She is not an investigator.

He crawled out of the awkward corner and slowly stretched his body, seemingly unconcerned about the weapon in Igris's hand.

But Igris knew him.

“Rag, right?”

The man paused, his expression turning somewhat strange.

"You know me, but I don't know you."

Igris did not answer, but simply waved the pistol in her hand.

"Let me see your pocket watch."

Since Rag had the same pocket watch as Igris, there was no reason for Igris not to check whether his situation was the same as hers.

"You can't threaten me, but you know what I have, and I've never seen you before."

His expression showed some confusion, but he quickly understood.

So, you're trapped here too.

"also?"

Igris was probably right; it was this pocket watch that gave her the memories of her previous reincarnation, and Rag was clearly the same. Even though he died in the previous reincarnation, he still knew everything and was resurrected in this reincarnation.

Moreover, he seemed to know more than Igris.

“I have been here five times as far back as I can remember, but I have never seen you in any of those five times.”

He stroked his chin, pondering as he spoke.

"And, in the previous cycle of reincarnation, I encountered someone who shouldn't have been here."

“Olivia, right?”

Rag nodded, looking at Igris with appreciation.

"More composed than I imagined, and more clear-headed. In the cycle that began, neither that woman nor you will appear in this castle. Clearly, you are intruders."

"But that's unreasonable."

Igris frowned slightly and continued.

“Olivia was invited by Nanko. If everything that happens in this cycle is fixed, then her invitation is also a certainty, and we are destined to come here. But from your perspective, we only experience two cycles, so that invitation should not have appeared.”

Because of the invitation, Olivia came here and got caught up in this loop. This means that the invitation was sent out before the loop even started, so Olivia shouldn't have arrived here midway, but should have appeared at the very beginning of the loop.

"How would I know? Why don't you go ask Nan Ke yourself?"

Rag didn't want to discuss such complicated matters with Igris, and he was also trying his best to break free from this cycle in his own way.

So, what Igris saw in the mirror was that his dream was simply to leave this place.

Because he has been trapped here for a long time.

The Gods' Fool's Play - The Castle's Invitation: Chapter Twenty-Six, Clues That Remain on the Surface

"Well, what I mean is, maybe we can help each other out."

In this situation, any helper is extremely valuable. Those who know about reincarnation will find most things easier, just as the second cycle is always a little simpler than the first.

"Help each other? You mean escape together? That's a good idea, but unfortunately, I have no idea how to do it."

Rag looked helpless; after all, if he knew what to do, he wouldn't have been trapped like this for so long.

Have you tried leaving here directly?

The castle's surroundings are not completely enclosed. If you want to leave, just keep walking along the road, and you'll be out of the area in no time. If all else fails, Olivia can drive away.

“I’ve tried, but I just keep going in circles. I can’t get too far away from here, but there’s no way… I’ve tried many methods: blowing up the castle, killing everyone, doing nothing. I’ve done everything I can think of, but it’s still no use. I will always come back here, back to this damn castle.”

Perhaps he had fallen into chaos long ago, but the cycle of chaos never stops, so he had to find other ways, which is why he has become the kind of person who can't even be moved by death.

“I saw something before, and it seems like this place is on fire, you know?”

"Of course, that's what I did, or rather, what Nan Ke made me do... My task was to sabotage the fire safety facilities here, set a fire, and let everything burn to ashes, leaving only Nan Ke and Buze... You weren't even here yet, how did you know?"

Sure enough, the scenes that Igris had seen were different versions of this castle in different cycles. As for the cause of the cycles, although Igris had no direct evidence, the first thing that came to her mind was the stone tablet.

Where did that stone tablet come from? Is the Mobius strip the key to all the effects? If so, why has it only had an effect now? Or did someone activate some hidden condition that caused this situation in the castle?

Igris had too few clues and information, but her ideas were always very divergent. It was indeed recorded in the book in the library that the Mobius strip represented an infinite cycle, but it seemed to be more than that.

The focus is probably still on the Mobius strip.

Igris stopped thinking and looked at Rag in front of her, asking a question.

"So you're here to continue your previous mission, to set this place on fire, and to try and find other ways?"

Rag didn't intend to hide anything, after all, Igris was most likely his only helper at the moment.

"That's right. I did the same thing in the last cycle, but unexpectedly, that woman suddenly gathered everyone together and lured me out in that way. This was an unexpected event that had never happened before. If things continued like this, my plan would return to that cycle where I did nothing. To save time, I simply committed suicide. I guess you met me after that."

There was an extra body in the castle, and it was impossible for it to be completely without a trace. But Igris was more concerned about the accident he mentioned.

