"This Music Rune can save your life. Your boss is pretty good to you, right?" Lin Yun said with a grin, then conjured another rune and gave it to Li Xiye.
Then she saw Zhou Chen, who had accepted his rune, staring at her eagerly, as if to say, âBoss, how about a little more?â
"Boss, can you spare a few more goodies for your favorite underling? Iâm your number one guy, bar none," Zhou Chen said, putting on a fawning smile.
"Why donât I just give you a full set of god-tier gear? Every strike will be a Critical Strike for 999 damage, and youâll be able to kill anyone who gets in your way, be they man or god. Or how about I just become your 24/7 personal bodyguard?" Lin Yun asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes! Thatâd be great!" Zhou Chen knew the King of Musicâs personality well. She might actually go through with it.
"Great my ass! Solve your own problems. If you have your boss clean up all your messes, how are you ever going to grow? How will you get stronger? How will you reach the pinnacle of your life?
Alright, Iâve got things to do, so Iâm heading out. Call me if you need anything."
With that, Lin Yun reached out, opened an Any Door, and casually departed.
After she left, the atmosphere grew a bit awkward.
"Should we... head back?"
"Letâs go back," Li Xiye said, her face expressionless. She seemed truly exhausted.
The spot wasnât far from the restaurant, so they walked in silence for a few minutes back to the parking lot. Zhou Chen drove with Li Xiye in the passenger seat.
Neither of them spoke a word the entire way. Zhou Chen wanted to say something several times but didnât know what. Li Xiye leaned her head against the glass, quietly watching the scenery fly by outside the window, showing no intention of talking either.
Back home, Li Xiye went straight upstairs, returned to her room, locked the door tight, and collapsed wearily onto her bed. But of all the times, her phone chose that moment to ringâit was Guan Yao.
"Hello?" Li Xiye answered, her voice listless.
"Did it work?" Guan Yao asked impatiently.
"Itâs all your lousy ideaâs fault. It was a total bust!" Li Xiye said irritably.
"What? No way, how could that be? Thereâs no way he could resist your charms... So whatâs the situation between you two now?"
"Weâre going to be friends."
"..."
·
·
Zhou Chen went to the basement to meditate, trying to settle his restless heart and calm his mind, but he couldnât help but sigh helplessly.
âJust friends...â He could lie to others, but not to himself.
âThereâs no such thing as a purely platonic friendship in this world. One side is bound to have other feelings, unless both the man and the woman are ugly... but that condition didnât apply to them.â
âGiven Li Xiyeâs personality, after realizing sheâd been played, she would have just said goodbye to me for good. Thereâs no way sheâd agree to keep being friends...â Zhou Chen had already figured it out. Lin Yun must have pulled some strings behind the scenes.
âHonestly, I feel like a complete scumbag for playing with her feelings. If Lin Yun hadnât interfered, Li Xiye would have been completely heartbroken, right?â
The memory of the young womanâs forced smile, her reddened eyes, and the way she fought back tears made Zhou Chenâs resolve waver. He was wracked with guilt and even had the thought, âMaybe I should just accept her.â
âAfter all, you can write whatever you want in a letter. What if Li Xiye just made it all up?â
âI had analyzed several possibilities before, like whether the letterâs contents were true or false. If the letter was fake, one possibility was that I never returned to the future and instead lived on with Li Xiye. Then, when the designated time came, Li Xiye would just write any old letter to lure the unsuspecting me to Hong City...â
âWhat if that was the case?â
His thoughts raced for who knows how long. Zhou Chen let out a soft sigh, shook his head to clear it, and cast out all distracting notions.
âOverthinking this will only make it worse. I should just let things run their course. Once Iâve dealt with my other problems, Iâll naturally find out which possibility is the truth.â
âThe Prophet said I donât have to do anything, that things will come to me on their own. In that case, I need to use this time to improve myself and be fully prepared.â
At this thought, Zhou Chen closed his eyes, cast aside all his wild and distracting notions, and let his consciousness float upward into the Round Table Hall.
