Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

Alice wasn't afraid of those things, but she felt she should try something new. She went over, dumped the whole plate of what could possibly be food into the trash can, and then tossed the trash can out of her sight.

Very well, it's good to have self-awareness—although she wasn't aware that as she threw away the food, Shenqi secretly breathed a sigh of relief. But at least she realized that humans shouldn't eat such nonsensical things.

Alice sighed heavily.

"There are more and more things I can't figure out, and there are also quite a few things that I know I can't figure out but still need to think about. These things can be studied later, but until then... it's basically certain that it's irrational to have a conflict with the White Sect."

"Perhaps we should leave here now."

......................................................

Zhao Yingkong stood on the outskirts of the town, silently watching the two figures disappear into the distance. Her fingers trembled slightly, but ultimately she couldn't do anything.

That's good.

He hadn't interfered with the overall plot, didn't need to fight Alice, and didn't need to cause any unnecessary trouble later. Standing there in the cold wind for a few minutes didn't mean anything. After all, whether he easily defeated Alice or Alice was beaten up by him, neither of them were actually anything that would be good for his mental and physical health.

She touched her ear, and a communication connection spanning a vast expanse of airspace was immediately established.

"Chu Xuan, I'm currently outside the marked city. Alice and that unknown powerful creature have already left. So, should I continue to follow them?"

"Continue following them. Our goal is to ensure Alice doesn't find Julia and Lillianu too quickly. Everything else is secondary." Chu Xuan's voice remained as calm as ever. "But be careful not to get too close. Maintain a distance of at least 100 kilometers. You should be able to manage that."

“Understood.” Zhao Yingkong nodded, glancing at the several White Sect warriors sent by Chu Xuan to accompany her. Each of them possessed considerable strength and experience. Although their combat prowess certainly couldn't match hers, they might be of some use outside of battle—just now, she had taken these guards to the town of Qingquan, where she had clearly sensed Alice's presence. However, just as she was about to make a move, Chu Xuan forcibly stopped her.

She did not fight Alice. She simply moved straight to the outskirts of town. As she stepped out of the town gates, a hallucination arose in her mind of fighting and defeating Alice. However, it was just a hallucination, vanishing without a trace in an instant.

Transformation, Chapter Twenty-Two: The Schemers

Extraordinary life forms that have reached the fourth stage of the genetic lock are simply incapable of experiencing hallucinations.

Since hallucinations have occurred, it means that an accident has taken place.

After sensing that Alice and the others had moved away, she stayed in place for a leisurely count of thirty seconds before opening her communication link with Chu Xuan.

"Chu Xuan, I just saw the scene of me defeating Alice. The events unfolded as follows: after leaving the town, I sensed an anomaly in the airflow and returned, then I fought her and defeated her. I think some details contain certain information, and perhaps you can decipher some key points from them."

She lightly pressed her forehead, quickly organizing and extracting the hallucinations from her memory, sharpening and clarifying their content by eliminating as much mental fabrication as possible. She then transmitted them to Chu Xuan's location via mental communication.

"Did you find anything?" Zhao Yingkong asked.

....................................

Inside the Pope's Hall in Irithyll of the Valley, Chu Xuan gave his answer after thinking for nearly ten seconds.

“Next time, if you encounter this situation again, just answer me directly. You don’t need to wait there for thirty seconds.” He adjusted his glasses and answered calmly, “The message you conveyed to me was indeed valuable; it confirmed some of my conjectures. However, our course of action does not need to be changed. You continue to follow them. I will send you a questionnaire later. Remember the items on it and be prepared to ask Alice about them the next time you encounter her.”

There was silence for a few seconds on the other end of the communication line.

Are you saying this is part of the game theory process, and similar things will happen again?

Did I really fight Alice? But I didn't sense any loss of energy within my body.

“Future projections, editing of the parallel world tree, or the entire world's time being reversed by a few minutes—it's nothing more than these three possibilities. And none of them are things you can handle. So don't worry about them, because this is not something you can interfere with.” Chu Xuan didn't answer her directly. His gaze shifted, focusing on something that had suddenly appeared outside the hall. After making a few complex gestures, the thing disappeared quietly, just as it had when Zhao Yingkong was there.

