Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

"More than four thousand times..." Xiao Honglu murmured, savoring the words before chuckling to himself. In that silent smile, it was as if some invisible shackle had been removed from him. His entire demeanor subtly shifted in that instant, and then he let out a long sigh.

"I used to think that only guys like Captain would stubbornly persist even after hitting a wall. I never imagined that I was actually such a fool... Over four thousand times, I really used to love getting stuck on things. But the past is the past, and now... I won't keep hitting walls."

"Give up?" Alice tilted her head slightly, a complex mix of emotions swirling within her. A wavering belief could be fatal to a living being's path to transcendence. Had she been too focused on others, neglecting the thoughts of this boy who had entered the cycle of reincarnation at the tender age of twelve?

“I’ve just grown up,” Xiao Honglu replied with a smile. “So what do you need me to do next? According to you, Sister Flora, the Saint Hunting Ritual is nearing its end. After that, it should be the final battle, right… Are you planning to travel to various worlds to awaken our companions one by one?”

“That’s what I intend to do.” The girl sighed inwardly. Besides sighing, all she could do was gaze at the distant, clear sky. It was as if a morning star had fallen from the heavens, but she was powerless to stop it. “The early end of the ritual was an unexpected event, but that doesn’t mean we have no other means to make up for the losses. Before engaging the demon team head-on, we need to eliminate the other reincarnation teams—”

"While the Sacred Hunting Ritual cannot directly generate large-scale interference due to the Demon Team, I have already identified a suitable stage. There, we will be able to eliminate the Indian Continent, Forest Continent, and Celestial Continent teams. But before that, we need to gather enough combat power."

“Two people have already left on their own, and Felicia Corley has awakened. She can directly reach the fourth level without our support, and you are the second person I am looking for. After you, I have about two more stops to go, maybe three depending on the situation.”

“I understand, the clearing before the final battle.” Xiao Honglu looked like he completely understood. “Then, take me with you. Sister Ke Li can unlock the fourth stage on her own, but she still wants to stay. So she’s probably different from me. She might have some… rather special feelings for this world that has cycled through so many times. If I stay here, it might be difficult for her to make some special arrangements.”

“There’s no need to do that.” Alice hesitated for a moment, but still said, “If you take this fruit, you might have a chance to catch up with us. This was something that was already planned to be done, and you don’t need to change it because of some trivial idea.”

Her words came to an abrupt end with Xiao Honglu raising two fingers.

The next moment, the entire city where the two were located collapsed and folded at a speed visible to the naked eye. Living things turned into dead things, and dead things turned into clouds and smoke. The clouds and smoke gathered in the center of Xiao Honglu's raised finger and finally condensed into a complete shape.

It was a card, an exquisitely drawn card with a black vortex on the back and a bustling city reflected on the front. The city was teeming with people and cars. Cheers and music filled the air, celebrating the winner of the Gwent tournament—the tavern where the two were located instantly turned into ruins made of piled-up stones, and the wilderness of stones and black soil stretched to the horizon of Alice's sight!

Before the cards were assembled, she hadn't sensed anything unusual! Without a doubt, this was a new spell technique, neither information magic nor a regular enhancement provided by the main god to the Three-Eyed Race. And this technique was currently only in the hands of Xiao Honglu!

This is his path, the foundation of his path, though the details of his chosen path are not yet known. But there is no doubt that he has already embarked on his own path!

"You..." Alice managed to squeeze out a single word, the rest stuck in her throat—her companions weren't useless trash without her help and support. They had their own talents, their own opportunities, and now that this long period of free development was in their hands, they were naturally able to shine in their own way!

Xiao Honglu is right; he no longer needs to keep hitting the wall. Because he has already broken through it.

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

Not long after, Alice left the branch of the wizarding world that contained her story. Xiao Honglu didn't go with her, because he was capable of going on his own—after Alice left, he casually found a fragmented world on the edge of the map and continued playing Gwent. While playing cards, he used the world as his vessel and sailed towards a distant place.

