Chapter 229-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
Ye Zheng walked deeper into Empire Central Station when she suddenly stopped. The ground ahead had caved into a gaping hole, emitting a faint glow. She raised her hand in a signal, and the Knights understood at once, halting in place to stand guard for her.
Ye Zheng leaped down, landing lightly in the underground tunnel. After just a few steps, the tunnel was sealed off by wildly overgrown Green Crystal, making further passage impossible.
She had destroyed the internal structure of Empire Central Station. The S-rank Demonic Domain underground was no longer suppressed. Left unchecked, the rapidly reproducing Green Crystal would soon overtake a vast area.
Every moment, countless sharp spires emerged from the clusters of Green Crystal, racing toward Ye Zheng. The tunnel, barely holding together, was on the verge of collapse.
In the blink of an eye, a sharp Green Crystal spear shot toward Ye Zheng's face like a lance.
The young woman looked down at it calmly. What should have been an instantaneous strike appeared in slow motion to her eyes. She raised her hand and gripped it—the lance-like crystal shard froze in place, and the Green Crystals surging behind it also ceased their growth, standing like a wall just one step away from Ye Zheng.
Her slender fingers radiated a lustrous glow. At the same time, the aggressive Green Crystals were rapidly losing their brilliance, the fluorescent light reflected on Ye Zheng's face growing dimmer and dimmer.
"System."
Ye Zheng prompted it—they could begin.
Lin Zhixing had told her that the manuscript containing the original comic plot was an indispensable Linkage for the experimental project—a channel through which System monitored every timeline. Currently, the researchers could only observe other worlds through System; they were unable to actually enter the channel.
Wen Xiaoxing's [Fate Singularity] had been created by someone who borrowed System's power to graft the channel onto Wen Xiaoxing, granting him abilities beyond his rank—the power to jump between any timeline.
She had shattered [Fate Singularity] and accidentally stumbled into the innermost channel, where the entire story flowed past beneath her feet like water. In that moment, she had felt the illusion of being a higher-dimensional deity.
Now, Ye Zheng would rely on Lin Zhixing and System's help to re-enter that wondrous channel space.
Then, using the space-time power she had seized—she would return to the very beginning of the story!
She instinctively tightened her grip. The dimmed Green Crystal in her hand shattered instantly, followed by a cascading chorus of crash after crash. The Green Crystal that had filled most of the underground space crumbled into a floor of green glass shards in an instant.
Amid the devastation, the young woman's figure had already vanished.
In the metallic cold glow of the main control room, Lin Zhixing rushed to the large screen at the control panel. Seeing that System had already opened the channel for Ye Zheng, she let out a small breath of relief.
She was about to share an important lead she had just obtained about the Creator when red warnings flashed across the screen.
[Out of signal range... Please check...]
[Out of signal range... Please check...]
"What does this mean? Hope?" Lin Zhixing called out in alarm.
After a long pause, System's mechanical voice came through, stuttering and broken.
[The time span is too great. It has exceeded the Linkage bearer's consciousness range. I am temporarily unable to locate Ye Zheng.]
The Linkage bearer referred to the Creator whose consciousness frequency matched the other world. System's observation and tracking of the King of the Demonic Domain world were entirely based on the Creator's degree of connection with that world. The time period Ye Zheng had traveled to was outside the main stage of the King of the Demonic Domain story—a blind spot beyond observation.
Lin Zhixing was on the verge of pulling her hair out. She had just learned the Old Uncle's true whereabouts, and the only person she could share it with was now unreachable.
Of course, what worried her even more was—what would Ye Zheng do?
All Lin Zhixing could do was pray that Ye Zheng was safe in that world and that nothing went wrong. She and System would do their best to track her exact location.
*
Piercing light filtered through heavy eyelids, stinging her tightly shut eyes. As consciousness gradually returned, Ye Zheng first covered her eyes to block the glare, then slowly opened them.
She was lying on the ground. Through the gaps between her fingers, she saw a blazing sun.
Ye Zheng immediately rolled over and sat up, surveying her surroundings—smooth green lawns, vibrant flower beds, and in the distance, a sprawl of white palaces... It all looked somewhat familiar.
A flash of surprise crossed her face. Ye Zheng got to her feet, turned a full circle in disbelief, taking in the scenery, then looked down at her feet.
Her slightly dazed dark eyes suddenly went wide.
Ye Zheng wasn't yet certain whether she had returned to five hundred years ago, but of one thing she was sure—she was currently in the Imperial Palace.
