A Way to Break the Deadlock

"Soundproof Barrier." Zi Xu activated the Demon Power within him. A wave of silence spread outward from him, enveloping both himself and the noodle shop owner. The noisy singing, dancing, and laughter around them vanished. Inside the barrier, only Zi Xu and the owner could make a sound. Outside, the festivities continued as before; within, only the owner's greeting remained.

"Young man, want some ramen? Fresh out of the pot. It's delicious..."

The owner still wore a welcoming smile, fixed in place like a mask that had been there for a thousand years. It looked perfectly normal, but the longer Zi Xu stared, the more unsettling it became. It was like seeing a smiling mural or a Terracotta Warrior in a museum, its gaze seeming to follow you.

Yet Zi Xu could sense a slight change in him, as if he were struggling to resist something. His words came in fits and starts, like a scratched recording. Not long after this bizarre phenomenon began, he finally said something different from his usual line. Though his speech still stuttered, at least Zi Xu could understand him.

"Green Tuan... pastries... Yuan Xiao... headliner... Chicken Soup is delicious... sand isn't good to eat, pour oil... chrysanthemum..." The owner struggled to get the words out. For a brief moment, the smile on his face finally faltered. His full cheeks grew gaunt, and his smiling eyes sank into dry hollows, each large enough to hold a steamed bun. His once-ruddy skin turned dry and yellow, like a shattered porcelain figurine carelessly pieced back together by its owner. Zi Xu couldn't find words to describe the eerie sight. If he had to compare it to something, it was like playing a big-budget game when the graphics suddenly dropped to an eight-bit console's quality—or like the woman across from you, whom you'd been chatting with so happily, suddenly turning into a monster covered in tentacles.

After speaking, the man fell completely silent, as if a game bug had caused the system to delete him. But before long, he returned to his original expression and tone, asking again:

"Young man, want some ramen? Fresh out of the pot. It's delicious..."

After lowering the Soundproof Barrier, Zi Xu gave the noodle shop owner a long look. He didn't know whether the man had offered him those clues out of goodwill, but he would remember the owner's help—if the owner was truly alive.

"Green Tuan, pastries, Yuan Xiao, headliner, Chicken Soup, sand, pour oil, chrysanthemum..." Zi Xu furrowed his brow and stroked his chin with his left hand as he tried to work out what the words meant. Perhaps the owner could only convey information through words that fit his role. Most of them were at least somewhat related to his job. At this point, Zi Xu couldn't ignore what was happening here. It seemed he would have to solve the problem before he could find a way out.

"Hey, do you sell anything else here? Like Green Tuan or Yuan Xiao?" Zi Xu turned to the people trying to sell him food, his eyes moving between the items in their hands. He didn't see any of the foods the owner had mentioned. They reacted to his question, but all they did was shake their heads and continue hawking their wares, like NPCs following fixed behavioral rules. They seemed to respond only to certain words and actions.

After asking all the nearby vendors, Zi Xu found that none of them sold those foods. A few did sell Yuan Xiao, of course, but there was nothing unusual about it. To be safe, he would rather go hungry than risk trying it and finding out whether it was poisonous.

"Wait. If I were unable to speak, how would I pass on information? Through other meanings of words? That'd be too slow..." Just as Zi Xu was feeling discouraged, a sudden flash of inspiration revealed a blind spot in his investigation. He began thinking according to the other person's logic, and soon noticed clues he had previously overlooked.

"Silence." Zi Xu filled the surrounding area with Silent Power. Without the cacophony, his thoughts grew clearer, and he continued analyzing the problem.

"The quickest way to pass on information... Language follows the principle of economy. You should express the most relevant meaning in the fewest words. The best method would be through speech sounds... Speech sounds? Syllables are their basic units and units of spoken language that convey meaning. They're also the carrier units of morphemes, the smallest meaningful units in a language..." Zi Xu was grateful for the linguistics courses he'd taken at university. He'd forgotten most of the material by now, but still had a general impression.

"Then it's simple. It must be an acrostic based on the sounds. Green Tuan, pastries, Yuan Xiao, headliner, Chicken Soup, sand, pour oil, chrysanthemum. Take the first sound of each... qing, dian, yuan, tou, ji, sha, po, ju."

