Me! Cleaner!.

Chapter 1266 Dissuasion and Waiting

No...you're here again?

Trapped on another track, Leon watched as the black-robed Fu, who was fiercely slashing at the white-skirted Fu, and his lips twitched wildly.

Although he had long suspected that Frederica's suggestion was not so simple and that she was hiding something from him, this unexpected turn of events—that he would kill himself—was something he had never anticipated.

When the two Fu met before, they only shook hands, and Fu #1 gave a bitter laugh and killed herself, instantly merging the two Fu into one. And after deceiving herself back to the past, the first thing "Merged Fu" did was again kill herself. This is truly...

All I can say is that this time it's no wonder my son insisted on causing trouble.

Right now, all the Fredericas across all timelines are bound together by that ritual. No matter who his future mother is, she's definitely inside it now. If things go wrong, she could be gone. No wonder he's anxious.

"Why don't you... calm down first?"

Although his relationship with Frederica was... rather ordinary, firstly, he didn't want his son to carelessly lose his mother, and secondly, Frederica in the white dress, who hadn't done anything wrong, was indeed quite pitiful lying on the ground with tears streaming down her face. After hesitating for a moment, Leon still spoke up to persuade her:

“I can roughly understand your plan, but killing her won’t necessarily solve your problem…”

"But it can prevent many mistakes."

The woman in black robes pressed her lips together, her eyes resolute as she said:

"If Number 1 had never appeared..."

"If Number 1 never appeared, then who would take me back to the past? If I didn't go back to the past with you, then who would kill her? If no one killed her, wouldn't Number 1 still appear?"

“I’ve already thought about this. Fate is a fixed and orderly time, but with you as a witness to this external force that breaks fate, we can open up a new path outside of that fixed time… How could you?!”

I haven't just been learning secret arts these days. Since I know this is time travel, I definitely need to make some preparations... For example, reconstructing the dream you left in the Valley of Dreams, making a copy of all the circular texts in the Holy Land, and then studying them intensively overnight.

Although my understanding is still quite rudimentary, like being able to write but not speak a "mute foreign language," and I'm completely incapable of setting up rituals, I can still make a few changes to existing finished products.

"I think you might as well wait a little longer."

Reaching out, he picked up a small amount of the source left behind by Frederica and smeared it twice on the circular text beneath his feet, merging the two tracks together. Then, Leon suggested:

"Let's see what 'Fate' has to say first. If she really has a way, you won't have to kill yourself, right?"

"but……"

"If you're still worried, you can continue to hold her hostage."

Unsure whether Frederica's self-inflicted wound would also affect him, Leon cautiously continued to offer his advice:
"If even 'fate' can't help you, then you can just keep cutting yourself. The choice is still in your hands. And don't you really want to see your people again, or wait for 'fate' to try again? After all... you've already come all this way?"

"..."

come all come...

Faced with this four-word incantation at the source level, even the black-robed Fu, who had mastered all the sources, couldn't help but pause for a moment. She then bit her lip, relaxed her suppression, and pulled the carving knife in her hand halfway out.

"You should know what this knife is, so don't touch it, or you know the consequences!"

After warning her other self, the black-robed Fu stood up and stepped back, releasing the white-skirted Fu who had been pushed to the ground. The unfortunate white-skirted Fu, having narrowly escaped death, didn't even have time to wipe the tears on her face before scrambling to her feet and hiding behind Leon, trembling slightly as she tugged at his clothes.

"You...who are you?"

Looking at herself across from him, who looked exactly like her but had almost killed her with a ceremonial sword, the still-shaken woman in the white dress gasped for breath before asking in a trembling voice, her eyes filled with fear:
Why are you trying to kill me? Where am I?

Judging from her appearance, this Frederica hasn't experienced what followed and is still just an ordinary teenage girl who doesn't know anything.

