Ms. Gojo thought she was dating an ordinary person's boyfriend.

Sumi Kichikawa stared at the ball of light floating in front of her, remaining silent for a long time.

The traces of the forced tearing still remain deep within its origin.

Fragments of light kept escaping from the cracks in his soul, and the excruciating pain of being torn apart surged up like an undercurrent, yet he didn't even twitch his brow, his eyes as calm as a still lake.

After a moment, he finally spoke, his voice very soft: "Why did this happen?"

【I have no idea.】

The system responded quickly.

Sumi Kichikawa's gaze turned cold.

The system noticed his expression, and the ball of light immediately drifted back a bit.

【I really don't know!】it immediately emphasized.

[The retired worlds weren't just randomly chosen from among the myriad realms and assigned to the task takers by the system. Every world on the candidate list undergoes screening by the Time and Space Administration, followed by repeated confirmation by the responsible department of its progress, stability, and causal capacity.]

[Only after all the reviews are passed will the main system put them into the selection pool. After that, they will undergo a series of procedures including task participant drawing lots, acceptance by the world consciousness, and spatial coordinate matching. If any link in the chain fails, the teleportation will not succeed.]

As the system spoke, its tone revealed obvious confusion.

[After you completed all your missions, you personally selected this world from the candidate worlds. I confirmed that the summons was normal and received access permission from the world's consciousness before sending you here.]

"Since all the procedures were working correctly, how did you discover the anomaly?"

[Because when I was preparing to unbind myself, I sensed fluctuations in the world's consciousness.]

The system's voice gradually subsided, tinged with lingering fear.

In worlds where the main storyline has concluded, the world's consciousness is typically very peaceful and stable. This is because the most crucial turning points in the world's destiny have all been determined; the past is set in stone, and the future has a general direction. Even if occasional fluctuations occur, they will only be minor fluctuations within a normal range.

[Only in worlds where the main storyline is still progressing will the world's consciousness be continuously influenced by key figures and major events. Each time the plot takes a turn, and each time a new variable is added to the destiny, the world's consciousness will change accordingly.]

Kikawa Sumire seemed to be deep in thought: "The fluctuations you sensed when you were unbound did not belong to the completed world."

【right.】

The system paused for a moment.

The fluctuation was so subtle it was almost nonexistent. If it weren't for the system needing to make one last deep contact with the world's consciousness during the unbinding process, I might not have even noticed it.

However, that feeling, still brewing and not yet truly settled, should not appear in a world that has already ended.

It seemed to recall the scene, and the orb of light flickered slowly.

[Upon discovering the error, I immediately halted the unbinding process and issued the highest-level error warning to the Time and Space Administration. I submitted the coordinates of this world, the approval records, and your teleportation information, requesting the Administration to re-examine the matter.]

"How did they reply?"

No reply.

"No?"

Not a single one.

The system's voice, unusually, lacked its usual liveliness and instead revealed a long-suppressed restlessness.

[Initially, I thought it was just a slow cross-platform communication issue. After all, you had completed the task, and I was in an unbound state, so my permissions and channels were restricted. But later, I sent seventeen more warnings and even tried to contact the main system and the main god directly, but still received no response.]

Sumire Kawakawa frowned slightly.

System allocation is not something that a single department can decide on its own.

From the initial global selection process to the entry of the task participants, multiple layers of approval are required, and permission from the world's consciousness is also necessary. Because the process is so rigorous, the possibility of retired task participants being mistakenly placed into an unfinished world is virtually zero.

The probability of it being almost zero does not mean it will never happen.

The real problem now is that not only has this thing happened, which shouldn't have happened, but the Time and Space Administration, which is responsible for handling anomalies, has also completely lost contact with us.

"Why didn't you tell me back then?"

Because you had already been living in this world for some time at that point.

The system explained:

[After you landed, you were not rejected by the world's consciousness and successfully integrated into this place. Apart from the slight anomaly detected during the unbinding, the world's consciousness showed no other fluctuations.]

I can't be sure if there's something wrong with the world, or if I misperceived myself when I was freed from this predicament. Telling you prematurely would only keep you on your guard throughout your hard-earned retirement.

Therefore, I have decided to remain deep within your origin for the time being, awaiting the Bureau's response while continuing to observe this world.

