Klein placed his right hand over his chest and bowed deeply. A faint glow drifted up from the top of his head and gradually dispersed into nothingness—the Klein from the future of another world had returned to his own.
A few seconds later, Klein opened his eyes. He rubbed his face and looked at Edward with a wry smile.
"Edward, you really did give a surprise. You actually dragged over another from a parallel world."
"I was surprised too," Edward said, spreading his hands. "Ti has always been that unfathomable. The past cannot be altered, the future cannot be predicted. In the end, it's just that our world's upper limit is still too low. If this were so Primordial Chaos or Shrouding the Heavens–style universe, the tiline would automatically converge. No matter how much you ss with the past, everything still leads to the sa future."
Klein rolled his eyes.
"Are you seriously humblebragging right now? You can already drag around and jump all over the tiline—what exactly are you dissatisfied with?"
Just then, the past Zhou Mingrui walked out of the finance office. He had gone in cheerful, but now he erged utterly dejected.
"How the hell am I supposed to get reimbursed like this?! I can barely pay rent anymore! I really don't want to keep working here!"
He complained as he spoke, then sat back down at his computer and continued tinkering with it.
"Ahem."
Klein cleared his throat. "Edward, do you think…if I let my past self win five million, would that cause any bad consequences?"
"Didn't you see?" Edward replied. "His life as a corporate drone is downright miserable. Besides, the apocalypse is coming soon anyway. Might as well let him enjoy himself for a few days."
Edward pinched his chin and thought for a mont, then shook his head.
"I still wouldn't recomnd it. What if…the Celestial Worthy picked you precisely because you're stingy, nitpicky, and such a textbook corporate drone?"
"..."
Klein raised a middle finger.
The two of them left the company and arrived at a bustling snack street. Each bought a large assortnt of junk food that only existed in this era. As they ate, they soaked in a world completely different from the "future."
"Edward," Klein asked, "don't you want to go back and see your family, your friends…or your past self?"
Edward casually tossed the finished skewers into a trash can, tilted his head back, and smiled with easy detachnt.
"I can't go back."
If Klein and the future Lord of the Mysteries were connected through parallel worlds and the multiverse, then Edward and Lilith's pre-transmigration world belonged to a completely unrelated reality.
Between them lay a chasm Edward could never cross.
That said, Edward didn't feel particularly attached to his "holand" either. Being a Creator with supre authority was, by any asure, far better than being an ordinary overworked corporate drone.
When they returned to the current tiline of the world of mysteries, a week had already passed.
Of course, for the world of mysteries itself, ti was still frozen at the instant they had left.
Both Roselle and Klein were sowhat dispirited. The past seven days felt to them like an imperfect yet intensely real dream.
Now that the dream had ended and they had returned to reality, a sense of loss was inevitable—almost like withdrawal.
Edward, anwhile, imdiately returned to Hogwarts. He found Lilith sitting at the highest point of the castle, leaning against the wall, propping up her cheek as she gazed into the distance.
Hearing footsteps behind her, Lilith tilted her head slightly.
"So…it's all over, Edward?"
"Yes," Edward replied as he sat down beside her. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing really~" Lilith said lightly. "I was just rembering a few things…so mories from a previous life."
She was naturally referring to her mories as Li Li, as the "Creator." She turned her body and leaned against Edward's shoulder.
"I really didn't expect it," she said softly. "I was actually that amazing back then!"
"That's why I've always said Lilith is the smartest and most incredible person in the world."
Lilith giggled, her legs swinging freely in the air.
"That's right!"
"But that was all in the past now~" she said, lifting her head. "To Miss Lilith, those mories feel like watching a movie where I'm the main character—familiar, yet with no real sense of imrsion."
"Do you want to recover those mories?" Edward asked.
"No need~"
Lilith shook her head.
"They're not exactly happy mories anyway. I think things are great just the way they are now~ No worries, no sorrow, no burden from mories of two lifetis—just being a simple little cat."
"With Edward, with Audrey, with Susie, with Krismona…and two worlds waiting for to explore…"
Edward gently stroked her head.
"Alright. Whatever you want."
"Oh, right—Cheek is already dead~"
Lilith suddenly sat upright, hands on her hips.
"The feeling of taking revenge with my own hands—ahhh, it's just too good!"
"And Amon too," she continued cheerfully. "I went to have a nice little chat with Him just now. The process was very pleasant, and I'm extrely satisfied with the outco! Oh, right, I also found out sothing."
Growing even more animated, Lilith said, "It seems that the Philosopher's Stone Harry swallowed last ti was mixed with a trace of the Demoness of Undying's Beyonder characteristics. It's extrely diluted—not enough to make him imdiately lose control and go insane—but it does an he'll beco half an Assassin. If he doesn't take potions over the long term, there's still a risk of losing control."
Edward pressed a hand to his forehead.
In his previous life, who knew how many people had joked about wanting to see Harry gender-bent. He hadn't expected that, through a series of coincidences, Harry would actually end up stepping onto the Witch pathway.
