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"Damnable lucky bastard!" Qingque puffed out her cheeks and flopped onto the sofa beneath her, utterly unwilling.
Is this what people mean by the disparity of the world?
Ding!
Before the golden light scattered, a crisp electronic chime rang in Sylvester's ears.
His body snapped upright.
It had been a long time since he'd heard the system's notification sound. Normally, when others opened trash cans, a prompt was enabled by default—but he'd found it annoying and turned it off long ago.
Which meant there was only one possibility.
My next exclusive trash can… it's right in front of me.
Sure enough, a familiar yet long-unheard classic female voice drifted into his ears. [System Notification: Sell one more trash can to raise the system by one level, unlock a special Curio category, and grant the host one exclusive trash can. —29 days until automatic mail deletion.]
One more?
Didn't that mean he could get it today? Aventurine still had two trash cans left unopened!
Sylvester felt his mood lighten even further.
Come to think of it, the last system upgrade also seemed to happen when Aventurine came to open trash cans.
Is this history repeating itself?
He closed his eyes, feeling the golden light shine through his eyelids, and shook his head.
Still, compared to last time, Aventurine's luck this round could only be described as the difference between heaven and earth.
When the light faded, Sylvester saw that Aventurine was now holding an antique-style pistol with a solid wooden grip.
He had already seen this item twice before, so it wasn't unfamiliar.
But this time, it had appeared as a golden Curio—which meant there were only two possible explanations.
Sylvester pulled up its information panel and cleanly tapped open the details.
Just as expected!
A Curio capable of manipulating time had finally appeared!
[Zafkiel's Twelfth Bullet - Yud Bet:After devouring Path power, it sends the target it strikes into the past (if the target time is after the user's birth, they will automatically revert to childhood; otherwise, they will traverse time with their current physical state). The target may act in the past for two hours before returning to the present, and everything done during that time will affect the present.]
Feeling the smooth texture of the wooden grip, Aventurine was actually more surprised than the other two present.
This golden Curio had arrived far too suddenly. He had truly believed that what just happened already counted as the pinnacle of his life—only to realize that it had merely been the beginning.
The real finale… was actually here!
"Shopkeeper Sylvester!"
He shouted, excitement overflowing. The composure of a corporate elite was nearly impossible to maintain. "Th-this Curio, it…"
Sylvester raised his palm toward him, signaling him to stop.
He remained silent for a long moment before speaking. "Mr. Aventurine, if I remember correctly, your mother passed away shortly after you were born. Your sister also departed from you not long after you became aware of the world. And after that, the Avgin people you came from quickly vanished as well."
Aventurine hadn't expected Sylvester to suddenly say something like this. The feverish excitement stirred by the golden Curio was instantly doused.
His mother and sister were eternally the softest places in his heart.
Though he had already reconciled with the past, people couldn't help but imagine various what-ifs—even knowing they could never come true.
Just as he had imagined countless times: if his mother and sister were still alive, able to enjoy his current wealth and success with him, how wonderful that would be.
Shaking his head, Aventurine came back to himself and spoke to Sylvester with a calm expression. "That's right. Avgin—and even Sigonia-IV as a whole—was a terrible place. Even though it was my homeland, I never felt any attachment to it."
As he continued, a solemn note seeped into his voice. "But the family who now sleeps there… I will never forget them."
Sylvester nodded. "Mr. Aventurine, while I do dislike excessive solemnity, I have no perverse interest in reopening people's wounds either. The reason I asked is because this Curio is closely tied to that matter—at least for you personally."
This left Aventurine deeply puzzled. "What do you mean?"
He couldn't recall Sigonia-IV possessing anything that could be called a high-tier Curio.
Unless… could it be the Mother Goddess?
Sylvester raised his hand and took the antique pistol and its single matching bullet from Aventurine. After briefly examining them, he placed them on the counter and let out a soft sigh.
What is the rarest medicine in the world?
The answer: regret.
Now, the medicine had arrived.
Only, it had taken the form of ammunition.
"Mr. Aventurine, I'll be direct. This small pistol is called [Zafkiel's Twelfth Bullet - Yud Bet]. Its effect is something everyone has once dreamed of. That is…"
"…traveling through time and returning to the past!"
"!!!"
Aventurine's eyes flew wide open, his mind going blank as he froze in place.
He had been mentally prepared for Sylvester to say something utterly outrageous—like this gun being able to blow apart the galaxy with a single shot. But he had never imagined it would have this kind of effect!
No wonder—no wonder Sylvester had brought up Avgin earlier.
He was absolutely right. This Curio was indeed intimately connected to that place—and only when it was in his hands.
Because he was now the only Avgin left in the universe!
And the only thing he would ever use it for was equally obvious: to save his mother and sister!
Compared to standing before his family once more, hearing them speak to him with warmth and concern, even letting the IPC seize the initiative when this shop opened—or indulging in even greater delusions, like the IPC dominating the universe with this Curio—were utterly insignificant!
As for corporate affairs and the like?
To hell with all of it!
His blood surged violently.
Feeling the warmth continuously rushing to his head, amid an indescribably overwhelming joy, Aventurine discovered in amazement that he wasn't losing control—instead, he was unusually calm.
Looking at the antique pistol on the counter, a rare cold sharpness appeared in his gaze.
"Shopkeeper Sylvester… are there any precautions when using this Curio?"
Whether to use it, or what to use it for, wasn't even worth considering.
The only thing that mattered was how to make the most of this single chance—to splice a new reel onto the broken film of history that bounded his mother and sister.
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