MTL - Thrive in Catastrophe - Chapter 20 Thermostatic pool

“Is Fate the excuse of the forsaken, is Free Will the delusion of the chosen?”Such was a question that Xavier, the Demon King, never had the chance to ask himself. As he lay defeated, awaiting his death, he wondered about the wretched life he lived.'The hero who killed me, the one who held the same ambitions as me. We both wanted good for the people, for the world. We are both two sides of the same coin, yet, fate decided that he will be the one the light will shine on.Perhaps it was me too, perhaps it was my karma for flowing the rivers of blood with my sword. But still... It was fate that squashed the humanity in me first!Damn fate, if I had one more chance, I would've lived for myself more, I wouldn't have taken this arbitrary role of being a necessary evil... This world, this game of destiny... It can burn to ashes for all I care.'As he sunk into the cold embrace of death, a certain [REDACTED] heard his dying wish with amusement and cast their die, reversing the wheel of time one last time and going all in on him on a risky gamble with the stakes of their world.

Transported to a rural family in 1973, where eating required food stamps, dressing needed cloth tickets, stepping out asked for a letter of introduction, doing business was considered speculative profiteering, and securing a job demanded an urban household registration. She, a young girl from the countryside, faced an indifferent mother, a troublesome younger brother, and an elder sister who often had poor ideas. Life had become insufferable.Memories from her past life are mostly forgotten, yet the myriad of objects in her magical storage ring baffles her greatly.

He doesn’t have a name, a face, or a place in the story—except to guide others to their “happy endings.” For thousands of loops, he’s endured heartbreak, despair, and the crushing reset of the world every time something goes wrong. He’s memorized every line, every trigger, every rule: no deaths, no interference, no breaking the script.But Loop 1,204 feels different. The world isn’t punishing him for stepping off the path. Suddenly, he can change things—rewrite relationships, alter destinies, maybe even reclaim his own existence. But with freedom comes uncertainty, and the looming threat of the loop snapping shut once more.Can he finally break the cycle and find his own ending, or will the world reset around him one last, merciless time?

The world has ended. I’m the only survivor left in the shelter. But by my side is the world’s most advanced AI, Artemis.