Found a Way Out

Tom was even more unlucky than Team Leader Jefferies.

--Due to the urgency of the situation, the farm owner did not have time to change the compression pack when taking the second photo of Jefferies, so the first photo belonging to Tom could not be fully developed for a long time.

At the moment [Mobius] sends the two to the strange Spirit Realm, Tom Crad will experience even more cruel mental torment.

For Jefferies, the endless time loop was just a short twenty minutes or so spent carrying out the mission.

But for Tom Crad, this Finnish young man had lived in the area of Aizong Mausoleum for more than a decade.

The defensive grenades on his body did not take his life, nor could they trigger the time loop of [A Way Out]—whenever Jefferies dies, [A Way Out] will automatically close, taking this partially amnesiac walking corpse back to the moment the mission began, back to the second before Jefferies fell from the tree trunk.

Tom's situation was similar to that of Sergeant Megaloceros' first experience with [A Way Out]. He was only seriously injured, not completely dead. According to the closed-loop logic of [Mobius], he had to follow the guidance of the Timeline and spend his long life in this endless spiral geometry until [Mobius] naturally closed the loop.

The concept of a "closed loop" is described in detail in Magic Academy and The Great Rift of All Things.

There are countless Soul Power superpowers, and even the most experienced Lapis Lazuli Guards wouldn't dare claim to be able to determine an enemy's Soul Power attribute immediately.

Superpowers related to time all exhibit closed-loop behavior, whether it's a single-line time disturbance or a multi-line parallel chaotic spacetime. As long as they exist in the material plane and can be observed and perceived, they are interconnected, with countless causal relationships, and also need to complete a closed loop.

What is a closed loop?

Take FE204863, the Regret Pill, as an example.

This time traveler cannot return to a point in time before he obtained the Regret Pill. No matter how powerful his mental strength is, he cannot change his soul power attribute through such power.

The Regret Pill has a very long duration, capable of rewinding time by up to four hours at a time. However, the Sixty-Three individuals only need to rest for fifteen minutes to activate this superpower again.

Perhaps he can slowly crawl back, sleeping for fifteen minutes, crawling for four hours, repeating this cycle until he's back to his early twenties.

However, Sixty-Three cannot change what has already happened, because "Jiang Bailu's death" will always occur before "obtaining the [Regret Pill]"—this law of cause and effect is like a pair of shackles, preventing FE204863 from changing his own life. He can only watch Bailu grow up from afar through one parallel universe after another, through windows from other Timeline.

This is also the closed loop of FE204863. It is precisely because of the order of events that the continuity of time and space is basically guaranteed, which is why FE204863 exists. If the fact of "Jiang Bailu's death" were to be erased, then the Regret Pill and the subsequent series of events would also cease to exist—this is the "paradox" that Team Leader Jefferies has always been worried about.

Because what has already happened cannot be changed, Jefferies resolutely chose to shoot his former self, continuing to be a puppet according to the evolution of the [Mobius] events, sketching out his cyclical life stroke by stroke according to the content of the [A Way Out] photograph.

It wasn't until the foreman bumped into "Tom Number Two" from another timeline in the pigsty at the back gate that Jefferies realized the farm's owner was actually Tom himself. Tom had also been affected by this strange spirit, except that Tom had traveled much further back in time and was already over thirty years old.

They completed the second closed loop, making the Mobius structure more complete and stabilizing the cyclical process in the Spirit Realm.

What kind of life has Tom Cradley experienced over the past decade?

That's far too complicated and chaotic to explain in a few words.

In the third year of Lingzong, Tom Crad, with the help of a stranger, returned to the Aizong Mausoleum.

At first, he didn't know what was happening; he only knew that the Megaloceros had gone mad and was firing at civilians, completely losing its mind.

The defensive grenade left numerous shrapnel fragments in his body. Before surgery could be performed, the Universal Elixir simply and brutally closed the wound on his torso. He could feel another piece of shrapnel slowly extending along the muscles of his torso towards his thoracic spine.

