I dug up the magical girl's corpse.

Chapter 37 The History of Time

After this experiment, Chen Mu roughly understood the purpose of his cheat system.

In four words, it can be summarized as "a chronicle of time".

To explain in detail:

The stories Chen Mu fabricated about the past will become new history, which can change his fate to some extent and alter the current situation.

Of course, summarizing it in such a short sentence is bound to be one-sided and narrow-minded, and might even make people feel that Chen Mu has really lost his mind and is fantasizing too much.

Therefore, let's review this experiment again.

Firstly, the trigger for Chen Mu's inspiration came from what happened during his last recollection of the past.

He was in the car at the time, telling Lin Yongxi how he met his wife. He thought it was just an ordinary chat and nothing to worry about.

As a result, this very memory led to a strange change.

Chen Mu suddenly learned about [magic].

That noon, he learned about the training methods of magical girls, how to absorb magical power, and even a series of subsequent advanced knowledge...

Why?

This was definitely not a coincidence. Chen Mu later conducted a thorough review, listing out all the possibilities and eliminating them one by one.

After all, this might be his real secret weapon, and it absolutely cannot be ignored so easily.

Chen Mu had wondered if it was because he had dug up his wife's body and absorbed some kind of knowledge inheritance during the process of contacting the body.

But later I realized that it all came down to the process of that memory.

The problem lies in "memory" itself.

"Where was I recalling that moment when I suddenly stopped? That's right, it was during the time I was a hostage that I saw her getting up early on the balcony, reading that book."

"In that instant, it was as if I had been enlightened and gained a series of knowledge about magical girls, which I couldn't stop learning and was imprinted in my mind one after another."

"Now I understand, it's because during the process of recalling, the memory became blurred, and I don't remember whether I read the contents of that book, thus forming two branching lines."

"One branch is that I haven't read that book, so I don't know anything about magical girls; the other branch is that I read that book and thus gained knowledge."

"At the time, I was quite anxious. I thought that since I couldn't study at the Magic Academy, it would be best to learn and master it myself. So, subconsciously, I chose the latter."

"Therefore, history changed, and my fate followed the path I had read in that book, and now I understand that knowledge as well."

When Chen Mu thought this way, he found it somewhat unbelievable and regarded it as an absurd guess.

Therefore, in order to ensure authenticity, he planned this experiment.

He fabricated a completely false past for Lin Yongxi, pretending it was a memory, and told it to her.

Of course, it wasn't entirely fabricated; at least a monster incident really did occur. Lin Chaojing was indeed going out on a mission, but Chen Mu didn't go with him. How could he possibly confront the monster and risk his life? He was only focused on escaping; he had no other intentions.

Moreover, it wouldn't be logical for Lin Chaojing to bring him to the scene.

However, Chen Mu skillfully covered up these inconsistencies one by one, or used more plausible excuses to embellish them, so that Lin Yongxi could not detect any problems.

Thus, his fate took a turn for the better:

He returned to the scene of Weiming High School in the past and personally participated in the incident.

"Of course, Lu Cai and Chao Xi, both magical girls, are real people. They were both there at the time. I was the only new character added to the scene, a troublemaker."

"I heard these stories later, so I'm using my current knowledge to create stories from the past and then feeding them back to myself."

Chen Mu went to great lengths to fabricate this story for only one purpose.

Given his age and gender, it's impossible for him to become a magical girl; even with vast magical knowledge, it would be useless. However, his conflict with Mian at the Magic Academy reveals that he needs power, or he'll be bullied. Chen Mu desperately needs power, whether for self-preservation or for future possibilities.

Perhaps many people, like Mu Mian, disliked him before, but Lin Chaojing acted as a buffer, preventing anyone from acting recklessly. But now that Lin Chaojing is dead, these feelings will directly hit Chen Mu, showing no mercy, and could even be life-threatening! In this world, nothing can be accomplished without power!

He can only gain power through the flesh and blood of monsters.

This was the only way Chen Mu could think of: [The Eccentric].

But now that the monsters have been eradicated and the [Asuka] organization has been wiped out, there's definitely no way to find a solution in modern times.

Therefore, the only way is to go back to the past to find it.

He can only transcend time and space, searching through memories to seize power from the past!

In this newly fabricated destiny, Chen Mu deceived everyone, secretly ate the monster's flesh and blood, and gained control of his own mind, becoming a "monster".

