128: Chapter 128 One-tenth of the Truth

The message was sent.

Su Bai set his phone down on the Card Creator desk, his fingers unconsciously twirling a pen.

Rank 9 Stand.

Just having these four words cycle through his mind felt absurd. A Rank 2 Card Creator wanting to touch the domain of a Rank 9. If he said that out loud, he would probably be treated like a lunatic.

But didn't the Kyubey Card start from Rank 1? And wasn't the Magical Girl System squeezed out of a budget of fifty yuan?

Absurdity aside.

It wasn't the first time, anyway.

"Su Bai." Kyubey's tail swept across the back of his hand. "Your heart rate is twelve beats higher than usual. Nervous?"

"No."

"Liar. Every time you lie, your right middle finger moves first before you start twirling the pen."

Su Bai put the pen down.

Qin Ye sat on the sofa, her dark gold eyes shifting back and forth, following the conversation between the human and the cat. She didn't interrupt, merely turning the Stand Card over in her fingers. The dark gold gear pattern on the back of her hand pulsed slowly in the moonlight.

The phone vibrated.

[Li Qingyue]: "Speak."

Su Bai typed a few words. Deleted them, typed again, and deleted them again. The final content he sent was much simpler than he had anticipated.

[Su Bai]: "I've created a new system, not like the Magical Girl one. I'd like you to take a look."

The other side remained silent for about five seconds.

[Li Qingyue]: "A new system?"

[Su Bai]: "Yes, a Stand. The underlying logic is completely different from Kyubey."

[Li Qingyue]: "You are Rank 2."

[Su Bai]: "I know."

[Li Qingyue]: "A Rank 2 creating two systems."

[Su Bai]: "Strictly speaking, I'm in the middle of creating the second one. The test data is still being organized, but the core framework has already been verified. A Magic Card Master has already successfully activated it—"

[Li Qingyue]: "Send me the address."

Su Bai froze for a moment.

[Su Bai]: "Master, didn't you say that recently the Sanctuary..."

[Li Qingyue]: "Tomorrow afternoon. At your place."

Su Bai stared at the last four words on the screen.

No questions. No skepticism. No "Are you sure you aren't messing around with pink lace dresses or something again"—although Su Bai vaguely felt that she just hadn't typed that part out.

He sent over his location.

Qin Ye tilted her head.

"Your master?"

"A 9th-tier Supreme, founder of space-time theory, and one of the strongest Card Creators in humanity."

"...Is she strong?"

Su Bai thought about how to phrase it.

"She can single-handedly punch through half the Abyss."

Qin Ye placed the Stand Card back on the table. Her expression didn't change, but her fingers lingered on the card for two seconds longer.

Kyubey's tail swung slowly twice.

"Su Bai. You are looking forward to her evaluation."

"...I suppose so."

"It's not just the evaluation of a Rank 9 that you care about. It's the person giving you the evaluation."

Su Bai didn't answer.

Outside the window, the aurora sky was slowly switching to night mode. The magic lamps of Jinghai lit up one by one, illuminating the old locust tree in the yard, turning it a translucent silver-green.

— —

The next afternoon.

When the doorbell rang, Su Bai was explaining the damage feedback mechanism of the Stand to Qin Ye.

"Simply put, any damage the Stand takes is synchronized to you. If the Stand is punched through the chest, you will also—are you listening?"

Qin Ye withdrew her gaze from the doorway.

"Someone is coming. Very strong magic."

It was indeed very strong.

That wave of magic power drifted in from outside the courtyard gate, its density so high it didn't seem like something a human could possess. The law-level pressure of a 9th-tier Supreme, even when deliberately suppressed, would instinctively make the air tighten. The leaves of the old locust tree rustled without any wind.

Su Bai opened the door.

Li Qingyue stood at the doorway.

Today, she wasn't wearing that deep blue Sanctuary robe, having changed into plain white casual clothes. Her long silver-white hair was draped casually over her shoulders, and she was carrying a bag of oranges. A supermarket plastic bag, with the label still attached, printed with "Special Price 9.9 Yuan."

"...Master, why did you buy oranges?"

"I passed by a fruit shop and just happened to pick them up." Li Qingyue shoved the bag to Su Bai and stepped into the living room barefoot. "Where is the new system?"

Su Bai took the oranges.

This scene was in such stark contrast to the last time she arrived by tearing through space. Last time, it was a 9th-tier Supreme descending from the sky stepping on space rifts; this time, it was pressing the doorbell while carrying a supermarket plastic bag.

