Chapter 108: On the Feasibility of Taking Gamie Along
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 108: On the Feasibility of Taking Gamie Along
Hearing those words, the two little ones, who had long since lost their fighting spirit, scrambled to their feet.
"No way! We haven't admitted defeat yet!"
"One more time! If it still doesn't work this time, then we'll allow you to leave!"
"Mmm... alright then."
After a brief adjustment, the three of them began a new round of competition.
Only this time, the scale was exceptionally massive.
Nearly a thousand pieces with different functions were laid out on an enormous board spanning dozens of square meters.
The game rules alone were over fifty pages long, enough to make an ordinary person’s head spin.
But to Xie Bai and Gamie, this level of difficulty was hardly worth mentioning.
...
Four hours later.
As the headquarters of the two Gamies were simultaneously destroyed by Xie Bai’s pieces, the game reached its final conclusion.
"Wah... so strong!"
"Dammit... we were clearly just a hair away. Is it really impossible to win?"
Faced with the crushing defeat of their 301st game, the two Gamies could no longer offer any rebuttal.
"Ugh... even after giving it our all, we still can't keep Sister Xiaobai here..."
"Guh... how long is Sister Xiaobai going to be gone this time?"
More than their own defeat, the Gamies were worried about Xie Bai’s departure.
Xie Bai had played wildly with them for eight or nine days this time. Leaving all of a sudden was causing a severe case of withdrawal.
However, they also knew in their hearts that Xie Bai had her own life outside; she couldn't stay with them forever.
Thinking of this, Gamie’s mood plummeted further.
"Alright now, I never said I wouldn't come back. But speaking of which, do you two want to leave with me?"
Hearing Xie Bai’s suggestion, the two Gamies scrambled up from the floor.
"Mm... although we really want to leave with Sister Xie Bai, we, the Space-Time Twin Gods, are paradoxes by nature. We can't leave the Land of Distortion for long."
"And even if we did leave, one of us would have to stay behind to watch over the Land of Distortion. Without the Space-Time Authority to maintain it, this place would actually collapse quite easily."
After listening to Gamie’s explanation, Xie Bai pondered for a moment.
"Is there no method similar to a clone or an avatar?"
"Ugh... if we could do that, we would have done it ages ago."
"Besides, shouldn't the question be whether you can use a clone, Sister Xiaobai?"
"Uh... about that..."
Faced with Gamie’s question, Xie Bai was momentarily speechless.
When it came to cloning abilities, she truly didn't have any.
Gamie immediately added, "But you don't need to worry about that, Sister Xiaobai. Clone-type abilities can't be used in the Land of Distortion anyway."
"Since this is a place of paradox, there is an isolation zone between here and the outside world. A single consciousness cannot penetrate through that barrier."
Hearing this, Xie Bai tried to wrap her head around it.
"So you're saying that even if I left a clone here, I could only choose to control either the clone or my main body, but not both at the same time?"
If that was the case, then the Land of Distortion really was like a cage, offering no loopholes at all.
If consciousness couldn't be controlled synchronously, then she would have to try the kind of cloning ability that involved splitting the consciousness—but Xie Bai was extremely repulsed by that.
Setting aside the philosophical issues, the mere thought of another consciousness existing that was "me" yet independent of "me" was enough to make her skin crawl.
Moreover, rather than a mere clone, Xie Bai wanted to take Gamie out of the Land of Distortion to see the outside world.
With that in mind, Xie Bai suddenly thought of a solution.
"First of all, you can leave here for short periods. As long as we find a way to resolve the paradox nature of your bodies, that problem is solved. The main issue is that the maintenance of the Land of Distortion requires you to stay here."
Listening to Xie Bai’s explanation, the two Gamies nodded in unison.
"Exactly. If those two problems are solved, we could theoretically break free from the shackles of the Land of Distortion. However, this has never been put into practice, so we can't guarantee it will work."
"And neither of those problems is simple. The paradox issue can be put aside for now, but the maintenance of the Land of Distortion requires someone to stay behind. That would be too unfair."
Seeing Gamie’s concern, Xie Bai patted her chest confidently.
"Don't worry, leave it to me. I don't have a lead on the paradox issue yet, but I've already thought of a candidate to maintain the Land of Distortion."
Seeing Xie Bai’s incredibly confident expression, the two Gamies were puzzled.
"Huh? What candidate?"
"Besides the Space-Time Authority, is there another existence that can help us maintain the Land of Distortion?"
"Heh heh, that brings us to a certain derivative deity of Space-Time."
At Xie Bai’s hint, the two little ones immediately caught on.
"Is it that guy Falcant? If you hadn't mentioned him, Sister Xiaobai, I would have almost forgotten he existed."
"If it's just helping to maintain it for a while, the power of Time should be enough. But Sister Xiaobai, which timeline are you going to find him in?"
Faced with Gamie’s question, Xie Bai considered it before saying, "I think the Falcants in the branch timelines are too weak. If I'm going to look for him, it has to be the original body in the main timeline. Don't worry—while I might not be able to find other True Gods, I'm absolutely certain I can find that guy Falcant."
"Mm... since Sister Xiaobai says it's fine, then we're relieved."
"Sister Xiaobai, if Falcant tries to bully you, just tell us. We definitely won't let him off the hook."
Hearing Gamie’s promise, Xie Bai gave a gentle smile.
"Thank you both. But I'm not so weak that I'd let him do that."
With that, Xie Bai vanished into the shadows and left the Land of Distortion.
...
Northern Territory, Northgard.
Upon returning to the physical world, Xie Bai took a deep breath of fresh air.
"Whew. I've only been gone a few days, but the changes here are quite significant."
The Northern Empire was currently much more bustling than before.
As the newly established capital of the Northern Empire, Northgard was home to not only various Northern races but also a significant gathering of humans.
Lowering her presence, Xie Bai flew into the open sky.
Looking down, every street was packed with crowds. There was even a specially cleared path.
Looking in that direction, she saw a massive convoy powered by alchemy machines, flying the flags of the Aodu Empire.
"It looks like the alliance has already begun. Is this a celebration?"
With that thought, Xie Bai flew toward the Northern Imperial Palace.
During her flight, Xie Bai noticed some humans on the ground with strange nicknames floating over their heads. At a glance, there were at least a hundred of them.
"Those are... Players?"
Only then did Xie Bai realize that, according to the timeline, the Closed Beta had already begun.
"I was so busy playing with Gamie that I forgot to check the Player Forum. Based on the previous schedule, the players should have been here for about a day now, right?"
Thinking of this, Xie Bai opened her game panel.
The previous Closed Beta countdown had disappeared, replaced by a new one.
[Time until Open Beta begins: 29d 5h 48min]
The current number of players was only in the low thousands, not yet enough to become a new force capable of swaying the world's development.
During the Closed Beta phase, the main thing Xie Bai could do was further build her popularity within the player circle to increase her influence over them later.
Even with the default starting location being within the Aodu Empire, and without the players knowing about Xie Bai’s relationship with the Northern Empire...
Over a hundred players had already traveled across mountains and rivers to come to the Northern Empire to join the fun.
With such a foundation, Xie Bai’s goal of gaining control over the players would be a simple matter.
"But I'll leave those things to Brandon and the others. Compared to that, I have matters I need to handle personally."
Arriving at the rear of the Northern Imperial Palace, Xie Bai found an empty spot to land.
"Next, it's time for some higher-level matters."
As she spoke, Xie Bai opened the exchange shop in the achievement interface and fixed her gaze directly on a certain Divine Artifact.