“I know how to get back.”
Everyone turned to look at Tong Yang, their expressions a mix of shock and hope.
“Really?”
“How do we get back?”
“He Jingjing, we need you to guide us,” Tong Yang said, tucking the butterfly knife back into her waist, her eyes sparkling with excitement.
If her guess was correct, the initiative wouldn’t be completely in the hands of the parallel world; they could also cross the world barriers!
“What?” He Jingjing asked, confused.
“Tong Yang, can you please clarify what’s going on?”
“There’s no time to explain. Let’s head back to the seventh floor’s rest area first,” Tong Yang said.
“Let’s listen to Tong Yang and go back to the seventh floor.”
“Let’s go!”
Tong Yang and her group hurried through the corridor, catching sight of the tortured bride and the man who resembled a zombie with yellow talismans stuck to him. They finally reached the escalator entrance, concealed beneath a blackout cloth.
Tong Yang used her knife to slice through the fabric, and a beam of bright light spilled in from outside. The group worked together to tear away part of the blackout cloth, revealing that, at some point, the lights on the entire seventh floor had already been turned on.
At the same time, countless figures wandered through the oval corridor of the seventh floor. Their expressions were numb, their hands gripping rusty weapons as they slowly converged toward the escalator—like ants drawn to prey.
“Oh no! Are they the Order Maintainers?”
“We can’t go back to the seventh floor! Tong Yang, what do we do?”
“There are too many of them… hundreds, thousands…”
“It’s over…”
Seeing this scene, Tong Yang’s expression shifted slightly.
Before this, every time she faced monsters from the parallel world, they had always held the upper hand—except when the monsters appeared alone. Most of the time, it was due to rule restrictions or exploiting loopholes within the rules.
But now, they had actively broken the rules. The Order Maintainers’ sole purpose was to eliminate them. Without the constraints of the rules, they were now up against a relentless tide of monsters that only knew how to execute orders. Tong Yang had no confidence that she could take them down 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 without stairs?”
Tong Yang said in a low voice, “There should be a way. If the game continues, we will eventually enter the ninth floor. Let’s go look for it!”
“Split up…”
“We can’t split up!” Tong Yang interrupted them. “We can’t separate now; otherwise, we will never gather together again.”
“Let’s go!”
Some Order Maintainers had already reached the escalator area, and soon they would be able to come up!
“Quickly!”
The midnight cinema had only one visible corridor, and the entrance led solely down the stairs. Perhaps there was an escalator leading up at the other end of the screening room.
There were no Order Maintainers on the eighth floor; they were all on the seventh, indicating that the Order Maintainers could only move up from there. Although the situation on the ninth floor remained unknown, it was relatively safer.
If they could reach the ninth floor in advance and completely block the stairs, they might have a chance to escape!
Urgent, panicked footsteps echoed through the corridor. Despite their ragged breathing and cold sweat, they dared not stop or look back. They ran through the suffocating passage, barely making out the path ahead by the number plates outside the screening rooms.
“Tong Yang, this way!”
In the dim environment, a strange voice suddenly came from Screening Room No. 1.
“Keep going straight; don’t trust anyone else,” Tong Yang instructed.
The corridor of the screening room was much longer than they had imagined. They passed Screening Rooms No. 1, 2, 3… all the way to No. 7 and No. 8, but the path ahead seemed endless, with no branching paths in sight.
“Quick, come in!”
“If you come in, you can hide!”
“Tong Yang!”
“Chu Shiyu!”
“Why aren’t you listening? Hurry up and come in!”
“Want to watch a movie? Let’s watch a movie together!”
…
The doors of the screening rooms they passed were open, and strange, enticing voices came from inside. Looking at the pitch-black doorways, it was easy to imagine the dangers that awaited them if they stepped inside those screening rooms.
[Help…]
[Tong Jie, are you all right?]
[Oh my god!]
[So many voices, footsteps, breathing, crying, and some people speaking in very strange tones]
[It’s over… what do we do? I’ve searched the internet for news related to this, but aside from the death toll, there’s no specific description that can help!]
[Tong Jie, what is the way back to the real world?]
[Do we really have to go back to the seventh floor?]
“Ahhh!”
“Don’t shout, you idiot! Do you think I’m a fool to go in and watch a movie with you?”
“So annoying! I want to kill them!”
“Where is the stairway to the ninth floor? Those people are about to catch up!”
