Was this a real blade or a fake one this time?!
Previously, just because of one expression from Su Nian, they had all assumed he was definitely about to hand them a blade.
But Su Nian had not done so.
That made them suspicious. Su Nian seemed to be repeatedly pacing along the edge of handing out blades.
Su Nian had not stabbed Kevin before, but everyone other than Kevin had been stabbed!
It was practically No Survivors!
By now, Raiden Mei had come into contact with all the Flame-Chasers. This was the second time she had encountered someone who... wanted to put her to death.
This time, Aponia had not said anything difficult to understand. From the Flame-Chasers' evaluations of her, it was clear that she truly possessed the ability to see fate.
Mei did not know what Aponia's prophecy was based on. Her plan to head to The Deepest Place had also come to a standstill, with no progress at all...
Ten days... At the very least, she had to understand why Aponia had said that, or find a way to reach The Deepest Place before then.
To that end, Raiden Mei worked hard to investigate everything. Most of the Flame-Chasers were happy to share their insights.
Every time she learned some new information, Aponia would pull her into The Deepest Place again for a "prison visit."
She had met Vill-V and obtained more information, yet she still could not understand everything. In the blink of an eye, only four of the ten days remained.
If she still could not uncover the reason, she might really end up trapped in The Past's Paradise forever.
Elysia asked her worriedly, but what she said afterward only further confirmed that fact.
Aponia's prophecy truly seemed to mean she had seen fate. No matter how meticulous the measures taken, as long as Aponia saw it, it would definitely happen, regardless of what efforts were made.
"So far, none of her prophecies have ever been wrong. So... Mei, you must be careful."
"Looking at it now, this is no longer something I can handle just by being careful enough. But... even if the situation is unavoidable, I can't possibly just sit here and wait to die."
"All right. I'll help you ask Aponia about it too. Although she has never done this before... still, I hope she's merely playing a joke on her successor."
"After all, she rarely tells someone the exact time something will happen..."
The first clue had emerged.
But it seemed like nothing more than an offhand remark from Elysia.
No one noticed the foreshadowing hidden there.
There was no way around it... Raiden Mei came up with another plan.
Waiting helplessly for death was absolutely not her style. If death truly could not be avoided, why not make use of that fact instead?
The man Raiden Mei had encountered in The Past's Paradise before had left a deep impression on her.
As far as she knew, only Chijie and Mobius had truly caused successors to die. Chijie's method was exceedingly simple: fight to the death until one of them fell.
Aponia's prophecy was, "Mei will die ten days from now, at my hands."
Then what would happen if she died before the tenth day arrived?
Would that mean the prophecy would be broken?
For that... she decided to challenge Chijie.
Close to Touching the Truth
If things had remained at an impasse, then it was better to be more aggressive now. Dying now and dying four days later did not seem all that different.
"Oh, Herrscher, you..." Chijie was still standing with his back to her, but his tone was clearly much gentler than when they had first met.
"Chijie, get your ass over here."
"...Huh? Herrscher... what, did you mistake me for someone else?"
Poor Jie Bro. He had originally wanted to get along well with Raiden Mei.
Now he was completely dumbfounded.
The moment they met, Raiden Mei had come over to pick a fight, making their already unpleasant relationship even worse.
But Raiden Mei kept pressing him, determined to provoke Chijie's anger until he truly wanted to kill her.
So yes, Raiden Mei was being incredibly bold right now.
That was right. Since Aponia had predicted she would die ten days later, she would have Chijie beat her to death now, and Aponia's prophecy would lose its validity.
"No, this is just like you, Chijie. Haven't you always used this kind of method to bluff people?"
"This isn't some novel tactic. I've seen plenty of little animals try to frighten away their natural enemies in similar ways."
"Hahahahahahahaha... You think this is bluffing... Good. Very good."
The final note in his voice was swallowed by the sound of tearing air. The distance between them seemed not to exist at all. Before she even had time to blink, the man's right fist had already grazed Mei's cheek.
The blade she raised in time deflected the path of that heavy blow, but the aftershock alone was enough to send her staggering backward uncontrollably, leaving two long trails across the ground.
That was right. This was the power Raiden Mei needed—the power sufficient to kill her.
"Before provoking me... have you prepared your funeral arrangements, Herrscher?"
"There's no need. My only preparation... is planning what I'll do next if you disappoint me."
"Oh... You once said that when you served as the final trial, there was once a period in The Past's Paradise when there were no survivors. That wasn't just another one of your boasts, was it?"
"You'll know if you try." Chijie's voice turned gritted and vicious, but aside from that one punch, he showed no intention of attacking again.
Serving as the final trial had been a previous decision, one that had now been revoked. There was no issue with Flame-Chasers taking the initiative to fight successors, but Chijie was an exception. He never held back.
"Chijie, you understand now, don't you? This is an [invitation to battle]. I suppose... you wouldn't lack even the courage to fight a successor without authorization, would you?" Raiden Mei continued provoking Chijie.
"Then as you wish. It's been far too long since I personally slaughtered a Herrscher. Go on, I'll give you enough time. Think of a hundred ways to save your life... then die without complaint."
It had been even easier than expected. Chijie's tone had already turned aggressive.
