Chapter 359: Destiny Line

Just as Su Bei said, the rest of the class knew he was back, and the group chat instantly buzzed with activity. Unfortunately, not everyone was free, so only a few of them could go to the Destiny Space.

However, that wasn’t a problem. If they were unlucky, perhaps only Su Bei would be able to touch the destiny lines. If they were lucky, the others might be able to touch them too. But that situation might not be very favorable for Su Bei; he would rather they couldn’t.

After some thought, he couldn’t help but ask in his mind, “There isn’t really something like a ‘Viewing Body’ here, is there?”

As a frequent manga reader, he was naturally familiar with fan works, and he had some understanding of the common “Viewing Body” trope in fanfiction. The so-called Viewing Body describes the reactions of the original characters after watching the story of another world line.

When he heard Jiang Tianming mention destiny lines, his first thought was of different world lines.

So, the one he was in now should be the first world line. The ‘Manga Consciousness’ didn’t come to him to save the world after seeing the ending, but rather approached him directly after logically determining that the worldview of ‘King of Abilities’ was flawed.

Su Bei was very certain that he was definitely not a salvation-type protagonist from a ‘King of Abilities’ fan work. To reach a point where salvation was needed could only mean that all the original characters died later on.

But the style of ‘King of Abilities’ was clearly not like that. Whether it was the author’s attitude or the style of the manga itself, it didn’t seem like it would turn down a dark path in the end.

Therefore, Su Bei believed he should be in the first world line.

But being in the first world line didn’t mean there wouldn’t be other world lines. A tiny choice could constitute a completely different destiny, and different destinies would naturally create different world lines.

Why was Su Bei so knowledgeable about this? Of course, it was because he had studied this problem long ago. Turning the [Destiny Gear] could create a new destiny, so where did the original destiny go?

Every [Destiny Gear] that had been used would become a bit darker in color and appear older overall.

Su Bei had previously figured out a way to check the destiny he had changed in advance, so by reverse-engineering, he could naturally develop the ability to view the original destiny line after changing it.

By holding a used gear that had the power to change destiny, he could view a scene from the original destiny once, which was roughly equivalent to Feng Lan being able to see Future Fragments.

Because he could see things from another timeline, his immediate reaction when Jiang Tianming mentioned destiny lines was just that. He suspected that those golden threads related to destiny could let them see stories from other destiny lines.

Hence his question.

Unfortunately, the ‘Manga Consciousness’ couldn’t answer his question: “I don’t know. After the manga ended, I lost control over the plot characters and the entire world.”

It was a ‘Manga Consciousness,’ not a ‘World Consciousness,’ so its power was greatly weakened after the manga concluded. If not for the world’s stability, it would have already disappeared by now.

To fully grasp the world, the ‘Manga Consciousness’ needed to upgrade into a ‘World Consciousness,’ which was its recent goal.

“Forget it, we have to go anyway.” Seeing that the other party didn’t know, Su Bei quickly gave up on dwelling on it.

This was the manga world, after all. No matter how the destiny lines fluctuated, it was impossible for the fact that he had accepted the ‘Manga Consciousness’s’ commission to be revealed. So he had nothing to be embarrassed about; it was all in the past. So what if his personality was slightly different from how he presented himself? Who hadn’t put on an act when they were young?

The day of departure soon arrived. There were only six of them on this trip to the Destiny Line Space. It wasn’t that the others didn’t have time; it was mainly that Jiang Tianming hadn’t invited them. The Destiny Line Space didn’t really have much scenery; it was just for the novelty. If he couldn’t figure out what those lines were for, Jiang Tianming wouldn’t let his classmates take the risk.

Originally, he hadn’t planned to bring Si Zhaohua and Zhao Xiaoyu either, but who could have known they’d be right there? It was impossible to shake them off, so he had to bring them along.

After a plane ride to Antarctica, with warming items on hand, the six of them were dressed very lightly. Originally, everyone wanted to dress normally. After all, even if they weren’t afraid of the cold, it was strange to wear short sleeves in Antarctica. But Lan Subing strongly requested they wear short sleeves, even resorting to her ultimate weapon—pouting—to get her way.

Unfortunately, no one could resist, so everyone wore short sleeves.

However, because they were well aware of Lan Subing’s intention to watch the show, they specifically assigned Zhao Xiaoyu to keep an eye on her to prevent her from secretly putting on a down jacket.

As expected, Lan Subing did regret it. Now, under the astonished gazes of the passersby, she was shivering while hiding in the middle of Jiang Tianming and the other four.

“Is your curiosity satisfied now?” Wu Mingbai asked with a smile in his eyes, though his words were full of mockery.

