"Even without me, there will be a next one, and a next one..."
"Anna, oh Anna, you really are a massive idiot!"
In the midst of her high-speed flight, her fractured voice was left far, far behind, lost to the biting, chaotic wind. It was like a drop of pure water falling into a rushing river—nobody would remember it, nobody would recognize it, save for herself.
It didn't matter—
Loving him defied all reason.
It was a roadblock to my future, a complete loss of self-control.
It was the shattering of hope, the forfeiture of happiness.
It was a path doomed to absolute despair and devastation, destined to cost me everything...
But... once I fell for him, I could never bring myself to stop.
It didn't matter—
I've already written plenty of suicide notes anyway, so I've already made my peace!
Anna felt a faint pang of regret. She regretted not saying it to him a few more times back then, because now... she would never get the chance again.
It didn't matter—
As long as he could survive. That was all that mattered.
It didn't matter—
Anna gazed down at Li Wu. She manually deactivated the translucent visor of her Void Snow armor. Her lips trembled, her pink eyes shining brighter than ever.
Li Wu's reflection grew crystal clear in her pupils. She was searing this image into her memory, committing the face of this idiot Li Wu to her mind one last time.
Finally, her parched lips parted, and she whispered, "Let this be the end. We both need to go back... back to the lives we used to live..."
"But let my heart be my witness."
From a dreamless void, Li Wu gradually awoke.
"Ugh... where am I?"
A dry, stifling breeze brushed against his cheeks. Li Wu slowly opened his eyes to a sight entirely different from what he remembered before falling asleep. Outside lay a sprawling, endless expanse of vibrant green grassland.
In the distance, herdsmen drove their cattle and sheep. The harsh midsummer sun illuminated the world with absolute clarity.
The entire world felt profoundly peaceful and serene.
This wasn't Shenzhou. It looked more like the remote countryside of some developing nation.
Li Wu got out of bed, realizing his outer clothes had been completely swapped out. Surprisingly, they fit perfectly, as if they had been tailor-made for him.
It was a sleek, pitch-black outfit. The material was exquisitely fine—so tough that he couldn't even leave a mark with his fingernails. It didn't look like anything produced by modern civilization.
Argar stood up from an old wooden stool, stretched heavily, and let out a long breath. "Yo, you're awake? Now that you're up, I can finally wrap up this commission."
"Commission?" Li Wu blinked, still disoriented. He asked instinctively, "Where's Anna?"
"That A-Rank Valkyrie? Probably headed back to Schicksal."
"Went back? The mission was supposed to last a month. Plus, if Anna was going to leave, she definitely would have told me first. What exactly happened? You shouldn't even be here, Argar." Li Wu strode up to him, his brows furrowing as his tone grew sharp.
Seeing this, Argar quickly threw his hands up in surrender. "Whoa, don't get violent! I'm just an accomplice here. I took on a lot of risk to help you out!"
"Explain yourself."
"I mean exactly what I said. You've been put on Schicksal's kill list. To save you from a guaranteed death, your precious Anna did... well, I don't know what she did, but she smuggled you out."
Argar spread his hands, his tone laced with exasperation. "Honestly, you two have been a massive headache. If I get found out, I'm absolutely screwed. Anyway, here's the reality: you can't go back to your old life using your real identity. You have to find a place where no one knows you and live out the rest of your days in peace. Otherwise, if Schicksal finds out you aren't dead, not only are you done for, but that Valkyrie Anna goes down with you."
Argar gave a blunt summary of Li Wu's current predicament.
Listening to this, Li Wu stared down at the clothes he was wearing, deep in thought. Then, he looked up and asked, "So you're telling me Schicksal issued a kill order on me, and instead of carrying it out, Anna teamed up with you to dump me in this backwater village?"
"Bingo," Argar confirmed. "She probably found a fall guy. I traced her email IP to Siberia—not exactly a bustling metropolis. She likely grabbed a corpse from some morgue, slapped your clothes on it, and passed it off as you. If Schicksal catches on, both of you are dead meat. So just stay put and live out your life here. Knowing her, she probably left you a 'hefty fortune' to survive on."
But in the very next second, Li Wu's fists clenched. His gaze turned razor-sharp as he stared out the window at the distant sky.
