Chapter 2090: Speculations About Dr. Wu
"I heard it's different from the time we understand. The time in our space is like a 'straight line,' while in other spaces, it's like a 'curve,'" Xu Huo said.
At that time, he had actually seen that "curved time"—it was something that appeared right before his eyes. But "curved time," in the end, had no concrete concept. Even if it might manifest in some form before a person, no one could truly comprehend it.
Still, that didn't stop those who had heard of it from using it as a basis for fantasies about traveling through time and space.
However, after experiencing time evolution, Xu Huo increasingly believed that time was impossible to traverse. Even if players traveled through wormhole points with different time flows, even if only a few days had passed in their own district while several months or more had elapsed in an instance district, the changes time brought to a player would not be altered. Even returning to one's own district might seem like going back to the past, but it was actually a forward progression where time had merely slowed relatively.
Xu Huo possessed the super item "Three Seconds of Life," which allowed time rewind, and had personally witnessed "curved time." He had speculated that Dr. Wu might be searching for a jump point in curved time to return to the past and save his wife and daughter. But "curved time" still couldn't reconcile with his current understanding.
"I don't understand curved time," Shen Liang waved his hand. "I just heard about it from a player I met. That person seemed to already know this place was connected to Dr. Wu and even said Dr. Wu might have already completed a curved time jump, which is why he could use an instance mode while bypassing the game—because the time here keeps repeating."
"It's not that time keeps repeating," Meng Wenguang interjected. "It's that our memories have been wiped clean."
They weren't actually in a time loop; they had simply lost their memories and mistakenly believed they had just arrived on the first day.
"I don't even want to think about it anymore," Shen Liang said. "But since this place is related to time power and connected to Dr. Wu, maybe it really does require that curved time thing to solve the problem."
His gaze swept back and forth over Xu Huo and the others. "Which of you has undergone time evolution?"
Meng Wenguang and Feng Hui's eyes instinctively turned to Xu Huo.
"I only possess time-type items," Xu Huo said. "Besides, relying on a single super evolver seems a bit rash. If this place only needed time evolvers, ordinary players shouldn't have been brought in."
"That's true, but no one said this place is definitely an instance either," Shen Liang leaned against the window, staring at the steaming hot food in the distance. He took a deep breath and said, "Instances have rules, but who can be sure about this place?"
Feng Hui noticed his gaze and asked, "Can that food be eaten?"
Shen Liang turned back with an ugly smile. "Ever seen a performance with no props? It's probably like that."
Seeing a high-level player reduced to staring at fake food and swallowing saliva, Feng Hui shuddered and turned to Xu Huo. "Are we going to follow Dr. Wu until nightfall?"
"Dr. Wu" was mostly working, barely speaking two words in an hour. Staying here seemed pointless.
"Since he also said it might be related to Dr. Wu, sticking close to Dr. Wu is the most straightforward method," Xu Huo said, looking at the workshop entrance.
Just then, Meng Wenguang's communicator beeped.
"A message from Yue Rui, from half an hour ago. She asked around with the nearby residents. She said Pumpkin City's public security has always been decent. When the recent home invasion murder cases first appeared, people who hadn't seen the official notices thought it was a rumor. Also, Pumpkin City has popularized self-rescue tools, and many households are equipped with them. If someone calls for help or a camera detects a crime in progress, it immediately issues a warning and automatically contacts nearby patrol personnel."
"This self-rescue tool and its software were developed by Little Star Company."
Entering Pumpkin City from the Time Tower, the first thing they encountered was the announcement about the frequent "home invasion cases." This was certainly no coincidence. According to the Old Holy Sword Society, Dr. Wu's wife and daughter had likely both died in a home invasion. His repeated recordings of their deaths indicated this was the crux of the issue.
Pumpkin City's time reset at 9:17 PM. Perhaps the home invasion occurred at that time.
But even if it happened at 9:17, it was still a false recording. Dr. Wu creating this place probably wasn't to let players go back and save a fake recording. Last time in Midsummer Night Star River, he had repeated the dream of rescuing the bound personnel on the track multiple times. No matter how he reacted after boarding the train or whether he tried to stop it early, he couldn't change the final outcome. This actually showed that Dr. Wu understood it was difficult to alter a predetermined result, whether by acting early or using various means to interfere.
So the only remaining purpose of Pumpkin City might be to let players comprehend time power.
Dr. Wu had selflessly placed perfect potions throughout the game, even finding some low-level instances, essentially giving new players opportunities. It was hard to say he wasn't using this method to cultivate players free from the game's constraints. Whatever his ultimate goal, it couldn't be denied that he had brought hope to many players. The guiding imagery seen last time in Midsummer Night Star River also reflected some of his thoughts—he seemed to be randomly cultivating players.
Randomly placed perfect potions, repeatedly appearing recordings of his wife and daughter's deaths, preserved fragments of his messages, human nature tests arranged in instances... Dr. Wu influenced a batch of players in his own way.
Earlier, they speculated he had made these two hundred years of effort to revive his wife and daughter. Now, it seemed more like a smokescreen to conceal his true purpose.
Of course, this was just Xu Huo's speculation. But this venue clearly left no room for failure. Dr. Wu had brought the Little Star Company and Stellar Group chairman into the venue, only to eliminate all unnecessary threats as much as possible.
In other words, if players didn't meet Dr. Wu's expectations, they would never leave this place.
Xu Huo wondered if "Pure Heart" could still save his life when he couldn't contact the game, but he still hoped to gain some growth from the valuable experience left by this predecessor who far surpassed ordinary humans.
"Following Dr. Wu might not yield more results. Let's find his family's address through other channels," Xu Huo said. "Leave one person here. The rest of you spread out in the company. At most an hour. If you can't find anything, go to other competing companies. There should be plenty of people willing to dig up Dr. Wu's background. Maybe someone can find his home."
This idea was also relayed to Wang Ling and Yue Rui. Wang Ling hadn't replied yet, but Yue Rui responded quickly and had made good progress. She had gone deep into the residential area and found a fanatical admirer of Dr. Wu, extracting an address from him.
"We'll head over first. If it's real, you can come too."
(Chapter End)