Two divination cards

“I never‍​‌‍‌‌‍‍​‍‌​‍‍‍‍‍‌‍⁠​‌​⁠ anticipated that I would offer myself up to save him.”

“Perhaps the Black Rose’s breathing sounded too painful, causing me to act on a sudden impulse.”

Zhao Ran was very weak, but his voice was unexpectedly calm.

“Therefore, I am truly not lying. Choosing self-sacrifice was a spur-of-the-moment impulse. Jin Xuyan has left forever. No matter how my emotions for him should be defined, I will no longer subject myself to pointless self-torment.”

Qin Zhilu turned off the recording. “He is too calm, too rational. This instead makes the Brain very uneasy, leading them to believe he needs psychological intervention.”

An Yu asked softly, “Then what do you think, Commander?”

“I believe him.”

Qin Zhilu’s reply was casual and light. He snatched his trench coat from the chair and walked toward the exit. “Some decisions are always right there, but they are separated from the person by a fragile and expensive sheet of gauze paper. If a gust of wind does not tear the paper, the person will never be able to take that step. Throughout their entire life, they can only gaze through the paper at the decision they originally wanted to make. The Black Rose’s agony was the wind that helped Zhao Ran make his decision at that moment. Not everyone is lucky enough to encounter that wind, but he just happened to meet it. That is all.”

An Yu remained quiet and silent, a trace of confusion seemingly lingering within his golden eyes, but a moment later he suddenly asked, “Just like that heavy snow that suddenly started falling again after the snow had stopped that day, right?”

Qin Zhilu, who was already about to pull open the door, paused in his tracks and turned his head to look back at him.

“Before going to the swamp, you suddenly turned back and decided to kiss me.” An Yu gazed at him earnestly. “It was that snowstorm that brought you the impulse, was it not?”

Qin Zhilu’s gaze was frank and open. “When the snowstorm left and returned once more, I decided to kiss you regardless of everything. I did not want to wait for even a single second. But what made me decide to turn back was not the snow. It was… it was because you cried.”

An Yu froze for a moment. “But that was not the first time you saw me cry.”

“But that time, you were brought to tears by me.” Qin Zhilu’s voice quietened. He took a deep breath and exhaled it as a sigh, walking back to press his hand over An Yu’s head. “So you are not allowed to cry recklessly in the future, and even acting spoiled must be kept within reasonable limits.”

An Yu wanted to say that he was not acting spoiled, but no matter how many times this topic was argued, he could never win the dispute. He could only let out a dry “oh” in response. “I will try my best.”

Qin Zhilu forcefully ruffled his head a couple of times, turned around, and said, “I have to attend a meeting with the Black Tower to decide Zhao Ran’s retention and the arrangements after the 198th floor. Shall I drop you off at the bakery on my way?”

An Yu cast a glance out the window behind Qin Zhilu’s desk. “Can I stay here a little longer?”

“Suit yourself.” Qin Zhilu nodded. “If you are going to sleep, do not forget to fill your stomach first, lest you unconsciously sleep for a very long time again.”

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In that dimly lit safe house, Qin Zhilu had idly played with these two cards, appearing utterly indifferent, yet he had carried them back to the Main City.

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An Yu stepped into the empty, vast hall, but his footsteps gradually grew hesitant and came to a halt.

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A gentle voice echoed from behind.

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“Are these the writings he left behind?” An Yu hesitated for a moment. “Is it a curse?”

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An Yu processed this for a short while. “I am sorry. I seem to understand, but I am still very confused. It was Eye who wrote these words, so the characters that appear chaotic and distorted to us must possess a structured order within his perspective.”

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“Because you are very complete.” Codex scrutinized him, murmuring low as if sighing to himself.

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“After returning from District 95, Law sought me out for a chat once. We achieved a consensus regarding the allegory. The entity that descended in the year 2122 was destructively severed into three components: the Order entity, the Chaos entity, and the Cognition entity. The separation of the Order entity and the Chaos entity caused all of these calamities, while the severing of the Cognition entity left both of them devoid of a pathway to acquire the truth. Law said that whenever an aberrant attempts to lay a finger on you, its body will detonate, and even the terrifying chaotic disruption reaction will be terminated by you. I think that is because they are all exceptionally minute fragments of the Chaos entity; only a complete Chaos entity can counter and balance you, because you are the sole complete Order entity.”

An Yu fell silent for a short interval. “You mean to say, the Commander is also incomplete.”

“He should be the primary body of the Chaos entity, the largest fragment. Next, I suspect it is Sienna. As for the rest, they are scattered across every corner of the world like shattered dust and debris.” Codex paused for a moment. “Just now you said that within Eye’s perspective, this world possesses a structured order. In reality, it does not. Perfect Cognition truly exists in this world, capable of witnessing all truths and final outcomes, but that perfect Cognition has already been severed.”

“You and him.”

Codex nodded lightly, lifting his head to scan the net of distorted words on the inner walls of the church. “Therefore, Eye leaving this behind was also his way of telling me that perfect Cognition is no longer attainable. He is advising me to give up, and not to remain obsessed with things that cannot be seen clearly.”

An Yu pondered for a very long time. “If that entity restores itself to how it used to be, this calamity will welcome its conclusion, will it not?”

Codex gave an “mm” in response. “But within the final outcome witnessed by Eye, that entity will be unable to fuse and return due to the Chaos entity’s obstinate insistence on going its own way, so the calamity will remain endless. Do not blame Eye for being pessimistic. Among thousands upon thousands of spatial-temporal lines, this is indeed the uniform final outcome.”

An Yu knit his brows upon hearing those words. This made it sound as though all guilt and blame should be placed upon the Commander’s head, but that man’s faith in order remained unswerving until death; how could he possibly prevent the calamity from concluding?

“Do not look so full of bitter hatred.” Codex turned back to smile at him. “I told you before that there is a path that is very blurred, and I have never been able to see it clearly. But recently, I seem to have glimpsed some turning point.”

“What is it?” An Yu inquired immediately.

Codex shook his head. “It still requires time. It is also possible that I will never be able to voice what the turning point is. After all, Eye and I are severed from each other; I can never possess perfect Cognition.”

An Yu remained silent for a moment. He reached into his pocket to find a piece of dry bread, unwrapped it, and stuffed it into his mouth.

He chewed forcefully, attempting to use this action to pacify the dejection in his heart, speaking only after he had swallowed it completely: “You and Eye are truly very similar sometimes.”

Codex lost his composure and let out a laugh. “But I am not intentionally turning things into a mystery. I do not know how to write poetry; I can only communicate everything I currently see to you.”

An Yu gave a perfunctory nod, unable to resist reaching for another piece of dry bread to eat. He finished eating all of the dry bread while standing amidst the bizarre writings.

He felt that if he continued to look, he would experience nightmares tonight, so he had no choice but to retract his gaze, pulling those two divination cards from his pocket.

“Can you help me look at these?” He handed the cards to Codex. “They were obtained from the divination cult room in District 95. The Commander said that no matter how many times he shuffles the deck, the ones drawn will always be these two.”

Codex merely cast a single glance before taking the cards and gathering them into his palm, without even flipping them open, and said, “He came to ask me about them before.”

Hearing those words, An Yu instinctively looked toward the corners of the two cards: they had already been handled to the point of being slightly creased at the edges. Qin Zhilu likely picked them up to look at them very frequently.