Chapter 6: For the Sake of Fun, Anything Can Be Done!

The twilight sky curtain—

Like a deep and rich palette, layers of blue-purple hues in varying shades spread out, interwoven with warm golden afterglow, as if infecting all the dreams and mysteries of the world……

The massive World Tree—

Standing proudly in the serene and magnificent sunset glow, like a towering green umbrella reaching heaven and earth, its thick trunk rugged and ancient, grand as a world wall encircling the central court, its lush branches and leaves shining brilliantly under the setting sun……

Facing this dreamlike, surreal scenery before his eyes, Xia Zhi found it hard to suppress the joy surging in his heart.

"Truly awe-inspiring!"

He sighed from the bottom of his heart.

The scenery before his eyes was within reach, touchable with an outstretched hand.

The world in his vision was so vivid, as if every bit of light and shadow spoke of true existence.

Undoubtedly, this was a world that breathed… Hmm, why did that sentence sound familiar?

But it didn't matter, that wasn't the point; the point was that he had truly escaped that suffocating cycle of despair!! He had finally welcomed the dawn, successfully breaking free, never to face that clear-eyed despair again!

"You seem very happy…"

Looking at the figure standing by the window with an undisguised smile, Vivian said calmly, casually placing the book she had brought back on the wooden table beside her. This was her residence, appearing rather ordinary.

Without any lavish decorations or unique furnishings, yet filled with a warmth that brought inner peace.

Judging by the room's furnishings alone, people would hardly imagine this was a corner deep within the palace, yet such was the fact; she had arranged it according to her own wishes, making it so simple and comfortable.

"Yes, quite happy…"

Xia Zhi did not turn back, but leaned his body against the windowsill, gazing deeply at the magnificent scroll far in the distance; although his tone and voice seemed inexplicably lighthearted, his words carried deep emotion.

"I've forgotten when I was last this happy…"

This joy was so intense that he couldn't help but worry, fearing it was an illusory dream, and upon waking, there would be nothing left.

By then he would return to that bed, once again facing that familiar and monotonous morning of June 21…

Better not to have hope from the very beginning.

Xia Zhi exhaled a long breath, gently shook his head; he knew his emotional fluctuations were somewhat intense, inevitably his thoughts flew wildly, and he couldn't help having all sorts of delusions, but there was nothing to be done about it.

Truly, his heart simply couldn't calm down, and his emotional management seemed a bit inadequate.

Hmm, no, rather—

That he could still maintain general composure now, instead of running wild like the Monkey King's birth, was already proof that his emotional management was quite effective.

Right!

Xia Zhi seemed to suddenly remember something; without thinking, he reached into his pocket and took out that mobile phone.

The screen lit up at the right moment, indicating that even in this world, this exquisite device remained powered on and functioning normally—undoubtedly comforting news. Xia Zhi blinked, deciding to temporarily ignore these things.

What he focused on first was the information content displayed on the screen.

The signal and network naturally disappeared, but this was expected, not worth wondering about, and he was not surprised. What truly caught his attention was the time displayed at the top center of the screen—

13:12.

As for the date, it had not changed.

When he left, it was past noon twelve; calculating the time from meeting that inexplicable transmigrator, to passing through the "Door," to arriving in this world… the current time basically matched his estimate.

By estimating through bodily sensations like heartbeat and breathing, he also got a similar result.

Then let's tentatively believe this conclusion, and proceed from this conclusion—

Did this mean that when he passed through that "Door," he hadn't consumed much time?

Did this mean that, strictly speaking, his today had not yet passed, and this day had not truly ended?

Xia Zhi just stared at the time displayed on the screen, as if lost in thought, until the phone automatically entered sleep mode due to prolonged inactivity and the screen turned dark, only then did he stretch as if nothing had happened, and then turned around.

Vivian had been sitting there since just now, silently saying nothing.

Just watching him.

"Sorry, I was a bit out of sorts…" Xia Zhi quickly adjusted his mood, walked forward, pulled over a chair beside him and sat down, facing the girl, "Let's continue discussing that previous topic."

He reviewed his previous response and felt he had indeed lost some points.

