"I know how to get back."
Everyone turned to look at Tong Yang in unison, their expressions a mix of shock and hope.
"Really?"
"How?"
"He Jingjing, we need you to guide us." Tong Yang tucked the butterfly knife back at her waist, her eyes gleaming with intense focus.
If her guess was correct, then the initiative wouldn't lie entirely in the hands of the parallel world; they could also pierce through the barrier between worlds!
"What?" He Jingjing asked, confused.
"Tong Yang, explain first, what exactly is going on?"
"No time to explain, we need to get back to the seventh-floor rest area first," Tong Yang said.
"Listen to Tong Yang, let's go back to the seventh floor."
"Let's go!"
Tong Yang's group hurried through the corridor. They passed the bride who had been tortured beyond recognition and the man who resembled a zombie with a yellow talisman stuck to him, finally arriving before the escalator entrance blocked by blackout cloth.
Tong Yang used her knife to slit the cloth open. A sliver of bright light spilled in from outside. Working together, they tore away a section of the cloth and discovered that, at some unknown point, the lights on the entire seventh floor had come on.
Simultaneously, countless figures were shuffling along the oval-shaped corridor of the seventh floor. Their expressions were numb, and they held rusted weapons, gathering towards the escalator at an excruciatingly slow pace, like a tide of ants.
"Oh no! Are they the Order Keepers?"
"We can't go back to the seventh floor! Tong Yang, what do we do?"
"There are too many of them... hundreds..."
"We're finished..."
Seeing this, Tong Yang's face paled slightly.
Until now, every time she had gained the upper hand against the monsters of the parallel world—aside from those that appeared alone—it was because of rule restrictions, exploiting loopholes in the rules.
But now they had actively broken the rules. The Order Keepers' sole purpose was to eliminate and kill them. With no rules to restrict them, facing a tidal wave of monster-like beings that only knew how to execute commands, Tong Yang had no confidence she could kill them all unscathed.
"What do we do?"
"We can't go back to the seventh floor. We need to find a way to the ninth floor."
"But how do we get up there without stairs?"
Tong Yang said gravely, "There should be a way. If the game continues, we'll eventually reach the ninth floor. Come on, let's find it!"
"Split up—"
"We can't split up!" Tong Yang cut them off. "Not now. If we separate, we might never regroup."
"Go!"
Some Order Keepers had already reached the escalator. It wouldn't be long before they came up!
"Hurry!"
The midnight cinema seemed to have only one visible corridor, with stairs leading down at the entrance. Perhaps there was an upward escalator at the other end, past the screening rooms.
No Order Keepers had appeared on the eighth floor; they were all on the seventh. This suggested the Order Keepers could only ascend from the seventh floor. While they didn't know what awaited on the ninth floor, it was likely safer by comparison.
If they could reach the ninth floor first and completely block the stairway, they might just have a chance to escape this place!
Panicked, hurried footsteps echoed in the corridor. Despite ragged breaths and cold sweat dripping, they didn't dare stop or look back. They ran through the closed, suffocating hallway, then
used the dim light from the screening room number plates to barely make out the path underfoot.
"Tong Yang, this way!"
In the gloom, a strange voice suddenly called out from Screening Room One.
"Keep going straight. Don't trust anyone else," Tong Yang instructed.
The corridor past the screening rooms was much longer than imagined. They passed Screening Rooms One, Two, Three... Seven, Eight, yet the path ahead seemed endless. No branching paths, just this one corridor.
"Come in here!"
"Come in and you can hide!"
"Tong Yang!"
"Chu Shiyu!"
"Why won't you listen? Get in here!"
"Watching a movie? Let's watch a movie together!"
...
The safety exit doors of the screening rooms they passed stood open, strange, enticing voices spilling from within. Looking at the pitch-black doorways, it wasn't hard to imagine the dangers that awaited if they stepped inside.
[Help...]
[Sister Tong, are you guys okay?]
[Oh my god!]
[So many sounds—footsteps, breathing, crying, and some people speaking in very strange tones...]
