22 Karma

Everything happened for a reason. A test was no exception.

Xiang Linxin was selected mostly due to her karma from previous lives that was paradoxical to the onefwo she had before her recent death. It was not what a person like her should have. The test was conducted to see whether she had the potential to overturn the terrible fate and to gauge that, an observer, had to be present. The latter was what the guides were.

"Karma exists, so did the concept of reincarnations. They go hand-in-hand."

"Examinee Xiang Linxin's karmic points from previous lifetimes are high enough for her to get a 'cheat' even if it is only enough to afford the third option."

"However, that was it. In the future, you might encounter an examinee who had no rights for any 'cheat', or ones who have enough merits for two or more. If the latter case appears, it's your job to select the most appropriate one for the examinee."

She tilted her head and asked, "Why can't the examinee do it for themselves?"

After a brief paused, she added, "And since there's a condition that an examinee could only bring out the so-called 'cheats' once they pass the test, what happens to the spent merits if they failed?"

In front of the two, who had once again assumed incorporeal state, was Xiang Linxin who happened to run into her half-sister Shen Li.

Quite a lot had happened to the examinee after the passionate night shared with the undercover agent. For instance, CEO Xiang had publicized Xiang Linxin's separation with the Xiang family along with the dissolution of her engagement with Song Heng. A day later, Song Heng formally announced his love for the new young lady of the Xiang family, Shen Li. The latter was in the process of changing her last name to Xiang.

Confronted with this all, Xiang Linxin… was still Xiang Linxin. The two guides were witnesses of how the woman gritted her teeth to hire the water navy, aka internet army, to pour dirty water over her enemies. This time, Xiang Linxin was clever enough to plant some seeds of doubt in the minds of the netizens about her mother's abrupt death, and the sudden remarriage of CEO Xiang. She did not simply flame people for the sake of venting her anger.

The money Xiang Linxin used to pay the navy was from the blackmailed politician. The connection formed with the latter also helped her speed up the gathering of capable lawyers who she planned to use to fight for her inheritance rights and her mother's case.

Zhang Mei Xing was in approval of the girl's method. She couldn't say for sure if Xiang Linxin got smarter or if the memories of the past life just helped a lot, but at the very least, it could be seen that there was actually no need to use that Scene Overwrite Ticket. This made Zhang Mei Xing feel a lot of regret and guilt as she still hadn't forgotten what that annoying item did the previous night. The guard had yet to show up, causing her to frown sometimes. She wondered if this person even would be useful in the future.

The trainee guide came back to her senses when Liu Yang's voice rang by her ears, answering her question.

"To answer your question, Trainee Guide Xiang. No. No examinee has access nor right to pry the secrets of heaven. The matter about merits is only something the gods could see and it's just because of the special authority of the Temple of Reincarnation that we could access this kind of information."

Zhang Mei Xing looked at Liu Yang, the stone-faced hottie, and felt her head hurt. Despite her fundamental understanding of this Temple of Reincarnation and its purpose, it was still quite hard for her to fathom this whatever rule of heavens.

"What about the used merits of those who failed?" She could only move on to the next question.

"This world is a fake so of course no merit points would be taken away. The souls of those who failed will be sent to the real Underworld and get judged there. They would need those merits if they want to have a good afterlife or a reincarnation."

As if the guide recalled something important, he immediately resumed speaking. "And oh. Please do take note that the reincarnation we offer is different from normal. It is one with full memories and with little to no changes to their soul. And the offer is not only limited to reincarnation or time travel. You'll eventually learn about these things in the future."

Zhang Mei Xing nodded, then she summoned her user interface to check Xiang Linxin's progress. Through the guide, she determined that there was no need to see whether Xiang Linxin could successfully counterattack until the end. One just had to see whether the likelihood was high. After all, she already got the biggest head start, her past life's experiences. Unfortunately, there existed people who, even after being given the best weapon in existence, still had no courage to grab it and swing it.

'Thankfully, Xiang Linxin while slow-minded is not unsavable.'

'However…' Even though the trainee guide's fingers were unceasingly typing and clicking stuff on the panel to update the progress, her mind had become unfocused.

"… Hmm. What happens to a guide if the examinee assigned to her failed?"

Anxiousness could be seen on her face. To the man, it looked idiotic though.

"It doesn't really matter."

"Hmm. What do you mean?"

"What's important is for you to make sure that those you give a pass to deserve that chance. Only if you can't fulfill this would a punishment come down to you from the temple." The man paused temporarily and glance at her. He said with a serious expression, "Punishments vary. It could be a demotion, a loss of a huge chunk of merits, or even death, depending on the severity of the consequences."

Liu Yang quietened down from here and sighed for a moment. The guy was not somebody who liked to talk so much, except when meeting examinees, but for the past day, he had done so to educate the trainee guide. There was no choice as it was an order. But he felt like it was a punishment, actually making him wonder if it was because he let this very person undergo reincarnation despite her lack of merits and interesting story.

While examinee Xiang glared hard at the half-sister, the guide took the time to explain about Zhang Mei Xing's authority and powers.

"In the future, the 'app' would inform you of the examinees you have to work with. The Temple will give the list to you through this."

"Please work hard since it will also be good for you. You and I. Everyone in the Temple needs merits too. Honestly speaking, you have no power yet only because you haven't earned any merit to exchange for it. Even your transfer has to be through my authority."

'May I emphasized again that I am a mortal and that I never chose to be part of this Temple to begin with?' she secretly thought, tired, and almost sighing.

Her eyes briefly stopped at Xiang Linxin who was now in an argument with another beautiful woman in front of a jewelry shop. Her examinee was alone while the other girl had some people by her side, helping to further Shen Li's momentum. Xiang Linxin was a socialite and knew the future. She was also not one who could easily be intimidated. But for some reason today, she couldn't win over the other party.

Zhang Mei Xing could see the scene clearly and it just added to her depressed mood. There were already many things she still had difficulty understanding. Now, here was another. She could not comprehend why the woman who had shown some intelligence and tact a few hours ago was suddenly back to being a tongue-tied, emotion-driven person.

'Ah. If this is a book, Miss Xiang can be said the poor villainess sister.'

Seeing his conversation partner looking so distracted, Liu Yang also threw a glance at Xiang Linxin. However, he had seen too many people like her and oversaw many examinations. After losing interest in the person, he turned to the trainee guide.

He continued. "By the way, every member of the Temple is automatically given the ability to see the memories of the examinee and the ability to alternate between the static realm and the test world."

"Really?"

Zhang Mei Xing's gloomy eyes instantly lightened up at his words. There was a question that popped up in her mind before she heard that guides automatically get abilities, 'Why is the temple doing this?' but now she forgot all about it.

She was excited as she asked, "Then, am I capable of that now?"