"I have to go back."
"Are you out of your damn mind?!"
Argar felt his scalp prickle. Hadn't he just explained how dire the situation was? If Li Wu went back now, it wouldn't just be suicide; it would drag Anna down too. Li Wu wasn't stupid—was he really letting love completely fry his brain?
Argar wanted to talk some sense into him, but Li Wu cut him off immediately.
"There's no way she can fool Schicksal! This is exactly what whoever issued that mission planned! From the very beginning, I was the only target. Anna is nothing but a sacrificial pawn!"
Li Wu rushed out the door and pulled out his phone, dialing Anna's number.
But the call had been blocked. When he tried messaging her on other apps, he was met with a glaring red exclamation mark and an automated prompt: You are not friends with this user. Please add them as a friend before sending a message.
"That idiot!"
"Forget it, now isn't the time for calls. I have to get to Schicksal HQ as fast as possible! Don't die... Just wait for me, I'm coming!"
His face tight with anxiety, Li Wu whirled around to face Argar. "Help me out one more time. This is the last time. Drop me off at Schicksal Headquarters. You don't have to worry about anything else!"
Faced with this demand, Argar didn't agree. Instead, he instinctively took two steps back.
"Sorry, but I can't help you this time. Seriously, you two are something else. Could you maybe consider my feelings for a second? One of you pays me to take you to the middle of nowhere for your safety, and the other tells me to take you right back into the fire! What, did you get tired of breathing? Do you have any idea what Schicksal HQ is like? Even the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy can't waltz in there, so how the hell is a low-level cyborg like me supposed to pull it off?"
"Also, did you forget your current status, buddy? You're on a kill list! Taking you to Schicksal HQ is basically throwing you off a cliff! Do you honestly think this will be like last time, dodging cyborg assassins and coming out alive?"
"Stop joking around! Last time, the enemies were mediocre and your teammate was overpowered! Raiden Mei is a Herrscher! As long as she kept her powers in check, she could wipe the floor with them, and all you had to do was not die! This is different, Li Wu. This time, your enemy is Schicksal itself!"
"That's Schicksal!" Argar repeated, stressing the word in case Li Wu somehow didn't grasp the sheer terror that name commanded. "Even if you, Anna, and the entirety of Anti-Entropy joined forces, it wouldn't be enough. What good will you going there do?"
"You said it yourself—you're the target. As long as you stay off the grid, do you really think this guy is going to scour the entire planet for you? Just stay alive! Anna is the Holy Maiden of the Schariac House. The worst she'll get is some internal suppression. They won't kill her, so just relax."
Argar laid out his logic sensibly. From his perspective, since Li Wu was the target, keeping him hidden was the perfect solution. As the Holy Maiden of the Schariac House, there was no way Anna would be murdered over a trivial matter like this. Unless their enemy was a complete lunatic, Li Wu was simply panicking over nothing.
"You don't understand, I have to show up... This isn't the first time! If I don't appear, that person really might kill Anna! And by then, it'll be too late!" Li Wu shouted hoarsely, completely ignoring Argar's logic as he lunged forward and grabbed him by the shoulders.
The System hadn't given him any warnings.
But Anna wasn't designated as a "heroine" by the script. Even if she died, there would be no notification.
Ever since waking up, Li Wu had been questioning the System in his mind, but received no response. The only thing he could do was thrust himself directly into the mastermind's line of sight, forcing all their attention onto himself.
"Who's going to believe that, Li Wu?!" Argar's voice jumped an octave. "You can't even give me a straight reason! Why would anyone buy that? Anna is the Holy Maiden of the Schariac House! Her status is miles above yours or mine. Unless the person pulling the strings is a literal psychopath, who would sabotage Schicksal's core interests just to kill her? Even if you think it's possible, the Overseer of Schicksal would never allow it!"
"And don't give me that crap about you time-traveling from the future. No one believes that nonsense, this isn't a sci-fi movie! You can't possibly know the future, and even if you did, what could you do? You can't change it! Anyway, I'm not helping you. If you want to go, book a flight yourself. I'm out."
Li Wu gripped his fists, glaring intensely at Argar. Suddenly, an image flashed in his mind. His hands went limp, releasing Argar like a deflated balloon.
