Ordinary Chapter 98: Known Future

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: KarateChopMonkey

 

“Little Right, do you know why Shen Si would do this?” Cheng Xiangwen sat on the branch and looked at his brother who was holding the tablet next to him, “To get him in touch with Underworld Trade Union and finally must meet with that mirror, in the previous playfield too, and for you to send the message to the Special Unit. “

Cheng Xiangyi shook his head, “I don’t know.”

“Hmm? You don’t know?”

“He just left something in my data for me to do him a favor.” Cheng Xiangyi’s voice was very small and his words were broken. One could tell from itt that he was a person who seldom spoke, “Why he did that, didn’t say so, and I don’t know.”

“How strange.” Cheng Xiangwen shook his leg, “Totally confused.”

“Probably, for a change.” Cheng Xiangyi opened his tablet and looked at the contents, “Maybe, changing the past, can change the future, so, he is constantly trying to change.”

Cheng Xiangwen’s eyes widened, and after a moment he nodded, “To change the future so the past changes? What a surprising reason. But I do think, that’s not only it.”

“What do you mean, brother…?”

“In the previous thief playfield, his past was stolen, but he didn’t care at all, he said the past is not important to him. He wasn’t lying, but really felt so.” Cheng Xiangwen frowned and spoke, “Honestly, I know he is a good person, and I know from you that he has reversed time, but why exactly he reversed time at this point. It’s really important to think about it.”

Cheng Xiang Yi tilted his head, and listened to his brother’s chatter again as he kept coming up with ideas, finally even saying that Shen Si himself might be a playfield. A moment later he sighed, and the whole person transformed directly into a data body into the tablet. Cheng Xiangwen was surprised, he hurriedly reached out to grab the tablet, and almost fell off the tree for the second time.

“Little Right! Don’t do that in the future!” Cheng Xiangwen shouted at the tablet, “Although I know you can get out of the other tablets after you get in, I’ll be worried if you do. Who knows if you won’t be able to get out if this thing breaks! And this thing is so expensive, if you break it we don’t have money to buy another!”

Cheng Xiangyi shrunk in the data listening to his brother’s nagging, sighed sorrowfully and decided to admit his mistake for now, otherwise his brother would be chatting for a long time.

Somewhere else, Shen Si and Jian Nian left the area. They walked very slowly, the road was cold, so Jian Nian hid his hands in his pockets, and with each breath he could see his exhaled white air into the air.

“Shen Si,” Jian Nian turned his head to look at Shen Si.

“What?”

Jian Nian was silent for a moment, then he shook his head, “Forget it, it’s nothing.”

“Is your birthday coming up?” Shen Si suddenly spoke, “I remember it should be ten days later?”

“Birthday… It seems to be.” Jian Nian, who had completely forgotten his birthday, blinked hesitantly, and only after a moment did he nod as if remembering, “The date on the ID card is indeed ten days later.”

His birth was a mistake, and his birthday, which normal people took for granted as an important date, was no different from a normal day to him. Perhaps Shen Si was the only one who would remember his birthday and say a happy birthday to him.

Although it is meaningless, Jian Nian would still feel happy when he heard this happy birthday because Shen Si still remembered him.

“Do you want to go somewhere on your birthday?”

Jian Nian didn’t quite understand Shen Si’s meaning, but hearing Shen Si’s tone didn’t sound like a joke, so he thought about it, “Actually I’m happy as long as I’m with Shen Si, but if I have to say a place, I want to go somewhere I’ve never been, just the two of us. I want to have more memories with Shen Si.”

“Memories?”

“Although to you that is an irrelevant past, to me past memories are something very precious.” Jian Nian smiled and said, “That’s Shen Si that belongs completely to me only.”

Shen Si looked at him, just about to speak when his cellphone rang. Shen Si fished out the phone from his pocket, but after seeing the name on it, Shen Si frowned slightly.

“Who is it?”

“Team Leader He.”

Shen Si answered Jian Nian and then immediately picked up the phone, “Hello, Team Leader He?”

“Shen Si, where are you now? Come to Special Unit headquarters with Jian Nian right away, I need to talk to you, there is an incident! I have to inform the others, Shen Si, you have to drag Jian Nian here!”

Shen Si didn’t even have time to ask He Xin what was going on. He looked at the screen that had returned to the home page, and then he and Jian Nian looked at each other, and they sighed at the same time, and then hurriedly took a taxi to the Special Unit headquarters.

After the earthquake, something really did happen.

