For a Tomorrow Without Tears

As consciousness returned, Lin Yue, who had grown accustomed to death, no longer panicked as she had in previous instances.

She snapped her eyes open, scanning the surrounding environment.

It was Chen Xi's home; she habitually picked up the phone beside the pillow to check the time.

September 18th, 7:32 AM.

A perfect time—this was the day after they had killed Wu Xin.

The two of them had ample time to set their plan to leave Tianhai City into motion.

"Qianqi Weiming, is it? Wash your neck and wait for me."

The other party had toyed with her in a game of cat and mouse for nearly half an hour.

In the end, having fully grasped the situation, Lin Yue had no choice but to snap her own neck using shadows to avoid falling into the enemy's hands.

She opened her information panel to check the retained Legend Degree.

[Shadow Dweller (Tier 1) Legend Degree: 28%]

Inheriting 28% from 34% was, all things considered, a cause for celebration.

It wasn't that she was lazy for not improving her strength over the past few days; it was simply that she couldn't find any legends in Tianhai City.

It was laughable, really; due to an information gap, the two of them had only looked at the surface-level forums and assumed the Spark Federation was as stable as Mount Tai.

Who could have guessed it was in such a wretched state?

Thinking of this, Lin Yue suddenly realized something was off.

In the third loop, Luo Li had actually tried to persuade them to join the Countermeasure Bureau under such circumstances.

She secretly raised her guard against the blue-haired loli.

Furthermore...

[Erosion: 79%]

It had only been 36% in the last loop, yet this time it had more than doubled.

Most likely, the negative effects would erupt in the next loop.

"Troublesome!"

Lin Yue punched her pillow in frustration.

Meanwhile, in another bedroom.

"Resurrected."

Chen Xi limbered up her joints with practiced ease.

Wait a minute...

Looking at the familiar ceiling, Chen Xi realized something was wrong.

Why wasn't she in the classroom?

Wasn't Lin Yue's ability a fixed-point Regression?!

The previous three regression nodes had all been the classroom, which had led Chen Xi to have a slight misunderstanding regarding the nature of Lin Yue's ability.

"No wonder she wanted to try staying behind; so that's how it is."

Chen Xi immediately grasped the stakes involved.

It was just that Qianqi Weiming's strength far exceeded their imagination; there was no point in talking about staying to fight anymore—it was time to run.

At the mere thought of that pretentious Anomaly Conference, Chen Xi couldn't help but let out a scoff.

She was genuinely amused.

It was hard to imagine that under such circumstances, the anomalies in Tianhai City still had the spare time to hold such a meeting.

After this loop, Chen Xi had finally figured out the state of the world.

If the Spark Federation was teetering on the brink of collapse, only the central cities could be considered safe zones.

Then Tianhai City was nothing more than a small town that even the Evil Flower organization couldn't be bothered to invade, merely sending a Tier 3 High Priest to go through the motions.

Now it seemed the purpose of the Tianhai City Countermeasure Bureau in holding this meeting was self-evident—to probe the other party's abilities.

They were using the lives of countless ordinary anomalies to test the enemy's strength.

"Am I thinking of people too maliciously?" Chen Xi shook her head slightly.

Perhaps they were just that stupid.

However, recalling the probes during the meeting, Chen Xi dismissed that thought.

Still, without the Bureau Chief's authorization, Lu Shaojun shouldn't have dared to do such a thing.

And how could Zhu Li not have known about this?

Unless she never checked the forums, but that was simply impossible...

It seems... that isn't impossible, is it?

Thinking back to how she had been communicating via stickers before meeting the two of them, Chen Xi realized that not scrolling through the forums didn't seem like such a big deal after all.

The black-haired girl let out a long sigh.

This world could simply be described as being riddled with crises; the only person she could truly rely on was Lin Yue.

Chen Xi opened her panel and began to check the harvest from after her death.

[CG generation failed, converted to Wish Power charge: 128%]

[CG generation failed, converted to Wish Power charge: 42%]

[Current Wish Power: 252%]

How much?

Chen Xi stared at the 128% Wish Power charge in ecstatic joy.

But as soon as she thought about it, her expression sank.

This meant an epic-level CG had been stifled, and not only that, it had failed four consecutive checks.

"Bad luck."

However, looking at it this way, her death must have had a huge impact on Lin Yue; otherwise, it wouldn't have provided such a high Wish Power charge.

The second Wish Power charge was most likely provided by Qianqi Weiming.

Suppressing her emotions, Chen Xi continued to scroll down.

[Peak Wish Power has exceeded 100%; you may choose whether to apply a buff to the next CG (once enabled, this function will be permanently retained and unaffected by current Wish Power)]

It really was like having a pillow handed to her just as she was getting sleepy.

Chen Xi had originally been worried about what would happen if the Wish Power charge was wasted on a trash CG.

Now, it was perfect; she just had to wait for an epic-level CG to be generated, and she could use the Wish Power to upgrade it to Mythical quality.

By then, after developing a bit, advancing to the Second Order, and taking care of Qianqi Weiming would no longer be empty talk.

Lin Yue should be awake by now, too; she should go comfort her.

Thinking of this, Chen Xi got up and opened the door, just in time to see Lin Yue quietly pushing it.

The two stared at each other with wide eyes, and it was Chen Xi who first broke the strange atmosphere.

"What a coincidence, you just woke up too?"

"Mm..."

Seeing the black-haired girl again, Lin Yue felt a thousand emotions welling up in her heart.

Although she had mentioned it countless times, she was still grateful that she had been able to awaken the ability of Regression to meet Chen Xi in this world.

Adjusting her loose collar, Chen Xi said softly, "I'll cook some noodles for you. Do you want an egg and a sausage added?"

"I want both." After saying this, Lin Yue ran to the bathroom to wash up.

Ten minutes later, the two sat opposite each other at the dining table, holding steaming bowls filled with noodles.

Chen Xi slurped a mouthful of noodles and looked at Lin Yue, who hadn't touched her chopsticks yet, asking suspiciously, "What's wrong? You asked me to cook it, but you aren't eating."

Lin Yue pressed her hands together against her cheeks, her gaze lingering slightly on Chen Xi's face as she met her eyes: "Chen Xi, my precognition ability has taken effect."

"Three days from now, we will die at the hands of the Evil Flower High Priest, Qianqi Weiming."