Chapter 110: Kindred Spirit
On the bustling and noisy streets, Chris observed his surroundings.
Based on his past dimension-hopping experiences, the locations he arrived at were usually near where the main action happened.
So, as long as he could find something familiar, he'd quickly be able to determine which universe he'd landed in.
However, Chris looked around and carefully compared it with the memories in his mind.
He still couldn't figure out which world this was.
Fortunately, through some landmark buildings, Chris had confirmed that this was Chicago.
And through people's clothing and conversations, he determined that the approximate time was around 2008.
Unfortunately, this information wasn't very useful to Chris, and it didn't help him in his goal of restoring Stewie's humanity.
After a moment of thought, Chris decided to take Stewie to grab some food first.
At least, filling their stomachs first couldn't hurt.
And while Chris was scoping out this world, a certain entity in this world was also checking out Chris.
A special life form, similar to a cosmic rule but dependent on humans, detected Chris's presence.
It sensed the aura of a kindred spirit on Chris.
A rule of fate related to death.
A powerful asset that could be considered a stepping stone to godhood for itself.
Upon realizing this, it instantly made a decision: it would devour this kindred spirit.
Thus, in a warehouse filled with weaving threads, an ancient Loom of Fate began to operate on its own.
Click! Clack!
In the silent warehouse, the Loom of Fate began to weave without any human operation.
This eerie movement instantly caught the attention of the only person in the warehouse.
He quickly drew a pistol and cautiously approached the Loom of Fate.
"Cross! Is that you?" Sloan moved cautiously, constantly watching for an attack from the Fraternity's top assassin.
His vocal probe received no response, but Sloan didn't relax in the slightest; he held his breath, accelerated his blood flow, and in just an instant, his heartbeat reached over 300 beats per minute.
If he were still young, he could even achieve a heartbeat of over 400 beats per minute.
That would give him even greater strength and perception.
Unfortunately, he was old now, so over 300 beats per minute was his limit.
In this state, Sloan quickly swept the warehouse, trying to find the location of the Fraternity's greatest enemy.
However, Sloan soon realized that he'd been overly paranoid; the Fraternity's former strongest assassin hadn't infiltrated the area.
Staring at the automatically weaving machine, Sloan's eyes were filled with indescribable emotions.
There was shock, panic, remorse, but ultimately, they all turned into steely resolve.
But these complex emotions only appeared for a moment before Sloan suppressed them with his iron will.
To live, to live a life of continuous wealth and luxury, had always been Sloan's goal.
For this, he could deceive other members of the organization, casually issue kill orders on innocent people for profit, and even alter the thousand-year-old code of the Fraternity.
But all of this was based on the assumption that there were no gods.
However, the miracle happening before Sloan now proved that the legendary fate their organization worshipped truly existed, and the reason his name had appeared on the kill list in the past was indeed because that god had seen his sins.
Even though he knew all this, Sloan had no intention of repenting.
He took out a Zippo lighter and approached the Loom of Fate, saying after a moment of silence, "I don't know if I'll go to hell when I die, but right now, you don't have the power to kill me, so I'm gonna live out my life in peace."
Looking at the portrait of a human face printed by the Loom of Fate, a wave of emotions surged in Sloan's heart.
He was shocked that fate truly existed in this world, and he was also curious about who this kid, who made fate manifest itself, truly was.
But the aging Sloan wasn't going to bother with any of that; he just wanted to burn the Loom of Fate and then live out the rest of his life peacefully.
Even if he'd be punished by fate afterward, Sloan was determined to do it.
Because this was the only way he could think of to survive.
However, just before Sloan was about to take action, text began to appear below the portrait printed by the Loom of Fate.
"Find him, kill him, bring his body to me, and I can erase all your past sins."
Looking at the clear instructions from the Loom of Fate, Sloan's heart grew even more shocked.
In the past, the Loom of Fate's commands still required binary conversion and decoding to obtain instructions.
It was precisely because of this that Sloan didn't believe that fate truly existed.
Because he had more than once tampered with these instructions to gain personal benefits.
Later, Sloan didn't even need to tamper; he directly issued commands under the name of the Loom of Fate.
And not receiving any punishment for so many years further confirmed to him that fate was bullshit.
The Fraternity's thousand-year adherence was just the stupidity of those ancient idiots.
However, the current situation indicated that fate truly existed, and even it had its own agenda.
From just a few words from the Loom of Fate, Sloan instantly made this judgment.
Then he began to think about what benefits this could bring him.
"Why should I listen to you?" Sloan put away his Zippo and said calmly, "The Fraternity has followed your instructions for a thousand years, but has always lived hand to mouth. And the years I've defied you have been the Fraternity's golden age."
"So, tell me, why the hell should I listen to you!"
The clicking sound of the Loom of Fate stopped. Faced with Sloan's repeated questioning, it seemed to have no better answer.
Human thoughts were still too complex for it.
Fortunately, for a guy like Sloan, it had a more direct method.
"You don't have much time left to live. Bring his body, and I can grant you a longer lifespan."
Sloan's pupils contracted. He had to admit that he was a master among masters, but he was still caught off guard by this direct hit from the Loom of Fate.
He was already pushing seventy, and if it weren't for biotech enhancements, he might not even be able to hold a gun steady now.
Moreover, his past assassin training had consumed much of his lifespan, so he indeed didn't have much time left.
It was also for this reason that, a moment after the Loom of Fate offered its temptation, Sloan chuckled bitterly, "You should've been this straightforward from the beginning. Then I never would've betrayed you."
The Loom of Fate did not respond to Sloan's words, which seemed to be an excuse for himself.
Its servants among humans weren't just this one branch; for the sake of caution, it also needed to summon other inherited followers.
Seeing that the Loom of Fate no longer responded, Sloan, without any hesitation, sketched the portrait printed by the Loom of Fate onto paper.
Then he tried to use binary conversion to decode it, hoping to find more information, such as the kid's name.
The result was zilch; the Loom of Fate had only printed the portrait, with no other intel.
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