If we start from the beginning, then the places where problems keep arising in this cycle are most likely connected to Olivia. Whether it's her sudden appearance in this cycle, or her actions that are completely different from the last cycle in Igris's eyes, or even how she directly affected Lag's previous mission in the normal progression of time, forcing his plan to fail.

Without a doubt, Olivia appears to be an outsider in this cycle.

She did not repeat the predetermined plot, but instead, amidst her continuous amnesia, she acted solely on her instincts and intuition to do what she was supposed to do.

So she didn't choose to grab Igris, even though she had forgotten, but subconsciously she still remembered that Igris hated any physical contact.

But why Olivia? Olivia was also invited here by that invitation letter. In essence, she should be no different from the others who are trapped in the cycle.

But Olivia did not appear in the first few cycles that Rag experienced?

Olivia was able to come here because of an invitation from Southern Science and Technology University.

Could it be understood that in the previous cycles that Rag went through, the invitations were not sent out, which is why Olivia did not appear?

So, in other words, this invitation was likely sent out after the cycle of reincarnation had already begun, and ended up in Olivia's hands?

But why does SUSTech remember this invitation letter?

Everything was tangled up, like a messy ball of yarn, with no beginning or end in sight.

"Have you thought of anything?"

Rag's voice interrupted Igris's chaotic thoughts, bringing her back to her senses, and she let out a soft sigh of relief.

"What we know so far is that not everything in this cycle is fixed... Tell me about the cycle you've experienced, especially the outcome on the last day."

The book that records the Mobius strip also clearly states that the irreversibility and infinite cycle of fate may be the reason why they are trapped here. If fate is irreversible, then it may also mean that everything they do will eventually lead to the same result without any change.

In the previous cycle that Igris experienced, the fate of Olivia and Igris was to complete this mission and embark on their journey back.

Nan Ke successfully extricated himself from the situation and handed over the position of family head to Bu Ze, which was a good ending.

If fate cannot be reversed, then the ending that Buze experienced would most likely be the same.

"Once I realized I was trapped in a cycle, I tried many methods that seemed promising for breaking it..."

Rag slowly recounted his past experiences. His expression was very calm, but from his narration, it was clear that he had long lost hope in everything and even tried to end his life. However, he would still wake up at fixed times and enter the next cycle.

He tried to help Nanko set fire to the castle, but the two brothers survived and started a new life.

He also tried doing nothing, which ultimately prevented Nan Ke from relinquishing his position as head of the family.

He even tried to kill everyone; he killed everyone he could see, whether it was Nanko or Boozer.

But no matter what he did, he never found a solution and ended up trapped in an endless cycle of reincarnation, pitiful and tragic.

"In other words... in the cycles of reincarnation you have experienced, not everyone's ending is exactly the same."

“How could they possibly be exactly the same? Everything I do will have an impact, and those impacts will inevitably lead to different outcomes.”

This is not what Igris had imagined. If the Mobius strip represents the irreversibility and infinite cycle of fate, then why does it keep changing?

Or…

"I need to go to the basement."

Do you have a key?

Igris shook her head, but then tossed the pistol in her hand.

“I have this.”

The Gods' Fool - The Castle's Invitation: Chapter Twenty-Seven, The Investigator's Good Helper

Rag frowned slightly as he looked at the pistol in Igris's hand.

“It’s the middle of the night now. If you fire, everyone here will wake up, and that will only make things more complicated. It’s better to wait until tomorrow and ask Nan Ke for the key. He will give it to you.”

Igris shook her head and said nonchalantly.

"This skirt thing. The sound of the chat isn't that loud... or maybe you have something that you can just pry open the temple door? I don't want to waste so much time."

"Pry it open?"

At this moment, Larry felt that Iglesias (who wanted to) enter the basement, but she probably wanted more about how to remove that door.

Heaven knows exactly what special hobby this guy has for dismantling doors, but coincidentally, Rag does have such a thing.

"You wait."

Rag bent down and went back into the mezzanine. In front of Igris, he rummaged through the things inside and then took out a strange stick-shaped object.

The moment Iglis saw it, her eyes practically lit up.

"Oh my god... it's so good to see you..."

"..."

The two men, not being the only ones to know, handed the stick-shaped object to Irgris at noon. This seemingly calm and mature girl showed obvious joy and excitement for the first time, indicating that she indeed had very special feelings for this object.

"Do you know how to use it?"

"Who? You mean me? Are you kidding me?"

Igris slung the crowbar over her shoulder, exuding an unprecedented confidence and arrogance.

"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world."

Throughout her long career as an investigator, if there was anything that Igris found most familiar and useful, it was undoubtedly the crowbar.

As a tool, it can not only help Igris easily pry open some door locks, but also pry open doors that are not locked, or even smash them to pieces.