They waited for a long time without anyone picking them up, so Shen Si had to call the Special Unit again to ask the Special Unit to come and get them. By the time they arrived at the Special Unit headquarters, it was already dark.

When they arrived, there were still people who weren’t there yet. Outside the lights, those who were shivering in the cold wind will be doubtful to return home, but probably not sleep well tonight, fearing the occurrence of aftershocks.

Shen Si stood at the window sill looking out, the stars in the night were twinkling and it looked like tomorrow would be a good day.

“You’re here?” Xia LeYu came running from the office, “Everyone is here, Shen Si, come on, the meeting will start soon.”

Shen Si nodded as he walked into the office with Xia LeYu, “What’s going on? So many people are gathered together for a meeting at night.”

And even Xi Luo, who had been staying at the Underworld Trade Union had come, not hesitating to expose Xi Luo’s relationship with the Special Unit to get people over.

After entering the office Shen Si saw a few people sitting at the front of the conference room. They were wearing elaborate military uniforms, looking serious and silent, meaning they should be upper level personnel. When they saw Shen Si they smiled kindly at him, so Shen Si nodded without saying anything, then sat back in his seat.

“I’m very sorry to bring everyone together at this time.” Wu Qiu wore glasses and handed out information to everyone, “The situation is too urgent. Team Leader He discussed and made this decision, so let’s discuss what to do together.”

“What the hell is happening?” Yang Yi, who was inexplicably called over, looked at Wu Qiu suspiciously, “What terrible thing did your Inspection Unit detect again?”

“You guys read the information first, turn to the second page.” Wu Qiu spoke quickly, “After the collapse of the unlimited flow world before, the world had a global earthquake. That earthquake lasted ten seconds, after which the Survivors returned, the playfields in the present world opened, and the Special Unit and Inspection Unit was established. “

Shen Si opened the file and looked at it, it has some earthquake photos and descriptions.

“But we overlooked one thing, the global temperature before the earthquake appeared wrong. In the autumn extreme heat, as well as in the earthquake after the rapid turn of cool, this aspect is not under our control we didn’t care much. When the investigation saw that it was of normal value after the earthquake, they didn’t investigate it deeper.”

“So what?” Bai JunYi who anxiously shouted over wearing a full-body furry jacket which he refused to take off, looked at Wu Qiu, “This temperature has a problem?”

“There is a big problem.” He Xin let everyone continue to turn the information backwards, “The back is the data I asked my colleagues for, the temperature began to be abnormal in September, but the fall had scorching heat, then the October earthquake occurred. While the temperature quickly turned cooler and gradually turned to sub-zero, playfields opened, and by November small-scale natural disasters began to appear. December’s heavy snow blocked traffic, causing great damage and travel difficulties. The whole world is facing such problems, and at first thought it was just a coincidence… But in January, which is now, a second global earthquake occured. No less than a few hundred playfields opened worldwide by now.”

Wu Qiu picked up He Xin’s words, “After the earthquake, Team Leader He took samples at multiple locations to check, and then found something terrible.”

“What?”

“…Our world… is gradually converging with the unlimited flow world.”

Ning Yangze stood up sharply, “What did you say?!”

“The playfields scattered all over the place are gradually turning our world into another unlimited flow world, so that’s what happened.” He Xin sighed, “The temperature and natural disasters were just early warnings, after that earthquake in the morning, all that was hidden unfolded, and Sun Zhi detected that the whole world was a playfield.”

Yang Yi hurriedly looked at Sun Zhi beside him, who nodded to affirm He Xin’s statement.

Sun Zhi, who could sense the playfield opening, was completely out of control because in her senses, the whole world was a playfield, and she even felt like she was standing inside the playfield.

“So, it’s true? Our real world is being assimilated by the unlimited flow world?” Xi Luo carefully looked at the information, “In that case… are there no more entrance exams?”

“It’s not just the college entrance exams, if our world becomes an unlimited flow world, there will be no future for humanity.” He Xin explained, “Although I am a bit extreme, the situation is definitely much worse than just having a playfield open now. Everyone is in danger.”

The Survivors in the room all fell into silence, they certainly know what kind of place the world of unlimited flow was.

There was no sunshine, no smiles, no hope, killing for survival was the only tone inside. In fact there were no Survivors who really thought they could ascend to the tenth floor and leave. The unlimited flow world collapsing was a miracle that almost all Survivors cried over.

“What to do?” Xia LeYu spoke, “We have to do something to stop it right now!”

He Xin looked to Shen Si, “Shen Si, is there any use in reversing time?”

