Chapter 55 [Restart]
The white-haired young man's response was a simple "OK", and no emotion could be heard from his words.
After receiving Gojo Satoru's affirmative response, Xia Yujie relaxed a lot. He was about to say "thank you" when he heard Gojo Satoru continue with the second half of the sentence:
"Do you think I'll just say yes so easily and give you one shot and that'll be the end of it?"
The young man with the ball-shaped hair was stunned for a few seconds, and then he said with his eyes slightly curved: "Why not? You came here to kill me, Wu. During this Hundred Demons Night Parade incident, you must have received an order to eliminate a vicious curse master like me."
"Yes." Gojo Satoru admitted frankly, "But now I have changed my mind a little."
Xia Yujie raised his eyebrows and sighed: "If I had known earlier, I would not have confessed and would not have let Lai say anything. I would have waited for you to kill me directly."
Gojo Satoru stared at him with his blue eyes: "Then I would have asked you first - I said I believe you and would not do such a thing."
The air is quiet for two seconds.
Summer Oil said, "So, are you still going to help me, Satoru?"
"Yes." Gojo Satoru stared at the man in front of him with his bright eyes. He slightly, his aura fluctuating, and his voice was as cold as the edge of an iceberg. "But, not now - not just give in to those guys without trying anything."
Xia Yujie blinked and sighed: "...I am the one who admits defeat, not you."
"Please, as a close friend of the spicy teacher, if you admit defeat, I will admit defeat, Jie."
Gojo Satoru uttered the word "close friend" so naturally that Geto Summer was slightly stunned.
After half a second, the young man with the ball-shaped haircut chuckled and said slowly, "It's really bold to call a curser a close friend, Wu. It will attract criticism."
"That's the truth." Gojo Satoru raised his eyelids. "Since you're planning to turn back now, once you find a way to remove the shackles, you can go back to the technical high school and work like a slave to make up for your mistakes."
The last half of the sentence has a joking tone, just like in the past.
"..." Xia Yujie did not respond. He smiled and said, "My answer will probably disappoint you."
Gojo Satoru's expression paused slightly.
At this time, Jiang Lai, who had been listening to the conversation, put down his hand covering his neck and made a bandage to wrap around the wound. He spoke in a calm voice:
"——Jay didn't figure it out, he's just tired, that's all."
The sound was still a little loud, but it was much better than before. Jiang Lai walked closer.
Kagome turned his gaze and looked at the pair of brown eyes that were looking back at him. Those calm eyes were just like those years ago, able to see through the skin and into the inside.
"I always feel like Lai can see through me every time..." The young man with the ball-shaped haircut smiled slightly, lowered his eyelids, and admitted frankly, "Indeed, I am tired."
Under the wide black and gold cassock are bony bones, behind the mask of smile is a myriad of fatigue, the taste of rag and curse lingers on the tip of the tongue, and he never has a good appetite to eat.
Compared to the original work, Geto Suguru here has the support of an organization behind him, but he lacks the company of companions who can be called "family", and he has almost been walking alone for ten years.
On a one-way street filled with blood, he was pushed by the force behind him to run, and as he stumbled, he convinced himself that the path he had chosen was the right one.
Amid restrictions and growing conflicts, he suddenly began to wonder whether the reason for embarking on this one-way street was his own choice or the result of the puppet's strings.
The starting point began to waver, the momentum gradually faded, and the action of piercing his old friend's throat with a knife was a heavy blow - his original intention was "not to witness the bloody sea of corpses of sorcerers", but now he was forced to raise the knife to kill his companions.
Ten years is a very long time, and too many things weighed heavily on his shoulders, and he was already tired.
The controlled situation now made him realize his puppet nature. Freedom was a luxury in death.
My confused brain no longer wants to think about the path and justice.
"It doesn't matter whether I figure it out or not." Xia Yujie narrowed his eyes and smiled, but there was no smile in his smile. His voice was hoarse, "The traces of my past are finally engraved there, and the future path is not decided by me."
