The Culprit

Pfft. Annan couldn't hold back a laugh, and the corner of Banjie's mouth twitched as he struggled to keep a straight face. Only Lisi excitedly bounced up and down while hugging Yaxiu. "Daddy, you're so amazing! Calamity Demon Lord! Fountainhead of Chaos! One of the Three Doomsday Giants... Wait, then what about me?" "I fattened you up into a huge, chubby ball, so you're too embarrassed to show your face in public," Yaxiu said with utter gravity. "You'll spend all day in your room playing games and binge-watching shows. If I urge you to get a job, you'll yell at me and kick me out. If I interrupt your gaming, you'll call me a smelly old fart..." "No way! When Lisi grows up, she's going to be a suuuu-per pretty stunner!" Lisi spread her arms wide to emphasize that she wouldn't be just any regular beauty, but a super-duper beauty. "Besides, how could Lisi ever hate Daddy!" "Eldest Miss, didn't you say something similar when you were little?" Yaxiu glanced at Annan. "'I could never hate Mama' or something like that..." Annan: "Of course I didn't!" Banjie: "You did." The young mistress shot the butler a fierce glare. The youth shrugged and zipped his lips. "Stop bickering." Igola frowned deeply. "This leaderboard... is very strange." Everyone nodded in agreement. They could all tell that the Happiness Board was completely different from the previous three leaderboards—the wedding guests were intimately familiar with Yaxiu and his cohort, even shouting out a notorious moniker like the 'Three Doomsday Giants.' Obviously, they had seen the future leaderboards! Speaking of which, this brought up a fundamental question regarding the Weaving Ceremony: since people could see the woven future, if it was a good thing, then fine; but if it was bad, wouldn't people actively try to avoid it? The most glaring example was the Scheme Board. It featured countless victims, and even the people listed on the board were victims. Now that they had seen the Scheme Board, would they still fall for Igola's villainous tricks? Though they probably still would, that wouldn't be due to any forced correction by destiny; it was simply Igola's personal ability at work. Moreover, even Igola himself would never act exactly according to the Scheme Board. In other words, the second the Scheme Board was issued, it ceased to be the future. If that was the case, the Gospel would need to weave a 'Scheme Board 2.0.' But once everyone read version 2.0, they would naturally avoid the schemes shown in that version, forcing the Gospel to weave 3.0, 4.0, 5.0... Obviously, such an infinite Russian nesting doll was impossible. Therefore, when the Gospel wove the future, there was usually a default premise: the people within it had never seen the Weaving Ceremony. This was a very reasonable assumption and did not diminish the accuracy of the Weaving Ceremony. In the vast majority of cases, even if there were discrepancies between the future and the leaderboards, they were never worlds apart. Across ten leaderboards with a hundred rankings, at most seven or eight entries would suffer noticeable distortion. That was a yield rate everyone could accept. Furthermore, most leaderboards were person-based, and person boards had the smallest margin of error. While event boards were prone to large discrepancies, most events depicted good things, so people were more than happy to follow the Gospel's guidance—some would even deliberately recreate the events from the Weaving Ceremony down to the letter. Event boards that featured purely sinister events, like the Scheme Board or the Family Board, were rare spectacles seen once in a millennium. Such villainous boards could only ever arise against the backdrop of an impending apocalypse and social collapse—if society were stable and at peace, Harvey and Igola would have been hunted into the Abyss by the Red Hats the moment they poked their heads out; how could there ever be Ten Great Families or Ten Great Schemes? Yet the Happiness Board had shattered this default premise! The people within it had all seen the Weaving Ceremony. They knew Igola the Rust Crow and Harvey the Necromancer; they knew Yaxiu had returned from the dead; and they had even dubbed them with an idol group moniker: the 'Three Doomsday Giants'! It felt just like playing New Game Plus, only for the NPCs to remember everything you did in your first playthrough. 「"Yaxiu Heath..." Facing the danger calmly, the bride Daphne shielded her younger brother Carlos behind her, speaking in an even voice. "Have you come to attend our wedding?"」 「"Indeed," Yaxiu replied. "To be precise, I came to crash it and steal the bride."」 「The moment he reached out, Daphne slapped his hand away forcefully. Her chest heaved with fury as she glared straight into his eyes. "We have never met you before. Why have you set your sights on us?"」 「"I know you the exact same way you know me." Unfazed, Yaxiu spread his hands. "Tenth place on the Happiness Board: Daphne and Carlos. Ever since I saw you on that board, I resolved to strip you of your future."」 "Really?" Annan asked out of the blue. "You're already thinking about crashing weddings and stealing brides?" Lisi also stared at Yaxiu in shock. "Daddy, you actually like snatching other people's new brides..." "Aren't your priorities completely backwards?" Yaxiu's lips twitched. "Haven't you noticed? The 'Yaxiu' in the footage mentioned tenth place on the Happiness Board—in other words, he broke into the event depicted on the Happiness Board precisely because he saw the Happiness Board, and then the current Happiness Board wove him right back into it!" The broadcast of the Happiness Board hadn't even finished, yet the people inside had already watched it and sought them out based on the rankings... A bizarre sense of absurdity welled up in everyone's hearts. If the wedding prior to 'Yaxiu's' arrival had been the normal future, then the wedding after his arrival was a composite future formed by stacking multiple playthroughs. Though the latter was closer to reality, it was also far more chaotic. 