Volume Six: What She Lost, What I Gained - Chapter 573: Contact Within and Without

"You've had a tough time, just like I did a day ago."

I pulled my hand out of "my" chest.

The warm, sticky, and slippery sensation, the feeling of heart fragments clinging to my fingers, the sensation of gliding across my ribs and spine—each one felt incredibly real; this was definitely my body.

But this is not real; at best, it's just an empty shell, and it can't even last long.

"Huh... Eh... What's wrong?"

I was taken aback, which was understandable. I had just breathed a sigh of relief for "successfully killing the enemy I accidentally discovered during the reconnaissance process," but suddenly someone pierced my chest from behind. When I turned around with my last bit of strength, I found that the person who did it looked exactly like me—or rather, it was the same person.

So this is what my expression looks like when it's contorted with pain? It looks quite pathetic, yet it evokes a sadistic pleasure in people. No wonder all my formidable enemies enjoy torturing me to death.

Why...?

"There's no reason why. You've completed your task and fulfilled the maximum value of a counterfeit product. Cheer up a little."

Then,

Let me see you off.

The intense heat that had been brewing in my hands erupted forth, and the billowing Blood Flame instantly enveloped me. This was an extremely high temperature that exceeded my heat tolerance limit at the time. I screamed in agony, struggled a couple of times, and then collapsed in the fire, turning into a charred corpse.

I must say, as expected of me? Even such a Blood Flame couldn't completely burn me to ashes.

The corpse gradually faded.

"... Ha, as expected, it's a fake."

Just like increasing the opacity of an image in Photoshop, it gradually becomes unrecognizable, and disappears completely in a few breaths.

"..." I felt a bit emotional.

Killing oneself—there must be very few people who have this precious life experience.

I looked around again--

The racetrack has been completely restored to its original state. The set design, the newly built stage, the smooth track, and the neatly arranged spectator seats are all exactly the same as what I saw last night.

Yu Xun's abilities truly brought the arena and everything within it back to the state it was in last night.

Unfortunately, she and Valentina were both dead; their bodies were not far from me. They were indeed killed by "me," but not by the current me.

As for Casey—the Glasses Man —who was released from the compressed space after Valentina's death, I secretly killed him while "I" was focused on Yu Xun after killing Valentina. When I drained all the blood from his body and killed him, an unprecedented sense of relief made me feel incredibly comfortable, because I knew that I had finally rescued Haoyue from the alternate dimension with just ten seconds left before the seven-minute mark.

"What... what is going on here!?"

The wheelchair made a creaking sound, followed by a scream. I turned around and found that Neumann had somehow deactivated her invisibility. Was she too surprised? Although her tone was surprised, her expressionless face remained completely blank.

"There was nothing there before, but... why did the racetrack suddenly reappear from the compressed space?!"

"Because 'I' killed Valentina, and with her dead, the power naturally dissipated."

"But... but... you were clearly outside the whole time, and you only came in after the racetrack reappeared. So before that... who exactly killed Valentina?"

It's 'me', isn't it?

"But you're outside! And my eyes haven't left you for a single moment!"

"This sounds like a confession full of ancient charm... In fact, it was 'me' who killed her, only 'me' from a day ago—that is, last night."

"I do not understand..."

"Yu Xun's abilities..."

I plopped down on the stage, relaxing my somewhat tired body.

"... It involves setting a specific moment as the initial state within a clearly defined space, and then allowing that space to return to its initial state."

"You told me that."

"Right? Once she activates her ability, things that were moved later will return to their original positions, and things that were damaged later will automatically repair themselves. But this isn't time reversal or anything like that; it's just returning to the original state... Also, objects placed into this space after the initial state has been set will gradually disappear during the return to the initial state, because the object didn't exist in the initial state. No matter what the object is, even if it's a living person, it will vanish into nothingness... That's probably the most terrifying aspect of her ability."

Neumann stared at me blankly, his eyes darting around, and then—

"Wait, I think I understand now, Miss Ye... you didn't actually 'use' her superpower, did you?"

"Bingo, you got it right!"

I snapped my fingers.

"As you can see, in the process of returning to the original state, objects that were not present in the initial state but were later added will disappear into thin air. But what if it were the other way around? What about objects that were present in the initial state but were later taken away?"

When the thought first popped into my head, I thought I was crazy, but upon reflection, if disappearing into thin air is possible—

"--So, it's not entirely impossible for this object to appear out of thin air during the backtracking process, is it?"

I still remember that when I was investigating last night, after separating from Sin Annihilation, I went through either the passageway or the audience seats... I can't remember exactly which one it was. Never mind, it doesn't matter.

