Chapter 448: with translation of chapter title

The sun now hangs high in the sky, and the clear sunlight pours through the glass window into a fruit dessert shop, the golden rays gathering in the air into a bright beam that falls on the fruit tree inside the shop.

The shop is extremely clean; every spot has been meticulously cleaned, leaving no sense of uncleanliness.

The most eye‑catching feature here is the fruit tree at the center of the shop, surrounded by a white‑porcelain countertop that forms a ring encircling the large tree bearing many different kinds of fruit.

But it is not a real tree; it is assembled from various kinds of fruit, like building blocks stacked outward from a central point, resembling a gigantic three‑dimensional fruit platter that emits a fresh fruit fragrance.

A youth dressed in a long white garment pushed open the glass door, as if stepping out of the illusory sunlight; behind him followed a blonde girl whose beauty seemed inhuman. They walked straight to the white‑porcelain table by the window and sat down.

Immediately, the owner Ban Dong Qingzhilang skillfully took out the shop's menu and prepared to introduce the fruit desserts to the new customers. They did not seem to be residents of Zeya City, and perhaps it was an illusion, but Ban Dong Qingzhilang felt that the beautiful blonde girl looked familiar from somewhere.

However, he couldn't recall, so he simply let it go; the guests are most important, and this is today's first customer.

"May I ask what type of fruit desserts you would like, both of you?" Ban Dong Qingzhilang said, walking over with the menu.

"We're here for the first time, so just recommend a few at your discretion, one portion per person." He looked at Ban Dong Qingzhilang, whose appearance resembled the strongest Original Insect SanDaoZhengRen, and pointed to himself and the blonde girl opposite him.

"Alright, please wait a moment." Ban Dong Qingzhilang left to prepare.

"Let me introduce myself, I'm Jiang Xia." he said to the blonde girl opposite him, "May I ask why the Origin Daughter from the future appears in this world?"

"Because a great catastrophe occurred in the future, I want to prevent those tragedies," Gao Siwu said anxiously, "Please tell me how the past can be changed."

The voice was, unsurprisingly, erased directly by the temporal‑spatial barrier; it appeared that the blonde girl never actually spoke.

"Why do you think I can change the past?" Jiang Xia asked knowingly.

"Because in my memory Yu Ye has already been killed by Hong Ta, I tried to alter Yu Ye's fate, yet even voicing my innermost thoughts is difficult. The temporal coercion is absolute, but you seem capable, so please tell me what I should actually do." Gao Siwu lowered her head, and a hint of tears glistened in her bright sky‑blue eyes.

She also cannot stand by idly watching the tragedy unfold, so she will do anything as long as the future can be changed.

"Do you think I'm a time traveler like you?" Jiang Xia lifted his chin, somewhat nonchalantly.

"Isn't that so? Then how could it be?" Gao Siwu said, somewhat incredulous.

"I have indeed traveled through time and, by altering the past, successfully guided the world toward the direction I desired, but my appearance in Zeya City did not come via time travel." Jiang Xia shook his fingers.

"I traversed not time but space; I am not a human of this world. I came for the power of the Golden Apple, and the fruit's power now resides within you."

"As for the temporal coercion you mentioned, it is not absolute—at least it has no effect on me—so you only need to hand the Golden Apple over to me, and you can change everything that will happen in the future. That is the simplest solution right now." Jiang Xia got straight to the point.

"No, that power can achieve anything, yet I have known you for only a day, so I cannot give it to you." Gao Siwu quickly suppressed her sorrowful emotions and said firmly, "I am not greedy for the fruit's power, but I wish to entrust it to the right person."

The correct person is someone who can save the world, who can alter Helheim Forest's erosion of Earth and the fate of killing humanity; only then will she choose to give the Golden Apple to that person.

The so‑called Golden Apple contest is actually a struggle over herself and the forbidden fruit within her.

"The right choice." Faced with Gao Siwu's refusal, Jiang Xia did not get angry but nodded in agreement, "Moreover, even if you now wish to hand the Golden Apple to me, you probably cannot. Temporal coercion is useless to me but limits you; you can only intervene slightly, and any action involving the future will be distorted."

As for the information Jiang Xia mentioned, Gao Siwu merely pursed her lips and offered no rebuttal; that was the truth.