“Woo… what do we do? It’s so scary…”
Sweat beaded on Tong Yang’s forehead. Even if she could enter the time loop now, it wouldn’t help; it would only take her back to ten minutes before her death, still trapped in the parallel world.
Tong Yang indeed thought about how to return to the real world, and it didn’t necessarily have to be done on the seventh floor.
However, actively entering and exiting the parallel world seemed to require several conditions. First, it had to be in a dark environment. Second, it had to be in a quiet environment. Third, actively traversing the parallel world required a period of absolute safety to follow instructions—creating chaos within order or order within chaos. Fourth, and most importantly, humans from the real world needed guidance from someone who originally came from the parallel world to actively enter and exit.
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 passively entering the interlayer between the two worlds, the voice from the broadcast guided them through.
If Ye Huai’s background was the same as his last guess that day—if he had been sent to the real world for treatment by Ye Tianlin from the parallel world—then all three people who had guided them through the world barriers had one thing in common: they all came from the parallel world!
However, with just these guesses, Tong Yang couldn’t be sure. She thought of “Chu Shiyu.”
What she meant was that the eight of them had already met the basic conditions to leave the parallel world; they just lacked the method to do so.
Then, the only 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, and safe place, guided by He Jingjing, they could return to the real world.
If they could enter the ninth floor in advance and block the entrance to buy enough time, they would have a chance to leave!
“Screening Room No. 34?”
“How big is this place?”
“Running like this isn’t a solution; it’s too exhausting!”
“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 curves, and if they continued like this, if there was no stairway to the ninth floor at the end of the corridor, they would surely die.
“Come in!”
“Let’s watch a movie together!”
“Don’t be scared…”
Tong Yang gritted her teeth. What should she do? If they entered the screening room, they would be sitting ducks for the Order Maintainers. But if they kept moving forward and reached a dead end with no exit, it would be just as fatal.
How could she make the most correct decision?
She needed a choice with a hundred percent certainty.
A hundred percent…
Aside from exams, is there really a choice that is a hundred percent correct?
Even though she could achieve a hundred percent accuracy in the exam room, anything else would involve the risk of losing something.
Just like when she decided to leave the old town, whether or not to bring Tong Le with her.
The situation they were in now wasn’t an exam; it wasn’t just about trying a little harder to avoid all risks.
So, Tong Yang couldn’t make a decision with a hundred percent certainty.
“You all go in,” Tong Yang said in a deep voice. “Kill the people in the screening room.”
If the other screening rooms were like Screening Rooms No. 1, 2, and 3, filled with parallel world humans who had their fingers chopped off and eyes gouged out, perhaps the risk would be smaller.
Of course, the premise was that the Order Maintainers wouldn’t enter the screening room.
“We go in? What about you?”
“I need to see if there’s an entrance to the ninth floor at the end of the corridor.”
And to test whether the Order Maintainers would choose to follow her or enter the screening room where others were hiding.
“By yourself? No way! That’s too dangerous!”
“Weren’t you the one who said we can’t split up? What if the end of the corridor is a dead end?”
Tong Yang didn’t answer, continuing to run forward. “Chu Shiyu, if the Order Maintainers follow you into the screening room or if you think it’s dangerous inside, you must die at their hands within ten minutes. After I find the stairway, I will use the time loop to save you. If they don’t go in and you can handle the situation inside, try to open the left safety passage and see where that door leads.”
There were two doors in the screening room, one entrance and one exit.
“No matter where that door leads, within ten minutes, let He Jingjing kill you, understand?”
“In other words, no matter what, you must die once within ten minutes of entering the screening room. Of course, I must die once too.”
“But if neither happens, we might die countless times here until we find the way to the ninth floor.”
Only Chu Shiyu understood what she meant.
If they entered the screening room and were killed by the Order Maintainers or the people inside, Tong Yang would find the stairway and enter the loop, returning to ten minutes before the first person died.
At that time, time would revert to the fleeing corridor, allowing them to make a choice again. If they entered the screening room and the Order Maintainers didn’t follow them in—and they successfully dealt with the people inside—Chu Shiyu would also have to die once within ten minutes.
The remaining people would open the other safety door, and regardless of whether Tong Yang found the passage, she would enter the loop and return to the corridor.
Of course, if the other door of 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 didn’t lead to an exit, they would have to keep searching for other ways, dying and looping repeatedly.
Until they found the passage, or until Tong Yang could no longer enter the loop.