He can do it because he no longer needs the assistance of wise men to walk the path of the extraordinary on his own. Although the time is not yet ripe, and he has not yet taken that crucial step, for someone like him, a fragmented world that has not been deliberately restricted by higher-level extraordinary beings cannot possibly confine him.

He distanced himself from the wizarding worldview, his target being the eighth branch of phenomena that once belonged to Alice. Alice had some matters there that required his attention, and he readily accepted the task.

Clearly, he wouldn't be long before he reached his destination. But before that, Alice would definitely be one step ahead of him heading to another objective. That was the Assassin's Creed universe where Zhang Jie, Zero, and Overlord resided. Compared to the worlds of the others, this fragmented world derived from video games was obviously of a lower level.

When Alice traveled to this world, she didn't have high expectations for Zhan Lan and Xiao Honglu's outstanding performance. And as it turned out, her judgment was correct. Three relatively powerful but not particularly intelligent individuals in a low-energy world were unlikely to create anything too spectacular, and the result was exactly as she had predicted.

Zhang Jie was one thing, but he was already nearing the limit of the third tier, practically at the fourth tier. Throwing him over was more about hoping he could take good care of the remaining two idiots than anticipating his inevitable advancement. However, it turns out that Zhang... doesn't seem to be very good at being a babysitter.

Chapter 52 I take back what I said before

I didn't expect that.

Alice truly hadn't expected this. As teammates, as comrades who had shared life and death, fighting side-by-side against endless enemies, she had assumed that her teammates already had enough chemistry to work together seamlessly, and even if they couldn't always cooperate, they wouldn't at least hold each other back. However, she completely couldn't have guessed that Zhang Jie, Zero, and Overlord—those three idiots—would actually pull off something like this!

What happened? Something absurd!

That is, the three of them, in the countless loops of the Assassin's Creed universe, never once recognized each other's disguised identities! In each loop, they treated their companion as an enemy outsider, and they didn't see the truth until the very end of the script!

Unimaginable, incomprehensible! The specific developments are still unknown, but Alice could read this outcome from the information on the surface of the world when she descended. Knowing this ending, and knowing that this ending had happened countless times before, her only thought was to raise her hands, cover her face, and then sigh to the heavens.

"...My God."

She landed in the ruins of a postmodern city, and looking at this post-apocalyptic wasteland, all that remained in her heart was a sigh.

What is the world-building of Assassin's Creed? The original world setting is actually quite simple, aside from the Assyrian aliens who serve as background. The entire world-building essentially involves incorporating the Assassins and Templars into a pre-existing Earth history without any magical canon. The Assassins' creed aims to create a free world where everyone is like a dragon, while the Templars' code seeks to establish an ordered world where rules and laws define everything. These two ideologies lead countless heroes and philosophers to clash on the land, ultimately forming a dynamic balance between order and freedom.

It's ordinary, very simple. At its core, it's nothing more than a familiar entanglement of order and chaos. When this world is presented as a game, players will side with the Assassins when the Templars are powerful, and with the Assassins when the Templars are powerful, they will be assigned to the Templars. Neither side can truly achieve victory, and the war will continue indefinitely.

It's a simple story, so why has it turned out this way? Alice sighed, reading the history of this world decades before her arrival. Then she clearly saw intercontinental cruise missiles carrying nuclear warheads streaking across the sky, weaving a flawless web of war across the vast Earth. And when she turned the timeline back a little further, she saw the image of the Russian Grand Commander, the leader of the Assassin Brotherhood, and the President of the United States, the Grand Master of the Templars, simultaneously pressing the nuclear button.

This fact gave her a terrible headache. But what gave her even more of a headache was that the souls of those three idiots were floating around in the sky—yes, that's right. Those three had died long ago for various reasons, and this post-apocalyptic wasteland was a lingering effect of their deaths!

