Free? What’s free is actually the most expensive! Zhou Mingrui murmured silently, deciding to firmly decline any additional services that came his way. If you're going to pull off a miracle, then prove I’ve come from another world! With that thought in mind, he followed behind the woman with her face painted in red and yellow makeup, bending down to enter the low tent. Inside, it was extremely dark—only faint light filtered through, casting blurry outlines of a table piled high with playing cards. The woman in the pointed hat, dressed in flowing black, moved gracefully over the table as though gliding on water, then seated herself across from him and lit her candle. The flickering glow created a soft, shimmering atmosphere—partly dim, partly bright—immediately adding an air of mystery to the scene. Zhou Mingrui sat quietly, his gaze sweeping across the Tarot cards arranged on the table, noticing familiar major arcs: The Magician, The Emperor, The Hanged Man, and The Temperance. “Is it really true that Roselle is a mentor… or perhaps even a native of my own empire—my big eatery city?” Zhou Mingrui’s lips moved slightly, caught in mild astonishment. Before he could fully study the spread of cards laid out on the table—the one known for its mystical accuracy—the woman reached over and gathered all the Tarot cards into a neat pile, placing it firmly before him. “You wash and cut the deck,” she said, her voice low and slightly husky. “Wash? Really?” Zhou Mingrui asked instinctively. The woman’s red-and-yellow makeup subtly shifted, and a gentle smile formed on her face. “Of course. Only the person whose life is being interpreted can truly predict their destiny. I am merely the one who reads it.” Zhou Mingrui immediately became alert. “And does that reading come at an extra cost?” he asked. As someone deeply familiar with folk customs, he’d seen this kind of tactic many times before! The woman paused, clearly surprised, and after a moment of quiet thought, replied in a subdued tone: “Free.” Relieved, Zhou Mingrui tucked his revolver deeper into his pocket and then confidently extended both hands. He washed the cards smoothly and cut them with practiced ease. “All set,” he said, placing the deck gently at the center of the table. The woman clasped her hands together, studied the cards carefully, then suddenly asked: “Sorry—I forgot to ask—what would you like to read about?” Back when he was chasing after his unfulfilled first love, Zhou Mingrui had also studied Tarot cards and answered without hesitation: “The past, the present, and the future.” This was a standard three-card spread in Tarot, each card symbolizing one of those three time periods. The woman nodded, then smiled warmly. “Then please wash your deck once more—so that you may truly know what you're seeking to understand.” You’ve been playing me all along… isn’t it small-minded of you? Didn’t I emphasize how everything was free? Zhou Mingrui’s facial muscles twitched slightly as he took a deep breath, then picked up the cards again and washed and cut them once more. “Now,” he said, placing the finished deck on the table. “No further issues,” the woman replied, lifting her finger and picking up the first card—placing it to the left of Zhou Mingrui’s hand. Her voice grew even softer. “This one represents the past.” She then placed the second card directly in front of him: “This one represents the present.” And finally, she picked up the third card, placing it on his right side: “And this one represents the future.” “Now,” she said, lifting her head and meeting Zhou Mingrui’s gaze with a soft blue-gray eye, “which card would you like to see first?” “I’d like to begin with the present,” he replied after a brief pause. The woman nodded slowly, turning over the card in front of him. It showed a young man dressed in elegant clothing, adorned with a splendid headdress, carrying a staff at his shoulder with luggage attached to its tip. A small dog pulled behind him. The card was labeled “0.” “The Fool,” she whispered softly, her gaze steady on Zhou Mingrui’s face. The Fool? The zero card of Tarot—symbolizing beginning, potential, all that is possible? Zhou Mingrui wasn’t even a beginner at Tarot—he could only offer a vague interpretation based on memory. Just as the woman was about to speak, the flap of the tent suddenly flapped open, flooding the inside with intense sunlight that made Zhou Mingrui instinctively squint. “What are you doing again? Pretending to be me for a reading!” A voice erupted in anger. “Go back! You’re just a trainer of animals!” Trainer of animals? Zhou Mingrui adjusted to the light and saw standing at the entrance another woman—also wearing a pointed hat, black dress, and red-and-yellow makeup—but taller and more slender. The seated woman immediately rose and said with mild reluctance: “Don’t mind me—I just enjoy this. Honestly, sometimes my readings are surprisingly accurate.” She lifted her skirt, moved around the table, and quickly departed from the tent. “The gentleman here—would you like me to interpret anything for you?” the real tarot reader asked Zhou Mingrui with a warm smile. Zhou Mingrui nodded slightly, earnestly asking: “Is it free?” “…No,” she replied. “Well then,” Zhou Mingrui said, gently sliding his hands back into his pocket to hold onto both his revolver and the coins, and bent down to step out of the tent. What a surprise—finding an animal trainer to conduct a tarot reading! Isn’t it hard not to be the one who’s always playing the fool? Zhou Mingrui quickly set this incident aside. At the market called “Lettuce and Meat,” he spent seven pence for a pound of fairly ordinary lamb, plus fresh peas, cabbage, onions, potatoes, and his earlier loaf of bread—bringing the total to twenty-five copper pieces, or two shillings and one penny. “Money truly isn’t easy to spend—poor Bensen…!” Zhou Mingrui uttered under his breath as he walked. He’d already spent more than expected. Back at the royal residence in the Queen’s District of the Kingdom of Runa, inside a luxurious villa: Audrey Hall sat before her dressing table, gently tracing the surface of an ancient bronze mirror with intricate patterns and cracks. “Mirror, mirror, wake up!” she urged. “I command you to awaken by the name of the Hall family!” She tried numerous variations—yet the mirror remained still. After several minutes, she finally gave up, her expression pained, softly murmuring: “My father is deceiving me again—he always says this mirror is a treasured artifact from the ancient kingdom of Solomon, a truly special piece.” As she finished speaking, the bronze mirror suddenly bloomed with deep red light, fully engulfing her. On the ocean floor of Sunya, a three-masted sailing ship—seeming outdated amid the storm—moved steadily through turbulent winds and waves. Alger Wilson stood on deck, balancing effortlessly despite the ship’s motion. He wore a long robe embroidered with lightning patterns and held in his hands a strangely shaped glass bottle—inside which bubbles constantly rose and swirled, frost formed like snow, and faint wind traces appeared as if being blown across its surface. “Still need the blood of the ghost shark,” he murmured. At that moment, deep red light burst between the bottle and his palm, instantly flooding the surrounding area. Above a pale gray mist, Audrey Hall regained her vision—startled and disoriented—as she glanced around to see a man across from her, doing the same thing: blurred features, shadowy form. Then both of them noticed a figure standing slightly further away—a mysterious person enveloped in gray-white mist. “The stranger,” Zhou Mingrui said, equally amazed. “Where are we?” “What is your purpose?” Audrey and Alger exchanged glances, paused briefly in silence—then spoke together at the same time.