Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 648: Chapter 647: This month’s firewood list has been decided!

Time paradoxes are terrifying things.

As a Time Dragon, as a Prophet Mage, Fang Zheng had always been deeply concerned about this issue. At present, the time paradox that Kurumi was facing was similarly terrifying.

Kurumi wanted to kill Mio Suginomiya before she created any spirits, but Fang Zheng doubted she had any chance of success. Although Kurumi’s power was indeed tremendous, if Mio Suginomiya had granted her this strength, wouldn’t she have some way to counter it? In Kurumi’s memories, she had rarely seen Mio Suginomiya take action because, apart from the first time when Mio Suginomiya saved her, the battles afterward mostly involved her setting up barriers or handling other auxiliary tasks such as aftermath management.

Under these circumstances, it was easy for Kurumi to believe that Mio Suginomiya lacked combat ability.

But the truth was obviously not the case, because after Kurumi discovered Mio Suginomiya’s secret, she was instantly ”killed” by Mio Suginomiya.

Of course, Kurumi might think that Mio Suginomiya’s victory was not honorable, as at that time Kurumi was completely in shock, and even an ordinary person might have had the chance to harm her. If it was a fair fight, then Kurumi still believed she had a chance to win.

However, Fang Zheng didn’t think so. As cruel as it was, in his opinion, Kurumi had almost no chance of defeating the woman named Mio Suginomiya.

So, a problem arose. If Kurumi couldn’t defeat Mio Suginomiya, then her actions of going back to the past to assassinate Mio Suginomiya were not just a futile attempt to feed herself to the enemy. Based on the cyclical and continuous nature of time, it was even possible that the one who set Mio Suginomiya on this path was Kurumi herself!

It could be that Mio Suginomiya had learned from Kurumi about what she ”would do” in the future, and hence the idea was born! In the end, she killed Kurumi who had returned to the past, took her Spirit Crystal, and using the content told by Kurumi and her Spirit Crystal as a prototype, began the ”refinement” and ”recycling” of the Spirit Crystals, until one day she met the past Kurumi and handed her this Spirit Crystal from the future...

Thus, the world fell into a closed time loop.

No one could escape.

”Ah... Ahhh... Aaaah...”

At this moment, Kurumi clearly realized this too, as she stared at her hands with eyes wide open, emitting an almost wailing low moan. Then the next moment, Kurumi suddenly knelt on the ground, her hands starting to rip her own clothes!

”Ah... Ahhhhhh!!”

At this moment, Fang Zheng could clearly feel an evil, dark force bursting from the body of the girl before him, very similar to the feeling of being corrupted by the Abyss, a sign of the dark side of humanity rising.

Fortunately, Fang Zheng was prepared.

As Kurumi erupted, Fang Zheng quickly stepped forward, picked up the firearm Kurumi had dropped on the ground, aimed at the Kurumi before him and pulled the trigger.

”Bang!!”

Kurumi, struck by the Fourth Bullet, stopped moving. At the same time, her torn clothes and the wounds on her skin also began to heal in reverse, like time flowing backwards. After a moment, Kurumi finally calmed down.

”... Thank you, Mr. Fang Zheng...”

”You’re welcome... Have you calmed down?”

While speaking, Fang Zheng handed Kurumi a glass of water. He could understand her despair and breakdown, as returning to the past to end it all was Kurumi’s greatest wish. Perhaps due to her excessive obsession, Kurumi had failed to notice the biggest flaw and problem with her plan. Fortunately, with Fang Zheng’s reminder, she had now realized it. Otherwise, once she returned to the past and discovered that she was actually the prime culprit behind all this... that might be the true despair.

”...”

Kurumi didn’t speak, she reached out to take the glass of water, greedily drank all its content, then closed her eyes. On that exquisite and beautiful face, an uncontrollable sadness and fear emerged.

”Thank you... Mr. Fang Zheng, without your reminder, I fear I would not have noticed this flaw. But now... now... I cannot stop anymore.”

Having said this, Kurumi clenched her fists.

