Chapter 219: Time Travel

The cleaning cabin on the lower deck is pitch black.

At this moment, Wen Xishu has no idea how to proceed. After opening the door to the utility room, the Scorpion Blade has lost its campfire effect.

He also has no idea where Scorpio has gone.

But Wen Xishu can feel that his body now possesses the ability to reload.

Because he heard a prompt.

Please set a return node.

In other words, once the node is set, he can return to it instantly.

Wen Xishu can only set one node.

He thinks about it, and decides the location of this node will be right here, right now.

So, Wen Xishu sets the return node immediately, which is to say, he saves his progress. After finishing all this, Wen Xishu begins to move forward cautiously in the darkness.

After walking for a short while, Wen Xishu sees a staircase, with some light coming from above the stairwell.

But at this moment, the broadcast also sounds.

"The Sin Sea Behemoth has begun its attack; everyone, retreat back into the ship's cabins."

Everything is very similar to the Weird Tower.

Wen Xishu feels the massive Ark rocking due to the super-tsunami caused by the Sin Sea Behemoth.

Wen Xishu stands firmly, thinking about what to do next.

"Could it be that I need to take out the Luo Pan?"

He is not sure if the Luo Pan is useful while the Scorpion Blade is suppressed. But just as Wen Xishu prepares to look for a direction...

Wen Xishu suddenly hears a voice.

"Hide back in the room you started in. Feng Nuoyiman is coming."

Wen Xishu has heard this voice before; he gives a violent start, his entire person entering a state of high alert, and he immediately follows the instruction, retreating silently back into the previous utility room and closing the door once more.

The game has begun; Sirius's prison break plan has officially started. The voice Wen Xishu heard is none other than that of Sirius.

This makes him feel greatly encouraged.

Footsteps sound outside the door; those are the footsteps of the Ark's number one ability user, Feng Nuoyiman.

As the strongest ability user on the Ark, he is also one of those enslaved by the Captain using sequences, along with Sirius.

Compared to others, Feng Nuoyiman is more like a weapon through and through.

Whenever the Sin Sea Behemoth appears, Feng Nuoyiman heads to the perimeter of the prison where Sirius is held to prevent Sirius from breaking out.

Even at this time, Sirius has already lost many concepts, and Sirius's will to resist has grown increasingly weak.

When Feng Nuoyiman walks past, Wen Xishu can clearly feel...

That terrifying, super-strong sense of oppression, which might even be above that of Xun Hui.

There are too many ruthless people on the Ark. It is practically a small bunker.

It doesn't just have a strategic mastermind like Horne, but also a general with both wisdom and courage like Lei Nuo, as well as a super powerhouse with unfathomable strength like Feng Nuoyiman.

Wen Xishu holds his breath; only then does he hear a voice speak again:

"He has gone far away."

Wen Xishu asks in a low voice:

"Are you Sirius?"

"Yes, Wen Xishu, I am Sirius," that voice says.

Wen Xishu originally wanted to ask how Sirius's voice could appear in his mind, but soon, Wen Xishu discovers the source of the problem.

The cabin walls are turning into flesh.

Back at the Weird Tower, Wen Xishu learned a piece of intelligence: if one never enters the island—the Sin Soil fragments—then the Sin Sea Behemoth will attack the Ark.

At a certain stage, many ordinary people on the Ark will enter a hallucinatory state, seeing the ship's cabin walls turn into flesh.

And right now, the flesh-transformation has truly descended; those flesh-transformed cabin walls have sprouted some protruding nerve endings that are connecting to Wen Xishu's body.

So much so that Wen Xishu can hear Sirius's voice appearing directly in his mind.

"I have established a link with you."

"You know me? Can this kind of link allow you to read my data?" Wen Xishu asks in return.

"No, I don't know you now, but the future me knows you. In the future, you joined forces with Horne to save my most important island... the island that symbolizes free will. I thank you."

Sirius's words take Wen Xishu quite by surprise.

But everything had actually been deduced by Wen Xishu and Horne. Even so, Wen Xishu still intends to listen to Sirius's explanation.

"How did you manage that?" Wen Xishu says.

Sirius begins to explain:

"I am imprisoned in a time-turbulence prison; in other words, even if my will is free... I still have to face the Pisces time cage."

"But having faced the time turbulence alone for so long... I have managed to figure out a part of the structure of the time turbulence, though only a part."