Alice felt a slight urge to punch someone, but she couldn't immediately decide which idiot to pick on and give them a good beating. She simply couldn't understand how these three could fail to see through their opponent's true identity after exchanging blows—couldn't they talk to each other? Couldn't they recognize those familiar moves and fighting styles? Even Zheng Zha wouldn't be that stupid; how could these three, who weren't exactly dumb combined, have fallen to such a state?

"I'll tolerate you for one more minute."

Alice whispered, struggling to control her inner turmoil as she sifted through the history of this world. She quickly retrieved information from the surface of the world concerning the three individuals 'Zhang Jie,' 'Zero Point,' and 'Kampavsky,' then reassembled and combined them. Ultimately, she wove a relatively complete event tree.

Then she felt she should give those three idiots a good beating.

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

The girl is interfering...

After a period of time...

“So…” Alice finished the soul-summoning and flesh-reconstruction ritual in her hands.

“You, Zhang Jie, have been reincarnated as the Grand Master of the Templar Knights.” Alice pointed to a ghost she had summoned with magic, whose expression was extremely awkward.

"You, Overlord. Reincarnated as the Grand Master of the Assassin's Order." She then pointed to another spirit, also summoned, looking at the true face of its former adversary. This spirit was in a very awkward position, along with its Gaia Foundation split spirit, which was born in the form of an eagle.

"You, Zero Point. You were reincarnated as Alexios, an ancient hero with demigod blood from the Assyrian aliens, before the existence of assassins and temples." She then looked at the sniper who was so embarrassed that he was practically about to burrow into the ground.

"The Grand Master of the Templars woke up wanting to industrialize, to completely replace royal and divine authority and thus transform the world...Is that so?"

“Uh, this…” Zhang Jie’s lips twitched. After seeing the true soul forms of the other two guys, he roughly knew what had happened. He wanted to say a thousand words, but in the end, only one thing came to his lips—“Yes.”

"The Grand Master of the Assassin Order, upon waking up, wanted to bring about change, to mobilize workers and peasants to overthrow the old social system and establish his own faction... That must be right."

The Overlord scratched his head, glanced at Chelsea on his shoulder who was pretending to be just a mute eagle, and finally sighed, "...That's certainly how it is."

"And a certain ancient demigod hero who gained immortality was the creator of these two organizations. In order to maintain the balance between order and chaos, he has always used his most proficient methods to eliminate uncontrollable variables in the two organizations. Unfortunately, your most proficient skill is long-range shooting. To achieve this, you even used the Assyrian black technology to create an ultra-long-range sniper rifle in ancient Greece before Christ... This is the truth behind history, isn't it?"

One of the snipers nodded silently, then tilted his head away as much as possible to avoid looking at his two comrades.

Alice clasped her hands together, and a 'snap' sound came from her palms.

"So I think you all probably know by now what you've encountered, or rather, what you've done in this world. I just want to ask you, aren't you stupid? Aren't you stupid?! Aren't you stupid?!?"

She growled in a low voice, and the group she was yelling at could only put on an awkward but polite smile.

How stupid is that?

Of course it's stupid!

With this level of intelligence exchange, the reason why the world has become what it is today naturally became clear to the group—due to the Hunting Saint Ritual, the three reincarnators sent here were all destined from the start to receive ample resources and an identity that could provide significant assistance. These three identities correspond to the three factions of this world—Order, Chaos, and the Watcher.

The wise men who compiled the Sacred Hunting Ritual also made a foolish mistake: they always placed the weakest Zero into the world first, giving him the most resources. Therefore, no matter how many times the world revolves, Zero remains the watcher secretly maintaining the balance between order and chaos. However, his personality is too stable, or rather, inflexible. Ultimately, his methods of handling affairs tend towards brutality over time.

What is brutality? A high-tech sniper rifle loaded with needle-shaped bullets, eliminating a troublesome individual with a single shot—that's brutality. And precisely because of this, whenever a master assassin or Grand Master of the Templars arrives and realizes the extent of their resources, leading to a sudden change in temperament—expansion, reform, or troublemaking—what awaits them is often a fatal shot!