In short, when I arrived at the actual venue, which was the racetrack, I remember it was completely empty except for the newly erected stage and maintenance lights; there wasn't a single person there. I hid in the shadows, circled around for a bit, and then left.

In other words, in "last night's state," I was at the very back of the racetrack.

Yu Xun and Valentina both hid in the compressed space, and according to Sin Annihilation's report, they were both seriously injured due to Hao Yue's previous rampage. If they wanted to heal quickly, Yu Xun's ability was undoubtedly the best choice.

But which "space with a clearly defined range" will they choose as the area of effect for their abilities? And at what moment will Yu Xun set the "initial state"? We can roughly guess these two things, but they are just guesses, and there is a lot of gambling involved.

The racetrack was severely damaged, making it difficult to find a clearly defined room inside. Therefore, Yu Xun likely used the boundaries of compressed space as a limit to return the entire racetrack to its initial state. As for when that initial state was... it's not hard to deduce. It had to be a moment when "neither Yu Xun nor Valentina were injured, and both were in the racetrack." This could only be either last night or just before the battle. Just before the battle, due to the interference of spectators and staff, "last night's racetrack," which was empty except for a few people, was her first choice.

Therefore, at that time,

"Yesterday's me and everyone else"—me, Sin Annihilation, Casey, Fisher, and everyone who was there then but is not here now—will all appear.

But that was clearly not within Yu Xun and the others' considerations, because those were just counterfeits, imposters, fake puppets that would "act the same way they did then, and will act the same way now." Yu Xun and Valentina were safe and sound last night, so they would be safe and sound now as well.

There is only one exception.

"Your superpowers, unrelated to blood, probably can't imagine just how strong the bond of blood is... The compressed space is indestructible and intrusive, but it's not completely disconnected from the outside world; otherwise, Valentina wouldn't be able to control it so freely. The imposter is still me, and as long as you see 'me' as a Blood Beast servant, remote commands are possible."

"It's done."

Fisher finally breathed a sigh of relief, as did Trister.

Before her lay Xiao Wu lying stiffly on the ground.

Surprisingly, she didn't have the shocking external injuries she had before, and even the purplish-black skin that had turned black from the poisoning had returned to normal. Her expression was very peaceful, as if she were asleep.

But she had lost all sign of life.

Fisher did not approach Xiao Wu.

"Hey, Fisher..."

Just as Trister was about to step forward, Fisher stopped him.

"Don't rush, it never hurts to be careful," Fisher said seriously.

"Be careful! Be cautious! Be absolutely sure!" Dastan cried out, circling once before landing steadily on Fisher's shoulder.

Trister shrugged and stepped back.

Fisher took out a device that looked like a telescope from his clothes. It was a portable vital signs scanner (made by Julia). He recalled the mechanical girl's impatient explanation of how to use it, adjusted the switch knob, and then put it on his face.

"Breathing... stop."

He muttered to himself as he stared at the numbers on the screen.

"Pulse... stopped; heartbeat... stopped; brain waves... disappeared; blood flow... stopped."

All vital signs have disappeared.

But Fisher still didn't approach her.

"Trister, send your followers up."

Is it necessary...?

"If I say it's necessary, then it's necessary."

Trister shrugged, muttered something under his breath, and immediately several fully armed followers appeared beside him.

"We have been summoned by you, our god! Give your command! We will surely—"

"Stop giving me that bureaucratic talk. See that female corpse on the ground? Go check on her, and once you're sure she's unresponsive, pack her up and take her away."

"Seal it up? Don't you require it to be completely destroyed?"

Fisher answered impatiently, "Do whatever your master tells you to do. The order is to recover Qi Yuan's body as intact as possible!"

"... Complete recovery? Why?" Trister couldn't help but ask, but Fisher only said, "This is President Yu's order. I don't know why this is required. Anyway, it's none of your business. Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask."

As the two spoke in hushed tones, several believers approached Xiao Wu.

One person poked her face with a spear-like weapon, another kicked her stomach, and yet another put his hand under her nose to probe and then pinched her neck, but Xiao Wu didn't react.

(Hey, is this... dead?)

(Probably, but not sure yet...)

(Let's check your heartbeat?)

(Okay, I'll do it)

One believer's gaze fell on Xiao Wu, which were slightly smaller than the average for her age but had a very beautiful shape. He couldn't help but swallow hard. He had never understood why some people would have a perverted fetish for necrophilia, but now he understood a little better.

(I'm just checking his heartbeat, just once, just a quick touch--)