The Gospel Is Framing Me

Sennheiser Building, top-floor office. Hearing the oak doors push open, Qinna, who was speaking with the Minister of Listening, turned around and saw her sister walk in with high-heeled boots, her face dark as still water. "Captain Nona," the Minister of Listening greeted with a slight nod. Nona nodded back and stood quietly behind Qinna. "That's all. Temporarily shelve listening plans beyond three years, and shift our decision-making preference from 'future risk-oriented' to 'present stability-oriented.' Draw up a statistical report covering the numbers, realms, and sorcery factions of all sorcerers across the entire clan, with an emphasis on categorizing their training priorities." "Understood." Once the Minister of Listening left the room, Qinna stood up and gazed out at the city of white mist below. The elf clan head's eyes seemed to gaze upon Fanmula's future, her contemplative lips appearing to weigh the clan's safety. "Nona, come here." Not knowing why, Nona walked over, only for Qinna to swat her hard on the buttocks. The aloof, quiet vice-captain shuddered all over, letting out an "Eee-yuck!" "Only now do I realize you like getting your rear patted, just like a cat..." Qinna chuckled softly. Nona shoved Qinna forcefully back onto her chair, staring at her older sister with a stern, cold look. Unfortunately, an indelible blush was painted across her porcelain-pale cheeks, reducing her intimidation to that of a ruffled kitten. "What was that leaderboard about?" "Didn't we already discuss this? The Gospel misjudged," Qinna said calmly. "Annan and those people from an outside domain are variables the Gospel cannot accurately predict. With Annan's deliberate interference, the Gospel vastly overestimated their potential and future..." "I'm asking why you and I were serving Yaxiu Heath together on that board!" "The same reason as the Family Board—Yaxiu's twisted tastes..." "It's not the same," Nona said. "On the Family Board, we were both turned into necromantic creatures. Having our minds warped back then wouldn't be surprising. But on the Happiness Board, you and I were wide awake!" "The Happiness Board mentioned that too—as the happiest clan head, I was coerced by Yaxiu." Qinna paused, then suddenly gritted her teeth. "That damnable Yaxiu. He must have threatened the clan to force me into submission and fawn over him. Right now, I wish I could drag him back, lock him in a dark room, and torment him day and night... But in the future, he's the Source of Turmoil, an Undying Demon, and his power must far exceed the Sanctuary realm. To protect the clan, it's only reasonable that the Gospel would assume I'd swallow my pride and curry favor with him." "Is that so?" Nona said coldly. "Because to me, you didn't look unwilling at all in that projection." "Yaxiu is Rust Crow's companion, and Rust Crow is a powerful mind sorcerer! To protect the clan, I obviously had to conceal my killing intent, and even pretend to enjoy the pleasure. Otherwise, how could I fool that Catastrophe Demon Lord?" As Qinna spoke, she sighed deeply. "For the prosperity of the clan, I have truly sacrificed too much. But since I am the clan head, I must shoulder the responsibility." "Then what about me!" Nona asked. "Why was I there too?" "It proves Yaxiu is utterly wicked. Using despicable means to have his way with me wasn't enough; he even dared to lay hands on you..." "The problem is, why did I look completely willing in that projection too?!" Qinna quietly looked at her blushing sister and said, "Then you should reflect on yourself, Nona. How could you try to steal your niece's man..." Nona was so infuriated she let out a scoffing laugh. "Qinna, you're still trying to blame me? Ever since you returned to become clan head, I've been your avatar! I kept wondering why I developed favorable feelings toward Yaxiu at Berdette Manor—turns out your feelings spilled over into me!" Clan heads of the Six Emblems each had several clan member avatars to ensure the clan's authority could be passed down in case the head met a sudden death. During the white mist anomaly, when Qinna was trapped in a dream, the Qinna avatar sorcery spirit in Nona's soul activated, allowing the older sister to temporarily act through the younger sister's body. This safety mechanism had stringent requirements. After all, an avatar sorcery spirit could potentially usurp the host's will, requiring both parties to entrust themselves completely and wholeheartedly to one another. In the Six Emblem families, however, trust was never an issue. Even so, avatar sorcery spirits still carried side effects for the host, such as emotional leakage. To give an analogy, the relationship between the primary body and the avatar was like a champagne tower. Under normal circumstances, there was no effect, but if the primary cup overflowed with emotion, it would drip down into the avatar cup below. "Couldn't it just be your own heart fluttering?" Qinna argued back obstinately. "Don't blame me for everything!" "I've been emotionally detached my entire life, so why do I care so much about Annan?" Nona retorted. "If not you, who else could it be?" "Setting that aside," Qinna steered the topic away, "the important thing right now is that the Gospel has a major problem." Hearing her sister turn to serious business, Nona had no choice but to suppress her anger. She nodded. "An early update is an upheaval unseen in a thousand years. Furthermore, I've reviewed the dossiers on Yaxiu and the others, and their reality is vastly different from the leaderboard's contents. If I'm not mistaken..." "The Gospel ran out of material to make up." Qinna signaled for her sister to take a seat across from her. "Our strategy for utilizing the Gospel must change as well. Nona, assist the Listening Department over the next few days and spend as many of our Gospel points as possible." "No problem... Eee-yuck!" ...... ... "The Gospel ran out of material to make up." Annan said, "That's why it used you meteors to smash everything to pieces." "Ran out of material to make up?" Yaxiu and Lisi looked bewildered. "What does that mean?" "It couldn't weave the true future," Igola said. "So it substituted our false futures instead." "Since we're