After his body uncontrollably stiffened, Xia Zuo knew that something was wrong.

...No, even if he behaves naturally and everything is normal, it won't have any effect. Although Caesar's words just now were a question, the tone was calm and affirmative.

As expected, I couldn't hide it from him.

Xia Zuo smiled bitterly in his heart, but he didn't know how to treat his best friend behind him - he just said "I won't save you", and the purpose of his coming here was to cut off the ties and connections between them.

In this case, after Caesar had already developed the idea of ​​"wanting to survive as a human being", he would not have started the accelerated transformation that could not be stopped once started in order to save him.

Then I will have more opportunities to awaken the gods in advance and save him.

...What's more, "Shazo Freeman" is not a special existence. After he and Ursula left him, Caesar would sooner or later establish new ties and gain new friends.

"I'm just asking casually," a calm voice came from behind, as if the unexpected question just now had never happened, "Let's leave this prison first."

Xia Zuo suppressed the bitterness on his lips: "...Okay."

Xi Ze is indeed of this kind of personality. Generally speaking, he doesn't like to force questions or to explain things clearly. Just like he rarely explains things, he rarely asks others to explain directly. He prefers to observe slowly with his own eyes, unravel the mystery, and learn everything without saying a word.

Just like he suddenly thought just now that "Xia Zuo Kaili" knew him. That was the result of observation, and it was an almost certain answer.

Xia Zuo took a deep breath, and using his extraordinary speed, he quickly searched for the room of the person with the cursed talent according to the route he remembered.

The direction to the prison gate is along the corridor to the east, while the direction where the prison's gift holder is located is to the west.

Although he was taken away by Caesar at that time, he has always been talented in memorizing maps, so it was not a problem for him to find the room in his memory.

What's more, although Caesar seemed to know the route very well, he walked leisurely and unhurriedly. He only needed to deal with the holder of the cursed talent before the other party.

As for himself… he had already obtained the ability of “purification” and knew what it felt like, so he should be able to wake up when he was on the verge of death.

He no longer hesitated and came to the corridor outside the door, but just as he was about to push the door open, he suddenly felt a palpitation -

It's like something bad is about to happen.

He dealt with the holder of the cursed talent as quickly as possible, then endured the discomfort of being attacked by the curse, while driving the power awakening "Purification" and anxiously returning along the way to look for it.

Caesar should obviously be behind him... obviously!

Xia Zuo suddenly felt dizzy.

The Césaire Crest he knew seemed to have no desire to live at all, and death was of no consequence to him.

Therefore, he didn't need to consider whether he would die in prison.

At the beginning, Xizel chose to take me to find the cursed talent holder, probably for me. He wanted me to survive, so he reminded me that I had a curse and led the way for me. Then, when the other party saw that I had learned about the curse and went to the west of the talent holder with a clear goal...

Xia Zuo didn't dare to think any further.

Thirty minutes are almost up.

No.

Not anywhere.

Not found.

Xia Zuo turned the prison upside down but couldn't find the black-haired boy in black.

He didn't even dare to search the prison for the bodies, for he was afraid of seeing a scene he couldn't accept.

——Thirty minutes are up.

He returned to the Book of Time and found that the flow of text was changing rapidly.

And in those texts, there was no longer any mention of "Cesare Kleist".

Xia Zuo only felt a buzzing in his ears. He thought of the "fate" that Ursula had mentioned. Could it be that Caesar's fate was only the death of his soul?

Suddenly, he understood the meaning of Zero's warning.

Time is the most uncontrollable thing.

Especially...the "past" in time.

——You want to change it, but the biggest possibility is that you will slide into a deeper abyss.

But... once he started, how could he stop? ! Not to mention, the result is like this... ! !

In a few seconds at most, the text stream will be completely modified. By then, the Book of Time may disappear with Xize's death, and he will no longer have a chance.

The brown-haired boy gritted his teeth, mobilized the power in his body, and went back to the past again.

"Time node: 22:45:25 on September 23, 1797 in the federal calendar, number of impacts: 2, influence: strong"

"Time of stay: 30 minutes"

…

"Time node: 22:45:25 on September 23, 1797 in the federal calendar, number of impacts: 3, influence: strong"

"Time of stay: 28 minutes"

…

Again and again.

The brown-haired boy kept restarting time. He even tried his best to maintain the stability of the development of the "past" that he saw for the first time, and then tried to jump to other time nodes, but Caesar's fate every time was "no such person" in the future.

There were even many times when he watched César die in front of him.

He still had an indifferent and careless expression, as if death was of no importance to him. He smiled and pointed the gun at his temple, or he allowed himself to be exposed to the enemy's attack, with a blank expression on his face.

"Number of impacts: 37, influence: weak"

In the end, he was no longer able to control his own behavior, and his strength was no longer enough to support himself.

The brown-haired boy lowered his head and laughed softly, his hot tears dripping onto his arms but he was completely unaware.

Step by step...sliding into the abyss.

There's no way to save him...

In fact, from the moment he returned to the past, all he brought to his friends was death, an irreversible death.

He opened his mouth, took a deep breath, and mobilized the last of his strength.

He will never give up until the last moment.

"Time node: 23:03:11 on September 23, 1797 in the federal calendar, number of impacts: 52, influence: very weak"

"Time of stay: 30 seconds"

This time he didn't choose the moment of their first meeting.

He picked up a random node before they left the cell.

Escape from the cage... This is his most sincere wish for his friend.

…

Xia Zuo's vision became clear again as his body became in sync.

What came into view was a scene that had long been engraved in his memory.

Xia Zuo knew very well that this was the last time he would be able to drive the Book of Time.

After this time, he will return to reality.

He didn't speak, didn't move, didn't do anything unnecessary, he just stared at his friend, suppressing the deepest sadness in the deepest part of his pupils.

I have tried all the methods, but I still can't save you... Caesar.

Well... as a close friend, I can only sincerely hope that you can live more easily and freely in the future when you don't have to worry about being controlled by fate.

The countdown to leaving here begins.

Xia Zuo from the future took a deep breath. Even though his influence on this time point had become extremely weak, he gave a hint to his past self who was in tune with him, as if he was swearing an oath.

"Protect Caesar. Protect him with your life."

Thirty seconds to go.

The consciousness from another time point quietly left the brown-haired boy.

Xia Zuo Kaili blinked his eyes. He felt that a lot of memories seemed to flash through his mind just now, but disappeared without a trace in an instant, as if all this was just his illusion.

Moreover, in the past few tens of seconds, my brain has been feeling heavy, and my perception of the outside world is a little vague, which may be because I haven't eaten for too long.

The thought just flashed through his mind and he didn't think much about it.

He glanced at the black-haired boy he had just met. Perhaps because he looked too fragile and would die if he wasn't careful, or perhaps because they were fellow inmates and shared a common hatred for the enemy, Xia Zuo uncontrollably had an extremely strong thought -

To protect Cesar.

Protect him with your life.