”This is my sorrowful wish, after that day, everything I did was for this wish. I admit, I’m terrified and scared. If it really turns out that way, then everything I’ve done will not only fail to prevent this tragedy, but it might actually be the trigger for it all... But... But it’s still not the fact!”

Kurumi opened her eyes, her gaze filled with unwavering determination.

”Even if there’s only a 0.1% chance, I will try!”

”I admire your resolve.”

Watching Kurumi gather her spirits once again, Fang Zheng also let out a sigh of relief.

”However, to be honest, your plan has too many holes that need to be filled. If you’re willing, I can help you.”

”......Why would you help me?”

Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s words, Kurumi looked up, curiously staring at him.

”You should understand that this is not a simple matter, and moreover...as you said, my understanding of Mio Suginomiya is still too shallow. If what you’re worried about is correct, this world is a time loop of death, then if I go alone, I will die, and if we all go, we will die just the same......”

”It’s different, Miss Kurumi.”

Hearing Kurumi’s query, Fang Zheng shook his head.

”I do not belong to this world, the cycles of this world cannot bind me, so I think I should be able to offer you some help. More importantly, what Mio Suginomiya has done is beyond what I can accept. I believe I have the responsibility to stop all of these tragedies from happening.”

What Fang Zheng said was also true. On the surface, Tokisaki Kurumi and Mio Suginomiya seemed quite similar; they were both willing to do anything to achieve their goals, even if it meant sacrificing the lives of others.

But there were also differences between the two.

Fang Zheng had investigated, and those killed by Tokisaki Kurumi mostly had criminal records. That is to say, maybe they weren’t all utterly irredeemable criminals, but they certainly weren’t good people. Connecting their identities, Fang Zheng could more or less guess under what circumstances Tokisaki Kurumi had killed these people.

As Fang Zheng had previously said to Mana Suginomiya, if Kurumi simply craved slaughter or absorbing power, she could have easily just run into a bustling city area and unleashed her full might. Especially after understanding the nature of Kurumi’s ”City of Time-Eaters” skill, Fang Zheng was more convinced that if Kurumi wanted to absorb enough Power of Time, she didn’t need to be so selective—she could have just chosen any crowded hospital, school, or other public place to open her City of Time-Eaters and would have been able to absorb plenty of the Power of Time.

However, even so, Kurumi did not choose to do this, and that was one of the reasons why Fang Zheng could accept her. If Tokisaki Kurumi had been a murderer willing to kill even babies to achieve her goals, then even if Fang Zheng really wanted to have her, he would ultimately have turned her into firewood.

Mio Suginomiya, on the other hand, was the opposite.

She could truly be described as unscrupulous in achieving her goals, and from the previous encounters Kurumi had with her, it appeared that Mio Suginomiya was selective about her targets...but the targets she chose were unacceptable to Fang Zheng.

Because Mio Suginomiya selected victims like Kurumi and Yoshino—girls who were naive and innocent like Kurumi, who was originally just an ordinary young lady, who had never done anything to incur the wrath of heaven and people, nor had she ever bullied anyone. She was just living her quiet, peaceful daily life, but it was this stable life that Mio Suginomiya ruthlessly destroyed.

Fang Zheng didn’t know what Yoshino was like before, but judging from her character, it was unlikely that the pre-Elf Yoshino was a bad person deserving punishment.

But Mio Suginomiya, for her own purposes, led these girls’ fates into the bottomless Abyss.

This was something Fang Zheng could not accept.

And what’s more important...

”You are my property now, Miss Kurumi. You cannot waste or ruin your life without my permission.”

”Huhuhu......”

Hearing Fang Zheng’s words, Kurumi couldn’t help but laugh.

”Really, Mr. Fang Zheng, if you sweet-talk me a bit more, you might just conquer my heart. But why must you say that at this time?”

”I’m only stating the plain truth.”

Facing Kurumi’s dissatisfied reproach, Fang Zheng shrugged his shoulders, but he could also see that since Kurumi was in the mood to joke around, it meant she was gradually recovering.

And at the same time, Fang Zheng had found his own objective in this world.

The firewood list for this month has been decided!

Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m fr𝒆ewebnove(l).com