"Maybe next time, you can talk with Wu, Gaozi and the others and slowly find the path of justice." Jiang Lai said gently, "Don't make a decision too hastily. This trial and error has proved this point."
Xia Yujie shook his head: "It's a pity that there is nothing [maybe]."
"So, let's stop here. Give me a clean, thorough treatment without leaving any traces." The black-haired young man with a bun smiled, "If it's Wu, he can definitely do it - thank you in advance."
Gojo Satoru: "...Don't be polite at this time."
"Haha, I'm a very polite person." Xia Yujie narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice, "And I really mean it."
He chuckled and said, "If it was you who did it, I would have no regrets, Wu."
"You have no regrets? Maybe." Jiang Lai raised his eyes and continued calmly, "But I do, Wu has it, Gaozi has it, Yega-sensei, Mimiko, Nanako, Maki Mayi - we all have it."
Xia Yujie was stunned for a moment. These names were the inscriptions of his youth, and they had the power to stir his heartstrings. After a few seconds, he continued:
"I'm sorry... I hate monkeys and the higher-ups, but I've never hated you. That's why I don't want to be manipulated into doing something I don't want to do one day in the future."
"Even if not for me, do this to protect your students, Satoru. In short, please." His narrow fox eyes were tired and sincere, "Please let me sleep and be free."
Gojo Satoru stared at his former best friend with his bright blue eyes, an indescribable expression on his face. He could feel the sincerity in the words of the person in front of him, and it was precisely because of this that he fell silent.
He is the most powerful one, but being the most powerful does not mean he can save everyone.
Gojo Satoru is not someone who cannot kill his best friend. If the other party insists on killing him with a knife, he can swallow the pain, uphold justice, and kill his old friend calmly and steadily.
But the current situation made his throat tighten.
He couldn't find the root cause, couldn't cut the strings on the puppet, and the only way to set his friend free was to kill himself. And the real enemy was still laughing behind the scenes.
Gojo Satoru retracted his fist, his eyes focused, "...Then before you leave, tell me more about those guys, Jie."
"If you want to rest, you can rest first." The white-haired young man spoke calmly, and the second half of the sentence was burning with cold anger and murderous intent, "And we must win over those guys."
Xia Yujie narrowed his eyes and smiled like a fox: "Then I'll leave it to you, Wu."
His tone was just like the moment when they had stood side by side at the college, as if what they were about to face was not a permanent farewell but a temporary separation.
The young man with the ball-shaped hair exhaled and slowly narrated what he knew.
The Regulatory Commission has a very good reputation externally, and those real-name volunteers are indeed doing good things.
However, its true inner thoughts advocate that [useless people continue the lives of useful people, making the world more pure and refined], and it divides the feed according to its own assessment of "usefulness and uselessness".
The missing population in society is captured by them as "feed", and those who have a complete sunflower totem pattern on their forehead will share this benefit and share the life and magic power squeezed from others.
However, Geto Summer Oil was not clear about the specific process of feed conversion, and did not know whether it was the effect of a cursed tool or some kind of ritual.
Some senior executives in the Yusan family knew the inside story and they were also part of the core members, but Xia Yujie did not know who was on the specific list.
Because his totem has not yet been fully formed, in essence, Geto Suguru is not a core member, not to mention that most of the core members keep their secrets from each other.
The only core members he had seen on weekdays were "Mom" and Yuikawa Kurita.
Jiang Lai listened quietly, and his impression of this organization became clearer in his mind. He wrote down these details and planned to study how to deal with them in detail later.
At this time, Jiang Lai focused on continuing to try to sense his own time skill - he guessed that the opening of the second round might be related to himself, but he didn't know how to do it.
In the process of guessing and trying, Jiang Lai was able to vaguely touch some edges, but he could never really understand clearly.
Until he heard Geto's final words.
"That prophecy is probably the reason why they were secretly keeping an eye on Satoru and lured you out," said Geto. "[Mom] didn't allow me to see it, so I only took a glimpse at the time. The prophecy seemed to contain words like 'God's Six Eyes', 'turning the clock', 'glory restarting'..."