I arrived, I got up, and I was instantly killed—the entire process unfolded the same way, leaving no room for communication or interaction. And in every cycle, this terrible script remained largely unchanged.

This time, Zhang Jie and Ba Wang are reincarnated as leaders of a major modern power. Both of them, without prior agreement, want to use the same tactics employed with the Cuban Missile Crisis to coerce their unsuspecting adversaries across the ocean. So, after their mysterious deaths, their deputies, who had been mentally manipulated beforehand, seize power through emergency legislation and promptly press the nuclear button! Before this, the situation was essentially the same.

Reincarnators are destined to cause trouble, and Zhang Jie and Ba Wang, both possessing near-supernatural powers, simply cannot endure for long in this world that 'appears to be just a bunch of ordinary people fighting.' Because of the arrangements of the Saint Hunting Ritual, their arrival guarantees them access to vast resources. Having acquired immense power, resources, and intelligence, their ability to remain patient and insidious is practically negligible.

This is a dead end, and a fool can't solve a dead end.

Alice had grown tired of calculating how many times this Assassin's Creed universe had looped. She only knew that the fruit of this world was nearing maturity. And while the three idiots stationed here had indeed grown somewhat, without the aid of the fruit from the ritual, Zhang Jie might be alright, but Overlord and Zero would likely struggle to stabilize in the early stages of the fourth tier.

Thus, her previously high expectations turned into disappointment. Before leaving, she also tossed the three idiots into a separate fragment world to let them calm down and await the final cycle. And when she finally departed, she no longer held any expectations for the group lingering in the comic book world.

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

Luo Ye gently breathed in the slightly fishy air unique to the world of the base point, stretched out her hand, spread her fingers, then closed them, and then spread them again. She tried to clench her fingers into a fist, but after succeeding for a moment, she gave up in despair.

—I was really…very stupid.

She strolled through the quiet streets of Yharnam. All the monsters had been utterly wiped out by her when she left, along with the celestial beings sealed within their bodies. Even if the dream were to reshape, these monsters, now truly dead, would not be resurrected.

The world of Base Point is expanding, or rather, being completed. As the fruits of the eight branches of the Tree of Events near maturity, the Saint's Dream, built upon the world of the game Bloodborne, is also being completed at the same pace. The scene tiles hidden in the Void are also silently emerging.

In Yharnam city, the Healing Church, the upper levels of the church, Hanwick Trail, Cainhurst Castle, Old Yharnam, Ahargul, the Forbidden Forest, Byrenvis… several intersecting paths unfolded before Loye's eyes. And numerous monsters, each containing powerful members of the Saint Legion, also appeared.

Luo Ye had cleared all the monsters from the first two plots, and after she finished fighting the clone Patchouli and returned to the base world, all the obstacles on the upper level of the church died at her hands.

She had become stronger. After the battle with the clone Patchouli ended and she returned to the origin world, she clearly sensed that she was stronger than before. Her control over the Light of the Mind had deepened, and she had gained some understanding of how to use spacetime. And she knew very well the reason for this change.

The invisible suppression imposed upon him by his true self was lifted. The resources he had acquired through the Hunting Saint Ritual had finally reached an overflowing level. Even the Abyss of the Heart, which he had repeatedly used to nurture the Light of the Mind, had reached a certain limit. Having already developed the simulated Light of the Mind to its fullest extent, he was forced to make a slight breakthrough beyond this limit due to the excessive accumulation.

"To reach the top of a hundred-foot pole and go even further"—that's probably what this situation is all about.

But what value does this have for her?

Looking back on her past, she realized there was nothing worth remembering. Her memories were nothing but worthless dregs, like tofu dregs. And now, perhaps even the rare treat of a cola drink that could give her a little thrill no longer held any effect.

The shadows of the ship girls in the bubble world flashed by so quickly that she thought it was an illusion.

