"How can you be sure that guy will fold under pressure?" Angelina asked.

"I just gave him a little nudge onto the path of fate," Xu Xiaoyou replied ambiguously.

"There’s a movie called ’Twelve Monkeys,’ which roughly tells the story of the protagonist traveling back in time to stop the outbreak of a virus that could destroy humanity, but ironically, his actions indirectly lead to the outbreak."

"The twist in the movie is that scientists from the future knew the virus outbreak was irreversible, and they sent the protagonist back only to collect virus samples, making everything a closed loop."

"Fighting against prophecy and fate has always been a philosophical topic that people love to discuss."

"In Ancient Greek mythology, fate’s trickery lies in the fact that it always achieves its purpose through those who resist it."

"I don’t understand," Angelina said.

Xu Xiaoyou chuckled softly.

"When a bottle breaks due to your carelessness, even if you travel back in time with the memory of that broken bottle, it will still break because of your ’careful care.’"

"This is the inescapable fate."

"People always enjoy discussing fighting fate, praising and singing about it, yet they overlook its nasty essence. Fate always stands above, mocking and teasing people."

"This chip, what do you think it will be, heads or tails?"

Xu Xiaoyou suddenly took out a bronze chip and said.

"This is the 2201 Grand Prize Commemorative Chip from the Augustus Fest Egg, limited to five worldwide."

"As ’fate,’ I can decide the fate of a small thing in a short amount of time, like its heads or tails," Xu Xiaoyou said.

Angelina: "Heads."

"Then I say it’s tails," Xu Xiaoyou said, tossing the chip into the air.

Just as it was about to land, Angelina suddenly reached out to cover the chip but ended up catching nothing, instead slapping the chip onto the ground.

After a few rolls and spins, the side with the portrait of Augustus Fest was facing up; it was tails.

"It originally was heads, but your attempt to change its outcome turned it to tails."

"No matter how many times, you can’t grasp slippery fate."

"After going around in circles, what are you trying to say?" Angelina picked up the chip to examine it.

"What is meant to happen will happen; no one can change that."

"Since it has to happen, why not take advantage of its certainty to choose a shortcut for yourself?"

"I wasn’t gambling."

"It’s because he was sure to fold that I chose to have you apply pressure."

Angelina looked into Xu Xiaoyou’s calm eyes, eyes that simultaneously contained humanity and divinity, like a snowfield where stars had fallen, like a piano played under moonlight, like maple leaves gradually dyed red by autumn.

She suddenly felt a sense of regret and exhaustion in those eyes.

"If you’ve never tried to fight fate, how do you know it can’t be changed?"

Xu Xiaoyou wanted to say something but stopped.

After a long while, she softly said, "Hmm."

"Do you know what I’m hoping for?" she asked. "Anya."

"Hoping for what?"

"I hope that on the day I die, all of you can come to my funeral."

"If Tang Xin heard that, you’d be done for," Angelina blushed slightly.

She knew Xu Xiaoyou’s mind worked quickly, but she didn’t expect her to suddenly say such enigmatic words at this moment.

"And then I’ll hold a black umbrella, look at your sad faces, and walk away smugly," Xu Xiaoyou added.

Angelina inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief.

That sounded more like something she would say.

They continued waiting in the casino for a few minutes, and as 3,000,000¥ came in, Xu Xiaoyou nodded and allocated a portion of the money to send off the smiling reception staff. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was Purisaid, the city that never sleeps, waking from its hedonistic stupor.

"You’re really not planning on getting more money?" Angelina asked.

"Are you kidding?" Xu Xiaoyou looked pained, "I’d want not just the soul, I’d want even the jewel on her collar, but deposits over five million would catch Hera’s attention."

"This account belongs to Tang Xin, a kid who hasn’t yet graduated from elementary school gambling away a million at the casino — is that possible?"

"If it weren’t for my pride, I would have left when we reached three million."

"Since you’ve got the money, just leave quickly."

Xu Xiaoyou said, as she briskly headed out.

"Hey," Angelina called after her.

"Tomorrow morning, Revolutionary Army leader Siphaun will give a speech across the city, and after the speech ends, a full-scale war between the Revolutionary Army and Firefly will begin."

Xu Xiaoyou stopped in her tracks.

"Tomorrow morning?"

She hadn’t expected the Bionics’ full-out assault on Skyline City’s old order to be so rushed. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"Yes, that Siphaun guy doesn’t trust anyone. Even the Revolutionary Army doesn’t know the specific details; the transport team only knows this much."

"Such an important thing, and you’re only telling me now?" Xu Xiaoyou’s eye twitched slightly.

Angelina folded her arms coldly: "Early this morning, you dragged me here, talking about making it big; if I told you earlier, would you have given up coming to this casino?"

"No," Xu Xiaoyou nodded.

"There, you see."

"Anyway, I’ll always be by your side..." Angelina felt her words sounded strange no matter how she said them, so she stopped explaining further.

The two of them took the sky elevator, descending from the thousands of meters high sky casino. Their blurred reflections showed in the mirror as the Skyline began to burn, the sky blood-red under the morning sun, with the simulated canopy sweeping across at a speed of a hundred meters per second.

"The Revolutionary Army is currently divided into two factions internally; one is the N3 Faction, led by Siphaun, and the other is the Skyline Sect. Both groups are frantically searching for you now."

"N3 Faction?"

"Never compromise, Never yield, Never surrender."

"You can tell their style just by the slogan." Xu Xiaoyou nodded. "In such a hurry to silence me?"

"Pretty much."

"The Skyline Sect hopes to find you and re-elect you as the leader to ensure their dominant position in the Revolutionary Army."

"Isn’t there anyone genuinely charmed by my personal charisma who follows me from the heart?"

"Siphaun, at the end of the day, is just a temporary leader. It’s only because his radical ideas were recognized by Bionics, whose heads are mostly filled with hatred, that he climbed to his current position step by step."

"It seems the internal situation of the Revolutionary Army is not very optimistic," Xu Xiaoyou pondered.

"If Siphaun truly intends to start a war, there’s only one possibility; the current Revolutionary Army, due to internal conflicts, is already nearing a breaking point. The N3 Faction can’t control these conflicts and can only unite against an external enemy through war."