Chapter 902: Fading Memories

Jiang Ruoxue stayed with me for a few days.

Later, just as she had said, she joined “Paradise Port” to seek out that deputy leader who possessed the “Strong Luck” ability.

I asked her how she planned to recruit that girl into the group, and her answer left me utterly bewildered.

She said the girl might genuinely like women—that she herself had spent half her life pretending to be a tomboy, never expecting to encounter the real deal.

That statement made me feel a little uneasy…

Was she really going to sacrifice herself for the “Extreme Path”?

But what kind of person was this girl, anyway?

Based solely on Jiang Ruoxue’s description, I couldn’t quite picture her.

According to her, the girl was tall—nearly six feet—breathtakingly beautiful, possessed a high-level “Echo” ability with no side effects, liked women, was kind to others, and even served as deputy leader of an organization with immense “Good Karma”…

Could there really be such a perfect girl in this world?

If a character like this appeared in a movie or anime, there’d probably be some earth-shattering secret about her, painting her as a stunning yet venomous villain.

But Jiang Ruoxue spoke of her in the highest regard. Before I left, I casually asked a few passersby about the girl named Yun Yao, and everyone showered her with endless praise.

She didn’t have a single scandal or any trait that made people dislike her.

God, she was like a character straight out of an anime… I couldn’t even begin to imagine what she was really like.

In their era, hadn’t anyone scouted her to be an idol or entertainer?

I suddenly felt a little inadequate.

But then again, whether it was “Karma” or “Fate,” both had a profound impact on the “Extreme Path.” If “Strong Luck” were added to the mix, the organization would become unimaginably powerful.

These three safeguards—capable of altering destiny and circumstance—could almost ensure the “Extreme Path” never perished.

The “Extreme Path” was already in an incredibly anomalous position. Even if I disappeared, if Ruoxue disappeared, or if any member vanished or lost their memories, the “Extreme Path” wouldn’t be affected in the slightest.

Its members would continue to grow daily, and its strength would only increase.

If “Strong Luck” joined as well, I had a feeling… no matter what White Aries was planning, she would be a tremendous asset.

In the days to come, the “Extreme Path” would continue to fracture every organization here, drowning the “Participants” in endless despair.

Countless strong individuals would awaken amid that despair, and numerous organizations would crumble under suspicion.

In the next cycle, I returned to the vicinity of my birth point.

Although Ruoxue and I had reconciled, we remained active on opposite ends of the city—she didn’t appear by my side.

How should I describe this feeling? Everything Jiang Ruoxue did was for me, yet I could hardly ever see her.

It was an ethereal yet grounding sense of security.

Perhaps both Ruoxue and I had grown. Now, I could stand on my own, and she was no longer as carefree as before.

We were both running around, working toward an ultimate goal.

That ultimate goal was to liberate the entire “Land of Finality.”

I still visited White Aries every day, and just as before, he never asked about the “Extreme Path.”

Sometimes, I even wondered—had he forgotten about the “Extreme Path” entirely?

But I quickly shook my head and dismissed that thought. The “Extreme Path” was one of White Aries’ most important chess pieces, a key to protecting the entire city. There was no way he could forget it.

Countless times, I wanted to ask White Aries what he was really planning, but the two previous experiences remained fresh in my mind. Every time I even glimpsed a fraction of his plans, his thoughts would leave my mind utterly blank.

I couldn’t decipher his grand designs—I could only strive to be an excellent chess piece, ensuring I wouldn’t be discarded.

I still discussed strategy with White Aries on paper. The sheer volume of knowledge he had acquired over the years far surpassed my imagination. At first, I could still engage in wide-ranging discussions with him, but in recent years, I spoke less and less.

Because White Aries’ thinking and knowledge had long since eclipsed mine.

One day, I arrived at “Elysium Bank” and found White Aries reading yet another book.

“Brother Aries… is it still not enough?”

I looked at him and voiced the question I’d been holding back for so long.

“What?” White Aries closed the book and lifted his eerie pupils to meet my gaze.

“I mean your knowledge,” I said. “After all these years… you’re still reading a book every single day?”

“More than that,” he replied. “I no longer need sleep, so I have double the time now. If my students don’t cause trouble and there are no special circumstances to handle, finishing two books a day isn’t a problem.”

“Brother Aries, I understand your drive to grow stronger, but don’t you need time to digest and absorb it all? Otherwise, constantly flooding your brain with that much knowledge will overwhelm it.”

“It needs to adapt,” White Aries answered. “I have no time to rest, so neither does my brain.”

“But… why?” I slowly furrowed my brow. “You’re pushing yourself this hard, frantically absorbing knowledge… Is it still not enough?”

I knew White Aries was likely the most erudite person in the entire “Land of Finality.” Anyone who could calmly read and memorize the contents of an entire bookstore would already surpass ninety percent of the world in knowledge.

And White Aries was someone who could extrapolate and apply every piece of knowledge with ease.

“Why keep acquiring knowledge…?” White Aries pondered for a moment. “Perhaps you think I’d say something cliché like ‘knowledge is boundless,’ but that’s not it…”

He slowly stood and walked to the office door, glancing at the noisy crowd outside—still packed with gamblers from every social stratum.

White Aries left the door slightly ajar, muffling the outside noise, then said, “Yan Zhichun, I’ve fallen into a deep ‘memory-loss panic.’ Only by absorbing as much knowledge as possible can I hope to retain even one percent of it when I eventually forget. And that one percent will be my future foundation.”

“What…?”

“If you dye a piece of fabric over and over, even the most fading pigment will leave traces,” White Aries said. “That’s why I can’t stop for even a moment.”

I didn’t understand. I knew everyone had their own fears, but White Aries was terrified of something with astronomically low odds.

Like I’d wondered before—he was already an Earth-level “Zodiac.” Why would he be trapped in a “memory-loss panic”…?

“The time I have left is dwindling.”

White Aries turned his head, his expression as grave as when I first met him.

“Yan Zhichun, I’m racing against time.”