Chapter 184: May the Great General Return
As Shen Baiwei’s body “exploded” for the third time, the surrounding space twisted again, plunging into darkness and silence.
In this oppressive environment, Luxianbei targeted herself and unleashed the power of [Royal Authority], focusing her will to slightly break free from the shackles of darkness and illusion, and then began to ponder.
When she noticed the chaotic, pitch-black lines spreading from the edges of Shen Baiwei’s body, she realized that Shen Baiwei had lied to her.
Shen Baiwei’s spirit pattern abilities were definitely not the [Mythological Species: Asura Crowd]!
Wait! Why do I know that Shen Baiwei said her spirit pattern power was the Asura Crowd?
Never mind, it was probably something she told me during one of those “read archives”.
As long as I know Shen Baiwei is lying, that’s enough! Luxianbei thought.
Although the legendary Pirmozhiduolo Asura King had nine heads, eight legs, a thousand eyes, and nine hundred and ninety hands, possessing the powers of the Asura Crowd, it was indeed possible to instantly complete multiple spell formulas like Shen Baiwei.
This explanation would fool most people.
But it couldn’t fool Luxianbei.
She had seen those strange, pitch-black lines on the Proxy Player Sister the first time she met her, and then saw them again when Qing Ji used a sword to sever time.
With those two experiences, combined with the bizarre “read archives” phenomenon occurring to herself at this moment, Luxianbei felt she could basically confirm that Shen Baiwei’s spirit pattern power was related to time.
If her inference was correct, then Shen Baiwei’s wish to “break free from the influence of spirit pattern power, escape the shackles of the past, and have a true future” was indeed a wish.
But would such a wish really not affect her spirit pattern power?
If that guy in the sky is ruthless, they might directly destroy or erase her spirit patterns…
Would that mean her spirit pattern power, to ensure its own integrity, was preventing her wish from being fulfilled? Luxianbei thought.
Moreover, the spirit pattern power having its own consciousness and acting contrary at certain special moments, even backstabbing its owner, was something Luxianbei was all too familiar with.
The little brother had only just been obedient to White Puppy for a few days!
But why did she mention having a true future?
Thinking of this, she paused, forcibly interrupting her train of thought.
Time was limited; she didn’t have the luxury to think about what Shen Baiwei’s future would be.
She herself was almost “unable to reach a real future,” so why concern herself with Shen Baiwei?
It was thanks to the kind-hearted beautiful disaster that she hadn’t struck hard at Shen Baiwei.
She was well aware that if she didn’t do something and allowed Shen Baiwei to wish again and again, she might end up trapped in an “endless August,” looping endlessly.
Actually, just looping didn’t seem so hard to bear, but the problem was that Luxianbei found, for some reason, she never lost her memories after each loop.
Perhaps it was due to the special BUFF that a stoic character would receive when caught in a loop?
It felt as if she was trapped in a certain period of time.
Thinking deeply, being stuck in a particular time frame wasn’t actually that bad.
If the span of this “period of time” could be measured in days, she might be able to exploit glitches, learning various knowledge and practicing different skills during this continuous loop, just like some protagonists in novels or comics who trained relentlessly during suspended time.
But the problem was, Shen Baiwei only gave Luxianbei a few seconds, not even allowing her a chance to exploit glitches, which was unacceptable.
What if she just gave ten minutes?
Then she could be “stuck in a constantly looping ten minutes, practicing for three thousand years, and upon breaking free, find herself invincible!” Wouldn’t that be great?
Moreover, the black liquid generated when Shen Baiwei “exploded” was really disgusting, cold and slippery, and would uncontrollably invade her body, like some kind of disturbing parasitic organism.
Who could stand this?
In any case, she thought it best to try to stop her from wishing.
The next second, a familiar voice echoed in her ears.
“State your wish…”
———
“One, two…”
The bright white light poured through the window, casting down on Luxianbei’s face as she expressionlessly looked at Shen Baiwei, silently counting the seconds in her heart.
Shen Baiwei’s body had already “exploded” four times, which meant Luxianbei had experienced “read archives” four times.
She had calmed down from the initial panic of encountering unexpected time.
The first step to breaking the loop was to determine whether Shen Baiwei retained memories during the continuous “read archives.”
This step was roughly verified during the first three “explosions.”
Perhaps due to being backstabbed by her spirit pattern power, Shen Baiwei seemed not to retain memories; otherwise, she wouldn’t have continued to wish a third time after failing twice.
Of course, this didn’t rule out the possibility of her being overly persistent, so it was necessary to act quickly and not give her a chance to react.
The second step was to know how much time could be used for action from the moment the voice “State your wish” sounded until Shen Baiwei’s explosion.