speaking of theater, let's use a theatrical metaphor," Annan said. "If the Gospel were an author, the Weaving Ceremony would be its painstakingly crafted work. Before writing, it usually spends fifty years accumulating reference materials, then writes the whole thing in one go over a hundred days. "Its update schedule is one chapter every ten days. Though it occasionally gets delayed, it has maintained both quality and quantity for hundreds of years. Yet one day, it suddenly updates six days ahead of schedule. What could be the reason?" "It had a backlog of chapters saved up?" Yaxiu guessed. "How could an author who has procrastinated until the deadline for hundreds of years suddenly have a backlog?" Annan smiled. "Though I don't know the reason either, this can't possibly be considered a normal update. This Happiness Board was absolutely produced in a rush. "If you were that author, and you'd only written forty percent when your editor suddenly demanded the manuscript immediately, what would you do?" "I would take care of the editor," Yaxiu said. "The Gospel isn't an ordinary person, though. Does it have an editor?" "Daddy, are you silly? Above the Gospel, there are angels and gods!" Lisi caught on. "So to turn in the manuscript, did the Gospel just scribble haphazardly to fill out the remaining sixty percent?" "Pretty much, but the Gospel didn't just scribble haphazardly." Annan held out her hands, her expression somewhat complicated. "The Gospel took advantage of you. "You are people from an outside domain. The Gospel doesn't know your past, which gives you infinite possibilities—that is your capital for deceiving it. But precisely because of those 'infinite possibilities,' you became the Gospel's best... how should I put it, filler subplots to appease the readers? "Under normal circumstances, for the Gospel to weave a 'true future,' it requires all information from the past to extrapolate the shape of the future bit by bit. That is why it drags things out until the very last second to update—every extra second of deduction increases its accuracy by a fraction. "Therefore, even if the Gospel wanted to update early, it couldn't. Without enough time to deduce the future of us Gospel people, it simply cannot produce it. As a miracle that prophesies the future, it may lack accuracy, but it will never deliberately make a mistake. "With you people from an outside domain, however, things are different—precisely because of your 'infinite possibilities,' the Gospel allows itself to make vague predictions about you! Even if its predictions regarding you are distorted, that's merely a lack of accuracy, not an outright mistake!" Hearing this, Yaxiu fully understood. "In other words," Yaxiu ruffled Lisi's head and said calmly, "because the author known as the Gospel had to update early, yet couldn't write nonsense about you Gospel people—since you are all main-story characters and writing nonsense would break characterization—" "—we, on the other hand, are different. We are new characters who barged in halfway through. Whatever plot we act out is justifiable, so the Gospel just made up wild nonsense about us to pad out the update!" "Wait," Harvey mumbled around a mouthful of food. "Making things up isn't the same as complete nonsense. Our personalities differed wildly from what was on the Happiness Board!" "Because the Gospel wasn't extrapolating the future based on our personalities." Igola traced a finger along the rim of his glass and said calmly, "Compared to Gospel people, our futures might be even harder to deduce... It drew the target before shooting the arrow, establishing a template for the Happiness Board first and then slotting us into it. That's why we got grotesque plotlines like me having a daughter or Harvey sculpting a wife." "Actually, I think Leya's pretty great..." Yaxiu mumbled. But catching Lisi's murderous glare, he immediately straightened up and declared solemnly, "The Gospel is completely irresponsible! Ruining my character like that—how am I supposed to show my face in public now?!" Harvey took a hearty gulp of broth and reminded him, "Even without the Happiness Board, Yaxiu, if you go out now, you're still the Source of Turmoil, the Catastrophe Demon Lord, and a wanted criminal..." "The Gospel is a good documentary writer, but not a good fantasy writer. Everything shown on the Happiness Board can be treated as third-rate trash written while the Gospel was drunk," Igola said. "Every bit of it is fake." "Aw, it's all fake?" Yaxiu's tone sounded somewhat disappointed. Recalling the scene of the first rank on the Happiness Board, Lisi lowered her head to glance at her hand mirror, her voice barely audible. "It might not all be fake..." "Even if it's fake, the Gospel must have seen certain omens before making derivative creations," Annan said, fixing her gaze on Yaxiu. "For example, Igola and Anfiel almost became husband and wife, and Harvey truly possesses the ability to create a necromantic bride. So..." "Yaxiu, why would the Gospel think you have a relationship with Qinna and Nona?" "Yeah, why?!" Lisi immediately looked up to pile on. A single speck of dust from the Gospel fell upon Yaxiu like a mountain. Yaxiu said with conviction, "The Gospel is framing me." Annan: "Why did you lick Qinna's cheek? That certainly isn't a habitual habit of yours—I've never seen you lick Lisi. What factor did the Gospel base such a scene on?" Yaxiu gritted his teeth. "The Gospel is framing me!" Annan: "Why were you sharing a bed with Qinna and Nona? And you actually... actually had Nona give you—" Yaxiu dropped completely to his knees. "The Gospel really is framing me on this one!" Heaven be his witness, Yaxiu had never entertained such thoughts about Nona! This was clearly the Gospel reprocessing the doctored visual data that Evalin had sold him! Just as Yaxiu was on the brink of total collapse, Banjie suddenly chimed in, "Since everything on the Happiness Board has some basis, then..." "...why did Igola's daughter, Leya, urge Yaxiu to hurry up and have a baby with Auntie Annan?" Everyone turned to look at the Purple Moth. Now, the pressure shifted squarely onto Annan. Annan fell silent for a moment, then could only nod reluctantly. "The Gospel is framing him."