Feeling the trembling body behind him, Leon was about to offer a word of comfort when he noticed that after asking her question, the woman in the white dress turned to look at him and pressed for an answer:

"Leon! Where have you been all this time? Why did you suddenly disappear after you saw her and never come back?"

"..."

Ah? ? ?
After hearing White-Dress Fu's question, Leon was taken aback for a moment, then said with a look of surprise:

"You are... Fu No. 3? The one who was knocked unconscious before?"

"What Fu-3? What are you talking about?"

"Let me explain."

After readjusting the ritual to ensure its continued progress into the "funnel" formed by the twists of countless world lines, the black-robed Fu said with a complex expression:

"Before I became the original race, I was the same in every timeline. You, as an 'external force,' came into contact with her before the unification. When all of me became one, these different memories were also given to all of her."

So...she is you?

"It is."

"..."

You might as well just say that's how it is... But never mind, it doesn't really matter which Fu she is, right now 'fate' is the most important thing.

After offering a few words of comfort to Bai Quefu and answering her question, Leon squinted at the approaching "finish line" in the distance, then asked:

"Frederica..."

"what?"

"Um... the black one, I meant the black one."

Under the watchful gaze of the woman in the white dress, who was biting her lip, Leon continued:

"What's our situation now? Have we returned to the original you in history, before they called you back? Does that mean we've already changed history?"

"I am not sure."

The woman in black robes shook her head and said:

"History is also a record of time, but in the life of the root race, there is no concept of 'time', only the flow and exchange of 'material'."

For example, in their view, a person's life is not about growing and aging, but about gradually absorbing or losing material things through constant contact and exchange with the world.

In their eyes, history is merely a record of a fixed, unchanging state of matter in its current, fixed location… Do you understand what I mean?”

"..." I don't understand this, but I respect it?

After clicking his tongue slightly, Leon nodded and didn't ask any more questions. The track formed by the twisting and intersecting of countless different timelines finally came to an end at this moment.

The world, composed of countless shimmering blocks of color and lines, is like a series of interconnected "pixels." It first disintegrates into countless tiny particles, and then, under the kneading of the root, it reconnects and reassembles, making the chaotic and disordered world around it clear again.

The world that has stabilized feels extremely similar to the holy land of the Hope lineage, or even exactly the same, as if it were a direct replica of the holy land in Leon's memory.

The sky here is still the sky, the earth is still the earth, the mountains are still the mountains, the rivers are still the rivers; everything seems so harmonious and ordinary, with nothing special about it... if you don't count the sun looking down from above.

"coming!"

The sun above Leon and Black and White Frost let out a shout... or rather, a mental fluctuation? In any case, accompanied by some incomprehensible "language," everything around them instantly came to life.

Although it didn't sprout human faces and appearances like the sun overhead, and most things didn't even move, in the perception of Leon and his companions, everything around them came alive and emitted incredibly clear fluctuations of will.

The majestic mountains cast their gaze, the melodious streams cheered, the clear and azure sky tried to embrace them, and the earth beneath their feet silently held everything up... or perhaps they simply hadn't realized it yet?

In short, at this moment, the whole world almost simultaneously awakened and clearly expressed its will to you, communicating with you curiously, and even... clearly expressing its disgust and resistance.

"No... what does this mean?"

Feeling himself being "hugged" and then suddenly lifted up as if stepping on something dirty, even seemingly rubbing against the sky a couple of times on the nearby mountaintop, Leon couldn't help but turn to look at the black-robed Fu, asking in astonishment:
"It dislikes me? I'm disliked by the sky?"

"A little bit."

Before Frederica could answer, a series of lights and shadows shifted on the grass of the replica holy site, and a group of flickering figures appeared.

After slightly "sculpting" it to resemble the figures of Leon and the other two, a figure with somewhat strange facial features, barely resembling a human, smiled and spoke:

"But she is 'the sky,' and the sky is always arrogant, so she looks down on all of us equally, not just you... Chosen Saintess, welcome to be one of us."

"..."