She can help Hong Ta kill Yu Ye, yet cannot save Yu Ye; that is the best proof.

"So to change the future, you have only one method." Jiang Xia leaned lightly against the chair.

The result is obvious: the person who can change the future sits in front of Gao Siwu. She has also witnessed Yu Ye being sent back to Helheim Forest by the man before her, so to alter the tragic future, she can only cooperate with that man.

Although she possesses the omnipotent power of the Golden Apple, she seems to have no choice left.

At that moment, the man standing before Gao Siwu spoke again, saying:

"Even without you, I will not let Earth be assimilated. In the near future this world will surely break free from Helheim Forest's invasion. That is my choice, and it has nothing to do with your attempt to travel through time to change the future."

Gao Siwu looked at the confidence displayed by the man before her, his smile appearing so composed and carefree, a powerful aura sweeping toward her with king‑like majesty. She seemed to perceive, beneath his gentle exterior, a dragon‑like arrogance, and his seemingly gentle eyes also made her feel what true strength is.

This was also the first time, after becoming the Origin Daughter, that she felt an almost lethal threat; a storm of terror rose in her heart. At that moment she truly believed the man before her, for someone with such power would certainly change this world, and no one could halt his forward stride.

"Crack!"—at that moment, Gao Siwu's body seemed to become somewhat illusory, and this change also affected the others.

Ban Dong Qingzhilang, who had just finished preparing a double portion of fruit dessert and was carrying the tray to serve Jiang Xia and Gao Siwu, suddenly looked puzzled at the dessert in his hands. The newly arrived customer had only asked him to recommend a few different fruit desserts—so why did each of the desserts he brought out have two portions?

Clearly the customer came alone and had been sitting by the window, silently watching the sunlight streaming down from the middle of the sky.

But Ban Dong Qingzhilang, seeing that each fruit dessert had been made in duplicate, did not overthink it, merely considering it an extra serving of no great consequence. He placed the fruit desserts on the table and, apologetically to Jiang Xia, said, "I made two of each; you may pick any one."

"Take both portions and leave them here." Jiang Xia placed the fruit desserts on the table and pushed one of the portions toward the opposite side, as if two people were dining.

Ban Dong Qingzhilang, though surprised, said little, simply putting away the silver tray, going alone to take the two servings, and pretending another friend was accompanying him for the meal—just to combat his inner loneliness. Though he did not fully understand, he expressed his comprehension.

"Enjoy your meal." Ban Dong Qingzhilang turned and left.

"My body…" Gao Siwu stared blankly at her increasingly illusory form, trembling as she reached out to grasp the spoon placed on the dessert before her.

As her hand drew nearer to the spoon, for some reason a flash of fear crossed Gao Siwu's mind; she seemed to sense something. She slightly curled her fingers, gently gripping the handle, and at that moment all her unease and sorrow erupted at once. The faintly illusory little hand passed straight through the silver spoon without grasping it. She tried again, attempting to lift the dessert before her, but met the same result—she could not touch it, as if it were a phantom projection that did not exist in this world.

She could no longer affect anything in this world; the coercive flow of time was rewriting the proof of her existence in the past.

Not only her body, but even the memory of those around her of her existence had begun to blur.

"Why is this happening?" the girl let out a wail; she could change nothing, and the future, like a black tide, engulfed her.

She still clearly had power within her body; she had previously calculated that if she altered Hong Ta's fate, she would seek two other people—a person named Wu Dao Guangshi and another, Qu Wen Jiedou, who died in the Golden Apple contest. Even though she could not voice her inner thoughts, it should not have escalated to the point where her body was about to vanish.

Wait!

Gao Siwu suddenly realized something; countless clues about the future and the past burst like bubbles at that moment.

Regarding the concept of temporal coercion, at the instant she traversed the time corridor, the embodiment of Helheim Forest—the man called the Snake—had warned her, saying the future cannot be changed.

So her attempt to influence Hong Ta's actions failed. Why then did she choose to affect Ge Ye Hong Ta, Wu Dao Guangshi, and Qu Wen Jiedou? Was it because they had a closer relationship with her?

No, that is only one reason; the more crucial point is that the three are candidates for divinity—people who may become gods in the future—and they represent three different salvation paths.

