Nothing.
Not a single way out.
The instant darkness flooded in, Hong Lin felt as though she had been thrown back to ten days ago — the very mont she first set foot in the Real Universe.
The resemblance was uncanny. Aside from the absence of starlight and the impossibility of seeing into the distance, the state of being utterly alone and without anchor was virtually identical.
The only difference was that now, having experienced the Real Universe's horrors firsthand, her fear was far more acute.
In the original world, her strength had been enough to shatter any terror beneath the gods. But now the gods themselves had been relegated to "beneath Origin," and she had hit a wall.
Thankfully, the ntal fortitude honed across countless trials still held. After fumbling through the darkness for a long ti, she too discovered the wisp of white light.
Faced with the only anomaly in the black, Big Cat's choice was the polar opposite of Cheng Shi's.
She knew "unusual" ant higher risk. But she was certain there was no trace of her friends in this darkness. That wisp of light was her sole chance to find them.
She had promised Cheng Shi she would bring him back alive. She couldn't simply stand still and wait the storm out.
She was more pessimistic than Cheng Shi. Even with Authority extending her lifespan indefinitely — enough, in theory, to outlast any accident — she wondered: what if this Real Universe incident lasted longer than their original world's "lifespan"?
When faith lost its soil and the world marched toward destruction, would she still have Authority to weather a dark storm?
No!
So finding her companions had to happen now!
Hong Lin stepped before the white light, activated every ounce of Authority, and in her most "invincible" state, charged straight in.
Endless white consud the darkness in reverse, magnifying across her vision. She felt no approaching danger — yet she sensed her body slowly twisting into abstraction.
Flesh vanished, but she wasn't dead.
The sensation was like a dream — dreaming of becoming air, drifting through a room both strange and familiar, able to survey the scene below yet having no idea what she was doing.
But the white was boundless, with no walls in sight. Why did it feel like a room?
Battered by one shock after another, Hong Lin couldn't place why this "room" looked so familiar. Not until she saw an even more familiar figure, erging faintly beyond the room's threshold...
In that mont, Hong Lin's mind — BOOM — exploded.
Because the figure coming into focus inside the "room" was none other than herself — the version of herself who had lived in a tank, tubes protruding from every limb!!!
Herself from over half a year ago, appearing before her present self in this impossible way!
In that instant, Hong Lin finally rembered what this place was:
The Path Starting Point!
This was unmistakably the day the gods descended. The very opening of the Faith Ga!
And now, that ignorant, dying Hong Lin was about to step into this "room" and choose her faith!
Hong Lin was stupefied. Her first impulse wasn't to tell her past self which path to take. She only wanted to find a way out. She feared this was a dying vision — the final flicker of mory before life ends.
She hadn't found Cheng Shi yet. Hadn't brought him back. Hadn't even managed to say goodbye to the little fox. She didn't want to die here. Much less die without understanding why.
The gods hadn't been defeated. The Faith Ga wasn't over. The Destined Ones hadn't yet reached their final curtain. How could she stop halfway through the world's script?!
Hong Lin panicked. She thrashed outward in every direction, but it was futile. This white "room" was both her past self's starting point and, it seed, her present self's terminus. It held her fast with nowhere to run.
When a person is utterly terrified and utterly helpless, they often veer to extres — from one end to the other. But Hong Lin didn't. Perhaps from spending so much ti with Cheng Shi, this player who had always been synonymous with unmatched combat finally, in this mont, grew the mightiest of all... cat-brains.
In the depths of her terror, she finally noticed that this white "room" was slightly different from the one in her mory. Before her past self entered the room, only two faith tokens floated within!
[Decay]'s dagger, and [Fate]'s die!
When she spotted this, Hong Lin froze.
'Why only two?'
'At my Path Starting Point, there were clearly three tokens to choose from. Where did [Prosperity]'s green branch go?'
That single discrepancy told Hong Lin this was absolutely not a dying flashback. This was a new Faith Ga!
This was most likely another world, another god descent. After all, the storm had originated in the Real Universe — the place closest to Him, where all possibilities could erupt. If she'd been hurled by this dark storm into a brand-new world, Hong Lin didn't find it the least bit strange.
But why was this world's version of her missing one token?!
As everyone knew, what tokens appeared at the Path Starting Point depended on which divine will resonated most deeply with the first half of your life.
Put simply: before the ga descended, your life's imprint already carried a certain god's will. That god would then grant you Their gaze at the Starting Point.
Hong Lin reflected on her own history. Though "decay" had dominated the vast majority of her life and "fate" had toyed with her repeatedly, her fierce will to survive should have earned her [Prosperity]'s recognition.
Yet now it seed... had this world's version of her lost the survival instinct entirely?
No. That wasn't right.
Hong Lin looked down again. She saw her past self crawling agonizingly toward the "room." That Hong Lin was on death's doorstep. At this mont, the ga's descent was the only lifeline that could save her. She just had to endure until she entered the Starting Point, chose a token, and through [Prosperity]'s blessing, she could survive the ga — beco a Chosen One, protect her friends, et Cheng Shi, join the Destined Ones...
And she clearly hadn't given up. She was struggling. She was crawling forward!
But where had [Prosperity]'s token gone?!
Watching the version of herself grow closer and closer to the "room," Hong Lin felt an inexplicable surge of anxiety. Even knowing this world's her wasn't truly herself — just another individual surviving inside Origin's experint — when you actually saw your forr self, no human being could remain unmoved. Least of all soone like Hong Lin.
And so the mont of reckless impulse arrived.
Hong Lin could not accept watching another version of herself — one who had struggled through over thirty real years — be forced to chose [Decay] and keep rotting, or chose [Fate] and leave survival to chance.
She knew [Prosperity] was the best fit for herself. And the best fit for her friends. So in this Path Starting Point, floating like air, Hong Lin's blood ran hot and she made the craziest decision of her life.
She used her own Authority to forge a [Prosperity] green branch for the Hong Lin below — the one who hadn't yet opened the Starting Point's door!
Yes — she cheated!
Cheated for another world's version of herself.
She hadn't even imagined this absurd act could actually work. She couldn't escape this place, but the power of faith concentrated here successfully caught her "gift" — at minimum, it produced a branch visible enough to be seen!
And when she mustered every last drop of strength to place that green branch beside [Decay]'s dagger just before the Hong Lin below stepped into the "room"...
BOOM—
Hong Lin's mind exploded a second ti.
Because she rembered: the branch she had grasped back then was exactly this shape, exactly this position, exactly this angle. Even its placent relative to the dagger and the die was identical.
Of course, Hong Lin was certain all of this was colored by her own mories. But when coincidences pile up past a certain threshold, even the densest person should realize sothing.
She suddenly understood: she had been wrong all along. Her first half of life, spent lying in that tank, had contained no [Prosperity] whatsoever. The "Prosperity" in her hands had most likely been brought by a Hong Lin from another world!
Exactly as she herself was doing right now — exactly the sa!
The mont Hong Lin's brain blue-screened, the Hong Lin below finally crawled into the Path Starting Point. Upon seeing the green branch that could restore her, she didn't even glance at the other two tokens.
She seized the "Prosperity" bestowed by the divine.
And in that instant, the [Prosperity] native to this world felt for the very first ti that "Prosperity" from beyond the world. A true will of "Universal Prosperity" germinated.
He opened His eyes and cast His gaze down upon the Hong Lin in the Starting Point.
And so, a Druid was born by divine decree.
...
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