The Damned Crow and the Time Paradox

Three Thirty PM, the edge of the wasteland.

The sun was scorching, the hottest time of day in the Barbaric Realm.

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Outside the car, Wang Meng and Liu Yuqing were wandering around the nearby barren land under the big sun, their heads covered in sweat.

They were trying to find the wheat field that had disappeared.

"Strange..."

Wang Meng wiped the sweat from his face and sat down on a scalding stone.

"When we drove over, we could still see it was golden yellow from afar."

"How did it turn into barren land after we floored the accelerator and drove up to it?"

"Did the wheat field grow legs and run away?"

Liu Yuqing was also exhausted. She pushed her glasses up her nose. "That shouldn't be the case."

"The Broken Branch Old Tree that Shishi mentioned is right there. The landmark hasn't changed, only the environment has."

"Could it be time? But that doesn't make sense either. We could see the wheat field when we arrived during the day!"

Wang Meng scratched his head.

Just as the two were baffled.

The RV door slid open with a hiss.

Yu Shishi was staring blankly at the monitor screen by the door. Suddenly, she felt a humanoid figure behind her, startling her so much she almost jumped out of her chair.

She turned around and saw Jiangnan, who was fully dressed.

"B...Boss! You're awake!"

Yu Shishi quickly stood up, nervously rubbing her hands.

Jiangnan nodded and walked out of the car without a word.

The heatwave outside hit him.

Seeing Jiangnan get out, Wang Meng and Liu Yuqing quickly went to greet him, looking guilty.

"Big Boss... I'm sorry, we're too stupid."

"We searched for a long time but still couldn't find the entrance to the wheat field."

"There's nothing here but dirt and grass."

Jiangnan waved his hand, signaling it was fine.

He walked to the Withered Old Tree, Stroking Chin, and scanned the Empty Wasteland...

and the glaring sun overhead.

He felt something was off.

Just a few kilometers away, he had clearly seen a Wheat Field.

Why did it disappear when he got closer?

Was it because the Wheat Field was sentient and sensed the danger he posed as a Hacker, so it hid?

Or...

Jiangnan glanced at a few crows circling in the distance.

Did these Feathered Beasts tip off the Scarecrow inside and close the door?

"No."

Jiangnan shook his head, instantly dismissing the thought.

Mutated Crows were intelligent, but they were chaotic evil creatures.

If they could really relay information, they would never let the Scarecrow hide.

On the contrary, they would prefer to Attract Jiangnan, a powerful enemy, inside.

Let him and the Scarecrow fight to a mutual destruction, so they could reap the benefits.

Since it wasn't "Discriminate".

Then there was only one answer.

Jiangnan looked up, squinting at the sun in the sky, which was slightly out of place.

It was time.

The Time Flow here, or rather the Space Rules, were different from the outside.

Only at a specific Time Node would the two spaces overlap and the entrance open.

Jiangnan had an answer in his heart.

But the problem now was, what time could he enter?

Why can it be seen from afar but not up close?

These details can't be figured out by guessing alone.

I need to find a "local" to ask.

Thus, Jiangnan began to look around, his gaze seemingly casual.

In reality, his peripheral vision had already locked onto a mutated crow that had landed behind them and was peeking around, spying on them.

Because it was daytime, this crow didn't have the fierce aggression from last night.

It looked much like an ordinary bird, even a bit dull.

The corner of Jiangnan's mouth curved slightly upward.

It's you.

He suddenly turned, a zero frame start!

His right hand instantly rose, thumb up, index finger straight, aimed at the spying crow!

He didn't activate a Word Spirit, just simply made that execution gesture.

"Caw?!"

The moment the crow saw the gesture, its big eyes almost popped out!

That was a fear engraved in its genes!

It was the demon mark from the slaughter of hundreds of its companions last night!

"Finished! I've been discovered! I'm going to explode!"

Under extreme fear, the crow even forgot to escape, its body instantly stiff.

