Chapter 220: Searching for the Contract Goddess Again

It was a bit difficult to find someone in the pitch-black cemetery with the naked eye.

However, Jin Luan eventually sensed a surge of mana coming from a certain direction.

That mana signature was unique, unlike anything she had ever encountered before.

It wasn’t the crude signature of a Demonic Creature, nor was it the ever-changing signature of a Magical Girl.

It certainly wasn’t the bizarre mana signature associated with the Defeated Team.

To Jin Luan’s perception, the mana in the cemetery was like a slowly flowing stream—very gentle.

She even began to experience auditory hallucinations; it felt as if someone was whispering in her head, calling for others to come forward.

Jin Luan knew it was an illusion, but she went anyway.

She felt there was no danger.

The mana was so soft that it felt as comforting as a plush pillow while sleeping.

She followed the trail.

She arrived just in time to see the final moment: a stream of mana, visible to the eye and as thin as a cicada’s wing, flowed slowly like clear water.

It poured into a Cleft in the Void.

After only a few seconds of observation, the Cleft closed, and the river of mana seemed to vanish.

Jin Luan knew it hadn’t truly disappeared; it had simply shrunk countless times in scale, leaving behind only a faint trace of mana.

It was invisible and intangible, yet it remained in the air.

She should have continued investigating the phenomenon, but then she spotted the silver-haired girl sitting there.

Her heart skipped a beat, and she immediately used Instant Step to rush over.

Yin Lin was sitting steadily with her eyes closed as if she were merely asleep.

Jin Luan quickly checked her chest; there was a heartbeat.

She checked her nose; there was breathing.

She gently patted her cheek. “Lin! Wake up.”

There was no response.

She patted her a few more times, harder this time, but there was still no reaction.

She forced Yin Lin’s eyelids open and found that her eyes were rolled back, though they still reacted to light.

‘Is she really faking?’

Jin Luan reached for her armpits and started tickling her, but there was no response.

She tickled her waist; still nothing.

She moved further down and tickled her thighs, but there was still no reaction.

Jin Luan’s mind briefly considered doing something R18 to test her reaction, but after a moment’s thought, she decided against it.

She had tested enough.

If the girl wasn’t even afraid of being tickled and showed no reaction at all, this was definitely not the normal Yin Lin.

She could basically confirm that Yin Lin had lost consciousness.

‘What happened? Was it related to the magic from earlier? What kind of magic was that? Was there an enemy attack?’

Since she didn’t know what had transpired, Jin Luan quickly took the Wand, picked up Yin Lin, and moved to find a safer location.

***

At that moment, Yin Lin was still unaware of what was happening outside, having just entered the False Space.

Seeing the Tentacle Octopus goose-stepping again looked incredibly ridiculous.

Upon spotting Yin Lin’s arrival, the Octopus immediately began to chase her.

Yin Lin took off running, having no desire to be touched by the Octopus.

She didn’t know when the Octopus might actually become solid.

If she were caught this time, wouldn’t that lead to some sort of tentacle game?

‘God, that’s disgusting.’

Yin Lin could faintly sense the Contract Goddess’s intent.

The Goddess was just amusing herself.

In her childhood, there was a classic cartoon called Tom and Jerry.

Many viewers loved watching Tom chase Jerry, or seeing Jerry bully Tom.

It wasn’t for any deep reason; it was just entertaining to see someone in a pathetic state.

The Contract Goddess likely had the same mindset—if there was no entertainment to be found, she would force some into existence.

She wanted to see Yin Lin in a state of distress.

“Stop messing around! If you keep this up, I won’t come back for several years,” Yin Lin shouted.

The Tentacle Octopus chased her for a bit longer before finally coming to a halt.

Yin Lin then walked into the Tree Hollow to find the Contract Goddess.

She looked the same as always: bound and unable to move, looking as though she had fused with the tree.

It was impossible to tell who was parasitizing whom.

“You’re a thirty-four-year-old old man. Don’t you think playing like this is childish?”

Yin Lin mocked her.

The Contract Goddess retorted, “Aren’t you also thirty-four and still watching cartoons? If you aren’t ashamed, why should I be?”

“What cartoons? That’s anime! It’s an emerging art form. Even eighty-year-olds still make anime, so what’s wrong with a thirty-four-year-old watching it?”

Yin Lin defended herself.

Talking to herself was quite strange.

It felt like debating with a Heart Demon.

The two chatted for a while about anime, games, and politics—a favorite topic among men.

Even though they were technically the same person, they still argued until they were red in the face when it came to politics.

This was normal, however.

People support different public figures at different stages of their lives; the fact that they had disagreements meant they had grown.

It was like an author.

When they were single and possessed an “invincible” buff, they could write works full of gore—severed heads, broken bodies, a bit of spice, and endless intrigue—perfecting the art of the dark, gritty, and tragic.

Perhaps the old Song Wuli would have liked that.

But once that author gained attachments and weaknesses, they were no longer invincible.

Their work would become increasingly conservative, betraying the readers who followed them.

They would abandon the dark and gritty style to start promoting truth, goodness, and beauty.

It was only natural for the old Song Wuli to hate it while the current Contract Goddess loved it.

It was perfectly normal for Yin Lin and the Contract Goddess to argue over politics.

Through this seemingly ordinary argument, Yin Lin also understood some things that might happen in the future.

The Contract Goddess’s view of the Human Alliance had changed; at the very least, she liked the Human Alliance more than the current Yin Lin did.

She wondered what could have happened in the future to cause such a change in perspective.

After resting for a few minutes, both of them gradually calmed down.

Yin Lin couldn’t tell if the naked girl was acting or showing her true feelings.

She didn’t bother trying to figure it out and moved on to another matter.

“You received the Heavy Gravity Pearl, right? I didn’t give it to the wrong person?”

“I received it,” the Contract Goddess replied.

“You did well with that.”

“What was that Demonic Creature that held the Heavy Gravity Pearl? Was it really an Executive-level Fiend?”

Yin Lin asked.

“It was executive-level. As for why it was so weak, I can’t tell you yet. You can find out by investigating that Badge,” the Contract Goddess said.

“Who was that woman who recovered the Heavy Gravity Pearl? What’s her background?”

“It’s not time to tell you that yet.”

“Fine. Then can you tell me anything about the Defeated Team’s new weapon?”

“I can’t say that either,” the Contract Goddess said. “You’ll have to investigate it yourself.”

Yin Lin scratched her head.

Communicating with this person was exhausting.

She had no choice but to change the subject and ask about information she had learned from Greenfield.

“About Greenfield… the things she said. You were the one who manipulated her into attacking me at Yiri Square, weren’t you?”

The Contract Goddess paused for a moment, as if contemplating how history should proceed and deciding which words were safe to say.

Yin Lin pressed further, “You broke the rules. You changed history, didn’t you? Or rather, the history you’re following now is actually a history that has already been changed. Am I right?”

“Yes,” the Contract Goddess replied.

“It is just as you guessed.”

Greenfield wasn’t actually supposed to do those things at Yiri Square.

In the original timeline, she likely went there to do what she originally intended.

In that version of history, a very significant and terrible event occurred.

For example, Yin Lin might have died.

Therefore, countless versions of the Contract Goddess had chosen to change history, leading Greenfield to cause a disturbance at Yiri Square instead.