Myself from Another Worldline

Night fell. In the gloomy night sky, neither stars nor the moon were visible, as if an eternal, silent darkness had descended upon the earth, swallowing everything of color. Around the perimeter of the hospital camp stood four statues—a valiant general, an elegant middle-aged scholar, a kindly elder, and a pure young woman... The statues seemed to form an enchantment between light and darkness: outside was abyssal darkness, while inside were brightly lit, bustling camp buildings. In the top-floor office of the hospital, she watched the cultists below begin tonight's revelry—bloody death matches, mating and propagation, storytelling and recitation of ancient lore, games and entertainment... Not only the believers of the Four Pillar Cult, but even the captive Calamitous Fire sorcerers who championed asceticism had quickly blended in, without the slightest resistance. No one found it strange. Tens of days, months, or years ago, the other believers of the Four Pillar Gods had also been followers of other grand laws. But the moment they lost their grand laws, they were instantly drawn to the Four Pillar Gods, casting aside untouchable ideals to calmly accept a reality of drunken stupor and self-indulgence. Not to mention that these ascetic Calamitous Fire sorcerers were inherently the easiest to corrupt. They believed they were using sheer willpower to resist desire and resist the Calamitous Fire, unaware that this itself was an effect of the Calamitous Fire. The more they gained from the Calamitous Fire, the more deeply infected they became, gradually growing hardworking, selfless, just, and devoid of desire. However, the phrasing "infected by Calamitous Fire" would obviously provoke disgust, whereas framing it as "resisting Calamitous Fire and maintaining one's willpower" garnered unanimous support from the believers. Among the myriad factions of Senluo Land, the Holy Temple of Calamitous Fire was unlike any other; it did not demand that believers worship the Calamitous Fire whole-heartedly, but rather urged them to beware of the Calamitous Fire, resist it, and scrutinize it. Yet in doing so, it had become the sect with the greatest cohesion, making it the fiercest competitor in the war of the gods. Yet, she glanced at the tiny flaming white tiger on her shoulder, and at the other grand laws dozing off in the office. To lose one's grand law was to lose everything. In this long night, people could only rely on two things to protect themselves: ideals, or desires—or perhaps they were essentially the same thing. The Holy Temple of Calamitous Fire was already a thing of the past. Even if a sorcerer who inherited the will of the Calamitous Fire became the next grand law, that would no longer be the Calamitous Fire, but a new flame. In Senluo Land, the vast majority of people were fallen leaves, and sorcerers were no exception. Sometimes they were swept up by the wind of the Calamitous Fire, and sometimes by the wind of justice, drifting wherever the gusts carried them, entirely powerless to master their own fates. If the wind stopped, they could only tumble into the soil of desire, slowly rotting away. She stopped watching the revelry below, sat back down at her desk, and continued examining the four cards upon it. A moment later, she confirmed that all four were genuine. As expected of the deeply rooted Holy Temple of Calamitous Fire, the value of these cards was even greater than the Grand Law of Myriad Calamities Fire itself, because they were "Dragon Gate Array shopping cards"! These shopping cards, which required no identity verification and were valid until the year 9999, were strategic assets in Senluo Land. Whoever held these cards could effortlessly acquire resources from the God Era! "Where did you get shopping cards at this point in time?" Hearing a voice speak up beside her, she shuddered slightly and swiftly put away the shopping cards. But when she turned her head and saw the unexpected guest, she breathed a sigh of relief. "So it's you." "Shouldn't you say, 'So it's me'?" A quiet young woman had abruptly appeared on the sofa nearby. Closing the book in her hands, she glanced at the blue-flame squirrel lying on the sofa and said, "Pleasure to meet you, Youlanweise." "Pleasure to meet you, myself from another worldline," the squirrel chuckled. "You seem much older than me." The other grand laws looked in confusion at the squirrel talking to itself, then at the female sorcerer sitting silently in the chair, unable to make sense of the situation, as if caught in some kind of illusion. "Why? I look exactly like you." "Voice, intonation, gaze," the squirrel said. "Perhaps that's the annoying thing about the truth faction." The quiet young woman nodded. "Makes sense. But you don't seem surprised by my appearance?" "Counting carefully, you should be the twenty-fourth 'me' I've met," the squirrel said. "The Illusion Mirror Dragon seems to cast its gaze upon me whenever it feels like it." The squirrel was not surprised by the quiet young woman's appearance, because this was not the first time. As early as the very first day she became a sorcerer, she had met herself from another worldline in her room, only to learn later that this was all the Illusion Mirror Dragon's prank. Whenever the Illusion Mirror Dragon paid attention to her, it pulled over a Youlanweise from a different worldline. While the vast majority could get along amiably—or at least trade knowledge—a few had attacked right off the bat. Although intelligence from different worldlines was hard to use as a reference, "their" knowledge was undeniably genuine. Perhaps because they were all versions of herself, the efficiency with which they exchanged sorcery knowledge was absurdly high. With almost every new version of herself she met, she could master a new sorcery faction. Although the squirrel was eager to draw new sorcery knowledge from the quiet young woman, she keenly detected a problem. "Why do you think I shouldn't have shopping cards at this point in time?" The quiet young woman pointed at the flaming white tiger. "Did you just return from the Calamitous Fire Bathhouse camp and successfully seize the Grand Law of Myriad Calamities Fire? These shopping cards came from the Holy Temple of Calamitous Fire, didn't they?" "That's right. What about it?" "Then my worldline is quite similar to yours," the quiet young woman said with a smile. "I went to the Calamitous Fire Bathhouse camp in the past too, but I failed to defeat the person wielding the Grand Law of Myriad Calamities Fire, so naturally I didn't get this haul." "You actually lost?" The squirrel was somewhat astonished. "Even though he could achieve perfect god-hosting with the Myriad Calamities Fire, he was very weak, and he even had moral bottom lines in his heart. If he had wiped out the other cultists right away and waged guerrilla warfare against us, that might have been a bit troublesome. Who would have thought he'd actually try to scare us off first, and then, as expected, fall victim to my Armament Coloration?" "Ahaha," the quiet young woman said nonchalantly. "It might have been a different person. The one I met wasn't as merciful as the one in your worldline. Not only did I fail to wipe out the Holy Temple of Calamitous Fire, but under that person's leadership, the Holy Temple of Calamitous Fire even grew stronger and launched a counterattack against us." "Yet it was precisely because of that that I escaped disaster." The squirrel narrowed its eyes. "What do you mean?" "After I took Touch's position, I only then discovered that Touch had long wanted to get rid of me. It was just that the Holy Temple of Calamitous Fire was bearing down menacingly back then, so she had no choice but to rely on me to keep resisting the Calamitous Fire." "Now that the Calamitous Fire has been extinguished," the quiet young woman looked at the squirrel and smiled, "do you think Touch still has any reason to let you live?" Bang! As soon as the quiet young woman finished speaking, the blast of a gun echoed through the long night! Sitting in the chair with her back to the window, the sexy, alluring, mysterious female sorcerer had her head blown apart by a single shot!