[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-ring-of-fate":3,"chapter-the-ring-of-fate-the-ring-of-fate-chapter-943":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},2298912,4496,"Chapter 943: Recognition","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-943",943,"\u003Cp>It was a creature half-owl, half-human, its eyes perfectly circular, pupils a pure brown-yellow, brimming with unmasked evil.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Anyone who met those eyes inevitably suffered mental confusion, emotional tension, and spiritual terror.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The hybrid abomination flapped its wings, reeking of rot, lunging toward the sleeping forms of Jianna and Franca.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its mouth opened wide, spewing nearly solid sound waves.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The waves struck the two “witches,” passed through them, hit the bedsheet, and scattered outward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bed was empty; the air conditioning panel’s screen, the glass top of the nightstand, the dark glass inset in the wardrobe doors—all flickered silently with a dim glow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Behind the half-owl, half-human abomination, Franca leapt up, gripping the nearly invisible “Cold Blade,” stabbing toward the target with windlike speed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The transparent triangular dagger pierced the creature’s body, freezing it instantly rigid.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the bedroom door, Jianna appeared, holding a mirror that revealed the enemy’s jerky, stuttering movements.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In her other hand, quiet black flames ignited, brushing swiftly across the mirror’s surface.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The half-owl, half-human abomination erupted in strange black flames from within, yet due to the Cold Blade’s effect, it could not even cry out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon, the creature burned to ash.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A spirit entity…” Franca knew the witches’ “black flames” targeted spirit and life, unable to ignite physical forms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She landed lightly from midair, weightless as a feather.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jianna spoke quickly in a low voice:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s Morne, the monster from Rosan’s oil painting—the very invader Rosan is fighting.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A bold probe by Rosan?” Franca said without hesitation, “Go to Rosan’s room now. We must contain her before we’re kicked out of the dream.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jianna had clearly thought of the same possibility; she nodded:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You go to Rosan’s room. I’ll head to the spirit-like space—if necessary, I’ll replace Rosan and hold the barrier, keeping the invaders out.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She suspected Rosan might not even be in her room, perhaps still at the translucent barrier, and feared that without Rosan’s protection, the invaders would breach the line and cause catastrophe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Franca said nothing, gave a slight nod, slipped behind the curtain, opened the master bedroom window, and leapt straight down to the fifteenth floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She didn’t use the “Ice Talisman,” choosing instead to pass through the mirror world, believing Rosan had sensed Jianna’s previous reconnaissance—though she hadn’t identified the observer—and might now have set traps.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Franca’s body was as light as a feather, yet untouched by the wind, landing precisely on Rosan’s windowsill; she pried open the window with thin sheets of frost seeping into the frame.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She didn’t rush in, using the dawn light to swiftly scan the room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The bed was empty; paintings hung everywhere, each depicting different scenes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hiding?” Franca pulled a mirror from her “Traveler’s Satchel.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She intended to divinate the danger level and use the mirrors inside and out to create a phantom of herself, hoping to lure Rosan into attacking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the spirit-like space sealed by the frozen storm, Jianna’s star-soul body had barely materialized when she immediately turned toward the translucent barrier near the deep darkness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rosan wasn’t there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Morne and other aberrant creatures were attacking the barrier, thinning it, causing the frozen storm to begin unraveling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jianna scanned the surroundings, up and down, still found no trace of Rosan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She sighed inwardly, drifted to the area under fierce assault, and conjured clusters of dangerous black flames and crystalline ice spikes around herself, hurling them outward to shatter many invaders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After holding the line for fifteen minutes, the creatures retreated into the darkness; the assault was fully repelled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon after, sunlight flooded the area, dissolving the frozen storm, drifting spirits, and phantom structures alike.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jianna’s star-soul body returned to her physical form.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Day had broken.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Franca had returned, her expression grim as she told Jianna:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I couldn’t find Rosan. She hid or left early.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Could she be hiding inside one of the paintings?” Jianna offered a swift possibility.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Franca shook her head:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I checked every painting. None showed an extra figure—but the self-portrait sketch you mentioned is gone.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“One painting depicts a bridge stretching from a cliff edge in the foreground across an invisible abyss to another cliff in the distance, where a black forest lies.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I suspect Rosan entered the painting, crossed the bridge, and escaped into the black forest. I can’t follow—and I have a strong sense of danger. That painting wasn’t painted by Rosan herself.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jianna was about to speak when suddenly she realized something:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We haven’t been kicked out of the dream yet!