A Deduction About Time

"Qin Yiguan."

"When you were five years old, did you escape from the Ring Research Institute one night by yourself?"

The Lu Zhoulang stared at Qin Yiguan with a strange look in its eyes.

Qin Yiguan frowned slightly. According to Black Calamity's memory, he had escaped from the Ring Research Institute many times, but was always caught and brought back each time.

Lu Zhoulang suddenly spoke up, "I'm referring to the time you encountered the woman in white."

Qin Yiguan's Pupil contracted slightly as he stared intently at the Lu Zhoulang.

Want to know who that woman in white is?

The Lu Zhoulang paused for a moment, then suddenly chuckled, "That's your mother."

"!"

Qin Yiguan's eyes widened suddenly.

In my memory, after that escape, my mother and father came to the Ring Research Institute and took me home. I spent most of my time there afterward, until...

Moreover, Qin Yiguan now clearly remembers the face of the white-clad female corpse. She was not his mother; she was a stranger!

And what does his mother look like...?

At this moment, Qin Yiguan's expression suddenly turned somewhat horrified.

my mother...

I can't even remember what she looked like.

Why can't I remember what she looked like...?

Or rather, I've never remembered it at all.

Every time I think of her, I only have a vague outline in my mind. She was gentle... her arms and embrace were warm, but... I can't remember her facial features.

Suddenly.

Qin Yiguan suddenly realized that his memories of his mother must have been taken away by another personality!

"Hehe."

But Lu Zhoulang chuckled sinisterly, "That corpse is your mother, or more precisely, your adoptive mother. I heard that when they found you the next day, you were hiding under that woman's body in a pit."

Qin Yiguan's eye twitched.

Yes, these are indeed Black Calamity's memories.

"And what you don't know is..."

Lu Zhoulang slowly said, "After you escaped from the Ring Research Institute that night, your mother was the most anxious. After all, the jungle where the Ring Research Institute is located is full of dangers. She rushed out immediately to search for you."

But she drowned in the lake.

Looking back now, it's truly a story worthy of praise and tears.

Lu Zhoulang's face was contorted with rage, but he deliberately sighed, "After she died, she always worried about you and protected you beneath her. The search teams we sent out back then saw the female corpse several times, but they didn't realize that you were hiding under that body. They ignored the female corpse time and time again."

At this moment, Qin Yiguan's expression grew increasingly agitated. He suddenly gritted his teeth and said, "What do you mean by 'repeatedly ignoring'? You found an unknown corpse in the wild, right in front of your own research institute... and you're going to ignore it?! Unless... they know who that corpse is!"

"Hehe."

Lu Zhoulang sneered, "You're quite perceptive! You guessed right, it was our Dean who personally drowned your mother! The Dean held her head underwater, and no matter how much she struggled, he wouldn't let go! The Dean gave prior notice, so of course the search team had to turn a blind eye!"

"You..."

Qin Yiguan's body began to tremble. "Why did you do this?"

"Because your mother has always opposed our research and has always wanted to take you away."

Lu Zhoulang gritted his teeth and said, "That ignorant, stupid woman, she has no idea how valuable you are!"

At this moment, Qin Yiguan was struggling to control his anger. "You're doing this just to continue your inhuman research!"

Lu Zhoulang laughed maniacally, "To be precise, it's about buying research time for the dean's project."

"A den of snakes and rats!"

Qin Yiguan squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth, "Then why? In my memory, my mother and father took me home the next day, and we lived together for a long time."

But then Lu Zhoulang smiled meaningfully, "Why don't you ask me what the dean's research topic is?"

Qin Yiguan suddenly realized a terrifying truth and squinted, asking, "What is his project?"

The Lu Zhoulang let out another twisted grin, "Cloning."

"Clone!"

Qin Yiguan's eyes widened suddenly. "That means the people who took me home the next day weren't my real parents!"

"You're smart too!"

Lu Zhoulang had clearly given up all hope. "Not only did he realize the truth so quickly, but what's most unbelievable is that the dean's cloning technology has reached its peak. Originally, no one would have discovered the truth about the clones, but you, Qin Yiguan, actually killed those clone parents with your own hands when you were only 6 years old... Tsk tsk, that's really quite amazing."

At this moment, Qin Yiguan was overwhelmed with a surge of intense emotions.

He never expected the truth to come so suddenly.

Thankfully, and to his great relief, the people who died at his hands were not his actual adoptive parents.

But what was even more tragic and heartbreaking was that his real adoptive mother died in that dense forest, her body left to rot in the wilderness.

He wasn't ready, and couldn't even accept, that the body floating on the water years ago was actually his adoptive mother. How helpless she must have been in her dying moments...

A raging fire of anger was rising within him.

He practically growled, "I will slaughter every last one of your Ring Research Institute! Not a single one will be left!!!"

"Oh."

Lu Zhoulang sneered, "You don't understand the Ring Research Institute Ring Research Institute at all. You should have seen its logo, a closed circle. Do you know what that represents? The Ring Research Institute has no fixed location; it exists in time, only appearing in the gaps between moments in time!"

