Chapter 1623: The Returned Corpse
The situation was still manageable for now, with players temporarily keeping the peace. After a minor disturbance, everyone went back to their own business.
"Going out again today?" Tong Qi asked Xu Huo.
"Not for now." Xu Huo leaned back in a chair he had moved from a shop and began recalling the dream from the previous night.
In the train accident, aside from the fixed roles that appeared, the location of the track accident was also fixed. In fact, the time of the accident should have been fixed as well. The only instance of time change occurred when new variables appeared based on the scene he had temporarily set.
And the last two times, new variables had also appeared.
The people surging out from around the tracks were a new variable. Xu Huo hijacking the driver without approaching the bound person on the tracks also added a new variable. The difference was that he knew about one, but not the other.
In other words, regardless of whether he or the train ultimately collided with the person on the tracks, the final result remained largely unchanged: the train existed, the person on the tracks existed, and this accident was unavoidable.
It seemed that no matter how hard he tried, the train would still depart, and the person on the tracks would still die.
The only thing that had changed the course of events was the bomb he had hypothesized... Did this mean that introducing a variable of sufficient weight was necessary to alter the final outcome?
The train could only move up one stop, and what he could do at the terminal was very limited... If only the time could be earlier, early enough that the train hadn't yet entered the station, perhaps things could take a different turn.
As for a turning point in time, Xu Huo could only think of the "Curved Time" he had witnessed on the Dimension Train tracks. The train dispatcher at the time had mentioned the peculiarity of "Curved Time." Coupled with the time differences between different zones in the game, from a hypothetical perspective, the Dimension Rift game could indeed achieve time travel.
If Dr. Wu had really been to this instance, then this recurring dream should not be a coincidence.
Dr. Wu once had a daughter—this was something he had deliberately revealed, and it was also something many players and pharmacologists tracking him believed to be true. If his deliberate revelation wasn't out of longing, then it might have been another hint.
Using "Curved Time" to achieve time travel—not only would someone like Dr. Wu, who knew so much about the Dimension Rift game, be tempted, but even Xu Huo, when he first heard about it, had a question: could it really be done?
If Dr. Wu was really doing this, did it mean there was truly a glimmer of hope?
Going back to the past—these words could make anyone's blood boil. But soon, Xu Huo calmed down. Assuming his speculation was correct, Dr. Wu's daughter still hadn't been resurrected, which meant that the possibility of going back to the past and changing someone else's fate, even if it existed, was extremely slim—so slim that someone who had spent hundreds of years couldn't achieve it. And this was a genius who had developed the Perfect Evolution Potion.
His train of thought paused here before pulling back to last night's dream.
Working on time and adding variables with enough influence—whether these could truly be realized in the dream as he imagined remained unclear. In the end, it depended on the instance's judgment criteria. At the very least, "time travel" could not be truly achieved in the dream, and Dr. Wu probably wouldn't make such a harsh requirement in a C-level instance.
More than half of the people stayed in the mall, while the other small half didn't give up on going out to find clues. Not long after, Liao Xiaorong, Mi Yaojia, and three other players hurried back and came eagerly to Xu Huo and the others.
"We found Zhao Qing."
Xu Huo turned his head to look at the stretcher they were carrying behind them.
The person on the stretcher—if you could call it a person—only retained the general shape of a human. From head to toe, they were covered in lush, overgrown fungi. Part of the face had already been removed. From the incomplete features, it was indeed Zhao Qing, who had disappeared in the clock tower the night before last.
There were no obvious external injuries or bloodstains on her body, and it was unclear how she died. However, she maintained a posture with her hands crossed over her abdomen, and even the corners of her mouth were upturned, her expression eerily serene.
Whether she had been poisoned or killed, this wasn't the most terrifying part. What shocked Liao Xiaorong and the others was her state.
"Could she really have been willing to die?" Liao Xiaorong said in horror. "She wasn't in this posture when she disappeared!"
"Never mind how she died. Doesn't this prove there's another space?" Tong Qi said. "The fungi on Zhao Qing are much more abundant than those in this city."
The players present couldn't accept this. The uncontrollable sleep and the possibility of dying in their sleep were already beyond their control. Their hope for clearing the instance and leaving the dungeon lay in the possible existence of another space. But now they were being told that going to another space would lead to an even more inexplicable death—who could handle that?
"The instance has a high mortality rate. Didn't everyone know that from the start?" Xu Huo said indifferently. "Aren't we all gambling on that slim chance of survival?"
"That's true, but previous instances weren't like this one. There's no clue at all, as if everything we do is futile." Mi Yaojia's expression was extremely grim, as if he had been greatly deceived.
Xu Huo had no obligation to soothe everyone's emotions. "You can try not sleeping for the last few days. Maybe you'll make it through."
You couldn't go ten days without sleep, but three or four days should be no problem. Survive a week, hold out until the instance ends, and then see.
This actually struck a chord with many players. Some had already thought of this before finding Zhao Qing. Others were even planning to take advantage of the chaos and rob other players at the critical moment of clearing the instance.
"Is this feasible?" someone asked in a low voice, out of some unknown mindset.
"Try it and find out." Xu Huo said no more and had Liao Xiaorong and the others carry Zhao Qing's body out to bury it, fearing that more poisonous fungi would grow over time.
Over there, Young Master Mo had already set up a protective barrier. He crawled inside and had breakfast.
Young Master Mo had completely lost the will to find the player who had lured him here with "Midsummer Night Star River" as bait. Looking on the bright side, maybe that person had already died in this instance, their body digested by the fungi.
"We can take turns on duty in the last few days," he proactively suggested. "Scarface and I trust each other. There won't be any problems."
"Isn't he your bodyguard?" Tong Qi's gaze shifted between them. "You trust him that much? You have so many good items on you. If he stabs you in the back, where would your family go to catch him?"
"He won't betray me," Young Master Mo said.
"I won't betray Young Master Mo," Scarface Glasses also said.
"I don't believe it," Tong Qi deliberately said. "I've long noticed that your relationship is unusual. You're not a couple, are you?"
Young Master Mo's face turned green, and even Scarface Glasses, who usually had little expression, twitched at the mouth.
Seeing that the atmosphere was getting a bit strange, as if to stop others from letting their imaginations run wild, Young Master Mo finally said, "My half-sister married him."
(End of Chapter)