help... By not saying anything

directly, "He" probably wishes to test my ability at dealing with such

matters...* After a moment of thought, he said, "Mr. Hanged Man,

let's assume the second situation. In your opinion, what do you think is

the key point that connects the distortion of time?"

Without waiting for The Hanged Man to respond, Audrey guessed with

interest, "That little boy Jack?

"You can't kill him when you're facing him?"

Alger nodded.

"That's a possibility."

He hesitated for a moment before saying, "The Sun's description of Jack

and his father reminds me of a particular incident."

He turned to look at Miss Justice.

"Didn't I once mention that I was pursuing a Listener of the Aurora

Order at sea? The goal for his voyage was to seek the True Creator's

holy residence."

Audrey carefully recalled and said without any strong confirmation,

"That seems to be the case."

Alger immediately said with a deep voice, "That Listener also brought

his son, and the son's age is very close to The Sun's description of

Jack."

"Are you saying that Jack went from your world to the vicinity of the

City of Silver?" Derrick asked, stunned.

After a short period of settling down, he inwardly felt an indescribable

sense of happiness.

*This means that the City of Silver hasn't been completely sealed off

yet. There's still a chance to connect with the normal world where The

Hanged Man and Justice are from!*

"I can only say that it is possible." The Hanged Man couldn't give an

affirmative answer.

He thought for a moment and suggested, "You can find a chance to bring

up the Sonia Sea, the Loen Kingdom, and the port city in front of Jack.

Perhaps there will be a different reaction, but of course, try to avoid

doing so in front of the Chief of your City of Silver as much as

possible.

"Also, the key point doesn't necessarily lie with Jack. We have to

consider other possibilities as well. You should tell us the specifics,

such as the details of the mural, and maybe we can find something

useful."

At this point, Alger began to look forward to receiving information.