Mr. Zhongli, we can't slack off anymore!

I'm ready.

I gently released Kavi's hand.

I took a step forward, stood before the scales of judgment, met Narcida's gaze, and gave her an affirming look.

“The price is…” Nasita’s voice echoed in the hall: “The power and memories of the Lu people.” She reached out her small hand to me.

"what?"

"how come……"

Clearly, this was an outcome that no one had anticipated.

This time, I, a seemingly ordinary traveler, have taken the lead over these geniuses of Mount Sumeru in understanding the truth of the ending.

Without hesitation, I reached out and gently took Naxida's small hand in mine.

Nasita spoke before I could: "Before the price is paid, is there anything you'd like to say to your friends? Because these memories... will cease to exist tomorrow, when the next cycle begins..."

What did he say? Did it sound like a dying wish?

It doesn't seem that bad...

Oh, right! There is indeed something!

"Please wait a moment." I turned around quickly, my voice tinged with urgency.

Okay, now, all those sympathetic, shocked, and worried glances are finally focused on me...

Unfortunately, it was too late. At this moment, I no longer need these belated emotions.

Wait a minute... Elhesen, his reaction... is so rational it's almost cold.

Only he remained unmoved in his grey-green eyes, as if all of this had been within his calculations.

This guy...did he already know what I was going to do?

Or does it mean he accepts any changes and is confident he can handle everything?

……

This is probably why Nasita chose to entrust me with the pendant that resisted reincarnation and give it to Elhesen.

But why not just give it to him directly? Why go through me?

Too……

This man's answer, his final choice, will directly determine my fate. I should personally hand him this decisive item and make the choice myself.

I took a deep breath, suppressed the complex emotions surging within me, and walked straight toward Elhesen, who was leaning against the pillar.

“Lu Ren, I…I have something to say…” Kavi tried urgently to stop me.

"Please wait a moment." I stepped aside and interrupted him in an unusually calm tone: "I have one more thing... that I must do."

Absolutely not... give the pendant to Kavi.

His overly sentimental heart will be completely crushed by this heavy entrustment and the guilt that follows.

I cannot let my choices become the shackles that bind him in his next life.

I'm convinced that the pendant can only be given to a cool, almost cold-blooded person.

Someone who can find the answer without being affected even when I have to risk my life.

“Mr. Elhesen,” I said, standing in front of him, “please come with me.”

We walked into the shadows at the entrance of Jingshan Palace and stood facing each other.

“This thing,” I took the leaf pendant from my inner pocket, “was given to me by your god, Nasita. I use it to resist reincarnation.”

“Just now, after submitting incorrect answers, only you… passed the final 'test'.” I was referring to his almost inhuman calmness and absolute rationality, unaffected by emotions, in the face of such a huge change.

“Nasita and I both believe that you possess the quality necessary to save Sumeru—the ability to remain undisturbed by any external emotional factors. Therefore, I entrust it to you. Sumeru… I entrust it to you.” I held the pendant in my palm and handed it to him.

He didn't immediately reach out to take it.

His gaze lingered on my face for a moment, as if making a final assessment, before he slowly reached out and steadily pinched the small pendant between his fingertips: "The right decision."

There were no doubts, no feelings, no pressure, and not even the slightest bit of reluctance.

After saying that, he put the pendant away, as if it were just an ordinary item.

He didn't even glance at me again, nor did he give any explanation to the others in Jingshan Palace. Holding the pendant, he turned around and walked straight out of Jingshan Palace, his figure quickly disappearing into the night outside the door.

Damn it! How can he be so calm!

Even my cold-blooded (he has no blood at all) villainous teammate, Sanbing, couldn't maintain his usual sarcasm and indifference. At this moment, his eyes were wide open, his face filled with disbelief and incomprehensible shock: "Why... is it you?"

“I can afford to reincarnate,” I replied calmly.

“Impossible…” He seemed to be caught in some kind of cognitive confusion: “You’re just… a passing traveler! An outsider! Why…”

He seemed completely unable to grasp the logic behind it.

"Now you understand that I have something to do with this place, right?"

So please... in the next cycle of reincarnation, don't torture me without any reason!

Go and torture those four people!

Having done all this, I can finally walk toward my only friend in Sumeru to say my final goodbye.

“Lu Ren…” Kavi’s voice was thick with nasal tone, filled with reluctance, worry, and a deep sense of helplessness. “If… if I still remember… could I… tell you next time I see you… that we’re not just employers, we’re good friends?”

"Yeah." I nodded.

“Then you must also… if, if next time, I don’t remember… you must tell me… you must tell me… we’re not just employer and employee… we’re friends…” These were the last words Kavi said to me in this cycle.

"Ah."

Before parting, we opened our arms to each other and gave each other a brief but all-out hug.

His embrace was warm and had a very comforting scent. But I'll forget about it soon enough.

I took a deep breath, released Kavi, turned around, and walked step by step toward the Scales of Judgment that radiated a cold light.

Standing before the enormous scales, I closed my eyes.

The next moment, countless shimmering grains of sand poured down from the center of the Scales of Judgment, enveloping me.

I could clearly feel the power flowing through my body being rapidly drawn away, followed by memories... being peeled away, scattered, and dissolved from the depths of my consciousness...

Power, memories, and consciousness... everything that constitutes "me" was irreversibly extracted in this grain-like light as the price for maintaining the cycle of reincarnation, and finally flowed into the Holy Scales of Judgment, which symbolizes ancient contracts and rules, and was handed over to the demon god named Sphinx.

My consciousness, like falling into a sea of ​​sand, slowly sank, gently buried by the boundless golden sand.

*

The traveler emerges from his long memories.

Oh, right, I promised Kavi.

She got up from the sofa and went straight to the kitchen where Kavi was making lemon tea.

“Kavi, we are friends.”