"Based on my assessment, this intelligence-gathering channel was intentionally left behind by the other side, perhaps as proof that they acknowledge we are qualified to compete with them. However, how much resources we can obtain from it still depends on ourselves. Therefore, you don't need to hide anything in your subsequent actions—there's no need to hide anything we do in this world. The other side doesn't even consider us enemies; any extra thoughts are just asking for trouble."

[I understand... It's truly awful to be manipulated like this. Chu Xuan, you wouldn't just sit here and suffer until the end of this world, would you?]

"I will only seek to maximize the benefits for the team; other matters are not my consideration," Chu Xuan replied calmly, his tone completely unwavering.

That really surprises me, Chu Xuan. I thought you'd be even more arrogant than I expected.

“If it’s necessary to do that, I will,” Chu Xuan replied. “But setting up enemies arbitrarily is not a rational choice, especially when our interests are not actually being violated.”

"...Understood. Then I will continue to follow them. According to you, I only need to prepare for battle, and there won't actually be any fighting, right?"

"Yes, you won't experience real combat until your opponent can defeat you. And when you finally fight Alice, that will be the end of this world, the time when we return to the base."

【…】

Zhao Yingkong cut off the communication.

Chu Xuan turned his gaze to a spatial rift that had suddenly appeared beside him. Countless eyes appeared within the rift, and then an elegant female figure abruptly materialized.

“I can’t pretend I didn’t hear what you just said.” The woman held a folding fan, the tip of which pressed against her right eyelid. Her eyes were pale gold, like an ancient serpent, and her pursed lips seemed about to flick out a snake’s tongue. “Only seeking to maximize the team’s interests? The interests haven’t actually been violated? Can I assume you have no intention of honoring our alliance? Saliwan, Chu, or rather, Lord Chu Xuan?”

"Testing me is pointless, Yakumo Yukari." Chu Xuan glanced at her indifferently. "We are indeed in a cooperative relationship, and your interests have not been violated. The disruption of your plan can only be attributed to your lack of sufficient contingency plans, and your most important goal right now is not to deal with the person who interfered with your plan. With your intelligence and experience, this conclusion is not difficult to reach, so there is no need to test my determination to cooperate with you."

His gaze was like a cold scalpel, his eyes devoid of any superfluous worldly emotion: "I don't think you would appear before me without a reason just to say such a pointless sentence. If I am unfortunately right, then perhaps I really should reconsider my business partner."

“What a man who can’t take a joke. Alice and Patchouli must have a tough time being your teammates.” Yukari opened her folding fan, obscuring most of her face below her eyes. “I have some interesting news. There’s been a new development with Patchouli, whom you asked me to keep an eye on—she made her meeting with Fujiwara no Mokou and Kaguya Houraisan quite…grand. Now, her Septian Magic Cannon has blasted a hole right through the High Walls of Lothric, triggering a massive earthquake. Almost no building in the entire fortress is more than three meters tall. And the surviving Lothric warriors unfortunately got to see their faces.”

Zi shrugged.

"Within an hour at most, Marisa and the other three will be on Lothric's wanted list. It will be a massive manhunt. The uproar it causes will likely make all the monsters and scoundrels in the entire Kingdom of Lothric hide out before the storm passes. Especially that infamous Black Church of the Wandering Souls, even they probably won't be able to find their leaders for a while."

“Very good.” Chu Xuan nodded. “Patchouli won’t regain her sense of self for the time being, so until then, have your people keep the situation under control and prevent it from getting out of control. You should have already awakened the Komeiji sisters who have overridden the twin princes of Lothric, and I believe they should be able to handle this situation. But still, be careful not to make it too obvious. Just control Patchouli’s group’s movements and make sure they meet ‘accidentally’ before Alice finds either Julia or Liliane.”

Zi raised her golden eyebrows slightly, and a subtle smile seemed to appear on her face beneath the folding fan.