Lan Subing huffed in dissatisfaction, but feeling a little guilty, she didn’t say anything.

Upon arriving at their destination and ascending the snowy mountain, the group soon saw the Spatial Rift. All Spatial Rifts looked the same on the outside—a patch of pitch-blackness. Without entering personally, there was no way to know what lay behind the rift.

Because it was a newly discovered Spatial Rift and Jiang Tianming’s group hadn’t reported it yet, there were no other Ability users around.

“There are no living creatures in this space, so we can just go straight in,” Jiang Tianming said, giving everyone a heads-up. “But the lines inside are very dense. Don’t forget to use the Perspective Talismans I just gave you as soon as you get in.”

Everyone nodded and entered the rift one by one.

After a brief moment of dizziness, Su Bei opened his eyes. What greeted him was a dense web of golden threads.

The rich aura of destiny instantly enveloped him. Su Bei even felt that if he cultivated here for a long time, he could achieve twice the result with half the effort, just like a fire-element Ability user training in a volcano. A high concentration of ability elements could effectively strengthen one’s ability.

Using the Perspective Talisman, Su Bei could finally see the others through the dense threads. Si Zhaohua curiously touched the threads, and as expected, he couldn’t touch anything. He looked at Su Bei, “Can you touch them?”

Su Bei reached out and waved his hand, shaking his head. Then he summoned a gear to test it and said with understanding, “I can’t on my own, but I can with the [Destiny Gear].”

When the gear touched a thread, it naturally showed him a series of images. Each image featured a different person in a different state. However, it was just a single scene, far from the full destiny line he had imagined.

Su Bei could sense that it wasn’t because the destiny line was so short, but that he could only perceive this much. Other people’s destinies couldn’t be easily spied upon, even with the destiny lines present. The only one he could see in its entirety was his own destiny line.

So where was his destiny line?

“Wait a moment, let me feel for it,” Su Bei said, releasing his Mental Energy and slowly spreading it outwards, trying to cover as much area as possible. He was familiar with his own destiny; the moment a destiny thread related to him entered the range of his Mental Energy’s perception, he would sense it instantly.

From observing the nearby threads just now, he had come to a conclusion: the threads of the same person were all clustered together, surrounded by the threads of people related to them. Therefore, those in the same area were basically part of the same relationship network. As long as he found himself, he could find the others as well.

Not every choice, action, or sentence could form a new destiny line. Only turning points that could have a major impact on one’s life had the potential to generate a new destiny.

For Su Bei, the biggest turning point in his life was actually just one: the Black Flash Organization assassin he encountered on the first day of school. If he hadn’t met that assassin, everything about him might have been different.

However, this was the manga world, and matters involving the ‘Manga Consciousness’ would not be discovered. Plus, he had altered his own destiny before, which meant that even within the destiny lines, he had awakened his ability as a child, became the leader of the ‘Destiny’ organization, and then a series of events occurred after he enrolled in the academy.

Following this destiny line, he really didn’t know where the turning points in his life would be.

But sometimes, even a tiny action could cause a major shift in one’s life, so it was likely there were many turning points he wasn’t even aware of. This time, through these destiny lines here, he should be able to get a glimpse of them.

“Found it!” Suddenly, Su Bei sensed a familiar area. His spirits lifted, and he led the group in that direction.

Seeing that he had stopped searching with his Mental Energy, Zhao Xiaoyu finally asked, “So what are all these lines? Su Bei, did you see anything?”

“These are destiny lines,” Su Bei explained concisely. “They can show each person’s different destinies. The number of lines probably depends on the number of turning points in one’s life.”

The others didn’t react much to this answer, but Jiang Tianming pressed his lips together, his eyes filled with a complicated look. Noticing his expression, Su Bei only needed a glance to understand instantly.

Compared to the others, Jiang Tianming indeed had many turning points in his life, so many that it was overwhelming. The death of his mother and departure of his father in his childhood, his meeting with Wu Mingbai and Lan Subing, the various incidents after enrolling in the academy, and the choices he made after being framed in the third season, and so on—even including every life-or-death crisis he faced. Any single change could have made his life completely different.

Although the Destiny Space was vast, the range of Su Bei’s Mental Energy was no joke. By pulling his luck all the way to the left, he successfully found his own destiny line after an hour.

Su Bei first looked around to confirm that the surrounding destiny lines indeed belonged to the others, then he spoke, “Come over and see if you can touch these destiny lines. If not, try touching them with this gear and see if you can see any images.”

Since it was their own destiny, they should logically have a chance to touch it. As long as everyone had something they wanted to see, they wouldn’t pay attention to what he was seeing. Su Bei had no desire to be hounded with questions afterward.