area51novel Chapter 821: The Second Reincarnation (1)
Chapter 821: The Second Reincarnation (1)
——Teyvat
Xumi City, Grand Bazaar
"Something's wrong, Paimon. This is nine out of ten wrong."
Ying stared at Iya calmly choosing a can of candy from the dazzling array of candy jars in front of the Flower Knight's stall, but the stall owner said that it was cement-flavored candy.
Looking at this scene, she frowned slightly and looked solemn.
[Ying's alertness]
[Did you finally realize something was wrong after the third cycle?]
【Finally, the main storyline is about to be released. 】
[To be honest, after these few reincarnations, Dinazedai's tone has become noticeably weaker.]
[Will this cycle cause harm to the human body? No, it shouldn't, right?]
"What's wrong? Are you saying Iya's luck is too bad?" Paimon tilted his head, looking confused.
She looked at Iya, nodded in approval and said, "That's definitely not right."
"With his usual incredible luck, not only could he choose the flavor he wanted, he could even easily find a better hidden gem. But this time... he actually chose the cement flavor?"
Paimon looked at the can of gray candy, his face suddenly fell, and he sighed:
"Oh, what a pity... It was clearly chosen for me. I was hoping to rely on Iya's luck and eat sunset fruit-flavored candy..."
Cement-flavored candy?
Just thinking about it brings an indescribable bitterness to the tip of your tongue, as if you were chewing a mouthful of dry sand.
Who would make candy with the taste of this stuff!
Ying was silent for a moment, his eyes flickered slightly, as if he understood something.
She walked slowly forward, stopped in front of the stall, and asked in a calm tone, "Excuse me...can I choose once?"
"of course can!"
The stall owner smiled warmly and spoke in a loud voice, "This is a traditional activity of the Flower God's Birthday Festival. Every customer has a chance to choose."
He stretched out his arms, displaying a row of neatly arranged sugar jars before him as if offering treasures.
Twelve pottery jars of the same size and appearance stand quietly, with their lids fitting tightly together, as if each jar contains a mystery of fate.
"Come on, choose whatever you like, young lady," the stall owner said with a smile, "It's up to you whichever one you choose."
Ying took a deep breath, the cool air seeping into her lungs, but a vague premonition emerged in her mind.
She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, her gaze was as bright as a torch, and she said with certainty:
"I choose number four."
"Are you sure you want to choose number four? You can't change your mind." The stall owner deliberately dragged out his tone, with a hint of cunning in his eyes.
"It's number four." Ying's voice was calm but unquestionable.
The stall owner chuckled and slowly lifted the lid of candy jar number four. A warm, sunset-like orange-red shimmered into view—it was the sunset-flavored candy Paimon had coveted!
"Wow, that's amazing! That's amazing!" He clapped his hands in admiration. "Can number four, Sunset Fruity Flavor. Congratulations! Your wish has come true!"
Yesterday Again
【《Twelve Equal Candies》】
If you don't choose number 4, the plot will force you to choose number 4. Honestly, it's a bit scary.
If you choose any other option here, the protagonist will still choose number four, and the dialogue will state that the protagonist chose number four uncontrollably.
Choosing another option would be very interesting, forcing you to become number four, and the plot would suddenly become creepy.
This is body memory.
He had been watching the conversation between the two traveling companions and naturally understood what was going on:
The elf floating in the air said with anticipation that it wanted to eat the sunset fruit flavor, so the girl with white hair and red eyes chose it for it. However, its luck was extremely bad and it drew the cement flavor.
But at this moment, this girl with blonde hair as bright as the sun and eyes as firm as a vow, relied on her amazing luck to accurately hit the only sweet answer in just one try.
Seeing this, Aratake Ichito, who had chosen the beetle-flavored candy, laughed out loud. His heroic voice echoed in the air: "Brother, you're really lucky!"
Paimon also widened his eyes and exclaimed:
"Really?! Out of the twelve candy jars, I managed to accurately pick the only one with the Sunset Fruit flavor! What a stroke of luck!"
She smiled and gently patted Ying's shoulder, her tone filled with a hint of teasing and surprise: "I didn't expect that Yiya's luck had just gone downhill, and your good luck took over!"
However, Ying stared blankly at the sugar jar that her finger was pointing at, her eyes a little unfocused, as if she was lost in some indescribable thoughts.
She murmured softly, "Just now...it didn't seem like luck."
She slowly closed her eyes, recalling the sudden strong premonition she had at the moment of her choice—it was not the result of thinking, but a pull from the depths of her consciousness.
She said:
"I don't know why... I just know it has to be number four."
What made her even more nervous was that she felt that even if her mind tried to choose another number, her body would involuntarily and subconsciously reach for the sugar bowl number four.
This "necessity" that transcends consciousness sent a chill down her spine, as if an invisible force was secretly controlling her.
Hearing Ying's words, Paimeng's smile gradually froze, and his brows furrowed slightly: "This... is impossible? These flavors are clearly randomly assigned... How could it be..."
At this moment, Aratake Ichito came over, a strange light flashed in his eyes, and he lowered his voice and said, "Brother, do you feel the same way?"
His expression turned serious. "To be honest, I felt the same way when I chose just now. It's like... I 'knew' that I would choose the beetle flavor."
Jiu Qi Shinobu, who had been watching silently, suddenly spoke up, interrupting him calmly, saying, "Wait, Boss. You said you knew you chose the mitten beetle flavor, but you still chose it?"
