Chapter 1385 Starsea, and Also Quiet Mountain

Ten thousand worlds.

Ten thousand paintings.

Rita painted aboard Cat’s Ideal year after year.

When she completed the thousandth piece, World Sigh finally seemed to acknowledge the existence of the artwork.

Every time she finished a puzzle fragment, pages would begin turning rapidly inside Rita’s consciousness.

If she opened the first page of the book, the completed painting fragment on the desk, each roughly twenty centimeters wide, would shrink automatically and drift toward World Sigh before fitting perfectly into its designated position.

Even with only one tenth completed, everyone who witnessed the illustration being absorbed into the book would unconsciously stop walking.

Starsea players.

Quiet Mountain players.

Starsea gods.

Quiet Mountain gods.

All of them paused for this painting.

Because this illustration was Starsea.

And also Quiet Mountain.

The Cat’s Ideal floating within the painting carried the scattered worlds of Starsea in chaotic suspension, yet the background behind it belonged entirely to Quiet Mountain.

Above the ship stretched Quiet Mountain’s calm night sky.

In the distance drifted soft curls of Hearthsmoke.

Below lay Quiet Mountain’s black earth.

As another puzzle fragment floated into World Sigh and merged seamlessly with the rest, QM Rita, who had been silently standing behind Rita for quite some time, suddenly spoke.

"I thought you would kill Zoey and Sanchez."

The abruptness of the question caught Rita slightly off guard.

She turned to look at QM Rita.

After separating from divine blessing, QM Rita had recovered all the memories Rita possessed before being copied by Quiet Mountain.

Even if QM Rita no longer considered herself the same person as Rita, BS’s grudges should still have mattered to her.

But why ask now, after all this time?

Then Rita immediately understood what QM Rita was really asking.

She had mentioned Zoey and Sanchez.

But she was also asking about Lania Kaia.

And Quiet Mountain itself.

Rita saw the confusion, frustration, and resentment hidden deep in QM Rita’s eyes.

She laughed softly.

"Looks like you really don’t understand BS players."

QM Rita’s gaze sharpened slightly.

"What do you mean?"

Time froze.

Only the two of them remained capable of moving.

Rita glanced toward the nearby lecture area where Mistblade, Wither, and the others were teaching classes before calmly saying,

"The war may be over, but I’ve still been transporting BS players to Lania Kaia so they can grind levels."

"Lania Kaia Wither agreed to it too."

"The official explanation is that BS lacks dungeons while Lania Kaia suffered heavy losses from Dawn’s invasion. Sending BS players there helps both sides."

"But do you know what that actually means?"

"It means we’ve both silently permitted BS players to take revenge personally inside Lania Kaia."

"I can’t just massacre an entire city in Lania Kaia."

"And Lania Kaia Wither can’t simply hand over every player who invaded BS during the war."

"So this is the best solution."

"Most players genuinely want peace."

"Of course I could personally go to Lania Kaia and slaughter people to my heart’s content."

"But it wouldn’t improve anything."

"It would only force all the players longing for peace to live in fear that war could return at any moment."

"And most importantly..."

Rita smiled faintly.

"What could possibly feel better than taking revenge with your own hands?"

"It’s not just Lania Kaia either."

"The moon foxes and owlfolk living in BS are treated the same way."

"Outwardly, we maintain peace."

"But privately, players settle blood debts themselves."

"You should trust the spirit of BS players."

"And you should trust their capabilities too."

As Adjudicator, the only thing she needed to do was help BS players grow stronger faster.

Then use Lania Kaia’s compensation to push them even further.

"As for Quiet Mountain..."

Rita’s tone shifted slightly.

"My revenge is dragging all of you into the grave alongside Starsea."

Most of the thorns around QM Rita vanished.

She lowered her eyes, thick lashes hiding the emotions beneath them.

Still unwilling to let it go, she asked quietly,

"What about Zoey and Sanchez?"

"I already got my revenge."

"They’re still alive."

"And they’re living perfectly well!!"

"I already got my revenge."

Rita answered seriously.

"I delivered my revenge."

"They survived because of their own efforts and because they paid the necessary price."

"Not because I suddenly became merciful."

As though recalling something amusing, Rita laughed softly for quite a while before continuing.

"If those two ever heard someone say I spared them out of kindness, they probably wouldn’t feel grateful."

"They’d feel humiliated."

QM Rita lowered her voice.

"We really are different people."

Rita remembered something QQM Lynx Duke once said.

"We just chose different paths at a certain point."

"You’re simply another possibility of me."

QM Rita accepted that answer.

"I can’t look at grudges and emotions as calmly as you do."

"Just like I can’t understand how you were trying to kill Deceitful Bloom before, yet now the two of you stand around chatting and laughing together."

Oh?

Rita immediately counterattacked.

"And you’re any better?"

"You used to beat Quiet Mountain Cicada half to death."

"But when you saved her, you practically almost activated your ultimate skill."

"..."

QM Rita choked on that for several seconds before stiffly replying,

"That’s different."

Rita continued mercilessly,

"And Quiet Mountain Mistblade and Quiet Mountain Maple Syrup wrote down every terrible thing you ever did in their diaries."

QM Rita: "..."

The two stared at each other silently for quite a while, cursing each other entirely through eye contact.

When time resumed flowing normally again, QM Rita turned and left immediately.

Rita shook her head helplessly.

Why did everyone she know act so immature?

"You paused time again just to argue one on one with someone, didn’t you?"

Lightchaser asked from nearby while waiting for Lynx Duke’s coffin opening time.

Rita shot back immediately,

"That’s because certain people insist on making me angry."

Lightchaser snorted.

"I genuinely can’t imagine anyone in this world better at pissing people off than you."

Rita replied coldly,

"Keep talking and I won’t take you to class anymore."

Lightchaser: "..."

There it was.

The illustration included every world.

Even The Mechanoids’ abandoned district appeared within it.

Yet Isolated Isle was nowhere to be found.

It was a paradise untouched by war.

A relic left behind by the previous era.

This world held no sigh within the current epoch.

Still, Lightchaser and Cinders frequently came to watch Rita paint.

Neither teacher ever said anything aloud, but Rita understood their expressions perfectly.

Or more accurately, neither of them had even tried to hide it.

Their eyes practically screamed at their student:

"We want one too!"

So Rita eventually took time to create a separate painting dedicated solely to Isolated Isle.

Though it had nothing to do with Moonlight Marsh.

Instead, she painted the lakeside beneath the bridge.

Under the bridge stood a small shining owlfolk beside a campfire, meeting the cold-faced elf for the first time.

Above the bridge walked a moonbear with a little snowman sitting on its shoulder.

Their reflections stretched across the lake below, standing back to back with the small owlfolk beside the shore.

A tiny boat floated quietly atop the water.

Rita named the painting Brilliant Imagination.

Pointing at the moonbear carrying the little snowman on the bridge, she smiled brightly at Cinders.

"In one timeline’s Card Swap game..."

"You were the one who picked me up."

"And in that timeline, I told a fairy tale during GodDraw77 called Spring Moonbear."

"That sounds beautiful."

"Yeah."