Chapter 415

The dizziness of passing through the space rift arrived as scheduled, but this time, the anomaly Jie Ming felt was even clearer.

That was not a simple "sense of familiarity."

When the team members behind him asked questions, when he raised his hand to show Altherius's command document, when the Tier 6 wizard of the guard unit flew over to question him—

At every moment, the scene before his eyes seemed to perfectly overlap with some blurred double image in his mind.

He could even "foresee" the tone of the other party's next sentence, the faint precursors of changes in the surrounding energy flow, and the exact time point when the insect tide on the distant horizon would begin to wriggle.

This was not déjà vu; it was memory.

When he saw the two thousand support wizards behind him with slightly dazed expressions, this thought split the fog like lightning.

The Samsara had already been carried out many times; this was yet another starting point.

And these "déjà vu" moments that kept repeating and becoming clearer each time—were his former memories!

"Adaptive evolution of the Body Refining Art—" Jie Ming immediately understood something in his heart.

Deep within the body tempered by the "Body Refining Art," after resisting physical impact, energy erosion, mental interference, and even time-slowing force fields, some more subtle, deeper "adaptability" was awakening.

It no longer just protected the body; it began to anchor his existence, resisting the holistic reset of the "Jie Ming" individual by time reversal.

Although he still couldn't fully retain his memories, this increasingly strong "déjà vu" itself was evidence.

His consciousness, his soul, was gradually gaining resistance to the law phenomenon of "time Samsara."

He quickly collected his thoughts and, in the gap while waiting for Frost, sank his consciousness into his internal cave heaven.

Four metal plates stood quietly: 1, 2, 3, 4.

The plate for the number "5" hadn't been made yet, but behind the first four plates, the number of recording crystals was already so large that they needed to be stored in separate areas.

Jie Ming quickly scanned the information recorded on the fourth plate and the pile of newly added crystals behind it.

Sealed there was all the data from the previous round's full-scale attack observation, as well as those monitoring instruments in an overloaded state that he had "rescued" at the last moment.

The information still existed.

The knowledge was still accumulating.

This was the cornerstone of the wizards' resistance to Samsara.

The meeting with Frost was efficient to the point of being programmatic.

Jie Ming handed over the key data summary crystal from the fourth round, and after Frost quickly browsed it, he reached a conclusion completely identical to the previous round without almost any hesitation.

"Slow down the attack, maintain pressure, and extend the research window." Frost's words were concise and powerful, but his gaze landed on Jie Ming's face, carrying deeper inquiry. "That 'space' of yours operates more stably than expected. For three consecutive Samsaras, the data chain hasn't shown any breaks or confusion."

"The Private Secretary's handiwork is naturally stable," Jie Ming replied without changing his expression.

"Very good." Frost nodded, not delving deeper, and turned to start issuing detailed tactical adjustment orders.

The new round of research, based on the massive data accumulation from the previous two rounds—especially the last round's full-scale attack—finally began to break through scattered observations and move toward more systematic theoretical construction.

The accuracy of the prediction model regarding "time ripples" had significantly improved, and there was also a preliminary framework for the correlation analysis between the Sickle-Skull tribe's social structure and Samsara tolerance.

However, the calm research routine was broken on this day.

Frost personally came to the core laboratory where Jie Ming was located and waved his hand to set up a soundproof barrier.

"Consultant Jie Ming," his gaze was calm yet extremely penetrating, "regarding those observation instruments you used at the end of the last Samsara, what is their current state?"

Jie Ming's heart stirred, and he answered truthfully: "The instruments themselves are basically intact. Although they were overclocked before the time reversal, some components have slight wear and energy circuit fatigue, but after inspection and recharging, they can be put back into use completely."

Frost nodded and continued to ask: "Then, what about the blank crystals that recorded that data? The basic materials used to manufacture these instruments and consumables—such as the 'void sensing alloy' used to build the energy scanning array, the 'inert crystalline shell' encapsulating the pheromone capture core—are you clear about their source?"

The questions were becoming more specific, and the directionality was becoming stronger.

Jie Ming vaguely guessed something, but still remained calm: "Most of the equipment was manufactured or modified using strategic material reserves brought by our Wizard Expeditionary Army. A small portion of special materials were synthesized from local resources collected in the occupied areas. Commander, has something gone wrong?"

