When he took this step, Tao Chong felt mixed emotions. He couldn't tell whether he was nervous, excited or excited, but he had no fear.
He originally lived an unchanging life like most people in Xiacheng District. His biggest hope was to have enough food and clothing. After having a daughter, he also hoped that her daughter would grow up safely. As for joining the Natural Sect, his original intention was just to provide his family with An illusory blessing.
Until the day K came to the door, he not only betrayed his faith and betrayed everyone who had helped him, but later he was willing to act as a shameful "consultant" to dig up the secrets of the sect for the Twin Gods. He did all this for his wife Women, the same is true at this moment.
Maybe if it were someone else, there would be ten thousand ways to protect his child, but he could only think of one way, and that was to complete the task assigned to him by the Twin Gods.
Time is of the essence and opportunity is at hand.
However, when he took a step forward and half of his body was submerged in the darkness, a shiver originating from biological instinct suddenly spread throughout his body, and inexplicable fear instantly strangled his heart and lungs.
With a breath stuck in his throat, Tao Chong finally woke up and realized what kind of place he was about to enter.
Xi'an's science team tried countless plans and sent hundreds of people in, but no one came out alive. Even the Twin Gods hesitated at the entrance of the cave and finally did not dare to step into it.
A place of death and no life.
Unfortunately, it was too late for him to regret it.
Accompanied by a severe dizziness, darkness rushed toward his face. When he came back to his senses, a tunnel sloping downward appeared in front of him.
Over the past few months, every exploration team that ventured into the cave had sent back image records before losing contact. The scientific team repeatedly studied these images, looking for clues frame by frame. As a consultant, he had naturally seen it countless times, but he didn't. Thinking of standing here in person one day.
With the help of the night vision function of the helmet, the tunnel looks exactly like the image. It is about four meters wide and two meters high. The rock wall and floor are uneven and retain the traces of manual excavation. Other than that, there is nothing else.
At first, Tao Chong's whole body was stiff, his hair stood on end, and he could even hear his own heartbeat clearly. Soon, his desire to survive overcame his fear, and he began to try hard to recall the "disappearance mechanism" of the tunnel.
The first thing that comes to mind is that you must not look back at this moment, because all exploration teams that try to exit the cave immediately will lose contact without exception. Secondly, staying for more than a certain time or moving forward a certain distance will also trigger the mechanism.
He could only go forward.
Although the outcome is doomed, judging from the experience of the exploration team, the team that chooses to move forward can obviously "survive" longer.
Taking a deep breath, Tao Chong took a cautious step. After waiting for a few seconds, the tunnel was still silent.
Next, he walked forward step by step. In a state of extreme mental stress, the "movement enhancement" function of the extravehicular suit seemed to have lost its effect, and every step he took was extremely difficult.
During this period, he tried to get close to the rock wall on one side, but did not find anything special. Only then did he understand the despair of those scientists. All detection data confirmed that the cave was ordinary, but no matter what method was used, it could not be detected. The operating mechanism is clearly right in front of you, but it seems like it doesn't exist at all.
Continuing forward, Tao Chong could only focus on the timer displayed on his helmet, watching the time pass by minute by minute until 5 minutes and 30 seconds, the time when the first team that entered the cave lost contact.
He hunched his shoulders and closed his eyes hard, preparing to face the last moment.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
Death did not come.
When he opened his eyes, the timer turned to 5 minutes and 33 seconds. He was stunned for a moment, and his heart was full of bitterness.
Keep moving forward, and soon the second time node arrives, 10 minutes and 36 seconds, and then the third time point, 19 minutes and 27 seconds...
When the last time point, 27 minutes passed, Tao Chong opened his eyes, completely at a loss.
The distance he has traveled and the time he has survived have exceeded all exploration teams. The tunnel still has no end. No one knows what will happen next.
A thought flashed through his mind, and he realized that maybe he was really different. Maybe the end of this tunnel was the promised land mentioned by the Son, and only believers of the Natural Sect could arrive safely.
Thinking of this, Tao Chong took a step forward excitedly.
Sudden.
A series of gurgling sounds came from above his head. He looked up, and the smile that had appeared on his face froze.
The rock wall at the top of the cave seemed to have turned into soft fabric, slowly falling down as it squirmed and undulated. The originally solid ground also became soft, as if you were stepping on a ball of cotton.