Despite intense emotional fluctuations, he had almost instinctively maintained surface calm and composure, but felt his performance was not satisfactory.

Therefore, he decided to be more serious and rigorous next; holding this thought, he began to carefully sort through a series of details from just now until now, evaluating the girl's behavior, pondering and interpreting her intentions, preparing for cooperation.

Yes, cooperation had become an inevitable choice.

However, as for why Vivian had chosen him, he currently could not determine.

Could it be because she temporarily discovered she had a passive "low presence" she didn't know how to get, and wanted him to be a spy?

After all, judging from the few words heard earlier, this place didn't seem peaceful either; local residents seemed to divide forces and territories by clan, and relationships between clans were intricate and complex, with a sense of dire straits.

At that time, when the Queen Consort arrived at the scene, upon arrival she used intuition to lock onto a spy from another clan as the imagined enemy; this vigilance made her quickly decide to blockade all of Onyx, issuing orders as if preparing for war.

The wariness therein was evident!

However, under Vivian's explanation, the Queen Consort soon accepted that the intruder was not from local forces, but a chance traveler from beyond a distant world, and breathed a sigh of relief; although still cautious, compared to before when she was directly preparing to go berserk…

The level of importance had clearly dropped by more than one level.

Based on such poor diplomatic relations and such tension, Xia Zhi felt his speculation was still very possible.

But viewing the whole scene, it was truly abnormal to the point of being laughable, everywhere filled with strangeness and oddity. Translated to the original world, it was like a certain country on Earth sensing signs of invasion, mistakenly thinking it was an enemy country deliberately infringing and preparing to resist to the death.

But when the truth was revealed, discovering it was not a neighboring country provoking, but aliens arriving, the tense atmosphere instantly dissipated, and vigilance suddenly dropped.

—No matter how viewed, such a change seemed quite illogical.

There was also Vivian's existence; this was absolutely not to be ignored.

A seemingly quiet and gentle girl, clearly not playing a leadership role in decision-making, yet her words seemed to carry a certain authority; once spoken, others would naturally tend to trust and accept her views.

The Queen Consort was like this, and so were others; when facing the information Vivian presented, almost no one questioned its source or credibility. As if everyone tacitly acknowledged that Vivian possessed a unique ability to verify the authenticity of information.

His thoughts surged like a tide, changing in complex ways, yet on the surface Xia Zhi remained unmoved, looking calm and reserved, openly sizing up the girl before him.

Vivian could initially remain calm and composed while meeting his gaze, but as time passed, she ultimately could not keep her face unchanged like Xia Zhi; she furrowed her delicate brows and subconsciously looked away.

"You should have guessed it—I do hope to get your help..."

The girl spoke, her voice as pleasant as a stream, like a clear, tinkling spring in the mountains.

"It's just that this matter isn't easy, and can even be said to be very difficult, with considerable danger, so I won't force you."

She candidly spoke her mind, her quiet and gentle tone also very sincere.

"Then let's be completely open, exchange some intelligence with each other, and decide after?" Xia Zhi nodded, making a suggestion.

Difficulty wasn't a problem, danger equaled challenge, but none of these would be the key to his choice. The real key lay in his situation after today ended—that was the decisive factor.

If this day came to a close, the time loop would once again bring him back to that bed, to face June 21 once more...

Then everything would be lost; even if he had the will to kill the enemy, he feared he would be powerless to turn the tide.

But if this day could pass normally, if he wasn't rewound but could welcome tomorrow here, that would be a completely different situation. He, remaining in this world, would have to change his way of thinking to view problems.

By then, Vivian's matter might become his matter...

After all, they were grasshoppers on the same rope; if it involved major events that could affect this world, he definitely couldn't stand aside.

"Being completely open?" The girl thought for a moment, then nodded, "That works too; we'll each ask one question."

She could also take this opportunity to collect more intelligence.

This would help her judge this person's situation more comprehensively, so as not to be too one-sided.

"Then one question each; I'll go first—"

Xia Zhi wasn't surprised; although the other person gave the impression of a sheltered young lady from a deep boudoir who had knowledge but had never seen the outside world, that didn't mean she was simple; this girl still had her own thoughts.

