[Fate Cannot Be Changed]

But no matter what, Albert had finally obtained the key to the laboratory. Although Professor Aldous explicitly forbade taking lab materials out of the facility or off campus, with Albert’s skills, those precious research documents were as good as within his grasp.

At this moment, the leader of the Outsider, Soren, appeared before Albert once again, urging him to quickly obtain the lab’s data.

Albert could tell that, due to his repeated delays, Soren was growing impatient. If he stalled any longer, it might cost him his life.

So, should he follow Soren’s orders and hand over the research data?

Albert hesitated. He had no desire to contribute to the Outsider’s plans. Instead, he first sent the data to the Inspection Bureau, letting them make the judgment.

The Inspection Bureau sent a message stating that the data could be handed over to Soren, as much of the content consisted of theoretical assumptions with little practical value.

Upon receiving the response, Albert had expected to feel relieved, but he didn’t. On the contrary, Ranen’s earlier warning flashed through his mind.

…Is the Inspection Bureau really trustworthy?

To be safe, Albert spent the night deliberating and decided to alter parts of the data before heading to the meeting alone.

Here it comes. Ranen, who had been observing the entire time, thought to himself that this was an opportunity to test his earlier hypothesis.

If his guess was correct, that critical moment should arrive soon.

As expected, when Albert went to the meeting alone, leaving Miskatonic University and walking down a secluded path, the anomalies appeared again.

This time, it wasn’t just one. The leader was at least a C-level anomaly, accompanied by several D-level minions. Ranen appeared once more, deliberately engaging the C-level anomaly in a struggle. At this moment, a mysterious masked figure emerged, taking advantage of Ranen’s focus being away from Albert to fire a shot at him without hesitation!

The bullet was blocked by plants that suddenly sprouted around the blond youth. Despite their fragile appearance, the branches emitted a metallic clang. The figure turned to flee without hesitation, but Ranen immediately spun around.

Victory or defeat hinged on this moment!

[Throw: Success!]

Ranen hurled a seed toward the direction of the fleeing figure. In midair, the seed sprouted into dense vines, which fell from above and tightly ensnared the figure.

At the same time, Ranen swiftly drained the spirituality of the anomalies, leaving them desiccated and gaining several more seeds in the process.

“It’s… you?” Albert stared at Ranen in a daze, but Ranen had no time to deal with him. Before the figure could break free from the vines, Ranen quickly closed the distance.

As he drew nearer, Ranen finally got a clear look at the figure’s appearance.

“…As expected, it’s you, Albert.”

When Ranen had seen the bullet laced with golden flames earlier, he’d found the flames oddly familiar. Sure enough, his suspicion was confirmed.

The younger Albert, trailing behind, caught up. He looked in confusion at the figure entangled in vines, who bore an identical resemblance to himself.

“How… how is this possible?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Albert sneered, pausing his struggle for a moment. He looked up at the face that was nearly identical to his own. “It’s simple—because you’re just a fake.”

The younger Albert pursed his lips, refusing to believe the other’s words. The person before him looked so much like himself, yet his eyes were clouded with gloom. “You’re the fake!”

Albert didn’t care about his accusations and instead turned to Ranen. “What happened afterward?”

Ranen blinked. “What?”

“Arkham City. Did the Outsider succeed?”

“No, of course not. Though they caused some damage and casualties to the city, everyone worked together to overcome the crisis.”

“Is that so.”

The expression on Albert’s face was complex—a mix of crying and smiling. “Then I can rest easy…”

Observing Albert’s demeanor, Ranen’s emotions grew incredibly complicated. He realized that this Albert might not be, as he initially suspected, some special anomaly in disguise.

An anomaly couldn’t display such a profoundly human expression—guilt, self-blame, relief, as if letting go of everything.

But this made the situation even more complicated!

Ranen looked at the two versions of Albert—one young, one mature—standing before him, his pupils trembling in shock:

Could there really be two cores, two Alberts, in a dream? What was going on!?

“He’s not me. He’s just a prop,” Albert spoke up at that moment, coldly eyeing his younger self. “I didn’t expect that artifact to have this kind of use.”

The artifact Albert wore, the personality converter given to him by Amos, was something he’d been equipped with for an undercover mission near a suspected evil god, to prevent his identity from being exposed.

Not only could it shield against contamination from the Dream Rift, but it could also temporarily alter his personality and memories.

But Amos had never told him that this artifact would have such an effect during the Trial of the Dream Rift!

Albert looked at his younger self, his lips tightening.