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And we’re not under any restrictions,” Franca said, having monitored this closely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She mused aloud:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Rosan was corrupted by the god of the Fantasy Society, not controlled by the Celestial Sovereign. That god might assist the Sovereign sometimes, but it has its own agenda—it won’t do everything for him.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It wants us to stay in the dream, to hinder the Sovereign when needed—so it concealed this?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s what Lumian said: the gods’ and the Sovereign’s interests sometimes align, sometimes clash,” Jianna agreed, then added, “Or perhaps Rosan hasn’t been fully corrupted, hasn’t fully fallen—she’s trying to handle us herself, without informing that god.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Struggle and resistance…” Franca sighed, then said, “Let’s wait a bit longer. See what happens.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After over an hour, the two witches watched Rosan leave Building Five, dressed in standard Intis Group administrative staff attire, heading off to work as if nothing had happened the night before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet neither Franca nor Jianna had been expelled from the dream, nor restricted in any way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“She must have hidden inside that bridge painting,” Franca said, lowering her gaze and nodding slightly. “I’ll send Lumian a message—tell him about last night and the risk of us being kicked out.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Won’t that risk dragging him out too?” Jianna worried that contacting Lumian now might leave a trace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Franca whispered with a faint smile:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t we have that little app Stiano gave us? ‘Information Shredder.’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I figured WeChat messages are still information—they should be shreddable, leaving no trace. I’ll shred the message I send; he’ll shred the one he receives.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m not sure the ‘Information Shredder’ can fully hide from the Sovereign’s unconscious search—but it’s worth trying. If it works, we’ll have more room to maneuver later.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jianna paused, then said:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Franca immediately composed a WeChat message, detailing Rosan’s probe, her and Jianna’s response, and the aftermath, ending with a reminder for Lumian to delete the chat history using the “Information Shredder.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…………\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the entrance of the Tech Tower.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lumian stood in the lobby, casually reading Franca’s message.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then he turned toward the first-floor public restroom, entered the men’s section, found a stall, and activated the “Virtuous Vial.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Immediately, he brought his phone to his lips and whispered:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You can conduct more probes. Franca should try arriving early to interact with Zhou Mingrui.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We can’t rely entirely on Rosan’s struggle or the Fantasy Society god’s selfish motives. In half a day or a day, they might change their minds—you must probe more now, gathering information for the second and third dream entries.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After sending the message, Lumian waited fifteen seconds before pulling up the “Information Shredder” app, selecting his chat logs with Franca and Jianna, and tapping delete.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having done so, he ended the “Virtuous Vial,” took the elevator to the Intis Group Security Department on the thirteenth floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After completing formalities, he was led into the department head’s office.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The office was large, equivalent to a private gym, complete with a boxing ring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The head, a foreigner with black hair and blue eyes, medium height, muscles appearing unimpressive yet radiating raw power.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His name was Green. According to the Major Arcana cards, he was once one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse who served Emperor Rosel, the most trusted of them. He died early, never seeing Rosel’s great achievements—this was his dream form.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Have you trained in martial arts?” Green asked in broken local accent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes,” Lumian nodded sincerely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then let’s spar,” Green said, pointing to the boxing ring on the opposite side of the office.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still not in uniform, Lumian didn’t refuse, stepping into the ring and waiting for Green.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Green shed his thin suit jacket, rolled up his sleeves, and stepped before Lumian.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, he threw a punch—the wind howled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lumian appeared careless, yet sidestepped as if he’d anticipated it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His back snapped, he closed the distance swiftly, unleashing a storm of elbow strikes, punches, knee thrusts, and toe kicks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Green held his guard tightly, his defense unbroken by Lumian’s rapid but insufficiently powerful blows.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thud! Thud! Thud! After dozens of seconds of relentless assault, Lumian suddenly stepped back, gasping, raising his hands in surrender:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m out of strength.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He couldn’t possibly knock out his department head on his first day—it wasn’t about workplace etiquette; he feared it would expose him as an extraordinary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Good,” Green nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He walked straight to his desk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he passed Lumian, he lowered his voice, as if afraid others in the office might hear:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Give my regards to Mother.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mother… Lumian’s pupils dilated sharply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Green added softly, immediately after:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ve recognized you, honored Son of God.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1515,"2026-06-20T06:22:37.987Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","c127be3ed7ca521725114a793b88c40bff61adcd0c61d2c5bc94e325ce96ba6b","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-944","the-ring-of-fate-chapter-942",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-ring-of-fate-cover.jpg"]