“It’s possible to rewind to before the earthquake, but it’s useless.” Shen Si’s elbow was on the table, “Even with reversing, what has already happened in time is not so easy to stop. There will still be an earthquake at this point in time, the world will still be assimilated. I am the only person who is not affected by time, after I reverse time none of you will know that the world will change. If I talk to you about the future, for one thing, it will be taken as a lie, and even if you believe it, there is no solution for such an unexpected event, so going back in time to solve this problem is basically not valid.”

He Xin understood Shen Si’s meaning, he nodded, “I understand, that is to say, if we can’t think of a way, even if you rewind time, the same thing will still happen.”

“Exactly.”

So Shen Si could only change a very small thing that didn’t affect the original development, so he couldn’t stop his parents’ death, because it was a big thing that changed Shen Si himself, and even if Shen Si kept trying to rewind time, he couldn’t save them from it.

“You really can’t?” Yang Yi looked at Shen Si, “How do you know it won’t work if you don’t try?”

“First of all, the earthquake will definitely exist.” Shen Si looked at Yang Yi, “If you want to solve this problem, give me a solution to stop the earthquake from happening, and the event is solved.”

There was silence, because everyone understood that there was no room to stop this global earthquake.

“Then… There’s no way out?” Yang Yi muttered, “Something must be able to be done somewhere to make it right.”

“We have to be prepared for the worst.” Ning Yangze stood up, looking around at everyone, “The Special Unit will prepare safe spots, while the Inspection Unit keeps working. The main detection world will not force people into the playfield, like unlimited flow world rules where Survivor had to go once a month into the playfield. If this rule is also restored the consequences are unimaginable.”

The three upper echelons who had been listening nodded, and the one in the middle stood up, “I will report this matter up and fully support your actions, we must find a way. There is no such thing as impossible.”

The people present nodded and the meeting ended, but none of them left except the three upper echelons, who sat in their original positions thinking about the current situation. Everyone’s heart was in disarray, as countless things kept popping up in their minds.

Shen Si looked at them, after a moment he got up and was the first to leave the conference room. He just walked down the corridor, and pulled the window open a crack, letting the cold wind outside the window blew and froze through Shen Si’s fingers in an instant. Shen Si looked at the flowers that were still blooming next to the windowsill, with a little mildness in his eyes.

“Are you all right?” Jian Nian followed.

“Yes.” Shen Si reached out and touched the petals of the flower, his voice calm, seemingly just interested in the flower.

Jian Nian leaned next to him, “What do you think about that thing they just said?”

“Will the real world be assimilated by the unlimited flow world and become a playfield?” Shen Si lightly summarized what he just said, “It does sound like something that can’t be stopped.”

Jian Nian nodded, “But think about it, we are just ordinary human beings, even Survivor’s ability is brought by the unlimited flow world and the playfield. Let us, the ones who got power, use the power from the source to fight against a whole world? That’s a pipe dream any way you look at it.”

“You don’t think it can be done?”

“Reason tells me it can’t be done, but my mind tells me: I’m offended.” Jian Nian tsked, “I don’t even have time for a relationship!”

Some surprised turned his head to look at Jian Nian, and after three seconds of staring at each other Shen Si chuckled, laughing at the stupid child’s appearance.

“Don’t laugh.” Jian Nian frowned at him, “It’s the same for me anywhere, I just want to follow you.”

Shen Si put away the smile on his face, he turned around and leaned on the windowsill. The wind coming in through the gap in the window blew his hair up, and Shen Si let out a breath. “Don’t worry. Like I said, even the future can change if you work hard.”

… 

Already unable to care about anything else, in addition to having a playfield open, the entire Special Unit and Inspection Unit were constantly detecting the progress of the world’s assimilation. They cooperated with foreign organizations, seeking to find ways to slow down the world’s assimilation. But no, scientific means to these non-scientific things simply do not work!

After the collapse of Survivors from the world of unlimited flow back to reality, whether it was the Special Unit or the Inspection Unit, most of them were using Survivor’s ability to research and create props in their favor. He Xin’s ability was to copy, he could copy a person’s ability for a short period of time, and therefore would be able to convert many abilities into tangible props.

But now, the ability of a single individual was unable to compete with the speed of assimilation of the entire world.

A playfield, a world… this difference was unusually large, unusually high difficulty.

Shen Si cooperated with them to reverse time several times, but the reality didn’t change in the slightest, the earthquake still came, assimilation was still going on. In addition to the sudden increase of work, Shen Si walked outside feeling no other use.

