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

Chapter 1215: Chapter 1214: You’re Just Afraid of Failure

When Fang Zheng woke up, it was already the next morning.

”Hmm...”

Fang Zheng squinted his eyes and gently touched the little kitten in his arms. He vaguely remembered that he seemed to have had a dream last night, but Fang Zheng couldn’t quite recall the details of the dream.

Oh well, it’s probably nothing important.

Fang Zheng took a deep breath, picked up the little kitten and placed it beside him, then got up to wash up. As Fang Zheng walked out of the room, he saw Akemi Homura approaching from the side. Seeing Akemi Homura, Fang Zheng hurriedly called out to her.

”Homura, you came at just the right time.”

”Is there something you need, Mr. Fang Zheng?”

”Yes, go and notify everyone in the library to prepare. I have an experiment to conduct.”

”Experiment?”

”Exactly.”

In response to Akemi Homura’s inquiry, Fang Zheng nodded.

”I might have found a way to change the essence of magical girls in this world, but... I need to conduct an experiment to prove it.”

”Really?!”

Upon hearing this, Akemi Homura got excited. She turned around to leave but suddenly halted her steps. She glanced around and, after confirming that no one was nearby, she looked at Fang Zheng again.

”Mr. Fang Zheng, um... I mean, it would be great if you succeed, but what if you fail?”

”If I fail, then we’ll just conduct the experiment again.”

Fang Zheng gave a very calm answer.

”Nothing is achieved in just one step; with success comes failure. I hope I can succeed in one go, but unfortunately, there are many things that don’t go as we wish.”

”.......”

Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s response, Akemi Homura seemed somewhat puzzled. She lowered her head and asked with some doubt.

”This time... can we really defeat Witch’s Night?”

However, Fang Zheng didn’t immediately answer Akemi Homura’s question. Instead, he just crossed his arms, squinting his eyes at the girl before him.

”What? Do you think if you can’t win, you’ll want to run away and start over?”

”--------!!”

Fang Zheng’s tone wasn’t intense or stern, not even slightly; it was very calm. Yet, Akemi Homura felt as if she had been struck by a heavy blow, leaving her disoriented.

”No, I...”

”I can understand the idea of wanting to restart when you think you can’t win.”

Fang Zheng shrugged, looking at Akemi Homura in front of him.

”But if you keep avoiding, then it’s just weakness. Let’s do this, I’ll tell you a story.”

For some reason, Fang Zheng suddenly thought of Furutega Rika’s shadow.

”I once went to another world where a girl had the same ability as you. She also suffered greatly; her village had a mysterious epidemic. That girl was rumored to be the ’Motherbody’ of the epidemic and was secretly studied. The village had a festival called the Cotton Flow Festival, and each year during this festival, someone in the village would die, and even the girl lost her parents and lived with another child in the village. But in June of that year, she, along with her friends and everyone in the village, would die.”

”Eh?”

Hearing this, Akemi Homura widened her eyes in surprise.

”Die...?”

”Yes, the girl’s ability was that every time she died, she would be reborn, returning before that June. Similar to your ability, right? But unlike you, she didn’t have the power to manipulate time. Apart from her rebirth after dying, she had no other powers; she was just a powerless eleven- or twelve-year-old girl.”

As he spoke, Fang Zheng sighed.

”She also hoped to escape this cycle, to survive past this endless June, grow up happily with her friends and the village. But despite trying countless times, she had no success. She didn’t even know who killed her, who killed the whole village. All kinds of false information and rumors made it impossible for this twelve-year-old child to learn the truth. She repeatedly tried investigating for answers but failed and was killed.”

At this point, Fang Zheng looked at Akemi Homura again.

”Can you imagine that pain?”

”.........”

Akemi Homura certainly could imagine it; if she hadn’t become a magical girl, she might have been just like that girl.

”In the end, did that child succeed?”

”Yes, we found the culprit and successfully thwarted their plan. Now the child is enjoying happy times in her world with her friends.”

Fang Zheng reached out and patted Akemi Homura’s shoulder.

”I can understand your thinking; without a hundred percent certainty, any final battle against the boss can fail. But Homura, you must know, there’s inherently no hundred percent certainty in this world. What we can do is our best and... leave the rest to fate.”

”Fate...?”

”Indeed, there’s a saying in my hometown: ’Man proposes, God disposes.’ But think about it; if you’ve done everything you can, shouldn’t you deserve a good outcome?”

Fang Zheng reached out, held Akemi Homura’s shoulder, and forced her to look at him.

”Lift your head, look at me, Homura. Your ability is strong, but once you encounter difficulties, you escape immediately—this is your bad habit. No matter how much you avoid, you must face it! If you continue with this mindset, even if you cycle through a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand times, you’ll still lose!”

”I.......”

Faced with Fang Zheng’s words, Akemi Homura was dumbfounded, unable to utter a single word.

”Am I wrong? You told me before that no one believes you, so you stopped speaking, stopped relying on anyone, and just fought alone. Isn’t that just avoidance?! Hmm? This time around, others won’t believe you, so you’re sure they won’t believe you in other timelines? Why not try to prove it to them, make them your friends, your allies? Why not tell Kyoko about QB directly, warn her against contracting, instead of silently protecting her? If you cycle through a hundred times, try each time, wouldn’t there be once when Kyoko believes you?”

At this moment, Fang Zheng coldly stared at Akemi Homura.

”Homura... do you really want to change your fate? Didn’t your actions just keep you eternally trapped in this cycle? You’re tired of failure, fear failure, and want to avoid it, but it’s still here! It won’t disappear because of your cycles. Open your eyes and see! How many times have you repeated this? Yet Witch’s Night still stands before you. Do you want to continue avoiding it?!”

”Stop it...”

”You’re just avoiding. You think persuading others is troublesome since they won’t believe you anyway, you think Kyoko won’t believe you, no one will, so you’ve given up. You think leaving everything to yourself, but do you really believe you’re all-knowing or omnipotent? You’ve failed so many times, haven’t you figured out reality? Why do you fail? Aren’t you really sure about it?”

”Just stop it!!”

This time, Akemi Homura couldn’t bear it anymore and yelled, then she desperately broke free from Fang Zheng and disappeared before his eyes.

”Teacher...?”

At that moment, Fate poked her head from the side, looking at him with some unease.

”Are you okay?”

”Fate, did you hear it all?”

”Yes...”

Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s inquiry, Fate nodded obediently, then hesitated and spoke.

”Um... Teacher, isn’t it a bit too strict for Sister Homura?”

”She needs someone to awaken her; otherwise, she’ll remain trapped in that solitary indulgence without escape.”

Fang Zheng shook his head, sighed, and looked at Fate.

”Honestly, sometimes I wish Nanoha would blast her with a shot; maybe it would help that girl calm down.”

”Haha......”

Hearing this, Fate showed a complex smile on her face, unsure of what to say.

”Forget it, I’m just joking. By the way, go notify everyone to gather after breakfast, saying I have something important to discuss.”

”Alright, Teacher.”