“You don’t seem to care at all about what Aunt Tong said…” I asked, somewhat puzzled. “Isn’t she a member you recruited?”
“I’m not hearing her talk for the first time,” Jiang Ruoxue closed her comic book and shook her head. “I don’t know if it’s because of the ‘Echo,’ but Aunt Tong and I have completely different ways of thinking. So, we often can’t communicate. I just stopped listening altogether.”
“How so?”
“For example, I believe that ‘everything is predestined,’ that everything now has already been set in stone,” Jiang Ruoxue replied. “But Aunt Tong thinks every action we take now will somehow come back to us in the future. This leads me to do whatever I want, while she only does things based on what she wants to gain.”
The idea struck me as both philosophical and fascinating, so I nodded and asked, “So, what do you think Aunt Tong wants right now?”
“Though I wasn’t listening, she probably mentioned it. She wants to get closer to the ‘Mother Goddess’ in her heart,” Jiang Ruoxue stretched lazily. “In her eyes, she’s currently helping a lost young man—doing a good deed. From a ‘karmic’ perspective, this act might change her fate in the future.”
Both Jiang Ruoxue’s ‘causality’ and Aunt Tong’s ‘karma’ seemed too abstract to me.
These were auxiliary ‘Echoes’ that didn’t have an immediate effect on oneself or the environment—instead requiring long-term planning.
To say they weren’t strong? These two ‘Echoes’ could influence a person’s destiny. To say they were strong? They were utterly useless against sudden dangers.
“Child,” Aunt Tong spoke to White Sheep. “Now, you’re tainted with ‘karma.’ Your ‘good karma,’ ‘bad karma,’ and ‘neutral karma’ will all alter your future path.”
“Okay…” White Sheep nodded, then asked, “Auntie, if one day I’m no longer myself, will this ‘karma’ still exist?”
“What are you asking?” Aunt Tong countered.
“I mean… if one day I’m no longer ‘Human Sheep’ or a ‘Zodiac,’ or even no longer human… will this ‘karma’ still affect me?”
“Child, that depends on you,” Aunt Tong replied. “As long as you believe you are you, you will always be you. This ‘karma’ doesn’t act on ‘Zodiacs’ or ‘Human Sheep’ alone, nor on any particular ‘person.’ It acts on you—yourself.”
“I see,” White Sheep nodded at Aunt Tong, then turned to me. “Yan Zhichun, the person you brought this time is truly remarkable. Thank you.”
Before I could say “You’re welcome,” Jiang Ruoxue beside me had already had enough.
“Hold on!” she frowned. “What do you mean ‘this time’? Are you saying I’m useless?”
“No,” White Sheep shook his head. “That wasn’t my intention.”
“Well, it’s close enough,” Jiang Ruoxue stepped forward slowly. “If Aunt Tong is willing to give you her ‘karma,’ I can give you my ‘causality’ too.”
“Give me your ‘causality’…?” White Sheep seemed confused.
Hearing this, I felt uneasy and grabbed Jiang Ruoxue’s arm. “Ruoxue… I don’t think you can give ‘causality’…”
I knew all too well that White Sheep’s ambitions far surpassed those of the ‘Extreme Path.’ Back then, just handling the ‘Extreme Path’ had nearly drained Jiang Ruoxue. How could she possibly articulate ‘causality’ for White Sheep?
Jiang Ruoxue turned to me with a mischievous grin and whispered, “I know I can’t… but I want to test my limits.”
Hearing that, I had no choice but to step back and let her take White Sheep’s hand.
White Sheep nodded. “It seems my understanding of ‘Echoes’ is still incomplete… Who would’ve thought there’d be such unique individuals here?”
“Don’t celebrate too soon,” Jiang Ruoxue said. “Zhichun told me about you. I’m not sure I can manipulate such powerful ‘causality.'”
“That’s fine,” White Sheep replied. “I’m already grateful you’re willing to try.”
Jiang Ruoxue took a deep breath, then slowly closed her eyes. Holding White Sheep’s hand, she whispered, “White Sheep… you need to understand the logical relationship here…”
The moment she finished speaking, under my gaze, her face turned deathly pale—as if all the blood had been drained from her body in a single second.
“Ruoxue!”
“Xiao Jiang!”
Aunt Tong and I both gasped and moved to pull her away, but she gritted her teeth and hissed, “Don’t touch me…!”
We froze, unsure what to do.
Beads of sweat the size of peas formed on Jiang Ruoxue’s forehead. I’d seen her wield ‘causality’ many times before, but never had I seen her in such agony.
“White Sheep… as long as you—” she forced out a few words but couldn’t continue.
Every syllable seemed to tear at her throat like a knife.
Seconds later, she abruptly released White Sheep’s hand and staggered aside, bending over to gasp for air.
Aunt Tong and I rushed to her side, patting her back to help her breathe.
“This is insane…” Jiang Ruoxue lifted her head after a few seconds. “Absolutely insane… How many people’s ‘causality’ is tied to what he’s trying to do? That sense of contradiction… Am I part of it too?”
“You’d have to ask him, child,” Aunt Tong said.
“Aunt Tong…” Jiang Ruoxue turned to her. “Didn’t you feel it when you used ‘karma’? That crushing, despairing weight of fate… tied to tens of thousands of people?”
“Unfortunately, my ‘karma’ is very different from your ‘causality.’ I only focus on the person before me,” Aunt Tong explained. “What happens to him in the future isn’t up to me—it depends on what he does then. I merely amplify his own ‘karma.’ I don’t directly interfere with his future.”
“I see…” Jiang Ruoxue wiped her lips, her complexion finally regaining some color. “Because I was trying to directly give him an ‘outcome,’ the weight of that ‘causality’ became immense…”
“Child, we can’t interfere with him,” Aunt Tong said. “Let him reap what he sows.”
“Fair enough…”
“‘Causality,'” White Sheep called from behind us. “Even though you seem to have failed, I’m still very interested in you.”
Jiang Ruoxue turned and stared at him. “Oh? I think I’m pretty interesting too. Do you need anything else from me?”
“Just now, you mentioned ‘causality’ and ‘logic,’ which made me curious about your ‘causality,'” White Sheep said. “If I understand correctly, can you create simple logical effects? Like ‘if, then’ or ‘if not, then’—basic logic gates, like AND/OR gates?”
“That’s no problem at all… Simple logic like that barely uses any ‘causality,'” Jiang Ruoxue answered.
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