"Can you tell me about this world? You know, I just came over and know nothing about it."

He frankly spoke his request without much disguise; after all, he was just a transmigrator, and had transmigrated right before the opposite girl's eyes.

"This..."

Vivian slightly frowned; this question was somewhat cunning, because what was involved definitely couldn't be clarified in a sentence or two; to explain clearly, it was hard to say this was just "one question."

She glanced at the other person, pressing her lips: "This is a long story; I can only tell you that this world is... the Fairy Kingdom, a world composed of fairy society, jointly ruled by multiple clans."

"The Fairy Kingdom... a world composed of fairy society, so you're also a fairy?"

Xia Zhi's expression didn't change much; he had followed Vivian all the way from the library back to the royal palace just now, and along the way through the towns he had encountered many residents, already seeing some things more or less.

Most "people" were generally like humans, but in certain physical features, they had obvious non-human characteristics.

He subconsciously associated them with the concept of "elves."

Now although it was denied, the answer seemed not very different.

"Yes, I'm actually also a fairy..." Vivian nodded in admission, just without explaining her specialness as a fairy.

If one wasn't proficient at lying, then don't lie; choose to tell part of the truth, keep part unsaid. This was something she had just learned not long ago, from the person before her eyes.

"Are there only fairies in this world? No humans?"

Xia Zhi looked thoughtful, while very naturally continuing to ask.

"There are, humans are... wait!" Vivian suddenly reacted, blinked slightly, then stared at him somewhat angrily.

"Oh oh, sorry sorry, you ask, you ask!"

The young man blinked his eyes embarrassedly, laughing heartily as he spoke.

"..."

"..."

Staring at him for a good while, the girl finally looked away, speaking displeasedly: "Then tell me about your experiences, your experiences before you came over here."

Wow, really putting it into practice...

Xia Zhi smiled, recalled his situation slightly, and slowly began to speak: "My experience is also a long story; before 'today,' I was always an ordinary person, no different from others..."

"Until 'today,' I discovered I was forgotten by time, I stayed forever on this day, again and again, again and again, endlessly repeating..."

Vivian listened while carefully observing him, wanting to confirm whether this person was telling her the truth or lying.

The result was not bad; although the other person also lied about some secrets possibly involving personal privacy, overall she was still comparatively sincere, and her expression consequently softened considerably.

Indeed...

This girl likely possessed a unique ability to verify the authenticity of information...

Xia Zhi was also paying attention to the girl's expression, then confirmed his guess. Vivian was still too immature; she didn't realize that the other person had asked questions in succession not simply to take advantage when he couldn't react.

More so to make her a bit angrier, her expression colder, so expression changes could be observed more clearly.

She thought she was observing whether Xia Zhi was lying, whether he was frank.

Actually, Xia Zhi was doing the reverse, observing her reactions to try to verify a certain guess.

"That's basically it..." After summarizing his experience, the youth looked at the opposite side with a smile, "Now it's my turn to ask?"

"Mm... you ask." Vivian seemed not to mind, nor did she have the idea of asking two questions in return, calmly indicating her agreement.

"Good, then I'll ask—what kind of creature are the fairies of the Fairy Kingdom?"

Xia Zhi considered for a moment, then asked this question.

"..."

"..."

Vivian for some reason fell silent, and after a while finally spoke: "If from the human perspective, they're probably a very evil kind of creature, because fairies possess power far surpassing humans, and have no distinction of good and evil."

"They live only for the 'target,' act only because it's 'interesting'... I think you should understand, right, how terrible it would be if this mindset had no constraint."

The girl's emerald eyes stared straight at the youth opposite—

"Just as you said just now, in that boring cycle, you definitely did many things to pursue 'interest,' right... including bad things, vicious things, even hair-raising things..."

"..."

"..."

Xia Zhi thought for a moment and felt that he could indeed understand.

Bad things...

Vicious things...

Even things that make one's hair stand on end...

"Indeed, in order to be interesting, one would do anything." He raised a finger and scratched his cheek rather shamefully: "I... I once bought a water army to farm good reviews for Three Kingdoms Kill."

(Chapter End)