He glanced at the various materials laid out on the ancient Obsidian Round Table, then let his body sink down to the side of the Wishing Fountain.
He had been fighting a lot recently, and his consumption of wish-power had been enormous, especially that one time heâd spied on Charles, which had used up a massive amount of Wishing Spring Water...
âWait, why did spying on Charles consume so much wish-power?â
Zhou Chen frowned in confusion. It didnât make any sense. Even if Charles had been trapped in another dimension, spying on him shouldnât have cost that much.
Suddenly, the Round Table Hall trembled. The white mist churned violently, and a jolt went through Zhou Chen. A hazy memory that had been almost completely forgotten, as if wiped clean of dust, resurfaced with clarity in his mind.
âThe Forbidden Ancient Book!
In that instant, with his memory restored, a chill ran down Zhou Chenâs spine. He was horrified. He had somehow, at some point, forgotten about the Forbidden Ancient Book!
âForgotten it completely, utterly and totally!â
âWhy did this happen... Why did I forget about the Forbidden Ancient Book... When...â
Zhou Chenâs brows furrowed deeply. He realized he couldnât recall when he had forgotten about it at all. It was as if he had treated it like some trivial, everyday matter and naturally let it slip his mind. And when heâd been talking with the King of Music, he hadnât recalled this crucial piece of information either.
âI remember Mandala saying that the Star Association once used a meme to make people forget the name of the Forbidden Ancient Book, to prevent them from being eroded and corrupted by it. Could this be the memory-wiping effect of that meme?â
Zhou Chen sat on the edge of the Wishing Fountain, his mind racing as he thought it through.
âNo, thatâs not right. If it were the effect of the meme, then no one should know about the Forbidden Ancient Book at all. The meme only erased the bookâs name, not its existence. Besides, I forgot about the Forbidden Ancient Book all of a sudden...â
HISS...
Zhou Chen sucked in a cold breath, a vague suspicion forming in his mind.
âThe Forbidden Ancient Book... has become sentient!â
âIt seems to have imperceptibly erased the memories of everyone who knew about it!â
âIf I hadnât entered the Round Table Hall, this Wishing Divine Kingdom, and used its power to evade and block the Forbidden Ancient Bookâs influence, I probably would have completely forgotten the bookâs existence too!â
That Forbidden Book, which recorded the secrets of the Abyss, was truly sinister.
âCould what happens next be related to the Forbidden Ancient Book? Hmm... Based on my experience, thereâs a ninety percent chance it is!â
âNow that I know how bizarre it is, shouldnât I discuss a countermeasure with the King of Music?â
Just then, Zhou Chen recalled the Prophetâs wordsâ
Do nothing!
âIf you told fortunes under the Celestial Bridge and only said things like that, youâd get beaten up. God, I hate people who speak in riddles.â
Zhou Chen felt a headache coming on. âDo nothing... On second thought, maybe that makes sense. Itâs not like thereâs anything I can do. Who the hell knows where the Forbidden Ancient Book went after Charles died?â
âItâs hard to find a sentient, evil book. The best way is to wait for it to come to you.â
âThe Prophetâs prediction sounded pretty optimistic, so there shouldnât be any danger... right?â
Even if there was danger, he still had a powerful backer to rely on. To get in on the action, the King of Music would definitely stick around in Hong City until things went down.
Lin Yun might be a bit unreliable, but she was a Tier Four, so she had the strength to back it up. Besides, she was well-connected; if she couldnât win a fight, she could always call for backup. Having a powerhouse like that around gave him a great sense of security.
But Zhou Chen knew he had to make his own preparations. Just as Lin Yun had said, you canât just rely on others. When push comes to shove, you can only rely on yourself.
âAs for wish-power, the Wishing Spring Water is accumulating pretty quickly. Hong City has a large population, so the base number is huge. I can just keep AFKing and harvesting.â
âAs for Artifacts, I need to process the materials I confiscated from the Blood Raceâs warehouse and convert them into my own combat power.â
Zhou Chenâs body floated upward, and he arrived at the Obsidian Round Table to inspect the Extraordinary Materials confiscated from the Blood Raceâs warehouse.