「"Why?" Daphne asked. "This wedding will be over soon. There is nothing here worthy of your coveting—"」 「"I told you, what I truly desire is you two," Yaxiu said with a smile. "You are the future chosen by the Gospel. Just the thought of tainting you fills me with immense thrill! Men, take them away—"」 「"No!" Blue light flared across Daphne's hands as she stated resolutely, "I will never let you have your way!"」 「"Truly? I know you don't care about these guests, but do you not care about your lover, your little brother?" Yaxiu's voice sounded like a demon's whisper. "You wouldn't want to let go of this hard-won happiness, would you?"」 「"I'm not an utter monster, and I don't necessarily have to tear you apart. As long as you obey obediently and submit to me, I will still allow you time together." He spoke leisurely, "You will have a cozy little home, bear a son and a daughter, and grow old together side by side forever... You're so close. Are you really going to give that up?"」 「Faced with such intimidation and threats, Daphne slowly crumpled to the ground, weeping in despair. "I've never done anything wrong. Why must this happen..."」 By now, Annan and Lisi made no attempt to conceal their disdainful gazes. Yaxiu was forced to clarify: "This is pure slander! I'm a zero-pollution, additive-free knight of pure romance. At most, I bully the weak; I'd never throw my weight around to coerce anyone!" "Then why would the Gospel slander you for no reason?" Lisi countered. "Daddy, shouldn't you reflect on whether your usual words or actions gave the Gospel the wrong impression?" "How could that be? The only females I have contact with right now are you and the Eldest Miss! I'd count my blessings if you didn't sleep on my stomach, and as for the Eldest Miss, she's the one who messes around with me!" "Really?" Annan asked. "You don't harbor a single wicked thought toward me?" "Of course..." Yaxiu suddenly recalled the synthetic video recordings he had purchased from Evalyn. "...not (in a tiny whisper)." The footage continued. 「"You have made a wise decision," Yaxiu said cheerfully. "Men, take them away!"」 「Two crow-feathered guests walked over. Utterly disheartened, Daphne slumped on the ground without the slightest will to resist, letting them reach out—」 「"Huh? Wait!"」 「Seeing them escort her younger brother Carlos away, Daphne scrambled to her feet and asked in panic, "Why are you taking Carlos away?!"」 「"We were here to take Carlos from the start. In the future foretold by the Gospel, Carlos's talents are what we require," Yaxiu replied. "What else did you think?"」 「"Th-Then what about me?" Daphne asked dumbly.」 「"Interested in joining the Four Pillar Cult?" Rust Crow chimed in. "We happen to need networking talent like you."」 This unexpected twist left everyone speechless. Yaxiu immediately puffed his chest out triumphantly. Annan averted her gaze, while Lisi, trying to sneak back to her seat, was caught by Yaxiu's firm grip. She could only laugh sheepishly: "I actually believed in Daddy all along..." "Believed I was a villain? Believed I like other men's wives? Believed I couldn't get a girlfriend without threats, bribery, or hypnosis?" Yaxiu asked, baring his teeth. "Yaxiu, I've always believed in you," Igola suddenly raised his hand and spoke up. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Lisi, look, even Aunt Bogin—" "I believe you possess self-awareness." "Harvey, can you throw that box of cockroaches onto Igola's bed?" "Yaxiu, I must criticize you for that," Harvey said solemnly. "Wasting food is wrong." While they bickered, the visual footage concluded completely, and the Book of Gospel flipped back to the leaderboard introduction: 「Happiness Board, 10th Place: The Happiest Wedding」 「Introduction: Daphne Bonaparte and Carlos Bonaparte are lovers who have been together for ten years. Over the past decade, having weathered countless partings, reunions, and life's hardships, the lovers finally united in marriage. The day of their wedding at the Hanging Gardens was both the end of their trials and the beginning of their happiness. They were to stay together forever, never to part, overcoming countless trials through love, and in the future they would even achieve... However, due to the interference of Yaxiu Heath and his associates, this ranking is invalid.」 「Reward: Nullified.」 「Culprit: Yaxiu Heath.」 "How can they blame this on me too?" Yaxiu was dumbfounded. "If the sun doesn't rise tomorrow, is that going to be pinned on me as well?" "Annan," Igola asked, "has there ever been a case before where a ranking was invalidated and the reward nullified?" "Never," Annan said thoughtfully. "By comparison, the future depicted on this leaderboard is drastically different from all previous ones. This is the first time I've ever seen characters in a leaderboard mention the leaderboards themselves." "Yaxiu's actions were bizarre as well," Igola remarked. "Would he really go out of his way to trouble tenth place just to 'taint the Gospel'? And Harvey and I had no objections? We aren't that bored." "An invalid ranking, an intruding culprit, a nullified reward, and an early update..." Annan bit her lower lip softly. "Piecing these factors together..." "Sounds like an author rushing to meet an update deadline and churning out a pile of shit," Yaxiu summarized.