Hijacking the Timeline

After reading Mu Qing’s diary, Feng Qi was certain of one thing:

Mu Qing had never betrayed humanity. She had remained steadfast in their shared dream, fighting for humanity until the very end.

However, the diary entries alone provided no insight into Mu Qing’s motives for the city massacre or why she had slaughtered civilians.

His only hope now lay in Mo Fei’s email messages, which might contain the answers he sought.

Clicking on the ”Mo Fei” section of his inbox, the messages immediately appeared.

Email Message from Mo Fei:

”Before your execution, I never believed a word you said. Time travel seemed too absurd. As a firm believer in science, I always thought time travel only existed in science fiction and fantasy movies.”

”Even in the future, such a thing would be impossible. It’s not that I underestimate human scientific progress; it’s because time itself is something beyond human perception. We can only infer its dynamic existence through various reference frames, like the movement of the hands on a wristwatch that shows the passage of time, or how our three-dimensional senses—sight, hearing, and touch—allow us to perceive what we call ’time.’”

”So how could something as vague as a definition be controlled, allowing for arbitrary time travel?”

”But after watching your execution video, I was horrified to realize that your fate unfolded exactly as you had predicted, including Mu Qing’s appearance. Now I believe you truly traveled to the future.”

”I couldn’t bring myself to watch the entire execution video. It was too damn painful. Even imagining it made me nearly unbearable. To escape the torment, I forced myself to get drunk, but the next morning, I woke up to the news of your execution. Fuck! My brother was gone just like that.”

”After reading through the earlier messages, I roughly understand what you were trying to do. Now it’s my turn to carry on your dream. If others refuse to believe you, how could I ever doubt you?”

As Feng Qi scrolled through the messages, he accelerated his reading speed.

He skipped over the emotional rants and complaints, focusing on extracting useful information as quickly as possible.

”Checking recent news and reports, here’s what happened to the remaining members of the Dawn Organization. First, the Xia Family Brothers—all three were sentenced to death and executed on the execution block shortly after you. They remained defiant until the end, declaring they never regretted following you.”

”Undercover agent Jia Yi was also executed, by the Scarlet Research Institute itself. I watched the video released afterward—he was a true man. Even under interrogation, he never spoke a bad word about you.”

”Yan Fu, Yang Xiaoxin, Le Ping’an, Cai Guo, and Xu Hongyun received life sentences. They hadn’t participated in any Dawn Organization operations, only helped with recruitment and development, so their crimes were considered minor. Plus, their powerful backers pulled every string to protect them.”

”Liu Yue, whose crimes were second only to yours, was handled in secret. The public protested fiercely, but the authorities held firm, claiming his special status required a secret execution.”

”Confused? I am too. You claimed there were werewolves among the students, but all of them were executed. None were claimed by their supposed backers. I suspect your theory was wrong—there were no werewolves at all, and the chip implanted in you wasn’t from your organization.”

”Let me tell you something strange. Remember when I mentioned Spirit Energy Technology? Well, the technology research institute has already been conducting research in this area and has achieved significant breakthroughs. However, they haven’t released any of these findings to the public. I only learned about it by accident. Perhaps the technology isn’t yet perfected or mature enough.”

”I got promoted, my security clearance was upgraded, and I was assigned to an utterly absurd research project: developing Spirit Energy Nanoworms. Can such a thing even be created? Fortunately, we’re only responsible for conceptual planning; the core research is being handled by the big shots at the technology research institute.”

”Damn it! Something huge happened today. Xu Hongyun, Cai Guo, and Le Ping’an, who were originally sentenced to life imprisonment, were secretly released and taken away by their backers. Are these three werewolves? Or did their backers pay an enormous price to bail them out?”

”This news hasn’t been publicly announced, so the public remains unaware. If they found out, it would cause an uproar. I only learned about it because Le Ping’an has connections to the technology research institute. I overheard it during internal discussions with the higher-ups. Even within our institute, this information is strictly confidential.”

”The more I think about it, the more absurd the technology research institute’s research directions seem. They’ve actually made progress on Spirit Energy Nanoworms! From chatting with the higher-ups, I learned they’re trying to create special mechanical warriors capable of instantly healing their bodies. But the current results are still a long way from completion.”

”Whoa, recently a director at the technology research institute proposed a concept: could we use rune crystals from domain creatures as power sources for the nanoworms? By combining the two, we could create rune-powered Spirit Energy Nanoworm warriors.”

”These old men’s ideas are so wildly imaginative! What’s even more absurd is that this proposal was actually approved. I hope they don’t waste too many resources on this research. My security clearance isn’t high enough to access the detailed plans, but I hope you can bring back crucial information about this from the future. It might greatly advance human science and technology.”

”Mu Qing has indeed formed the Dawn Rebels, just as you predicted. Everything is unfolding exactly as you foresaw, but I still can’t uncover her reasons for betraying humanity.”

”I’ve tried to contact her, but there’s no way to reach her now. Rumor has it she’s currently assembling a research team of rune-augmented humans to continue the rune augment project.”