Combining the key words "six eyes", "turn the clock", and "restart" together with everything that had happened in the main story, Jiang Lai had already connected them into a line in his mind, and a certain intuition was about to emerge -
However, at this moment, before Geto Xiayou finished his words, something strange happened!
Complex spells suddenly appeared on the ground beneath the feet of the young man with the ball-shaped hair. The spell power surged and swallowed up the figure in less than half a second, without even leaving time for a word!
Gojo Satoru's instant reaction at that time was not to attack, but to reach out to pull Xia Yujie, but he was half a step late in the end.
Jiang Lai stared at the scene in astonishment the whole time. After the figure disappeared, the fluctuations of the cursed power still remained in the air.
——This all happened too suddenly and quickly. No one expected that the peaceful conversation would be interrupted by the sudden transmission of the spell!
Jiang Lai didn't believe that anyone could perform a spell on the spot within the range of the six eyes, so this transmission should have been engraved long ago. Just now, Xia Yujie mentioned the prophecy and some of the contents of the prophecy...
"Keyword combination trigger?" he murmured a guess.
If this is the case, at least the regulatory agency already knows about it, and Geto Suguru already knows about this and has told the secret to others.
Combined with the situation of Yuukawa Kurita who is [dead], and the possible detection of the meeting between Gojo Satoru, Erai, and Geto Kagome, they will most likely think that this is Geto Kagome's "betrayal."
Then it is very likely that Geto Suguru, who was teleported back, would not have an easy time - but they don't know where Geto Suguru was teleported to.
Jiang Lai turned his head to look at the figure standing stiffly beside him.
"..." Gojo Satoru said nothing. He slowly withdrew his hand and stared at the empty ground.
Around the alley, strange-looking cursed spirits from the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons crawled into this alley, and when they detected the traces of humans, they came to kill them. They twisted their bodies and attacked with cursed power.
The white-haired young man turned his head, and a violent storm and heavy snow surged in his blazing eyes, like a chilly winter wind blowing across a steep cliff, carrying with it the power to shatter thousands of rocks.
The air around them even dropped by one degree under the threat, and incomparably powerful cursed power swept up like a tornado!
Under this force, the sorcerers and cursed spirits in another street could not help but tremble.
Ijichi Kiyotaka wiped the sweat off his forehead and thought to himself: ...I don't know what happened, but it seems that Mr. Gojo is really angry! !
——
For some unknown reason, various cursed spirits kept pouring in. However, the densely packed cursed spirits were basically resolved in the blink of an eye when they got close to him. The title of the strongest was never an empty name.
The buildings on site were shattered into pieces during the battle and were blown away by the wind.
Jiang Lai did not step forward. He knew that the other party did not need his help, so he left space for Gojo Satoru to vent freely.
The impact waves lifted up the hem of his clothes. Jiang Lai squinted his eyes to block out the dust and used this short time to think about where Xia Yujie might have gone.
Now that the regulatory authorities know about Xia Youjie's "betrayal", they will most likely not let him act freely.
He felt heavy in his heart.
From Yuukawa Kuritai's actions just now, we can see that the regulatory authorities' attitude towards him is likely to use him if he can, and destroy him if he cannot.
Now it seems that the first round is not only about Gojo Satoru's growth and Geto's trial and error, but also about my own process of collecting clues and exploring. Jiang Lai's thoughts flowed slowly in his mind.
The moment you are noticed by the regulator, you no longer have the advantage of being in the dark while the enemy is in the light.
He began to recall.
When I was at the Zen temple, the regulatory authorities did not pay much attention to me. Their understanding and speculation about the clock was still at the level of an object.
That was the first time I went on a mission with Gao Zhuanwu and Jie Xiang, and I didn't show anything particularly special.
His subsequent appearances and clever timings attracted the attention of the Regulatory Commission. In the end, even Ye Moth could sense his difference, not to mention the Regulatory Commission.
Can't expose yourself too early. Jiang Lai took note of this, then raised his head and looked at the figure not far away.
