[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-ring-of-fate":3,"chapter-the-ring-of-fate-the-ring-of-fate-chapter-63":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},2298032,4496,"Chapter 63: Date (Requesting Monthly Votes)","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-63",63,"\u003Cp>At the edge of a small forest not far from home, Lu Mi stopped and turned to look at Lyra and the others behind him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This place was very remote, with no villagers passing by, and the trees were sparse enough that anyone hiding nearby could be seen at a glance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the jingling sound drew closer, Lyra asked with a smile:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How did you know we were looking for someone?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi said nothing, pulling out the key item he had deliberately brought with him:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His family’s little blue book!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He held it up high, showing Ryan and the others the pages with words cut out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without needing to speak further, Ryan nodded slightly and said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So you were the one who wrote that plea letter.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had never mentioned the plea letter in Kerdou Village, let alone described how its words were cut from the little blue book.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unless the other party had a key informant in Bigger, they must be the letter’s writer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lyra instinctively glanced around.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two silver bells hanging from her veil made no sound at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Valentine, seeing this, was about to ask outright “What’s strange about the people around?”, when Ryan spoke in confusion:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“How can you be certain we’re the ones who came because of that letter?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You told me yourself… Lu Mi smiled:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Foreigners coming to Kerdou Village are rare to begin with; those who don’t buy wool, cheese, or lambs, but just wander around chatting with villagers are even rarer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Besides, I didn’t say a word—just showed you this little blue book.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lyra suddenly understood and laughed:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So you were just testing us.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Excellent method,” Ryan nodded slightly. “Anyone unaware of the plea letter wouldn’t understand your intent and wouldn’t suspect much—maybe just think it’s a prank, and you’re Kerdou Village’s prank king.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He subtly hinted that his trio’s days of idle chatting in Kerdou Village hadn’t been fruitless—they’d at least learned who the notable locals were and confirmed their identities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi immediately wore a teasing smile:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Believed it? You believed it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Ryan and the others freeze, he added:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I was just joking. The real reason I’ll tell you in a moment.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lyra ground her teeth:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No wonder you’re Kerdou Village’s prank king—aren’t you afraid we won’t believe anything you say next?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re free not to believe,” Lu Mi said, indifferent. “Or you can verify it yourself.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Valentine, clearly annoyed, asked urgently:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You mentioned in the letter that the people around you are becoming stranger—what exactly is strange about them?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi let out an “Oh dear!” and began counting on his fingers:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There are many: the parish priest has worshiped a dark god; the shepherd Pierre Berry turned people into sheep and drove them back to Kerdou Village; Madame Pualis rides a carriage pulled by ‘demons’ across the wilderness; the assistant priest sleeps with a transparent, lizard-like creature crawling out of his mouth; Naroka, who isn’t dead yet, insists she must go to the afterlife; the administrative officer’s male steward, Louis Lund, gave birth to a baby himself; the owl from the witch’s legends occasionally flies back to the village…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ryan, Lyra, and Valentine grew more and more stunned—unwilling to believe, yet unable to think this boy could fabricate so many absurd tales.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were all seasoned official investigators who had handled many supernatural incidents, including those involving dark gods and secret arts—but none had been as bizarre and exaggerated as what they now heard; only the parish priest worshipping a dark god seemed remotely plausible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More importantly, the incidents they’d handled before were almost always isolated, at most two or three occurring simultaneously with tight connections—yet Kerdou Village had so many terrifying anomalies!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What kind of place is this?” Almost instantly, Lyra, Ryan, and Valentine all had the same thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They suspected they’d accidentally stumbled into the legendary Abyss or Hell!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When Lu Mi fell silent, Lyra couldn’t help asking:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re not joking, are you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Is there anyone normal left in this village?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi smiled:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I haven’t finished yet—there’s one more anomaly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This is already my third or fourth time talking about this with you, Ryan, Lyra, Valentine, my cabbages.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ryan, Lyra, and Valentine weren’t surprised that Lu Mi knew their names—they’d inevitably introduced themselves during their days of idle chatting in the village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What startled and puzzled them was the first half of his sentence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What do you mean?” Valentine frowned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I mean this has been repeating constantly—meaning we’re trapped in a time loop,” Lu Mi didn’t let the three outsiders guess; he gave the direct answer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before Ryan could question him, he briefly recounted events they’d all experienced together, then said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Think carefully—was the day you entered the village really March 29th?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lyra and the others fell into deep thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After several seconds, Valentine’s face twisted in pain:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“My sense of time is blurred—I can’t recall the exact dates from the past two months…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But I remember—I remember celebrating my youngest son’s birthday before I left. His birthday is…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Valentine suddenly lifted his head, exclaiming in shock:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s April 10th!