[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-ring-of-fate":3,"chapter-the-ring-of-fate-the-ring-of-fate-chapter-51":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Ring of Fate",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2298020,4496,"Chapter 51: Time Point","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-51",51,"\u003Cp>The thing that emerged from the mouth of the vicar Michel Gariq was slender, covered in brown-green scales, like a translucent, blurred lizard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As soon as it left Michel’s body, its dark green vertical eyes swiveled left and right, scanning the surroundings with sharp caution.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During this, it even glanced out the window—but found no “white paper”—yet still made Lumian and Aurora feel the cold, indifferent gaze of its eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What is this?” Lumian asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora shook her head:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I don’t know. It looks like some kind of special spirit.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lumian immediately judged:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It doesn’t look like a good thing!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even through the “white paper” and the mirror, the lizard-like creature made him feel deeply uneasy, his hairs standing on end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora glanced at him and warned:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This ‘lizard’ seems to carry inherent mental contamination—just glancing at it from afar causes physical and mental discomfort; staring too long might trigger psychological issues. Be careful—if it becomes too severe, close your eyes immediately and try meditating, then look again after a while.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m fine for now,” Lumian grunted. “What about you? Don’t you feel uncomfortable?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora smiled:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“As a ‘Secret Seeker,’ I’ve seen far more contaminating things than this. My resistance is much higher than yours.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Besides, don’t I sometimes go mad? A little more madness, a little more frequently—doesn’t seem to matter much.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I think I should check your mental state the next time you say that last sentence,” Lumian said, half-concerned, half-joking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora chuckled:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s called self-deprecation.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Sometimes, I can’t just choose not to look—the ‘Secret Seeker’s’ eyes can’t be fully sealed. I can only barely keep them from disrupting daily life.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the siblings spoke, the lizard-like, blurred creature crawled swiftly along the walls and floor toward the ground floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the wall opposite the front door on the first floor hung several animal skulls—wolf, deer, and wild boar. Vicar Michel Gariq wasn’t from Cordeu; he should have lived directly in the church, but Guillaume Béne had found an excuse to refuse him, forcing him to rent a room in hunter Sabaté’s house.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The “lizard” slithered into the wolf’s skull, in and out through its eye sockets.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon after, it moved into the wild boar’s skull and repeated the same action.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When it emerged from the pale deer skull, it crawled toward the outside at several times the speed of a galloping horse, while the “white paper” silently drifted through the night air, tracking it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The “lizard” crawled out of the village, finally reaching the square.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It circled the church and entered the graveyard, plunging into one of the graves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ten seconds later, it emerged and slipped into another grave with a headstone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, the strange, lizard-like creature moved from grave to grave—Lumian could even imagine it moving in and out of human skulls inside coffins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The image made Lumian’s skin erupt in tiny goosebumps. He couldn’t help asking:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What the hell is this thing doing?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Impossible to understand!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora slowly shook her head:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This falls outside my knowledge.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After “touring” the graveyard, the transparent, lizard-like creature retraced its path and returned to Vicar Michel Gariq’s room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With two quick scrapes, it slithered back into Michel’s mouth and vanished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Twenty to thirty seconds later, Michel Gariq opened his eyes, sat up, and gulped water from the glass on the nightstand—clearly parched.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He set down the cup, wiped his mouth, and lay back down to sleep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora turned her head toward Lumian and asked:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How’s that? Doesn’t he seem off?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This isn’t just ‘a little off’—it’s a huge problem!” Lumian didn’t hide his emotions from his sister. “Shepherd Pierre Béry, the key time-loop figure—the vicar, Madame Pualis who makes men give birth, Naroca who went to the Other Side, the owl that’s lived for countless years, and now a vicar with a ‘lizard’ inside him—does Cordeu have too many outstanding talents?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In previous loops, he’d complained that Ryan Cos, Lyra, and Valentine—the official investigators—did nothing. Now he realized: how could he blame them? Cordeu’s anomalies were truly extraordinary!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They may have done something—but their outcome was likely terrible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora glanced at her brother and said, half-warning, half-teasing:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You haven’t mentioned the most outstanding talent yet.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The only person in the entire village who retains memories across loops and possesses a unique dream ruin.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…“ Lumian fell silent, his head throbbing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora turned her head back toward the mirror on the table, paused, then said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There’s probably no further change in Vicar Gariq’s room. I could delve deeper to examine his ‘Star Spirit’ state, but that would likely carry significant danger.