By forcing Helheim Forest, at the cost of herself, to control the planet's erosion and shift—essentially creation—she would be condemned to eternal solitude.

The second option is to exterminate all weak humans, establishing a world where the strong dominate the weak, and at that time the world would be erased, like the current denizens of Helheim Forest—mindless, reduced to beasts.

The third option relies on mass‑produced Battle‑Extreme Drivers manufactured by the World Tree Group, allowing most people to live safely under the locked‑seed protection generated by the fruit in Helheim Forest. However, the number of such devices is limited, able to sustain only a few hundred million lives, while Earth's population is 8 billion, so humanity's numbers would sharply decline.

The most important function of the Battle‑Extreme Driver is not to grant the power of the locked seed, but to convert the fruit into a fixed‑seed that continuously supplies energy to the body, replacing the need for food and water.

So this is not a choice based on impression; the heir of the Golden Apple lies among these three, representing the three different routes.

At this point Gao Siwu understood: the first people affected by the future are the Golden Apple candidates; although she cannot change the future, she can witness them.

But now this action has been interrupted; if her body now vanishes in the past, the candidates would drop from three to none.

At the same time she also realized why she cannot endure in this era.

Because she believed that the man she had just met a day ago could change the past and save the world.

Gao Si Wu felt the urge to give the Golden Apple to that man, so the time enforcement force wanted to expel her from this world immediately, because as long as the Golden Apple is placed in his hand, the future can truly be changed.

It is not a future where the population plummets and people live in the Helheim Forest, nor is it a creation that lets one person bear eternal loneliness, nor is it a future where humanity is completely exterminated and the planet becomes ruins, but rather a completely new world.

When she realized this, she seemed to see many different races living together under the same blue sky, a place of indescribable beauty, and the flashback of her familiar good friends also showed that they were living well in Marsh Sprout City.

"So changing the future is this simple..." she whispered softly. She is a smart girl; this is the future she wants, a future where everyone is safe and sound.

But now there really isn't enough time; her body is gradually fading, and the Spatial Portal flickering with countless past and future spacetime fragments is opening—she is about to be exiled, which is also the punishment for time travel. Although it causes no substantial pain, she can no longer interfere with anything concerning the past.

"No, I absolutely must stay in this era! Even if I can't, I will give hints to ensure he can definitely change the past." Gao Si Wu exerted all her strength to barely maintain her illusory body and walked toward Jiang Xia.

If she could successfully touch Jiang Xia, she could infuse part of her own power into his body, thereby ensuring that he would obtain the human-owned golden fruit from the hands of the King of the Foreign Realm.

But the instant she reached out her hand, half of her body had already turned into phosphorescence, and the blue Spatial Portal before her eyes was devouring everything around her, as if she were falling into a bottomless abyss.

The sky leading to reality was rapidly disappearing, until it became a dark, sunless tunnel.

"Have I still not succeeded?" Gao Si Wu's body kept falling, her connection to this world already severed, and the whole world spun before her eyes.

She could only raise her hand high, longing for someone to come and change all this, but in the end she was still powerless.

She longed for a miracle to occur, for her own power to perform many miracles, but she could not change fate—could that person change the world? She did not know.

But she wanted to believe, because that peerless man gave her reason to do so.

"You must win, Jiang Xia; the future is in your hands." She whispered while gazing at the deep Spatial Portal.

She could no longer return, herself feeling herself falling into some unknown spacetime.

"Of course, I have always been a winner, always been."

That man's voice seemed to come through the void, appearing precisely in her ears; the already exiled Gao Si Wu jerked her head up—at that glance, she saw a miracle, brilliant as gold!

Countless streams of golden light, carrying flames, traced bright trajectories in the originally deep spatial tunnel, illuminating her eyes as Gao Si Wu heard the resounding dragon's roar.

Gao Si Wu felt herself being grabbed by a large, warm hand, like a drowning person clutching a lifesaving straw, and she tightly gripped it in return.

"Crack!"

The deep Spatial Portal shattered in response, her body enveloped by countless golden streams of light; when Gao Si Wu could clearly see her surroundings again, she once more beheld the peerlessly handsome man's face, clutching his right hand and refusing to let go.

"I heard your voice." he said. (End of chapter)