Chapter 320: Hourglass of Time

Carrier-18 emitted an emergency fluctuation in the seventh minute after the inspection team left:

"The garden's fluctuation is intensifying! The milky‑white luminosity rises by 17% per hour; at this rate, in 23 hours it will reach the Committee's satellite monitoring threshold!"

"Moreover, the garden has a 'single opening window' trait—each activation lasts only 7 hours, after which it sinks back into a spatial fold to cool for at least seven years."

The two time limits overlap:

·Monitoring countdown: 23 hours

·Opening window: 7 hours (included within the 23 hours)

And they also have an unknown duration occupied by mandatory training.

"I'll go," Han Qing was the first to stand, the Teaching Scar heating from urgency, "my scar stability is already at 85%, the garden soil is the only hope."

"You can't go," Aili pressed their shoulder, extracting all seven syringes from the medical pack for the first time, "scar stability below 70% is required for a safe long‑range spatial jump. Jumping now could cause memory overload halfway."

Xiao Yu raised their hand: "I'll go. My Resilience Ruler has just achieved a breakthrough, and… the garden needs someone who 'still chooses trust within the fissure.'"

"At least three are required," Absolute Luminance-4 used the Mirror Ruler to analyze the garden's coordinate structure, "the spatial fold entrance has a '3D anchor verification'—it must be touched simultaneously by three different types of ruler‑bearers to open."

Su Yu immediately said, "I'll go. The Structure Ruler can handle possible spatial folds inside the garden."

Kaiwen pushed his glasses three times, "The Light Ruler can establish dim‑light communication within the garden, ensuring contact with the rear."

The prototype three‑person squad formed: Xiao Yu (Resilience‑09), Su Yu (Structure‑11), Kaiwen (Light‑02).

【Breathing Moment】

Lao Zhao has already opened all the storage cabinets.

He did not take part in the stay‑or‑leave discussion, but quickly inventoried the provisions: compressed biscuits, jerky, nuts, rock sugar, tea leaves, and a small jar of fresh honey.

"Fast food," he explained while packing, "food for the journey must stave off hunger, take little space, and boost morale."

He customized each person's food pack:

·In Xiao Yu's pack he added a small bag of sesame candy (in her six‑year memory, her father gave her a piece of sesame candy before he left).

·In Su Yu's pack were neatly shaped geometric biscuits (matching her structural aesthetic).

·In Kaiwen's pack were luminous candies (providing 0.3 lumen of dim light in darkness).

Then he looked at those staying behind: "I've also prepared your meals for the training period. They're in insulated containers, heated three times, each for seventeen minutes."

Han Qing began to speak, but Lao Zhao raised a hand to stop him: "Division of labor. You worry about how to enter the garden; I worry about what you eat after you get in and whether you have hot meals when you return. That's the rule."

Resilience Ruler internal log (auto‑saved before departure)

Xiao Yu walked up to Han Qing, untying a thin wrist cord woven with sesame and osmanthus—from her wrist—a braid of golden thread that fell while repairing the first fragment, intertwined with her own hair.

She tied the cord onto Han Qing's intact wrist: "Teacher, this is for you."

"What is this?"

"It's a 'keepsake' from my six‑year fissure," Xiao Yu said earnestly, "Wear it and you'll know a part of me is with you. And if… if the garden soil really works, when I return and your scar stability recovers, give it back to me."

Her hand trembled slightly, but her eyes shone: "That gives me a reason… I must return unscathed."

Han Qing's Teaching Scar sensed the warmth sealed in the cord—not sorrow, but a new Emotional Frequency formed by Xiao Yu converting her trauma into a 'connection.'

She embraced Xiao Yu, the scar's temperature transmitting: "Alright. I'll wait for you to come back and take it."

At that moment, Kaiwen's Light Ruler detected an anomaly:

"Detected automatic dim‑light communication toward the garden!" he exclaimed, pulling up a light map, "The garden itself emits a 'guidance frequency' that resonates perfectly with my Ruler. That means… we may not need external navigation; the garden is actively guiding us!"

Even better, after analysis Absolute Luminance-4 found: "The encryption pattern of the guidance frequency shares a source with the Beauty Council (Seventeen Legacy). Hypothesis: the garden itself is the 'Atonement Legacy' left by Founder‑03, covertly sheltered by the Seventeen Legacy, allowing it to bypass parts of Committee surveillance."

"Then what about the training?" Su Yu worried, "During training we'll be under real‑time monitoring and can't escape."

