Merka couldn't believe how things had turned out.

Just a minute ago, he was leisurely strolling through the corridors of level α, pondering silently on the Turing Quadrant he might reach. But reality had a big surprise in store for him.

As he returned to the hall, he was shocked to see himself intimately linked with Lilies, walking into the smoke-free zone. It wasn't that he couldn't accept it logically, but the scene was so shocking that, for a moment, Merka even forgot to conceal his own presence. In his hurried attempt to hide, he was caught in Lilies' gaze.

Covering his head, Merka ducked into a corner of the hall, desperately suppressing his breath, muffling any sound. He wasn't sure if Lilies had actually seen him. However, the exchange of distant gazes felt like a soul-piercing moment. It was as if Lilies, upon their first encounter, had unraveled everything about him, seeing through his destiny.

He had never imagined what the concept of time travel really entailed. Shouldn't temporal crossing due to reversed causality refer to meeting one's past self? Merka couldn't fathom the idea of two of himself in the same time frame. Would it lead to the kind of scenario often seen in science fiction films... where two identical individuals converge and then fade away?

Merka felt uneasy.

Suddenly, a thud echoed from the center of the hall. Peeking out from the wall's corner, Merka looked at where he had been standing earlier. To his surprise, his past self was lying on the ground, coughing up blood. Lilies was nowhere to be seen, but the Mr. Merka on the ground now bore additional snake bite marks on his neck.

For his past self, the pain was excruciating, and those neck wounds were almost negligible, considering his body's rapid healing ability. "Right, this is when Lilies poisoned me." "If this continues, I'll die…" "I need to go out and warn him…" Merka hesitated, took a step forward, then hesitated again, tapping the ground and retracting his steps. "No… I'll wait. The real Owl God is about to emerge. I'll stay here for a while." Although he said he would wait, it was merely a minute. The past Merka struggled on the ground for a while, failing to stand up. In his panic, the more he attempted to heal himself, the more blood he spat out. A small pool of blood had formed beneath him. This tore at Merka's heart. "…" Just when Merka was about to step out, a sudden realization struck him. It was as if all the logic fragments he had gathered over time had come together to form a grand blueprint. Perhaps there was no Owl God after all. The Owl God was ultimately a concept; the files stated it only existed in the human mind and couldn't actually influence the objective world. So... maybe the person who had been chasing him before wasn't the Owl God but someone who had turned into the Owl God. Of course, that person was himself. He would never want to kill his past self, hence he always showed mercy. The reason he pursued himself was to force himself to use backdrop! The more he used backdrop, the stronger he would become in this smoke-free area where the spiritual and physical worlds intertwined. Then, he—meaning me—would gain enough strength to break through the gate to the next level! Merka shook his head, smiling faintly. He was amazed and genuinely felt there was no better way. So, following the Owl God's instructions from memory, Merka transformed the Power Angel into an owl, intending to give a good scare to the charming young man who had just entered the smoke-free area.