Chapter 1453: if line

"Huh? Let Ellie acknowledge me as her godfather?"

Facing the red-haired Bureau Chief's strange proposal, Li Ang, who had been called back after Emma left, couldn't help but ask back with a puzzled expression:

"Why?"

"For... forget it, I was just mentioning it."

After hesitating slightly, the red-haired Bureau Chief waved her hand, signaling Li Ang not to mind her previous words, then asked with an expectant look in her eyes:

"Little Li Ang~ Emma has to go on a mission again soon, so Ellie will probably have to stay at your place for a while longer... that shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"Of course no problem."

After nodding slightly, Li Ang frowned in thought for a moment, then vaguely guessed the reason for "acknowledging a godfather."

Probably Senior Emma felt that since she was already married, having little Ellie keep staying at her place seemed a bit inappropriate, so she wanted to ask the Bureau Chief to look after her.

However, given the Bureau Chief's terrible self-care ability, she probably couldn't even keep a turtle alive, so how could she look after a child? So this rotten idea of acknowledging a godfather was most likely something she came up with on a whim.

"Just knew I couldn't hide it from you..."

Glancing at Li Ang's expression, understanding that he had probably already guessed the reason, the red-haired Bureau Chief couldn't help but blink helplessly, then opened a bottle of White Bear Fresh Beer on the table and handed it to Li Ang with eyes full of reluctance.

"Do me another favor, drink up all this booze on the table."

"?"

Looking at the beer handed before him, Li Ang couldn't help but freeze slightly, then asked with some confusion:

"Wasn't this booze something you specially had me bring back? Why have me drink it? What about you?"

"I have no face to drink it."

Picking up the Snow Tilia Wine on the table with a heartbroken expression, forcefully popping the cork and putting her nose to it, sniffing that unique honey-like sweet fragrance, the red-haired Bureau Chief said with a sigh:

"Although the matter wasn't done by me, after watching the wedding crystal ball, I indeed tacitly approved of that bad woman from the Pisces Branch's plan. I... in short, regarding the matter of your wedding, I indeed owe Emma a huge apology, and I owe you a huge apology too."

"???"

What kind of mess is this? What did you even do?

"I... you'd better see for yourself."

Reaching out to lightly tap Li Ang's cufflink, stuffing all the booze on the table to the newly appeared Youha, the red-haired Bureau Chief pulled open her large drawer, took out a stack of jade-green leaves from inside, spread them out in a row on the tabletop, then spoke with a hint of apology:

"You touch these replicated crystal balls, and you'll know what I just meant."

"?"

Facing the red-haired Bureau Chief's baffling request, Li Ang couldn't help but frown, then reached out and touched the leaves on the tabletop as she requested.

"Sizzle~"

【Name: Memory Remnant Leaf (Memory, Destruction)】

【Appearance: A crystal-clear deep green leaf; if one actively reaches out to touch it, one will contact the memories stored within】

【Ability: Memory Replication, Self-Destruction】

【Cost: Depending on the length and complexity of the stored memories, consumes a tiny amount of physical strength and mental strength】

【File: The current Bureau Chief of the Pisces Branch, after watching the prophecy made by the current Great Witch King, replicated a portion of her own memories and injected them respectively into seven different Memory Remnant Leaves, recording seven different futures she saw; this is the first type.

And when the human male named Li Ang Ryan performs a "reading" on the memories within a Remnant Leaf, the corresponding Memory Remnant Leaf will wither on its own, reverting from an Anomalous Object to an ordinary withered leaf, and the memories stored within will immediately dissipate.】

【Evaluation: Burn After Reading】 【Corruption Value: 0.1】

A segment of memory?

Amidst Li Ang's somewhat surprised expression, the jade-green leaf curled slightly, wrapping back around his fingers, and the leaf veins of varying thickness on the back of the leaf, like tiny deep brown tentacles, pressed tightly against his skin.