Its legs kicked, its tongue stuck out, and it fell stiffly from the bushes.

Splatter.

It fell on the ground and instinctively started to play dead.

However, after waiting for two seconds.

Huh?

It doesn't hurt?

My head didn't explode?

The crow quietly opened one eye, just about to take the opportunity to flap its wings and fly away.

A large hand, like iron pliers, gripped its neck tightly and lifted it up!

"Caw! Caw caw!!"

Let go of me! You demon!

The crow struggled madly, but in Jiangnan's hand, it was like a helpless chick.

Just as Jiangnan thought, this thing was clever, but not enough, easily misled by its own cleverness.

Jiangnan expressionlessly held the crow, took out his memo pad, and drew a simple sketch on it:

A wheat field, a scarecrow, and then he drew a moon.

He shoved the drawing in front of the crow's eyes, pointed at the drawing, and then pointed at the sky.

The meaning was obvious: Can only enter at night?

The crow was stunned for a moment, looking at the drawing, a human-like surprise flashed in its eyes.

This demon is asking for directions?

Its eyes rolled, and it nodded madly.

"Caw caw!"

Yes, yes, yes! It's at night!

Jiangnan nodded, then drew a person on the paper and pointed at the wheat field.

Then he drew the person next to the wheat field, and finally pointed towards the wasteland.

He spread his hands, showing a look of "What's Happening Now?".

Why do people disappear near the wheat field?

The crow struggled a bit, signaling Jiangnan to put it down, and it would lead the way.

Jiangnan let out a cold laugh and gave Wang Meng a look.

Wang Meng immediately found a rope, tied the crow's wings tightly, and led it like walking a dog.

Led by the crow, several people arrived behind an inconspicuous stone at the boundary of the woods and wasteland.

There, stuck in the ground, was a tattered, palm-sized small scarecrow.

The crow picked up the small scarecrow with its mouth and handed it to Jiangnan, its eyes full of cunning and a smile.

"Take it, you foolish human!"

"As soon as you touch this thing, you'll be targeted by the big guy inside! You're as good as dead tonight!"

However.

It had calculated everything, except that this team had an appraiser.

"Wait! Don't touch it!"

Liu Yuqing shouted, adjusted her glasses, and a blue light instantly scanned the small scarecrow.

A few seconds later, Liu Yuqing's expression changed.

"Boss! This is a trap!"

She pointed at the little thing and quickly read out the appraisal information.

[Item]: Guardian Scarecrow

[Type]: Weird Thing

[Information]: This is an Evil Medium that can create a Wheat Field Illusion Node, specifically designed to invite unlucky souls to their deaths.

Anyone who touches it will instantly be afflicted with the Highest Level [Scarecrow's Gaze].

Upon entering the wheat field, they will be listed as the primary target for elimination by the Terrifying Scarecrow, and it will not rest until they are dead!

After hearing this, Wang Meng and Liu Yuqing's faces turned green.

When that crow had brought it over earlier, it had even rubbed against their legs a few times!

Which meant... they had all been marked!

"Damn it! This feathered beast set us up!"

Liu Yuqing trembled with rage. Without a second thought, she raised her foot and stomped hard on the crow, which was still gloating to itself!

"Caw?!"

The crow was stunned.

Before it could react, Wang Meng's size 48 foot also came down.

"For trying to harm us! For trying to harm us! I'll stomp you to death!"

The two of them unleashed a combined assault, instantly stomping the unlucky crow into a pulp.

After venting their anger, they looked at Jiangnan with terrified expressions:

"Boss... what do we do? We've been marked by that gaze. If we go in tonight, won't we be chased and killed by the Boss?"

Jiangnan looked at the Small Scarecrow on the ground, but there was no panic on his face.

On the contrary, he even felt like laughing a little.

Whether he had this mark or not made no difference to him.

He was going to dismantle the scarecrow for its coating anyway.

