Chapter 1377: 1377 Another Me Across the Worlds

In this timeline, Rita had also participated in the [Card Swap] game. During the Divine Game in fifth grade, she even managed to return temporarily to BS.

But she never made it back again.

She died alongside the other BS players during that final war.

Just hearing about it was enough to piss Rita off.

She let out a long sigh and was about to leave when Nivalis, who had run over to inspect Maple Syrup up close, suddenly waved excitedly at her.

"Come look! Did she turn you into a cookie?!"

Rita instantly appeared beside Forest Sea Maple Syrup and followed Nivalis’s claw.

Sure enough, hanging around Maple Syrup’s neck was a little black-haired cookie figure.

[Failed BS Rita Cookie] (Souvenir)

Rita: "...What is wrong with you, Maple Syrup?"

Not long after leaving that timeline, Rita found Snowland in another one.

So Mistblade had succeeded once too.

In this timeline, the final fragment of Snowland had drifted into BS.

Rita found Mistblade’s palace deep within Misttail Clan territory.

Mistblade sat alone upon a throne, resting her chin against one hand while silently staring at the mahjong tiles before her.

Rita walked over and casually sat on the armrest beside her, glancing down at the hand.

Pretty good.

She was only one tile away from a Full Flush.

Then why was she sitting there looking like the world was ending?

At that moment, B80 appeared on Rita’s shoulder holding a tiny tablet.

"I found the information for this timeline. Want to hear it?"

"Go ahead."

"In this timeline, you were originally one of BS’s leaders. BS Zoey was too. You entered Divine Game together."

"You also participated in [Card Swap]. You, Mistblade, Maple Syrup, and Fat Goose all became friends at Moonlight Marsh."

"But later, Mistblade and Maple Syrup regained their memories too..."

Rita’s sleeve brushed across Mistblade’s cheek as she casually discarded a useless tile from the table.

"And then?"

B80 continued.

"In this timeline, BS Rita never managed to return to BS midway through."

"[Card Swap] was the most special game. As long as GodDraw77 never appeared, the flow of time inside the game remained different from the outside world."

"One year inside the game only equaled one day outside."

"All participating players became trapped inside the game, slowly growing up together. They could only return once a world outside was destroyed."

Rita could already imagine exactly what happened.

B80 continued happily.

"Mistblade and Maple Syrup prevented anyone from obtaining GodDraw77."

"And then you all grew up together... until BS was destroyed."

Rita sighed deeply.

"Where’s the Rita from this timeline now?"

"Went to Dawn."

"BS Zoey went to Tiger Ear."

"You two swore to drown Snowland and Lania Kaia in blood."

...How exactly did such detailed stories spread around?

Was somebody hiding under her bed listening?

Rita thought it, then asked it aloud.

B80 explained immediately.

"Ah, detailed? There are actually a bunch of versions floating around. But this one’s the most popular."

Rita: "...Then why are there so many humans in Snowland?"

"Mistblade got a temporary chance to recover her memories and contact the outside world during the game. She told Flowering Edge to protect as many humans as possible and relocate them to Snowland."

Rita fell silent for a long moment before changing the subject.

"What about Lightchaser and Cinders?"

B80 replied cheerfully.

"They still left Isolated Isle to look for you because they realized something was wrong."

Two rebellious teenagers.

Ran away from home again.

Rita asked another question.

"Did you find the version of yourself from this timeline?"

Every time they entered a new timeline, B80 loved searching the abandoned zones for itself.

Sometimes it found itself.

Sometimes it did not.

But one thing never changed.

If B80 was not trapped in the abandoned zones, then it was always beside the BS Rita of that timeline.

B80’s tone became especially bright.

"Found it. Still stuck in the abandoned zone because you never came."

It liked these two completely unsurprising outcomes.

Because if no unexpected choices appeared, then BS Rita remained its only choice.

Unlike Nivalis...

Always getting stolen by this person or that person.

And none of them could actually protect her.

In the end, she always died and returned crying to Dragon Island and Holy Cup’s arms.

Rita loved discovering these alternate possibilities.

And the things that never changed no matter the timeline.

For example, You Are Me endlessly waiting for a Deceitful Bloom who would never come.

Or Cicada refusing to rebuild Beacon under any circumstance.

Were Vineborne simply born stubborn?

Then there was Quex.

Again and again betraying Midsummer.

Why could she never truly harden her heart?

Quex always did so much for Midsummer. Yet in the end, she was always the one who walked away.

Did soft-hearted people simply surrender first every single time?

As long as Quex became a leader, and as long as she discovered that shortcut capable of rapidly strengthening the Celestialkin, every path eventually led to the same conclusion.

Rita searched for a very long time before finally finding a different Quex.

In this timeline, Quex chose silence after discovering the method.

She threw herself into Divine Game even harder than before, fighting for rankings and evolution progress for her people.

But eventually, rumors still spread.

"Midsummer Quex wants Celestialkin to give their bonded elements to players with greater talent."

B80 laid out all the evidence it had uncovered.

"I used a skill to investigate this."

"But those players died not long after Quex left Midsummer."

So from the very beginning, this problem had never really had a solution.

The best path for Midsummer Quex had always been becoming a lone powerhouse like Rita herself, rather than involving herself in politics and factional struggles too early.

Rita asked one more question.

"What level of skill uncovered this?"

"Only an A-rank skill."

"It was easy to find."

"Not some huge conspiracy."

"Maybe because they knew Quex wouldn’t get angry even if she discovered the truth herself, so nobody bothered cleaning up the evidence."

Then the Quex of this timeline should have been able to discover the truth easily too.

Rita expanded her awareness across the entire timeline.

Eventually, she found Quex at Mountain Isles.

She had been assigned to a small island and was currently sitting quietly by the shore watching the sunrise.

In this world, Frenzied Shark never slaughtered his own people.

The world that invaded Mountain Isles had been another relatively average world instead.

The war remained brutal, but not enough to completely break the Sharkfin Clan.

They managed to push back the invasion while teetering right at the limit of despair.

And somehow...

They survived.

Frenzied Shark traveled everywhere searching for wanderers like Quex, paying enormous prices to recruit them to work at Mountain Isles.

Those Sharkfin Clan members unwilling to fight became life-skill players instead, supporting the warriors through powerful crafting skills and incredible agricultural techniques.

Anything extra got handed over to Frenzied Shark, who traveled between worlds as a merchant to exchange goods.

Then Frenzied Shark diligently worked every Divine Game like a laborer.

Every single time, he carefully invaded only worlds that Mountain Isles could absolutely defeat, filling the invasion slots before stronger worlds could descend first.

He refused to ever fight an uphill battle.

This tightrope strategy somehow carried Mountain Isles all the way to the present.

The only side effect was that Frenzied Shark’s hair had begun falling out in terrifying amounts.

The Frenzied Shark of this timeline had shaved his head into a buzz cut.

Even so, the balding was still painfully obvious.