Chapter 675
When the woman saw the handwritten manuscript, a flicker of surprise crossed her previously puzzled eyes. She glanced at Sara, as if realizing that the gift she had given Sara had brought her trouble.
Sara translated Charles's words for the woman in front of them. After listening, the woman nodded at Charles, a gesture that needed no translation for Charles to understand.
"Where did you get this from? Or rather, who was its original owner?" Charles continued to inquire.
Sara kept translating Charles's questions for the woman, who didn’t understand Ansu. After a moment of silence, the woman slowly began to recount how she had come into possession of the manuscript.
She was not a native of the New World; she hailed from the Habus Empire, her ancestors having followed the imperial expeditionary fleet to discover this place and settle here.
“She says... when she got this book, she experienced some very strange visions,” Sara said, her brow furrowing slightly as she listened to the woman’s words.
From Sara's tone, it was clear that she had never heard of such a thing before.
“When she was young, one day she went out to tend to the cattle as usual. While resting by a canyon, she fell asleep for reasons unknown.”
“When she opened her eyes again, everything around her had changed. The herd of cattle had turned into weathered bones, as if they had been dead for decades, and she herself had transformed from a little girl into an old woman.”
“She was terrified, wanting nothing more than to return home. But just as she was about to leave, she saw a figure... that person comforted her in a language she couldn’t understand and handed her this book.”
As Sara continued to relay the story, her expression grew increasingly strange.
“And then... she saw everything around her accelerating in reverse. Day and night changed as quickly as a flash, and the clouds in the sky tore apart like fabric. Her body began to grow younger...”
“She had always thought of this as a nightmare from her youth until she met me, someone with similar powers. That’s when she decided to give me this book, hoping it would help me...”
Sara paused for a moment, glancing down at the woman as if to confirm something. After receiving a firm nod, she turned back to Charles and said, “She... she insists she’s not lying.”
Not just Sara, even Amy and the others found the story utterly absurd.
From a normal person’s perspective, this was an outrageous dream, and the only evidence of its authenticity was a manuscript that no one could decipher.
From the perspective of the extraordinary world, it suggested a being capable of manipulating time or illusions, deliberately showing a mundane person a vision and handing them a nonsensical book... which also didn’t add up.
Yet, as Charles listened to the tale, he didn’t sense any deceit.
Time speeding up... cattle that had been dead for decades... her transformation from a little girl to an old woman...
This might not be an illusion conjured by some disruptor; it was very likely that her time had been accelerated, perhaps by decades.
Considering her current middle-aged self, if she had been a little girl and then accelerated to become an old woman...
A date flashed through Charles's mind.
The year 770 of the Saint Era.
The date displayed on the business card given to him by the "future person" selling wheels.
These two events were seemingly unrelated, but as long as they pertained to "time," it was reasonable for Charles to connect them.
Was this yet another clue?
Who was the mysterious figure that the woman encountered, who gave her the manuscript?
A member of the Witch Society?
Why would members of the Witch Society continuously provide such hints? According to the current timeline, it was impossible for them to know about the arrival of the God of Existence...
Because Charles had never mentioned this matter in the Old Days; when she entered the Old Days for the second time, she was still unaware of the God of Existence.
No, wait...
It was possible that the Witch Society members knew; they might have been aware of it before Charles even hinted at it.
If they truly could accelerate the flow of time... if they continued their research on altars and potions, and discovered a new way to manipulate time beyond the "Fictioner" and "Recorder"...
They could very well have anticipated the events surrounding the God of Existence.
No... that’s not right... there are still some aspects I haven’t considered...
Before I even activated the Old Days, the business card’s hint had already reached me...
At that time, I hadn’t even entered the Old Days for the first time; the Witch Society couldn’t possibly exist, and even if it did, if they could accelerate time to leave me a message, the God of Existence would definitely notice.
Unless...
Unless the one leaving me the message wasn’t an extraordinary being from the Witch Society...
But rather an ascendant from the Witch Society...
The Otherworld is not bound by the changes in timelines, nor by the constraints of "past" and "future." It contains ascendants and beings from different timelines.
The one leaving me hints is an ascendant from the Witch Society.
But why didn’t they directly appear when I went to the Otherworld? Why not come find me?
At least for now, it seems the God of Existence cannot influence the Otherworld. It would be relatively safe for them to find me there; any hints could be directly conveyed to Charles.
Yet, there are two scenarios that could prevent them from finding Charles.
One is a mental issue, like Sadana...
The other is related to pathway abilities.
Pathway abilities are closely linked to the essence of "seeds," meaning these abilities can only stem from Charles's pocket watch.
If a new pathway has indeed been developed... the most likely ability would be...
The ability to alter time and traverse timelines.
They might not even be in the Otherworld but instead constantly shifting through different timelines, evading pursuers while trying to leave hints for Charles in various ways.
They might also be unable to discern which timeline is real, unsure of which "Charles" to inform so that the true Charles receives the message.
Their goal isn’t to find Charles but to allow the Charles in the current timeline to find them.
But one thing is certain: they know what Charles looks like, and it’s very likely that they are someone Charles met in the Old Days.
The altar carries the function of "uniqueness," and their ascendance likely means they are a possessor of an altar.
Heini?
Or Salas?
Charles slowly closed her eyes, taking a moment to calm her thoughts.
These ideas were rather bold, nearly overturning most of her previous conjectures.
But this hypothesis was worth noting in her journal, to inform her future self who would enter the simulated reality.
Charles didn’t want to waste any more time with the middle-aged woman; instead, she asked her about the location of the canyon.
Charles intended to visit the canyon herself, hoping to uncover any new discoveries.
She approached it with a mindset of merely trying her luck; finding traces of something that happened so many years ago was nearly impossible now.
If the theory of traversing timelines held true, it was hard to imagine how many timelines that ascendant had entered... after all, theoretically, timelines are infinite, not just a simple matter of traveling back or forward in years.
For instance, Charles's current anchor point; every time she arrives, it’s roughly a year later, but the experiences she undergoes can never be identical.
At the canyon, Charles found no traces whatsoever.
She returned to Xinxiang City, sitting at the desk in her hotel room, contemplating the two "hints" she had received.
Simultaneously, a vague thought began to take shape in Charles's mind.
At this moment, the most challenging aspect for Charles to confirm was just how many "minions" there were, what their abilities were, and how to eliminate these "nonexistent" "minions."
It was evident that there was more than one "minion." Some had wild ideas, inclined to directly kill Charles, like using Lich as a trap.
Others were calm, only intervening at critical moments, like after awakening Sadana.
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