[It's over, it's over! What do we do? I've searched all over the internet for news related to this incident. Besides the death toll, there are no specific details. I can't help at all!]
[Sister Tong, what exactly is the method to return to the real world?]
[Do we have to get back to the seventh floor?]
"Ahhhhh!"
"Shut up, damn it! Am I an idiot? Go in and watch a movie with you?"
"So annoying! I want to kill them!"
"Where is the stairway to the ninth floor? Those things are going to catch up soon!"
"Wuwuwu... what do we do? It's so scary..."
Beads of sweat formed on Tong Yang's forehead. Given the current situation, even if she could trigger a time loop, it would be useless. She'd only go back ten minutes before the time of death, still trapped in the parallel world.
Tong Yang had indeed figured out a way to return to the real world, and it didn't necessarily have to be done on the seventh floor.
However, actively crossing between worlds seemed to require several conditions: First, a dark environment; second, a quiet environment; third, a sufficiently safe period of time to follow instructions, creating chaos within order or order within chaos; fourth, and most crucially, for humans from the real world to actively cross, they needed guidance from someone originally from the parallel world.
The first time they actively entered the parallel world, their guide was Dr. Wu. The first time they actively left, their guide was Ye Huai.
This time, after being passively pulled into the liminal space between the two worlds, the voice from the broadcast guided them through the crossings.
If Ye Huai's background and his final speculation that day were correct—that he was sent to the real world by Ye Tianlin from the parallel world for treatment—then these three guides who helped them traverse the world barrier shared one common trait: they all originated from the parallel world!
But based on these speculations alone, Tong Yang couldn't be certain. She then thought of "Chu Shiyu."
The implication of her words was that the eight of them had already met the basic conditions for leaving the parallel world; they only lacked the method.
Then, the only uniquely special person among the eight who could serve as a condition was He Jingjing, who came from the parallel world!
As long as they were in a dark, quiet, safe place, with He Jingjing's guidance, they could return to the real world.
If they could reach the ninth floor early, block the entrance to buy enough time, they would have a chance to escape!
"Screening Room Thirty-Four?"
"How big is this place?"
"Running like this isn't sustainable; we're burning too much energy!"
"And I feel like the corridor isn't straight. We might end up running into a dead end!"
...
"The footsteps are getting closer, what do we do?"
Indeed, the corridor had a curved section. If things continued like this, and there was no staircase entrance to the ninth floor at the end of the corridor, they would be doomed.
"Come in!"
"Let's watch a movie together!"
"Don't be afraid..."
Tong Yang gritted her teeth. What to do? If they entered the screening room and the order enforcers caught up, they'd be like fish in a barrel. But if they kept going forward and reached a dead end with no exit, it would be just as fatal.
How could she make the absolutely correct decision?
She needed an option with a one hundred percent success rate.
One hundred percent...
Besides exams, was there really such a thing as a one hundred percent correct choice?
Although she strived for perfect accuracy on tests, almost everything else in life carried the risk of losing something.
Just like when she decided to leave the old district, wondering whether to take Tong Le with her.
Their current situation wasn't an exam. It wasn't something where a little more effort could eliminate all risk.
So, Tong Yang couldn't make a decision with a one hundred percent success rate.
"You go in," Tong Yang said in a low voice. "Kill the people inside the screening room."
If the other screening rooms were like numbers one, two, and three, with seats occupied by parallel world humans who had their fingers chopped off and eyes gouged out, then the risk might be smaller.
Of course, that was assuming the order enforcers wouldn't enter the screening rooms.
"We go in? What about you?"
"I'm going to check if the entrance to the ninth floor is at the end of the corridor."
And to test whether the order enforcers would choose to follow her or enter the screening room where the others were hiding.
"You alone? No! It's too dangerous!"
"Didn't you say we shouldn't split up? What if the corridor ends in a dead end?"