After a long silence, looking at the man who ignored the black-robed and white-robed Fu and instead extended his hand towards him... or rather, something about a man, Leon couldn't help but point to himself, his eyes full of question marks as he asked:
"Are you... talking to me?"

"???"

Faced with Leon's question, both eyes turned outwards, pausing briefly at each of the different men before asking with a puzzled expression:

"Isn't it you?"

How could this be me? I'm clearly a man, are you blind... Oh, I see.

After scrutinizing the "man's" features, Leon, speechless, offered a reminder:

“Your eyes are looking in the wrong direction… Your left eye is looking at the black lotus on the left, and your right eye is looking at the white lotus on the right, and then you’re reaching out your hand towards me who’s standing opposite you… Follow my finger and look here… Yes, right here, this is me!”

"Oh, sorry."

Two eyes followed Leon's finger slowly, and finally their gazes met. The man, whose eyes had gone from splayed outwards to crossed outwards, nodded in realization, then politely apologized and explained:

"I wasn't originally what you see now. I only created a body similar to yours to make communication easier and because I was worried you wouldn't be used to it. I'm still getting used to it."

So, Miss Saint, what is the future of humanity? The ritual sent back three individuals; has your future mode of survival changed from individual existence to existence in multiple forms?

"..."

What is all this nonsense... Is it so hard to understand that there are three of us? And your eyes... I finally managed to fix your eyes so they're cross-eyed, and now you're looking at the sky with one eye and the ground with the other?

"Let me tell you."

After Lyon gave up on his incomprehensible communication, the woman in black robes took over the conversation again. Looking at the group of rather abstract-looking "people" before her, she spoke with a complex expression:

“I was the one who was chosen. The name you gave me is ‘Fu’. Last time, I finally accepted the mission and completed the ritual, but the ultimate mission is impossible. Not all of me can succeed, and the process is just too cruel.”

I... I was probably the first to finish, but... time... stopped... was destroyed... so in the end I found the external force that 'Fate' spoke of, and I want to go with him to see 'Fate' one last time. Where is 'Fate' now?"

"I see."

As Frederica recounted the story, after finally adjusting his eyeballs by comparing them to Leon's "eye-tracking mode," the man nodded slightly in realization and said:
“I think I understand. You’ve actually been here once before, and after trying the ultimate mission in the future, you found yourself unable to bear the consequences due to… well… guilt, so you chose to give up and wanted to try the ‘fate’ method again, is that right?”

"right……"

Hearing this, the woman in black robes nodded, then bit her lip and whispered:
"I'm sorry, I've let you down, but I really... I really..."

"It's ok."

After smiling at the woman in black robes, the man shook his head gently and said:

"Failure is normal. The ultimate mission was just the one with the highest success rate among countless conjectures. Since you can't do it, we can try another one."

As for 'Destiny', she is researching the technology to be reborn as a race in the Good Time... Oh, 'Good Time Race' is what we call a race that can survive time without their consciousness being torn apart. 'Destiny' is researching the technology to be reborn as a race in the Good Time, in an effort to help everyone preserve their will from the cataclysmic events.

Since you've come back once, you should know that 'fate's' whereabouts are unpredictable, and no one knows where she is. So if you want to see her, you might have to wait a little while.

Should we wait a bit?

Upon hearing this, Lyon frowned.

Although theoretically, no matter how long you wait, only a moment will have passed when you return to the future after the ritual ends, it's always best to go back as soon as possible if you can.

"Excuse me, could you please ask?"

After glancing into the man's eyes to make sure he had truly seen him, Leon asked:

"How long is 'wait a while'? It won't be long, will it?"

"Will not."

The man shook his head upon hearing this, then smiled and comforted him:
"Don't worry, fate is unpredictable, so she will be out soon. As for how long it will take... based on your understanding of time, it should be around 20,000 to 30,000 years."

Oh, only two or three... Ah? How much?
Σ(дlll)？！！！！
(End of this chapter)