I loaded the dream game

But if we adjust the criteria and expand the scope, if we must say there are some strange things... the time in the bathroom? The time of body swapping? Or even earlier, when he bullied her for being short during training?

Xia Zhi thought to himself.

But it happened so long ago, even if you are angry, you should have been angry a long time ago, right? Or is there a delay in this thing?

If not...have you done anything strange recently?

Xia Zhi thought about it carefully and felt that he had been behaving himself recently. Even if he had done something, the girl should not have discovered it.

If I really have to say something, it’s probably only the contract I gave to Yang No.

"It can't be 'one, two, three', right?" Xia Zhi thought.

Because Yang Noi mentioned at that time that if possible, she would like to have some self-protection ability. Xia Zhi thought about it seriously and felt that it seemed necessary. So among the countless power systems he knew, he found a power system that met Yang Noi's requirements in all aspects except age.

But for some reason, Yang Noi did not sign the contract in the end, which made Xia Zhi feel a little disappointed at the time... He actually wanted to see a real version of the magical girl.

Although there are cute girls like Shubi who can use magic around him, the feeling is different... Can a magical girl who can't transform be considered a real magical girl?

Well... let's not talk about this for now. Xia Zhi felt that it was unlikely that the girl would be angry about such a thing.

After all, if we talk about the contract, didn’t I give it to Eluke either?

"..."

Xia Zhi lowered his head and looked at the Star God Girl who was concentrating on dealing with yogurt in his arms, and fell silent.

Oh, it seems that I have already signed a contract with Ailu Ke, so it’s okay.

After thinking for a while, Xia Zhi called out her name to the girl not far away:

"Shana."

"……What's up?"

The girl, whose training was interrupted, glared at him in dissatisfaction, but still responded out loud, but her tone was a little colder.

Xia Zhi didn't care and asked her curiously, "Have you ever thought about your future?"

"……Eh?"

Hearing his question, Shana was slightly stunned, showing a puzzled expression and asked: "Why do you ask this suddenly?"

"I just want to know what your plans for the future are," Xia Zhi replied.

However, his words had another meaning to the girl.

...Summer Solstice, want to know my vision for the future

But, that kind of thing...

Shana pursed her lips slightly.

She had never thought about her future in the past.

Fulfilling my mission as a Fire Mist Warrior and destroying the "Crimson World Apostles" who are harming this world should be my all.

If it were in the past, she would have answered like this without hesitation.

But now, she was a little hesitant.

This certainly didn't mean that she was going to give up her duties as a Fire Mist Warrior, but she suddenly realized that she had something else she wanted...

She had never thought about the past and the future, thinking it was unnecessary. But she didn't know when she started to have her own vision for the future...

And in that future...

"Shana?"

The voice in her ear woke the girl from her thoughts. She came back to her senses and met Xia Zhi's puzzled gaze. She pursed her lips, turned her head away and replied in a muffled voice:

"do not know!"

"I don't know?" Xia Zhi was slightly stunned, and asked doubtfully: "How could I not know about this kind of thing?"

"I don't know, I don't know!"

"You mean, you haven't thought about this?"

"Stop making so much noise! ​​What does my future have to do with you?" Shana glared at him and said irritably.

Having said that...

Xia Zhi thought about it, then said: "Forget it then..."

Originally, he was thinking that if he wanted to make the girl stronger, this seemed to be a good way.

After all, in Xia Zhi's eyes, the magical girl system in Madoka's world can actually be regarded as a better power system than the Fire Mist Warriors. It takes shape quickly, has strong compatibility, and a high upper limit. The setting of the Soul Gem also gives the subject excellent survivability. Except for the small drawback of being able to transform into a witch, it can be said that it is excellent in all aspects.

Such a shortcoming can be reversed by adding a setting similar to the doppel system to purify the accumulated despair in the soul gem, and the "witchification" which originally symbolizes the end of the death of the magical girl can be transformed into a means similar to some kind of ultimate move. To a certain extent, it is still quite useful.

As for whether this would attract the attention of a certain god... well, that is a matter for the future.

However, having said that...

Xia Zhi then thought about it carefully. Taking into account the ambiguous description of "without adding additional settings" in the task requirements of the dream game, no one could say for sure whether signing a contract with additional settings counts as adding additional settings. In addition, the girl herself seemed to have no interest in a future other than the Fire Mist Warrior, so after thinking about it, he decided to forget it.

3.2 “What a pity.”

Xia Zhi thought with some regret.

Why is this contract so difficult to send out?

Then, Xia Zhi suddenly had an idea, and a flash of inspiration came to his mind -

…Or, should I sign it myself?

On the other side, looking at the boy who was lost in thought, Shana felt a little irritated at the moment.

This irritability was not directed at Xia Zhi, but... at herself.

"forget it……"

The boy's words resurfaced in her mind, making her feel annoyed.

She pursed her lips slightly, thinking back to what she had just said, and couldn't help biting her lower lip.

What on earth am I doing? .

Chapter 317: Unexpected Seal

Regarding the main task one, it seems that there is only one content, but in fact, if you analyze it carefully, you can break it down into three different requirements.

——Completely resolve the crisis that the Red World Apostles may cause the world to distort and lose balance.

