"Ding dong!"
Dumpling, wrapped in a towel, walked out of the bathroom looking refreshed.
Ruby followed closely behind him, then began to wipe Dumpling's body dry.
"Sweetheart, your scrubbing technique is amazing!"
Watching Ruby wipe his body, Dumpling praised her with a look of pure comfort on his face.
Hearing Dumpling's flirtatious words, Chris shouted, "Hey! She's my woman, don't you dare have any improper thoughts!"
Dumpling looked up at Ruby, then said, "I'm just admiring her scrubbing technique. Where did your mind go?"
"Hmph!" Chris snorted twice, not responding.
Not to mention the cartoons he had watched before his transmigration, even now that he possessed the Griffin Family's bloodline, how could he not understand what kind of perverts those with the griffin bloodline were?
It was just that Jiaozi Head hadn't matured yet, so he could only speak his mind and satisfy his craving verbally.
Otherwise, with this kid's intelligence, Chris was sure he was an even more twisted pervert than Ah Q.
Ruby, watching the two brothers bicker, didn't pay any attention. After drying Dumpling, she said, "I'm going to buy him some clothes. His current clothes are too dirty; he can't wear them anymore."
Chris tossed the truck keys to Ruby, then instructed, "If the store doesn't have anything, come back quickly. We can buy them tomorrow, there's no rush."
Ruby nodded and walked out of the room, then opened the truck bed, rode a motorcycle out of it, and left the motel.
Watching Ruby's retreating figure, Dumpling asked curiously, "Is it because of this woman that you're not returning?"
"What?" Chris seemed not to have heard what Dumpling said and asked for confirmation uncertainly.
But seeing Dumpling's unchanging expression, Chris confirmed that Dumpling wasn't joking. He immediately laughed, "How could that be? You're overthinking it."
Seeing Dumpling's suspicious gaze, Chris explained, "I don't even know what the return mechanism is. How could I control the return time?"
Hearing Chris say this, Dumpling raised his wristband and began to scan Chris. Then he looked surprised and said, "How did you become so deeply bound to this world? Now my spatial-temporal shuttle device can't even forcibly take you away."
Chris looked curiously at the projection on Dumpling's wristband and found two extremely similar ripples on it.
The two ripples were tightly connected, and judging by their subsequent state, they were about to completely merge.
Chris asked in confusion, "What is this? Does one of the ripples represent me?"
"What have you been doing in this world? How could you generate such a large amount of quantum entanglement? Do you know what the result will be if this continues?"
Dumpling didn't answer Chris, but instead looked at him with a serious expression, scaring Chris into swallowing hard and asking nervously, "What will happen? Can't I leave this world?"
"No, it's even more terrifying than that." Dumpling shook his head in denial, then said with a heavy expression, "It will cause this world to merge with our world."
"Huh?" Chris was a little surprised. Just because of this quantum entanglement he caused, it would trigger the merging of two worlds?
Wasn't that a bit too childish?
Seeing that Chris didn't believe him, Dumpling explained, "If we compare two worlds to two unconnected rivers, then the quantum entanglement you've created is like digging a ditch to connect these two rivers."
"So the key to the problem is not the size of the ditch, but the fact that these two previously unconnected rivers have become connected. Then, as the water flow changes, they are very likely to completely merge."
Chris thought of the video he had watched, where a group of people dug a small ditch by the sea, and then the seawater washed out a large river trench. He instantly understood what Dumpling meant.
"Then what should I do to stop this situation? Break the quantum entanglement?"
Thinking of the disasters that the merging of two worlds might cause, Chris hurriedly asked Dumpling for help.
However, Dumpling looked at the projection on his wristband indifferently and said casually, "Why stop it? I've never seen a world merge before. This is a good opportunity to record some data and see what phenomena occur when worlds merge."
Hearing what Dumpling said, Chris was stunned. From the sound of it, it seemed that world merging wasn't as dangerous as he had imagined!
As if seeing Chris's confusion, Dumpling smiled and said, "My brother, you seem to have underestimated the universe's carrying capacity and overestimated Earth's position in the universe!"
"Except for certain special worlds where Earth is the center of the universe, in most universes, our Earth is an insignificant speck of dust. So even if this world merges with our world, the impact on Earth would be almost zero. In fact, because these two universes are already in the same multiverse, even the laws won't conflict."
"The final result might just be that the two worlds each gain things they didn't have, expanding their own information reserves, and then nothing else will happen."
"Is that all? Won't two rivers merge to become a larger river?"
Chris's question made Dumpling smile. He patted Chris's shoulder and said, "Rivers are just a metaphor. The true form of the universe is much more complex. The merging I'm talking about is on an informational level; essentially, these two worlds will still be two separate worlds."
Seeing Dumpling say this, Chris let go of his worries and turned to his own return problem.
"Then does my inability to return have anything to do with this? How can I return?"
"Well!" Dumpling scratched his head, then looked at the data on his wristband, thought for a moment, and said, "As I said before, you can't return because you've established too deep a quantum entanglement with this world, which is what's called karma."
"So if you want to return normally, you just need to sever those karmic ties. So what exactly have you been doing in this world? Normally, it's very difficult for an individual to generate such significant karma with a world."
Seeing Dumpling's curious gaze, Chris recounted everything he had done in this world, also emphasizing the matter of the Wendigo competing with him for the origin of life.
"So that's it!" Dumpling nodded understandingly after listening, then affirmed, "I knew it! Your power hasn't reached the point of affecting laws, so how could you establish such deep karma with this world? So that's how it is!"
Chris stared at Dumpling, puzzled, wanting to know what he had figured out.
To his surprise, Dumpling said with a chuckle, "You don't need to think too complicatedly. You just need to know one thing: as long as you kill the Wendigo that's competing with you for the origin of life, you can return."
"This is called settling karma!"
"Is it that simple?" Chris asked in disbelief.
"Trust me, it's correct." Dumpling patted his chest to guarantee, then explained, "That Wendigo is a product nurtured by the underlying laws of this world, and because of your predatory talent, you've become connected to it. This has led to you being seen as a part of that Wendigo in the eyes of the world."
"That's why you've developed such a deep connection with the world, and it's also why two unconnected worlds are interacting."
"Anyway, it's very complicated to delve into the specifics, but to end this problem, either you or the Wendigo has to die."