Fang Huan Xing had slipped back into the underground mall because he wanted to keep a low profile. He was quiet to begin with, and when the members of Group Three saw him suddenly return, they did not ask many questions.
He had lain awake in bed because the familiar rhythm of the fluctuations kept stirring up old memories, and also because of something He Zhen had said earlier: “Too many detectors interfere with the spatial phase regulator.”
But he had not expected Shang Lu to follow him back too.
Now keeping a low profile was impossible. He Zhen had heard that the two members of Group Seven had returned and came over with San Tiao.
From a distance, when Shang Lu saw the woman and dog approaching, he lowered his voice and said to Fang Huan Xing, “Looks like we can’t move together anymore. You go. There aren’t any instruments interfering right now, so take your time and look for whatever you’re trying to find. I’ll keep her occupied.”
Fang Huan Xing froze, not even having time to change his expression.
Shang Lu… trusted him that much?
“Go.” Shang Lu lightly patted him on the back, urging him on.
Fang Huan Xing said nothing more and turned away.
Shang Lu watched him leave, noticeably less brisk than usual, and thought, Following someone around in the middle of the night really is a little creepy.
He Zhen had already reached him. “What’s up, Group Leader Bird? You came back because you thought of some crucial clue?”
“I couldn’t sleep anyway, so I wanted to take another look at the scene.” Shang Lu checked his watch. “I’ll also have Diva scan the space, then compare the results with what you learned from the trapped people.”
San Tiao trotted over to sniff his pant leg, its wagging tail thumping happily against the fabric.
Shang Lu asked, “When are you giving my dog back?”
“I’ve always respected the dog’s wishes.” He Zhen yawned sleepily. San Tiao pawed at her boot, demanding to be picked up, so she lifted it into her arms and said, “See? There’s nothing I can do.”
Shang Lu: “…”
He Zhen complained, “I know saving people comes first, but seriously, what kind of workaholic are you… Don’t worry. We questioned every trapped person in detail. From what we know so far, each of them is in a small section of the folded space, not a complete ‘Tongxiang North Road Station.’ And they can only move within a limited range, so none of them can see the whole thing. We still need to piece those areas together and see whether we can reconstruct a map of the folded space.”
Shang Lu said, “We can also use the shoe store and convenience store Li Bei Shan mentioned, plus the stairs, platforms, and other structures Miao Chang described in the new recording Jia Ying brought back. Once we draw the maps of the two spaces and compare them, we can identify safe zones that exist in the folded space as well.”
Zhou Jia Ying had spent the afternoon making the rounds, found Miao Chang, and asked him about the Tongxiang North Road Station he remembered, making a detailed recording of his account. She had not expected it to become useful so quickly.
This was not a complicated case. Ideally, once they identified the safe zones, they would also have identified safe landing points for the trapped people.
For example, they could spread safety mats beneath those hanging from the ceiling or floating in midair, and guide the people trapped inside walls toward places with no walls or with enough clear space around a person, ensuring that when the spatial-folding state was lifted, all six trapped people would land in safe zones at the same time.
Elio’s Notes: The chapter reads 接触 here, literally “come into contact with,” but the surrounding explanation is clearly about the moment the spatial-folding state is lifted. We’ve translated the intended sense.
The difficult part was the strange reality-baseline fluctuation. The Anomalous Case Department had been unable to pin down the data. If this dragged on for several days, the trapped people would run out of food and water, and the injured man could not wait that long.
“Right, that’s how it works in theory.” He Zhen nodded, then asked curiously, “There really is someone deliberately causing fusion disease and creating these interference spaces? Your investigation hasn’t gone off course, has it?”
Shang Lu said, “I hope it has gone off course. But every recent case points in that direction. Take this case alone. Someone mentioned Tongxiang North Road Station several months ago, and now six unrelated people all believe it exists and have become trapped at the same time. Don’t you find that strange?”
He Zhen thought for a moment, rubbing San Tiao’s head twice. “What you mean is… someone is creating another reality?”
Positional overlap and interference both damaged the uniqueness of reality.
That was the conclusion scientists and the Anomalous Case Department had reached after years of research.
But creating another reality was something else entirely. How could that possibly be done?
Shang Lu asked instead, “What if another reality already exists?”
The words sent a jolt through He Zhen. Seeing that he was not joking at all, her expression turned grave. “You’re saying parallel worlds really exist.”
Not the many different reality possibilities that arise as everything develops, but another complete timeline that had developed in parallel with the current world.
“I’m only speculating. There’s no evidence to support it yet,” Shang Lu said. “Scholars have already proposed that the mirages we see and the various forms of interference we receive may not simply come from the destruction of reality’s uniqueness. They may also come from a parallel world, from another reality very similar to ours.”
A scholar?
Or Shang Lu’s father?
