Witch Special

"What is this!"

Throwing a newspaper praising herself on the table, Lin Zhenxi, with a look of despair on her face, grabbed the black cat at hand and began to rub it wildly. Yanyan was flipped over by Lin Zhenxi with her belly facing up. Before she could start to struggle, she was subdued by Lin Zhenxi's skillful cat-stroking technique. She began to make soft meows and spread her body flat on Lin Zhenxi's legs.

"It seems that making too much money has caused you trouble." Saitama lazily leaned on his hand and lay on the floor, saying with emotion, "Look, your company's advertisement is playing on TV again."

Memory crystals are a global hot commodity, a symbol of fashion and modernity. Regardless of social status, age, gender, or gender, everyone longs to own a memory crystal. Given this favorable situation, Lin Zhenxi's marketing experts decided not to remain passive. Instead, they decided to strike while the iron is hot, blanketing all television channels with advertising at all times, striving to maximize the impact of memory crystals.

Anyway, it’s right to flood the market with products, which will always bring out potential users who wanted to buy but didn’t for various reasons.

Lin Zhenxi rubbed his temples and said through gritted teeth, "But for me, this is simply an execution. They can't catch me in person, so they write nonsense in the newspaper. What kind of nonsense is this? It's just fabricated nonsense."

Some people even estimated her measurements in the newspapers, and the most outrageous thing is that based on the few photos of her that have been circulated, where she is tightly wrapped, they actually guessed correctly! !

What kind of eyes are these? Do they have built-in X-ray capabilities? If you have this ability, why are you a reporter? Wouldn’t it be better for you to be a doctor and save lives?

No, the more I think about it, the angrier I get. I have to curse that daring guy and make his butt covered with acne. Lin Zhenxi was filled with hatred and decided to take revenge on those daring and unscrupulous tabloid contributors.

"But Xiaolin, I don't quite understand. You've made so much money, but I can't see why you make it." Saitama sat up cross-legged, rubbing his chin with his hand, frowning and saying, "Logically, after making money, you should either buy a house or a car, move to a more developed city, and live a rich life. But Maki, you still live in this uninhabited area. To be honest, I can't tell that you have the appearance of a rich person at all. It's so strange."

Of course, it's because they have a powerful backer here. So what if they made a fortune and moved to a big city? When a monster actually attacks, aside from the fact that someone will bother to rescue them, they'll be no different from ordinary people. It's definitely safer to stay in the safe circle of Saitama's side than to worry about whether or not it's too late.

But this answer is too utilitarian, so we need to put it another way.

Lin Zhenxi turned over her hand, looked at the dial of the watch on her wrist, and said, "I make money just to let more people see and hear what I say, and then think seriously about how to respond. Look... it's time."

Following Hayashi Maki's finger, Saitama's gaze returned to the television screen. At the same time, a short clip announcing the hourly time appeared on the screen. However, unlike the familiar hourly announcements accompanied by advertisements, this time, the TV was actually playing a formal announcement with white text on a blue background, featuring the Baizhi logo.

"We're offering a significant reward for the answers to the following five puzzles. Citizens who know the answers should email them to Baizhi Group's Network Affairs Department. The first citizen to solve all five puzzles will receive a cash reward of 100 million yen from Baizhi or equivalent value in Baizhi original shares... Wow, Xiaolin, you're really working so hard, are you serious?"

"It's true. I'll pay anyone who can answer the riddle." Lin Zhenxi unconsciously rubbed the cat, pursed her lips, and stared at the small TV screen in front of her. All her previous preparations were to enhance her credibility, so that her words would not be ignored as a ridiculous joke.

Now, all preparations have been made and it is time for her to reap the rewards.

Five puzzles worth 100 million yuan were soon revealed to the world as the screen switched.

[Odd changes, even remains unchanged. What is the next sentence?]

[The king of heaven covers the tiger of earth. What is the next sentence? ]

[Palace Jade Wine. What is the next sentence?]

[I slept through the spring without waking up. What is the next line?]

[The river flows eastward. What is the next sentence?]

Well, five questions, absolutely impossible to answer unless you are a time traveler. Whoever can answer all the answers to these puzzles will be the one Lin Zhenxi needs.

Fortunately, despite the proliferation of advanced technology, this world at least had internet and television signals, allowing Lin Zhenxi to broadcast her message to the entire world. If it were a place with a deeply distorted social development, perhaps even resembling a medieval or magical civilization, where heating depended on communication and shouting, that would be truly hellish.

