1: Chapter 1 Twins on a Rainy Night

June 28, 1349, Tingen City.

Rain poured down from the leaden gray sky, as if someone had lifted the entire Hoi River into mid-air and poured it back onto the earth without a hint of mercy. Raindrops smashed against the covers of the iron streetlamps, shattering into fine mist, dyeing the glow of the gas lamps into blurry rings of orange light.

Wayne Klein, a history graduate from Tingen University, stood by his apartment window, his brows furrowed.

He held a letter he had just received. There were only a few lines on the letterhead, and the return address was a cheap apartment on Zoutland Street in the North Borough—this itself was unusual. Zoutland Street was hardly a respectable neighborhood in Tingen.

He certainly did not know that this letter was related to the Antigonus Family, nor did he know that it would drag him into a bizarre fate.

Meanwhile, seven streets away from that apartment.

Lu Li was squatting in the stairwell of an old three-story building, using a wire to pick a rusted, dilapidated padlock. Rainwater leaked from a crack in the ceiling, dripping onto the back of his neck, cold as a dead man's fingers.

His name was Lu Li. In another world, he was an ordinary office worker. Approaching thirty, without a house or a car, the only skill he could show off was Lock Picking—not exactly a proper trade, something he learned from his roommate in the dorms during college, purely for convenience.

In this world, Lu Li had no identity, no family, and not a penny to his name. The name 'Lu Li' was something he had just come up with on the spot—derived from 'Guang Guai Lu Li', quite fitting for this godforsaken place.

The lock opened.

Lu Li fished out a grayish crystal fragment from the bottom of the box, the size of half a thumb, its surface flowing with an imperceptible dark light. That kind of light wasn't entirely light; it was more like the air itself was undergoing a visible, localized distortion around the crystal. It was as if someone had forcibly stuffed a small piece of something that didn't belong to this space into the crystal and then forgotten it at the bottom of the box.

Marauder Pathway, Sequence 9 characteristic fragment.

A sense of certainty suddenly flooded Lu Li's mind. There was no Sequence potion formula, no mentor, no experience from predecessors to refer to, but he just knew. This sense of certainty was like a bullet passing through his skull—fast, cold, and unquestionable. Lu Li couldn't even find when it had burrowed into his brain.

Marauder Pathway, Thief of Fate, Parasite of Time.

Lu Li thought, the future Amon, the King of Angels, the King of Time, was the pinnacle of this Pathway. It shared the same origin as Klein's Seer Pathway from the 'Lord of the Mysteries', and they had an unbreakable entanglement of fate. In other words, choosing this path was equivalent to putting himself at the same gambling table as Amon.

And Amon was the most troublesome existence beneath the Outer Deity.

Lu Li held the crystal fragment up to his eyes, examining it by the light of the kerosene lamp that was about to go out at the end of the corridor. The light flickered in the humid air, and the crystal became alternately transparent and profound.

'Marauder,' Lu Li whispered, as if talking to the crystal, or perhaps confirming with himself, 'Once you choose this Pathway, you have to be prepared to be targeted by that Lunatic with the monocle.'

The crystal did not answer. It just lay quietly in his palm, emitting that faint, distorted light.

Lu Li knew he should find a safe place, study the potion formula, collect auxiliary materials, and advance step by step.

The Sequence 9 potion was theoretically the safest, with an extremely low probability of losing control. But the word 'theory' was the most worthless thing in the world of the Lord of the Mysteries—Old Neil had also followed theory, and in the end, he still turned into a puddle of rotten meat.

He needed a shelter. A place that wouldn't be easily found by the police, the Nighthawks, or any other Beyonder.

This old apartment was not bad.

It was located deep within a complex of low-rent apartments at the intersection of the East Borough and the Dock District. It was a place where all kinds of people mixed, and the police wouldn't even bother to respond early if a person or two died. The walls were thin enough to hear the neighbors talking, the stairwell was filled with the smell of inferior coal smoke and boiled cabbage, and the mold spots on the ceiling looked like abstract paintings of various forms.

Lu Li pried open that room.

It was very small. Apart from an iron bed, a three-legged table, and a crooked wardrobe, there was nothing else. A piece of the window glass was broken, and rainwater poured in from the opening, accumulating a puddle on the floor, evaporating a faint earthy smell. But for someone like Lu Li with no identity, this empty room was heaven.

He closed the door, used the wobbly table to prop against the door panel, then sat on the iron bed, placing the Marauder characteristic fragment on his knees.

The memories from the future in his mind came without warning.

At first, they were just blurry images: Zhou Mingrui resurrecting above the gray fog, Old Neil losing control behind Chanis Gate, Dunn Smith having his heart stolen by a Sealed Artifact, Tingen City crumbling under the shadow of the True Creator's descent. Then it became clearer, more complete, like a chronicle written in flesh and blood, every page was death, every chapter was madness.

Lu Li suddenly realized that these memories were a curse, but also his only weapon.