Chu Shiyu stopped, took a deep breath, “I understand, Tong Yang, be careful.”
“You too.”
“What do you mean…”
“Hey! Just go in!”
Chu Shiyu turned and ran into a screening room, and although the others were confused, they gritted their teeth and followed her inside.
“One thousand bucks for each loop.”
Tong Yang’s bright voice echoed in the corridor.
Chu Shiyu: “…”
Still thinking about money at a time like this!
[Wait, what does time loop mean?]
[No, Tong Jie, why didn’t we know about this?]
[Let me see what other little secrets you have.]
[Time loop… ten minutes…]
[Is the time loop only ten minutes?]
Voices buzzed in her headphones, but Tong Yang didn’t explain to them. After all, she at least needed to enter the loop once, returning to before she said this, at which point the people in the group wouldn’t remember what she had said.
Although the people in the gossip group had provided some help, Tong Yang didn’t fully trust everyone in the group. Compared to the time-space dislocation connected through the internet, she trusted what she could see in front of her more.
The appearance of the gossip group was too clever and too strange. If there were people with ill intentions mixed in, deliberately providing her with false information, that would be terrible.
“You’ll know once you’ve died once,” Tong Yang said.
After a long period of tension and running, Tong Yang’s breathing was rapid, her voice trembling slightly.
[Then forget it.]
[I’m still young; I want to live a few more years.]
[Forget it; this isn’t the time to talk about this. Tong Jie, be careful.]
[If the other side doesn’t have many people, maybe we can counterattack, but it looks like there are quite a few.]
After parting ways with Chu Shiyu, Tong Yang didn’t leave immediately. She needed to confirm whether the Order Maintainers chose to continue chasing her or enter the screening room, taking the opportunity to rest for a moment.
The corridor had a curved arc, and Tong Yang leaned against the cold wall, breathing heavily.
Chu Shiyu had led them into Screening Room No. 37, and the door to the right safety passage was already closed, but it could easily be opened from the outside.
In less than two minutes, a dense sound of footsteps echoed in the corridor, the noise thick and clear, with vibrations felt underfoot, like countless bees flying towards her in the passage.
Tong Yang leaned against the wall, closed her eyes, and prepared herself mentally, holding an iron rod in one hand and a butterfly knife at her waist, ready to counterattack if necessary.
Finally, as the footsteps grew closer, several people in a line emerged. They were similar to most of the parallel world humans Tong Yang had encountered before, numb and calm, as if they were pre-programmed.
They looked at the closed safety door of Screening Room No. 37, approached, and grasped the doorknob.
Suddenly, a loud “clang” echoed in the quiet corridor, instantly attracting the attention of the Order Maintainers.
“Sorry, my hand slipped,” Tong Yang said, bending down to pick up the iron rod, waving at them. “You’re in the wrong place; it’s over here.”
The man at the front of the group turned his eyes towards the calm Tong Yang in the corridor, slowly released the doorknob, and turned to chase after her.
“Come on,” Tong Yang took a few steps back, seeing the Order Maintainers behind them all bypass Screening Room No. 37 and come after her, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, she turned and continued running forward.
Tong Yang deliberately led the Order Maintainers away, of course not to leave a glimmer of hope for the people in the screening room, but because she needed them to have time to confirm where the other safety exit led.
In the corridor, they could only see the door on one side of the screening room, indicating that the other exit led to a different place.
If it led to the ninth floor or another enclosed place, they could find an opportunity to leave.
Moreover, regardless of whether the Order Maintainers followed her, she had to enter the loop once when she reached the end of the corridor, so it was better to give more time to Chu Shiyu and the others.
This was the choice Tong Yang made on a life-and-death option, a choice that only she could make, with an eighty percent chance of being correct.
She was betting that either the end of the corridor led to the ninth floor, or the other door of the screening room led to the ninth floor, or it was a place that would keep them safe for the time being.
Most importantly, Tong Yang hadn’t told the others exactly how to return to the real world. Even if she left, as long as He Jingjing was there, they could return to the real world safely.
Tong Yang didn’t tell them this because she didn’t want to create a safe space for them, sacrificing herself to let them return to the real world.
The only things that could make her sacrifice her own interests were events where the outcome would bring her greater benefits.
She was the only one who knew how to leave. Either she would leave with the others, or the others would be trapped here with her.
She absolutely wouldn’t simply sacrifice herself for the sake of others.