"It's fine. I'll help him extract the Beyonder characteristics."
"Nooo~"
Lilith waved her fist excitedly.
"Everyone wants to see Harry turn into a girl!"
"..."
Edward imdiately flicked her forehead lightly.
"You're the only one who wants to see that, aren't you?"
Covering her forehead, she muttered, "That's not true…Ron was the most excited."
"Enough," Edward said as he stood up. "It's ti to go tell Audrey and the others the good news—that everything is finally over."
———
At Count Hall's luxurious estate.
When Edward returned, the scene before him left him montarily confused.
Audrey, Little Snake, dici, and Leonard were sitting together playing Fighting Evil.
Audrey clearly wasn't focused on the ga at all. Under Susie's suggestions, she played her cards absentmindedly. Leonard, anwhile, looked tense, his gaze constantly flicking toward the two heavyweights present.
dici sat with a cold expression, as though the world owed Him money.
Little Snake, on the other hand, was completely relaxed—playing cards while eating ice cream.
Lilith happily trotted over.
"Wow! Let Miss Lilith join too!"
Leonard stood up imdiately.
"Please, go ahead."
dici tossed his cards aside and looked over, snorting coldly.
"They're both back already. What's the point of still playing Fighting Evil?"
Audrey rushed forward and hugged Edward nervously.
"Edward, how did it go?"
Because her Sequence was too low—and she had no "cheat"—she actually knew very little even now. She only knew that what Edward had gone to deal with was related to the apocalypse.
Edward held her hands and said gently, "It's all over."
"So…so there won't be an apocalypse anymore?"
"There won't be."
dici raised an eyebrow.
"So you drove off all the Outer Deities?"
"More or less."
"And Adam?"
"He's fallen into slumber. It'll take about a thousand years before He awakens."
dici fell silent for a few seconds.
"Alright. Got it."
He turned and walked toward the door, then suddenly looked back at Lilith.
"Cheek's Beyonder characteristics and Uniqueness…they're in your hands now, aren't they?"
Lilith raised a hand. Three Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristics and the Uniqueness floated in midair.
"Want them?"
"..."
"Hmph!"
With a cold snort, dici's figure vanished.
Edward then turned his gaze toward Leonard.
"You ca here to…?"
"Ahem," Leonard coughed. "The old man said it was safer to stay here. Now that all the danger's gone, I'll be taking my leave. See you around."
With that, he waved his hand and fled as if escaping.
At that mont, Little Snake Will licked the ice cream container clean and stood up.
"Since you're back, my task is complete. You won't go back on what you promised , right?"
Edward subconsciously glanced at Audrey and said, "There's no need to go through all that trouble. I can help you accommodate the Uniqueness and advance to Sequence 0 right now."
"It's not the sa."
Will shook his head.
"I still want to borrow your status to reboot. Fate tells that's the most beneficial outco for ."
"...Alright. When I have ti, I'll co find you."
"Much appreciated~"
Will blinked and smiled.
"Then I'll see you later—Father, Mother, and…Sister."
After Little Snake left, Audrey imdiately exclaid in shock,
"Eh? Just now—when that Lord Angel of Fate said 'father' and 'mother'—who was he referring to?"
Edward coughed lightly.
"He ate too much ice cream and started talking nonsense."
"That's not it!"
Lilith imdiately ran over and leaned close to Audrey's ear, whispering with a mischievous grin.
Audrey's eyes widened instantly, her face full of disbelief.
"Ah? You can…you can even do it like that?"
She looked Edward up and down, clearly trying to imagine how Edward would give birth to Little Snake.
"Enough, stop letting your imagination run wild. It's just borrowing status to reboot!"
Edward pulled Audrey down to sit beside him.
"There are so things…it's ti I told you everything."
"Everything?" Audrey asked.
"Yes. Everything."
———
The war among the four nations of the Northern Continent finally ca to a complete end.
anwhile, the war in the Southern Continent entered a white-hot stage.
After securing sufficient territory and resources, the rebel forces quickly declared the founding of new nations. They publicly hanged the once lofty and corrupt aristocrats who had oppressed them—using the most intense and sensational thods to proclaim the birth of a new era.
These 'barbaric' thods and systems naturally sent shockwaves through the ruling classes of every nation. They keenly realised that once such ideas spread to the Northern Continent, they would inevitably cause chaos—and might even shake the very foundations of their rule.
Thus, plans were made to dispatch troops to the Southern Continent to suppress the rebellion.
However, these plans were soon quietly abandoned.
The reason was simple: the Six Orthodox Churches all publicly declared their support for the newly established nations and simultaneously dispatched clergy to the Southern Continent to build their respective churches.
At first, the nobles strongly opposed this.
But they quickly discovered that the royal families of their nations had already backed down.
So highly trusted parliantary nobles even received insider information—
The nations of the Northern Continent would also begin implenting institutional reforms to step in line with the era.
This was not a negotiation.
It was a notification.
———
Happy New Year, everyone!!!
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