Kikawa Sumi asked calmly, "So, all this waiting has led to this point?"

【……yes.】

The system's light dimmed slightly.

Before the main storyline officially began, this world was almost indistinguishable from a truly completed world. Its consciousness remained dormant for a long time, and no clear trajectory of destiny emerged. Sometimes I even doubted whether the initial fluctuation I sensed was truly just an illusion.

[Then, suddenly, the main storyline began.]

Kikawa Sumi's eyes flickered slightly.

The system slowly circled him halfway around, its tone slightly suggestive.

[At the very beginning of the main storyline, weren't you acting strangely for a while?]

Sumire Kawakawa remained silent for a while.

Some long-forgotten memories were unearthed.

During that time, he suddenly became extremely sleepy.

No matter how long I rested the night before, I would feel tired during the day, and on several occasions I even lost consciousness without realizing it.

He didn't experience any physical ailments, and his energy levels were normal. He couldn't find the cause, and the symptoms later disappeared on their own, so he didn't think much of it.

"Are you referring to the days when I was excessively sleepy?"

What else?

The system retorted irritably.

[The main storyline has officially begun. The dormant world consciousness has suddenly awakened, and the entire world's cause and effect has begun to operate anew. You, an outsider who doesn't belong to the original storyline but has lived here for a long time, are naturally the first to be affected.]

"It doesn't seem to have had a significant impact."

[Not much impact?]

The ball of light suddenly brightened.

Although Sumi Kichikawa couldn't see its face, she inexplicably felt that the system was rolling its eyes at her.

[You only slept for a few days, so of course you don't feel much of an impact. But do you know what weighed on you during those days? It was the torrent of cause and effect generated when the world restarted its cycle!]

[For an ordinary mission taker, their soul would have been crushed by the causal forces of the entire world long ago, leaving no time for recovery!]

The system grew increasingly angry as it spoke, clearly dissatisfied with Kikawa Sumi's nonchalant attitude.

In other words, your original power involves rules, and you've traversed enough worlds, repeatedly tempering your soul to make it strong enough to forcibly withstand it.

[Plus, your clan's innate constitution—]

It paused, as if trying to find a sufficiently accurate description.

[Born exceptionally resilient.]

Sikawa Cheng: "..."

[The combined karmic weight of the entire world only caused you to be in a daze for a few days.] The system muttered softly.

[A monstrous body, a monstrous nature. Aside from his constantly unstable mental state, there's practically nothing wrong with him.]

"I can hear you," Sumire Kichikawa said coldly.

I said it on purpose so you could hear it.

Having probably figured out that Kikawa Sumi wouldn't go crazy and shatter her source again for the time being, the system became bolder.

Kikawa Sumi didn't bother with these verbal disputes.

"Now that the main storyline has begun," he asked, "what stage has it reached?"

The ball of light suddenly froze.

The system, which had just been complaining, fell silent instantly.

I can't say.

Why?

You know the rules.

The system's tone was exceptionally firm.

[The plot progression of non-mission worlds is classified information at the highest level. Mission participants cannot know the future of these worlds in advance, nor can they use this information to interfere with the main storyline. This rule remains unchanged even after you retire.]

Sumire Kawakawa looked up at it.

"It was your mistake that I came to this unfinished world."

It's still unclear which link in the chain it's in.

"If it weren't for your mistakes, I wouldn't have suffered the causal impact of the entire world, nor would I have been locked onto by the world's consciousness without my knowledge."

The system has lost sound.

"I would never have been nearly hunted and killed by it, mistaken for a foreign creature."

Kikawa Sumi spoke calmly, as if stating a fact that had nothing to do with her.

"According to the original plan, I should now be living in a truly stable and safe world, instead of taking on the risks caused by your misdeployment."

The system remained silent, but the ball of light flickered twice in a very human-like manner.

It mentally spat out a curse.

Taking risks?

Seeing how smug and happy Susumu Kirikawa is now, with a beautiful woman in his arms and spending all his time with Satoru Gojo, it really couldn't see how much he had suffered because of this wrongful delivery.

The retired mission worker who was once in a precarious mental state and indifferent to everything has now not only stabilized his emotions, but even the cunning that had been dormant in his nature for many years has resurfaced.

But the system only dared to think these words in its mind.