The chaos in his eyes instantly cleared, replaced by a sudden, joyful curve of his lips.
Anna wasn't dead yet.
"This is my problem. I'll figure it out myself. I won't force you. You can go."
"Don't blame me, Li Wu. No one in their right mind would help you with this."
With that parting word, Argar walked away, eventually disappearing over the horizon.
On the vast plains, save for the livestock and herdsmen, Li Wu stood alone under the scorching sun, burning with anxiety.
"System, tell me. What happened while I was unconscious?"
Without a second of hesitation, Li Wu activated the [Future Loan].
He had only done it with a 'give it a try' mentality, but he didn't expect to actually glean intel from a specific moment in the future. He now knew—counting from this exact moment until tomorrow, Anna would still be alive. Which meant he had a full twelve hours to prepare.
[I do not recommend using "Future Loan" to acquire future intelligence.]
"Why? Because the price is too heavy?"
The power of [Future Loan] was undeniably a silver bullet. Whether it was power or information, as long as he could eventually provide the "Cause," he could entirely skip the process and instantly reap the "Effect" in the present.
[Observing the future requires no price from you. However, paying no price is the greatest cost of all.]
[The possibilities of the future entirely collapse under your observation. You should be familiar with Schrödinger's concept.]
Li Wu paused for a second before muttering, "Schrödinger's cat... I know the theory. You place a cat in a sealed box with a lethal dose of poison gas. Until you open the box, no one knows if the cat is dead or alive; it exists in an unstable quantum state..."
[Exactly as you say. Because it remains unobserved, the outcome is indeterminate.]
[The fundamental nature of "Future Loan" is the exact opposite of "Return by Death."]
["Return by Death" grants you the chance to create infinite possibilities. But "Future Loan" is different. Once you observe a future outcome through it, that outcome becomes established fact. Afterward, no matter how strong you are, or how many times you return, the timeline will forcefully correct itself until it reaches that exact ending. It becomes unalterable.]
[If you had just observed Anna Schariac's death, that ending would have become an unchangeable reality, regardless of how many times you triggered "Return by Death." "Future Loan" effectively strangles the possibilities born from "Return by Death."]
Hearing the System's explanation, Li Wu felt a cold sweat break out. He swayed on his feet, looking like a toddler who hadn't fully learned how to walk, nearly tripping over himself.
"An unalterable ending..." Li Wu muttered the words under his breath.
He felt an overwhelming wave of relief that he had only glimpsed the vision of tomorrow—
Anna, her entire body pierced with IV tubes. Blood draining from the dense network of lines. Her face deathly pale, her muscles atrophied, looking like a shriveled husk of meat hung upon a piece of highly advanced machinery stamped with the Schicksal insignia.
It was a laboratory. Through the window, all that could be seen was an endless expanse of white.
Li Wu lowered his head. The fierce winds whipping across the plains tore at his pitch-black trench coat. No matter how bright the sky was, it couldn't pierce the dark gloom pooling in his eyes.
"So, tomorrow, Anna is destined to become what I saw..." Li Wu bit his lip so hard it bled. His hands involuntarily clenched, nails digging into his palms. His voice squeezed out as if crushed between stones. "Imprisoned in a lab... treated as Schicksal's holy blood bank..."
"And the Schariac House... are they doing absolutely nothing? Just watching as their Holy Maiden is reduced to a blood slave?"
[Correct. The ending you have observed cannot be changed.]
[As for the Schariac House, Anna Schariac has long since been abandoned. Since you have observed up to tomorrow, I can inform you of the turning points that occur before then.]
[At 5:09 PM, Anna Schariac will be charged with intended treason against Schicksal and remanded to the prison at Schicksal Headquarters.]
[At 10:12 PM, during a joint tribunal held by Schicksal High Command and the Schariac House, over eighty percent of the Schariac family members will vote in favor of her punishment. The only exceptions are Cecilia Schariac, who casts a veto, and a few abstentions.]
[At 11:02 PM, Anna Schariac will be transferred to the highest floor of the Babylon Tower in Siberia to undergo her final punishment: blood extraction.]
[I must warn you: the laboratory housing Anna Schariac is guarded by two S-Rank Valkyries. They are fully armed and equipped with cutting-edge Valkyrie battlesuits.]