Frost stared at him for a few seconds before slowly saying: "When the Logistics Department was organizing the new round of material allocation, they discovered a small but inexplicable gap in the inventory data. After tracing and comparing, the types and quantities of missing materials exactly match the list of instruments and consumable materials that you used and 'urgently recovered' at the last moment in your previous round's report."

He paused, and no emotion could be heard in his tone: "Originally, after time reversal, all consumed materials would be restored. But those materials you took into your 'recording instrument' space—did not return. They have 'disappeared' from the timeline of this round."

Sure enough.

Jie Ming immediately understood.

His internal cave heaven was independent of the time flow of this plane, and the items stored within were equivalent to being cut out from the "time" of the current Samsara.

When time reversed and reset everything, the items inside the cave heaven were preserved because of the independent space-time they were in.

But their "existence" in the original world line was therefore erased, leading to the anomaly in the material records.

"I understand, Commander. This is my oversight; I didn't consider this point in advance." Jie Ming admitted frankly. "In subsequent records and reports, I will list this portion of 'consumption' separately to avoid confusion in logistics statistics."

"No, I am not pursuing accountability." Frost shook his head, a glimmer of intrigued light flashing in his eyes instead. "I am confirming a phenomenon. It seems that your 'space' is not just an information vault—it itself has already constituted a unique 'time paradox generator.' This is very interesting."

After seeing Frost off, Jie Ming fell into deep thought.

The cave heaven could preserve external materials; this had been confirmed.

Then, what if what was preserved was matter inherent to this plane itself?

A bolder idea emerged in his mind.

Returning to the research group, Jie Ming did not hide it and shared Frost's discovery and his own thoughts with several core members.

"You mean," Allison's eyes brightened, and she quickly grasped the key, "your space is a 'safe house' outside the time axis of the Samsara plane. If external items are put in, they won't be reset."

"But if they are items of this plane—after time reversal, they should theoretically 'restore' to their original state in nature or within some organism. But they are now in your space, in a state of being 'removed.' What will this trigger?"

"Space-time continuity paradox." The elderly wizard specializing in time law theory pushed his glasses, his voice trembling slightly with excitement. "An object cannot exist in two states simultaneously. If time reversal forcibly requires it to 'reset,' and your space forbids it from 'disappearing'—a contradiction arises. The disappearance of your black giant before was the manifestation of this contradictory conflict, so it was 'canceled out' in the paradox."

"In that case, the number of experiments that can be designed is quite large." Another young wizard suggested excitedly. "For example, in this round, we cut a small piece of insignificant tissue sample from a Sickle-Skull tribe member and immediately store it in Jie Ming's space. Let's see if a wound that cannot heal will appear on that Sickle-Skull tribe member in the next Samsara? Or will that piece of tissue disappear from our storage space out of thin air and return to its body?"

"Going further," someone thought even more divergently, "if we store an item of this plane in the space in this round, and then take it out to use in the next round. Then, time reverses again to—then, will that item appear in our hands, or will it not appear because it has already been stored in this round? Or, will it be directly erased by the time paradox?"

The atmosphere in the laboratory instantly became fanatical.

For a group of wizards pursuing knowledge, there was no challenge more fascinating than this.

After the concepts in the laboratory were clarified, actions were quickly launched.

As the holder of this special space, Jie Ming became the most critical "executor."

Under the guidance of the wizards, he began to carry out a series of "markings" and "sampling" using the characteristic that his internal cave heaven was independent of the time Samsara.

First was the test on matter.

He entered the edge of the battlefield, dug out large pieces of native plane ore as a whole and put them into the cave heaven, and also completely cut and collected a piece of soil marked with energy patterns, along with the vegetation above it.

Next was energy.

With the assistance of several wizards proficient in elemental and psionic conversion, they forcibly stripped and sealed a mass of stable "earth core pulse energy" from an active earth vein node, which was also handed to Jie Ming to store in the cave heaven.

The most complex were the living organism experiments.

They selected several representative native organisms: from the lowest-level "worker bee larvae" of the Sickle-Skull tribe, to the various adult variants of the Sickle-Skull

tribe.