In fact, Luxianbei had already counted this once before Shen Baiwei’s third explosion.
The entire process took nearly four seconds.
In the first second, her body hadn’t yet recovered from the weak state and was unable to move, so the real time she could act was only two seconds, or perhaps even shorter.
As for why she had to count again…
Just to be safe, it was good to check the verification after taking the test, what’s the harm?
If it weren’t for the concern of excessive “read archives” leading to “bad archives,” she might even want to verify a few more times.
“Three…”
Just as Luxianbei silently counted to “three,” she heard Shen Baiwei start to wish.
“I-I want to get rid of the spirit… umm!”
Before Shen Baiwei could finish her sentence, a figure “whooshed” to her side, and with incredible speed, covered her mouth tightly with both hands, startling even Xia Lianqing and the Longxiang Army Armor Soldiers who were watching from behind, who instinctively took a step back.
Shen Baiwei’s eyes instantly widened in fear, her pupils trembling, as if a girl praying devoutly to a deity was suddenly attacked by a demon.
However, just after completing a rush and silent strike to interrupt Shen Baiwei’s spellcasting, Luxianbei had no time to feel pleased before she saw a small hand penetrating through her body, quietly resting on Shen Baiwei’s shoulder.
She had failed.
Her eyes burned with pain, as expected.
Luxianbei, “…”
In silence, she looked expressionlessly at Shen Baiwei exploding in her arms, the black substance splattering almost without dead angles covering her body and then slowly invading her body, feeling no emotional turmoil.
Never mind, it wasn’t the first time; she’d almost gotten used to it…
So it seemed that stopping Shen Baiwei from wishing might not be critical; it appeared that whenever she began to wish, whether or not she completed her statement, as long as her spirit pattern power sensed a threat, it would backstab her?
So, she must stop her before Shen Baiwei began to wish? Luxianbei thought.
With this experiment, she happily discovered that the time she could stop Shen Baiwei was not two seconds, but less than one second.
And then, darkness and silence descended.
This time was the crucial moment! Luxianbei thought.
———
“State your wish…”
When that voice echoed in her ears, Shen Baiwei looked at the bright white light illuminating the entire Yumen Pass from outside the window, momentarily lost in thought.
How many times had this been? Could they not let me go? Shen Baiwei thought heavily.
She vaguely remembered passing through the long corridors of the Tethys Laboratory several times, going to the room at the very end filled with corpses, quietly lying down waiting for d*ath, but what happened afterward was no longer in her memory.
It seemed her memories had been erased, her head heavy as if filled with lead.
This must be the rebellion of the spirit pattern power?
Normally, “reading archives” wouldn’t cause her to lose memories; only when that segment of the past was completely swallowed and digested by the power of Ouroboros would this happen.
It probably didn’t want to lose such an excellent host that could continuously provide it with food… Shen Baiwei had long anticipated this situation.
But I won’t compromise, no matter how many times it comes!
Shen Baiwei thought fiercely, slightly inhaled, and parted her lips.
However, just as she opened her mouth, before she could utter the first word, her pupils suddenly trembled.
A fierce wind rushed toward her, and a small foot with astounding speed entered her vision, then rapidly enlarged.
Shen Baiwei had no time to react, and her entire body was sent flying backwards, her face and neck losing sensation from the impact of tremendous force, a warm stream with a bloody sweet scent swiftly spreading in her mouth…
In a daze, she felt as if she had collided head-on with a speeding truck.
———
“Bang——!”
Accompanied by a dull sound of flesh colliding, Luxianbei executed a beautiful side kick, perfectly hitting Shen Baiwei’s mouth and forcibly kicking her wish back into her stomach.
Watching Shen Baiwei’s form fly away like a kite with a broken string, she raised her right hand, wiped her nose with her thumb, and smirked, “Done!”
In less than a second, attempting to stop Shen Baiwei from stating her wish could only be done in such a simple and brutal manner.
After a pause, she immediately signaled Xia Lianqing and the group of Longxiang Army Armor Soldiers behind her, “Quick, block her mouth, we must not let her speak again!”
After all these years, such lines actually came out of her mouth, and Luxianbei couldn’t help but feel a pang of nostalgia.
She finally began to understand the feelings of her former enemies.
But…
Sorry, I was wrong, I’ll do it again next time!
However, just as Luxianbei was lost in thought, she suddenly realized that Xia Lianqing and the transformed Longxiang Army Armor Soldiers were all gazing at the figure in the sky outside the window, whispering in a daze.
All the voices coalesced into one phrase, “May the Great General Return.”
Luxianbei, “…”
d*mn! How come even they are entranced?
