# 869
Chapter 870: Discord
Everyone fell silent as they stared at the dead bird on the ground.
"This is…" Baili Pangpang gazed at the scene, frozen in place.
Lin Qiye and An Qingyu quickly raised their heads toward the sky. Four or five birds were locked in combat in the distant heavens, shrieking mournfully while attacking each other. Blood-soaked, broken feathers continuously drifted down from above, carried by the wind into the distance…
One bird after another was pecked and fell. In the end, only one blood-soaked bird remained alive in the sky.
It let out a sharp cry, flapped its wings unsteadily, and gradually vanished from their sight.
"I think I understand how those insects died…" Cao Yuan murmured to himself.
"They killed each other?" Lin Qiye frowned at the insect and ant remains in the dirt pit, his eyes full of confusion. "Why?"
An Qingyu was silent for a moment before shaking her head. "I don't know."
"By the way." At this moment, Shen Qingzhu seemed to think of something. "You just said that time here is a closed loop, and when it reaches its end, everything and everyone here gets reset, returning to its initial state…
So what about us?
Will we return to the starting point too?"
Hearing this question, An Qingyu thought carefully, her expression grave as she spoke. "If the situation here is truly as I've hypothesized—a time loop that constantly 'ends' and 'restarts'—then most likely we cannot return to the starting point of this time period.
Think of it like an adventure game. When you save at a checkpoint, the system only records and preserves the state at that moment. We are latecomers who entered afterward. The save file here doesn't have our information. Once time here reaches its end and restarts…
We will be like dust on the closed loop, directly erased by time."
Baili Pangpang's face immediately turned ashen.
"Erased by time? Is it that serious?"
"The power of time's laws is something we simply cannot contend with." An Qingyu said seriously. "Our only way out is to find a method to leave here before the loop ends."
"But we don't even know when it starts or ends."
"No, we already know the starting time." Lin Qiye picked up the invoice. "The last time the canteen restocked was the evening before yesterday, meaning the starting point of the loop should be yesterday, coinciding with when we entered this fishing village… Perhaps that's also why we stumbled into this place."
"But the ending time of the loop is unknown. It could be tomorrow, it could be this afternoon, or it could be… this very second."
"So while we're standing here talking, the loop might already be reaching its end, directly erasing us?" Baili Pangpang couldn't help but complain. "That's way too intense!"
"Theoretically yes, but I don't think it will happen that fast." An Qingyu hypothesized. "As I just said, I don't believe this loop appeared here for no reason. Its existence must be accompanied by some cause we haven't yet discovered. Before this 'cause' triggers a 'consequence,' the loop won't simply end."
An Qingyu's words were too profound. Besides Lin Qiye and Shen Qingzhu, most people were completely lost, but they had all realized the urgency of time.
"There's another question." Shen Qingzhu slowly spoke. "If this loop started yesterday, then what happened to the [Mask] Squad, who entered this fishing village several days before us?"
The air suddenly became quiet.
Lin Qiye stood frozen, a certain thought rising in his mind before he forcibly suppressed it.
After a moment of silence, An Qingyu still answered truthfully. "The [Mask] Squad entered the fishing village ten days ago. They should have entered the previous or the one before that time loop here. Like us, they were outsiders, not included in the restart queue. Since we didn't see them in this loop…
They may have already been erased."
"Impossible!" Baili Pangpang was the first to jump out in objection. "That's the [Mask]! How could they be erased so easily?!"
"I agree." Cao Yuan immediately followed. "Their not appearing here doesn't mean they were definitely erased. What if they found a way to leave before the loop ended?"
"If they successfully escaped, why didn't we see them in the outside world?" An Qingyu asked back.
Cao Yuan was left speechless.
"Maybe they, like we were back then, were sent to a different time? Maybe they were sent somewhere else and didn't have time to come back?" Baili Pangpang's speaking speed gradually increased, as if he was becoming anxious.
"These are all your guesses. While it's possible, the probability is too slim."
"Then your loop, erasure—all of that is also just guesswork!"
"That's reasonable speculation based on existing clues."
"No matter what! I don't believe the [Mask] Squad would be wiped out in a place like this!"
"[Mask] is also human. They also bleed, also die. You can't deny facts because of your subjective impressions!"
"Bullshit facts!"
An Qingyu and Baili Pangpang's voices grew louder and faster. Baili Pangpang's face flushed red, as if arguing had stirred up his temper, while An Qingyu's brow furrowed tighter beside him, showing no intention of backing down.
"Shut up!"
Lin Qiye bellowed, drowning out both their voices.
Lin Qiye's gaze swept over the two of them,威严 appearing in his eyes as he shouted, "What are you arguing about? Is this the time for arguing? Whether the [Mask] Squad is dead or alive, our primary objective is to find a way out of here!
If we can't leave before the loop ends, we'll all die here!"
Seeing everyone quiet down, Lin Qiye took a deep breath and continued, "If it's truly as Qingyu said—that this time loop was caused by someone or some object—then it will inevitably cause some supernatural abnormalities. Let's split up to search like we did last night. The moment you discover any clues, immediately notify the others."
"Dismissed!"
As Lin Qiye's words fell, Baili Pangpang secretly glanced at An Qingyu, seeming to want to say something, but after hesitation, he shook his head and walked alone toward the other side of the fishing village.
"Qiye…" An Qingyu took off his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose with his right hand, brow furrowed, looking somewhat exhausted. "Sorry, I wasn't purposely confronting Pangpang just now, I…"
"It's fine. I know you were just speaking the truth." Lin Qiye patted his shoulder, consoling him. "Pangpang seems carefree on the surface, but his thoughts are actually quite delicate. In his heart, [Mask] is more than just a special squad… He just hopes they're safe."
"No, that's not what I meant." An Qingyu put his glasses back on, those bloodshot eyes looking at Lin Qiye seriously. "I couldn't control my emotions… That's very wrong."