Since she was already doomed, Tong Yang simply stopped wasting her energy.
Noticing that the Order Maintainers chasing her weren’t moving quickly, probably due to the large number of them and being in a corridor with walls on both sides, they were even slower than normal walking speed.
The only reason some were pushed forward was that they were crowded together. As long as Tong Yang maintained a light jog, she could keep the same distance from them.
Uncertain if it was because more and more people were crowding behind, the Order Maintainers in front were moving too slowly. Some couldn’t keep up and were directly knocked to the ground, while the people behind didn’t care and stepped over those on the ground.
Tong Yang glanced back; the people on the ground were trampled into a bloody mess, their original forms unrecognizable, and one person’s eyeball had been crushed out.
Not knowing how many people there were or what situation Chu Shiyu and the others were in, Tong Yang could only choose to keep moving forward.
Meanwhile, in Screening Room No. 37.
Xu Junyue and Chu Shiyu were fighting off the closest parallel world humans.
“Those people were all led away by Tong Yang!”
Hu Shuo, who was crouched behind the door, shouted.
There were only a few people capable of action in Screening Room No. 37, and there were none of the people with gouged eyes and chopped-off fingers like in Screening Rooms No. 1, 2, and 3.
“But what about Tong Yang? She’s alone…” He Jingjing said, her face pale.
Xu Junyue kicked aside a corpse in front of her, shaking the weapon in her hand. “Didn’t she say it? She has to die at least once, then come back to save us.”
Zhou Jingyun said, “She should just be trying to lead those people away, telling a lie to leave us a glimmer of hope.”
“Tong Yang… she’s so young; it should have been me to lead those people away…” He Jingjing choked up. “How could she be so foolish? I doubted her before and spoke harshly to her, but I didn’t expect her to lead those monsters away alone to save us…”
Tao Bai sighed, “Let’s find a way to save her.”
“Sister, I think Tong Yang really has a way; she’s not lying to us,” He Jingjing said.
Hearing their tearful voices, Chu Shiyu couldn’t help but twitch her mouth and said, “Don’t worry, Tong Yang would never sacrifice herself to leave us a way out. Didn’t you hear her say that each loop costs a thousand bucks? It’s not a total of a thousand for all of us; it’s a thousand each. But it’s cheaper than before, probably because this is unavoidable.”
“Really?”
“Have you really experienced it before??”
“Tong Yang can die and come back to life?”
“Wow! Is it really that magical?”
Chu Shiyu didn’t continue to explain to them, saying, “I have less than ten minutes. Let’s open the door to the left passage first.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
“Prise it open!”
“Those with strength, come here.”
“I’ll do it!”
Tong Yang continued down the corridor, and three minutes later, she reached the end.
Tong Yang’s gaze darkened; at the end, there was no stairway as she had imagined, but a screening room numbered sixty-one.
The number plate outside the screening room emitted a faint glow, and the door to the safety passage was open, revealing complete darkness inside.
If this was the end, Tong Yang had to go in and take a look.
She moved closer to Screening Room No. 61, and suddenly the lights turned on.
The lights in Screening Room No. 61 lit up, and several figures appeared behind the door, waving at her.
“Long time no see, Tong Yang.”
“Here we are again.”
“I told you we would meet again.”
Tong Yang looked at the three people behind the door, her expression darkening.
“Tao Bai” stepped aside to make way, bowing slightly in a gentlemanly manner. “Please come in.”
“Chu Shiyu” and “Hu Shuo” stood behind the door, showing her calm smiles.
“Tong Yang, come in; they’ll be chasing us soon.”
“Chu Shiyu” kindly reminded her, thinking she was being friendly.
It had only been five minutes since she parted ways with Chu Shiyu, and Tong Yang wanted to buy them time to open the door before entering the loop.
Chu Shiyu had experienced this a few times with her and knew that the ten-minute mark was crucial for them, so there shouldn’t be any mistakes.
Tong Yang also wanted to see what these three parallel world people were up to.
“Please come in.”
“Thank you.”
Tong Yang walked past them without glancing sideways, entering Screening Room No. 61.
“Chu Shiyu” walked to the door and made a shushing gesture towards the Order Maintainers chasing down the corridor. “There are people in Screening Room No. 37; you should go over there.”
Tong Yang shot her a cold glance but didn’t stop her.
Even if she wanted to stop her, she probably couldn’t.
