Chapter 1894: The Unsolvable Loop
Children all love to play, and Xiao Yuan visibly became even happier upon hearing this. She quickly asked, "Are you coming with us?"
"Going together. You guys play while I take care of some business. I'll come pick you up when I'm done," Xu Huo said.
Xiao Yuan nodded understandingly. "I'll go tell Tan Qi."
"I want to go too." The Painting Woman quickly raised her communicator.
"Don't you like it here?" Xu Huo asked as he walked toward the main entrance.
"I like it, I like it, but since you're all going out to play, I want to go out and play too," the Painting Woman said. "Staying here all the time is so boring. It must be more fun outside."
"Xiao Yuan and the others are leaving to go to school," Xu Huo said. "Do you want to add more coursework?"
The Painting Woman's previous task had been to learn some basic common sense and district etiquette, but she wasn't really interested in those things. Even people have a free-spirited nature, so how could you expect an item to love learning?
She furrowed her brow and hesitated, asking, "Can't they study while I go play?"
Xu Huo glanced back at her. "You've got it all figured out... But if you want to play, you can come out with me another time."
The Painting Woman beamed and nodded repeatedly.
Xu Huo wasn't sure if the scene he saw truly represented the future, and he didn't fully understand the principle behind foreseeing the future. He could only prepare in advance. Even if something was unavoidable, being prepared was different from not being prepared at all.
However, "predicting the future" seemed to carry a sense of mutual causation. For example, Jiang Jiang he encountered in Zone 009 had foreseen that he would kill her there, so she arrived early in Zone 009 to try and kill him first. Of course, she didn't succeed in the end, but he hadn't killed her either.
In that prediction, Jiang Jiang tried to change her future by killing him. Thinking about it in reverse, if she hadn't insisted on going to Zone 009 because of that prophecy, wouldn't the predicted situation have been avoided?
Xu Huo wasn't sure if he would end up going to Zone 009 for some reason in the future. At this moment, he chose to send Xiao Yuan away to prevent the scene he saw from playing out at Rose Castle. However, looking at Jiang Jiang's example, actively sending Xiao Yuan to another district might actually contribute to the situation in the vision happening. Perhaps staying in Zone 011 would prevent it from occurring.
Of course, predicting the future was still a vague shadow, let alone changing it. He understood when he grasped time power that time can only move forward, not backward. Whether connecting to time in different districts through time rays, or regardless of the speed of time, it ultimately moves forward.
If time could truly flow backward, the closest to that theory should be the Game Government and Dr. Wu. The former was hard to say, but the latter likely hadn't succeeded.
As for using time differences between districts for space-time travel, or curved time, these were just distant concepts for imagination, with no theory or evidence to support them.
But since there was no specific way to change things, he could only try starting with what was within his power. From another perspective, if the future truly couldn't be changed, assuming the event happened in Zone 011, then even if he sent Xiao Yuan away now, she would return here for other reasons in the future. And if the event happened in another district, even if he didn't send Xiao Yuan away, she would still end up going to another district for some reason.
His current situation was similar to Jiang Jiang's. He couldn't simply ignore it, yet he worried that he might be the one to trigger the event. It was like an unsolvable dead loop.
For now, the only thing he could do was find a safer environment.
Since they were leaving, Xu Huo informed Mr. Dong in advance and asked him to help pack the things the children needed.
"Am I going too?" Tan Qi walked over wearing self-made protective gear.
"Everyone's going." Xu Huo glanced at him. "Training your body? Perfect timing."
He casually picked up a rolled-up paper notebook nearby and said to Tan Qi, "Try attacking me."
Tan Qi didn't stand on ceremony. He raised his self-made wooden knife and attacked, using the combat techniques he'd learned from the Message Collection Terminal. Leveraging his short stature, he lowered his center of gravity and targeted Xu Huo's legs.
Of course, there was a barrier between players and ordinary people, but Xu Huo didn't just kick him away. Instead, he controlled his strength and engaged in hand-to-hand combat to restrict his movements.
Tan Qi was agile and deliberately attacked from Xu Huo's less convenient left side. He crouched low and moved close to the ground. If Xu Huo wanted to grab him with his hand, he'd have to bend down. He tried once, and Tan Qi, who had been waiting for this moment, suddenly rolled over and swung his arm toward Xu Huo's throat.
Of course, that attempt failed. Xu Huo blocked it with the paper notebook, and Tan Qi wasn't discouraged. He immediately pulled out a knife he had hidden in his calf and stabbed downward at Xu Huo's foot.
Xu Huo slightly lifted his foot to kick the knife away while simultaneously knocking down another knife aimed at his throat. Then he pressed his other hand against Tan Qi's neck.
In a sparring match, this should have been the end. But Tan Qi refused to admit defeat. Unconcerned that his neck was being grabbed, he raised his hand and jabbed at Xu Huo's eyes.
This sneak attack naturally failed as well. Xu Huo grabbed his head and flipped the boy away.
Tan Qi rolled on the ground and got back up, staring coldly at Xu Huo.
Xu Huo kicked the wooden knife back to him. "Stop being clever. With your strength, anyone you meet outside is a natural enemy. Don't think about using your so-called advantages to drag out a fight with others. Everything you just did was based on the premise that both sides are evenly matched."
"Then what should I do? Just wait to die?" Tan Qi said coldly.
"Don't twist the concept," Xu Huo said, his voice turning slightly cold. "What kind of player do you think would have their strength significantly weakened just because you stabbed them in the foot or leg?"
"I can coat the knife with poison," Tan Qi immediately said.
"Before making that preparation, have you investigated the specific time it takes for various toxic substances and pollutants in the game to affect a player's mobility through a wound?" Xu Huo gestured for him to stand up and try again.
This time, Tan Qi changed his strategy. Instead of staying low, he used the nearby tables and chairs to leap up, threw the poison powder he carried at Xu Huo's face, and while the powder blocked his vision, he swung his arms and hurled all the weapons he had at once.
His throwing was somewhat accurate. One knife aimed at Xu Huo's heart, one at his neck, and one below the abdomen.
Without using any items, Xu Huo could block these attacks with speed alone. After catching the wooden knives, he looked at Tan Qi again. "You've used up all your weapons. What are you going to do now?"
Tan Qi, expression unchanged, pulled four small knives from his lower back.