Chapter 43: Confession

Sure enough, it looped again... Hearing Aurora's answer, Lu Mian wasn't surprised at all.

Up to now, this was already the third loop he could remember. Combined with his own experience and the mysterious lady's hint, he had a preliminary summary:

"The time limit of the loop is until the twelfth night;

"The spatial limit of the loop is Cordu Village and the surrounding area;

"The character limit of the loop is that the parish priest cannot be killed.

"These are the three key points of the loop..."

Thinking of this, Lu Mian looked at Aurora and asked thoughtfully:

"Sister, if you were writing a novel about a time loop, where would you place the key to breaking the loop?"

"Suddenly asking such a question, and very obediently calling me sister..." Aurora looked Lu Mian up and down with confusion. "Thought of a new story to deceive people?"

"You could say that." Lu Mian answered sincerely.

Aurora frowned slightly, pondered for a while, and said:

"From the perspective of a novelist, or from the perspective of normal logic, the most critical part of the loop must be in the last scene, because it is both the end of this loop and the wedge of the next loop. It is the button that connects the ending and the beginning. Without it, there's no way to make the linearly flowing time into a closed circle.

"Think about it, tracing the loop upward, there must be a first time. At that time, something must have happened at the last moment to cause the restart of time."

The twelfth night? Lu Mian recognized this inference of his sister's, nodded, and then asked:

"Then why can't the most critical part be the first day of the loop? You have to ask why it starts looping from this point in time, right?"

Aurora laughed:

"Making up a short story to deceive a few people temporarily is your specialty, but you can't do this kind of content that requires rigorous logic and rich knowledge."

"The first day of the loop is the first day, perhaps just because the power that caused the loop, or the energy, can only cover this day when tracing forward from the last day. This is like the loop probably not being the whole world, but a certain place. It's not that it doesn't want to, but it can't."

Lu Mian actually had thought of this point; he just felt that his sister, who was knowledgeable and well-informed, should be able to think of a different answer.

Aurora thought for a while and added:

"If that loop isn't a completely closed circle, and there is interaction between outside the ring and inside the ring, for example, information inside can be passed out, and people outside can come in but can't leave, then the first day of the loop might be counted from the day the outsider happened to enter, to avoid them not having a 'position' when looping again. Of course, you can also forcibly make the outsider do things they would do later from the first day they originally didn't act. There are too many ways to make up stories like this."

Lu Mian's eyes lit up, and he really wanted to praise his sister loudly.

He suspected that the entry of Lia, Ryan, and Valentine caused the loop to start from the afternoon of March 29th.

If that was really the case, the twelfth night might have become the tenth night, the ninth night. Of course, it might have originally been the thirteenth night, because the "intrusion" of the outsiders became the twelfth night.

These were all possible things that needed Lu Mian to verify himself.

He completely agreed with his sister's reasoning just now and believed that something must have happened on the "twelfth night" to cause the loop to occur. Only by figuring out what happened then could it be possible to find the key to breaking the loop.

Therefore, Lu Mian decided not to touch any abnormalities in this loop and to find an excuse not to join the blessing parade on Pentecost, "peacefully" waiting until the twelfth night.

But he couldn't do nothing; time didn't allow it.

Unless Lu Mian broke the loop after experiencing the twelfth night this time, he would have to race against time in the next loop.

A complete loop had a full twelve days. After this loop, the probability of the outside world discovering that Cordu Village had abnormalities would rise in a straight line. The time left for Lu Mian to solve the problem would be at most one complete loop, or even less.

And if he wanted to stop the abnormality in one loop, he had to master enough intelligence and have a full understanding of the information of the entire village.

Not triggering the abnormality while investigating the problem... Lu Mian couldn't help but mock himself in his heart:

What's the difference between this and a clown walking on a tightrope on the edge of a cliff?

Wanting both isn't a good thing.

Seeing that he hadn't spoken for several seconds, seemingly already making up a story, Aurora waved her hand:

"Almost forgot to make dinner!"

"Wait a moment." Lu Mian looked at Aurora with a serious and solemn expression.

Aurora immediately let out a "Tsk":

"I smell the scent of a prank."

Lu Mian said straightforwardly:

"Aurora, uh, sister, actually we have already fallen into a loop."

"Heh, just learned it and used it on your sister?" Aurora was both angry and amused.

Sometimes, people still need a little credibility... Lu Mian sighed silently while saying with a smile:

"Can you at least listen to the story I made up?

"Or, by the way, give it a score?"

Aurora looked at the still bright sky outside the window:

"Fine."

Lu Mian started from meeting Lia and the other outsiders, used an outline form to tell that he kept clear-headed in the dream, entered a unique ruin, and through hunting monsters, obtained Beyonder characteristics and became a "Hunter."

He didn't hide the thorn ring pattern that locked his chest, because this might involve the key to the time loop—he saw the same symbol at the parish priest's, and killing the parish priest caused time to restart early.

Aurora was smiling at first, feeling that her brother had a lot of creativity in making up stories this time, but as she listened, her expression became serious, because a lot of knowledge wasn't something Lu Mian should be able to understand.

