The afterlife blew up Gensokyo

After thinking for a moment, Shi Bai nodded and gave his response.

Half an hour later, looking at the group of people who had gathered in front of her for the first time, Kazami Yuuka turned her head away expressionlessly.

Huo Qing'e, Xiao Hong Meiling, Xiao Ye, Xiao Xi—if Heng'e hadn't disappeared somewhere, Kazami Yuuka had no doubt that someone would have dragged her out for a shopping trip as well…?

"The Ladder of Time? I've heard of such a place before, but I've never been there because I don't believe the future is predictable."

When discussing such matters, Sayo, as the Dragon God, clearly has more authority to speak.

"That's right, what you're seeing isn't the future."

Yuuka Kazami, unusually, nodded in agreement.

"At that moment, the image of myself I saw on those steps felt completely foreign to me, like..."

Suddenly frowning, Kazami Yuuka fell silent.

"Well, you can tell just by looking at it. It's just for fun anyway."

With his hands behind his head, Shi Bai lazily opened his mouth.

"And besides..."

"Hey, stay away from me!!"

"Who likes getting so close to a pervert like you?! You'd better stay away from me, you pervert who peeked at me while I was showering!!"

Before someone could finish speaking, a heated argument broke out from not far away.

"Princess Yongjiang Yijiu among the Dragon Palace Envoys, and that unruly celestial being and that Ju Tianzi? Aren't the two of them sworn enemies?"

Looking up at the source of the argument not far away, Xiaoye, who recognized both sides of the argument at a glance, couldn't help but feel a little strange.

"They seem to have just come down from that [Stairway of Time]... What did they see there... uh..."

Seeing Huo Qing'e rushing forward to interview her with the professionalism of a reporter, Xiao Ye's eyes twitched slightly.

Not long after, Huo Qing'e returned with a slightly strange expression.

"I got the interview. Apparently, the two of them saw their future selves on the [Stairway of Time], and it seems they've become quite close... Teacher?"

Looking at Shi Bai, who had somehow put a silver mask on his face, Huo Qing'e couldn't help but feel quite puzzled.

"I've recently developed a considerable interest in Peking Opera face-changing... Let's go."

After coughing a few times, seeing that the emperor's gaze was about to fall on him, Shi Bai quickly spoke up.

"Look at all these people here. If we dawdle any longer, we'll probably have to wait in line."

"Oh……"

The [Stairway of Time] is located in the core area of ​​the Celestial Cloud Sea. It looks like an ordinary staircase shrouded in misty clouds.

When someone walks up the stairs, they will inevitably see another version of themselves walking down from above. At that moment, the present self and the future self will pass each other by.

Walking from bottom to top, you can see your future self; walking from top to bottom, you can see your past self. The isolated time points are randomized, which is the origin of the name "Stairway of Time".

"So, this is indeed a connector that allows us to peer into other parallel worlds..."

Upon approaching, Shi Bai had already grasped the operating principle of the [Steps of Time]. Countless future choices would give birth to countless parallel worlds, which is the so-called parallel world theory.

"Alright, you guys go up first, I'll stay here and take a look first."

After casually greeting the others, Shi Bai stopped at the foot of the steps.

Although he obtained the teleportation gun from Rick, which theoretically allows him to travel to other parallel worlds, he still felt somewhat uncertain about such matters. Now that he had a rare point of reference, he naturally wanted to stop and study it carefully.

"Then I'll go up first."

Having received permission from her teacher, Huo Qing'e, who had been looking forward to this for a long time, couldn't wait to step onto the stairs.

What will I be like in the future? Will I become the person I hoped I would be? No one can help but be curious about such things, and she was no exception.

But what she saw next was far beyond her expectations.

Although she is now considered an evil immortal, the concept of an evil immortal is simply one that does not follow the code of conduct of immortals and is not accepted by those orthodox immortals.

However, when Huo Qing'e saw her future self, she immediately recognized that her future self was a true evil immortal. Just from the eye contact between them, she could tell that her future self had a very evil personality. It was a mindset where she didn't care what happened to the humans around her as long as it was beneficial to herself.

But... how is that possible?

If that was before I met my teacher, that would be more likely. How could it be my future self?

Looking at her future self, Huo Qing'e was filled with astonishment, while the other person clearly noticed the significant difference between herself and her, and the emotion expressed in her eyes was full of strangeness.

Will my future self... turn evil again?

Even after walking this short distance, Huo Qing'e was still unable to recover from what she had just witnessed.