Tong Yang didn't answer, continuing to run forward. "Chu Shiyu, if the order enforcers follow you into the screening room, or if you think it's too dangerous inside and you're about to be killed by them within ten minutes, I'll use the time loop to save you once I find the staircase. If they don't enter and you can handle the situation inside, try opening the left emergency exit and see where that door leads."
The screening room had two doors: an entrance and an exit.
"No matter if that door leads to the ninth floor or not, within ten minutes, have He Jingjing(Sister) kill you, understand?"
"That means, no matter what, within ten minutes of entering the screening room, you must die once. Of course, I must die once too."
"But if neither scenario works, we might die here countless times, until we find the passage to the ninth floor."
Only Chu Shiyu understood the meaning behind her words.
If they entered the screening room and were killed by the order enforcers or the people inside, once Tong Yang found the staircase and initiated the loop, time would revert to ten minutes before the first death. They would be back in the corridor during the escape, able to make a different choice. If they entered the screening room, the order enforcers didn't follow, and they dealt with the people inside, Chu Shiyu still had to die within ten minutes. The remaining people would open the other emergency door. Regardless of whether Tong Yang found the passage, she would initiate the loop, returning them to the corridor.
Of course, if the other door in the screening room led to the ninth floor, after the first loop they could all enter the screening room together and pry the door open to leave. If that door wasn't an exit, they would have to keep searching for other methods, dying and looping repeatedly.
Until they found the passage, or until Tong Yang could no longer initiate the loop.
Chu Shiyu stopped, taking a deep breath. "I understand, Tong Yang. Be careful."
"You too."
"What does that mean..."
"Hey! What on earth..."
"Stop talking, get in!"
Chu Shiyu turned and ran into a screening room. The others, though confused, gritted their teeth and followed her inside.
"A thousand bucks per loop."
Tong Yang's clear voice rang out in the corridor.
Chu Shiyu: "..."
Worrying about money at a time like this!
[Wait, what does time loop mean?]
[Seriously, Tong Yang, how come we didn't know about this?]
[Let's see how many more secrets you're hiding.]
[Time loop... ten minutes...]
[Is the time loop only ten minutes?]
The headset buzzed with chatter. Tong Yang didn't explain. After all, she would have to initiate at least one loop, returning to before she said these words, so the people in the group wouldn't remember what she had said.
Although the people in the gossip group had more or less helped Tong Yang, she didn't fully trust every single one of them. Compared to the temporally displaced connection through the internet, she trusted what she could see before her eyes more.
The appearance of the gossip group was too coincidental and too eerie. If there were ill-intentioned people mixed in, deliberately feeding her wrong information, that would be disastrous.
"You'll know once you've died once," Tong Yang said.
After prolonged tension and running, Tong Yang's breathing was ragged, her voice trembling slightly.
[I'll pass, then.]
[I'm young, I want to live a few more years.]
[Forget it, now's not the time for this. Be careful, Tong Yang.]
[If there aren't too many of them, maybe we could fight back. But it looks like there are probably quite a few.]
After parting ways with Chu Shiyu and the others, Tong Yang didn't leave immediately. She needed to confirm whether the order enforcers would continue chasing her or enter the screening room. This was also a chance to catch her breath.
The corridor had a curved section. Tong Yang leaned against the cold wall, panting heavily.
Chu Shiyu had led them into Screening Room Thirty-seven. The right emergency exit door was already closed, though it could be opened easily from the outside.
Less than two minutes later, dense footsteps echoed in the corridor. The sound was thick and clear, causing a slight vibration through the floor, like countless bees swarming toward her through the passage.
Tong Yang leaned against the wall, closed her eyes for a moment to steel herself. She held an iron rod in her hand and had a butterfly knife tucked at her waist, ready to fight back if necessary.
Finally, amidst the approaching footsteps, several people walked out side by side. They looked similar to most of the parallel world humans Tong Yang had encountered before—numb and placid, like pre-programmed automatons.
They looked at the closed emergency door of Screening Room Thirty-seven, gripped their weapons, and stepped forward, reaching for the door handle.
