Chapter 403: A Changed Future
"Love… is truly terrifying."
"It makes people lose themselves."
After watching the future video, Juzi couldn't help but murmur to herself.
Seeing her future self compromising for Huo Yuhao, making one irrational decision after another it all seemed utterly ridiculous to her now, as if she had lost her mind.
Now, with hatred filling her heart, she looked at the situation as an observer and realized just how foolish she had been.
After deciding never to involve herself with Huo Yuhao, Juzi turned her focus to a more pressing issue:
What should she do now?
The video revealed that she would one day become the Empress of the Sun Moon Empire, leading her forces to conquer the Douluo Continent in just three years. However, it did not explain how she rose to power.
Juzi had a strong suspicion there was only one possibility.
Xu Tianran must have died.
Whether it was due to illness, assassination, or some other cause, the result was clear she had taken his place.
And if she was the one who replaced him, then there was a high probability that she was responsible for his death.
Now that the future had been exposed, she realized her situation was extremely dangerous.
Xu Tianran would likely want to kill her.
Even if he didn't kill her outright, he would never trust her again. He would either suppress her or eliminate her altogether.
In that case, staying in the Sun Moon Empire was not an option.
She had to escape.
She needed a new path a way to start over, to build power elsewhere.
Juzi was confident that with her intelligence and strategy, she could carve out a new future for herself.
But the biggest challenge was how to escape from the heavily guarded Sun Moon City?
A Secret Escape Route
Fortunately, Juzi's luck had always been remarkable.
Long ago, she had accidentally discovered a hidden underground passage.
It had clearly been constructed centuries ago, though she had no idea who built it.
After thorough investigation, she confirmed that the tunnel led outside the city walls a perfect escape route.
Once she left Sun Moon City, security would be much looser.
She could change her name, disguise herself, and vanish.
As long as her luck wasn't terrible, she could escape undetected.
Of course, if she were caught…
Then there was nothing she could do except accept her fate.
One Last Task Before Leaving
However, before she left, there was one final thing she needed to confirm.
If that object was truly what she suspected…
Then her entire destiny might change.
With urgency in her steps, Juzi rushed toward a sixth year academic building, quickly climbing the stairs.
Most people were still too distracted by the revelations in the video.
Their attention was focused on Huo Yuhao, Ye Lao's soul fragments, and the scattered pieces of the divine artifact.
Even Xu Tianran was too preoccupied to notice her movements after all, he didn't believe Juzi could escape.
He was unaware of the hidden passage she had discovered.
This was her chance!
It also gave her the time to find that object.
If it was truly what she thought it was…
Then revenge would no longer be impossible.
The Third Laboratory
The building had six floors.
Juzi swiftly made her way to the fifth floor, turned into a hallway, and walked several dozen meters before stopping at a door.
A sign on the door read:
Third Laboratory
This was where she and her classmates conducted experiments under their teachers' guidance.
Reaching into her pocket, Juzi pulled out an identification card and waved it before a scanner.
A light flashed, and the doors slid open.
Without hesitation, she stepped inside.
Searching for the Artifact
The spacious laboratory was filled with metal racks, each lined with various soul tools and materials.
A massive workbench over thirty square meters stood at the center, its silver white surface pristine and well maintained.
The lab was completely empty.
Seeing this, Juzi breathed a sigh of relief.
She wasn't too late.
She hurried toward a particular shelf.
But when she arrived…
It was empty.
Juzi's expression changed.
"Gone? How can it be gone?"
She distinctly remembered placing it here.
Did someone take it for an experiment?
Or worse did someone else recognize its value?
For a moment, her face darkened.
Holding onto a final sliver of hope, she began searching the entire lab.
The Lost Treasure
Finally, in the corner of the room, buried under a pile of discarded materials, she found what she was looking for.
A tiny crystal fragment.
At first glance, it appeared to be nothing more than a chipped piece of glass.
Most people would dismiss it as worthless.
But Juzi knew better.
She had stumbled upon this fragment one night while walking back to her dormitory.
It had fallen from the sky, glowing faintly.
Driven by curiosity, she had picked it up and examined it.
It looked like crystal, yet something felt off.
So, she had taken it to the lab for analysis.
But no matter how much she tested it…
She couldn't determine what it was.
She had tried fire, hammers, even acid corrosion nothing left a scratch on it.
Instead, the tools she used to test it were destroyed.
Her initial theory had been that it was some kind of unknown celestial metal, possibly a fragment of a meteorite.
It was hard, yes.
But it was so small that she saw no real value in it.
So, she had discarded it, storing it in a corner of the lab.
And if not for the video, she would have completely forgotten about it.
A Fragment of the Divine Artifact
Now, everything made sense.
After seeing the Rainbow Sword in Ye Lao's hands…
And hearing about the scattered fragments of the divine artifact…
Juzi realized the truth.
This tiny crystal fragment was likely one of those pieces.
If she had never watched the video…
She might have thrown it away as useless junk.
Because really who would believe that such a small, insignificant looking piece of crystal was part of a divine weapon?
Juzi held the fragment tightly in her hands.
Her heart pounded.
This… is fate.
She had been given a second chance.
A different path had opened before her.
Her destiny had truly changed.
(End of Chapter)
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