Qingque ignored everyone's shock and just chuckled.
"I also think it's improper to loaf around all day, playing cards while collecting a salary from the Divination Commission... It's really kind of... how does that saying go again..."
"Feels way too good?" Stelle picked up the conversation.
Guinaifen beside her lit up and said, "I think so too. That's the kind of life Guinaifen dreams about."
Qingque shook her head, "It's wasting my life."
After saying that, the girl looked up at the Master Diviner.
"Thank you for giving me a push, Master Diviner. Since you also think I'm wasting my talents by staying here, I really should think of a way to make some changes.
"But before I leave, I still need to help these people deal with the trouble facing the Divination Commission. Otherwise, people might think I got fired because I ran away when things got dangerous."
After saying that, Qingque turned to Huohuo.
"You're the expert in this area. I'm just saying cool lines. How do we get the Master Diviner out of this state?"
"I don't know either..." Huohuo shook her head. "That heliobus doesn't seem interested in trapping us in an illusion, and it doesn't seem to want to attack us either..."
"And Master Diviner's condition is very strange right now. It's not like other people possessed by heliobi, where the two sides are clearly separate."
"Having Nero forcefully act might work, but I don't know if it would leave any aftereffects on Master Diviner."
They weren't trying to hide their conversation, so Fu Xuan naturally heard everything. She let out a scoff.
"Obsessed and deranged? I am very clear-headed. If anything, I've never been clearer.
"From now on, I shall devote myself completely to calculating the destined future of the Xianzhou Alliance and proclaim those futures to the world, so that everyone can live with full understanding."
Hearing Fu Xuan's words, Nero looked at her in shock and asked, "Are you sober?"
At the same time, a subtle thought flashed through the boy's mind. If he trapped Fu Xuan with wind and removed the gas inside, would he be able to make her breathe pure oxygen?
Facing Nero's question, Fu Xuan narrowed her eyes with an expression that said she had expected this.
"I know what you're going to say. Humanity triumphing over heaven, free will... But those are nothing more than simple illusions created by the human brain. From the very beginning, there has only ever been one path."
"No, that's not what I wanted to say," Nero said the instant Fu Xuan finished.
Fu Xuan, "?"
"I just want to know what makes you assume that the future you've predicted is the destined future," Nero asked.
"What makes me? I'll tell you what makes me. I can tell at a glance..." Fu Xuan pointed at Stelle. "She is nothing more than a pawn manipulated by the Stellaron Hunters.
"Boarding the Express, who you oppose, where you go... the choices you think you're making by your own will are merely tributaries that eventually merge on the road of destiny."
"Hehe. Your journey helping the Xianzhou defeat Phantylia should have made that clear to you, no? Every outcome had already been written into a script by that slave hiding behind the scenes."
"Just like right now. All your choices are nothing more than these, 'Swing your baseball bat and charge at me,' 'Raise your voice and futilely argue against me,' or 'Fall silent without saying a word.'"
"No. I haven't dealt with the Stellaron Hunters much, but we're friends. I know whether they can do anything to me or not." Nero blinked at Fu Xuan, his eyes sincere and clear.
Fu Xuan, "..."
"Besides, that's not even what we're talking about. Think about it. If you tell others the future you've predicted, they'll become wary of it."
"Because their thoughts and actions change, the future becomes unclear, so you have to calculate it again."
"Then after recalculating, you tell people again. They stay wary again, so the future changes again, and you have to recalculate again... Even Nous can't calculate as much as you."
Fu Xuan, "..."
'Where the hell did this kid come from? Why can he talk so much?'
At this moment, Nero suddenly changed the subject.
"And didn't you predict that Ignamar would lose? Yet you still went along. Since the future is destined, why bother calculating it at all? All it does is make you suffer."
"Before the battle ended, you must have been anxious and miserable, yet you refused to try changing anything and didn't dare to. Of course the future can't be changed that way."
"In the end, who even cares about the futures you've calculated? People either act on impulse or simply want to have no regrets."
"Someone acting on impulse won't think about what the future looks like, and someone acting without regrets won't care what the future looks like either. They just guide things toward the result they want through their actions."
"When you tell an impulsive person the outcome, do you think they'll listen to your advice?"
"Or after hearing your advice, will they stop being impulsive and become someone who acts without regrets? Can you calculate that right now? And even if you can, so what?"
"If the future is destined, then calculating it or not is meaningless. If the future isn't destined, then no amount of calculations will give you an answer."
"People always live in the present. No matter what happened in the past, it was the past me who bore it. No matter what happens in the future, it will be the future me who bears it."
"Instead of being frightened by results that haven't arrived, why not focus on doing the things before you with diligence?"
Fu Xuan, "..."
From the moment Nero started speaking, she had been unable to say a single word.
Not only had the kid failed to attack as she predicted, he had blocked her from every direction.
Right now, she only felt completely beaten down, yet that brat seemed to be debating principles and hadn't even used a single insult.
"In the end, whether the future is destined depends on what ending people want. Whether I debate you or attack you directly, or do both at once, my goal is simply to capture you and bring you back."
As he spoke, Nero rolled up his sleeves and walked toward the wavering Xiyan.
"And what ending do you want? To convince us to agree with you? You should know it's very easy for us to deal with you."
"If the future is destined, why struggle so desperately? You might as well come with us."
"Debate, sophistry, twisted arguments, proper arguments... Even Nous above our heads doesn't dare say it has calculated the ending of the universe or solved the ultimate mystery of the stars."
"How dare a little heliobus like you make such outrageous claims?"
As he spoke, Nero reached out and pressed his hand against Fu Xuan's face. He then quickly pulled it back, and ropes formed from inscriptions extended from his palm and reached deep into Fu Xuan's body.
Then Nero gave a tug and pulled out a ball of spirit fire.
Looking at Xiyan, he gently shook it.
"So what can you say now? I'll give you the choice. If the future is destined, then you'll never escape my hand anyway, so why struggle?"
"If the future isn't destined, then what were your beliefs and convictions just now? And you'll still be unable to escape my hand."
"What can sweet words and smooth talk do? In the end, I'm the one who determines victory and defeat, not you. If I want to catch you, you come out. If I want to keep you, only then can you stay."
"In this confrontation, your future really is predetermined. It's predetermined that only I get to make the choice."
"Understand now? What's truly important? It's the results people want and the choices they make for those results."
"Because they want something, they guide things. Because they guide things, they happen. Even you couldn't escape that rule, could you?"
"So just look at the present and be yourself. Stop talking so much about grand principles and do something practical instead."
"Plenty of people need that kind of thing. If you set up a stall under a bridge, you could at least make some people happy."