Standing blankly on the steps, looking down at her teacher who seemed to be deep in thought, she felt that there was definitely something wrong with this so-called "Stairway of Time".

She wasn't the only one having these thoughts.

The future version of herself that Xiao Hongmei saw was wearing a red martial arts uniform and a hat with a five-pointed star on her head. She was quite energetic and vibrant, and even clasped her hands in a martial arts salute to her. However, she clearly felt that something was missing from that future version of herself.

As Xiaoye and Xiaoxi walked hand in hand up the stairs, the future versions of themselves they saw were even stranger.

The future version of herself that Xiaoye saw had no expression on her face, only an almost endless majesty. Apart from majesty, it seemed that she had no emotions at all... That was the true and absolute majesty of a dragon god.

The future version of herself that Xiaoxi saw was completely lifeless, with eyes as cold as ice that had been sleeping for thousands of years under a vast glacier. She was like a puppet on strings, aimless and without any goals or direction.

"........."

After looking up and seeing the various expressions on the faces of the others who went up, Kazami Yuuka remained silent for a moment before reaching out her hand to the person next to her.

"Let's go up together."

"Okay, let's go."

After retracting the teleportation gun, Shi Bai reached out and grasped Kazami Yuuka's hand, then casually followed her up the stairs.

If this so-called "Time-Space Steps" could truly allow him to see his future self, he might be slightly interested. However, once he understood that what he saw were parallel worlds in the future, his interest diminished considerably.

"I wonder what about the other me in other parallel worlds... uh?"

Suddenly feeling an extremely cold gaze fixed on his face, Shi Bai's body stiffened slightly.

When he turned his head, he saw Kazami Yuuka from that parallel future who was walking down the steps above looking at him coldly... or more accurately, looking at the hand he was holding with Kazami Yuuka beside him.

—On the other side of the stairs, he was not there.

Before Shi Bai could even finish his astonishment and ponder why his future self from a parallel world hadn't appeared, Kazami Yuuka, standing beside him, raised the hand she was holding tightly with his as if in a show of defiance towards the other version of her.

It seemed as if she let out a soft hum, then Kazami Yuuka withdrew her gaze and walked straight down the stairs without looking to the side.

"Uh……"

Having vaguely understood what the other Kazami Yuuka was thinking, Shi Bai pressed his forehead with a helpless hand, and suddenly felt a headache coming on for no reason.

The fact that there is no existence of myself in countless other parallel worlds has already vaguely explained something.

"Tsk...a one-of-a-kind existence?"

Fox.jpg

P.S.: My friend recommended a book – a really good one!

Miss Black Dragon Doesn't Want to Be a Mount

The sickly boy did not live to adulthood. Before he died, he made a desperate wish that if he were to be reborn, he would have a strong body.

When he regained consciousness, he had become a black dragon egg.

His wish did come true, except the egg was female, hmm...

never mind!

Miss Black Dragon believed herself to be invincible, but fate brought her to her nemesis, a brave girl who dreamed of becoming a great knight.

Oh no, now the girl wants to become a great dragon knight.

Chapter Eighteen: All Celestials are Masochists

Unique. In the infinite space and time, there is only one you exist. You exist neither in the past nor in the future; you exist only in every single moment of the present.

—This is a concept that Shi Bai learned from Rick and Wu Xiu.

But he never imagined that his very existence would represent something unique.

"...So that's basically the situation. In the countless other parallel worlds, I don't exist."

After giving a general overview of the concept of uniqueness to others, Shi Bai summarized it.

"If I had never existed in the first place, then the future selves you see would indeed be your future selves. However, because of my existence, and because of this unique concept that I possess, your future has naturally changed. Your future is not what you see... By the way, what did you see?"

"...I think I can understand why the future version of myself I saw looked like that."

After a moment of silence, Huo Qing'e sighed.

"If it weren't for your guidance, teacher, and if my life had followed its original trajectory, I might have really become her, that wicked, outright evil immortal..."

"Really? Your Majesty... I thought you would debut under the name Luo Tianyi."

With his arms crossed, Shi Bai nodded with a hint of regret.

"So who exactly is Luo Tianyi...?"

"A glutton whose special skill is being able to eat 20 baskets of steamed buns in one go. She is a person who can be on par with Yuyuko."

Shi Bai snapped his fingers.

"Alright, there's no need to worry about that. I'm here, not there. The probability of parallel worlds influencing each other is too low. Those parallel world versions of yourself that you see won't have any impact on you. Just treat this as an interesting toy."

"Is this a world without you...?"

