[Lord Host, you’re awesome,] S419M tried to restore its sense of existence, [Unconsciously, you’ve conveyed the important information about the Sky Trilogy, closing all plot lines.]
Bai Lixin: [I listened to the Sky Trilogy before and got clues from it. Now, I’ve sung the Sky Trilogy as a singer. So, how did the Sky Trilogy first appear? Did it pop out from between the rocks?]
[These three songs indeed resemble my singing style. But I just passively accepted these three songs. Even after becoming Pris Xingchen, I only repeated these three songs, they were not my own creation. So how did the Sky Trilogy come about?]
[S419M, you’re so smart, do you know the answer?]
S419M: [Um, Lord Host, you misunderstand me. I’m not smart; Sister System is smarter than me. Why don’t you ask Sister System?]
The escape system that was suddenly cued: [???]
‘I know nothing.”
With this question, both Bai Lixin and S419M fell silent.
After a while, S419M said tentatively, [Could it be that a time black hole appeared?]
Bai Lixin: [What do you mean by a time black hole?]
S419M: [This involves the concept of dimensional space. I need to explain the concept of dimensional space thoroughly, which might take some time.]
Bai Lixin: [Then make it brief.]
[Alright, Lord Host. Understood, Lord Host.] S419M: [Time in three-dimensional space is irreversible, and there shouldn’t be the appearance of two selves in one space-time. When two selves appear in one space-time, it means time has been distorted. The distorted space will cause time cracks, which, when enlarged, will expand into time black holes. Time black holes can devour some memories, and if severe, they can devour an entire space-time.]
[Regarding the lack of memories about these three songs, it’s possible that a time black hole appeared and devoured your memories, Lord Host.]
[If that’s the case, the appearance of a time black hole should attract the attention of the antivirus system.]
After saying this, S419M rebuked twice, [Pah! Pah! That’s very unlikely. You’ve only jumped ten times, that can’t cause a time black hole. It would require more chaotic energy to cause a time black hole.]
Bai Lixin stood on the stage, turning his head slightly to look at the clouds.
In the dense clouds was a pulsating mosaic.
Within the pulsating mosaic, it seemed like something was twisting in the dark clouds, trying to struggle out of the cloud mass.
The concert was nearing its end. After singing the last song hastily, Bai Lixin didn’t accept any autograph requests and quickly left the concert in an aircraft.
And behind him, he could sense something invisible following him.
The blur and flicker he had seen while sitting under the stage turned out to be the antivirus system hunting him down.
The antivirus system had detected his abnormal existence and started to eliminate him.
The aircraft didn’t stop until it reached a deserted area.
The moment the aircraft stopped, a dull sound came from the outer wall of the aircraft.
With a “bang,” a deep pit was smashed into the aircraft’s interior.
Then Bai Lixin felt as if something had grabbed the aircraft, causing it to shake from side to side.
Something was attacking him from outside, but he couldn’t see it.
If he were in the real world, he could easily take out a weapon and smash this hidden attacker, but now he was in the virtual world in the realm of consciousness.
Not to mention taking out props from his backpack, even leaving this aircraft posed a certain difficulty.
The shaking outside the aircraft became more violent, and the outer skin kept getting damaged.
Bai Lixin looked out through the glass, his brain spinning rapidly, thinking of ways to escape.
He had two ways to solve the current dilemma.
The first was to time jump again. The cool down for time jumping had ended, and he could jump to any time, including tomorrow.
The second was to directly leave the virtual world and return to the real world.
If he had to choose one of the two methods, he would definitely choose the first.
Bai Lixin raised his wrist, input tomorrow’s date and prepared for a time jump.
Just as he was about to press the confirmation button, his upper arm with the with the mosaic snake began to heat up.
Bai Lixin lifted his sleeve in confusion, and found that the motionless little mosaic snake on his arm had began to sway and wriggle. Its mouth released the tightly clenched tail, its head trembling and propping up.
The originally flat black snake on Bai Lixin’s arm left like this and turned into a three-dimensional mosaic snake with a shimmering blue light.
The snake made a hoarse threat towards the outside. It then jumped off Bai Lixin’s arm, directly rushed out of the aircraft and bit into the air.