”Mu Qing has been completely insane these past few years, bordering on deranged. She’s been razing cities and slaughtering people everywhere.”

”I received news early this morning that Mu Qing is dead. I don’t know the details, but it’s said that all the cities launched a coordinated operation, and she was secretly executed afterward.”

”Star City is in grave danger! The Silver Moon Domain Field in the east is rapidly expanding toward us. Most of our combat forces have been deployed to support Future City and can’t return in time. You said I’d live past ninety, right? But I feel like I’m going to die today. That’s still thirty years short of what you predicted.”

”Holy crap! A little girl suddenly appeared, single-handedly repelling the Silver Moon Domain Field’s invasion and completely dispersing it. Could she be the super-adhesive weapon you described, the Suction Cup?”

”It must be the Suction Cup. But I still can’t figure out her origins. There’s no trace of her anywhere.”

From this point onward, the messages devolved into meaningless trivialities.

Mo Fei, confined to the technology research institute, had access to very limited information.

As Feng Qi scrolled through the messages, he noticed that the later ones all pertained to the institute’s research progress and scientific directions.

Mo Fei also expressed his fervent hope that Feng Qi would advance Human Civilization’s scientific development by bringing back crucial research data from the future.

Just when Feng Qi thought he wouldn’t find any more meaningful information in the email chain, one message caught his eye:

”The Unmanned Stealth Reconnaissance Drone is finally operational! I recently deployed it near the nameless tombstone to observe White Eyes’ movements. Guess what I captured? A woman actually made contact with the Suction Cup, and the Suction Cup didn’t resist her touch at all! Here’s a high-definition photo I took (image attachment.jpg)”

Filled with curiosity, Feng Qi opened the attached image.

When he saw the woman’s face clearly, his pupils constricted sharply.

The woman in the picture was none other than Wei Wei, the director of the Genetics Department at the Scarlet Research Institute. Despite the decades that had passed, her appearance remained unchanged.

In an instant, a complete line of reasoning formed in his mind.

Collecting the blood of geniuses, rune augment, Mu Qing, genetic research, cloning geniuses... The keywords connected in his mind.

He couldn’t help but speculate that Wei Wei might have used Mu Qing’s genes to clone and cultivate the Suction Cup.

This would explain many mysteries.

Since it was a clone, there would inevitably be flaws, preventing the Suction Cup’s body from ever fully developing.

It would also explain why the Suction Cup was so clingy to him. Having inherited fragments of Mu Qing’s memories and feelings, she naturally felt a sense of closeness to him.

Thus, after being activated, the Suction Cup instinctively repeated what Mu Qing had most longed to do, including visiting his gravestone to lay flowers.

If this were true, even the Scarlet Research Institute could be partially exonerated.

If we continue to analyze the above information, it becomes clear that the Suction Cup was a secret weapon developed by the Scarlet Research Institute.

When the Silver Moon Domain Field suddenly expanded, threatening Star City with annihilation, the Scarlet Research Institute was forced to activate the Suction Cup to counter it.

However, after the Silver Moon Domain Field was dispelled, the Suction Cup escaped the Scarlet Research Institute’s control. She only showed a slight affinity for Wei Wei, her creator, and has been wandering Star City ever since.

The only thing preventing the Scarlet Research Institute from being completely exonerated is the inexplicable presence of a Domain-Transcending Creature within their ranks.

Throughout recorded history, there has never been an instance of domain creatures and humans coexisting peacefully.

The only point of contention online is the Suction Cup.

But even this debate is based on the assumption that the Suction Cup is indeed a domain creature.

Mo Fei’s comment provided him with a clearer understanding of the Suction Cup’s origins.

Though still speculative, considering Wei Wei’s position as Director of the Genetics Department at the Scarlet Research Institute and her stated ambition to mass-produce geniuses, this line of reasoning seems highly plausible.

The likelihood that the Suction Cup is a clone of Mu Qing has significantly increased.

Perhaps after Mu Qing’s death, she was sent to the Scarlet Research Institute. There, they transplanted the rune crystal from her body into a cloned embryo, giving birth to the Suction Cup.

Just as he was about to search the database to verify this theory, the Narrator’s voice echoed in his mind:

Ding! Reaper Little Black is on his way. Pay attention to the time, you damn fool, or you’ll be dead meat!

Hearing the Narrator’s warning, he realized he had no time left for further investigation and had to leave immediately.

Before leaving, he glanced again at the photo on the screen, his curiosity about Wei Wei’s identity burning fiercely.

Why did she never age? Was she friend or foe?

But he had already exhausted his access to character information. He would have to wait until his next entry into the Dream Realm to investigate Wei Wei’s profile.

Without further hesitation, he strode toward the metal corridor.

His priority now was to escape quickly and retrieve the Body-Protecting Suction Cup.

The remaining messages in the mailbox and the unresolved mysteries would have to wait until his return.

(End of the Chapter)

Translator’s Corner

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