He dared not get out of bed, a situation that was extremely dangerous. The naturally healing muscle joints and the rapidly growing bones would slowly push him toward hemiplegia. If the spinal cord was severed, he would most likely die from cardiopulmonary failure.

Tom has fallen under the control of [Mobius] and is beginning to evolve into the next closed loop of his life.

He had no idea of his situation or which time and space he was in. The sudden disappearance of the main station signal, the singing and dancing and the thriving construction projects all around Aizong Mausoleum, all of this made him feel unfamiliar and lonely.

He was taken by [A Way Out] to a temporal rift, where all the stories that happened were fictional.

A week later, after Tom figured out Chapin's reign title, he almost went crazy on the spot.

As a scout with a sharp blade, he originally possessed an extremely strong will to survive and mental fortitude. However, suddenly traveling back more than ten years was beyond his normal understanding.

He was unable to have surgery on his thoracic spine, making him practically useless; drinking another dose of the Universal Elixir would only hasten his death.

Like Captain Jefferies, the frontline assault teams possess an astonishing will to survive; even if they see Gate of Hell approaching, these soldiers will never easily give up their lives.

He faced reality and began preparing for the next step of his plan.

According to the calendar of the mortal world, he was in 2019, which was fourteen years ago.

There was no Shambhala harvest, no Judas, and no gunsmiths or swift-knife squads.

All operations against Shambhala have not yet begun— the Madness Butterfly Sect on the other side of the Pompeii Sea remains rampant, and this land is plagued by natural and man-made disasters.

Including the girl who saved his life, the Aizong Mausoleum is managed by a group of fish-people hybrids. The religious cause of the Heavenly Palace is deeply rooted in this place, and the believers believe in every word of their Cult Leader.

A month later, Tom was able to walk with difficulty, and he developed feelings for the girls on the farm.

--That was the person who saved his life, who was two years older than him. She was the daughter of a wealthy farmer from Lingnan Village who had married far away to the mausoleum of Aizong Mausoleum. Her name Zhang Cuiyun.

Just a few years earlier, Cui Yun's husband was buried in the yellow earth along with the construction of Aizong Imperial Mausoleum.

Emperor Aizong of Xia died suddenly, and before he could be buried in this remote and auspicious place, the craftsmen who had not been able to complete the project ahead of schedule naturally had to die for the country, Cui Yun became a widow.

According to the Da Liang Kingdom's disposal method, Cui Yun was originally supposed to be buried with her husband, but the Cult Leader of the Heavenly Palace asked her to recite scriptures and specially spoke a few words for the vulnerable group of artisan widows—thus, these orphans and widows escaped a calamity and did not become burial objects in the tomb.

"I was just thinking about how the weather wasn't going to get better a while ago."

This Xiabang peasant woman was twenty-three years old, spoke haltingly, and seemed to have some mental impairment.

"The weather is alternating between cloudy and sunny; the sun rises over the eastern mountain, and rain is coming over the western river."

"I was so anxious, I rushed to the east bank to pick the vegetables for the holiday, and then I unexpectedly ran into you on the way."

As she spoke, she scooped water into the earthenware jar while swinging the iron pot, deftly placing it on the wood-fired stove. She kicked pine needles from her feet to form a neat, dense pile of grass, and with a slight tug, the match ignited a burst of flames that shot into the stove.

"Seeing that you had that Divine Water Universal Elixir you, perhaps you're a disciple of the Bodhisattva of the Heavenly Palace? That's why I brought you back."

Tom asked, "How long have you lived here?"

Cui Yun replied absentmindedly, "A long time ago."

Tom then asked, "I mean, when did you start living here?"

Cui Yun continued, still confused, "She married into the family from Nanzhuang and lives here with my husband. I was only fifteen or sixteen."

Tom patiently tried to gather some information, so he continued, "How long ago was it that your old man died?"

Cui Yun wasn't sad; her husband had been dead for some time.

--She, as a child bride, had no other aspirations, so she just said it casually.

"It was during that famine year when my father had to pay back the rent. I remember it well; I have a very good memory, otherwise I wouldn't have married into this family."

