Chapter 869
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Chapter 869: The Fishing Village Trapped by Time
Hearing this, everyone present was momentarily stunned.
“Disconnected era, closed-off region, materials appearing out of thin air…” Cao Yuan murmured for a moment, as if he had thought of something, “Why does this sound so much like…”
“‘Human Circle’?!” Lin Qiye’s pupils constricted slightly.
Originally, Lin Qiye hadn’t realized this at all, but after An Qingyu mentioned it, he immediately recalled his experiences in Japan.
Just as An Qingyu said, all the special points they had discovered so far were too similar to the characteristics of the “Human Circle,” except that the two existed on completely different scales. The “Human Circle” in Japan housed tens of millions of people and covered a terrifyingly vast area, while this small fishing village had barely a hundred people, occupying only a space the size of a palm.
“But that doesn’t make sense, right?” Lin Qiye pondered for a moment, shaking his head repeatedly. “Shouldn’t the ‘Human Circle’ be dependent on some artifact? Also, where does the energy supporting this ‘Human Circle’ come from? There shouldn’t be a massive reserve of soul consumption like in Japan, right?”
“Qiye is right. Although this place is very similar to the ‘Human Circle,’ it is not the ‘Human Circle.’”
An Qingyu took out a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket and spread it on the ground, and everyone gathered around to examine it closely.
“I infiltrated the convenience store in this fishing village last night and found this inventory list.” An Qingyu pointed at the items on the list and said seriously, “This convenience store restocks every three days, and it clearly states where each type of goods comes from and their costs.”
“What does this prove?” Bai Li Pangpang asked, confused.
“It proves that these materials didn’t just appear out of nowhere,” Lin Qiye replied. “If it were the ‘Human Circle,’ these materials would have appeared in an unfathomable manner. To those living within it, it should be akin to a miracle, just like in Japan’s ‘Human Circle,’ where all the electricity was generated by the Yata Mirror burning souls and then supplying power to other electrical devices in the city.
But here, it’s different. The materials here are indeed produced elsewhere and then transported into this village.”
“But… isn’t this place closed off? How did these goods get in?” Cao Yuan was increasingly confused. He pointed at several names on the inventory list, “Also, weren’t these companies already bankrupt? How can they still supply them?”
“The problem lies here.” An Qingyu took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “I thought about it all night last night, sorting through all the possibilities, and the only explanation that fits everything is one possibility…”
Everyone held their breath, waiting for An Qingyu to provide an answer.
“This place is trapped in time.”
Seeing the bewildered expressions on everyone’s faces, An Qingyu continued to explain, “From the current signs, this place indeed exists as a village from over fifty years ago. A convenience store that restocks every three days, fishermen going out to sea every day, fathers waiting for their sons to return… They work at sunrise and rest at sunset. If we ignore the boundaries surrounding the village, this is just an ordinary fishing village.
However, for some reason, time here is disconnected from the outside world, forming a closed loop.”
An Qingyu casually picked up a twig from the ground and drew a straight line and a circle.
“If normal time flow is a straight line moving forward, then the time in this village is a circular loop that connects back to itself.
In the context of normal time passing outside, the people here are continuously repeating a certain period. When this period reaches the end of the loop, it’s as if the restart button has been pressed, and all people and things return to the starting point, continuing to cycle endlessly.
This period could be one day, two days, three days… In the context of over fifty years having passed outside, everything here cycles within these few days, with endless supplies, and people do not age. Everything that happens within these few days will be replayed over and over again.”
Hearing An Qingyu’s bold conjecture, the other members of the [Nightfall] team were stunned, even Lin Qiye found it hard to believe:
“A time loop that has existed for over fifty years? Is that really possible?”
“Humans can’t do it, but gods… perhaps can.” An Qingyu glanced at the fishing village and continued, “I suspect that within this fishing village, there is someone or something that is manipulating the laws of time, maintaining the operation of the time loop.”
Time…
Upon hearing this word, for some reason, the image of the silver-haired old man drifting alone on the waves resurfaced in Lin Qiye’s mind.
Is there a connection between this seemingly future being and the current state of this fishing village?
“But if all of this is indeed man-made, what is their purpose?” Shen Qingzhu, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up. “This is just a small fishing village on the border of the Great Xia, with nothing special about it. Why go to such great lengths to create a time loop here?”
“Is there really nothing special here besides time? Or have we not discovered it yet?” An Qingyu countered.
At that moment, Lin Qiye seemed to think of something. “There is.”
Everyone turned to look at Lin Qiye.
“Last night, I communicated with the nocturnal creatures in this fishing village, spreading out to search for clues, but soon I discovered…”
A shadow of night spread across Lin Qiye’s eyes as he extended his hand, grasping at the soil beneath his feet. The night tore open the surface of the earth, revealing the thick layers of soil below.
Among the dirt, countless insects lay dead, their broken limbs scattered, their deaths gruesome.
“They all died.” Lin Qiye continued, “First the ants, then the centipedes, and then the bats… In just one night, all the nocturnal creatures perished.”
“Not just the nocturnal creatures.” An Qingyu closed her eyes to sense for a moment, her expression extremely grave. “The few mice I planted ‘fish seeds’ in last night also died…”
“What’s going on?” Bai Li Pangpang scratched his head, half-jokingly saying, “Is the special feature here automatic pest control?”
Just as Bai Li Pangpang finished speaking, something heavy fell on his head and then dropped to the ground, causing him to wince in pain.
“What hit me?”
As Bai Li Pangpang rubbed his head and looked down, he suddenly jolted.
At his feet lay a battered bird, weakly collapsed on the ground, its eyes tinged with a hint of red, frantically flapping its nearly severed wings, rolling to Bai Li Pangpang’s shoe, and pecking at him forcefully.
A few seconds later, the bird lay motionless on the ground, lifeless.