Suddenly, a loud clang echoed through the quiet corridor, instantly drawing the attention of the order enforcers.
"Sorry, my hand slipped." Tong Yang bent down to pick up the iron rod, then waved at them. "Wrong place. Over here."
The man at the front of the group swiveled his eyes, looking at the composed Tong Yang standing in the corridor. He slowly released the door handle, turned, and resumed chasing after Tong Yang.
"Come on." Tong Yang took a few steps back, and when she saw the order enforcers following them all bypass Screening Room 37 and chase after her instead, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Immediately after, she turned and continued running forward.
Tong Yang deliberately lured away the order enforcers. Of course, it wasn't because she wanted to leave a sliver of hope for the people in the screening room. Rather, she needed them to have time to confirm where the other emergency exit led.
In the corridor, they could only see the door on one side of the screening room, meaning the other exit led to a different place.
If it led to the ninth floor or another enclosed space, they could find a chance to escape.
Moreover, whether the order enforcers followed her or not, and whether there was a staircase at the end of the corridor, she would have to enter one cycle anyway. So, it was better to leave more time for Chu Shiyu and the others.
This was the choice Tong Yang made at a life-or-death juncture—a choice only she could make, with an eighty percent chance of being correct.
She was gambling. Either the corridor's end was a passage to the ninth floor, or the door on the other side of the screening room led to a passage to the ninth floor, or to a place where they could be temporarily safe.
Most importantly, Tong Yang hadn't told the others the specific method to return to the real world. Even after she left, as long as He Jingjing (Sister) was there, they could return to the real world directly once they were safe.
Tong Yang hadn't told them this, of course, because she had no intention of creating a safe space for them, sacrificing herself to let them return to the real world.
The only thing that could make her sacrifice her own interests was if the outcome of the event would bring her even greater benefits.
She was the only one who knew how to leave. Either she left with the others, or the others stayed trapped here with her.
She would absolutely never simply sacrifice herself for others' sake.
Since death seemed inevitable anyway, Tong Yang simply stopped wasting energy. Noticing that the pursuing order enforcers weren't very fast—probably due to their large numbers and the corridor with walls on both sides, they were even slower than a normal person's walking pace—it was just that the endless stream of order enforcers pushing from behind caused some to be shoved forward. As long as Tong Yang maintained a light jog, she could keep the same distance from them.
Perhaps because more and more people were crowding from behind, the order enforcers at the front were too slow. Some, unable to keep up, were directly pushed to the ground. The people behind paid no heed, stepping right over those on the floor.
Tong Yang glanced back. The people on the ground had been trampled into a bloody, unrecognizable pulp; one person's eyeball had even been stepped out.
Not knowing how many people there were, nor the situation with Chu Shiyu and the others, Tong Yang could only choose to keep moving forward.
At the same time, in Screening Room 37.
Xu Junyue and Chu Shiyu worked in tandem, left and right, killing the nearest few people from parallel worlds.
"All those people have been lured away by Tong Yang!"
Hu Shuo, who was listening for movement outside the door, shouted.
In Screening Room 37, there were only a few people capable of moving. The seats also didn't have people with gouged-out eyes and severed fingers like in Screening Rooms One, Two, and Three.
"But what about Tong Yang? She's alone..." He Jingjing said, her face ashen.
Xu Junyue kicked away a corpse in front of her and shook the weapon in her hand. "Didn't she say it herself? She has to die at least once, then come back to save us."
Zhou Jingyun said, "She was probably just lying to lure those people away and leave us a sliver of hope."
"Tong Yang... she's so young. I should have been the one to lure those people away..."
He Jingjing choked up. "How could she be so foolish? I doubted her before, said harsh things to her. I never thought that to save us, she would actually lure those monsters away alone..."
Tao Bai sighed. "Let's think of a way to save her."
"Sister, I think Tong Yang really has a way; she's not lying to us," He Jingjing (Sister) said.
