A Core Ship From The Start
Chapter 1451 - 983: Again?

Chapter 1451: Chapter 983: Again?

"Well, damn... this is really..."

Duanmu Huai had to admit, this was the first time he’d encountered such a bizarre situation.

This BOSS is cheating? Can’t beat us so they reload the game?

This is actually a thing?

"Fine, let’s do this again then."

Duanmu Huai snorted coldly.

"This time, we’ll head to the festival venue early. Since we already know they’re going to stir up trouble there, let’s see just what these bastards are planning!"

Duanmu Huai’s plan was solid. However...

"What the hell—!"

When Duanmu Huai opened his eyes and found himself strolling the streets with Mary, he was utterly bewildered.

"What the hell is going on here..."

Mary was equally speechless. Earlier, the two of them had checked into an inn, had dinner, and retired to their room to rest after night fell. Yet, shortly after lying down, they opened their eyes to find time had rewound to the moment they first arrived on the island, walking toward the inn. At least this time they hadn’t started completely from scratch—it felt more like someone had triggered an autosave on the road...

"Hmm... I don’t think this is our doing."

Duanmu Huai furrowed his brows, starting to think.

"Not our doing?"

"That’s right. At first, I thought it might be some trick from the mastermind to keep us at bay, but now it seems we’re just caught up in someone else’s mess... Someone else is the one really traveling through time."

"Huh? Is that so?"

"I think so."

Faced with Mary’s surprised question, Duanmu Huai nodded. His reasoning was simple. If the first time could be attributed to the BOSS exerting some temporal influence, the second time had no rhyme or reason—they hadn’t even seen the BOSS before being pulled back in time. Clearly, it defied logic.

That left only one possibility: he and Mary were caught up in someone else’s time retrospection.

This wasn’t entirely implausible, and Duanmu Huai could piece it together.

As a deity, like the Chaos Evil Gods, he simultaneously existed in the past, present, and future. In other words, regardless of the timeline, there was only one Duanmu Huai in the world. There wouldn’t be a "past him," "present him," and "future him." So, if someone else traveled back in time and encountered a point where Duanmu Huai already existed, then naturally, Duanmu Huai would also exist there.

As for Mary, it was a similar situation. Though she wasn’t a God of Destruction like Duanmu Huai, her Golden Pupil was unique. Considering her high resistance to magic power and the singularity of her Golden Pupil, it might just be the reason she, too, was dragged back in time with him.

After all, the Golden Pupil was one of a kind.

"So... to put it simply, someone at that festival went back in time, which is why we were dragged back as well. And last night, the same thing happened... If that person goes back in time again for some reason, we’ll get caught up with them?"

"That seems about right. Now I just want to find this bastard who keeps time-jumping every few days and dragging us into their mess!"

Duanmu Huai was thoroughly annoyed now.

"But... does an ordinary mastermind have that kind of power?"

Mary remained cautious. Though she didn’t consider herself to be particularly strong, she knew Duanmu Huai was incredibly powerful. If even he couldn’t escape this...

"It’s no ordinary BOSS."

Duanmu Huai snorted coldly.

"I know that power well."

"Oh? Really?"

"That’s right. That day at the festival, I sensed it—it’s from the Dark Star Field... the aura of an Ancient Dominator!"

At this point, Duanmu Huai snorted again. That time, when the red glow erupted above the shrine and shadows surged like a tide, Duanmu Huai had caught the faint aura of an Ancient Dominator. Though weak, as someone who also possessed the Old God’s Will, Duanmu Huai could confirm the other was of his ilk—a kind of stand-in... no, an Ancient Dominator!

By the way, Duanmu Huai wasn’t incapable of breaking free from the time retrospection. To him, the experience was like being swept by a wave on a beach—the wave trying to drag him backward. Given the wave wasn’t particularly strong, Duanmu Huai could break free with just a bit of effort.

But he refrained, for a simple reason: Duanmu Huai had always been cautious about interfering with time. He didn’t want to accidentally destroy the timeline and create a bigger problem than the current BOSS. After all, this BOSS could be dealt with in a single punch by him.

Interfering with or destroying the timeline, though, might attract the Dog of Tindalos or even Yog Sothoth—and those weren’t issues that could be solved with a single punch.

