Whether it was the upcoming journey into the ancient ruins or the shadow of the potential appearance of demon forces, Ansu felt a growing sense of crisis and urgently needed more information.
Ansu called out to the system interface in his mind.
【The following durations are available for simulation】
【10 minutes later (May 30th, 12:35), costs 10 points】
【10 hours later (May 30th, 22:25), costs 50 points】
【100 hours later (June 3rd, 16:25), costs 100 points】
【Do you wish to begin the simulation?】
One hundred hours was the simulation duration rewarded by the system after lifting his destined death, spanning a full four days and four hours. Combined with the forty-eight hours he could remain in the future, it meant...
He would obtain nearly a week's worth of information about the future.
That was enough.
The battle raging around him seemed to have nothing to do with Ansu as he silently closed his eyes, repeatedly applying psychological suggestion to himself.
'I must complete three tasks after this.'
'Find a way to distract the inquisition squad, find the correct route into the ancient ruins, and draw a detailed map of the underground as much as possible.'
'No matter what I see, I must find a way to record it, even if my behavior seems strange...'
【Future: 100 Hours Later】
【Beginning simulation...】
【Remaining points: 28】
When Ansu opened his eyes again, the ruined village of the daytime had vanished. Everything was dark, and the air had become incredibly turbid.
The light of a torch flickered nearby, and Ansu immediately scanned his surroundings.
This appeared to be a corridor within an underground ruin. Beside him were Celia, Professor Duncan, and one of his students; the other student was nowhere to be found.
Except for the witch, everyone was covered in injuries, leaning against the walls in exhaustion to rest.
Ansu felt a sharp, tearing pain in his arm and thigh. Raising his hand, he saw a layer of bandages wrapped around his forearm, stained with dried blood.
"How did things get this bad..."
Ansu was inwardly shocked.
"You only sustained minor injuries, but this old man has nearly lost half his life..." Professor Duncan heard Ansu's muttering and gave a tragic laugh as he tried to sit up, which only caused the wound on his lower abdomen to start bleeding incessantly again.
"Professor, why are you moving around again?" the student said helplessly as he supported him back. He was also injured, but he continued to apply medicine to stop the professor's bleeding.
"I'll cast a healing spell on you." Ansu walked toward Professor Duncan. In terms of healing, magic was not as potent as Holy Light divine arts, but it was sufficient to stop bleeding.
However, just as he was about to cast the spell, he suddenly realized that he could barely manifest any mana. His head felt muddled, and his mental focus was severely lacking...
Ansu realized this was a state of near-total mana depletion caused by high-intensity, frequent spellcasting.
In such a situation, one had to either sit down and meditate to recover mana or use items to give oneself a recharge.
So, it came back to the same question...
Everyone looked like they had fought to the point of total exhaustion; how did it turn out this way?
Ansu immediately walked to the other side, where Celia was leaning in a corner, staring intently into the depths of the darkness with every nerve taut.
"Celia?" Ansu carefully observed her condition. Although the witch was not injured, her current state... was even more wrong.
Celia's gaze fluctuated between dazed and sharp, and a cold, piercing killing intent occasionally flashed through her blood-red eyes.
A foul black aura enveloped her, giving the area around her a cold, murderous atmosphere. This was also why the other wounded survivors didn't dare approach and instead hid far away on the other side.
"Ansu...?" In her daze, Celia heard Ansu's voice, and the coldness in her eyes finally faded as she slowly turned her face toward him.
"Ansu, I heard that sound again..."
"I heard... the whispers..."
Celia looked around suspiciously, remaining on high alert.
"It seems to be telling me to kill... to keep killing... and never stop..."
"You need to get some rest first." Ansu watched the paranoid witch and gave a serious instruction. "Meditation. You need to meditate and block those damn voices from your head."
Celia nodded slightly and obediently closed her eyes.
But after only a moment, her tightly closed eyes began to tremble uneasily, as if she were unable to concentrate.
"It's so dark... Ansu, don't leave me while I'm meditating..."
"I always feel like there are countless enemies standing before me. I'm afraid I won't be able to stop myself from attacking..."
Ansu gripped her hand and leaned against the wall with her. "Don't worry. Go ahead and meditate to recover your mental strength. I'll be right here by your side."
"Mm." Hearing Ansu's gentle voice, Celia's closed eyes finally steadied a bit.
She instinctively leaned her head on Ansu's shoulder, huddling close to him.
Once Celia's condition had stabilized slightly, Ansu pulled his notebook out from his warehouse.
All the records from the past four days filled more than ten pages with dense writing.
Ansu calmed his mind and quietly flipped through his 《Future Diary》.
As always, the simulation system was gradually correcting the 'changes' he was supposed to have caused. On the paper, those strange characters—distorted block symbols that looked like AI-generated gibberish—began to slowly become clear.
「A massive number of monsters has been constantly besieging us. Besides the shadow wolves, there are other types of monsters this time. The suspicion that there is a controller behind them, capable of gathering different species together, seems to be true.」
「The monsters are more cunning than last time. Seeing that they cannot kill us, they have begun to surround the perimeter, constantly harassing us. They want to trap us to death in this ruined village.」
「The ruined village has no water source. If we cannot reach the next water source, the water the team is carrying will eventually run out.」
As the text became readable, a large number of memories began to flash back in Ansu's mind, and he recalled the situation that had occurred.
Because the actual strongest combat power in the team had not taken action, and Ansu and the professor had also been slacking off, the battle for the expedition squad had been extremely difficult.
The plan the three of them had discussed earlier was to wait until the monsters were repelled, then use the excuse of being afraid of death to return to Oak Town before doubling back. However, this time the monsters had not retreated, and the three of them had become anxious, nearly wanting to step in to help the expedition squad.
But an unexpected situation had occurred.
「The local lord, Evan, suddenly arrived to the rescue. He brought a squad of knights and a large number of soldiers. With the cooperation of both sides, they finally repelled the pack of monsters.」
「The lord is a viscount, and this wasteland territory along with the surrounding villages and towns are his lands. The captain spoke with him, and the viscount suspects that those monsters were secretly raised by the neighboring lord, his arch-rival.」
「Over the past two months, the viscount's grain caravans and merchant caravans have been harassed by mysterious monsters several times, with no survivors left each time. At the same time, that neighbor of his suddenly became powerful and well-equipped, as if he had received funding from someone. The viscount believes the other party must be trying to seize his territory.」
「However, the viscount is puzzled as to what the other party is actually after. After all, the wasteland territory is nearly the poorest land besides the border territory.」
Seeing this, Ansu had already begun to piece things together.
An ordinary lord certainly wouldn't dare to do such a thing, but if a demon force were standing behind him, it would be a different story.
This was likely Barcas's doing.
It was indeed his style; in the original plot, he had always been secretly funding various local lords and inciting rebellions.
As for why he chose the wasteland territory, it was also quite simple. While this place was indeed poor enough to eat dirt during times of peace, in times of war, this area with its treacherous terrain and its role in connecting the east and west was a strategic stronghold.
Ansu continued to flip to the next page.
The subsequent handwriting became increasingly hurried, clearly recorded at critical moments, but as he read on, he finally understood why the team had ended up in such a miserable state...
Rate on N.U.
