Chapter Sixteen: Hey, Tableware, I’m In!

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After Selris returned, he fell backward onto the bed, rolling around twice out of boredom.

“So boring,” Selris muttered, staring at the ceiling.

[Don’t worry, it won’t be boring for long.]

“What’s going on?” Selris flipped over again.

[Not telling you.]

“Then why say anything at all? Talking halfway like that is annoying.]

[Hehe, can’t be selected.]

It was daytime now, so Selris couldn’t see the moon. But if one were on the opposite side of the Earth, they would witness this scene:

Today, when it shouldn’t have been a full moon, it suddenly turned into one. Crimson moonlight surged like a tide from above. Bathed in this light, everyone’s emotions became noticeably unstable. Those with the path of the Apothecary or the Cultivator experienced wild fluctuations in their spiritual energy.

Then the moon shifted to a fiery orange. Under its glow, people felt a deep sense of joy and couldn’t help but smile.

Selris suddenly felt his mood lighten and a great happiness swell within him.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Earth, night suddenly boiled over. Dark clouds swallowed the sky, completely obscuring the moon.

Yet Selris could still hear laughter bubbling up from deep within his heart.

A faint smile curled his lips.

……

Some time ago.

In an unnamed place.

This place was devoid of light—a realm of chaos. Here, there was no up or down, no left or right. Things lost within it might be drifting forward one moment, spinning wildly the next in erratic motion.

The space here was viscous. Spaces intertwined and enveloped each other, twisting, flowing, merging, and splitting. Should anything unfortunate fall within, the only fate would be to be torn apart by the disorderly void.

Time here was chaotic, no longer flowing straight ahead. Lost objects simultaneously traveled to the past, present, and future. Time held no meaning. With luck, one might glimpse the river of time tap-dancing.

This was a place of exile beyond the world, a crossroads between worlds.

At this very moment, a strange red mass tumbled here in an eerie posture.

It was a collection of masks, decks of cards, and various small trinkets. But now, they were all grotesquely twisted, constantly warped, torn, and decomposed, then restored anew.

Despite this destruction, they clustered together into a sphere, from which an invisible energy radiated, forming a protective shield.

Inside this sphere was a headless figure.

It scrambled forward, limbs moving like a hamster rolling a ball, propelling the entire sphere forward at a frenzied pace.

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Saying it was moving “forward” wasn’t quite accurate—there was no concept of “forward” here. The figure merely shortened the distance to a certain coordinate.

Within the ever-shifting space, it kept changing direction, bringing the sphere ever closer to its destination.

Laughter—“hehehe~”—could be heard along the way.

Occasionally, streaks of light passed by—likely glimpses of different worlds in transit.

Yet its purpose was clear and unwavering, undeterred by external distractions. One could almost be moved to tears by its steadfast conviction. It certainly had pride.

Suddenly, it felt the sphere grow heavier to propel. Glancing back, it saw something drawn to it, trailing like a satellite captured by a planet’s gravity.

Heh, a stowaway hitching a ride.

A hula hoop-like appendage extended from the sphere, hooking the stowaway to prevent it from falling behind.

It didn’t mind company; it welcomed others to join its adventure. If someone could even fool it, that would be a rare delight.

After an unknown span, it finally reached its destination.

With a loud bang, it slammed into an invisible barrier, forced to an abrupt halt. The small thing trailing behind collided with it as well.

This was the world’s barrier. Yet it was not truly a boundary of the world but more a conceptual divide—an inner and outer barrier. Beyond it lay the space outside the world; within it could be any place in this world.

It patted the wall, then struck a thinking pose—one hand against the middle of its neck where a human's chin might be, pretending to ponder. Then it scratched above its neck, roughly where a head would be.

Truly baffling for a god.

Then, with a flourish, it clenched its right fist and struck its left palm. Suddenly, a light bulb appeared above its neck. It seemed to have had a brilliant idea.

From behind, it pulled out a deep purple, slime-like mass. The slime didn’t resist, only staring back with a pair of mismatched white eyes.

O.o: “…”

Sometimes, gods without boundaries were truly annoying.

This was a portion borrowed from its close brother. Since the brother didn’t object, it must have consented.

Don’t underestimate the bond between them.

Though it always acted indifferent, it had still shared part of its consciousness to come along.

Locking eyes with the mismatched gaze, it smiled and evenly spread the black slime over the wall. It could feel the barrier being eroded by [Nothingness].

Perhaps tens of thousands of years passed, or maybe just a second. As mentioned, time had no meaning here. Subjectively, it was less than a minute.

Eventually, a hole formed in the wall from the erosion. It immediately stepped forward, peeled off the black slime, and tossed it aside.

Coincidentally, the discarded slime twisted into a question mark. Floating nearby, it seemed to silently accuse it.

O.o: “…”

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Aha exclaimed, shrinking its form to slip through the hole. Its various belongings squeezed in behind. Two gloves kindly grasped the black slime and the stowaway—a spherical object containing who-knows-what.

Upon entry, its time and space stabilized, no longer chaotic. It successfully merged into this world.

“Hey everyone, I’m in!”

Aha sensed the coordinate that led it here lay on a nearby planet. It had descended onto a satellite orbiting close by.

It placed the black slime in a box. Though only part of IX, leaving it unrestricted could cause trouble—don’t want to break its future toys.

Overcome with joy, or rather, already overwhelmed, it rolled on the ground, laughing and crying.

Its belongings chased after, but seemed a bit behind.

After amusing itself for a while, it finally settled down.

Aha sat up, raising both hands victoriously like a child who’d won a game.

“Hahaha, Achille, Achille, I’ve explored farther than you ever did.”

The masks burst into laughter as well, one white mask laughing especially loudly.

As the laughter echoed, Aha’s figure gradually dimmed and vanished. In contrast, the masks became more lively.

Perhaps its voice was too sharp. It had attracted an uninvited guest.

Though it was the outsider, it didn’t stop it from seizing the moral high ground first.

“What’s a local doing here? Isn’t that as absurd as a man in the men’s restroom?”

No one responded to Aha’s “feminist” outburst. Crimson moonlight surged like a tide, engulfing Aha in its loud laughter.

Behind Aha, the breach torn open by the bond between Aha and IX had almost healed. Yet a sliver of moonlight still filtered through, swallowed by the chaos beyond.

Within that chaos, where past and present converged, an unfortunate traveler seemed to have been tainted by the corruption of a fallen mother goddess.

Who could it be? Such a hard guess. Selris, do you have any ideas?

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P.S.:

Honestly, I never expected this little fun project to get officially signed. But since luck’s on my side, I shamelessly ask for some monthly votes. Probably no one will give, but what if they do? If you find the author’s writing interesting, please consider dropping a vote.