“What do you want to do?”
Standing in the screening room, Tong Yang found that the vast space only contained the three of them.
“Don’t be nervous.”
“Which of your eyes sees me as nervous?” Tong Yang drew the butterfly knife from her waist. “Although killing you now wouldn’t be of any use, I can still fulfill your wish once.”
“Chu Shiyu” shrugged. “I don’t want to die yet.”
“The people outside won’t be able to get in for a while; let’s chat.”
Tong Yang toyed with the butterfly knife in her hand, smiling as she asked, “What shall we chat about?”
“Do you think the difference between the first world and the shadow world is significant?”
“The first world? Shadow world? You think you’re worthy of that?”
“Tao Bai” smiled slightly. “That’s the outer world and the inner world.”
Tong Yang scoffed, “Of course, there’s a big difference. Don’t you have some self-destruction plan?”
“Chu Shiyu” stuck out her tongue. “That plan is just to reduce unnecessary resource waste.”
“So it’s slaughter.”
“No.” She seemed to dislike Tong Yang’s wording, shaking her head. “We gave them a choice: either become Order Maintainers or win in the selection. It’s their own fault for being useless.”
Tong Yang looked at her with a half-smile, “I see.”
So, these people with a few screws loose in their heads were the Order Maintainers, while those participating in the self-destruction slaughter game were the ones who refused to become Order Maintainers.
“So, you are the ones who passed the selection? Seems like there’s no difference from the real world.”
“Right! But we didn’t participate in the selection; that’s what the lower-class people need to do.”
“Lower-class people…” Tong Yang narrowed her eyes meaningfully, realizing that the components of the parallel world were more complex than she had imagined.
“Hey, can’t you tell she’s fishing for information?” “Hu Shuo,” sitting nearby, rolled his eyes at “Chu Shiyu.”
Tong Yang observed the three of them thoughtfully. From what she could see, most of the people she had encountered before were from the lower class, with only two choices: either become Order Maintainers or participate in the self-destruction game. The three people in front of her probably belonged to the middle class, receiving orders from the upper class, organizing the destruction games for the lower class, and doing some dirty and dangerous work on behalf of the upper class.
The upper class only needed to issue orders and enjoy the resources.
It was akin to a very severe form of capitalism.
“Chu Shiyu” muttered, “So what? They’re all going to die soon anyway.”
“Tong Yang said there’s a ten-minute loop time, what if they don’t die?”
“Then let Tong Yang join us.”
Tong Yang’s lips curled into a sarcastic smile. “On what basis?”
“In the shadow world, aside from your brother, you have no attachments. If you join us, you can enjoy all our resources with your brother.”
Tong Yang retorted, “Do you think the so-called resources are enough to tempt me to betray the real world?”
“Enough! The technology in the first world is more advanced than yours; gene drugs can even…”
“Hey!”
“Hu Shuo” interrupted her in time. “You just said she wasn’t that smart, and now she’s spilling all the beans.”
“Chu Shiyu” covered her mouth, glaring at Tong Yang. “Are you fishing for information?”
Tong Yang remained unfazed. “No.”
“Chu Shiyu” sighed in relief. “She said no, so don’t say anything.”
“Idiot.”
“Tao Bai” stepped in front of her, his smile growing colder. “Miss Tong, in fact, there’s no difference between the people of the outer world and the inner world.”
“The cruelty of the outer world is exposed, while the cruelty of the inner world is hidden.”
“So?” Tong Yang pressed her finger against the blade, silently calculating the time.
“Tao Bai” held something resembling a microphone. “Want to give it a try?”
“Try what?”
“Let’s see what the difference is between them and us.”
He pressed a switch, and a red light lit up.
“The Order Maintainers will break in three minutes.”
His voice echoed in front of Tong Yang and through the broadcast.
Tong Yang quietly watched him, unsure of what he was trying to do.
“You’ve broken the rules; even if you complete the game, you won’t be sent back to the real world. However, Tong Yang has high research value for us.”
“If this continues, none of you will escape death.”
“Tong Yang, you can make a choice.”
Tong Yang’s expression remained calm as she asked, “What choice?”
“First, die in the parallel world with the other players; second, you promise to stay in the parallel world forever, and we will send the others back.”
Tong Yang’s gaze darkened. This kind of either-or scenario came with sacrifice and fulfillment.
She hated sacrifice, hated sacrificing herself to pave the way for others.