Shang Lu’s family background had always been a topic of gossip within the agency. He himself had never avoided the subject, but no one had ever asked him about it to his face.
Twenty years ago, the cosmologist Shang Hong Hui, who had been born into immense wealth, boarded a spacecraft with his wife and went into space. They had never been heard from again, leaving behind their only son. It was an open secret everyone knew.
He Zhen looked at him as though she wanted to say something, but in the end she let it go. Instead, she said, “Once this case is over, we need to report this to the higher-ups as soon as possible. If what you’re saying is true, I’m sure the clue you’re investigating now won’t be the only one.”
After saying that, she reached out and stroked the dog’s head too.
It was rare for the two of them not to be sniping at each other, but that did not make He Zhen any less nosy. “So what exactly is your relationship with the new Xiao Fang? Director Chen made an exception to hire him too, so are you old acquaintances?”
What kind of relationship?
Shang Lu truly had never thought about it. Was it curiosity? Or had he seen another version of himself in Fang Huan Xing in certain ways?
He could not figure it out no matter how he thought about it, so he answered, “First you stole my dog, then you tried to steal my team member, and now you’ve got your eye on my intern too? Have some decency, Group Leader He.”
＊
Intern Xiao Fang walked through the underground mall alone.
He moved through every passage and past every shop, stopping and starting as he went. He did not approach anything for a closer look, only sensed each fluctuation. With no detectors running and no dozens of people moving in and out, the spatial phase regulator had also stopped testing, probably because Shang Lu had arranged it using some perfectly respectable-sounding excuse.
Fang Huan Xing returned to the aquarium. The fish were still swimming through their glass tanks, water shimmering beneath the lights.
The police officer inside was dozing. The trapped man hanging from the ceiling was tired too, his two legs now folded into a cross-legged sitting posture.
The water here made Fang Huan Xing slightly dizzy.
This was the right place.
He closed his eyes, and memories from childhood surged up again. This time, they became exceptionally clear.
It was an egg-shaped sealed pod. He was curled up inside it, his entire body surrounded by water, able to see the scene outside only through the viewing window.
Beep…
The sound of precision equipment starting up.
“NOVA, look straight ahead. The next time you hear the sound, tell me what you observe.”
Someone said this to him.
Not far from him stood another egg-shaped sealed pod, and inside it was another child submerged in water.
That child was not very obedient. His pod was connected to an electroshock device, and after every beep, an electric current would stimulate his brain.
“K. Remember, this time you need to alter the position of the picture. Do you understand?”
Fang Huan Xing heard the person outside move to the other side and rap on that child’s sealed pod, their tone extremely stern.
“Don’t make me punish you.”
Around them came several more faint sounds. The water carried them outward in every direction, forming wave after wave of fluctuations that spread through the space.
In the silent underground mall, the fish swam without a sound.
Ripples of reflected light trembled across the water. The faint sounds followed the fluctuations, washing toward Fang Huan Xing layer by layer.
He opened his eyes. In just a few seconds, he had already accessed different reality possibilities and determined the different directions the sounds were coming from.
It wasn’t one module.
There were several.
Smaller. More sophisticated. All using the same pulse.
“What are you doing?” The police officer woke at the noise and, seeing that it was someone from the Anomalous Case Department, quickly asked, “Need a hand?”
Fang Huan Xing was moving a ladder. He placed it beneath the ceiling. “Hold this for me.”
The officer did as he asked and warned him to be careful. “You can’t see anyone up there. There’s only this half of him.”
Fang Huan Xing could not be bothered to explain.
He opened one of the ceiling panels. The trapped Mr. Li was already awake. Naturally, there was still no sign of him above the ceiling, only his voice. “What’s wrong? Have you thought of a way?”
Fang Huan Xing was silent for a moment, then asked, “Mr. Li, don’t talk for a bit. Try listening and see whether you can hear a very faint sound on your side.”
Mr. Li asked, “What kind of sound?”
“A strange one.” Fang Huan Xing searched for the right description. “Like tinnitus.”
“Yes, yes, there is!” Mr. Li hurriedly said. “I didn’t notice when there were a lot of people around, but once fewer people were here and everything got quiet, my ears started ringing! How did you know?”
Fang Huan Xing expressionlessly pulled out his phone.
Shang Lu was still discussing safe landing points within the folded space with He Zhen. It was the first time he had seen the brat’s name appear on his phone, and he found the sight oddly novel.
He answered and said gently, “What’s wrong, Xiao Xing?”
He Zhen gave him a strange look. There really was no need to stake his claim like that. She was not trying to steal him, okay?
From the other end of the call came Fang Huan Xing’s calm voice. “Come here.”
Shang Lu was amused. No respect for your seniors at all. Who exactly are you ordering to come over?
He lowered his voice. “Come where?”
Fang Huan Xing said, “The aquarium.”
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