"Because I don't believe it!"
"Because I don't believe it!"
Arataki Ichito and Kuki Shinobu blurted out the words at the same moment, their voices overlapping, without a single word missing.
【Arataki・犟 species・One fight】
[Arakaki Ichito: You think this is a beetle, so it must smell like a beetle? I don't believe it, I want this!]
[Yidu, my dear son, you are so stubborn.]
[To be honest, although this is the third cycle of the plot, judging by the visual experience, it is definitely not the third time. The number of cycles must be more than this.]
[This means that no matter how we cycle, Yidou's final choice will always be the ghost beetle.]
He really likes the beetle and always chooses it.
Arata Ichito was stunned at first, then he burst into deafening laughter: "Hahahaha... Shinobi! We really are so in tune with each other!"
Jiuqi Shinobu shook his head slightly, his expression solemn:
"This isn't a tacit understanding..."
She turned to Ying, her eyes deep:
"But—I knew you would say that. Traveler, you felt the same way before, didn't you?"
Ying nodded silently.
Her eyes were filled with confusion and uneasiness.
Jiuqi Shinobu nodded thoughtfully, and after a moment, he said in a deep voice: "As expected... Ying, Paimon, do you mind going to a quiet place to talk? I'm afraid this matter is not that simple."
Ying did not hesitate. She was also troubled by this strange intuition and was eager to find the answer.
So, she quietly explained the situation to Dina Zede and prepared to leave with Paimon and Iya.
But the moment she turned around, her heart suddenly tightened and she realized something was wrong.
She stopped and looked back at Yiya, her tone gentle but unyielding: "Yiya, we need to leave for a while. Could you please stay here and protect Dina Zedai?"
Yiya tilted his head, his white hair swaying slightly, and a trace of confusion appeared in his eyes——
He seemed confused as to why they hadn't brought him along this time. But he still nodded obediently, "Yes, sure."
Looking at Yiya's eyes, which were as dull as dusty glass, Ying's heart sank suddenly.
Not right.
This is really wrong.
【The protagonist finally realized that something was wrong with Iga. 】
[It wasn't easy, I finally realized our baby is possessed by a ghost! Hurry up and go find my baby Iya!]
……
Everyone walked into a restaurant deep in the Grand Bazaar, found a table at random, pulled out chairs, and sat down.
At this moment, Ying and Jiuqi Shinobu frowned slightly and their eyes fixed almost at the same time.
An indescribable sense of familiarity quietly emerged, like a fine electric current running through the nerves——
It was as if this was not their first time here, nor was it the first time they sat in this corner.
There was a subtle sense of disharmony in the air, as if memories were gently stirred, causing ripples.
Jiuqi Shinobu took a deep breath, looked at Ying calmly, and said in a low and clear voice: "Let me be frank, Ying... You also have that kind of "sense of déjà vu" about everything that happened today, right?"
Ying nodded solemnly, her tone tinged with confusion and uneasiness. "Yes. Although I clearly remember the stalls I passed along the way, I had never seen them before and had no impression of them...
"But for some reason, a sense of familiarity welled up in my heart."
"It was like I had seen the same scene before."
Her voice tightened slightly. "In the divination area, I could even... predict the results of the divinations the vendors were about to reveal, as if I knew exactly what they were about to say."
Aratake Ichito frowned beside him, his tone revealing a hint of surprise: "I thought I was just too sensitive... I didn't expect you guys to feel it too?"
Paimon tilted his head and thought for a moment, then suddenly opened his eyes wide:
"So... when Iya picked that cement-flavored candy just now, I had never tasted it before, but for some reason, a rough, slightly salty, rusty texture suddenly appeared in my mouth!"
"I can't put my finger on it, but I just feel like... that candy should taste like that."
[First, Arataki Ichito only chooses the maggot, and then Paimon eats cement-flavored candy.]
[What I mean is, Paimon, you've tasted cement more than once.]
[I have a feeling Paimon has tried every flavor, hasn't he? And more than once.]
[I seriously doubt that Paimon has memorized the taste of every weird flavor after only trying it once, because it must be unforgettable.]
After the words were spoken, the four of them fell into silence.
The air seemed stagnant, with only the faint hustle and bustle of the distant market lingering. That feeling of "déjà vu" entwined itself with every detail of today's experience, like an invisible thread.
Every cry of hawking, every whiff of fragrance, every pause in footsteps, seemed as if they had already been played out thousands of times in dreams.
But it was clearly their first time to participate in the Flower Goddess Birthday Festival.
This absurd and almost bizarre consensus makes people feel a chill in their hearts.
Paimeng forced a smile, but his voice was a little weak: "Maybe... it's just our illusion? Don't people sometimes suddenly have some inexplicable feelings?"
Jiuqi Shinobu looked calm, his eyes sweeping across everyone like a blade:
"But this frequency is too frequent, and the feeling is so clear, it can't be accidental. We must figure it out - is this a collective psychological illusion, or..."
She said word by word, "Something special is happening, trapping us in a kind of repetitive déjà vu."
"Anin, what do you think we should do now?" Aragaki Ichito clenched his fists, his tone becoming more urgent.
Jiuqi Shinobu's eyes fell on the menu handed by the waiter, his fingertips lightly ran across the paper, his voice calm and firm:
"Let's do something we would never normally do—break the inertia and see if we can get rid of the constant sense of déjà vu that we've been having today."