The Future Diary's Ending

"Teacher, that was roughly how it happened."

In the Ferry Ship's main cabin, Gray bent at the waist, peering blearily at the crystal ball floating before him.

Within the crystal ball was a figure completely concealed in robes, with only an aged face exposed.

Red and white lumps of flesh intertwined across that face, like dried sausages.

"I've identified what was poisoned. It was those barrels of rum."

As he spoke, indignation surged onto Gray's face again.

"Teacher, you know that there has never been a precedent of keeping alcohol aboard the Ferry Ship all these years."

"I don't know what madness struck the higher-ups this year, but they suddenly added it to the list!"

"And I just happened to recruit a clown this year. He put on his monkey act all night, and in the end, everyone drank!"

There had originally been thirty-eight apprentices aboard the ship. Now, only three remained.

Great. His Academy Contribution had hit rock bottom for good.

What rotten luck!

"Do you think that apprentice called Ahab Gul did it unintentionally?"

After pondering for a while, the old wizard in the crystal ball suddenly asked this.

"Teacher, are you saying he did it on purpose? He's a spy!"

A blaze of fury immediately rose in Gray's heart. Those Dark Wizard Academies had become far too bold—they actually dared to plant a spy directly aboard his Ferry Ship.

"Take your stupid brain out of your heels and use it again."

Gray could only squat down miserably and start thinking.

Among the apprentices who had attended the banquet, only Ahab Gul had not been poisoned to death. This showed that the poison in the rum was extremely potent.

Poisoned apprentices would suffocate to death, usually clawing at their throats before dying. As a result, all the corpses bore scratch marks around their necks.

Ahab Gul also had scratches on his neck, but they had completely scabbed over. They were likely left several hourglasses ago.

The poison in the rum could preliminarily be identified as a viral type. If one survived the initial poisoning, one would definitely develop antibodies...

"Huh???"

The fury in Gray's heart abruptly turned into a pool of icy water. Amid his shock, a thread of fear seeped in.

This Ahab Gul had drunk the liquor beforehand and determined the poison's properties.

Then he had deliberately tricked the other apprentices into drinking it!

That talentless monkey... no, Nascent, was actually this vicious!

And he was far too shameless.

He had actually said, as if it were only natural, that he wanted to be friends with everyone.

Gray had served as an apprentice instructor for five terms, spanning a full fifty years—

This was the first time he had ever encountered such a... cunning! Yes, such a cunning apprentice.

"Teacher, could this Ahab Gul be the illegitimate son of some Formal Wizard?"

He had survived poisoning, identified the poison, and known that he possessed antibodies.

And that cunning, shameless personality did not seem like something an ordinary family could have raised.

"Teacher, how should I handle this fellow?"

Sweat covered Gray's head as he asked humbly and cautiously.

"Bring him back to the academy and teach him properly. This apprentice meets every condition for becoming a Demon Hunter Wizard."

Gray staggered back half a step in shock.

"Teacher, this... him? You said, a Demon Hunter Wizard? Has this plan—the academy's, no, the Wizard Alliance's—already been launched?"

Gray had a Second-Ring Formal Wizard as his teacher, so he knew some of the academy's secrets.

The old wizard in the crystal ball did not answer. Instead, he changed the subject.

"Gray, I know you urgently need to accumulate enough Academy Contribution to exchange for the key resources needed to advance to Formal Wizard."

"The contribution calculated for training a Demon Hunter Wizard is ten times that of training an ordinary apprentice."

After saying that, the crystal ball's glow faded. With a ding-dong-jii, it fell onto the wooden deck, leaving only First-Rank Apprentice Gray muttering in the cabin.

"Ruthless and vicious, unable to get along with the apprentices around him, and most importantly, possessing exceptionally poor aptitude... He truly fits the conditions of a Demon Hunter Wizard perfectly."

"Ten times the contribution? That's only equivalent to training ten apprentices! I originally recruited thirty-eight! Now there are only three left."

"That damned little Nascent!"

Gray raged helplessly inside his cabin.

"Fortunately, I followed the academy's rules. The two apprentices with the highest aptitude ate separately and lived separately."

"I have to say, every absurd rule has a reason behind it..."

Gray walked to the glass window and gazed out at the sea, trying to calm himself.

The hot air he exhaled condensed into a layer of mist on the glass.

"Creak, creak—"

As dawn began to break, Ahab Gul looked out over the sea and casually wiped the mist from the glass.

Because the number of apprentices aboard had drastically dwindled, Ahab had moved out of the bottom hold and into an upper cabin with a window and a private washroom.

A night had passed. It seemed he was safe now.

To be honest, this plan had carried considerable risk. One careless move, and it would have become the Western Idea King's fatal plan.

But Ahab had still chosen to believe—believe the message left behind by his future self.

Even if he had bet wrong and that Future Diary had gotten him killed, it did not matter.

If someone could write Chinese, say that he had transmigrated, accurately deliver a diary to him, and even write in precisely the same style and habits as himself—

If someone with such abilities wanted to scheme him to death, then so be it. There was no escaping it sooner or later.

I can scheme others to death. Naturally, others can scheme me to death as well.

Since the Future Diary's usefulness had now been proven...

"Come!"

At Ahab's silent command, the diary that had been floating beside his shoulder spun in the air and settled steadily before him.

Then it opened from the back.

Ahab did not hurry to read what came next. He wanted to look directly at the final page!

If the future might make extensive use of the diary's contents, then he naturally had to first determine what sort of state his future self had ended up in.

[March 25. It is the third year and third day since I became an Eight-Ring True Spirit Wizard.]

[The diary has finally caught up to the present time. If nothing unexpected happens, I will continue writing this diary from now on.]

[Of course, keeping a diary must come after serving Master. Master's orders are absolute.]

Ahab: ???

[Something's wrong! Twelve parts wrong out of ten! What Master?]

[Strange. What exactly am I thinking?]

[Master is Master!]

[What is this damned diary even for? Destroy...]

That was where the diary ended completely.

Ahab stood rigidly still for three seconds.

Then he gave a bitter laugh.

"Oh, it seems my future self was controlled by some existence."

With that thought, Ahab flipped the diary back to the beginning and saw that description.

[All of a sudden, I had a feeling that perhaps I should compile my experiences since transmigrating into a diary.]

[At my current level, there is no such thing as coincidence in my eyes. I cannot rule out someone luring me in, but it is more likely a warning from my wizard true spirit—]

Then I must finish reading this diary as soon as possible.

Ahab swept his gaze over it a few times, taking in the diary, whose thickness rivaled that of a computer case.

Clearly, somewhere during his future journey, something had gone wrong and some kind of seed had been planted within him.

Once his future self had become powerful, that seed had sprouted and taken root.

Of course, that was only one possibility among many.

But no matter what, reading through the diary as quickly as possible and searching for potential hidden dangers was essential.

As he thought this, Ahab suddenly heard the click of a door opening outside.