No, it's just an illusion. Because that's what she intends to believe, that's what she thinks.

Life is filled with countless sufferings, a thousand pains, and myriad torments. And then we repay them with utterly useless strength—is this the consequence of my own choices? I could have chosen an easier, more carefree path…

So be it... This is how it is. What kind of person would I be, wallowing in self-pity after choosing this path? This ritual has reached its final stage. Soon... I should be able to obtain what I desire, that liberation without leaving a trace. Aichidra, although your achievements far surpass mine, it is indeed as you said... we are the same kind of people.

It's time to finish my last bit of work...

She glanced at the base world segments that were gradually manifesting as the fruits ripened. She sighed, abandoning the idea of ​​returning to the bubble world to rest and recuperate. She had become stronger, and could now speed up her progress in dealing with those previously intractable enemies. So…

There is no need to waste time on unnecessary things.

Chapter 53: Exxon, Thanos

The world of American comics...

This is the worldview Alice least wants to set foot in. Firstly, because it's chaotic. Although it's not the original universe and doesn't contain outlandish entities like the Living Tribunal or the Overwatch, numerous secondary forces still make these universes incredibly messy. Secondly, because other reincarnators reside here, and they are no match for them.

The Indian State Team and the Mori State Team are two reincarnation squads where one person can form an army. Sesshouin Kihara and Ex have a complicated relationship with the Central State Team and are at a higher level of life than the entire Central State Team combined.

Both of them unlocked the fourth-tier gene lock, and both gathered complete spiritual light, reaching the mid-stage of the fourth tier or even approaching its limit. Under normal circumstances, if an encounter battle where they couldn't build up their strength took place, the Central Continent team, even if they could defeat their opponent, would suffer at least more than half of their members as casualties.

They are strong, but unfortunately, their strength cannot be manifested in this world. At least for now, they cannot overcome the power of the Sacred Hunting Ritual.

Therefore, they were bound here, and a large portion of the troublesome enemies in the Primordial Legion were also confused and stuffed into this place. And along with the endless cycle of birth and death of the worlds in this worldview, the most powerful fruit in the ritual began to be conceived here.

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

Alice blinked, and what came into view was a large city with a layout and architecture that were quite familiar. There seemed to be the lingering scent of ashes and flames unique to the end of the war in the air—she tilted her head and, unsurprisingly, saw the iconic, huge white statue of a goddess holding a torch at the edge of her vision.

This is New York, a place as turbulent as Tokyo in a Japanese tokusatsu film. By subtly sensing the gathering of information around her, Alice understood the timeline and events of this world.

"The Marvel Cinematic Universe, several years after the events of Avengers: Endgame. The point in time when the main team disbanded due to internal conflicts... It's not one of the extreme timelines in comics, so it's a relatively lucky option." Alice nodded, casually entered a coffee shop, and obtained a tablet with internet access. She didn't employ any proactive intervention methods, but rather gathered information about this world through these inconspicuous means.

Such caution is necessary because Ex and Sesshouin Kiara are different from the others. Possessing artifacts created by the main god, and possibly even having access to their authority, they are highly likely to detect subtle discords during the thousands upon thousands of script loops. Unlike the two specially monitored high-level powerhouses in the Saint Legion, who, while strong, cannot possibly wield power above the initial Saint level, as Reincarnators, they are protected by the main god on certain levels. Who knows what outrageous trump cards they might hold!

We must be careful not to let them find out. Alice's purpose in coming here wasn't simply to awaken her companions—she had another important matter to attend to. And this matter was closely related to those two powerful reincarnators.

First, I need to find the cover avatars for my companions… According to Chu Xuan's design, they should all be in insignificant positions, not interfering with the plot to prevent being discovered by other teams of reincarnators. Zhao Yingkong, in particular, has been assigned a background character who can manage many things but isn't really valued… So, her most likely identity is…?

"The Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme, who died at this point in time."