Chapter 1393: 1393 You Hate Betrayal So Much

Rita tried to pause this timeline.

However, just like when she previously attempted to load L12185511, she failed.

Just as the earlier notification had warned, the old master of this galaxy had begun awakening.

The portion of authority she had seized was no longer enough to contend against it.

But what about the other timelines?

Yet when she checked the others, the situation was exactly the same.

Every small Order Clock and every Mechanoid had disappeared.

She had really dragged the final boss out early this time...

With a grave expression, Rita returned to BS.

The moment she entered the palace, she sensed people inside.

The living room was packed.

Aside from Shadow.Q, everyone B80 had named earlier was seated there.

A few people who had not been named had come too. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Smoke Tune, Pine Bloom, Quex, Fat Goose, Prayer...

Even Boiling Orange and Ashveil were there.

The two of them finally no longer needed to lurk in the shadows.

Only now did Rita realize something.

When B80 had called everyone out earlier, it had even arranged their names alphabetically...

Was this some kind of BS virus it caught while connected to the BS network researching her past?

The thought almost made her laugh.

But in the next second, B80’s accusations echoed in her mind again.

Those voices froze the smile before it could fully form.

She found a sofa and sat down.

"So you’re all here."

Deceitful Bloom glanced over.

"What did you do?"

How had everyone barely received three days to prepare before she managed to provoke the old order awake herself?

No one present doubted it was Rita’s doing.

Only she had the ability to cause something like this.

That was also why everyone had instinctively gathered at her home the moment things changed.

Deceitful Bloom knew the most, and she had noticed something wrong first.

Her brows furrowed slightly.

"Where’s B80?"

Rita opened her mouth.

A few seconds later, she closed it again.

A thousand thoughts condensed into a single sentence.

"B80 is connected to the old order..."

Even she herself was still confused.

Nivalis clung tightly to Rita’s shoulder and refused to move.

She was reflecting deeply.

It was all because she had spent too much time having fun recently that B80 found an opening.

Fine, revealing your true identity was one thing.

But why stir up discord too?!

The "3" in 8017913...

So it was the "three" in third wheel?!

Everyone in the room stared at Rita.

Fat Goose even grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds.

"Tell us. Hurry up and tell us."

Rita: "..."

Everyone here was intelligent.

Rita also wanted their help analyzing things.

So she explained all the suspicions she and Deceitful Bloom had discussed previously, along with everything that happened today.

The more she spoke, the wider everyone’s eyes became.

By the time she repeated B80’s line:

"I will prove to you that a perfect and eternal program is far more reliable than ever changing emotion."

Fat Goose had stopped eating sunflower seeds entirely.

Deceitful Bloom snorted twice.

"Knew this would happen sooner or later."

Foolishness asked,

"Did it learn this from you?"

Deceitful Bloom: "???"

Lightchaser immediately stabbed in another hit.

"Definitely."

Cinders added,

"Probably born that way. It was already like this back in Moonlight Marsh."

Rita pinched the bridge of her nose.

Her head hurt.

"Is that really the important part?"

"Of course," Mistblade said.

"We’re analyzing how far it’s willing to go for you."

"And what it’s willing to give up."

Rita’s gaze fell onto the open World Sigh in her hands.

Onto the Scrap Heap illustration in the lower right corner.

She said seriously,

"I don’t need it to do anything for me."

She could not trust B80.

She did not need B80’s loyalty.

She would never place her hopes on B80, or on any living being.

She was loyal to herself.

And she hoped every being around her would remain loyal to themselves too.

The sight of her lowering her head made everyone quietly shift the topic back to the Mechanoids.

For example:

How far back could the first Mechanoids be traced?

Who had originally taught everyone about them?

Who established the rule that emotionally awakened Mechanoids must be discarded into the Scrap Heap?

And perhaps most importantly...

B80’s transformation.

Was it because it was the core of the order itself?

Or because some hidden program had activated after receiving enough stimulation, allowing it to instantly calculate and reclaim all scattered programs and components?

More and more people were called in as the discussion continued.

The drummer.

Bitter Chalice.

Hearthsmoke.

The captain.

And others.

The discussion only began showing signs of ending around midnight.

Rita gently closed the World Sigh in her hands, signaling the discussion’s conclusion.

"I’ll organize the information we currently have and send it to all players."

"Tomorrow evening at six, I’ll begin the Adjudicator Game early."

"We’re returning to the First Epoch."

"How?" Deceitful Bloom asked curiously.

"So you’ve finally figured it out?"

"Game invasion."

"What does that mean?"

"We’ll invade the First Epoch in the form of a game."

"Just like how the game originally descended upon our world."

...

That night, Rita lay on the palace rooftop.

World Sigh rested beneath her head like a pillow.

She was enjoying what might be the final peaceful night.

"You hate betrayal so much. Why don’t you want loyalty?"

Deceitful Bloom’s voice sounded behind her.

"It’s a form of restraint. I don’t like it."

"Really?"

"Seems more like you’re afraid of losing control."

Deceitful Bloom bent slightly at the waist with her hands behind her back.

Her face blocked Rita’s view.

Moonlight illuminated the silver hair falling beside her ears.

The glowing silver strands made the dangerous smile on her lips especially clear.

"Because if everyone remains loyal to themselves, you can predict their behavior through their obsessions, circumstances, interests, personalities, and dreams."

"But if they become loyal to you, they become impossible to predict."

"Because the process of giving loyalty is filled with uncertainty."

"It’s not that you don’t want loyalty."

"You just don’t know how to deal with it."

"Am I wrong?"

Rita forcefully brushed away the silver hair dangling near her nose.

A cold smile curved her lips.

In a gentle voice, she replied,

"Just like Byme with you, isn’t it?"

The two of them dissected each other while hurting each other in turn.

Over the past hundred years, this had become a regular occurrence.

Knowing each other’s pasts meant they could never pretend not to understand one another.

And the more deeply they understood, the deeper and more precise the wounds they inflicted became.