Chapter 43: Chatting About the Future

“Hey.” Ye Fan chuckled, following Lu Mingfei’s lead: “You weren’t in the group first—you don’t know.”

“This guy’s also a transmigrator.”

At this, everyone paused their chopsticks, staring at Su Lin in surprise—they’d assumed Su Lin was a native of this world, but then again, how could a world with almost no transcendent power have such a massive floating mountain?

“Could it be… Su Lin’s original world was a cultivation world?” Lu Mingfei perked up: “Did you transmigrate with your body or just your soul?”

“Soul transmigration.” Su Lin had no reason to hide this—he’d already said so long ago.

“So this isn’t your original body, then?”

“It’s still technically my own body,” Su Lin explained. “I transmigrated into the version of myself from a parallel world. Before transmigration, I was nearly thirty; after, I returned to age twenty-three.”

“So isn’t that just reincarnation?”

“No—it’s transmigration.”

Su Lin’s memories before transmigration differed slightly from those after.

“In this world, I studied civil engineering in college, and after graduation, I quit my job after barely any time.”

Lu Mingfei nodded. The experiences of everyone in this group were anything but ordinary.

“I heard you used a watch to take Luffy back two years—can I see it?” Xiao Yan asked.

Su Lin pulled out the [Zokot’s Linear Pocket Watch] from his system inventory and handed it to Xiao Yan; everyone examined the time-travel artifact with curiosity.

“It’s just an ordinary watch,” Xiao Yan muttered, turning it over in his hands, unable to detect anything unusual, then passed it along.

“A one-use item.”

“This thing doesn’t match your sect’s aesthetic at all,” Ye Fan remarked pointedly.

“Heh.” Su Lin smiled and shook his head.

Just treat these as my transmigration bonuses—like Xiao Yan’s ring with the old grandpa, Han Li’s little green vial, or Kleine’s Source Fortress.

“Aren’t you also the guy with a wish-granting little brother?”

“Damn, your transmigration bonus is kinda complicated,” Lu Mingfei muttered, suddenly finding his meat less tasty—he now vaguely wanted to transmigrate himself; maybe he’d get a newbie gift pack too.

“By the way, Lu Mingfei,” Su Lin changed the subject to redirect attention—when new members upload works related to him, others will naturally find out.

For now, no rush.

“Have you decided yet? What’s your plan for the future?”

For over a month, Lu Mingfei had spent every day either cultivating or pondering what to do next—he’d considered reaching Nascent Soul before returning, then wandering through the various worlds of the group members first.

But that idea was clearly unrealistic.

“After I go back, I’m going to confront my little bastard brother—I feel he wouldn’t harm me,” Lu Mingfei ran his fingers through his hair. “Then… I’ll figure out how to save Himeari.”

So basically, no plan at all.

“What is destined, once known, must be cherished—leave no regrets,” Zhong Li said slowly, pinching a petal from the table. Many years ago, he and his comrades-in-arms had gathered just like this, drinking fine wine and sharing fine food.

“The Dao numbers fifty; Heaven’s evolution yields forty-nine; one escapes. All things retain a glimmer of hope—no need to rush.”

Emiya Shirou nodded, comforting Lu Mingfei: “With the chat group’s help and knowledge of the future’s general direction, there’s no reason we’ll fare worse than the stories in the books.”

Emiya Shirou had long resolved to bring about an ending where everyone could be happy.

He couldn’t save all the countless timelines of Type-Moon—but at least in this timeline…

“I’ll protect everything in this worldline!”

Illya clapped beside him.

Ye Fan nodded in agreement, smiling confidently: “I will suppress all enemies under heaven—this time, there will be no dark chaos!”

“Well said!” Xiao Yan strongly agreed. In his original timeline, he’d become the Flame Emperor; now that he knew the future, his gaze should turn toward the even vaster Grand World.

“My every moment is spent preparing to resurrect my master and cleanse my sect—quelling the Ping Hun Clan’s rebellion, shattering the heavens!”

Kleine pondered—the logic made sense, but would his actions actually make the future worse? For instance, he might have become the Sequence 0 Fool, captured Amon, and gathered the Uniqueness—but what if his meddling caused him one day to suddenly wear a monocle?

“Surviving the apocalypse counts as success.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Ahem.”

The atmosphere fell suddenly quiet; Su Lin cleared his throat and took over the conversation.

“Anyway, Lu Mingfei, work hard—aim to reach Foundation Establishment as soon as possible.”

Su Lin clinked his drink against Lu Mingfei’s: “I’m looking forward to the live broadcast of the Tokyo Love Story.”

“Don’t tease me…” Lu Mingfei offered a smile worse than crying: “You know damn well—it’s all just my little bastard brother’s twisted sense of humor.”

“And besides Herzog, there are guys like Mr. McCallen—this is too hard.”

“If only we had a Doraemon in the group—I’d borrow his If Phone Booth,” Lu Mingfei muttered, sipping his cola.

“Doraemon, If Phone Booth—what are those?” Zhong Li asked curiously.

“A childhood cartoon character for many kids in this era…” Most present knew.

Emiya Shirou, of course—his country’s pillar industry.

Ye Fan, Xiao Yan, Su Lin, Lu Mingfei, and Zhou Mingrui were all 80s and 90s kids who’d watched this anime on TV.

“Hmm…” Han Li and Zhong Li, upon hearing this, felt humanity’s imagination was truly powerful.

“But who can say the multiverse won’t someday truly include a Doraemon? After all, to people from other worlds, aren’t we just fictional beings?”

“Indeed,” Han Li sighed. “To the universe, planets are like grains of sand in a river—perhaps countless worlds are the same.” But now, he was merely a late Golden Core cultivator.

“Who wouldn’t want a Doraemon?” Su Lin himself wanted one—he’d wished for one on his elementary school birthday.

“Munch munch, time machine,” Luffy gnawed on chunks of meat—the sea king’s skin, roasted by the Strange Fire, was crispy outside and tender inside, flavored with spices in a unique way.

“Wait—Su Lin is basically a Doraemon.”

“He brought me back to the past.”

Su Lin replied flatly: “Yeah, but it was a one-time thing.”