Chapter 39

Thinking about this, Lumian came to a conclusion:

If his guess just now was true, it meant that only the village of Cordu and its surroundings had experienced a time reversal, while other places remained unaffected!

Does this mean that as long as we can leave this place, we can return to a normal life? As this thought flashed through his mind, Lumian turned his head to look at Aurore, putting on a guilty expression:

"This, uh, this telegram was actually something I set up."

"You?" Aurore was both amused and exasperated, but mostly bewildered.

She wondered if she had accidentally been pranked by her younger brother.

It was like a seasoned hunter getting pecked by an eagle!

Lumian "sincerely" explained:

"It's like this, haven't I always wanted to visit Trier? So, a couple of days ago, I secretly sent a telegram to the corresponding telegraph office of the 'Novel Weekly,' asking in your name when the next writers' salon would be. They indeed sent a warm invitation."

"So that's how it is..." Aurore looked as if a mystery had finally been solved.

The next second, she picked up a wooden stick beside her and said through gritted teeth:

"You've grown up, haven't you!"

Lumian quickly added:

"Aurore, no, sister, listen to my sophistry, no, listen to my explanation."

He wasn't panicked and even made a joke.

"Alright, go ahead," Aurore said, leaning on the wooden stick. "Your sister has always been known for her good character, how can I convict someone without hearing their statement?

"I want you to die with your eyes open!"

Lumian spoke rapidly:

"In Intis, Trier has the most and best universities. I'm about to take the unified entrance exam for higher education and want to visit in advance to decide which three to apply to."

Aurore nodded slightly, signaling for her brother to continue.

Lumian earnestly praised his sister:

"I believe that if I make this reasonable request, you would definitely take me to Trier. But that way, it would cost your money. If the 'Novel Weekly' sends an invitation, not only would the train ticket and hotel expenses be covered, but even the entertainment costs in Trier could be reimbursed.

"I know you're not short of money, but those are the words you painstakingly wrote, and if there's a way to save, I won't let it go."

Aurore's expression softened:

"At least you care about your sister.

"But have you considered that I don't want to attend any writers' salon? I hate interacting with so many strangers."

Lumian smiled:

"Aurore, uh, sister, have you thought that the 'Novel Weekly' invited you not to attend the salon, but to build a good relationship with you? You are a famous best-selling novelist.

"So, the salon isn't important; what's important is you. As long as you're willing to accept their invitation and visit Trier for a while, you can easily find an excuse to skip the salon. The 'Novel Weekly' people won't be angry; they'll be relieved that you accepted the earlier part of the invitation."

Aurore looked at Lumian up and down:

"You're getting better at reading people."

She then sighed:

"Alright, I'll take care of some things, pack my bags, and take you to Trier in a couple of days. We'll send a telegram to the 'Novel Weekly' in advance to have them meet us at the Trier train station."

"Great!" Lumian didn't hide his joy.

Although he suspected that he and Aurore couldn't simply leave Cordu, and that "leaving" might trigger some unpredictable changes before the time reversal's secret and its root cause were uncovered, he had to try and not trap himself in one place.

With this mindset, he had just tried to convince Aurore.

Lumian didn't plan to tell his sister about the time reversal yet, as Aurore had lost the corresponding memories and wouldn't easily believe this almost delusional guess. Unless he consistently made "predictions" that were verified, but he wanted to act as if he was unaware of the time reversal and wasn't ready to make "predictions" to see if he could uncover some clues.

Using reading as an excuse, Lumian returned to the second floor and entered the study.

He sat down, picked up a book at random, and checked if he had it upside down.

Then, he fell into his thoughts, hoping to further understand his current predicament through the details he had discovered last night and today.

As his gaze moved aimlessly, Lumian's eyes fell on the small blue book on the table.

His heart skipped a beat, he retracted his thoughts, reached out, and quickly flipped through the book.

Pages with missing words and corresponding gaps appeared before his eyes.

"That letter..." Lumian whispered to himself.

Combining the 'Novel Weekly's' delayed response, he had a new guess about the distress letter received by Lya, Leon, and others:

"Perhaps, that letter was really written by me, and I am the 'murderer'!

"The time reversal may have happened more than once. According to Aurore's definition in her novels, this should be called a time loop.