At the same time, warnings popped up continuously on the helmet's internal display, various functions of the extravehicular suit stopped working, and the timer stopped at 27 minutes and 9 seconds.
He struggled to maintain his balance, stumbled forward, and then saw a strange scene.
One shadow after another appeared in front of him, each shadow was himself, with slightly different postures, overlapping each other, extending forward, forming a continuous queue of figures.
Every step he takes will coincide with a shadow, and it will fit perfectly, as if someone has predicted his posture, and then painted it in detail and placed it in front of him.
No matter he stopped or changed direction or movement, he would always inevitably overlap with the next shadow. It was an indescribable despair. He felt like he had become a puppet, and every action he made was to cater to shadow.
Countless time travels, countless fits.
An even more incredible situation occurred. He began to lose his perception of time, unable to estimate the length of time, and unable to distinguish the sequence between one action and another. He watched himself pass through one shadow after another, but could not feel it. The time interval between each crossing.
Time seems to be no longer continuous, and the direction has lost its meaning. Tao Chong can no longer tell whether he is moving forward or backward. Sometimes he feels that he is standing in the same place, and those shadows are coming one after another. Sometimes, he feels that his body and mind are evenly cut into countless pieces. The thin slices are then stretched infinitely like latte art.
He even doesn't know whether he is alive or dead. If he is dead, why can he still "think"? If he is alive, why does he not have time?
As we passed through, the tunnel became grotesque. The light beams projected by the searchlights on the helmets were divided into sections, interlaced with the light beams on other shadow helmets, and weaved into regular undulating waves.
A bright ball of light appeared.
Tao Chong couldn't remember that the light group had always been there, had just appeared, or would appear in the future. He couldn't tell whether it was approaching, going away, or staying in place.
The light group became larger and grew fine hairs.
A strange voice sounded:
"Ding, ding, ding, ding..."
Tao Chong had a feeling of déjà vu, and suddenly felt that the voice came from the distant future.
Snapped!
He found that he had taken off his extravehicular suit and was lying naked in a mud hole less than half a meter in diameter, his body wrapped in black mud.
The light ball was at the end of the mud hole, making a tinkling sound.
Ding, ding, ding, ding...
Tao Chong's attention was completely attracted by the sound of ding. Gradually, a dial appeared in his mind. There was only one long needle on it. Every time the long needle jumped one level, he happened to hear a "ding".
Ding, ding, ding, ding...
time.
It's the sound of time.
For the first time, he clearly felt the passage of time, so smooth and even, like calm water, soap bubbles under the light, and ribbons fluttering in the wind, like beautiful music.
He scratched his head with excitement, counted loudly to the rhythm of the jingle, and then laughed like a child.
The next moment, the tinkling sound stopped abruptly.
Tao Chong's smile froze, and he slowly raised his head, only to see that the end of the mud hole was flickering, and the light group seemed to be flickering in a certain pattern.
He immediately realized that someone must have seen the message and was preparing to rescue him.
With almost no hesitation, he used his hands and feet together, frantically
Crawling forward as if terrified.
However, for some reason, as he thumped, the mud became thicker and thicker. His hands and feet often got stuck in it, and it was extremely laborious to pull it out every time.
Just as he climbed to the middle, he pushed hard and his whole arm sank in. His fingertips suddenly touched some kind of soft surface. He touched it subconsciously. It felt like he was touching a smooth air bag. When he lowered his head, he saw that There seemed to be light leaking from the cracks in the mud.
The light group in the distance flashed very steadily. He thought about it, changed to a kneeling position, pulled out his arm, and used his hands to dig out some mud from the hole. Then he leaned over and looked, and found that the bottom of the hole was actually a transparent layer. "Film", the other side seems to be a small cockpit, which is full of buttons and indicators. A middle-aged man with a bloated body and a half-glass helmet is fixed on the seat, holding a document in his hand. folder.
Changing the angle and getting closer, he realized that the man was bloated because he was wearing a bulky protective suit, which looked a bit like a space capsule outer suit, with a name tag sewn on the chest.
"What's Yang, what's Wei..."
Due to the constant backflow of silt, Tao Chong couldn't see the fine print on the nameplate clearly, so he patted the "film" and shouted, "Hey, can you hear me?"
The man was stunned for a moment and began to look left and right, as if looking for the source of the sound.