Hearing their tearful words, Chu Shiyu couldn't help but twitch the corner of her mouth. "Relax. How could Tong Yang possibly sacrifice herself to leave the way out for us? Didn't you hear her say one cycle costs a thousand bucks? And it's not a thousand total for all of us; it's a thousand per person. Though it's cheaper than before—probably because doing this is unavoidable."
"Really?"
"You've really experienced this before?"
"Tong Yang can come back to life?"
"Damn! That's so incredible!"
Chu Shiyu didn't continue explaining to them. "I have less than ten minutes left. Let's open the door to the left passage first."
"Okay, let's do it."
"Pry it open!"
"Someone strong, come here."
"I'll do it! I'll do it!"
Tong Yang walked along the corridor. Three minutes later, she saw the end.
Tong Yang's gaze darkened. At the end, there was no staircase as she had imagined, but a screening room numbered sixty-one.
The number plate outside the screening room emitted an eerie glow. The emergency exit door was wide open, pitch black inside.
If this was truly the end, Tong Yang had to go in and take a look.
She continued forward. As she approached Screening Room 61, the lights suddenly turned on.
Screening Room 61 lit up. Several figures appeared behind the door, waving at her.
"Long time no see, Tong Yang."
"We meet again."
"I told you we'd meet again."
Tong Yang looked at the three people behind the door, her expression shadowed.
"Tao Bai" stepped aside to make way, bending in a gentlemanly bow. "Please, come in."
"Chu Shiyu" and "Hu Shuo" stood behind the door, giving her peaceful smiles.
"Tong Yang, come in. They'll catch up soon," "Chu Shiyu" reminded, thinking herself friendly.
Only five minutes had passed since separating from Chu Shiyu and the others. Tong Yang wanted to buy them as much time as possible to open the door before entering the cycle.
Chu Shiyu, having experienced this with her a few times, knew the ten-minute mark was crucial for them and probably wouldn't make any mistakes.
Tong Yang also wanted to see what these three people from parallel worlds were up to.
"Please, come in."
"Thank you."
Tong Yang walked past them without a sideways glance, entering Screening Room 61.
"Chu Shiyu" walked to the door and made a shushing gesture to the order enforcers chasing down the corridor. "There are people in Screening Room 37 too. You go over there."
Tong Yang gave her a cold look but didn't stop her.
Even if she wanted to, she probably couldn't.
"What do you want?"
Tong Yang stood in the screening room, noticing the vast space contained only the three of them.
"Don't be nervous."
"Which eye of mine sees me as nervous?" Tong Yang drew the butterfly knife from her waist. "Although killing you now is pretty useless, I can still grant you that wish once."
"Chu Shiyu" shrugged. "I don't want to die yet."
"Those people outside won't get in for a while. Let's talk."
Tong Yang toyed with the butterfly knife in her hand, smiling as she asked, "Talk about what?"
"What do you think is the difference between the First World and the Shadow World?"
"The First World? The Shadow World? You think you're worthy of those names?"
"Tao Bai" smiled slightly, "It's the Surface World and the Inner World."
Tong Yang sneered, "Of course there's a big difference. Don't you have some kind of self-destruction plan?"
"Chu Shiyu" stuck out her tongue, "That plan is just to reduce unnecessary resource waste."
"That's slaughter."
"It is not." She seemed displeased with Tong Yang's words and shook her head, "We gave them a choice. Either become Order Keepers, or win the selection. It's their own fault for being useless."
Tong Yang looked at her with a half-smile, "I see."
So, the people missing a few screws in their heads were the Order Keepers, and those participating in the self-destruction slaughter games were the ones who refused to become Order Keepers.
"So, you are the ones who won the selection? Seems no different from the real world."
"Right! But we didn't participate in the selection. That's something for the lower class to do."
"Lower class..." Tong Yang narrowed her eyes meaningfully. It seemed the composition of the parallel world was more complex than she had imagined.
"Hey, she's fishing for information. Can't you tell?"
"Hu Shuo," sitting to the side, shot "Chu Shiyu" a look of disdain.