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If I get hurt, it’s no big deal—next loop, another living ‘Wizard.’ But right now, we lack too much information. Better to gather more before further probing, to avoid triggering an early loop reset and wasting time on explanations and communication.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lumian had no objection—it was his thought too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora then said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I plan to send the ‘white paper’ to observe the vicar now.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…“ Lumian froze for a second. “Didn’t you just say not to probe deeper or trigger anomalies prematurely?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The vicar was the core of the core, the problem within the problem—were they just charging ahead like this?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora smiled at him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I wouldn’t do this unless I had some confidence it wouldn’t go wrong.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Lumian both confused and worried, she explained in detail:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You yourself said that during the previous loop’s April 1st, you overheard a private conversation between the vicar and Pons Béne. At the time, the vicar claimed he was still an ordinary person—but if I, as a supernatural being, confronted him, he had a way to handle it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Considering the context, and that deceiving a mere ordinary person like you would be meaningless and would expose his anomaly, I lean toward the idea that the vicar truly was still just an ordinary human before April 1st—he hadn’t yet gained supernatural abilities. Today is March 29th, and it’s still not midnight. Probing him now shouldn’t cause problems.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That makes sense.” Lumian relaxed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora continued:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“From the conversation between the vicar and Pons Béne, we can deduce that on April 1st, he may have already acquired a method to rapidly gain supernatural power—able to transform into a ‘supernatural being’ the moment things turned bad. Or perhaps he could merely use some artifact, believing he could handle me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Combined with the vicar’s performance during Lenten Festival—his power clearly didn’t match Sequence 9—I suspect he’s following a path outside the ‘Goddess’s Path’ mentioned by the mysterious lady: he’s petitioning some entity for a blessing. Otherwise, such a drastic power shift in just a few days, with no signs of loss of control, is impossible.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lumian listened quietly, then suddenly remembered something:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“During that loop, on the morning of Lenten Festival, I’d just become a ‘Hunter’ and met Pons Béne. I wanted to punch him to practice. But he ran off as if he’d known I’d become supernatural.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Maybe he also received some blessing—able to sense danger…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he spoke, Lumian added another key point:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Around April 3rd, at Naroca’s funeral, I secretly watched from afar as Pons Béne entered her house.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If Pons Béne already had a blessing, and given how sharp he was on the morning of Lenten Festival, he shouldn’t have missed me—a mere ordinary person—watching him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora nodded:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So the vicar’s group likely became supernatural between Naroca’s funeral and Lenten Festival.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That is, between the afternoon of April 3rd and the morning of April 5th.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Of course, they might have received blessings in batches,” Aurora added.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With this discussion, the puzzle began to clarify. Lumian suddenly slapped his own head and groaned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s wrong?” Aurora asked, puzzled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lumian sincerely praised:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I really should’ve discussed these things with you sooner—your analytical ability is far superior to mine!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora burst into laughter:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re just flattering me in different ways. You lack experience and exposure—that’s why you didn’t notice these details right away. You’ll find them eventually, slowly.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though she mocked him, her expression showed she relished his praise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Receiving Aurora’s mental command, the “white paper” flew toward the Béne residence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In all of Cordeu, the Béne house was the tallest and most luxurious—aside from the church and the castle-turned-administrative-official residence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a three-story gray-blue building with a chimney rising from the roof.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As head of the Béne family, Vicar Guillaume lived in the eastern room on the top floor. At this moment, the dark gray curtains were tightly drawn—the master seemed to have already slept.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This didn’t stop the “white paper.” It passed through the wall and merged into the corner’s darkness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside the room, Guillaume Béne had already returned home after his tryst with Madame Pualis. He wore a light blue silk pajama set and sat quietly in an armchair, staring blankly at the curtain before the window.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aurora’s eyes grew even deeper, and Guillaume Béne’s aura state became visible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The swirling red, green, purple, and blue hues made Lumian feel dizzy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Recalling his sister’s teachings, he struggled to interpret them: the vicar’s desire was unusually intense, but his physical condition remained healthy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s he thinking about? Who’s his next mistress?” Though the vicar couldn’t hear, Lumian still mocked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Guillaume Béne stood up and punched the air in front of him, snarling:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s all your fault!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1550,"2026-06-20T06:22:34.374Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","df9795d46e2c91e534755140256afca4967e1d0d3e0f67373993192c829a27c6","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-52","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-50",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-ring-of-fate-cover.jpg"]