In the end, the Inspection Unit gave up on time and searched for possible clues in the limited time available. After determining that they didn’t need his help, Shen Si left the Special Unit and looked at the roads around him.

Three days had passed since the global earthquake.

Jian Nian was left behind, because his ability was to devour, the Inspection Unit hoped to find a breakthrough from his ability. Although very disgusted, Jian Nian still agreed to test the experiment, after all, if he really let the world assimilate, then he really had no chance to get back together with Shen Si.

Walking out of the office, Jian Nian glanced towards the chair next to him, and the next moment he saw a familiar jacket.

Jian Nian picked up the jacket and reached into his pocket, then he pulled out an ID card with Shen Si’s name on it. Jian Nian sighed.

“Why did you even forget your jacket?” Jian Nian hung his jacket on his arm and ran downstairs, hoping Shen Si hadn’t taken a taxi yet. He couldn’t get away even if he took a taxi to the station, since he couldn’t go anywhere without his ID card.

Shen Si walked on the road, the cold wind blew over his body, after his body shivered Shen Si reacted to leave without his jacket, so he stood still and looked back. He had walked out of a road, and Shen Si stood in place for a while, then continued to walk forward.

As if he didn’t intend to ask for the jacket again.

Shen Si was thinking about the problem, the problem of the seven days, the problem of the assimilation of the world, and the problem of why he had reversed time.

Time was a parallel line, only Shen Si could walk on this line at will without being affected, others, even Bai JunYi, would be subject to the rules of time.

Was it because the assimilation of the world and unlimited flow space cannot be stopped that time is reversed?

Shen Si thought that it shouldn’t be so superficial, because it was something he did himself, so it was still quite easy to guess.

The past couldn’t be changed, but in the smallest places could be modified. This modification was not insignificant, but may affect the later events; just a butterfly stirring its wings can create a storm, and Shen Si needed to create this storm to go back in time to place the butterfly.

Change was not an easy thing, so he carried it out a full seven times.

This was probably the most reasonable guess.

“Not exactly remembered, but can it be done this time?” Shen Si muttered, “Or does it need more work?”

“Hey, Shen Si!”

Shen Si stopped in his tracks and looked back. Jian Nian caught up, he was panting a bit, as he unfolded the jacket in his hand and draped it on Shen Si, then spoke as if complaining, “Aren’t you cold? I don’t remember when you got so forgetful.”

“You’re bringing it to me, so it’s fine.” Shen Si put his jacket on.

“What are you thinking about?” Jian Nian looked at Shen Si strangely, “Don’t you always care about your body? You insisted that I put on my jacket even when I didn’t feel cold before.”

Shen Si looked at him, and after a moment he shook his head, “Maybe I’m worried about the current situation.”

“That’s true, after all Shen Si you are a person who cares a lot about the future.” Jian Nian sighed, “The future is the unknown that can be expected, but if no solution can be found, the future is predictable, or catastrophic, and it’s normal for you to feel troubled.”

“It’s not that time yet, what to expect can still be expected.” Shen Si smiled a little, “Then I’m leaving, don’t give the Special Unit and Team Leader He trouble.”

Shen Si took a step, the moment he took a step, something wrapped around his feet, Shen Si didn’t even have time to look down, as his entire body was dragged to the ground. In the second of losing consciousness, Shen Si heard Jian Nian’s voice calling his name.

If these are the past that has already happened, then is it also destined for him to keep going into the playfield like this?

In the Inspection Unit, because Wu Qiu stood up violently, the stool under the buttocks directly hit the floor with a thud. Everyone present was startled by the sound, they looked at Wu Qiu suspiciously, their eyes asking her what happened.

“It’s not good!” Wu Qiu looked to He Xin, “Team Leader, I just detected several playfields turned on at the same time, the number has exceeded ten!”

“What?!” He Xin hurriedly came over, and on Wu Qiu’s screen, warning symbols were hanging all over the screen.

He Xin hurriedly clicked on the detailed location, he sent the detailed address to Ning Yangze before asking Wu Qiu, “About how many people have entered the playfield?”

“Can’t be sure, but definitely not less, there are three places that are busy areas.” Wu Qiu reported the information above, “One more thing, the direction Shen Si just left, according to his footsteps, if he’s unlucky… He’s in a playfield right now.”

He Xin froze for a moment, “Shen Si?”

“Yes!” Wu Qiu nodded, “And, I found something else.”

Wu Qiu pointed out the information she had just detected, “This playfield… it’s a dream one.”