And he succeeded.

They successfully brought this trajectory of fate to life and brought it into reality.

Chen Mu had just proven this point. When he clenched his fist, he felt a surge of power within his body that was several times stronger than before. His physical attributes had been greatly enhanced in every aspect. Now, he could probably easily crush a top-tier active boxer and knock out his opponent within seconds.

Not to mention, if all those blue markings were to erupt, he wasn't even sure to what extent they could be amplified under extreme conditions.

This is the power of the "weirdo".

"However, the power of the [History of Time] is actually limited. It can't allow me to manipulate history at will, otherwise the world would be in complete chaos."

Chen Mu was not overwhelmed by this intense satisfaction and ecstasy; on the contrary, he was able to remain quite calm.

He summarized the following limitations:

First, when Chen Mu tells a story, he must have a "listener".

He experimented and found that when he fabricated or recalled things by himself, it had no effect at all; if no one listened, it would not become reality.

For now, Lin Yongxi is the listener, but it's unclear whether she's indispensable. Could someone else be chosen? Does she possess any special qualities?

However, Chen Mu doesn't plan to change people for the time being, since he can't find another person with a similar relationship to "his wife's sister" to whom he can confide some of his secrets.

Everyone else might be at risk, but Lin Yongxi is currently his partner with whom he shares common interests. Although he can't completely trust him, he can use him for the time being.

Besides, this girl is quite naive and easy to fool.

Second, Chen Mu should not deviate too much from common sense when telling stories.

If he hadn't chosen the power of the "weirdo" and instead instead fabricated a story about him accidentally transforming into a magical girl, it probably wouldn't have worked.

After all, everyone knows that men can't become magical girls, nor do they have Heart Seeds. If the story doesn't make sense, it won't work.

He speculated that this might be related to the listener's level of trust; if Lin Yongxi began to doubt the story's authenticity, then it would naturally be impossible to achieve.

This limited Chen Mu; he couldn't just fabricate a story about being invincible and lonely from the start. He had to take it step by step and gradually gain her trust.

Third, Chen Mu must bring the story back to reality.

This might sound abstract and hard to understand, so let's use the story we just discussed as an example.

Why wasn't Chen Mu killed by the tide after he gained the power of the "monster" in the story?

Because Chen Mu definitely can't afford to ruin himself.

But why doesn't he just run away, escape the threat of the magical girls, and find a freer way of life? Wouldn't that be better?

Instead, they took the initiative to cooperate and chose to live under Lin Chaojing's surveillance.

In real life, he and Lin Chaojing actually lived together and did not become enemies; they even got married later.

Therefore, in the end, no matter how outrageous the story was at the beginning, Chen Mu had to bring it back to the main trajectory of reality and avoid making any fundamental changes.

This meant that Chen Mu had to think things through carefully when creating stories, and could only make minor modifications to the original content, adding changes at crucial moments.

This will test his planning and adaptability.

...

Despite the above three limitations, Chen Mu still felt that the [Chronicle of Time] was still an incredibly powerful ability.

It's like he's been reborn and returned to the past, making up for all the regrets of the past and planning a life path of perfect development and perfect choices for himself!

Moreover, he doesn't even need to actually go back to the past; he can simply use his words to give back to the present.

Whether it's power or change...

Chen Mu was somewhat apprehensive, unsure of the limits of this ability, and knew he needed to continue exploring.

"Most importantly, if I continue to change things like this, will I have a chance to change Asakage's fate...?"

"Or even, resurrect her?"

He shook his head, not daring to have too many expectations.

The most important thing now is to take each step well in the present moment, so that we will have the opportunity to continue.

Half an hour ago, before even getting into the car and starting to tell the story, Chen Mu had no confidence whatsoever. Even though he knew the idea was absurd and outrageous, he still insisted on dragging Lin Yongxi along to conduct this experiment. What would happen if the experiment failed? It didn't matter; he could just treat it as telling a story. If things didn't work out, they could just run away.

But half an hour later, he succeeded.

From this moment on, everything will change.

Chen Mu pushed open the car door and stepped out of the driver's seat. Although it was only a short half-hour narration, it felt like a lifetime had passed.

The sunlight shone on his face, slightly dazzling, but he felt a long-lost warmth.

He said with a laugh, as if he had truly crawled out of hell:

"Alright, let's go back and fight our way back."