Chapter 448

This time, the timeline seemed to have accelerated wildly—just finished the summer plot, and due to narrative demands, time raced forward, and tomorrow had already become autumn...

Miyano Shiho felt a deep sense of vigilance, mixed with a faint helplessness: “The rules of [Kogaku] are growing stronger... Sister...”

“There’s not much time left for your sister!”

According to the witch’s deduction, if she couldn’t [wake up] before that moment arrived, everything would become irretrievable...

“Stay calm!”

“The more critical the moment, the more Itachi must calm down!”

She closed her eyes; when Miyano Shiho opened them again, not a trace of panic remained—she knew panic solved nothing, even if...

She knew that by now, her sister—with those eyes full of innocent stupidity—had likely already finished her scenes; this Lunhui , she had no chance.

Too early a death scene was one of the key reasons her sister had remained unconscious for so long, but last Lunhui , she’d already developed a rough plan.

But.

This time, the plot ended too abruptly, causing her plan to fail—but her strategy was already refined; give her a little more time, and she would succeed!

Now, the character Miyano Shiho should officially exit; it was time for the key female lead, Haibara Ai, to take the stage.

As if she’d undergone this a thousand times, Miyano Shiho calmly pulled from a corner of the lab the pill known throughout certain circles as APTX4869.

Miyano Shiho looked at the pill with complex eyes—it was the origin of all events, and it came into being because...

Perhaps some factor she didn’t understand had driven it, but ultimately, this drug first appeared in her parents’ hands and was finally completed by her.

Though the witch had said that even if this drug hadn’t been born in her hands, it would have been born in someone else’s, yet no matter how Itachi put it, the beginning of it all had ultimately emerged from her hands.

She didn’t know where this world would end—perhaps when that thing was fully completed, this world would collapse entirely?

But.

She was, after all, merely a detached scientist; perhaps she’d never truly intended to harm anyone, but she knew she was no moral saint or do-gooder by societal standards—she couldn’t save the whole world.

All she could do now was save her sister, who was as stubborn and lifeless as a stone or rotting log.

In essence, her sister’s talent was worlds apart from hers.

As sisters, her sister couldn’t even match an average person’s ability, let alone compare to her—her talent was simply abysmal, making the cost of truly pulling her sister out enormous...

Perhaps, in essence, she was also a wicked woman?

As those several righteous [awakened ones] had said, with her intellect, she could have done far more—if she’d actively joined their plans, perhaps she could have genuinely increased the hope of saving the world.

Yet in the end, she refused; to her, saving the world didn’t matter—what mattered was saving her sister perfectly within this limited time.

Her world was small—small enough to hold only one sister.

Though her mind swirled with chaotic thoughts, they didn’t affect the scientist in her white coat’s rationality—she calmly calculated, timing down to the millisecond.

【Time’s up!】

Without hesitation, Miyano Shiho swallowed the pill—deadly poison to most, but the true elixir of youth for a select few.

One hour later, Miyano Shiho’s scenes ended; Haibara Ai, one of the drama’s key female leads, took over.

Calmly observing her youthful body, Haibara Ai methodically completed all follow-up procedures, then followed the path she’d traversed a thousand times, leaving the lab.

“I wonder how the witch’s plan is progressing?”

Haibara Ai struggled forward through the torrential rain; the icy, biting water brought a suffocating sensation her true child’s body couldn’t endure—no matter how many times she’d experienced it, she still wasn’t used to this environment.

“The body is nearing its limit!”

Haibara Ai precisely monitored the data of this vessel.

As a true genius of this world, over countless Lunhui , she’d mastered not only science and technology, but also deeply hidden arts—magic, martial arts, swordsmanship...

If she wished, she could adjust her body to its maximum potential for this age within minutes.

But it was unnecessary.

After all, the script had fully predetermined her storyline—this was the status of a key female lead!

Amidst dizziness, half-asleep and half-awake, Haibara Ai seemed to hear a cold, mechanical voice beside her ear:

【Ding! Haibara Ai has successfully joined the chat group.】

This unexpected development sent a chill down Haibara Ai’s spine—it was a plot element that had never appeared in countless Lunhui !

Chat group?

Had that thing changed again?

Or... had this world truly developed an anomaly?

Before she could react, a clear, melodious voice suddenly rang out on the empty street:

“Oh! With this weather and at this hour, how could such a poor little thing be out here?”

Beneath the sweet voice lay unmistakable concern.

Yet this simple sentence shattered Haibara Ai’s composure.

What... was going on?

Why so many anomalies in this Lunhui ?

And... though she hadn’t yet observed closely, just from the voice alone, Haibara Ai had already formed a character profile:

Probably young, but based solely on the voice, her beauty likely rivaled Haibara Ai’s own—simple-minded, with an unmasked, innocent charm... she felt almost like her sister.

Not a detective, not from the Black Organization—even this archetype felt utterly out of place in the script.

“Sister Jizi, this little girl’s face looks awful—could she be sick?”

Another clear, worried voice followed—this one even simpler; from the tone alone, it was clearly an innocent, ordinary child.