The air twisted in a certain place.
Bai Lixin saw the little snake start to devour the twisted air like a greedy snake.
The shaking outside gradually subsided, and the little snake’s body also grew a bit larger after swallowing something.
When the movement outside disappeared completely, the little snake turned into a pot bellied snake.
After burping, the mosaic snake swung its tail and returned to the aircraft. It wrapped around Bai Lixin’s arm again, burrowed back into Bai Lixin’s skin and turned back into the small mosaic black snake tattoo.
With the crisis temporarily averted, Bai Lixin stared silently at the mosaic snake on his arm. It was unknown what he was thinking.
Ten minutes later, people from the Elsa’s entertainment company found this scrapped aircraft based on the location and quickly took Bai Lixin away before anyone else noticed.
The next day, on February 15th, U9105, Bai Lixin arrived at the Sixth Area of the Order District as scheduled.
The Sixth Area had two banks. Only one bank had the cabinet number A46. This was the Sixth Area Order Bank.
Bai Lixin didn’t have a key, but that didn’t stump the skilled lock picker.
As soon as the bank opened, he arrived at the Order Bank early and easily found the A46 cabinet door.
The doors here weren’t password-locked but used the most primitive physical locks. Bai Lixin inserted a steel wire, fiddled with it a bit, and opened the cabinet door.
There was an envelope lying quietly inside the cabinet.
There was a line of words on the front of the envelope: For Bai Lixin to open personally.
Below this line were more words: Whoever receives this letter, please hand it to Bai Lixin, the president of the Core Fire Guild, and you will receive a large reward.
After Bai Lixin got the envelope, he didn’t stay long and immediately returned to the aircraft.
After making sure the aircraft was securely locked and absolutely hidden, he opened the envelope. Inside was only a slightly yellowed leaf.
He placed the leaf in his palm, gently rubbing the meridians on it with his fingertips.
After touching it for a while, Bai Lixin stopped and held up the leaf to the sunlight above his head. A white light shone through the leaf and into the console in front of him.
The buttons on the console varied in height, and after the white light fell on them, they looked even more uneven.
S419M: [Lord Host, there are words! Many words are carved on this leaf, and a light projection is needed to make the words appear clearly. This is a very primitive encryption method. The words recorded on the leaf are not straightforward but encrypted twice. The first layer is Morse code, which I’ve deciphered, but I haven’t figured out the second layer yet.]
Bai Lixin: [Can you show me the first layer of deciphered text?]
S419M: [Alright, I’ll project it into your consciousness.]
Gradually, a clear string of numbers and letters appeared in Bai Lixin’s mind.
These numbers and letters were arranged without any pattern, as if randomly sorted.
To decipher the content of this text, he had to find the pattern in the second layer of encryption as well.
Since Li Cangshan could prepare this thing, he must have been prepared long ago, and the encryption pattern might have already been revealed to them.
Bai Lixin stared at the string of text and memorized every word. After thinking for a moment, he thought of a possibility: [Li Cangshan might have given the encryption code to Li Cancan.]
[I remember Li Cancan told me that Li Cangshan gave her many things, and the encryption pattern might be among them. It seems we should return to the real world.]
Bai Lixin destroyed the leaf and was about to drive the aircraft away when he suddenly caught sight of an extremely familiar figure in the crowd.
It was the back of a tall man in a windbreaker.
That figure had appeared at the window when Mrs. Kayla committed suicide and also appeared in the corridor.
Bai Lixin suddenly stopped his actions.
He saw the figure flagging down a taxi and leaving. Bai Lixin turned the aircraft around and quickly followed the taxi.
Sure enough, the taxi stopped at the apartment in the Order District.
Although he only saw the back of the man the whole time, Bai Lixin still discerned the man’s panic and nervousness.
Stopping this person, stopping his actions, might prevent a tragedy from happening.
Bai Lixin parked the aircraft in a secluded place, quickly disguised himself, and got off the aircraft.
As soon as he entered the lobby of the apartment, he saw the elevator door open from afar, and Mr. Kayla came out talking and laughing.
Bai Lixin immediately walked into the adjacent stairwell.