Fortunately, the other worlds Lin Zhenxi had visited so far were all modern worlds with advanced communications, making it easy to find people. So, for someone in their line of work, strength aside, luck was the most important factor.

Just as Hayashi Maki was lamenting her good fortune, Saitama next to her made a confusing statement that shocked both the man and the cat.

"Odds change but evens remain the same, the symbol depends on the quadrant? The king of heaven covers the earth and the tiger... the pagoda suppresses the river monster. The palace jade wine, I seem to have heard of this but don't have much impression. I sleep through spring and hear birds singing everywhere at dawn, and the last big river flowing eastward is... the stars in the sky and the Big Dipper? The number of words doesn't seem right. Huh? Why are you looking at me like that." Saitama muttered, and turned his head to see Lin Zhenxi and the black cat Yanyan beside him with their eyes wide open like searchlights. There was shock and confusion in their big eyes, as well as disbelief and disbelief, 90% doubt about life and the last bit of ecstasy as if a pie fell from the sky and hit them on the head.

"Of course it's because you are the one we are looking for, meow!" Yanyan jumped up, meowing in the air with her teeth and claws bared, and then Lin Zhenxi grabbed her tail and threw her behind him with a "meow".

Throwing the black cat out of the way, Lin Zhenxi realized she hadn't figured out what to say. Staring at Saitama's bald head, she silently transformed her magic power into a cold attribute, circulating it through her body. After forcing her mind to calm down, Lin Zhenxi finally planned her next words.

"Um... Uncle Saitama, since you know the answers to these puzzles, you should also remember their origins, right? Are you originally from this world?"

Saitama showed his usual dazed expression, giving people the feeling that his mind was completely empty and he was not thinking about anything at all.

"I... probably... don't seem to be quite clear." As he spoke, Saitama's expression gradually grew strange and serious. Simply put, his drawing style shifted from stick figures to hard-edged, realistic sketches. He pounded his head several times, each blow sending a terrifying gust of air through the small room, terrifying Lin Zhenxin.

"Uncle, calm down and don't get excited!" Lin Zhenxi shouted hurriedly.

After hitting his head a few times, Saitama seemed to feel better. If you ask Lin Maki why she thought so, it is because Saitama's painting style once again collapsed towards the usual simple drawing style, but this is Saitama's daily state.

After a long silence, Saitama finally spoke: "I remember now, I do come from another world. But my memory was like a layer of white cloth covering it, making it difficult for me to remember anything from that world before."

"Now that layer of cloth has been lifted up by the uncle." Lin Zhenxi supported his clenched fists on his legs and asked with concern.

This phenomenon of having one's pre-time travel memories obscured is actually quite common among time travelers, because it is a symbol that the time travelers have deeply integrated with the current world and are gradually being assimilated.

If the world is like a person, then travelers are like bacteria invading the human body from the outside world. (Oddly, the Main World doesn't have this rejection mechanism, but it simply doesn't exist, so forget it.) Upon detecting the presence of a foreign traveler, the world's immune rejection mechanism kicks in. First, it begins to assimilate the traveler through both memory and existence, erasing any traces of their previous world and transforming them into a living being of this world. This is known as assimilation. If the world fails to assimilate the traveler, it enters the second stage: a violent rejection reaction, staging a real-life version of Death Comes through various natural and man-made disasters, erasing the traveler's physical existence. If the traveler is truly unfortunate, even the various accidents of the previous stage haven't killed them, then the world's will will inflict widespread dislike on the traveler, generating inexplicable hostility and even murderous intent, and inciting all living beings in the world to "encircle" the traveler.

Of course, the third stage, "Encirclement and Suppression," is highly unlikely, as few people are strong enough to withstand the subjective malice of the world's will. However, I've heard there's actually a fourth stage above the third. This is "Mutual Destruction." After the world has exhausted all its efforts and still can't eliminate the traverser, it will choose to restart, dragging the traverser down with it through mutual destruction.

Saitama's memories are now less clear, indicating that the world has already assimilated him. However, it is clear that the assimilation is not complete, as he can answer Hayashi Maki's time travel puzzles.

At least, it wasn't completed completely.

So the question now is, what stage has Saitama reached? Is he still in the first stage [assimilation], or has the first stage failed and the world has already entered the second stage?

The answer to this question seemed to be something only the will of the world, now mired in silence, could offer. To know the answer, Lin Zhenxi had to reawaken this oversized sleeping beauty.