Gojo Satoru raised his hands to destroy all the cursed spirits on the scene. In the dust, he stood there, his white hair flying and his delicate face expressionless.
The cleared scene was exceptionally quiet. After a few dozen seconds or minutes, the ringing of a phone broke the frozen atmosphere.
"..." Gojo Satoru pulled himself out of his own world. He paused, took out his cell phone and answered the call.
Jiang Lai took a few steps forward. He didn't hear exactly what was said on the phone, but he could catch a glimpse of the momentary stiff look on the white-haired young man's face.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Lai asked.
"Let's go back to technical high school." Gojo Satoru clenched his phone tightly.
——
Ten years have passed, and the Jujutsu High School has maintained its original layout. Looking back, it seems that the time of those years can still emerge.
However, the scene at this moment was very different from the warm and beautiful scenery in his memory - the view was full of broken walls and ruins. Dust rose, the remnants of cursed power were everywhere, and from time to time, he could see glaring bloodstains.
According to reports from insiders and analysis of the remaining cursed energy at the scene, all of this was done by Geto Suguru.
During the One Hundred Demons Night Parade incident, Gojo Satoru asked Otsutsuki Yuta, the Zenin sisters, Nanako and Mimiko to stay in school to guard the place, while the others went out to exorcise cursed spirits on the streets.
In this school attack, students were injured to varying degrees, with Nanako and Zenin Maki being the most seriously injured.
Mimiko's eyes were filled with tears, but she tried to keep her tone calm and quickly explained to Gojo Satoru on the phone:
"…It was Agatsuyu-senpai, but, it seems Agatsuyu-senpai is under control. He asked us to stay away—"
The injured students were all transferred to Ieiri Shoko's side, leaving only Gojo Satoru and Jiang Lai who had rushed over.
The two stood in front of the ruins, looking at the tragic scene after the battle.
Jiang Lai scanned the severely damaged surroundings, took a deep breath, and calmly recalled and analyzed in his heart.
At that time, after Geto Suguru disappeared due to space transfer, many cursed spirits surrounded Gojo Satoru and himself.
From this perspective, the transmission of spells may also have a positioning function. Those spell spirits were probably transferred from nearby streets by the regulatory agency to delay the situation temporarily?
Then, during this short period of time, the Supervisory Committee manipulated Geto Kagome to return to the high school and carry out massacres and destruction - the Zen sisters, Nanako and Mimiko in the school were all children that Geto Kagome had taught back then.
The purpose of the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons in the new series is to lure out Jiang Lai, and Geto Suguru is just cooperating in the cleanup.
He himself had no intention of killing Otsukotsu Yuta or taking Rikka away, and there was no such thing as a high school in the planned itinerary.
Geto Summer Oil has never hated anyone at the high school. He has his own principles and will not kill young magicians without reason.
At this moment, he is controlling the high school in the destroyed memory and killing the children he once had feelings for.
Although Jiang Lai cannot see Xia Youjie who is now unknown, he can imagine that he must be in a bad condition at this moment.
Although he had made an appointment with his best friend Satoru and thought he could be free, Geto Suguru didn't expect that in the end he would be controlled by others again and do something against his will - anyone would be devastated.
...From this perspective, the regulatory agency is indeed the biggest pervert. Maybe Yukawa Kurita is just a microcosm of it, Jiang Lai thought.
At this moment, Gojo Satoru lowered his eyes and stared at the ruins and the devastation on it. The cold anger was mixed with a blank confusion, and the silent sense of oppression fell to the ground and had nowhere to go.
The series of events happened too suddenly. I wanted to vent my anger, but I couldn't find the real person behind the scenes. In the end, I fell into deep silence.
The cold winter wind blows across your cheeks, carrying tiny ice fragments with it, giving you a slight tingling sensation.
Gojo Satoru opened his lips, his voice was very low: "...I am obviously the strongest, right?"
The second half of the sentence was not spoken, but Jiang Lai beside him had already heard the hidden part.
"The strongest is also human." Jiang Lai replied. He paused for a second, then continued, "And even gods have times when they are powerless."