He knew that Klein lived just a few streets away. Tonight, Klein would receive that damn letter, tomorrow morning he would go to the appointment, and the day after, he would gain a foothold in the Nighthawks team, and then step by step walk towards the Fool who sat upon Sefirah Castle. Klein was the protagonist of this world, the axis of all stories.

And Lu Li did not intend to stand in the spotlight.

The Fool was the ceiling, the shelter, the only Outer Deity who could guard the human world before the end of the world. Anyone who wanted to replace him was a Lunatic, and anyone who wanted to suppress him was a Fool.

Lu Li's goal was simple: to live. And then, within his capabilities, cross those who shouldn't have died off the slaughter list of fate.

Old Neil. Dunn Smith. Daly Simone. Colin Iliad. Mr. Door.

And those supporting characters whose names weren't even remembered.

Lu Li thought, this wasn't about being a saint. In this crazy world, the more normal people die, the stronger the remaining Lunatics become. Saving them was both accumulating allies for himself and adding weight to the rational balance of this world. Pure altruism was the most brilliant egoism—under the shadow of the Outer Deity's descent, this truth was especially true.

Lu Li put the Marauder characteristic fragment back into his pocket and stood up to walk to the window.

It was still raining. The streetlamps flickered in the water curtain, like tired eyes. In the distance, the outline of Tingen City blurred into a mass of shadows in the rainy night, only the spires of a few churches were still faintly visible—those were the strongholds of the three major churches, the safest places in the city, and also the battlefields about to be torn apart.

The crystal fragment in his pocket vibrated slightly.

It wasn't an illusion. That vibration penetrated the fabric, penetrated the skin, and passed directly into the bones of Lu Li's fingertips. It was as if it were responding to something—something that was waking up in some corner of the city.

Sefirah Castle.

Lu Li suddenly realized. The Sefirah Castle where Klein was about to resurrect above the gray fog. The characteristic belonging to the same 'Lord of the Mysteries' Pathway had produced a faint resonance at the moment Sefirah Castle was fully activated for the first time.

Was there such a detail in the original work? Lu Li couldn't remember. But now, the fact was that this Marauder characteristic fragment was telling its new owner: some ancient existence was slowly opening an eye deep within this rainy city.

Lu Li pressed against the crystal in his pocket, feeling the vibration subside little by little.

A thought suddenly struck his mind: This might be my greatest advantage.

The homology between the Marauder Pathway and the Seer Pathway meant that he might be able to use this resonance to establish an unconscious connection with Klein. Not spying, not tracking—that would be equivalent to pulling off Amon's hat for him to see. But resonance. An invisible tacit understanding beneath the gray fog. In this world, having someone who could faintly perceive each other's existence was the most precious 'anchor'.

Of course, this resonance would also bring another problem.

Amon.

The King of Angels of the Marauder Pathway, the Parasite of the Worm of Time, the most troublesome Monster in the world. He had a natural perception of all Beyonders of the Marauder Pathway. Being noticed by him before having enough power was equivalent to being sentenced to death—even the death penalty was a mercy.

Amon's specialty wasn't killing, but stealing everything from you. Your fate, your identity, your very existence.

Lu Li thought, to use the power of the Marauder, one must learn to avoid the King of the Marauders.

Just like those foxes wandering in the wolf pack's territory, always walking on the leeward side, never eating the fattest part of the prey, always wiping away their paw prints in the snow. In front of Amon, he had to be more inconspicuous than his subordinates, humbler than his enemies, and make hiding an instinct.

This was the only way to survive.

The rain gradually eased.

Lu Li left the window and began to carefully check every corner of the room. After confirming there were no secret passages, hidden compartments, or anything that didn't belong in this room, he took out the crystal fragment from his pocket and placed it on the table.

The problem now was: how to consume the potion.

The Sequence 9 characteristic fragment couldn't be swallowed directly; that was no different from eating a non-directional delayed bomb. He had to prepare it into a complete potion to ensure he could safely contain its power. But the Sequence 9 formula for the Marauder—

Lu Li closed his eyes and searched his memory. A moment later, a line of text emerged in his mind:

'Three grams of Time Grass root powder, fifty milliliters of Mist Flower extract, a pinch of black cat whiskers, two grams of ash from an adult thief's right index finger, rainwater from the night of a lunar eclipse—'

Wait, did that mean he had to kill someone? No.

Lu Li carefully recalled the original formula, then suddenly gave a bitter smile. It wasn't 'adult thief', it was 'deceased thief'. In other words, he needed to dig up a grave.

He opened his eyes, looked at the crystal fragment on the table, and couldn't help but laugh. The laugh was short and carried a bit of bitterness.

It seems that in this world, even the ticket to get started has to be paid with a coffin lid.

Lu Li stood up, covered his face with a scarf again, pushed the door open, and walked into the rainy night of Tingen.

On the table behind him, a small crystal fragment lay quietly in the flickering light and shadow of the gas lamp. As if waiting for its first owner to turn it into a fated thief.

And somewhere further behind Lu Li, a whisper from above the gray fog quietly crossed the void. Like an invisible net brushing over the rooftops of Tingen City, probing, searching, seeing if there was anything else worth marking this night.