"Qing-dian-yuan-tou-ji-sha-po-ju? Rearranged, that means... 'celebration's source, kill, break the deadlock!'" The answer dawned on Zi Xu, and the fog before him began to lift. Some things still didn't add up, but at least he had a goal now. Whether the owner was telling the truth or not, he had to try.

"Snap." Zi Xu snapped his fingers and deactivated his ability. Then he began asking questions in the way people here seemed to expect.

"Hey, what are we doing? Why are we singing and dancing? Are we celebrating something?" Zi Xu joined the dancers, clapping along and smiling as if he'd been swept up in the festivities.

At last, the people around him were no longer as numb as wooden puppets. It was as if he'd triggered a keyword: their expressions suddenly came alive, and they stopped making meaningless sounds of merriment. A white-haired old man with a long beard turned to explain:

"This festival is being held to celebrate the blessings of Lady Tagorihime. We're all celebrating her of our own free will. Look at everything around you: fresh food and water, a prosperous and peaceful life, a life without worries. It was all bestowed upon us by Lady Tagorihime. Of course we should celebrate her." Though the old man was advanced in years, his face lit up when he spoke of this Lady Tagorihime, and his voice brimmed with gratitude and pride. Even his formerly stooped back straightened.

"Oh? So this festival is being held specifically for Lady Tagorihime? The source of the celebration... Right, where is Lady Tagorihime now? I want so badly to meet her. If I can't thank her in person, I'll regret it for the rest of my life..." Having confirmed that Lady Tagorihime was the source of everything, Zi Xu wanted to get close to her and find a way to kill her. It was the simplest approach—assuming he could defeat this Lady Tagorihime.

The old man's eyes suddenly turned razor-sharp, like a real blade piercing straight into Zi Xu's heart as their gazes met. Zi Xu felt as though there was nowhere to hide, as if the old man could see right through him. After a moment, the feeling slowly faded, and the old man's gaze returned to normal, as though the man who had just looked at Zi Xu hadn't been him at all.

"Young man, you don't believe in Lady Tagorihime, so you won't be able to find her palace. Only true believers can approach her..." The old man stroked his dry beard, wearing an expression that said, "You're not devout."

"Oh? Then what does it take to believe in Lady Tagorihime? Or let me put it another way: what would I have to give up to believe in her? And what would I get in return?" Zi Xu calmly admitted that he didn't believe in this so-called Lady Tagorihime. In his view, most forms of faith were a kind of exchange: believers gave their time, effort, or devotion, while the object of their faith offered them vague promises or a sense of reassurance. That was when the "god" wasn't real or couldn't interfere with reality. As for "gods" who were still alive, he couldn't say. He wouldn't accept a reward that required nothing in return.

"Young man, believing in Lady Tagorihime costs you nothing. All you need is sincere gratitude and faith. And what you can gain... well, it's more than just what I've mentioned." The old man seemed to have been waiting for someone to ask. He launched into a sermon, his back straightening and his face brightening.

"Believe in Lady Tagorihime, and you can live forever! We've lived like this for who knows how many years. Ever since I began believing in her, my body has stopped aging. My mind and body have grown much stronger, and the pains and illnesses that plagued me for years have all disappeared..." The old man spoke with great excitement, his voice rising. He sounded just like an elderly person who'd been taken in by a health product scam.

"Immortality? Eternal life?" Zi Xu thought of how he was transported back to the entrance every time he passed through that door, and how the timeline and the people were all reset. If that counted as eternal life, then the old man wasn't wrong.

Just then, Zi Xu noticed a problem he'd been overlooking. It had seemed too ordinary to catch his attention at first. Now that he'd noticed it, he felt a chill creep down his back. A horrifying truth was slowly coming to light.

"Oh? Believing in Lady Tagorihime grants eternal life? Heh... Hahahahahaha..." Zi Xu began to pity them all, feeling both sympathy and a hint of dread.

"What are you laughing at?" The old man seemed angered that someone was mocking his faith. He approached Zi Xu with hostility, and the people nearby, having heard their conversation, gathered around as well. They stared at Zi Xu with equally grim expressions. The joyous celebration fell silent in an instant. Though Zi Xu hadn't used his Devil Fruit Ability, the silence was hardly any weaker than when he had.

"Heh. Then let me wake you all up..." Zi Xu smiled, unruffled. He had found a way to break the deadlock—and a massive flaw in these people!