Tong Yang watched the three thoughtfully. Based on the current situation, the people she had encountered before were basically from the lower society. They only had two choices: become Order Keepers or participate in the self-destruction games. The three before her likely belonged to the middle society, taking orders from the upper society, organizing the destruction games for the lower society, and doing the dirty, dangerous work on behalf of the upper echelon.
The upper society only needed to issue commands and enjoy the resources.
It resembled a severe form of capitalism.
"Chu Shiyu" mumbled, "So what? They'll all be dead soon anyway."
"Didn't Tong Yang mention the ten-minute time loop? What if they don't die?"
"Then we get Tong Yang to join us."
The corner of Tong Yang's mouth lifted in a somewhat sarcastic smile, "Why should I?"
"In the Shadow World, you have nothing tying you down except your brother. If you join us, you and your brother can enjoy all our resources."
Tong Yang retorted, "Do you think your so-called resources are enough to make me betray the real world?"
"Of course! The First World's technology is more advanced than yours. Genetic medicine can even—"
"Hey!"
"Hu Shuo" cut her off in time, "You just said she wasn't that clever, and now she's almost gotten everything out of you."
"Chu Shiyu" covered her mouth and glared at Tong Yang, "You were fishing for information?"
Tong Yang remained expressionless, "No."
"Chu Shiyu" sighed in relief, "She said no. Don't talk nonsense."
"Idiot."
"Tao Bai" walked up to her, his smile turning colder. "Miss Tong, actually, there's no real difference between people from the Surface World and the Inner World."
"The cruelty of the Surface World is exposed on the outside. The cruelty of the Inner World is hidden within."
"So?" Tong Yang pressed her fingertip against the blade of her knife, silently calculating the time.
"Tao Bai" held something resembling a microphone. "Want to try?"
"Try what?"
"Try to see how they differ from us."
He pressed a switch, and a red light lit up.
"Order Keepers will break down the door in three minutes."
His voice sounded both in front of Tong Yang and over the broadcast.
Tong Yang watched him quietly, unsure what he was trying to do.
"You broke the rules. Even if you complete the game, you won't be sent back to the real world. However, Tong Yang holds high research value for us."
"If this continues, none of you will escape death."
"Tong Yang, you have a choice."
Tong Yang's expression was calm. "What choice?"
"First, die in the parallel world with the other players. Second, promise to stay in the parallel world forever, and we will send the others back."
Tong Yang's gaze was heavy. This kind of either-or scenario, accompanied by sacrifice and selflessness.
She hated sacrifice, hated paving the way for others with her own sacrifice.
At the same time, this conversation played over the broadcast in Screening Room Thirty-Seven.
"What does this mean?"
"Leave Tong Yang here alone and send us back?"
"Tong Yang wouldn't agree, right?"
"There really are a lot of Order Keepers outside the door! What do we do?"
"Tong Yang, don't choose!"
"Rather than leaving her here alone, we might as well all die together!"
...
...
"I refuse."
Tong Yang's resolute voice came through the broadcast.
Perhaps Tong Yang refused too decisively; everyone in Screening Room Thirty-Seven was momentarily stunned.
"Why? You'd rather die here with them than sacrifice yourself to let more people return alive?"
"Why? Is the reason hard to understand?" Tong Yang's tone was flat, betraying no emotion. "Because I want to live too."
"I don't want to stay in the parallel world. Understood?"
There was a few seconds of silence over the broadcast before a male voice sounded. "Is that so."
"Even if everyone will die because of you?"
Tong Yang said, "They won't die because of me, but because of you, because of all of you, because of the parallel world."
"Don't just stand there, keep prying the door!" Xu Junyue kept working hard, turning back to find everyone had stopped.
Chu Shiyu frowned. "The ten minutes is almost up. Jingjing, get ready. Aim for my vital points, understand?"
He Jingjing (Sister) nodded solemnly. "I understand."
Then, a voice came over the broadcast again.
"Since you're unwilling to help them, I can help them."