“I suspect that would cause Mars to collide with Earth, but since you are still on our side, your orders will be carried out without fail.” Zi Weiwei nodded, and about a third of the thousands of eyes in the spatial rift behind her closed at her will. She continued, “Besides that, we have basically found out the whereabouts of the other members of your team that you asked me to investigate.”

"The man called Overlord was sealed in the Carthusian Cemetery and became the true 'Overlord.' The two archers are now in Anor Londo, serving as the captain and vice-captain of the Silver Knights' archer guard stationed at the temple. The lady named Janran is now one of the saints of the White Church, and is currently working with the guardian knight who was covered up by one of the children in your group—to be honest, I find it quite comical that the child is carrying such a big hammer."

“I haven’t found the rest of your team yet. The area where the powerful figure named Zheng Zha is located is also difficult to discern. I suspect they are not even on the surface of this world. Perhaps I should go to the Painting City or the Ring City and then conduct a more detailed exploration.”

“We don’t need to go to those two places.” Chu Xuan waved his hand. “Zhao Yingkong’s main body will handle the affairs of Huancheng, and there should be no variables in the painting. If there are, then that variable has definitely left the painting.”

Transformation, Section 23, Middle Game

“Gail?”

"To be precise, it's the slave knight, Gale. In Dark Souls III, he's a crucial character connecting the two expansions, and also the final and strongest enemy the protagonist faces." Chu Xuan adjusted his glasses and corrected, "I'm now basically certain that as long as we follow Shinki's rules, she won't make a direct move. But not making a direct move doesn't mean she won't cause us trouble according to her own rules. And Gale is probably the most likely target."

Zi suddenly closed the folding fan that obscured her face, and at the same time, all the eyes in the rift behind her closed. She closed her eyes, and opened them again a few seconds later.

“I just checked through my channels, and there is no record of ‘Slave Knight Gale’ in this world. There has never been a famous knight named Gale in the past, nor has there ever been a famous old warrior who habitually wore a red turban. I even checked all the people who left records and had the identity of ‘Slave Knight’. But I couldn’t find anyone who even remotely fits the bill.”

“This is not normal.” Zi looked at Chu Xuan, waiting for his explanation.

She didn't wait even a second longer.

“That’s normal,” Chu Xuan raised his hand and made a few gestures towards the side and rear of the Papal Hall. Several quietly appearing auras then quickly disappeared into the distance—“This means that ‘Shenqi’ can freely adjust the character design of this ‘Slave Knight Gale’ according to her own will. It’s an increase in difficulty. ‘Shenqi’ is currently an artist, so she will probably draw a ‘Gale’ directly. And if my prediction is correct, we shouldn’t have much time left.”

"……reason?"

"Because some people who can't even be considered human yet have made too many underhanded moves." Chu Xuan glanced at Zi coldly, his indifferent gaze causing Zi's eyebrows to twitch slightly.

"Slandering others with empty words is not a good habit."

"If this is slander, then the changes in these four important regions—Astera, Piheim, Twilight, and the East—may also have nothing to do with you." Chu Xuan's gaze returned to calm, his expressionless face still devoid of any extra emotion. "Suwako Moriya is the Queen of Astra, Byakuren Seiha is the Headmistress of Piheim, Yuyuko Saigyouji is the High Priestess of Twilight, and Eirin Yagokoro is the Shogun of the East—just because you didn't tell me these things doesn't mean I don't know them."

“You secretly awakened them, and my silence doesn’t mean I don’t know.”

"They, along with the Komeiji sisters of Lothric, have joined forces through you to forcibly push forward the world-destroying project and trigger the Season of the Fire—just because I don't say it doesn't mean I don't know."

He tilted his head slightly, looking at the pale-faced woman. "As for Kazami Yuuka, Ibaraki Kasen, and Modoro—they've gone, or are planning to go, to do something. You may not say, and I may not say, but that doesn't mean I don't know. And since even I know, what do you think is the possibility that 'Kamiki' is completely unaware of this?"

"Ms. Yukari Yakumo. I have no intention of interfering with your behavior. It is your freedom to take your own destiny into your own hands, and I respect that and will not interfere with your choices. Patchouli is not a bad partner, and I don't want to have too strained relations with her and Alice in the future. But that doesn't mean I will choose to remain a bystander if there is a possibility of loss to the team's interests."