Immediately after, a segment of memory with a rather strange perspective, yet not too different from the actual situation, surged strangely into his mind along those tiny leaf veins...

The Lionheart Duke's succession ceremony, the Central Cross Theater and Master Wilde, the Iron Skin Princess and the rebels storming the palace, a late-night private meeting and mutual promises... although there were many deviations in specific details, it actually basically matched his own experiences.

And as time continuously extended toward the future, the originally barely clear memories began to become increasingly blurry, especially after completely reaching the "future" part, it was like someone poured ten catties of rapeseed oil into his eyes, to the point where he could barely recognize whether the figures in the picture were human or dog.

But even though the picture quality was blurry through the Earth's core, so blurry that even 360p video counted as high-definition compared to it, the subsequent memories still solidly presented scenes of part of the future.

A blurry figure roughly human-shaped was holding another figure suspended in mid-air, hands kneading mountains and rivers like clay, arbitrarily changing the surrounding barren and infertile terrain on a grand scale.

And as the "camera" gradually zoomed in, that blurry figure even paused for a moment, then made a movement roughly like turning back, nodding slightly toward the "camera's" direction, then raising a hand to lightly block... memory ended.

"This is..."

"This is the future that may appear after you marry Princess Veronica."

Facing Li Ang's astonished inquiry, the red-haired Bureau Chief turned her head away, took a sip of tea, then pointed at the other 【Memory Remnant Leaves】 on the table that hadn't withered yet, and said without turning her head:

"As for the rest, they are the futures after you chose to marry other people."

"?!!"

What the hell?

Hearing this, Li Ang's pupils couldn't help but shrink slightly, then he hurriedly reached out again, touching the second leaf.

The "heroine" of this leaf was not Veronica but Senior Emma, and its content also had quite huge differences from his own experiences.

In the memory displayed by this leaf, Senior Emma seemed to have gone on several fewer missions after meeting him, then found him to "help a favor," using the Soul Vision he provided to shoot and kill the "ex-husband" Hou Jue from two kilometers away.

Then the Cleanup Bureau's investigators arrived; he initially tried to conceal the past, but was exposed by Old Man Garmu — that is, the half Aquarius Director — Senior Emma was taken away by the Bureau; fortunately, Aquarius was exposed in turn by him, so Senior Emma avoided execution for violation of regulations.

Although this memory differed greatly from the actual situation he knew, some things were still the same, for instance he still ate the Three-Headed Dog God, and also discovered that Senior Emma's tragedy was actually orchestrated by the Slaughter King Association's Flesh-Receiving Doe.

But the subsequent memory once again showed many "deviations"; future little Ellie seemed to have been influenced by the Flesh-Receiving Doe, growing a pair of small antlers on her head, and he had no choice but to tell the truth, then chased the furious Senior Emma into the Dead Realm...

"Understand now?"

Glancing at the rapidly withering leaf on the table, then looking at Li Ang's somewhat blank expression, the red-haired Bureau Chief couldn't help but sigh:

"The part where I said I owe Emma an apology is the future you just saw. After discovering the Pisces Branch's abnormal movements, I sought out the Pisces Branch Chief, beat her half to death, then forcibly interrogated these matters out of her.

After that, I was persuaded by her in turn, and could only tacitly approve some of her actions, causing Emma, who might originally have ended up with you, to leave the royal capital for a long time due to missions, and finally... in short, I indeed owe you two."

"..."

So... I actually might have married Senior Emma?

Staring blankly at the two withered leaves on the table, recalling the future he had just seen where he ended up with Senior Emma, Hearing Li Ang, his heart a storm of wind and thunder, couldn't help but fall into silence.

After a while, with his heart somewhat calmed, he looked toward the remaining leaves on the table and murmured:

"Then what about the rest of these..."

"That policewoman's, the bureau's Senior Amien's, that merchant's daughter's, and also your sister Anna's."

"Ah?!!!"

w(Дw)?!

(End of Chapter)