Looking at Xiao Xi, who was quietly leaning against Shi Bai and holding his hand tightly, Xiao Ye turned around and glanced at the steps again. Recalling the scene she had seen at that time, Xiao Ye sighed softly.

"Then we...we're really lucky..."

What would their future be like if someone never existed in this world in the first place?

She would become a dragon god devoid of self-awareness, representing only pure justice and the will of the world's rules. She would not recognize Xiaoxi, and the last phoenix in the world, without any support, would lose all comfort and become like a walking corpse. In the end, she, who had undergone phoenix rebirth, might even willingly be devoured by a human girl who had consumed the Penglai Elixir...

—This is what she saw as their predetermined fate and future.

Without anyone noticing, the other party changed the fate of many people, including them.

After running away for half his life, he returned as a teenager.

The boy who once couldn't even withstand a single punch from her and could only rely on her protection has now become a powerful being with enough strength to protect them. The boy remains unchanged, seemingly unaffected by his past. His tone is remarkably calm as he tells his story, but who can truly understand the blood and pain he has endured?

Just like what she once said to him, she wanted to always stand by his side and face the future with him... like a shadow following the light.

Ever since the other party risked everything to save her from that torrent of world consciousness a long time ago, she had already fallen hopelessly and completely in love with the boy who once needed her protection.

No regrets.

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

The series of events triggered by the [Stairway to Time] were only resolved after Shi Bai had no choice but to explain the concept of uniqueness to everyone. However, a few weeks later, thanks to an advertisement funded by the Dragon Palace Envoy, the matter of the [Stairway to Time] became widely known in the Celestial Realm.

This place, which was originally free, later became a paid venue following the trend of the times, and when there were many people, they even had to queue up and make reservations in advance. The Dragon Palace made a fortune from this.

Not to be outdone, other forces in the Heavenly Realm followed suit, opening up their own territories with things that were not particularly important but novel, just like Xuan Yunhai had done. In a short time, the Heavenly Realm was abuzz with activity.

It was in this atmosphere that a new area was opened up in the Celestial Realm. In this area, named Scarlet Sky, a city called Sky City began construction at an alarming speed.

Even before Sky City was completed, the major powers in the Celestial Realm spared no expense in purchasing their desired locations and shops within it. With the emergence of the mysterious Celestial Newspaper and the widespread adoption of the officially designated equivalent currency, it was clear to everyone that the Celestial Realm was undergoing a significant transformation. In the face of such a wave of change, those who did not prepare in advance would inevitably be left behind.

Sky City, like the one in Fei Xiang Tian, ​​is destined to become a core hub for communication between various races in the Celestial Realm in the future, making it a worthwhile investment for them.

When Sky City was officially announced as completed, Shi Bai opened a shop in Sky City with lightning speed. After all, it was a city he had built entirely with his own money. If there wasn't even a decent shop in the city he built, like in the Underworld or Hell, Shi Bai would feel like he had lost out.

If you don't believe me, look at a certain goddess of hell who is always embarrassing. Although she loses a lot of money gambling every day, she hasn't starved to death yet because she owns her own mahjong parlor in hell... This is enough to prove the importance of having a stable business.

After that, considering factors such as transportation and convenience, Shi Bai used the redstone system in Minecraft and his own [Craftsmanship] talent to build what may be the world's first train powered by the redstone system and derived from a minecart in Fei Xiang Tian. He also built a platform and planted a few orange trees on the opposite side of the platform... and even set up an orange stand.

Occasionally, when he felt down, he would bring his best instrument to the platform, set up a small stool, and play a melancholic tune of Gokuraku Jodo as the train pulled into the station…

Of course, that's not all he did. Seeing that Xiaohong Meiling and Xiaoxi were quite interested in the train, he fully utilized his talent as a former MC master to build a rather luxurious roller coaster. He used all sorts of fluorite, diamonds, and other materials as if they were free, striving to give everyone riding the roller coaster the most perfect visual experience... even though these things were originally free.

However, what was originally intended as a toy for Xiaoxi and Xiaohong Meiling unexpectedly caused a sensation in the Celestial Realm, with various imitations emerging one after another. Unlike the roller coaster he built purely using Minecraft, these immortals and celestial beings used pure immortal arts and Taoist techniques. Shi Bai had once been invited by Kazami Yuuka to ride such a roller coaster with her... and then, pale-faced and trembling, he was very considerately helped off the roller coaster by her.

Compared to his gentler roller coasters that focus on a perfect visual experience, these roller coasters created by celestial beings pursue pure thrills; they're practically playing with fire...