"In the game conducted on the seventh floor, you identified the murderer and actively entered the parallel world."
"Now, under the guidance of Player Five, you can return to the real world."
Player Five was the only one among them from the parallel world—He Jingjing (Sister).
"The method of guidance is very simple: chaos and order."
"You have two more minutes of safe time, enough for you to return to the real world through the guidance."
"Two minutes later, the Order Keepers will enter Screening Room Thirty-Seven."
"Please make your choice."
A strange smile appeared at the corner of "Tao Bai's" mouth as he turned off the microphone connected to the broadcast.
"Tong Yang, do you think they, now that they clearly have a way to leave, will choose to die with you, or abandon you and return to the real world?"
Tong Yang looked at him calmly, a trace of confusion gradually appearing on her face. She asked, "What does their choice have to do with me?"
"Tao Bai" was slightly taken aback, his smile fading.
"They know the method to leave. They no longer need my help. What's strange about them returning to the real world just like that?"
A mocking smile curled at the corner of Tong Yang's lips. "Did you think making pointless sacrifices for others is justice, is kindness? You're so foolish it actually pains me."
"You don't actually think that if they leave like this, I'll see the true nature of humans? Discover that humans from both worlds are no different, then become disillusioned with the real world and ultimately join you?"
Tong Yang covered her eyes and laughed wildly, her laughter echoing in the empty Screening Room Sixty-One, filled with scorn and sarcasm.
"I really never expected you to be naive to this extent! I understand human nature far more clearly than you do."
[Ahhhhhhhhhhh!]
[Sister Tong, you are my goddess!]
[So cool, so cool, so cool! I want to be like Sister Tong!]
[Three idiots! Got put in your place, huh? Still trying to control my Sister Tong?]
[Marry! Marry! I want to marry Sister!]
[But... what if Sister Tong is left alone in the parallel world?]
[She'd be doomed for sure!]
[Even though I think Sister Tong makes sense, I still hope they don't abandon her, wuwuwu]
[Suddenly I feel so bad for Sister Tong. She just wants to live, just wants to go home, what's wrong with that?]
[She only killed a lot of people in the parallel world, one slash each, but she's still a weak and helpless little woman]
The headphones chattered noisily, but Tong Yang chose to ignore it all.
Tong Yang took a few steps back and sat down in the first-row seat, sweeping her hair behind her ear, looking at the three of them with composed ease.
"Thank you for going to such great lengths to put on this farce for me. To cooperate with you, and to avoid dragging other players into this further, you can kill me in fifteen minutes."
Death in fifteen minutes. If Chu Shiyu and the others chose to return to the real world, Tong Yang would loop back to ten minutes before her own death, by which time the others would already be gone from the parallel world.
Tong Yang's thinking was simple: she didn't like sacrificing herself for others, and she equally disliked sacrificing others for herself.
At worst, she'd just stay in the parallel world until she found another way to leave.
"You drew the Order Maintainers away alone to buy them a chance at survival. If they just abandon you and leave like this, aren't you angry?"
"Chu Shiyu" asked curiously.
"When did I ever say I split up to buy them a chance at survival?" Tong Yang leaned back in her seat, her expression indifferent. "I just made the choice with the highest probability of success."
Even if Tong Yang had actively told them the method to leave, and they then seized the chance to leave the parallel world, she would probably still just think herself incredibly foolish.
However, she wouldn't leave herself completely without a way out.
It's just that now, with others coming to cause trouble, the outcome was no longer within her control, so it didn't matter anymore.
She had tried her best; there was no need to blame fate or others.
"You're a really strange person," she tilted her head and muttered.
Tong Yang smiled, "The Chu Shiyu I know has said the same thing."
"Hu Shuo" asked, "Aren't you afraid of death at all?"
Tong Yang fell silent for a moment, feeling she might be going mad, never expecting to have a calm conversation with people from the parallel world one day.
"I'm not afraid of death, but I feel there are still many things I haven't done. I'm unwilling."