The trial of the third level of the Dream Rift was supposed to involve anomalies infiltrating memories, killing the dream’s host, and taking their place in reality.

To be honest, Albert had initiated this trial because… he had no intention of surviving.

But now, because of this personality converter, a “fake” had been created to draw all the attention, preventing him from achieving his goal. The reason anomalies could only attack at specific moments was due to the nature of the trial itself, because this trial was actually—

What exactly is this trial? At the same time, Ranen was pondering this question. To his embarrassment, he had initially thought the trial of this level was simply to kill the attacking anomalies. But after defeating so many, the trial still hadn’t ended, meaning the third level’s trial was far more complex than he’d assumed.

Tch, he should’ve asked for clarification before coming in.

Oh, wait—he hadn’t even known how he’d ended up here in the first place. He’d only wanted to uncover some answers, and then he’d automatically appeared here.

Is it the mist, or perhaps the divine kingdom or the Dream Rift itself responding to him?

Ranen shook his head, temporarily dismissing these thoughts, and turned back to Albert. “You have this artifact, yet you still haven’t passed the third level’s trial. Combined with your earlier actions… are you trying to kill yourself, Albert?”

Albert didn’t respond, but his silence spoke volumes. Ranen started to feel a headache coming on.

The first level of the Dream Rift’s trial is to overcome fear, and the second level is to move from madness to clarity.

From these two trials, it’s clear that the Dream Rift’s challenges require a strong degree of personal agency. In other words, if the person involved doesn’t cooperate, any effort is futile.

And Albert’s intense self-destructive desire…

Ranen looked at the younger Albert. The boy wasn’t foolish; from their conversation, he seemed to have pieced together what was really going on.

When Ranen glanced at him, the younger Albert met his gaze, his face full of disbelief. “What he’s saying isn’t true…”

His words were cut off as the two figures before him vanished once again.

Ranen also noticed this. He saw the younger Albert’s face filled with confusion. After a long pause, the boy stood up, holding the documents, unsure of what to do next.

Ranen understood how he felt—because he himself was at a loss for what to do now.

Ranen silently waved his hand, retracting the vines that had bound the older Albert. Whether because he felt escape was impossible or for some other reason, Albert didn’t immediately leave this time. Instead, he said, “Why did you stop me from killing ‘Albert’ before?”

Ranen gave him a faint glance. “What do you think it was for?”

Albert fell silent for a moment before looking up and saying, “Information.”

Aside from that, Albert couldn’t think of any reason why he would’ve been saved.

He no longer had the qualifications to be redeemed by a god.

In a sense, Albert had guessed correctly.

Ranen’s reason for entering this place was indeed partly to extract information from Albert’s memories about the Outsider’s legacy and the fall of Miskatonic University.

“If it’s for information, you’ll soon get what you want,” Albert said cautiously, seeing that Ranen didn’t respond. “After that, please don’t interfere with me anymore.”

Ranen knew what he meant—don’t stop him from taking his own life.

To be honest, Ranen’s feelings were quite complicated at the moment.

While he had come for information, Ranen also harbored the thought of saving Albert if he could. For one, he didn’t dislike Albert. For another, Albert was Archie’s friend, and Ranen couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.

But now, the person in question had no desire to live and was even going to great lengths to kill his dream-self. Wouldn’t Ranen’s efforts to save Albert be meddling in his affairs? And even if he managed to pull Albert out, who could guarantee that Albert wouldn’t take his own life afterward? If that happened, wouldn’t Archie be in even greater pain?

The whole situation was a headache, and Ranen genuinely didn’t know how to handle it. For now, he chose to remain silent, waiting to see how things would unfold.

Ranen’s silence seemed to confirm Albert’s assumptions, so Albert simply stayed put, standing beside Ranen and observing the situation.

The younger Albert lingered in confusion for a long time before finally deciding to head to the meeting point agreed upon with Soren. However, he tore out several critical pieces of the data, ensuring that even if something went wrong, the Outsider would only get incomplete information.

At this moment, Ranen seemed to hear Albert let out a scornful, cold laugh. Turning to look at him, Ranen said, “By this point, things should have changed, right?”

After the warnings from Ranen and his mentor, Albert no longer fully trusted the Inspection Bureau’s words, and the data he gave to Soren was incomplete. The events that followed might not necessarily happen.

“No,” Albert said coldly, his eyes fixed on the younger Albert, watching his past self walk step by step toward destruction. “Fate cannot be changed.”