"...Aren't you planning to do the same thing?"

"There are some things we can do that you can't. Moreover, I have already abolished the plan to reopen the season of linking the fire. The only rule that needs to be followed in this world now is the rule of 'Kamiki'. I have roughly guessed her purpose, and there is no need to reopen the season of linking the fire. If you forcibly push for the change of the era and cause this world to enter destruction ahead of time, the final result will inevitably make you regret it immensely."

"...Will I inevitably regret it...?"

Yukari Yakumo fell silent. The next moment, the spatial rift behind her suddenly expanded. The spatial fault filled with endless eyes and dark space was like a gaping maw of a ferocious beast, swallowing her and Chu Xuan's figures together!

Space twisted into a sphere. The gap that had been manipulating spacetime was forcibly halted by a triggered magic circle before it could close. The entire spatial region was firmly anchored by an unknown force, and several extremely intense flames suddenly appeared in the Pope's hall, ready to attack the rapidly fading sphere that enveloped the two figures!

Those were the Pope's knights, the power carried by the identity of 'Pope Sallyvan'. Each of them possessed experience and power approaching that of a high-level third-tier member of the Gene Lock. Their pouncing forms were abruptly halted by Chu Xuan's raised hand.

Chu Xuan quietly looked at Yakumo Yukari.

"Knowing too much is not a good thing. Especially for you."

“Your advice is very reasonable, but I also have things I have to bear.” Zi lifted the hem of her skirt and bowed deeply to Chu Xuan. She used honorifics in her speech, which was extremely rare for her, and her unwavering determination was clearly presented to Chu Xuan.

"Please...you must tell me."

She stared intently at Chu Xuan.

"Have we... perhaps we haven't even completed our traversal of the void? Has this world... our world, and the entire Gensokyo... perhaps we haven't even merged with the world of Dark Souls yet?"

....................................

“There are quite a few smart people in this small place.” Shen Qi clicked her tongue, thought for a moment, picked up her pen, and added a few more strokes to an unfinished portrait. “They just always like to be self-righteous.”

She sat inside a carriage, Fran still fast asleep on the carpet at her feet. Alice was driving the carriage. The carriage was very soundproof, and she wasn't worried that Alice would hear what she was saying.

But actually, it doesn't really matter if she hears it. After all, memories are just a piece of paper; even if you write on it with ink, there are advanced methods to erase them completely. Although it probably wouldn't be a pleasant experience for Alice, so what? It's ultimately for her own good. Whether she's willing to accept it is one thing, but whether she can refuse is obvious.

Children can't understand their parents' hearts—and Shinki didn't intend for Alice to understand now. She knew very well that Alice would eventually understand the whole story, and when that time came, all the hatred (if it really came to that) would turn into gratitude (or at least understanding and acceptance).

But before that...

"You need to become stronger, Alice. Having bonds is a good thing, but if a bond becomes an obstacle, then severing it is imperative."

"Perhaps you will hate me."

"But I will forgive you."

"Just as I would forgive another version of you."

She finished the painting in her hand.

..............................

2/8

Transformation - Chapter Twenty-Four - Precious Items

Compared to her previous casual sketches of passageways, doors, towns, and the future, Shinki spent a bit more effort and time on this painting. She painted it meticulously, with every detail rendered with remarkable realism.

It was a portrait of a woman who looked to be about the same age as Alice. She had deep red eyes and long, knee-length white hair that cascaded down her back. The girl in the painting, as depicted by Shinki, had a pair of pure white wings that spread outwards, as if they were about to take flight.

To be about to soar means to fail to soar.

“I think I’ve seen this person before.” Alice entered the carriage from outside. Her gaze remained fixed on the woman in the painting as soon as she entered. After finishing Shinki’s painting, she suddenly had the urge to enter the carriage. Before entering, she had confirmed that the road ahead was straight, so she urged the dwarf horses slightly, letting them move forward on their own at a leisurely pace.

Beyond the carriage stretched a plain. The vast plain was dotted only with sparse trees. These trees, presumably, would not obstruct the carriage's path.