“…”
The white-haired young man spread out his palms, staring with blue eyes: "If my first reaction when the sudden change happened just now was to kill Jie, would I be able to give him freedom and protect the students...?"
"If your first reaction to a close friend is to kill him, then your mentality is not right." Jiang Lai's eyes flickered and he tilted his head slightly, "You made the right choice."
"Really?" Gojo Satoru showed no expression.
The two of them stood there in silence.
The white-haired young man looked ahead with his bleak eyes. Above the ruins, his mind inevitably recalled the past.
He thought back to his time in high school, and the scenes were like black and white movies, playing slowly in the winter.
——If only I had noticed Jay’s condition earlier.
——If I had listened to what Lai said during those years, I would have put aside my pride and expressed my concern boldly, asked questions and stayed by his side.
——If it had been earlier, I would have relied on my intuition to deal with Yuikawa Kurikawa, or reminded Haibara and Nanami.
——If I had started investigating the Defense Regulatory Commission a long time ago, I wouldn’t have lost so much and have nowhere to vent my anger.
...if time could go back.
"Enlightenment." Jiang Lai said, "Do you want to do it again?"
It was not until he heard the person beside him calling out that Gojo Satoru realized that he had just said the last sentence.
He paused, quickly adjusted his posture, put on his usual smile, and said in a casual tone:
"Ah, I just said it casually. The strongest will not waste time on such meaningless fantasies. The invincible handsome man Gojo has already figured out how to pull out the rats in the gutter one by one and crush them all."
The white-haired young man was tall with his back straight, and the last sentence he uttered was filled with murderous intent.
Jiang Lai still looked at Gojo Satoru, blinked slightly, and continued: "It's not a delusion, Satoru."
He sensed his own vertical technique. The blocked contents gradually became clearer through listening to the prophecy and inferring the past, along with intuition and some mysterious power.
[Vertical - Time Rewind. Use the power of the spell to restart the world node. You need others to initiate it, you cannot use it yourself. When you start it, you will set the heart clock. You cannot exist during the rewind period. You only have one chance to restart.]
[The initiator and others who have had good karma with him will have memories of the flashbacks.]
Jiang Lai followed his instinct and at this moment he finally clearly felt his own abilities.
So the second world round is really related to me. Jiang Lai's mind was full of imagination. As expected, when I came to the world of magic, my skills would be upgraded. The file-loading skill I had in the 1.0 scientific world directly evolved into letting the world load the file in the magic world.
At this point in the first week, enough clues and thoughts, mistakes and pain have accumulated. There is no need to continue on this path stubbornly and leave more scars in each other's hearts.
His thoughts are fluctuating
So let's stop here and start over - this is consistent with what Shinji said before, that the world went backwards on the day of the One Hundred Demons Night Parade.
Since death is a certainty in this Möbius ring, this time the flow probably cannot be traced back to before the astral plasma, he thought. However, going back to the year when the astral plasma incident ended is enough.
If they could really restart, with their memories, they would be able to avoid tragedy and move towards a new future.
"If turning back time is your wish, I can make it happen for you," Jiang Lai said.
Gojo Satoru was stunned for half a second, and put one hand on his chin: "Today is Christmas Eve, not April Fools' Day. Are they preparing for Christmas tomorrow? But I'm no longer at the age to believe in this. Santa Claus is a complete lie."
"Do you still believe in Santa Claus?"
Gojo Satoru: "It's just a child's childhood dream. When I was young, I believed in it a little bit." He chuckled, "Will Lai tell me that Santa Claus is also a [real existence]?"
"I can't answer whether Santa Claus really exists or not." Jiang Lai smiled, "But I can tell you the answer to the question you've been asking me."
Jiang Lai had always used "the time has not come" to procrastinate before, but at this moment, he could finally confirm that word.
The dark blue figure lifted the book up, and stared at me with brown eyes. There was a hint of smile and seriousness in the corners of his eyes, and he twitched his tongue: "——I am [Clock]."
Gojo Satoru stared at the figure in front of him: "...Clock?"
