Garden of Eden || Apocalypse Paradise #2 [Complete]

144: The Reveal

"So... you're saying that Xueqin noticed something was wrong anyway?" Lin Sanjiu said awkwardly as she took a large step, climbing the stairs two at a time.

"Yeah! She started grumbling about it midway to our destination. She would come here herself if she didn't need Bai Xiaoke to help her move." Li Tao was short, so she had to move faster to match Lin Sanjiu's speed. Her bright, puppy-like raven eyes showed a light-hearted cheerfulness, "She wanted me to look for you and then use whatever means to bring you back."

"Huh!" Lin Sanjiu was reassured when she discovered that the operation outside had only been ongoing for less than an hour. She couldn't help finding Xueqin, who was on the other side of the city, rather amusing. She used her [Ability Polishing Agent] to light the next few steps ahead and continued, "I have been through all those dangers she warned about. It is just a pocket dimension. Look, we have already climbed many stories and are still fine."

Lin Sanjiu was a bit wrong about her description, as the black tower technically only had two stories, the ground floor and the top floor. The middle portion of the tower was just an almost endless flight of stairs. Naturally, if the power source was located in the black tower, it could only be on the top floor. Both women had already climbed up four to five segments of the spiral staircase but could still not see the top floor.

"By the way, what was the pocket dimension like? How did you escape?"

Lin Sanjiu wasn't quite sure how to answer Li Tao. She hemmed and hawed before she turned to look at Li Tao and suddenly smiled, "Actually, I don't know... Why don't I tell you what happened? Maybe you might unravel what has transpired. Two heads are better than one!"

After that, she recounted her experience in the pocket dimension, providing Li Tao with as many details as possible. As the storylines and timelines within the fairytale-themed pocket dimension were so messy, Lin Sanjiu found it hard to even put it in words. Unbelievably, Li Tao understood her confusing narration.

"I think I escaped because of dumb luck. No matter how hard I think, I can't make sense of that pocket dimension..." Lin Sanjiu confessed her perplexity under the glimmering silver light and their steady footsteps.

Li Tao remained quiet for a while. She seemed to be stumped as well. As Lin Sanjiu focused the light ahead, she couldn't see Li Tao's expression. After some time, she finally spoke softly, "It's quite interesting that the age of the three main characters contradicts their existence on the same timeline..."

"What are your thoughts?" Lin Sanjiu asked inquisitively.

They were still quite a distance away from the top of the tower. To be on the safe side, Lin Sanjiu didn't use her maximum speed to race up the tower. She was more than willing to hear Li Tao's analysis. Li Tao slowed down her steps subconsciously and laughed a little hesitantly. "These are just my thoughts. I don't know if it's right."

"It's alright. Just speak your mind."

"I think that it is fundamentally wrong to assume that past events affect future events," Li Tao already caught Lin Sanjiu's attention with her first sentence, "I think that all three stories were independent and have nothing to do with each other."

"Huh? How do you explain the prince's death and Lila's mirror?"

Li Tao seemed to realize that it might be difficult for her to explain. After thinking briefly, she asked, "Do you have a piece of paper?"

Lin Sanjiu stopped and looked through her deck of cards. Most of the items she had were things salvaged from Hyperthermal Hell, and not many paper-made products could survive the high temperature in that world. Ultimately, she tore a toilet paper and handed it to Li Tao.