Carrier-18 proposed a plan: "We can use 'body double' technology—Xiao Yu, Su Yu, and Kaiwen's original bodies attend the training, while pre‑separating 'consciousness projection bodies' to go to the garden. The projection bodies retain 70% of the original's abilities and can last 7 hours."

"Risks?" Han Qing asked.

"If a projection body is damaged inside the garden, the original will suffer a 30% backlash. If a projection body exceeds the time limit without returning, it will dissipate on its own, and the original will enter a 17‑hour weakness period."

Xiao Yu hesitated not: "Accept the risk."

Su Yu and Kaiwen nodded.

Lao Zhao handed the three specially made food packs to the projection bodies about to depart—though they don't need to eat, he insisted:

"Take them. If the garden has any… rule requiring a 'physical exchange,' food is the best universal currency."

He slipped a small note into each food pack. Xiao Yu secretly opened hers; it was written in crooked characters:

"The sesame candy your dad gave might be expired; this one I made won't be. Try it—maybe it's a bit sweeter than the memory."

Xiao Yu's tears nearly fell. She nodded firmly, folded the note carefully, and tucked it into a close pocket.

Han Qing shared the temporary "Teaching Case Storage Space" permission of his Teaching Scar with Xiao Yu's projection body:

"Inside is the energy imprint of the first fragment (the daughter story). If the garden requires 'proof that you deserve healing,' show this to it—a story a father couldn't finish, and a group of students trying to continue it."

Su Yu folded three paper cranes, each wing bearing a character; together they read: "Go borrow some light, return to plant it on the scar."

One minute before the projection body separation procedure—

The kitchen communicator sounded again. It was an emergency cipher from Auditor‑7, but this time the voice carried a rare panic:

"The Committee just revised the training rules! It is now 'immersive closed training,' requiring all participants to enter a specially made simulation pod, cut off all external connections, for 12 continuous hours!"

"The simulation pod will monitor brainwave activity in real time; any 'consciousness separation' action will be detected instantly!"

"The new rule takes effect in 10 minutes!"

10 minutes.

The original plan to have projection bodies attend training while the originals slipped away was completely nullified.

Either abandon the garden, or… the three originals flee directly, becoming 'training evaders,' which will trigger the Committee's highest‑level pursuit protocol.

"Choose," Carrier-18's fluctuation said gravely, "there are 9 minutes 47 seconds left."

Xiao Yu, Su Yu, and Kaiwen exchanged a glance.

Three hands stacked together simultaneously.

"Escape." Xiao Yu said.

"Escape." Su Yu said.

"Escape." Kaiwen pushed his glasses, third time.

Han Qing's Teaching Scar burned intensely, but she didn't stop, instead quickly operated: "I'll forge a 'sudden aesthetics experiment accident', creating the illusion of your three's 'accidental coma', buying you at least 3 hours of response time."

Aili had already taken out the medical kit: "I can issue an 'Emergency Medical Isolation' certificate, saying you contacted unknown aesthetic contamination, needing solitary isolation observation—this can buy another 5 hours."

Lao Zhao stuffed three food packets into their pockets, and added three small bottles of concentrated sugar water—further purified using that pot of "heartbroken sugar water."

"Drink on the way. The sweetness can suppress shock, and also…… make pursuers three seconds later remember to catch you, because they'll first wonder 'why these three are carrying sugar water while fleeing'."

Absolute Luminance-4 began frantically calculating the optimal escape route, combining the garden's guidance frequency with micro-light communication, drafting a "Light-Shadow Trail" that almost clings to surveillance blind spots.

"Walk along the light," it said, "light will bend, and surveillance won't see you."

Countdown: last 1 minute.

The three shouldered the food packets and sugar water bottles.

Xiao Yu finally glanced at the hand rope on Han Qing's wrist, took a deep breath: "We'll bring the soil back. Definitely."

Han Qing nodded, the scar's temperature conveyed silent trust.

Su Yu folded the last paper crane, released it. The paper crane turned into light dust in the air, lighting the first lamp for the "Light-Shadow Trail".

Kaiwen's Light Ruler fully unfolded, enveloping the three.

Countdown reached zero.

The communicator transmitted the Committee's notice: "The immersive closed training simulation chamber is ready; please trainees proceed immediately—"

The words hadn't finished.

Xiao Yu, Su Yu, and Kaiwen's silhouettes turned into three streams of light, along the light path drawn by Absolute Luminance-4, instantly vanishing outside the kitchen window.

Lao Zhao turned off the communicator, turned around and started heating the pot.

"Now," he calmly said, "it's time to prepare the meal for 'when they return'."

Han Qing covered her burning scar, looking toward the direction where the streams of light vanished outside the window.

23-hour countdown, officially activated when they took their first step.