"That's right, so I have the ability to turn back time." Jiang Lai said, "Reverse the flow and start over again. All the regrets you and Jie have encountered can be made up one by one."
"When I asked you to take care of the acacia wood pendant, I said I would return the favor. How about I fulfill your wish to turn back time in return?"
He spoke these words one by one in a calm and gentle voice.
Jiang Lai originally thought that the white-haired young man would agree readily after a slight pause, laughing and rubbing his hands together, and saying something like "You told me earlier, I can't wait to open it again."
——However, the result was beyond his expectation. Gojo Satoru in front of him did not respond for a long time.
After several tens of seconds, the strongest in the world of spellcasting slowly said, "...What's the price?"
"Huh?" Jiang Lai blinked, "Wu doesn't have to pay a price."
"I mean, what is the price you paid?" Gojo Satoru looked straight at Jiang Lai, "What will you do, Lai?"
Jiang Lai blinked, a faint smile appeared on his face, and he said in a steady voice: "Don't worry, I won't pay the price."
——This statement is actually a lie.
When he was exploring his abilities just now, Jiang Lai was able to vaguely sense that launching a vertical technique that could interfere with the entire world would come at a price.
However, he recalled his own situation in the main story timeline and thought: It's nothing more than that my existence, some kind of godlike thing, is gone. After all, I was originally a human being, so it's no big deal to become a human again.
Then, he turned to the white-haired young man with a frank and peaceful smile.
Gojo Satoru looked back at the person in front of him with his clear blue eyes. He spoke word by word, "You are lying."
"Six Eyes has a very strong observation ability and can judge lies and truth." He stared at the figure in front of him, "You said there is no price, that's a lie."
"..." Jiang Lai paused slightly. He didn't expect the other party to be so sensitive.
Gojo Satoru still kept staring at the man with black hair and brown eyes in front of him.
The cursed spirits and cursers in the city seemed to have received the order to retreat long ago and have almost all left.
The curse that obscured the sky and the sun dissipated, the dark clouds broke, and the last rays of light burned gently at the junction of heaven and earth, and the warm light gently caressed every corner of the earth.
From the age of seven to now, in the past twenty years, the navy blue figure has never changed.
He seems to be always so young and gentle, always by our side like the wind and shining upon the world like the moonlight.
Is it because after the connection, [existence] cannot help but share the radiance in its core with others? There are too many sufferings in the world, how much radiance can [existence] share?
"…If it's at your expense, I don't need it. Forget it."
Gojo Satoru turned his face away. His tone of voice remained the same as usual, but there was a certain stubborn firmness hidden in it.
"I am the strongest in the world of spells. I don't need to sacrifice anything to get a happy ending. I can destroy those guys myself and let Jay pursue his freedom and sleep peacefully."
That being said, the past is the past. Jiang Lai knows. The dead cannot be resurrected, and scars cannot be erased. In addition, there were too many mistakes in this round of confrontation with the regulatory commission, and it would be difficult to win them smoothly.
But he did not say these words out loud. He just explained gently: "The so-called cost is not serious to me. In fact, it is just a small loss during the start-up. And if we restart it again, our chances of winning will be much higher than this."
"Believe me, Wu. Every time we part, we will meet again, right? When I say 'see you next time', we will definitely meet again."
"..." Gojo Satoru was not so easily shaken. He stared at Jiang Lai with his six eyes, "When can we meet again?"
Jiang Lai paused, blinked lightly, and said with a smile: "See you tomorrow."
——Today is December 24th, and their next meeting in the main story timeline is on December 25th. In a sense, it can be said that we will see each other tomorrow.
The white-haired young man stared at the person in front of him. He judged that the other party was not lying, and his tense posture finally relaxed.
If we can see each other again the next day, then it shouldn't be a big deal, he thought.
If time could really go back, then he, Jie, Nitro, and Lai together would definitely make up for all the shortcomings and defeat those guys this time.
So at this moment, he finally agreed, his bright blue eyes gleamed, and he nodded slightly and said, "Okay. Let's restart."
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