"In one of the previous loops, I discovered some abnormalities through certain explorations and decided to seek help from the outside world through an anonymous letter without involving Aurore. By the time the authorities recognized the severity of the issue and sent Leon and others to handle it, Cordu had already started a new loop, and I, like Aurore now, had lost all the corresponding memories and returned to the 'initial' state...

"Now, there's a question: why does this small blue book still have the words cut out?

"Logically, it should also return to the 'initial' state, like the food I ate in the previous loop...

"Um, two possibilities:

"One, the discovery of abnormalities and seeking help happened before the time loop started, but in that case, the related memories shouldn't have been reset. Could there be another reason for my partial memory loss? This is getting more complicated...

"Two, the me in that loop found a way to make something unaffected by the loop... What could it be? If there really was a way, why not just write down the discovered things on a piece of paper?"

Lumian felt he had peeled back a layer of the fog and roughly understood the situation, but he was also plunged into more doubts.

He believed he had already experienced many time loops, but in those loops, once he started from the beginning, his memories and physical state would reset, so he never noticed.

This time, he could retain his memories and the Hunter's extraordinary characteristics because he met the lady, received the Wand card, and entered the dream ruins, which activated his special traits.

Since the special traits brought by the two symbols allowed Lumian to bring the extraordinary state from the dream into reality, they could also possibly preserve his complete physical condition at the initial point of the loop.

"So, the Hunter monster's state reset but still couldn't 'take back' the Hunter's extraordinary characteristics..." Lumian leaned back in his chair, gazing at the ceiling, and slowly exhaled.

He then gave a self-deprecating smile:

"Facing such extraordinary events right after becoming an extraordinary being, no time to grow up...

"Uh, the distress letter can't be confirmed as my doing yet. It could also be Aurore or Mrs. Poualys... As extraordinary beings, they might have noticed something was wrong in a previous loop and made efforts to save themselves. With their knowledge of mysticism, they might have found a way to leave some traces... But regardless, the time loop is the most plausible explanation for the current situation."

As he thought, Lumian came up with a way to confirm the source of the distress letter.

The method was simple: enter the dream ruins and check the same small blue book in the house there.

If the small blue book also had missing words, it would mean the distress letter was made by Lumian himself, as the house in the special dream was a projection of his subconscious mixed with the ruins world, and things known subconsciously should appear there.

If not, it was likely done by Aurore or Mrs. Poualys, as Lumian's subconscious couldn't know about it and wouldn't be responsible for it.

Lumian didn't rush to "nap." Seeing that the time was right, he sneaked out of the house and headed straight for the old tavern.

In a corner of the old tavern, a familiar figure caught his eye.

The lady who had given him the Wand card and the potion recipe had reappeared.

She was wearing a yellow-orange dress with ruffled edges and a light-colored lady's hat with pleats beside her.

Lumian instantly felt relieved, like a drowning person finally grabbing a lifebuoy.

He quickly approached and saw that the lady had not breakfast but three stacks of tarot cards on the table.

"Do you need me to draw a card?" Lumian asked tentatively.

"You've already drawn one," the lady said, not looking up as she shuffled the three stacks of tarot cards together.

Lumian instantly felt a lump in his throat.

She indeed wasn't affected by the time loop!

Without beating around the bush, Lumian sat down and asked directly:

"I, and the entire village of Cordu, are in a time loop?"

The lady lifted her head and smiled:

"Yes, you are all 'Looped Ones.'"

Looped Ones... Lumian repeated the term in his mind.

He asked curiously:

"What does that mean, being in a time loop?"

The lady smiled:

"It has two meanings: one, a special power equivalent to Sequence 4 obtained by praying to a certain existence; the other is your current situation."

"Can one obtain power by praying to a hidden existence?" Lumian was surprised by the first explanation of "Looped Ones."

Weren't the twenty-two extraordinary paths all about taking potions to advance?

The lady nodded lightly:

"Theoretically, the 'Eternal Sun' could also make his believers extraordinary without potions, relying solely on his blessings. However, for Him, this is a burden and can only be a temporary measure. The more people who need blessings, the greater the burden, which could even affect His state.

"Those who receive blessings are not without drawbacks; they will slowly move closer to the 'Eternal Sun,' both physically and mentally and spiritually.

"Also, since it's a blessing from a higher being, they can take it back at any time, unless you have unique powers of a certain path and secretly steal some of it while retaining the blessing."