On the road.
Subaru's body suddenly stiffened, and even his walking slowed down.
The smile he had been wearing froze on his face.
He was filled with fear and anger.
Yang Tao naturally noticed this, and he also saw the culprit behind this situation.
A woman wearing a long dress, completely open in the middle, walked towards them. The woman unreservedly displayed her beautiful figure to those around her.
If her clothes were open just one more finger, everything, both above and below, would be completely exposed.
Her black hair reached her waist, tied up like a braid.
She possessed extremely clear, translucent, fair skin, and was a quiet-looking beauty with downward-sloping eyes.
The woman also noticed Subaru's condition. With a serene smile, she walked up to Subaru and asked, "Are you afraid of me?"
Subaru clenched his fists, staring at the woman in front of him, and said, "What makes you say I'm afraid?"
"The scent."
The smile on the woman's face became even brighter. She stared at Subaru's nervous expression and said, "When people are afraid, they emit the scent of fear… "
"You are afraid right now, and also… "
Before she could finish the word 'fear,' the blade of a war spear directly pierced through her chest.
Pfft…
A streak of crimson blood flowed down her fair skin.
She hadn't expected to be suddenly attacked by the man beside Subaru, who seemed like an ordinary person.
"You… "
"You possess the ability to resurrect? I didn't expect such an ability to exist in this world."
Yang Tao slowly pulled his war spear out of the woman's chest.
"Natsuki Subaru, this woman killed you, didn't she?"
As the blade of the war spear was pulled from the woman's body, she quickly distanced herself from Yang Tao, and two strange curved knives appeared in her hands.
Subaru was completely dumbfounded.
His first thought was how strong this man was, and his second was why he suddenly attacked!
"It was her… No, how did you know she killed me?"
"Because your Return by Death ability has no effect on me. I've witnessed all four of your returns. Last time… no, the time before last, I went to see how you died. Because it took too long, I wandered around a bit, but I didn't expect your death time to exceed my estimation… "
Subaru: "!!!"
"You actually know my… "
He was about to speak about his ability, but he felt as if his heart was clutched by an invisible large hand.
Yang Tao looked at the pale Subaru, his eyes narrowed slightly as he activated the ability of his Infinity Helmet.
In an instant, the entire world underwent a drastic change in his eyes. A large hand, formed by a special ability, reached out from the void and grasped Subaru's heart.
At the end of the void was a special small world.
Within that world was a young girl, a silver-haired, purple-eyed half-elf, looking exactly like the girl named Emilia from before, her body covered by a long black dress.
'Is this the source that grants Subaru the Return by Death ability? Is it preventing Subaru from speaking about his ability?'
His 'distraction' might have allowed the woman he had stabbed to sense an opportunity. She immediately pushed off the ground, and like an arrow released from a bowstring, she shot in front of Yang Tao.
The sharp, peculiar short knives in her hands fiercely slashed towards Yang Tao's abdomen, seemingly intending to disembowel him.
"Don't bother… "
Yang Tao raised the war spear in his hand and directly pierced through the woman's head, then lightly flicked her aside.
He did not pay attention to the woman, nor did he look at Subaru's incredulous gaze, but continued to look up at the sky.
He 'saw' a 'tree,' a large tree encased in a resilient bubble, and the world he was in was a branch on this tree. Yang Tao was examining the plotlines on other branches.
'It actually has so many branches… Huh, there's even Rem. Is this Rem's world then?'
He didn't know Subaru, but he knew Rem!
'Oh my goodness! Subaru actually married Rem and has two children!'
The plot branches were mainly divided into the Envy Route, Sloth Route, Lust Route, Greed Route, Pride Route, Wrath Route, Gluttony Route… and the world he was in was on a small sub-branch of the Envy Route.
He also saw the development of the normal Envy Route without his involvement.
Seeing the laughable operations within the plotline, Yang Tao smiled and looked at Subaru, saying, "Natsuki Subaru, let's start over!"
"Huh?"
"Don't worry, this time it won't hurt."
Subaru only felt his vision go dark, and the next moment, the familiar fruit stand owner did not appear before him.
"This is… just coming out of the alley?"
"That's right. Sword Saint Reinhardt is a very good person. I feel that if you go to him a second time, with his ability, he would definitely suspect you."
Subaru looked at Yang Tao beside him, who was holding a pocket watch emitting a colorful glow.
Endless Watch of Flowing Time.
"Natsuki Subaru, don't just stand there. I've already found a timeline that should be very good for you… "
He took an iron sword from his backpack and handed it to Subaru, saying, "Next, you'll have to accept my training… "
"Huh?"
Subaru was completely dumbfounded. It was one thing for someone to ignore his ability, but now they were even planning to train him.
"Did I just die again?"
"Yes. Didn't hurt, did it?"
Subaru: "..."
"Haha, let's go. Your time regression ability isn't broken. It's just that I feel this time period is the most suitable for you, so I pulled you here."
"This time, we'll take the cheat route. I want to see how far you can go… "
"But… "
Yang Tao saw the struggle in Subaru's eyes, but Yang Tao didn't give him any chance to refute.
"No 'buts.' Ultimately, you are just an ordinary young man… You're only 18 this year, aren't you? In your original world, you were nothing special… Well, I can't say nothing special, your strength is quite great… "
"If you want to live a good life in another world, then you need to be a bit ruthless, and even ruthless to yourself."
"Return by Death is your trump card, not an ability you can use casually. Even after using it five times, haven't you noticed the drawbacks of this ability?"
"You were clearly very familiar with Emilia the first time, but now you've become strangers… If you continue to use this ability recklessly, you will become a Lunatic, a Lunatic who only spouts nonsense in the eyes of others."
When Subaru heard Yang Tao's words, he recalled the third time he met Emilia on the street, when some of his words directly caused her to feel ill will.
"Then… what should I do?"
"Don't worry, from today on, I am your golden finger."
Yang Tao reached out and patted Subaru's shoulders twice, saying, with a look of 'leave it to me,' "I will make you a powerful existence."
"As for Emilia… You can't just go and contact her now, because… your intentions are no longer pure. Before Emilia goes to the warehouse and is killed by Elsa, you must undergo my intensive training… "