"The old site of the Ring Research Institute that you visited before only had our Group A and some unimportant logistics team members left. Didn't you ever wonder where the other research groups and staff members at level 7 and above went?"

"The gaps in the flickering time..."

Qin Yiguan's eyes slowly narrowed, "Time..."

"The dean's abilities are beyond your imagination."

Lu Zhoulang's eyes narrowed. "Do you really think that Du An Du An discovered the original strain of Tuomen Acuminate Fungus * himself? It was a gift from the dean; otherwise, Du An would be useless to this day!"

now.

Various fragments of information flashed through Qin Yiguan's mind.

Tuomen Acuminate Fungus...

A white muscle will appear on the wrist of a person who is parasitized by it.

Starvation Corpse people eat this kind of muscle.

When he was six years old, he killed his 'adoptive parents' and, coincidentally, swallowed a piece of flesh from his mother's arm!

Did I already have Starvation Corpse inside me back then?

No... it certainly doesn't exist.

I myself had only recently become Starvation Corpse.

Unless Starvation Corpse can travel through time.

But the Starvation Corpse resides in one's mind; it cannot leave alone.

time...

time...

Qin Yiguan's breathing became somewhat rapid as a time-bending deduction came to mind.

Who can transcend time?

It is the root of [Time Lag Syndrome], it is the Boundless One!

At that moment, Qin Yiguan suddenly said, "The symbol of the Ring Research Institute that I saw... that ring... it's not closed; it has a gap!"

But then the Lu Zhoulang's expression changed, and after a long while, it reacted and shouted, "Impossible!"

Nothing is impossible!

"The Ring Research Institute may indeed be a very advanced entity, capable of traversing time and Infinity looping within it, unshakeable by anyone. But if I also possessed the ability to travel through time, I would certainly have a chance to end it!"

But Qin Yiguan gritted his teeth and said, "I will definitely break that ring!"

"That's absolutely impossible. It's a flawed conclusion. You can't break anything, and you can't win!"

The Lu Zhoulang laughed wildly, "Have you forgotten? I told you, our chief's ability is cloning!"

Qin Yiguan clenched his fist slightly. "He has successfully cloned another version of me."

"Clever!"

"Ha ha!"

The Lu Zhoulang laughed maniacally, "How could you possibly defeat yourself? How could you possibly defeat yourself who possesses the exact same abilities? At worst, you'd both perish. You can't win alone, because it's a paradox!"

"Besides!"

A sinister glint suddenly appeared in Lu Zhoulang's eyes. "The Dean made preparations to restrain you many years ago. You think everyone around you is a friend and an assistant? Didn't you ever consider that some of them might be clones or androids?"

At this moment, the young monk Shitian slowly stepped forward, "This Lu Zhoulang is truly of terrible character. I couldn't help but take action myself to clean house for my master."

At this moment, Qin Yiguan suddenly squinted and looked at Shitian.

Shitian also sensed something was wrong. "Benefactor Qin, you don't doubt me, do you? I am the real child my master picked up from the latrine, it's absolutely true, a monk doesn't lie."

"Qin Yiguan!"

But then the Lu Zhoulang suddenly shouted, "I'm suddenly incredibly happy!"

"The dean predicted the outcome for me and Du An. Our fate was exactly as he predicted—terrible, utterly miserable!"

"This also demonstrates that the dean is fully aware of your abilities!"

Do you know what else he said?

"You, Qin Yiguan, will also die in the end, and your fate will be a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times worse than mine and Du An's!!!"

Click!

Qin Yiguan snapped the neck of the Lu Zhoulang!

But the moment Lu Zhoulang fell to the ground, he slowly awoke, then suddenly realized, "Oh, because you couldn't control your anger, you killed me. But you still retained a sliver of reason, creating a dream in which you snapped my neck. What, you want to extract more information from me?"

But Lu Zhoulang shrugged. "Sorry, that's all I know. The most important part is that you'll die a horrible death, haha. As for the rest, I really know nothing."

"Good."

Qin Yiguan's expression flickered. "Then go and have one last dream."

"Another dream?"

The Lu Zhoulang was completely indifferent at this point. "Am I really going to have to go through an endless cycle?"

Qin Yiguan's tone was very calm at this moment, "You will dream that you are dead."

Thump.

The Lu Zhoulang fell backward, its face instantly turning pale, and it was dead. But for some reason, its body began to convulse violently.

At this moment, Qin Yiguan's body had already transformed into code and was slowly dissipating.

Qin Yiguan appeared on the third basement level of the Ring Research Institute, searched for a moment, and found a rusty iron axe in a corner.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

His expression was calm. He first cleaved the tempered glass of the Nutrient Pod with one axe stroke, and then chopped at the body of the Lu Zhoulang with another. Blood splattered and flesh flew everywhere. The boy's face was stained with blood, but his expression was extremely calm.

Thump!

Thump!

The ground trembled, like a butcher stomping on pork on a chopping board.

Much later.

Qin Yiguan tossed the chipped axe aside, his face still expressionless.

Inside the Nutrient Pod, a bloody mess made it difficult to tell whether what had originally been lying there was a person or an animal.