He didn't know whether to call it approachable or casual.

"Master, your entrance today is quite—"

"I spent all night revising seven papers yesterday, so I don't have the energy to tear through space." Li Qingyue sat on the sofa, her legs dangling off the edge, swinging them. "Besides, your Magical Girl System last time almost blew my worldview to pieces. Since you said this time it's not a Magical Girl, I'll tentatively believe you. Let me see it first—but don't get your hopes up."

"...That last part is the real truth, isn't it?"

Li Qingyue didn't deny it.

She took the Stand Card Su Bai handed her.

Her fair fingers turned over the card face. The golden beetle pattern shimmered with a faint light in the afternoon sun, and the twelve-axis causality framework rotated slowly like the gears of a precision clock. Li Qingyue's expression was very flat. It was probably that kind of flatness that said, "Alright, let's see what kind of stunt my apprentice has pulled this time."

Then she probed inside with her Rank 9 Mental Power.

One second.

Two seconds.

Li Qingyue's pupils contracted sharply.

It wasn't just a slight widening of the eyes. Those crimson pupils switched in an instant from nonchalance to a state Su Bai had never seen before. Her fingers froze above the card, her lips moved twice without making a sound, and she sat there on the sofa, motionless, as if someone had pressed a pause button.

The silence lasted for nearly half a minute.

"...Twenty axes." Li Qingyue's voice was very soft.

That was not a question.

"Mental Power mapping framework. Stellar-level bidirectional magic anchoring. Soul extension circuit. The underlying logic of this framework has absolutely nothing to do with the Magical Girl System—you didn't use any of the base theories from the previous magical girl cards, but instead created a completely new base... Interesting."

She flipped the card over, her Mental Power probing deeper, "What did you use?"

"A Stand."

"What is a Stand?"

"An invisible guardian spirit manifested from Mental Power, an existence outside the physical dimension, an extension of the soul."

Li Qingyue raised her eyes.

Su Bai had seen many expressions on Li Qingyue. Indifferent, disdainful, the look of a predator spotting prey when she looked at the Rank 9 Kyubey design drawings. But he had never seen the expression Li Qingyue had right now.

On that young face of a twelve or thirteen-year-old, her crimson eyes were wide open, her lips slightly parted; she looked as if she had seen something beyond the scope of her cognition.

It couldn't be called pleasant surprise.

That expression was more fundamental.

The kind where a piece of one's worldview had been smashed.

"...Su Bai."

"Hm?"

"Qi Yuan's stellar-level collapse theory." Li Qingyue's voice was slow, enunciating every word, "Did you teach it to him?"

Su Bai thought for a moment.

"It doesn't count as teaching, really. I just helped him—or rather, helped Researcher Yun Zhi—adjust a few parameters. Later, he asked me a few questions on the forum, and I happened to give him the derivation path for bidirectional mass-energy conversion. After that, he seemed to have written a paper. I haven't read it yet."

Li Qingyue buried her face in her palms.

"What's wrong?"

"Do you have any idea?" Li Qingyue raised her head, the expression on her young face bouncing between breakdown and maniacal laughter, "After Qi Yuan got your derivation path—do you know what he did?"

"...What?"

"He dragged his eldest disciple, Shen Ye, out of bed overnight, worked through three sleepless nights, and built a core driver for the Titan Forge System. He spent who knows how many billions on materials." Li Qingyue took a deep breath. "Then, he proudly announced in the Sanctuary Rank 9 group chat that his eldest disciple, Shen Ye, would use this system to enter the National Competition, and a top-three finish was guaranteed."

Su Bai's pen fell from his fingers.

"That Shen Ye? I do know him, but his framework shouldn't be quite the same as mine..."

"It's not quite the same, and it has some overlap with your framework, probably..."

Li Qingyue held out both hands, making a gesture of about one-tenth.

"About one-tenth," she said. "Maybe even less. He only got the stellar-level bidirectional magic anchoring part; the soul extension circuit is missing, the Stand will generation mechanism is missing, the Mental Power density calibration torture is missing, the time axis is missing, the causality anchoring axis is missing."

She took a deep breath.

"He didn't even have the core Concept Construction logic; he only got the outer framework, the periphery. And this complete version you have in your hand..."

Li Qingyue looked down at the Stand Card that was still breathing quietly.

"Can make a Rank 9 Rainbow Card."