"Tong Yang, I actually think you're more suited to staying in our world."
Tong Yang said, "There's a 'me' in your world. If you need one, you can go find her. I really dislike you all."
"Why?"
"Because you want to kill me."
"Now we don't have to kill you, as long as you cooperate with us."
Tong Yang found this feeling quite strange, looking at the three people sharing the room with her. "You won't kill me?"
"Chu Shiyu" nodded and said, "Dr. Wu says you are a rare talent, definitely useful to us in the future. We shouldn't kill you unless absolutely necessary."
"The others won't kill me either?"
"Not at all." She shook her head. "Only Dr. Wu's people won't kill you."
"Isn't Dr. Wu your superior?"
"Superior? You mean the Upper Class? We have many Upper Class people, but they often have disagreements. So, only Dr. Wu's people won't kill you."
Tong Yang nodded, half-believing, half-doubting. "Your world actually has disagreements? I find that a bit hard to believe."
"Really!"
"What kind of disagreements? Tell me."
"Dr. Wu wants to eliminate the lower-class people in the Shadow World and share the world's resources with the Upper Class, but most of the Upper Class want to completely exterminate the Shadow World and monopolize all the resources."
Tong Yang snorted a laugh. "So, in that sense, Dr. Wu is a moderate?"
"Yeah, yeah! So listen to Dr. Wu and cooperate with us!"
Tong Yang gave her a noncommittal look. The two Chu Shiyus from the two worlds were quite different.
"Hu Shuo" sneered, "Why don't you just tell her the base password directly?"
"Can I say it?" she asked, surprised.
"Psycho."
[This young lady doesn't seem that smart]
[Sister Tong has pretty much tricked all the information out of her]
[Sister Tong's really got guts, she can still chat energetically with them around]
[I'd have been scared stiff long ago]
Tong Yang closed her eyes, quietly waiting for time to pass, not making a sound no matter how much "Chu Shiyu" pestered her.
If "Chu Shiyu" were a complete and utter fool, she wouldn't have survived this long in the parallel world.
When she was saying those things earlier, neither "Hu Shuo" nor "Tao Bai" stopped her. The reason was probably just one: this information was what Dr. Wu allowed them to reveal to her.
Other members of the upper society want to kill her, this temporal anchor, to lift some kind of restriction. Currently, Tong Yang isn't clear on exactly how her presence restricts the parallel world. Yet Dr. Wu, also part of the parallel world's upper society, has repeatedly tried to recruit her.
Furthermore, they seemingly can't appear out of thin air; they need an event as a medium.
For example, Ye Wen's disappearance and the live-action murder mystery game.
Is this part of the restrictions imposed by the temporal anchor?
Speaking of which, there's one thing Tong Yang has never been able to figure out.
The parallel world pulling them in doesn't require anyone's guidance, but for them to actively enter, they must be guided.
Why?
Aside from being guided by humans from the parallel world to enter and exit, are there other unknown methods to travel between the two worlds?
Tong Yang has an intuition: as long as they find another method to travel between worlds, they can completely separate the two worlds.
However, given the current situation, she'll probably have to stay in the parallel world for a while, undergoing countless cycles alone to find a way out.
Today is August 12th. School starts in just over twenty days. She hopes to leave this damned place before the semester begins, so it doesn't affect her studies.
As for Tong Le, Chu Shiyu should find a way to keep it from him after she leaves, so there shouldn't be any immediate problems.
"Chu Shiyu" doesn't seem that clever. I wonder if coaxing her a bit could trick her into sending me out.
She didn't know how much time had passed when "Tao Bai's" voice sounded in front of her.
"Fifteen minutes are up."
Tong Yang opened her eyes. "Tao Bai" was standing right in front of her, holding a knife, looking down at her.
"Though I can't tell how much of what you're saying is true or false, I'm inclined to simply kill you."
"I believe Dr. Wu has miscalculated this time. In the future, you won't become our ally; instead, you'll be our greatest obstacle."
"So, I'm going to kill you."