"Here! Here! Hey!"
Tao Chong slapped hard and made a winter sound, but unfortunately the other party put his head close to the porthole on the other side and looked out.
After slapping to no avail, he didn't want to waste any more time, so he had to continue crawling forward.
Soon, he touched the second film.
This time, it turned out to be the Twin Gods who appeared on the other side, but the perspective was very distorted. He felt like he was looking out from someone's eyes.
It was a luxuriously decorated office. Li Liang was sitting behind the desk, with his hands crossed and his elbows on the table. His expression was indifferent. After a moment, a pair of hands appeared from below the field of vision, holding a small black bowl and placed it on Li Liang's desk. In front of Liang.
Just as Tao Chong wanted to get closer to see what was in the bowl, the mud suddenly boiled and filled the hole instantly.
At the same time, the light group at the end of the mud hole began to shake violently.
Oops.
He realized something was wrong and hurriedly crawled forward. This time he ignored it and did not stop even if he touched the "membrane". However, when he pulled out his arm several times, he heard some strange sounds, some of which were inexplicable. Or electronic sounds ticking, roaring, and some were human voice clips, parts of which made his skin stand on end.
"...There is no greater cause than building a canopy..."
"... Please note that this is the last sky broadcast before evacuation. In four hours, the spiritual door will be closed from the outside. At that time, energy fluctuations will cause unpredictable geological disasters. All citizens who have not been transferred are asked to go to the sky immediately. Simon..."
"...There is one thing I have never told you. Before leaving, the Holy Son once told Via that after a long discussion, the Creators will finally announce the results of the judgment to the world. All heretics and evil gods will be expelled, and every disobedient will be expelled. Howling in the cruel natural disaster, now, her prophecy has come true..."
"...I'll reiterate it again, everything is for the United Front, and everything passes through the United Front. Tell Sorge that if his fleet dares to disobey orders and take a step out of the Chamom Realm, the Outland Army will not mind fighting him again..."
"...Hans, I'm so hungry. Do you have anything to eat there..."
"...So you made this spoon and gave it to me, but I lost it in the distant past..."
"...I'm sorry, Cain, we, we really tried our best..."
"...This is our last cry before we are silenced forever..."
"..."
As more and more sounds appeared, Tao Chong gradually could not distinguish the specific content, and the light group flashed more and more rapidly, and all his attention was focused on crawling.
Fortunately, the length of the mud hole was limited. After more than ten minutes, he finally crawled to the light group, panting heavily, and cautiously stretched out his hand.
When the palm is not in the light
At the moment when he was in the group, he suddenly felt his hand being grabbed by someone, and then his whole body was dragged out with a strong force.
Before he could react, someone had carried him to a bed. Since his eyes had not yet adapted to the bright light, he could only vaguely see a few dark figures surrounding him, and then heard a series of inexplicable languages.
Tao Chong tried to struggle, but was held down by several hands and unable to move.
Soon, there was another large group of footsteps approaching from far away.
Someone came closer and asked hurriedly: "Can you hear me?"
After finally hearing the friendly Mandarin, Tao Chong felt relaxed and choked with sobs: "Yeah, yeah."
"May I have your name?"
"ah?"
"May I have your name?"
"Tao Chong."
Upon hearing this name, the surrounding area was silent for a moment, and then burst into cheers and applause.
Tao Chong, who was lying on the bed, was stunned. Although he was the nominal consultant of the "Room 1" base, Xi'an scientists would give him some face, but they wouldn't be so happy because they saved him...
Taking advantage of the cheers around him, he reached out and rubbed his eyes. After seeing the crowd around him clearly, he was completely stunned.
Except for three or four humans, the others are actually "aliens". At a glance, there are Terrans, Tifamies, Yodels, and many crystal-like inorganic beings, and even some There are two elves.
Why did so many aliens come to such a secret base as "Room 1"?
At this time, a familiar face appeared in the crowd.
Looking at the wrinkled face, Tao Chong asked blankly: "Old Yao? Why are you... getting older?"
Yao Zhengping, who originally had gray hair, is now full of white hair. His eyes are heavy with the vicissitudes of life, and his voice is hoarse: "Long time no see."
"What?" Tao Chong was confused, "What day is today?"
"October 18th."
"It's only been a day. I was at 8:30 last night..." At this point, Tao Chong noticed that something seemed wrong in the eyes of others.