Meanwhile, the broadcast in Screening Room No. 37 echoed this conversation.
“What does this mean?”
“Leave Tong Yang here alone and send us back?”
“Tong Yang wouldn’t agree, right?”
“There are really a lot of Order Maintainers outside! 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’s refusal was too decisive, causing everyone in Screening Room No. 37 to be momentarily stunned.
“Why? Would you rather die here with them than sacrifice yourself to let more people live?”
“Why? Is the reason hard to understand?” Tong Yang’s tone was flat, revealing no emotional fluctuations. “Because I want to live too.”
“I don’t want to stay in the parallel world, understand?”
Silence hung in the broadcast for a few seconds before a male voice spoke up: “Is that so?”
“Even if everyone will die because of you?”
Tong Yang replied, “They won’t die because of me; they’ll die because of you, because of you all, because of the parallel world.”
“Don’t just stand there; keep prying the door open,” Xu Junyue urged, noticing everyone had stopped moving.
Chu Shiyu frowned. “Ten minutes are almost up; Jingjing, be ready to stab my vital point, understand?”
He Jingjing nodded seriously. “I understand.”
At that moment, the broadcast sounded again.
“Since you are unwilling to help them, I can help them.”
“In the game on the seventh floor, you selected the murderer and actively entered the parallel world.”
“Now, you can return to the real world under the guidance of Player No. 5.”
Player No. 5 was the only one among them who came from the parallel world—He Jingjing.
“The method of guidance is very simple: chaos and order.”
“You have two minutes of safe time left, enough for you to return to the real world through the guidance.”
“Two minutes later, the Order Maintainers will enter Screening Room No. 37.”
“Please make your choice.”
A strange smile appeared on Tao Bai’s face as he turned off the microphone connected to the broadcast.
“Tong Yang, do you think they will choose to die with you or leave you behind to return to the real world now that they know how to leave?”
Tong Yang calmly looked at him, a hint of confusion gradually appearing on her face as she asked, “What they choose has nothing to do with me?”
Tao Bai’s expression froze slightly, his smile fading.
“Is there anything strange about them knowing how to leave and not needing my help, just returning to the real world?”
Tong Yang’s lips curled into a mocking smile. “Do you really think that making a pointless sacrifice for others is justice, is kindness? You’re so foolish it makes me feel sorry for you.”
“You don’t think that if they leave like this, I will see through human nature? Discover that there’s no difference between the people of the two worlds, then become disillusioned with the real world and ultimately side with you?”
Tong Yang covered her eyes and laughed heartily, her laughter echoing in the empty Screening Room No. 61, filled with disdain and sarcasm.
“I never expected you to be so naive! I understand human nature better than you do.”
[Ahhhhhhhhh!]
[Tong Jie, you are my goddess!]
[So cool, so cool, so cool! I want to be like Tong Jie!]
[Three idiots! Did you get burned? You still want to control my Tong Jie?]
[Marry me! Marry me! I want to marry my sister!]
[But… what if Tong Jie is left alone in the parallel world?]
[She’s doomed!]
[Although I think Tong Jie makes sense, I still hope they don’t leave her behind, woo woo woo.]
[Suddenly feeling so sorry for Tong Jie; she just wants to live, just wants to go home. What’s her fault?]
[She just killed a lot of parallel world people, one knife at a time, but she’s still a weak and helpless little girl.]
Voices buzzed in her headphones, but Tong Yang chose to ignore them.
Tong Yang took a few steps back, sitting in the front row, pulling her hair back behind her head, leisurely watching the three of them.
“Thank you for going through so much trouble to invite me to this farce. To cooperate with you and to avoid dragging other players into this, you can kill me in fifteen minutes.”
Fifteen minutes until death; 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, at which point the others would no longer be in the parallel world.
Tong Yang’s thinking was simple: she didn’t like sacrificing herself for others, nor did she like sacrificing others for herself.
At worst, she would stay in the parallel world until she found another way to leave.
“You led the Order Maintainers away by yourself to give them a glimmer of hope. If they just leave you behind, won’t you be angry?”
“Chu Shiyu” asked curiously.
“When did I say I acted to give them a glimmer of hope?” Tong Yang leaned back in her chair, her expression indifferent. “I just made the choice with the highest probability of success.”
Even if Tong Yang actively told them how to leave, they would take the opportunity to leave the parallel world, and she would probably just feel very foolish.