When Lu Mian said he had become a Beyonder, she finally took action, raising her right hand to pinch her temples on both sides.

Her light blue eyes instantly became deep, but they didn't reflect any figure.

She looked at Lu Mian for a while and nodded lightly:

"Your ether body has had a very large change, and your life energy and physical state are much higher than ordinary people.

"Your astral projection has a certain change but not large...

"Sure enough, it's a 'Hunter' who is better at melee combat than spellcasting...

"I can't see that symbol and the related changes, and I don't dare to look too deep..."

Speaking of this, Aurora pursed her lips and asked with confusion:

"Are you deliberately making up such an absurd story just to make me accept you becoming a Beyonder?"

This was the typical Lu Mian style.

Lu Mian didn't explain, but directly told the mystical knowledge the lady had instilled in him.

Of course, he just mentioned the names simply and didn't make specific elaborations.

This wasn't because he had high morals and principles, not telling his sister without the lady's permission, but because the other party was obviously very powerful. If he really leaked precious knowledge and angered her, the time loop might be solved, but the person would definitely be gone.

"Law of Indestructibility... Law of Convergence... Acting Method..." Aurora was completely stunned.

Her brother, an illiterate in the mystical field, had mastered these incomparably precious pieces of knowledge!

She had been a Beyonder for more than five years. At first, she relied on Emperor Roselle's diary, and later she joined that organization. Plus, her own pathway had symbols of common knowledge in the mystical field, and she was chased by knowledge from time to time, so she mastered the three cornerstones of building the supernatural world: "Acting Method," "Law of Indestructibility of Beyonder Characteristics," and "Law of Conservation of Beyonder Characteristics," thus claiming to be a Beyonder with shallow qualifications but sufficient knowledge, leaving most of her kind several blocks behind.

And now, her brother, who had never come into contact with mysticism, could actually speak these things, and there was also the "Law of Convergence of Beyonder Characteristics" that she didn't know!

This ruled out the possibility of Lu Mian peeking at her witch notes.

As a Beyonder of the "Reader" pathway, Aurora suppressed her desire to know the specific content of the "Law of Convergence" while looking at her brother, asking with confusion, surprise, and worry:

"What exactly did you pay to make that lady teach you this knowledge?"

The potion formula was given for free!

She looked at Lu Mian again, from top to bottom, from bottom to top, wanting to find out what exactly was missing from him.

"Nothing." Lu Mian smiled self-deprecatingly. "That's what's terrifying. I don't even know what price I'll pay for this in the future. Hmm, I suspect it's related to the symbol on my chest and that dream ruin. That lady should want me to solve the corresponding secret."

Aurora let out an "Mm":

"Continue."

She waited for the "story" that followed with a very serious attitude.

Lu Mian talked about the owl, the abnormality of the Pentecost, the experience of the siblings in the second loop, and the fact that as soon as the two tried to leave Cordu Village, the loop would restart directly.

Aurora listened earnestly and muttered to herself in disbelief:

"Either I was hypnotized by you and told you everything, or time is really looping..."

She began to believe Lu Mian, because the name of her "Honest Brooch" was named by herself and wasn't recorded anywhere. Unless she told her brother personally, it was impossible for Lu Mian to know, and she had absolutely no impression of this.

Lu Mian struck while the iron was hot:

"I can also predict that those three outsiders will appear in the old tavern tonight, predict that the parish priest is having an affair with Madame Pualis tonight, predict that the shepherd Pierre Berry has returned to the village, and the three sheep he brought all have problems..."

Aurora became more and more solemn as she listened, and it was a good while before she said:

"Those three outsiders entered the village in the afternoon, and you and I were practicing fighting, then resting, and didn't go out at all.

"Hmm, in the fighting class in the afternoon, you were still an ordinary person..."

She accepted Lu Mian's claim that time was looping.

If it were someone else, Lu Mian would have laughed and said, "Believe it! Believe it! You actually believe such an absurd story," but facing Aurora, he was still very restrained.

He then proposed:

"I'll go around the village now to see if I can collect more intelligence."

Aurora nodded:

"I will also use my 'eyes' to look around, but this has great limitations and is very dangerous. I'm not sure if there will be any gains."

Lu Mian waved his hand to show he knew, then walked toward the door.

After walking a few steps, he looked back at Aurora's figure standing in the kitchen, and suddenly associated it with the scene of her pushing him to a safe place among countless undead, inexplicably feeling the pain of separation.

He subconsciously asked:

"Sister, why did you adopt me back then?"

Aurora answered angrily:

"I didn't want to!

"I was just kind enough to give you some food, and as a result, you kept following me, couldn't shake you off, and very obediently helped me do this and that. I softened for a moment and... who knew you would grow up to be like this!

"Do you know how hard it was for me, a young girl, to bring you up?"

After listening to Aurora's answer, Lu Mian wanted to say thank you and praise his sister, but the words were stuck there, as if they were about to surge toward his eyes and nose.

He turned his head and walked toward the village.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 44 =====