But since the orchid color hadn't actually changed, another hypothesis ford in Cheng Shi's mind. He rapidly combed through every detail of the trial and discovered that the changes between discrepancies weren't entirely random after all.
At least within certain windows, the discrepancies appeared in a specific order!
Yes — order.
The most obvious sequence: the "hard to pass the torch" Qin Xin had been rescued after the battle, then at the next hour-mark beca the "wrong prophecy" Qin Xin. The "hard to pass the torch" Blind One had transford after Cheng Shi's smoke trick into the "wrong prophecy" Blind One. And the "Destined One" Li Wufang had experienced an hour-mark in the mine's holding room and beco the "wrong prophecy" Li Wufang.
All of which proved: the discrepancy after "future" was "past."
And after "past"? Simple — it was "original"!
Because the "wrong prophecy" Qin Xin and Li Wufang had both reverted to their original selves after the smoke trick. And the Blind One had also returned to her original self at the hour-mark when she killed Qin Xin after their conversation!
He'd reached this conclusion because that bizarrely staged "Torchbearer" exchange had left a deep impression. He'd never understood why Qin Xin had been so eager to die at the Blind One's hand. Now every mystery was solved!
'The An Mingyu who killed Qin Xin was the original An Mingyu!'
'Qin Xin's judgnt hadn't been wrong at all! He'd already found the original world's An Mingyu! It was Cheng Shi himself who'd been fooled by the facade and misjudged the situation — compounded by the Doctor's "confirmation" — which led him to deny that An Mingyu's identity!'
'No wonder back at the inn at the trial's start, Qin Xin had scrutinized the Blind One so carefully — because by then, she'd already changed, while Qin Xin was still the original!'
'This was the most critical detail — and he'd let the chaos of mixed mories blind him to it!'
But none of that mattered now. What mattered was: the original An Mingyu clearly knew where she belonged — yet she'd refused to return!!!
It all clicked. Those two Torchbearers had played it beautifully. Qin Xin had actually agreed to let An Mingyu leave for another world!
'She must have gone voluntarily — otherwise Qin Xin wouldn't have staged that "suicide" performance, and the Blind One from his own world wouldn't have said those words.'
Cheng Shi had always thought that inexplicable "greeting" was the other world's Blind One expressing curiosity about this world's Zhen Xin. But now he saw it was nothing of the sort.
It was a farewell!
She was using his mouth to say goodbye to Zhen Xin!
'What a touching friendship between best friends!'
'But did you ever consider this An Mingyu's feelings!?'
Cheng Shi could tell: the Blind One before him had clearly been kept in the dark too. The only two people who'd understood everything in that whole trial were probably the Doctor and Qin Xin — the Torchbearer founder who'd sanctioned An Mingyu's "emigration."
'Bold indeed!'
'Just like that — sending his own Fire Seeker to another world. How could he be so certain that the Blind One arriving in his world would be the sa as the one leaving?'
"..."
'He could be certain — because the Blind One before him was exactly that "present discrepancy." Aside from minor differences in personality and attitude, original and present were identical...'
And with that, Cheng Shi finally understood the complete logic of the tiline switches.
'The Abyss Rainbow Orchid's colors hadn't changed randomly with each discrepancy. There was a clear pattern — and that pattern...'
'...was also connected to Existence!'
'Good one, Existence. Good one, Ti! If he weren't now a Ti follower himself, he'd have cursed them both out just to vent!'
Watching Cheng Shi's expression shift like a kaleidoscope, the Blind One murmured: "You've figured it out?"
"Yes — I've figured it out!"
The logic of tiline switching wasn't actually that complex. The scattered investigation had just caused players to lose too much information. But once all the pieces were reassembled, the review made the switching chanism clear.
First — establish the order of discrepancies. Following the logic above, the current evolution order was: Original → Present Discrepancy → Future Discrepancy → Past Discrepancy.
"Future → Past" and "Past → Original" had been proven. "Original → Present" could be inferred from the Blind One's final transformation.
That left only "Present → Future" — but that too had evidence.
During the period after Cheng Shi's battle with Qin Xin, the Blind One had gone from the warm An Mingyu to the "hard to pass the torch" An Mingyu. The shanty-area Qin Xin had likewise changed from the version harmoniously coexisting with the warm An Mingyu into the "hard to pass the torch" Qin Xin.
So: after Present ca Future!
With that, the full order of discrepancies was established.
Now, reviewing the first hour-mark through this lens: the Blind One and Doctor had already changed, yet the orchid remained red — aning the world itself hadn't changed. At that point, players existed in two states: four belonging to the original world, and two from the present discrepancy.
But after the first investigative split, the orchid turned orange-yellow. At that point, aside from Cheng Shi and the Blind One, every other player had experienced a discrepancy — aning one original player, four present-discrepancy players, and one future-discrepancy player.
'See the pattern? When "present discrepancy" players outnumbered "original" players, the world changed!'
This explained why tilines shifted at the mont of discrepancy eruption — because the number of players from different tilines always changed at those monts, causing the world to keep shifting!
Specifically, it shifted toward the tiline with the most players and the newest changes!
And the most powerful evidence? Li Wufang's resurrection at the trial's end. In that instant, "one original player and two present-discrepancy players" suddenly beca "two original players and two present-discrepancy players." The orange-yellow that should have belonged to "present discrepancy" reverted to the original red — and Cheng Shi had "accidentally" found his way ho.
So — whether a world "exists" or not is determined by the majority!
When enough people belong to a particular world, the world becos what they believe it to be!
With everything figured out, Cheng Shi felt a lingering chill.
This trial had been cleared through everyone's combined effort — but the ending owed much to Destiny's guidance. She'd let him find the fixed path even after he'd overlooked this many rules.
In hindsight, his earlier praise of Destiny had been lacking in sincerity.
But now clearly wasn't the ti for hymns to Destiny — because the Destiny Chosen standing before him, from another world, seed to have lost so of her reverence.
Cheng Shi was silent for a long mont. Then he sighed:
"She left voluntarily. You... can probably guess why.
Before she left, she asked
to pass a ssage to Zhen Xin. She said: 'I'm fine. Really, truly fine...'"
The Blind One froze. Sothing clicked. She nodded: "She went for Xin Xin. Probably for the Xin Xin in that 'future' — the one who could barely take a step forward."
"So — the 'original' An Mingyu went to the 'future,' and the 'present' you ca to the 'original'...
From what I saw, the An Mingyu originally belonging to the 'future' wasn't soone who gave up easily. You all swapped her to another world. Who can say whether that's a blessing or a curse for that world?"
"So neither she nor I are true Torchbearers..."
"True Torchbearers?
Tch—
Even the true Torchbearer tacitly approved the original An Mingyu's smuggling operation, didn't he?
Qin Xin didn't stop her at all. He even staged a suicide show for my benefit just to cooperate.
Where was his concern for everyone else's well-being then?"
"He was considering everyone's well-being..." A faint light glimred in the Blind One's eyes before she lowered her head again. "Because he was supporting that version of
in protecting her own cherished person..."
"..."
Cheng Shi had no retort for that.
Right — the Torchbearers had always been guardians of what they held dear. And as their founder, Qin Xin had even less reason to deny others the right to protect their own treasured bonds.
'Great, great — you're all beautiful. Only I'm the ugly one!'
Cheng Shi laughed bitterly. He wanted to curse, but couldn't bring himself to — not in front of this Blind One.
In this wretched world, who wasn't soone deserving of pity?
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