Laughter from young handmaidens drifted from a nearby corridor. Ye Zheng darted behind a flower bed, then looked down at her own chubby little hands, clenching and unclenching them.
She wasn't sure if she'd gone back five hundred years, but she could deduce that her body had shrunk by at least ten years—she was roughly eight years old.
Her clothes had inexplicably shrunk as well, fitting her perfectly as children's wear. But Ye Zheng had no time to ponder whether the clothing change made any sense.
The little girl scrunched up her delicate round face in deep contemplation.
Ye Zheng tried hard to recall what had just happened, only to find that her memory ended at the moment she crushed the Green Crystal and absorbed its energy.
...System should have helped her enter the channel, after which she activated the seized space-time power to travel five hundred years back—yet she had no memory of any of it.
"System?" she called out tentatively, hearing a voice so unfamiliar it startled even herself.
Ye Zheng waited patiently for a while but received no response. She wasn't surprised—from the moment she'd woken, she had vaguely sensed that System was no longer there.
"Marcy?"
She tried calling for her companion granny next. No answer either.
"...What's going on?"
Ye Zheng closed her eyes, clenched her fists, and tried to summon [Stream]. As long as her ability was still intact, every other setback was manageable.
A moment later, she opened her eyes and had to accept that she was in a very precarious position.
Her ability had vanished too.
Ye Zheng felt her waist—the golden sword she wore was still there, and had thoughtfully shrunk to a child-appropriate size. She wasn't sure whether to be relieved or not—at least she had a weapon, though right now it looked like a toy.
"Miss Henry! Miss Henry? Where did you go?"
Hurried footsteps sounded. Ye Zheng, hidden behind the flower bed, crouched even lower. She hadn't sorted out the situation yet—better to stay hidden and observe.
Right now she was inside the Imperial Palace. If she truly had returned five hundred years, there was a very good chance she might encounter the young Aston XIV.
"Oh dear, where has the young miss run off to play?"
Several handmaidens nearby were searching frantically, their complaints fading into the distance.
Just as Ye Zheng's guard relaxed ever so slightly, a set of footsteps suddenly drew close.
"Gotcha, the little kitten of the Henry family!"
Her collar tightened. A hand descended from above, seizing the back of Ye Zheng's collar and giving a light upward tug. Ye Zheng's heart instantly sank. She strained to look up—
A red-haired woman was bending down to look at her. The midday sun was blocked by her figure, yet her smile was more radiant than the sun itself.
"You don't seem to be my family's little kitten—whose child are you? How did you end up here?"
The little girl's feet left the ground as she was lifted up and brought face to face with the woman.
Only then did Ye Zheng see the woman clearly. She was very young, and even with her hair in a stately updo and weighed down by heavy, ornate jewelry, nothing could diminish her youthful, vivid presence.
In that moment, Ye Zheng knew for certain—she had successfully traveled to the past.
Even though no surviving historical records described her appearance, a powerful instinct surged within Ye Zheng. The person before her was—
"I'm—"
Ye Zheng was about to fabricate a story about being a servant's child, but she noticed the red-haired woman's gaze was fixed on her sword.
How unlucky. Her attire was clearly not that of an ordinary person.
The words on the tip of her tongue, Ye Zheng abruptly changed course.
"I'm here to play with Henry."
Margareta Henry—Aston XIV's first Empress—was the demon dragon that had cursed the world for five hundred years.
The "Miss Henry" the handmaidens were looking for was likely Margaret's younger sister, around the same age as Ye Zheng's current form.
At this point in time, Margaret was still just an Empress with enough leisure to play hide-and-seek with her little sister.
"When did my sister make such an adorable friend?"
Margaret poked the little girl's cheek, her eyes carrying a probing gleam. The handmaidens behind her also watched the scene with puzzled curiosity.
Margaret laughed, then scooped up the unfamiliar girl in one motion. In a voice only the two of them could hear, she murmured:
"Nice excuse. I know why you're here."
Nestled in her arms, Ye Zheng lifted her head, revealing an expression far too mature for her age. Her dark eyes gazed deeply up at Margaret.
"Don't worry. I won't hurt you."
Margaret patted the girl's head. She was about to leave the garden when voices suddenly rose behind her, calling out "Your Majesty" with reverence.
Author's Note:
Bought a ticket to go back to school the day after tomorrow. Turns out the school cafeteria is better for writing. Too sluggish at home...
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