"Today is October 18, 3043."
"3043? You mean I was in the cave for... fifteen years?" The muscles on Tao Chong's face twitched and he suppressed an ugly smile, "Am I dreaming?"
"I also hope that what has happened in the past fifteen years is a dream," Yao Zhengping sighed and shook his head bitterly: "Sometimes I feel that your life is really good. We are precarious and struggling to survive every day, and you are always Wake up and all the suffering is over.”
"What suffering, ah? What happened?" Tao Chong was anxious, "But where is my daughter, where is my daughter..."
Before he finished speaking, a vortex visible to the naked eye suddenly appeared in mid-air, silently distorting light and space, exuding an extremely dangerous aura, reaching deep into everyone's soul.
The next moment, a person emerged from nothingness, with long hair reaching the ground, wearing a gorgeous cloak woven with colorful feathers, holding a simple scepter that was the same height, and the diamond-shaped gems inlaid between his eyebrows shone brightly.
There was a commotion in the crowd, and someone shouted "Sonai Xikun" in the common language of Titans. Humans, including Yao Zhengping, bowed their heads and respectfully said from the bottom of their hearts: "Emperor Mage."
Only Tao Chong stretched out his hand tremblingly and choked: "Of course..."
Tao Yiran approached slowly, as if she had a thousand words to say but didn't know where to start. With tears in her eyes, she gently took her father's hand and put it against her cheek.
"Of course," Tao Chong burst into tears. He touched the gem embedded in his daughter's skin with his thumb and murmured, "Does it hurt?"
——————————
"...Well, um...I'm sorry, Mr. Lawrence, I hope you can understand a father's feeling of worrying about his daughter...Well, I will tell Tao Chong...Well, thank you, thank you..."
Yao Zhengping hung up the call and came back again, carrying two late-night snacks and walking down the stairs.
Even though he firmly believed that the Doomsday Judgment was inevitable, after all, he looked at Tao Yi
Although he grew up, deep down in his heart, he still didn't want to let that innocent child die on the battlefield, just to satisfy the ridiculous ambitions of some big shots.
However, unlike Tao Chong, who was inexperienced in worldly affairs, he knew very well that the mission of exploring the mysterious cave had not yet made substantial progress. The two consultants of the Natural Sect were still valuable. Tao Yiran would be affected even if he went to the battlefield. Protect.
Sure enough, Lawrence just told him that Sonoya had personally guaranteed that no matter what happened, Tao Yiran would be safe and sound.
When he came back to his senses, he saw lights on in the shed near the entrance of the cave from a distance. He thought Tao Chong was still waiting for news, so he involuntarily speeded up.
Seeing that he had reached the last few steps and could finally see the scene in the shed clearly, Yao Zhengping suddenly stopped.
Just for a moment, a red shadow seemed to flash away in the shed.
After being stunned for a moment, he rushed down the steps and ran into the shed to look around. He found that the various documents and cabinets showed no signs of being turned over, and the three tarpaulins were firmly fixed, but Tao Chong was nowhere to be found.
Putting down his midnight snack, he raised his bracelet and dialed Tao Chong's ID. The system showed that the other party was offline. He thought for a moment, walked back to the entrance of the cave, and observed carefully that nothing unusual was found. Then he ran all the way to the warehouse. The scientific team The developed extravehicular suit is still on the shelf, and other protective and exploration equipment are not missing.
He had no choice but to contact the base garrison, who checked the surveillance system and told him that 30 minutes ago, at about 8:36, Tao Chong walked out of the core area and then left the base without stopping.
Yao Zhengping breathed a sigh of relief and realized that Tao Chong might have gone to find Lawrence in person. This would save him a lot of talking. He only cared about Tao Yiran and was always worried about the guy who betrayed him.
However.
Returning to the shed again, he sat blankly on the chair, his eyes wandering around the shed unconsciously, and suddenly felt that the whiteboard placed opposite was a little awkward.
Slowly getting up and approaching, he found that there was a blank space in the upper right corner of the whiteboard that seemed to have just been erased, and in a hurry, accidentally erasing some of the data recorded below.
Thinking of the shadow he saw just now, Yao Zhengping felt a sense of loss for some reason.
It seems that after this separation, he and Tao Chong will experience completely different lives. When they meet again, they will be different.