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That meant the real current date was mid- to late April? So my memory of prior loops can’t be extensive—perhaps not even more than one… Hmm, that first time was the original, before the loop began, so I could directly mail the letter without river assistance; once the loop appeared, past memories were overwritten, but physical objects beyond the range couldn’t return? Lu Mi formed a new theory about the letter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He gave a barely perceptible nod to Ryan and Lyra:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You can send telegrams to the outside world, using inconspicuous methods to confirm the current date.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then you’ll believe me.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, yes! Send a telegram!” Valentine snapped awake. “Appeal to higher authorities!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi gave him a look as if he were an idiot:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Appeal?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When facing this kind of strange time loop, what’s your official standard procedure?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ryan fell silent for a moment, then said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Destroy it directly, to prevent contamination from spreading.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So now, appealing is practically suicide,” Lu Mi said, shrugging.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Valentine responded with fervent zeal:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“By regulation, I must report immediately—I’m willing to sacrifice myself!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...” Lu Mi was stunned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There are people like this?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No, I must deal with this guy immediately, or we’ll all be done for!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, Lyra and Ryan clearly felt they still had a chance—they exchanged glances and each gave a slight nod.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ryan patted Valentine’s shoulder:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t rush—we still don’t know what’s truly happening. Maybe there’s a better solution.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If we truly can’t save ourselves, we’ll report the situation to higher-ups.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Exactly,” Lu Mi quickly added, laying out everything he’d discovered and deduced beyond the symbol on his chest, the dream ruins, the mysterious lady, and the Curly Baboon Research Society, concluding: “The key likely lies in the Twelfth Night. This time, we must survive until then—only then can we truly resolve the problem in the next loop.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing so many details that corroborated each other, Ryan and the others fully leaned toward believing him; Valentine also calmed down, remembering his wife and children.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No wonder you knew us, knew we were looking for people,” Lyra exhaled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It must’ve been from the second-to-last loop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She unconsciously touched the silver bells on her head, wanting to perform a divination—but remembering Lu Mi’s descriptions of the anomalies, she forcibly held back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She didn’t want to be obliterated outright by divining something she shouldn’t before even beginning the investigation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ryan thought for a moment, then said to Lu Mi:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You told us all this—what do you want us to do with you and your sister?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Clever, my cabbage,” Lu Mi laughed, then grew serious. “First, send a telegram outside saying your investigation has yielded preliminary results—the parish priest seems to have some issues—then ask what exactly the lizard-like creature coming from the mouth is. This anomaly is the least likely to trigger immediate destruction. Oh, and confirm the real date, carefully—don’t let the outside world suspect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Second, this afternoon, my sister will invite Madame Pualis over for afternoon tea at my house. I want you to sneak into the administrative officer’s mansion with me and conduct a search.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“As for what comes after, we’ll decide based on the intelligence we gather today.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ryan, Lyra, and Valentine looked at each other—they felt Lu Mi’s request was entirely reasonable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was exactly what they were supposed to do anyway.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The four then went to the village square. Ryan went to send the telegram; Lyra, Valentine, and Lu Mi waited under an elm tree outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lyra, having collected herself, glanced at Lu Mi and asked curiously:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re a transcendentalist—your sister is too?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes,” Lu Mi didn’t hide it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lyra laughed:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So straightforward—aren’t you afraid we’ll arrest you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We’re all on the same sinking ship now. In an emergency, we can only help each other,” Lu Mi shrugged. “As for later—we’ll deal with it later. We don’t even know if we can escape this loop.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s true,” Lyra tilted her head, the bells jingling, and looked at Valentine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She’d raised this topic to make her companion understand: don’t do anything foolish.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Valentine’s expression remained cold, but he gave a barely perceptible nod.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lyra turned to ask about something she cared about more:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Why can you retain your previous memories?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I won’t tell you,” Lu Mi laughed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before Lyra could respond, he shrugged and said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m joking—I don’t know either. Somehow, I just kept the memories, and only from the last two cycles.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Think back to what happened at the time—that might be crucial,” Lyra said after a moment’s thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lu Mi said earnestly:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ve been thinking hard about it Zheduanshijian , but found nothing. Maybe I’ll suddenly realize it when something specific happens.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lyra was about to help analyze when Ryan, having received a reply, stepped out of the building where the Administrator was located.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>PS: Please vote for monthly tickets~\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1656,"2026-06-20T06:22:34.374Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","3603cc769650c140217a751918aa31ec63b2a26b86b458b4df806d47a4c59126","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-64","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-62",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-ring-of-fate-cover.jpg"]