"You can understand it as: having been locked up for too long, I have researched a partial blueprint of the prison."

"I know how to find the correct timeline to look at my future."

"Not long ago, I discovered that my future is no longer one of despair... it's very strange. Logically speaking, the future previews seen by Pisces can only be broken by constellations or by people from the Sin Soil."

"But my future was indeed broken. I was supposed to end up as a slave to Pisces, but I actually woke up and was saved."

"However, in the more distant future... the fact that I was saved is only a possibility, and this possibility was corrected by the Time Walker, causing everything to return to how it was at the beginning."

"Overall, the process changed, but the result did not. But for me, the appearance of someone who could change the process is already an incredible miracle."

"Wen Xishu, I suspect that miracle is not Horne, but you."

Wen Xishu sorts it out a little and understands.

The current Sirius has found the correct timeline and can see the first stage of the future through the timeline.

In the first stage of the future, Sirius ends up as a slave.

But not long ago, because of his own efforts in the Weird Tower and joining forces with Horne to break the situation, the first stage of the future changed.

However, the more distant second stage of the future did not change, because the Time Walker quickly corrected the first stage of the future.

But for Sirius, the fact that the first stage of the future changed is an incredible miracle.

"Please continue," Wen Xishu says.

Sirius continues:

"My ability is a very advanced Three-Tower sequence ability called Realm-Arrival Creation."

"I can create some real worlds that are linked to my spirit; these worlds exist in reality but are difficult to reach. And they carry various peculiar rules."

"Including... the rotting flesh of the cabin you see; these actually symbolize that my will has begun to be polluted."

"Every time the Sin Sea Behemoth invades, I create hallucinations at the appropriate time, making many people see the cabin walls turn from metal into flesh."

"But in fact, that is not just a hallucination; I can also make the real cabin turn into flesh. Do you understand?"

Wen Xishu nods:

"Continue."

Sirius says:

"So right now, the rotting flesh others see is a hallucination, but what you see is real."

"And my current mental state is the mental state after being saved by you and Horne in the future... simply put, the me from the future timeline and the me from the current timeline... have swapped."

"The Time Walker has not discovered this yet, but they will eventually find out. We only have twelve hours... so, Wen Xishu, the help I can give you is also only for twelve hours."

"To be precise, it is only eleven hours now."

This matches the countdown on the invitation; Wen Xishu understands.

It is as if today's Sirius is muddle-headed, and through his own efforts, tomorrow's Sirius has become clear-headed.

And Sirius, who knows the structure of the time turbulence, climbed from tomorrow's timeline to today, threw his muddle-headed self of today into tomorrow, while his self that was originally in tomorrow returned to today.

When the Time Walker inspects, they will subconsciously feel that tomorrow's Sirius has not changed much, as he is still muddle-headed after all.

But in fact, the Sirius of the present and the future, in their different states, have been swapped.

Wen Xishu has to admit that Sirius is very bold.

"I understand. What do I need to do?"

Sirius says:

"Fantastic, as expected of the friend Horne identified; talking to you is truly easy. Next, I want to tell you about the time turbulence."

"The turbulence is actually a kind of maze. You will enter many different time nodes, and in some nodes, very terrifying existences will appear."

"For example... you might see the battlefield of the Three-Tower War. That is still too far away for you at your current stage."

"I will help you find the escape point for each turbulence."

"You need to constantly dodge the dangerous enemies in each time turbulence, and then pass through the escape point to find the correct timeline..."

Wen Xishu summarizes:

"I need to travel from the present to the future... and then constantly pass through various outrageous futures, only to return to the present?"

Sirius sighs:

"Yes, that is exactly it. An ordinary prison has a complex spatial structure, but the Pisces prison has a simple spatial structure, yet a very complex time structure."

"No, to be precise, both are complex. Because time is complex, it carries space along with it, making it complex too."

"I only understood half the structure of the time turbulence, but before I could study the other half, I was enslaved by the Captain."

"So, for some time turbulence, I can attach myself to you through the flesh and tell you how to deal with it."

"But for some time turbulence... I don't know how to solve them either. Also—do not be obsessed with changing the future, Wen Xishu; that is extremely dangerous."

"Finally, after you pass through layers of temporal turbulence and arrive at the present time and the space near the prison, and then find my true form... I will do everything in my power to make the Sea of Sin Beast fight to the death. With the help of the massive chaos, you will take me and escape the Ark."

