"Something related to the planet, you say?" Grey asked calmly.

"Oh yeah," Lin Fang chimed in quickly. "The system mentioned something like that before."

He stopped himself there and let the system speak instead.

[That is correct.]

[The future is not fixed.]

[It is constantly changing.]

[Someone, or something, is deliberately altering future outcomes.]

The system paused briefly before continuing.

[All missions I assigned to Lin Fang were calculated based on probabilities and possible future trajectories.]

[Including the missions related to the protagonist.]

[However…]

[A variable keeps appearing.]

[I did not know who or what this variable is.]

[But this variable was severely disrupting future outcomes.]

[And more importantly, the variable itself does not seem aware of what it is doing.]

[…]

The system fell silent for a moment.

When it spoke again, its tone was noticeably more serious.

[But, after observing today's battle and the events that followed, I have confirmed something.]

[There is a ninety percent probability that you are the variable.]

[Grey Lockhart.]

"You're saying it's Big Bro Grey?" Lin Fang's eyes widened in shock.

"How could that be?"

"Me?" Grey pointed at himself, genuinely surprised.

[Yes.]

[You.]

[I am now certain that you are the variable.]

[I did not realize it before.]

[When I initially issued the mission to eliminate you, my calculations treated the entity known as Grey Lockhart as someone with zero fate value.]

[An existence irrelevant to the world.]

[Someone incapable of influencing outcomes.]

[In simple terms, your existence was evaluated as background noise.]

[An extra.]

The words hung heavily.

[No.]

[More accurately, that was your originally intended role.]

[To exist only as an extra.]

[However, my calculations failed to account for what followed.]

The system continued, unusually candid.

[I will be honest.]

[Both of you originate from Earth.]

[However, Lin Fang still follows a predetermined fate set by the Grand Heavens.]

[Even with my intervention, the path he walks was already outlined.]

[I merely accelerate or refine it.]

Lin Fang stiffened slightly upon hearing that.

[But you…]

The system's focus shifted entirely.

[You are different.]

[You no longer possess a predetermined path.]

[Your actions do not follow the trajectory established by the Higher Order.]

[Your choices cannot be predicted using probability-based fate models.]

[If you still do not understand, I will provide an example.]

[For this example, I will use a simple scenario.]

[Imagine the world as a flowing river.]

[Most beings are droplets within that river.]

[They may splash, collide, or swirl briefly, but they will always be carried downstream along a fixed course.]

[That is fate.]

[Lin Fang is one such droplet.]

[Even with my intervention, his path still follows the river's direction. I merely increase his speed, redirect him slightly, or help him avoid small obstacles.]

[But the river itself never changes because of him.]

The system paused.

[You are different, Grey Lockhart.]

[You are not a droplet.]

[You are a stone that fell into the river from outside.]

Grey's eyes narrowed slightly.

[Your arrival altered the current.]

[Your actions did not merely change outcomes.]

[They reshaped the path the river flows through.]

[Events that should have occurred did not.]

[Events that should never have happened were forced into existence.]

"Oh."

Grey simply nodded, looking almost absent-minded.

What the system had said was not wrong.

He had already defied fate twice.

That much, he knew clearly.

First was Nova City.

Then came the complete disruption of the High Order's plans.

The High Order was meant to be the great evil of this world, the kind that a righteous protagonist would eventually rise to oppose. Their invasion was likely designed to serve as a catalyst, a tragedy meant to harden the fate holder's resolve through suffering and loss.

Perhaps Evan was supposed to witness the devastation, to see millions suffer, and from that pain draw the determination needed to grow stronger.

But Grey had stepped in.

Not only did Evan lose that driving force, he also took his time progressing. He became a second-ranker at a slower pace and awakened his Immortal Sovereign Physique much later than he should have.

If the High Order's invasion had unfolded as intended, Evan might have awakened it early, gaining that physique at a crucial stage of his growth.

Looking back now, everything fit too neatly.

In Nova City, if Grey had not interfered, the fate holder would likely have appeared at the critical moment. Evan would have rescued Lia, but the City Lord of Nova City would have undoubtedly died in the process.

Lia and Evan would have survived.

That was fate's preference.

Fate was indifferent to suffering and death. It did not care who lived or who died, only that the predetermined path was followed.

Grey was the anomaly.

A variable that had thrown that path into chaos.

And the changes he had caused were enormous.

He had taken control of the entire Southern Region.

It was an incredible achievement.

But it had never been destined.

Fate had never paved a road for him to stand there.

And yet, it happened.

As a result, the trajectory of fate fractured.

Lin Fang paid the price.

The system's calculations failed. Quests that should have been completed smoothly began failing one after another.

And the reason was simple.

Grey Lockhart.

He was the cause.

"Well, tell me something new," Grey clicked his tongue. "I already knew I was changing fate."

He glanced at the translucent window, his expression calm.

"I just didn't expect the changes to be so drastic that they'd even affect something like you."

[You… you sound completely unconcerned about this!]

The system was momentarily speechless.

From Grey's tone, it was as if he were talking about some trivial incident in the neighborhood, not the collapse of fate itself.

For the first time, the system hesitated.

It genuinely questioned whether this boy understood the consequences of defying fate.

Or worse.

Whether he understood them perfectly… and simply didn't care.

"Anyways, we aren't here to talk about fate."

"We are here to hoard the vault. we will talk after we're done hoarding it."

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