When “Bai Lixin” and Mr. Kayla passed through the lobby, he seized the opportunity to slip into the elevator and went up with it
The man in black wasn’t in the elevator.
There was only one elevator in this apartment building, and if he wasn’t in the elevator, he had probably taken the stairs.
After reaching the designated floor, Bai Lixin got off the elevator and quickly walked towards Mr. Kayla’s apartment.
The door was open, and from a distance away, Bai Lixin heard a woman’s screams coming from inside.
Bai Lixin immediately quickened his pace. Just as he was about to reach the door, he heard Mrs. Kayla shouting, “Don’t come near me! How can you be my husband!”
“I’m Kayla! Darling, look at me, I’m really Kayla, I just changed my appearance.” The man’s voice sounded more panicked than cruel and urgent, “Don’t jump, don’t be desperate, I’m here to help you!”
“Ahh, don’t come over!” The woman screamed.
“Okay, okay, I won’t come over. You calm down a bit, come down from the window, be good.”
Woman: “Why should I listen to you! Damn it!”
“Oh my god, I really am Kayla, listen to me, dear, even though this may overturn your understanding, this is actually a nonexistent virtual world, so I can appear here.”
Woman: “Virtual world? Where the hell did you come from, you lunatic?!”
Bai Lixin flashed to the doorway and saw a man and a woman pulling and tugging at each other on the balcony.
And he was blocked by a robot.
The woman was Mrs. Kayla, and the man was the tall man in the black windbreaker he had seen before.
The man looked very young, only in his twenties, with sharp and handsome features that were now both anxious and panicked.
The man was pulling Mrs. Kayla’s arm, and both of them were very emotional.
“I really am Kayla. We met in the Love District. The moment I saw you, I was deeply fascinated by you. The first thing I said when we met was, ‘My god, you’re so beautiful.’”
Mrs. Kayla widened her eyes, “Where did you hear these things?”
The man: “If you don’t believe me… Right, you have a triangular birthmark on your buttocks. Your husband wouldn’t go around telling people that, right? Your husband loves you so much, he wouldn’t share such privacy.”
After hearing this, Mrs. Kayla didn’t calm down, but became even more stimulated.
“Kayla, you bastard!”
“You actually gave me to someone else!”
“You killed our child, and now you want to torture me?!”
Mrs. Kayla, in a fit of rage, began to tug at the man violently. In the midst of the struggle, she glanced outside. As if she had seen something extremely disgusting, she became even more agitated.
With a burst of strength from somewhere, she pushed the man in black away and climbed onto the window sill.
The man in black was horrified and rushed forward to grab Mrs. Kayla. However, Mrs. Kayla’s actions became even more intense when she saw the man approaching.
Bai Lixin finally broke free from the robot blocking his path. Just as he ran to the balcony, he saw Mrs. Kayla break free from the man’s grasp and, due to inertia, fall from the window.
Bai Lixin tried to catch Mrs. Kayla, and at the critical moment, he caught her.
Just as he was about to pull Mrs. Kayla up, he felt a sharp pain on the back of his hand. Bai Lixin looked down and saw that Mrs. Kayla was using her sharp nails to scratch the back of his hand.
Mrs. Kayla looked at Bai Lixin with pleading, bloodshot eyes, “Let go of me.”
It was a look of despair and shame. Under such a gaze, Bai Lixin even felt that letting go of his hand was the best choice.
But he was only slightly distracted.
Suddenly, his body was bumped violently, and his already unstable palm shook, almost causing Mrs. Kayla, whom he was holding tightly, to slip out of his hand.
Mrs. Kayla swayed in mid-air, teetering dangerously.
The man on the side was extremely anxious: “Don’t let go, don’t let go.”
He leaned half of his body out of the window, grabbed Bai Lixin’s palm with one hand and then extended his other hand down, shouting at Mrs. Kayla, “Give me your hand, give it to me quickly.”
Mrs. Kayla remained unmoved, still looking at Bai Lixin with pleading eyes.
Bai Lixin felt very confused, but all his confusion had to be put aside in the current situation, saving people was the most important thing.
Just then, Bai Lixin felt a sense of danger.