"Remember, at your current stage, you are no match for people like Feng Nuoyiman, Lei Nuo, or the Captain. They are too strong for you right now."

"Do not think about fighting them head-on."

Wen Xishu understood.

In other words, the difficulty of this mission lies in time travel.

It might appear in a few years, or perhaps even in a few hundred or a few decades... No one can say for sure.

But one must find the escape point in every turbulence scenario, and then continuously approach the current timeline. Finally, find Sirius and rescue Sirius.

And all of this must be completed within twelve hours.

This mission is still very tight.

Interestingly, the starting point and the ending point of this mission are very close.

The location of the end point is to return to the current timeline and be spatially close to the prison.

Wen Xishu is currently on the current timeline, and in terms of location, even if not very close to the prison, he is at least on the Ark.

So the route must be correct, otherwise, even though the start and end points are very close, in the process of approaching...

You might actually get further and further away.

"The Sea of Sin Beast has begun its attack; at this time, the second-ranked person on the Ark has already started to go and fight the Sea of Sin Beast."

"Although Feng Nuoyiman guards the prison, he is only on the outer perimeter of the prison; the interior of the prison is filled with temporal turbulence..."

"I am also wrapped in the turbulence. Therefore, only by entering the turbulence can one find a way to enter the cage where I am."

"Let's begin now, Wen Xishu. If it is you, I believe... you will create miracles once again."

"Next, I will open the door for you."

Wen Xishu had originally thought that the so-called opening of the door meant opening the door to the utility room.

But that was not it; as the power of Sirius surged—

Wen Xishu discovered that a hole had actually appeared in the wall constructed of rotting flesh.

Those flesh tissues were contracting, to the point that a hole leading to somewhere appeared on the wall.

Next, these rotting flesh tissues began to pave a path.

Forcibly, where there was no road, they constructed a path for Wen Xishu to reach the prison's turbulence zone.

"Stay quiet. Feng Nuoyiman is very strong. Even in my prime, I might not necessarily be able to get the better of him."

Is this assessment too high?

Wen Xishu thought to himself, you are a demigod; you and Ding Dong, one can create all kinds of god-tier items, and the other can create all kinds of god-tier scenarios.

Who knows, there might even be those who can create god-tier lifeforms.

You guys are only weaker than those twelve...

But I didn't expect that this Feng Nuoyiman could actually rival Sirius in his prime?

Although shocked, Wen Xishu was very willing to take advice; he exerted the power of Long Yin to the extreme, leaving not a single sound.

Actually, Wen Xishu really wanted to ask—

"Did you hear my conversation with Scorpio by the campfire?"

But in the end, he did not ask.

He guessed that Sirius must have heard it.

It was just that Sirius still made his choice.

Whether to be enslaved without freedom, acting as a tool for Pisces to seal off a certain area.

Or to live freely and eventually be killed by Scorpio; come to think of it—Sirius had already chosen the latter.

Wen Xishu also respected this kind of choice.

Soon, Wen Xishu stopped his footsteps.

He saw the scene ahead; the passage constructed of rotting flesh was actually very dim. But light appeared ahead.

In those lights and shadows, many facets of the world were presented.

It was like countless types of mirages mixed together.

"We are here, Wen Xishu. Next, I will let my flesh attach to you; it will tell you the location of the escape points in some scenarios I am familiar with."

"But in those scenarios I am not familiar with... you will have to find the location of the escape points yourself. Actually, you have items on you that are very suitable for passing through these turbulences."

"But remember, it is dangerous in the turbulence. On the battlefield of the Three Towers War, there is a lot of information you might find valuable; do not pay too much attention to that information, because... once you are exposed, you might die in those timelines."

"You might also see the future of some of your old acquaintances; do not be sad or happy for their future. For example, Huo En. After all, you have the chance to change all of this. If you can change my future, that means... in Pisces's simulations, you are a variable, so don't lose the big for the sake of the small. Respect the fate of others."

"Remember, stealth and concealment are the keys to success."

"Once we alert the Time Traveler, we are finished."

Wen Xishu nodded. After committing every word of Sirius to his mind, his eyes became determined. After taking a deep breath, he entered the turbulence zone.

Time node 01, first time travel—initiated.

(End of chapter)