Chapter 2570: The Angle of Space
When they left, the players in the park area were noticeably much friendlier toward them, with a few even waving greetings from a distance.
After exiting the park, Xu Huo and the others wandered around the vicinity for a while before taking an aircraft back to the hotel.
As they entered the lobby, they happened to run into the writer Jing Shi, who was coming down from upstairs.
"What a coincidence." Xu Huo took the initiative to greet her.
Jing Shi still remembered him. Smiling, she said, "You're that young man from yesterday. The signing session had limited time, and I didn't want to keep other readers waiting, so I couldn't chat with you at length. I'm truly sorry and regretful about that."
"Today, I have plenty of time. I wonder if I could invite you to sit for a while?"
Xu Huo naturally agreed, and the group moved to the lounge next door.
"Mr. Xu, your understanding of time power is deeper than most people's. Do you have experience in this area?" Jing Shi asked after they introduced themselves.
"I have a bit of experience," Xu Huo said. "But I'm no expert or scholar. My understanding is only superficial—maybe not even that. In my view, time is better used as a weapon."
"There's nothing wrong with that idea." Jing Shi held her teacup. "For players, time is indeed a deadly weapon. Any kind of power can become a deadly weapon."
She pointed to her head. "Even spiritual power can become a deadly weapon, let alone something as ruthless as time."
"The same thing can be viewed differently by different people. If you see it as a weapon, it might only ever serve as one."
Xu Huo raised an eyebrow slightly. "Do you mean that one's perception of time can affect a player's evolution in this area?"
Jing Shi smiled and waved her hand. "I know nothing about Super Evolution. I'm just lamenting humanity's shallow understanding of time. Time and space form the entire world. They existed before humans did, and they will continue to exist after humans are gone."
"Yesterday, you also mentioned the 'death of time,'" Xu Huo said. "To be honest, I don't quite understand it."
"If one space serves as the foundation for time's existence, and another space's time completely covers it—calling that the death of time—then such existence and death seem meaningless."
It was also an almost impossible scenario, because time already exists when a space is born.
"It's the difference in time that gives death its meaning," Jing Shi said. "Different wormhole points and districts have different times. When one type of time completely covers another, the original time in that space is said to have died."
"However, time items merely use spatial gaps to introduce one type of time into another, which proves that different times can coexist briefly."
"When a space's time is covered and everything operates according to the new time, the original time dies. But that doesn't mean the original time completely disappears. I believe it's just been squeezed into an angle."
"If time isn't recorded, then from a human perspective, it has already died."
Xu Huo was silent for a moment before asking, "An angle of time—similar to Curved Time?"
"No one has confirmed it, but in my mind, that's how it is." Jing Shi continued, "Although the original time is covered, it actually coexists with the new time. To this day, no experiment or record has touched on the long-term coexistence of two types of time. I believe they must have produced some kind of wonderful reaction."
"The angle of space doesn't inherently exist; it's a product of the interaction between time powers. Humans can't observe this angle, so they can't capture Curved Time."
Mentioning this, Xu Huo thought once again of "Three Seconds of Life."
Can't capture Curved Time? Maybe not.
At the very least, that Super Item had successfully captured Curved Time using a watch face as a medium. Dr. Wu's Pumpkin City had even fixed Curved Time in place. He believed there were definitely others in the game who could do the same. The angle of space—humans had already observed it.
He didn't say this out loud, but Jing Shi continued, "Humans cannot capture Curved Time. All phenomena related to Curved Time are accidental."
"Whether it's time travel or time reversal, it's a one-time accident within the angle of space. It has no pattern. One phenomenon and the next may have nothing to do with each other."
The Curved Time in Pumpkin City was indeed unstable. Although "Three Seconds of Life" consistently rewound time by three seconds, that didn't mean the Curved Time triggered by the item was the same each time. It was like a windmill—airflow could make it spin, but each gust of wind might be different, even if the windmill's speed and direction were the same.
"Even though it's accidental, it also represents something new." Jing Shi added another sentence. "It's the result of a collision between different times."
"The result of a collision between different times..." Xu Huo murmured the phrase. "That's an angle I've never considered before."
Over the next two hours, their conversation revolved around "time" and "Curved Time." Although Jing Shi repeatedly emphasized that she hadn't specifically studied "time" and that all of this was merely an extension of her love for clocks, her ideas were logically consistent. Some of her thoughts on "time" and "Curved Time" were refreshing, and when discussing "time," she inevitably touched on "space," offering some novel perspectives as well.
Xu Huo's understanding of time and space came mostly from Super Evolution. His perception was more concrete and practical, while Jing Shi's was more imaginative and groundbreaking.
By the end of the conversation, aside from two players who couldn't resist joining in midway, everyone else in the lounge remained silent, listening to their discussion.
"You have a lunch appointment with a friend," the staff member accompanying Jing Shi reminded her.
Jing Shi then checked her watch. "It's already this late."
She finished the tea in her cup, lightly dabbed the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief, then took a business card from her handbag and handed it to Xu Huo. "I'll be returning to my hometown this afternoon and will stay there for the foreseeable future. Young man, if you have time, you can come and chat. The scenery there is beautiful too."
"Definitely." Xu Huo took the card and watched her leave.
The people in the lounge dispersed. Xu Huo called over the waiter, who had come to deliver fruit plates for the sixth time. "Send these plates to my room."
Then he looked at the Painting Woman, who had barely rested at the next table. "Still want to eat?"
Of course she did.
The Painting Woman had long grown bored of listening. The only reason she hadn't gone out shopping was her empty wallet. Now that she could go out, she was all for it.
The hotel staff recommended several specialty restaurants nearby. They weren't far, so Xu Huo planned to check them out. The restaurants were bustling, with many people waiting outside, but there wasn't a crowd pushing and shoving, because some people used small aircraft or robots to hold their place in line. Even so, someone once again set their sights on the Painting Woman's backpack.