Spirit Hall, the Pope's bedchamber.
Steam filled the bathroom.
Bibi Dong had pinned up her long purple hair and rested against the edge of the pool with her eyes closed. The water covered her snow-white skin, leaving it indistinct in the mist.
"Spl-
[Full image in the group chat]
-ash!"
A black-haired boy surfaced, coughing as though he had just finished a thousand-meter fitness test, his face flushed scarlet.
Shi Meng forced his eyes open and froze on the spot. An astonished curse almost slipped out, but Bibi Dong was faster.
Death Spider Emperor possession!
The next second, several strands of purplish-black spider silk shot out, plucking him from the water like a little chick.
"Who are you? How dare you trespass in my bedchamber?"
"I..."
Looking at Bibi Dong's frost-covered expression, Shi Meng's brain went into overdrive.
Where the hell have I ended up? Am I even still in my own country?
He remembered being in his company's office just moments ago, appreciating a certain website's tale about a widowed snow woman.
How did the snow woman turn into a spider woman the moment I opened my eyes?
Wait, the Death Spider Emperor?
She's Bibi Dong!
This is the Douluo Continent?
Holy shit, if you're going to transmigrate me, do it properly! Why dump me straight into someone's bath?
And I didn't close that website!
My good name! Yamero!
"Speak! Who exactly are you?"
Seeing Bibi Dong's expression grow colder, looking very much like she would kill him if he didn't answer, Shi Meng cranked his brain up to full speed. His CPU was practically smoking.
I'm screwed, I'm screwed. I'm sweating buckets.
System, save me!
[Yahoo! The God-Tier Three-Choice System is now active. Please choose your starting gift package for this world.]
"Holy shit, there really is a system! Quick, quick, quick, let me pick a card!"
Shi Meng rubbed his hands together, and a virtual interface soon popped up.
[Option One: Random Guardian.] [Randomly summon a guardian; strength and identity are both random, absolutely loyal! The summoned guardian will arrive within one day at the latest.]
Random strength? What if I get some weakling? And up to a whole day? My health bar is draining by the second. In a day, they'll already be serving the funeral feast.
Nope, next!
[Option two: Random affection increase or decrease.] [Perform one random affection check for every character in the current world. Increases and decreases are random.]
This is even more ridiculous.
If I roll minus one hundred, I can head straight to my own funeral feast. Even the readers would show up yelling, "Someone bring a bigger bowl!"
This one is absolutely out!
"No, no, give me another!"
[Option three: Random Herrscher Authority.]
"Holy shit! Herrscher Authority? Is that the kind of Herrscher I'm thinking of?"
Shi Meng kept reading.
[Directly obtain a random Herrscher Authority from the Honkai world. However, excessive use may trigger Honkai. Use with caution.]
It might trigger Honkai?
Shi Meng frowned.
Honkai? Since when could the Cocoon reach all the way over to the Douluo Continent? What, it can enforce the rules across servers now?
But his brow soon relaxed again.
What the hell is there to fear?
Once I obtain a Herrscher Authority, I'll be a Herrscher.
A Herrscher was an agent of Honkai. Even if Honkai broke out again, its strength wouldn't surpass his own. Handling a mere Honkai outbreak would be rock-solid, okay?
Besides, he was about to lose his life. Who cared whether Honkai would happen later?
"I choose three!"
The system window flashed, and the next second, a clear, lovely notification sounded:
[Yahoo! Congratulations! You have obtained temporal sequence Herrscher authority.] [Temporal sequence Herrscher authority: A secondary authority originating from the Cocoon of Finality. This authority can be used to turn time and reconstruct causality.]
"Damn, did I just hit the jackpot?"
One random Herrscher Authority, and I got temporal sequence authority, second only to Finality and Origin?
Even a novel wouldn't dare write this!
Still, this authority really could help with his current predicament.
Turn time, reconstruct causality.
In other words: the almighty save-and-load method. Reload and restart, change Bibi Dong's past, and establish a favorable causal relationship between her and him to get him out of this mess.
Give it a try?
Let's do it!
Shi Meng closed his eyes, carefully sensing the power within his body.
Then, from the darkness, he grasped a gleam of light:
"Time-Reversing Light."
As his words fell, a blue glow emerged from his body.
The world froze. Shi Meng slowly opened his eyes and looked down at Bibi Dong. A blue, illusory clock appeared beneath her feet.
Bibi Dong and everything around her began rapidly rewinding with the hands of the clock.
Bibi Dong's past unfolded before Shi Meng, scene by scene:
Becoming Pope, devouring Qian Xunji, Slaughter City, giving birth to Qian Renxue, the secret chamber...
Shi Meng watched her entire life.
"Tragic. It really was tragic. Her family of origin, a scumbag playing with her heart, workplace manipulation, mental self-torment-all rolled into one. Her tragedy began with other people's evil, but her sins were also born of her own choices."
"But who would dare claim they themselves are purely black or white? And who would dare claim complete control over their own fate?"
"Luckily, I'm here. Your pain can finally be soothed, and you finally have someone to bring you justice!"
"Causal Severance."
Standing in midair, Shi Meng spread his hands toward Bibi Dong below, who had already reverted to a young girl.
The clock began turning forward, and everything resumed its course.
A moment later, the bathing pool reappeared. Everything had returned to its original state.
Bibi Dong's gaze paused on Shi Meng. Then, as though something had been reconnected, its icy chill rapidly faded, leaving only a soft call:
"Shi Meng..."
It worked!
Shi Meng breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing the spider silk around him disperse, he thought he could immediately start living off the Pope.
Instead, a wave of emptiness swept through his body.
"System, what's wrong with me?"
[Ding-dong! Using your authority just now completely exhausted the Imaginary Energy in your body.]
"Wang Chaowei, you bastard! You even slapped an energy cap on my cheat? Fuck you, give me a refund!"
[Don't worry, dear. It can be restored. You only need to deepen your causal bond with the person whose causality you reconstructed.]
"Deepen it? How?"
[Please explore that for yourself, host.]
The moment the system finished speaking, the forced pause in spacetime ended, and that hollow feeling surged through him.
"Holy shit, that really goes straight to your fucking head..."
Shi Meng's vision went black, and he fell backward. He felt only two warm cushions against the back of his head before losing consciousness.
After an unknown amount of time, Shi Meng hazily became aware of a delicate fragrance at the tip of his nose.
He struggled to open his eyes. Before his vision could focus, a cool, clear voice sounded above him:
"You're awake?"
Shi Meng looked up. Close by, mountain peaks soared straight into the clouds; farther away, a beauty's eyes and brows looked gentle.
Damn, a lap pillow!
Bibi Dong sat on the edge of the bed, her purple hair now loose and casually draped over her shoulders.
And he was lying on his back, his head resting on her lap!
[Ding, causal bond deepening~] [Energy +1]
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