——Bring a new order to the world.

And - free the Fire Mist Warrior from his destined fate.

Only when these three requirements are met at the same time can this main task be truly completed.

It seems simple, but Xia Zhi only discovered later that there is actually a small trap hidden in it.

The key lies in the word "thoroughly" in the first requirement.

In the original work, the solution proposed to solve this problem is "the state of nothingness".

In order to comply with the wishes of his compatriots who "need the power of existence", and also to reconcile the contradiction of "worrying that the wanton consumption of the power of existence will lead to the collapse of both worlds", the God of Creation "Sacrificial Snake" plans to create a new world full of the power of existence between the two worlds, a copy of the present world, and its name is "The Realm of Nothingness".

Since that world is full of the power of existence, even without devouring humans, the "Apostles" can obtain enough power of existence to maintain their own existence. In addition, due to its special position in the gap between the two worlds, it serves as a buffer zone to prevent the "Apostles" from going directly from the Red World to the present world. If it can be supervised to a certain extent, it can indeed solve the crisis of the collapse of the balance between the two worlds to a certain extent.

But, only to a certain extent.

To put it bluntly, the so-called distortion was not caused by the fact that "humans were eaten" itself, but because the "Apostles" changed the original material form into an unstable force of existence.

In other words, the distortion of the world is determined by the nature of the power of existence itself. Unless the structure of the entire world is changed, the status of "the power of existence" as the basic force that constitutes this world is modified, or all "apostles"... no, all life is prohibited from using the power of existence in the future, this problem will not be fundamentally solved.

From this perspective, to some extent, the "state of nothingness" that can use the power of existence infinitely has become a time bomb.

No one would cherish a fruit that can regenerate. Whether it is indulging the excessive desires that have been suppressed until now, or destroying the world out of curiosity, or wantonly trying to change the structure of the world... It is not surprising that the "Apostles" who have unlocked their inner shackles will do anything. And as the power of existence is abused endlessly, subtle distortions will continue to accumulate until one day they will completely explode.

The "state of nothingness" did not solve the problem, it just postponed it temporarily... This fact has nothing to do with whether humans are eaten or not.

If the crisis of the collapse of the world's balance is not completely resolved, there will be no way to complete the main task.

In fact, whether it is this main quest or the following main quests, they are all hinting at the existence of the "Nothingness Realm" path to Xia Zhi, either explicitly or implicitly.

If Xia Zhi had not realized this and still chosen the path of winning without doing anything, he might not realize until the very end that he had been tricked by the dream game.

Fortunately, Xia Zhi never thought of using the power of "Wuheyoujing" to complete this task from the beginning. He already had his own ideas, so there is no need to worry too much.

As for the last two points...

There is no need to worry about the fate of the Fire Mist Warriors. If the crisis of the collapse of the world's balance is resolved, the Fire Mist Warriors will naturally be freed from the fate of having to constantly defeat the rebellious "Apostles" until they will one day die in battle.

The problem lies mainly in the second point... bringing a new order to the world.

What is the new order? Are they rules made by humans? Or are they similar to what he did in the second copy world, directly embedding new rules into the world? Which world is the so-called world? Is it the present world? Or the red world? Or should it include both?

Such an ambiguous description gave Xia Zhi a headache.

So, he turned his gaze to the black-haired girl who was walking in front of him not far away.

Looking at the girl's long black hair swaying gently with her steps, Xia Zhi thought for a moment and tried calling her name.

"Shana."

"……What's wrong?"

In front of me, there was a muffled response from the girl without even turning her head.

Fortunately, if she still responded, it should mean that she was not that angry.

Xia Zhi thought about it and asked again: "If you were asked to choose... no Red World Apostles or no Fire Mist Warriors, which one do you think is better?"

“…What kind of question is that?”

Shana paused slightly, turned around, frowned and looked at the boy in confusion.

Is he seeking his own happiness?

"What's the answer?"

"Of course it's the former." Shana answered without hesitation.

In other words, no one would choose any other answer except the "apostles" themselves, right?

"Oh... I understand." Xia Zhi nodded thoughtfully.

What do you know?

Before Shana could ask the question in her mind, she suddenly smelled a familiar fragrance.

Then, with her keen sense of smell, she quickly sensed the source of the fragrance.

This is……

"The pineapple bun is walking!?" Her eyes lit up immediately.

Summer Solstice: “?”

What is that? A pineapple bun monster?

While he was complaining in his heart, Shana had already left him standing there, trotting through the crowd and standing in front of a van.

It seemed to be a mobile pineapple bun shop converted from the back of a car.

"I see……"

Looking at the girl standing in front of the van and buying pineapple buns from the stall owner, Xia Zhi had this idea in his mind:

——Can I use a similar principle to make a low-cost "Shana trap"?

"what are you thinking about?"

Shana, who came back with a big bag full of pineapple buns, looked at him with a distracted look and asked in confusion.

"Thinking about human trafficking..." Xia Zhi replied subconsciously.

"What?" Shana was slightly stunned.

"Well, I mean... you really like pineapple buns." Xia Zhi came back to his senses and coughed lightly, his eyes falling on the girl in front of him.