Tom decided to rephrase the question, "So, how many people do you know now?"

"We all know them, we're all from the same village," Cui Yun said immediately. "They don't even call us by name. Except for Teacher Bai Mei, nobody likes them. They were supposed to be buried with the dead, but where are they?"

Tom was getting a little frustrated. "What I mean is..."

"Hey!" After blanching the chicken, Cui Yun didn't mind the heat at all and immediately grabbed it to the cutting board to chop it.

She disliked the little boy for asking so many questions, he just wouldn't stop.

"I thought last time that this thing might be hereditary--"

"--Like my parents, they don't know many people. My aunt doesn't like her, and neither does my maternal uncle's wife."

"She didn't bring death to my father, but I did bring death to the old man."

Tom: "Uh"

This elite soldier from Guangling Zhixi was immediately exhausted.

He never did logistics work; he was always on the front lines.

If you were to compare it to Flavia and Duran, you'd know that this kind of cross-channel communication is actually quite common in nameless villages and towns in the mountains.

Scouts are required to provide complete, concise, and clear information.

Unlike Cui Yun, who rambles on and on, Tom couldn't understand her.

The pace of life was slowed down once again by this useless communication. Tom talked a lot every day, but very little useful information was obtained.

His watch stopped working, his Summoning Bell went unanswered, and defensive grenades destroyed most of his equipment.

To repay his debt of gratitude, he had no choice but to work alongside Cui Yun to manage the farm, living and working alongside the locals from sunrise to sunset. At the same time, he realized that this was an opportunity, a chance to get close to Judas and kill Judas.

Six months later, he tried to remove the shrapnel from his sternum, but he almost died. It was still a failed surgery and a failed attempt.

A year later, Cui Yun finally couldn't stand the gossip from her neighbors anymore. She felt that she had kept such a wild man at home, and that Tom Crad should repay her with his body. Gradually, she forgot about the mission.

It wasn't until a year and eight months later, when Cui Yun became pregnant, that Tom Crad also deduced Judas's movements by observing the local engineering team's vehicle routes. However, he dared not act rashly—without the foreman's dispatch order, without the support of the headquarters, and without the coordinated operations of the assault team, he was merely a deserter who had broken away from the organization.

More importantly, Jefferies lost to his own obsession, while Tom Crad lost to love; he and Cui Yun already had a child.

However, the child was miscarried very quickly; it died in the mother's womb almost a month after conception.

Tom initially thought it was an accident, after all, the medical and sanitary conditions in Shambhala were extremely poor, and even a small problem with the food could cause a pregnant woman to miscarry.

Whenever he found an opportunity to trade equipment with Judas for one, Cui Yun would always become pregnant and suffer a miscarriage.

Tom also wondered if this was perhaps one of his few chances to unravel the mystery of the [Mobius] and escape this endless cycle.

He simply couldn't understand it. He flipped through his old notebooks, found the section explaining the Great Rift of All Things, turned on the military multimedia system in its super power-saving mode, and found the Soul Power information related to time—

A terrible thought arose in his mind: Could Judas not die here?

Once the assassination plan begins, are there all sorts of unexpected situations that can arise?

Tom's thinking was this: regardless of whether he had the ability to fight Judas or whether he could achieve a one-for-one exchange.

Even if it were possible to achieve this, and Judas died here, would subsequent events related to Judas, or things that had already happened, still proceed as expected?

Tom didn't understand; he couldn't tell whether it was fate or simply his wife's unique constitution.

Finally, the doctor from the construction team at Aizong Mausoleum brought Tom a reassuring answer.

--Cui Yun has some fish-human blood. It is difficult for hybrids and Homo sapiens to have healthy children, and frequent miscarriages are a normal phenomenon.

This sense of security erased Tom's last remaining doubts, and he became completely immersed in the spacetime rift created by [Mobius].

He abandoned the assassination plan, not only to close the loop, but also for his own future.

He couldn't do strenuous exercise; the last open surgery almost cost him his life. If it weren't for Cui Yun by his side, he would have been meeting his maker long ago.