So, Duanmu Huai decisively chose to go with the flow, letting the wave of time drag him back for now.

"An Ancient Dominator..."

Hearing Duanmu Huai’s explanation, Mary tensed up at first but then relaxed.

Whew... Luckily, ever since meeting Duanmu Huai, she’d been dealing with these kinds of entities almost regularly.

And honestly, compared to some of the Ancient Followers she’d faced before, these ones were at least less revolting... Thinking back to that four-armed shadow figure, Mary let out a breath. She’d banished her share of Ancient Followers and even confronted Old Gods directly. One thing they had in common—they were appetite killers... Part of her fantastic figure could definitely be attributed to the loss of appetite after regularly encountering such monstrosities...

"So... this power dragging us back isn’t from the mastermind?"

"Not sure. Did you see anyone else back then?"

At the time, Duanmu Huai had rushed straight in to fight, barely paying attention to his surroundings. Mary, who had been behind him, might have seen more clearly.

"Hmm..."

Mary thought for a moment, then clapped her hands lightly as if remembering something.

"Ah, I do recall! It seemed like there was someone lying not far away. At that moment, when the four-armed shadow monster launched an attack on you, Mr. Duanmu, and..."

"And?"

"And you deflected the bullet... which then hit that person..."

"...That happened?"

"Uh... yes."

Hearing Mary’s response, Duanmu Huai was momentarily speechless.

What could he do? Blame bad luck for that guy?

"So, I deflected the bullet, it hit the unlucky guy, and when he died, time rewound? And that dragged us along? Who was this person even?"

Duanmu Huai stroked his chin and looked at Mary again.

"Did you get a good look at him?"

"Sorry, things were chaotic, and he was far from me. Judging by his clothing, he seemed like a local."

"Man or woman?"

"Man."

"Oh."

A guy, huh. Well, sucks for him.

"Anyway, let’s search around. This town only has about 700 people; we should be able to find whoever we’re looking for."

Duanmu Huai shrugged and made a decision.

But reality, as always, wasn’t so cooperative.

"For f***’s sake!"

When Duanmu Huai came to his senses, staring at the sunset beside him, he could barely contain his irritation.

"What is this guy’s deal? Trash at playing but still messing around!"

No wonder Duanmu Huai was complaining. There were three days until the festival. The first time they rewound was during the festival itself; he assumed the second jump would be around the same time. But while they were just strolling through the streets, his vision suddenly blacked out, and the next moment, it was already evening.

In other words, the idiot hadn’t even made it past the first day before reloading this time?

"The first rewind happened when we arrived on the island. The second while we were on the streets... Now the third time..."

Mary glanced at their surroundings and fell into brief silence.

"So, their time rewinding ability isn’t the type that starts from the very beginning?"

"Seems like it. Maybe they triggered some sort of plot checkpoint, and when they mess up and hit Game Over, they reload from their autosave spot, dragging us along with them."

Duanmu Huai felt this whole situation was beyond annoying. He didn’t know how strong the BOSS actually was, but this constant reloading nonsense was driving him up the wall.

"No choice but to keep trying our luck."

After a few loops, Duanmu Huai had learned his lesson. Assuming the festival three days later was the key event had proved futile. If they’d already rewound twice in this short time, it meant the town itself wasn’t normal during these three days. Abandoning his initial strategy, Duanmu Huai decided to start searching with Mary under the cover of night—after all, villains usually did their dirty work in the dark.

Patience eventually paid off. Not long after midnight, Duanmu Huai finally detected something unusual.

"Hey, Mary, do you see that?"

Standing on a hillside, Duanmu Huai pointed toward the streets below—where several men and women crept silently out of their homes, as though compelled by some invisible force. They marched down the street in a daze, led by the shadowy four-armed monster, which carried a little girl on its shoulder.

"That’s the same monster we saw at the festival, right?"

Mary squinted at the figures below.

"Are we moving in, Mr. Duanmu?"

"Hold up. Let’s see where they’re going... That path’s leading... Hmm..."

Duanmu Huai lifted his head, gazing into the distance.

"Let’s follow them and see what they’re planning."

With that, Duanmu Huai made his decision.