"I don't think this is something that needs proving."
Tang Qi spoke as though it were obvious. "The instinct to seek advantage and avoid danger has driven one group after another to migrate north. I don't believe legendary creatures like you can't sense the threat of the Phlogiston Sea.
"Perhaps you could fly south. Once you see the sea of phlogiston drawing near with your own eyes, you'll realize how little time you have left."
"But you saw very clearly that there were two years."
"I once measured how far the Phlogiston Sea had advanced," Tang Qi bluffed. "That figure came from precise calculations."
"Just as justice stands opposed to evil, the difference between sincerity and deceit is visible to the naked eye. When you lie, your soul is not as pure as it was before."
"What convenient eyes."
Tang Qi realized that standing before the dragon was like being enveloped in a [Domain of Honesty]. "But if you can tell whether I'm lying, doesn't that make the two-year deadline all the more credible?"
"You're right. That is why I'm more curious about how you could judge so precisely that this world had two years left."
"Does that matter?"
"It matters to me."
"Why?"
"Because I once believed that I was the only one left in this world who knew that number."
Tang Qi hesitated for a moment, then grasped the implication. "You mean someone besides us could see Doomsday coming? Who? Eve Edel?"
"A friend who has already passed away."
Remembrance flickered in the Crystal Dragon's eyes. That final deadline carried the dragon's thoughts back to a far more distant time. "Like us, he was once trapped amid the sea of phlogiston. The only difference was that he could travel through history and the future. His lifespan was endless,