If this mark could make the Boss actively seek him out to die, it would actually save him the trouble of searching everywhere.

It suits me perfectly.

Jiangnan picked up the Small Scarecrow and casually hung it on his waist. Then, he wrote on the sticky note.

[Return to the carriage to rest.]

[Conserve energy and wait for midnight.]

At the same time.

In the Wheat Field, there was Deathly Stillness.

Yang Wei and Guo Shuai were slumped on the ground, their eyes bloodshot, their spirits on the verge of collapse.

They had been walking and walking.

But no matter how they walked, the surroundings were always the damned Wheat!

What made them most despairing was...

They had clearly survived the night safely and endured until Sunrise.

But!

The System Announcement in their minds had not sounded yet!

There was no Awakening Fruit! Nothing at all!

It was as if they had been forgotten by the entire world!

"Why... why can't we get out..."

Yang Wei grabbed his hair, his voice hoarse. "Are we already dead? Is this Hell?"

Guo Shuai did not Speak.

He stared tightly at the mechanical stopwatch on his wrist, an item that had never left him since he arrived in this world.

The time displayed on the dial was: 15:33.

Three Thirty PM.

Guo Shuai's mind raced, reassembling all the time nodes of this day and night in his mind.

Suddenly.

He started laughing as if he had gone mad, shaking all over as he laughed.

"Hahahaha! Old Yang! I get it! I get it!"

"Guo Shuai? Have you gone crazy?" Yang Wei was startled.

Guo Shuai suddenly grabbed Yang Wei's shoulders.

"Time! It's time!!"

"Old Yang, do you remember? Yesterday at Ten Thirty AM, the sun set here!"

"And now, my watch shows Three Thirty PM, which is 15:30, but look here?"

Guo Shuai pointed at the sun that had only recently risen.

"It's just dawn here! Around seven in the morning!"

"What does this mean?"

"It means the time flow here is chaotic! About twice as fast as the outside, or completely out of sync!"

Yang Wei's head ached listening to him.

"But so what? Didn't you say that at ten something?"

"Will that monster let us out? We haven't even seen its face yet!"

"No! You didn't understand what I meant!"

Guo Shuai, excited, took out a branch and frantically drew a timeline on the ground.

"The night we entered, it was around midnight."

"I surmise that at that time, it was precisely the time overlap point between the [Real World] and the [Wheat Field World]!"

"Only at that specific time node would the barrier between the two worlds open!"

"We just stumbled in that day purely by dumb luck!"

"And for us to get out..."

Guo Shuai stared intently at the diagram on the ground.

[Mechanical Watch Time: 6 o'clock, 9 o'clock, 12 o'clock, 15 o'clock, 18 o'clock, 24 o'clock, 6 o'clock.]

[Wheat Field Time: 12 o'clock, 18 o'clock, 24 o'clock, 6 o'clock, 12 o'clock, 24 o'clock, 12 o'clock.]

"We have to wait for the next time overlap!"

"A cycle every two days! That is, 24:00 real-time!"

"Tonight at midnight, is our only Path to Survival!!"

After hearing this explanation, even Yang Wei, who was slow-witted, understood at this moment.

This wheat field was not the real Barbaric Realm, but an independent Instance!

Only when the times matched would the door open!

"You mean... we can get out tonight?!"

Yang Wei's previously Dim eyes instantly erupted with a strong Will to Live.

"Most likely!"

Guo Shuai nodded heavily, but his expression immediately sank.

"But... I have a premonition that the Monster won't let us out so easily."

"When the door opens tonight, it will also be its final hunting moment."

Yang Wei gritted his teeth, his eyes fierce.

"Damn it! Let's go for it!"

He poured out all the remaining Food and water in his backpack, placing them on the ground.

"Eat! Eat it all!"

"Don't save it! You need to be full to have the strength to run!"

"Tonight, we fight with our backs to the wall!"