Some were sealed alive as a whole and stored, while others were carefully intercepted for partial tissue and stored, just to detect the reactions of different organisms after time reversal under different situations.

Every sample was carefully selected to ensure that the wizards could confirm the situation immediately after Samsara.

The wizards needed to know what would happen to these parts "cut" out of the current timeline when time reversal occurred.

The basic preparatory work came to an end, but the most important experimental subjects were slow to arrive.

"We need high-tier Sickle-Skull tribe samples, preferably Tier 8." Jie Ming reported the research group's request to Frost in the tactical conference room and explained in detail the comparative experimental design of "whole storage" versus "partial storage."

"Life or death doesn't matter. In fact, considering the difficulty of capture and the convenience of subsequent processing, two complete Tier 8 individual corpses would be more ideal."

Frost stood with his hands behind his back in front of the tactical map showing the global battlefield situation.

He understood the necessity of these experiments, but at this moment, a rare trace of helplessness appeared on his resolute face.

"I understand your needs, Wizard Jie Ming. High-tier samples, especially data from Tier 8 individuals, are crucial for analyzing the Samsara mechanism." Frost's voice remained steady, but revealed the truth. "But the problem is—in this round, I'm afraid it will be very difficult for us to get such samples."

He turned around, his gaze sweeping over Jie Ming and the two Tier 6 Logistics Wizards who came with him.

"In the last round, I was able to successfully lure and capture two Tier 8 Sickle-Skull tribe leaders by utilizing their initial discomfort with our 'extreme pressure' tactical mode, as well as some kind of 'confident' prediction they had regarding the Samsara critical point. I set a targeted law trap and caught them off guard."

"But clearly," Frost pointed to the large shadows on the star map representing the "Sickle-Skull tribe activity silence zone," "they have already learned lessons from that failure. Not just Tier 8 individuals; in this round, the activity patterns of all high-tier individuals have undergone fundamental changes."

"They have completely abandoned confrontations with me on the frontal battlefield or preset battlefields, no longer easily revealing their tracks, and the transfer frequency and concealment of their command hubs are far beyond the past. They—are avoiding me, or rather, avoiding any risk that might lead to their own capture or death."

A research wizard frowned and said: "They realized the danger of being captured alive for research? But time will reverse—"

"This is exactly the key." Frost interrupted him. "Time reversal can restore matter, but it cannot completely erase 'cognition' for the Sickle-Skull tribe. Especially for Tier 8 existences, they may have retained more 'lessons' in the Samsara. They are now more like playing an extremely conservative survival game, with everything taking 'avoiding triggering Samsara' and 'avoiding their own major losses' as the highest priority."

The conference room fell into a brief silence.

"Is there really no way?" another wizard asked unwillingly. "Concentrate forces and forcibly sweep a few suspected nests?"

"The cost is too high, and the success rate cannot be guaranteed." Frost shook his head. "Tier 8 existences are determined to hide. In this plane that they have operated for who knows how many Samsaras, we have too many blind spots that cannot be monitored. Forcible large-scale clearing will only disrupt our overall strategy of 'extending the research window' and may force them to launch extreme behaviors we cannot predict in advance."

He looked at Jie Ming: "The sample matter can only be postponed. We need to wait for the opportunity, or—create a new opportunity. Perhaps when the war advances to a certain stage and they are forced to make a choice. For now, you can continue to perfect paradox experiments at other tiers and accumulate data."

Jie Ming nodded, indicating understanding.

The ideals of scientific research encountering the barriers of reality was a common occurrence in any world.

"I understand, Commander. We will first focus on monitoring the already acquired samples and refine the experimental plan for high-tier samples." He paused and proposed a compromise plan. "In addition, is it possible to increase the capture intensity of severely injured or dying Tier 6 or even Tier 7 Sickle-Skull tribe individuals that might appear on the battlefield? Although the tier is insufficient, perhaps we can also observe some paradox effects and accumulate experience for subsequent experiments."

"This is possible." Frost agreed. "I will notify the frontline combat units to pay attention and allocate a portion of the rapid response team to cooperate with you."

(There is only this chapter today. I've been feeling a bit dizzy and feverish these past two days, and today the headache is unbearable, so I need to rest and adjust. Everyone should be careful of the flu in winter.)