It was probably like... during the pandemic, being unable to record in a dubbing studio, then being mistaken for an abusive husband while recording Chijie's lines.
"Herrscher, use every means at your disposal to reach the deepest part of the Elysian Realm. Even if you have to crawl, crawl your way there. Otherwise, you aren't even qualified to die by my hand."
The killing formation they had once prepared for Chijie... was part of The Deepest Place. It became the location for their appointed battle and... Raiden Mei's burial ground.
Afterward, Raiden Mei embarked upon her road to seek death.
One force could break through ten thousand techniques. Raiden Mei had briefly played detective, but now she chose to take a risk.
The clues had made no progress, so the story needed some kind of opportunity.
In detective novels, that opportunity often came from someone else. But this time, Mei could only rely on herself.
But she certainly could not die here.
Elysia was watching, and Aponia was watching too.
Su Nian let out a long breath and rolled his wrists.
Once he finished writing the rest of the story, he would rest for the day!
The Past's Paradise contained fragmented pieces of information, but it also had a main thread: the truth Mei sought. The people and events she encountered during her exploration provided passive external feedback, forming a new main thread.
The story of The Past's Paradise was mainly divided into three parts. Although its fragmented content made it somewhat difficult to understand, it was the story that was mysterious and confusing, not the writing itself.
As a story, The Past's Paradise was absolutely qualified.
But its overly cryptic plot made it one of miHoYo's most difficult game stories to understand, even to this day.
Only Star Rail's Penacony storyline could match it in terms of crypticness.
Within endless shadows, she first met Elysia, who was also the answer Raiden Mei had sought from the very beginning.
To Another Me in This World was the part that developed Mobius. She represented the dark side of Moth of the Fire.
May Time Remain Forever in This Moment, May Tomorrow—, this part was about Aponia...
The other Flame-Chasers were interwoven throughout the story. Mei met them for the first time, then learned more through the stories they shared, together forming the whole of the Thirteen Flame-Chasers.
Su Nian had not yet written the excessively fragmented parts of The Past's Paradise.
Those parts included the characterizations of the other Flame-Chasers, as well as some iconic scenes.
The stories between the Flame-Chasers, and the Flame-Chasers themselves, were all quite interesting.
But after all, this was for the sake of storytelling. Some things had to be cut.
It was not merely because it was difficult to read. The main reason for this "soulless" writing method was...
He couldn't finish writing it! The most haunting—ah, no, the most exciting part of this story was not The Past's Paradise.
It was Eternal Paradise!
Even if someone had never played through the story, they had surely heard of Paradise Ice Cube.
Thirteen people died more than forty times, and quite a few of those deaths had been contributed here.
The Past's Paradise had over seven hundred thousand Chinese characters of text, written across several versions. Even if Su Nian turned into a human Typewriter, it would be difficult for him to finish it.
Not to mention Eternal Paradise came afterward.
Eternal Paradise was where Mei's initial question could truly be answered.
Su Nian took a deep breath. He first had to write Eternal Paradise.
The production crew was quite considerate. The time reminder was meant to keep contestants from falling behind, but from the memories left behind by the original owner of this body, Su Nian knew something about the program's process.
The next day, the program would enter an overall judging stage.
Considering that the competition lasted only a week, that arrangement was indeed quite reasonable.
The entirety of today was time given to the contestants.
For someone who wanted to create a good story, such a short amount of time was indeed relatively tight.
In this regard, they tried their best to let the contestants leave themselves some room.
Even catching up on summer or winter vacation homework required one night to work a miracle.
If there was not even an opportunity to overtake others on a curve at night, that would be somewhat unfair to contestants who took longer to develop their ideas and pursued stronger storytelling.
Therefore, the production crew chose to judge them tomorrow.
As long as a contestant received a "good" rating during the judging stage, they would receive a mysterious grand prize.
Schicksal had sponsored this competition for a long time. During the fifth edition of the competition, Schicksal contributed a new technology they had developed: Thought Imaging Projection.
However, this technology was not intended for the film and television industry, and its cost was extremely high. Using it here was already rather extravagant, and it could not be made available for civilian use.
That was also one reason the competition had remained so popular.
Both Schicksal technology and Anti-Entropy technology had offered exceptionally peculiar technologies before.
Su Nian did not hold out much hope for the prize. It was genuinely expensive, and it had only appeared during the fifth edition.
But if it really was that, then The Story Because You Exist could be fully realized!
Su Nian would no longer need to worry about the visual impact he had always been concerned about.
Would he win?
He would win!
There's more today. I was planning to finish writing today's portion in one go before posting it for you all, but someone urged me, so you can have this first!
The Flame-Chasers Were Not Perfect, but They Had All Lived So Proudly
The truth behind Aponia's prophecy was about to be revealed.
After fighting her way through countless obstacles, Raiden Mei finally arrived at The Deepest Place, where Chijie had once served as the final trial.
Part of The Deepest Place was indeed an unexpected gain, but...
Raiden Mei took a deep breath. What she was about to face was a Flame-Chaser who regarded battle as everything, one of the strongest Flame Chasers of the Previous Civilization... If there truly was a gap between them, then... this was also an opportunity to see it clearly.
Crossing the final door, Raiden Mei saw Chijie, who had been waiting there for a long time.
"...Too slow, Herrscher."
Before you continue