However, she wouldn’t leave herself with no escape route.
But right now, with others coming to cause trouble, the outcome was no longer within her control, so it didn’t matter.
She had done her best and didn’t need to blame the heavens or others.
“You really are a strange person,” she tilted her head and muttered.
Tong Yang smiled, “The Chu Shiyu I know has said something similar.”
“Hu Shuo” asked, “Aren’t you afraid of dying at all?”
Tong Yang was silent for a moment, realizing she might be going crazy. She never expected to have a calm conversation with people from the parallel world one day.
“I’m not afraid of dying, but I feel like there are still many things I haven’t done, and I’m not willing.”
“Tong Yang, I think you are actually more suited to stay in our world.”
Tong Yang replied, “There’s a version of me in your world. If you need her, you can go find her. I really dislike you all.”
“Why?”
“Because you want to kill me.”
“Now we can choose not to kill you, as long as you cooperate with us.”
Tong Yang found this feeling quite strange, looking at the three people in the same room. “You won’t kill me?”
“Chu Shiyu” nodded and said, “Dr. Wu said you are a rare talent, and you will definitely be useful to us in the future. We can’t kill you unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
“Others won’t kill me either?”
“Not really.” She shook her head. “Only Dr. Wu’s people won’t kill you.”
“Isn’t Dr. Wu your superior?”
“Superior? 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-convinced. “Your world can still have disagreements? I find that hard to believe.”
“Really!”
“What disagreements? Tell me about it.”
“Dr. Wu wants to kill the lower-class people in the shadow world and share the world’s resources with the upper-class, but most upper-class people want to wipe out the shadow world and monopolize all resources.”
Tong Yang chuckled, “So, Dr. Wu is a moderate?”
“Yes, yes! So listen to Dr. Wu and cooperate with us!”
Tong Yang looked at her noncommittally; the gap between the two Chu Shiyus from the two worlds was quite large.
“Hu Shuo” sneered, “Why don’t you just tell her the base password directly?”
“Can I say that?” She looked surprised.
“Crazy.”
[This young lady doesn’t seem that smart.]
[Tong Jie has almost gotten all the information out of her.]
[Tong Jie is so bold, chatting with them like this!]
[If it were me, I would have been scared silly by now.]
Tong Yang closed her eyes, quietly waiting for time to pass. No matter how “Chu Shiyu” disturbed her, she remained silent.
If “Chu Shiyu” were a complete idiot, she wouldn’t have survived this long in the parallel world.
When she said those things earlier, “Hu Shuo” and “Tao Bai” didn’t stop her, probably for one reason: all this information was allowed to be revealed to her by Dr. Wu.
The upper-class people wanted to kill her, this time anchor, to break some kind of restriction. Currently, Tong Yang was still unclear about the specific manifestations of the restrictions she imposed on the parallel world. However, Dr. Wu, who was also part of the upper-class society in the parallel world, had tried several times to recruit her.
Moreover, they seemed unable to appear out of nowhere; they needed something as a medium.
For example, Ye Wen’s disappearance and the real-life script murder.
Could this be part of the time anchor restrictions?
Speaking of which, Tong Yang had always found one thing puzzling.
The parallel world didn’t need anyone’s guidance to pull them in, but they had to be guided to actively enter.
Why was that?
Aside from the humans from the parallel world guiding them in and out, were there other unknown methods to traverse the two worlds?
Tong Yang had a gut feeling that as long as she found another way to traverse the worlds, they could completely separate the two worlds.
However, given the current situation, she would likely have to stay in the parallel world for a while, repeatedly looping alone to find a way to leave.
Today was August 12th, and in just over twenty days, school would start. She hoped to leave this hellish place before school began, so it wouldn’t affect her studies.
As for Tong Le, after Chu Shiyu left, she should find a way to keep it from him, and there shouldn’t be any problems for the time being.
“Chu Shiyu” didn’t seem that smart; she wondered if she could trick her into letting her out.
Uncertain how much time had passed, “Tao Bai’s” voice rang out in front of her.
“Fifteen minutes are up.”
Tong Yang opened her eyes, and “Tao Bai” stood in front of her, holding a knife, looking down at her.
“Although I don’t know how much of what you said is true and how much is false, I tend to lean towards killing you directly.”
“I think Dr. Wu misjudged this time; the future you won’t become our helper but will instead be our greatest obstacle.”
“So, I have to kill you.”
