The girls returned to the beach and, for once, sat together in a circle.
Ling Xiaoxiao clung to Xue Ji without letting go, which made Shaya and Lilith quite envious.
And Ling Xiaoxiao clearly enjoyed their reactions, her eyes brimming with smug satisfaction.
“Xiao Ji, hehehe, my Xiao Ji.” She murmured as she buried her face in the curve of Xue Ji’s neck, inhaling deeply. “Snnnf~ Snnnf~”
Xue Ji had no idea how to respond, but her flushed cheeks had already betrayed her flustered state of mind.
“Xiaoxiao? Xiaoxiao?”
“Mm, I’m right here.”
As she spoke, Ling Xiaoxiao pulled Xue Ji into her embrace and shot the other two a sweet smile.
Lilith couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Alright, that’s enough. An old hag like you, acting all pitiful and clingy every single day—it’s disgusting!”
Even though her words were laced with obvious aggression, she still kept her voice deliberately low when she said them.
“And you, a little brat, strut around acting like a grown-up all the time. Why don’t you try acting cute for once~”
Ling Xiaoxiao was in a great mood, so instead of getting angry, she actually replied earnestly.
“Ac—acting cute? Me?” Lilith froze for a second, then quickly shot back, “I would never be as childish as you!”
“But if you did act cute, you’d probably be adorable. Don’t you think so, Xiao Ji?”
The sudden question caught Xue Ji off guard, leaving her unsure how to answer. Lilith let out a “hmph” and turned her head away, but the occasional sidelong glances she threw their way betrayed her hidden anticipation.
Xue Ji thought about it for a moment. Lilith might be mischievous and act like a bratty little gremlin most of the time, but deep down, she was very considerate. If she weren’t so stubborn and actually let herself be cute, she would probably be absolutely endearing.
“I think… she’d be very cute,” Xue Ji gave her honest answer.
“Hmph! Even if you say that, you’re still dreaming!”
“You’re blushing, Lilith~” Shaya suddenly leaned in and whispered.
“I am not! I—I’m just hot!” Lilith’s voice went shrill as she scrambled to defend herself.
Seeing this, Ling Xiaoxiao chuckled. “Why not give it a try? Aren’t you curious how Xiao Ji would react?”
“Wh—who would be curious about that?! Even if she begged me, I’d never—”
Lilith wanted to fire off something scathing, but the moment her eyes met Xue Ji’s, the words died in her throat.
“Xiao Ji, don’t you want to see it too?” Shaya, ever the instigator, joined in the teasing.
“I…”
All three of them fell silent at once, and Lilith stared at Xue Ji with a complicated look. There was a hint of stubbornness in her gaze, but also a touch of expectation, and this time, she didn’t look away. She unconsciously fidgeted with the ruffled hem of her swimsuit, a trace of shyness creeping in.
Seeing that, Xue Ji’s hesitation vanished in an instant. “I do want to see it!” she declared decisively.
She scooted closer to Lilith and took her hand.
“Eep!” Lilith’s face instantly turned crimson, steam practically rising from her head like a boiling kettle.
“Would you… let me?” Xue Ji asked gently.
“Even if you ask like that, there’s no way I can do it while being stared at like this!” Lilith was so flustered she looked like she might cry.
On impulse, she burrowed into Xue Ji’s arms and hid her face against her chest.
“Oh ho~ Going straight for the bold move, are we?” Shaya continued to tease.
Carefree as she was, Shaya didn’t mind the intimate display at all—after all, she knew she had her own place in Xue Ji’s heart.
But Ling Xiaoxiao, feeling a twinge of jealousy, quietly slipped behind Xue Ji and wrapped her arms around her from the back.
Xue Ji felt the soft pressure cradling the back of her head. Trapped between two people, one in front and one behind, she could barely move.
“Whoa!” The exclamation slipped out before she could stop it, and she quickly clamped her mouth shut.
“Comfortable?” Ling Xiaoxiao asked. “If you don’t answer, I’ll just have to squeeze you to death~”
“Squeeze me to death? How exactly would that work?” Xue Ji’s mind began to wander at the thought.
Shaya, finding the whole pile-up amusing, decided to join in.
“Lilith, scooch over a bit to the left—let me squeeze in here.”
“Why don’t you squeeze in from the back?” Lilith shot her a mildly annoyed look.
“As if you’d dare to do that yourself. Come on, we’re supposed to be an unbreakable alliance here!”
The two of them whispered to each other right in front of Xue Ji and Ling Xiaoxiao.
“We can hear you, you know…” Xue Ji reminded them.
Shaya’s hair practically stood on end at that. She and Lilith, one on each side, clung to Xue Ji and fell silent.
As the chatter died down, Xue Ji could feel their heartbeats, their breathing, the sound of the sea breeze and the crashing waves. All her worries melted away, and she experienced a tranquility she had never known before.
In a daze, she once again saw the goddess with the serpent’s tail. This time, it wasn’t a hazy encounter through mist, but a true face-to-face meeting.
“Long time no see, Sage.” The golden-haired goddess in flowing white robes smiled as she spoke.
Xue Ji felt a strange sense of familiarity, yet something about this goddess seemed different from the one she knew in the other world.
“You have already changed the fates of quite a few people.”
The goddess’s eyes shifted into golden serpentine pupils, and as Xue Ji met her gaze, she glimpsed several tragic possibilities.
A white wolf beneath the moonlight, consumed by the darkness parasitizing its soul, dying in conflict with humans and others alike.
A golden divine bird, madly hurtling toward a pitch-black sky, dissolving in a blaze that blotted out the sun.
A girl wielding a death scythe, laughing maniacally as she reaped lives across countless worlds, eventually ending her own existence at the end of time when everything was reduced to nothing.
A blue-haired girl encased in crystal, sacrificed to the abyss by a false god as material for ascension.
Time accelerated, and only darkness remained upon the land that had once nurtured civilization.
“And me? Where am I in all of this?” Xue Ji was puzzled—nowhere in those visions had she seen herself.
“Sage, you have transcended the concept of fate, drawing closest to beings like us. The vision of destiny cannot perceive you.”
The goddess took Xue Ji’s right hand, and the ouroboros mark upon it appeared once more.
“If it’s you, there is still hope for the future.”
“What happened to the future? What can I do?”
The goddess tried to answer, but the words about the future were beyond Xue Ji’s comprehension.
“So that’s how it is… It won’t be that easy, then.”
The goddess let out a soft sigh, but nothing more.
“Sage, the broken world, the Nightmare Ghost sealed in the crevice, and the grudges from the Age of Gods—they are all coming, one after another. Please be prepared.”
The scene before her shifted once more. The waves and the sandy beach were still there, and Xue Ji remained trapped in the girls’ embrace.
She noticed that the ouroboros mark on her right hand was now glowing with a silver light.
【When you feel helpless, try calling upon the name of fate.】
“Xue Ji-jie! I’m coming to find you!” Lin Xiaoyu’s voice rang out from a distance.
Xue Ji turned her head and saw Iva leading the little girl by the hand as they walked toward her.