It was the feeling of someone was secretly spying on you, holding a sharp blade and wanting to finish things off quickly.
Driven by his body’s instinct for danger, he quickly dodged to the side, and a whirlwind blew past, completely destroying the robot behind him.
Under that whirlwind, the man bumped Bai Lixin violently again and knocked Bai Lixin aside.
Bai Lixin’s hand broke free, and another whirlwind followed.
It was the antivirus program.
It had caught up to him again.
“No! Darling!!!” While avoiding the whirlwind, Bai Lixin heard the man’s desperate scream from the window.
He looked out of the window and saw a bright red figure falling rapidly from the sky like a fluttering butterfly…
The man looked down from the window for a long time, then, in a state of absent-mindedness, he withdrew his head and collapsed weakly on the ground.
He sat there for a while, then his numb face flashed with madness: “It’s okay, if it didn’t work once, there’s always a second time, if it didn’t work the second time, there’s a third time, I will definitely save her, definitely, definitely…”
“Are you Mr. Kayla?”
While evading the attack of the antivirus program, Bai Lixin glanced at the distraught man: “If you’re Mr. Kayla, how did you get here?”
If he could enter the virtual world through Li Cancan’s technology, then others could also use the same technology to enter, he knew that.
He was just surprised that the dark shadow back then was Mr. Kayla. If he was, he would be the cause of his wife’s death.
The culprit he had been desperately searching for was actually himself.
It turns out that at that time, he was not the only one who came back here, Mr. Kayla also came in.
He asked Mr. Kayla, but Mr. Kayla seemed not to hear him, only repeating the sentence “just try again,” completely ignoring him.
He remained there for a while, stood up unsteadily and then ran outside like crazy.
The antivirus program kept chasing him. Remembering that “Bai Lixin” would soon come up, Bai Lixin also hurriedly left.
Just as he reached the stairwell, Bai Lixin heard footsteps chasing after him from behind.
Feeling somewhat helpless, he could only run upstairs.
However, the person behind him pursued relentlessly. Instead of going after “Mr. Kayla” downstairs, he chased after him instead.
Bai Lixin suddenly felt speechless.
If he had pursued “Mr. Kayla” downstairs at the beginning, he might have caught “Mr. Kayla” long ago and obtained a lot of clues through questioning “Mr. Kayla”.
But at that time, he didn’t know he was just chasing after “myself”.
No wonder he always felt as if he was not closing the distance with the other person back then.
Of course, if they both run at the same speed, then wouldn’t they always be apart!
Bai Lixin felt like cursing.
But thinking that cursing would be cursing himself, he decided to shut up and just run.
He ran all the way to the rooftop, but “Bai Lixin” and the unseen antivirus system still wouldn’t let him go.
The Trojan horse virus that was so powerful yesterday was lying motionless on the arm as if it were wilted. He had been driven to the rooftop by the antivirus program.
“Bai Lixin” reached the rooftop and called out: “Pris Xingchen?”
Bai Lixin wanted to grab “his” shoulder and shout: I’m not Pris Xingchen, I’m you!
The antivirus program should only clear out entities that shouldn’t exist in this virtual world. The reason for this conclusion was that two of himself were standing on the rooftop, but the antivirus program was only chasing after him.
At that time, he didn’t even know that there was an “antivirus program”.
The antivirus program approached again, and Bai Lixin secretly activated the time jumper. After saying a few sentences and bidding farewell to “himself”, he leamed back and initiated a time jump, ready to leave this world.
He felt his sleeve being torn off by “Bai Lixin” as he fell back and saw the surprised expression on “Bai Lixin’s” face when he saw the mosaic snake.
He wanted to tell “Bai Lixin” everything like a cheating examinee, tell him about “time jumping”, tell him “the black shadow is Mr. Kayla”, tell him “Li Cangshan is gone”, tell him many things, but he couldn’t.
But he thought, if “Bai Lixin” found out about these things, he would also be targeted by the antivirus program, and in a more serious situation, it might even cause a time paradox, triggering an even bigger time black hole.
By then, it might not even be possible to complete the time loop.
With regret, Bai Lixin’s body entered into endless darkness.