The future should be left to future generations to accomplish. Even if Judas is killed here, and he truly has the ability to complete such a great task, another "Judas" will still take the golden mask, don Judas's clothes, and continue the endless cycle of calamities.

This is what has already happened, and Tom is powerless to change it. All he cares about is his little home in Shambhala and comforting his wife.

After learning the diagnosis, Cui Yun kept crying.

--A widow remarrying is never a good omen; first it was a sign of bringing misfortune to her husband, and now it's also a sign of bringing misfortune to her children.

To take care of his wife's feelings, Tom devoted almost all of his life to this small farm.

Day after day passes, year after year goes by.

The couple tried many things and finally had a daughter, a mixed-race child with heterochromia.

Tom hid all the weapons and equipment deep in the farmland and stopped thinking about the assault team altogether.

Until thirteen years later--

--Following Jefferies's [Mobius] process, Tom received news of Judas's visit early on and, based on his vague memory, reconstructed the specific action plan for Class Third Squad.

He stood guard at the crossroads of fate, deliberately letting go of his beloved Little Kitty —a cat he had specially found in Nanzhuang, which looked very much like the BOSS, and which he had raised for seven years.

He held his camera, waiting, and following Mobius's guidance, gradually reconstructed everything from his memory.

He heard gunshots coming from the farm's cement yard, and felt tense, but hesitated to go out and face them.

Until Jefferies, covered in blood, rushed out the back door with his younger self—

Tom took the two photos from his wife's hand, and following the guidance of fate, he held up the lens, aimed it at the two of them, and pressed the shutter.

The flames from the defensive grenade engulfed everything!

He was thrown off balance by the powerful blast and slammed against the stone fence of the pigsty. The shrapnel from his chest and spine, after more than three thousand days and nights, finally pierced through his fragile spine before he could even utter a word.

In his dying moments, Tom was filled with regret. If he could do it all over again, he might still make the same choice.

However, before completing the closed loop during the photo-taking process, you need to move to a safe location to take the photo.

But the last Tom did the same thing, and perhaps the last Tom died in the same way.

But how can we change what has already happened?

Tom Crad, from the "past," died in 2033.

Tom Crad from "Future" was caught in the same explosion.

The damage was caused by the same defensive grenade.

Continuing from the previous chapter.

After Su Ling saw Ling Ao off and took the photos, the corpse transformed into another Flash Butterfly.

"Look at this photo!"

The "prophetic scene" shown in the photo also depicts the tense battle at the North Lai Ferry. In addition to the original Flash Butterfly, there is now a spherical winged monster.

Besides [Mobius], [A Way Out]'s abilities have been fully revealed to [Phoenix]. The spacetime disturbances it caused are quite interesting, and Su Ling also captured the photos taken when sending Luo Shi away.

The prophecy that the matriarch of the Luo family would lose her head has certainly come true, and this final portrait also carries a deeper meaning.

That was Judas with his back to the camera, eating.

"It seems that Grandma Luo has already become Judas's meal," Su Ling said in a low voice. "That matches the intelligence from the Gate of Wonders."

Billy the Kid asked, "VIP, are you going to go after him?"

"Certainly."

Su Ling nodded, then began to ring the bell.

"Call in a professional."

Billy immediately perked up. "Are you going to call the teacher to deal with him?"

"Call your brother and move quickly." Su Ling pulled Billy out of the bathhouse, explaining seriously, "I wonder what happened to Quick Blade's scout -- let's bring your teacher over to keep things in order. He once faced FE204863's Regret Pill head-on, so he has more experience dealing with this kind of time-distorting soul power."

After traversing over 70 kilometers of mountain road, looking towards the second peak of Tiger Ridge Mountain...

--The bald monk carrying the luggage suddenly stepped out of the group and turned in a different direction.

The fellow travelers wanted to continue their conversation with the master about Buddhism and self-cultivation, but as the clear bell rang more and more urgently, the gunsmith changed direction, leaped and bounded along the steep mountain path to the northwest, found the official road caravan, grabbed a horse, tossed the foreman a dozen or so silver dollars, and rode off into the distance.