190: Chapter 190: Inside and Outside the Timeline 190: Chapter 190: Inside and Outside the Timeline After drinking a bowl of steaming lamb offal soup, Yan Yu’an’s spirits noticeably improved.
He glanced down at the information he had just recorded in his notebook and said in a low voice to the two people beside him, “It seems my judgment was correct—the soup had a special ingredient added.
Originally, my mind held two conflicting sets of memories, but now there’s only one.”
“What does that mean?”
Han Bin looked utterly confused.
“What Captain Yan means is, our timeline has just been modified.”
Wang Yunxiao had easily grasped the meaning behind Yan Yu’an’s words.
The day before yesterday, Nurse Liu had just talked about this in class—to counter the “Blood Rain” catastrophe caused by the Outer Gods’ corpses, the relevant national departments would go back to when they weren’t dead yet and kill them again in a more reliable way.
Time and space ripple back and forth like the tides, and we are like the pebbles on the beach washed by the waves.
So, you really can’t blame Nurse Liu for being cryptic, the lessons she taught are incomprehensible unless you’ve experienced them yourself.
Yan Yu’an’s mind held two memories: one where Cosmos had arrived a long time ago, and another where Cosmos had just arrived.
The mix of these memories could easily cause cognitive dissonance.
As for Han Bin, he did not have this problem since he knew nothing about Cosmos.
The Special Service Bureau had used some method they still did not know about to go back to the past, timely preventing the tragedy aboard the Cosmos and saving its innocent passengers, and thus rewriting the timeline.
These kinds of scenarios were easy for Wang Yunxiao to understand; after all, he had watched plenty of movies, read novels, and seen animations about time travel before he crossed over.
Setting up a story where one travels back in time is easy, but the real trouble comes from the series of derivative problems that follow.
Also known as the butterfly effect.
Take the simplest example: if a criminal had already been brought to justice in the past, then what was last night’s battle and the wounds they suffered all about?
Could it be that we were fighting with the air?
Ordinary people might not notice the change in the timeline, especially since the Special Service Bureau has specific policies in place to deal with it.
A bowl of lamb soup, and all your troubles are forgotten!
Even for those who can’t drink lamb soup lying in a hospital bed, a little tampering with medication does the trick just as effortlessly.
Ignorance is bliss.
What a brilliant solution!
The only ones at the scene who hadn’t been affected by the drugs were probably the three captains present.
Han Bin hadn’t even scratched his oily skin the night before.
He didn’t take any medicine and even went for a workout, making him feel explosively invigorated.
But he knew nothing.
To the outside observer, Yan Yu’an might look like an Advisor; he had sensed that something was wrong since last night and had taken forceful steps to take extensive notes, preserving his memories completely in written form.
He had the most information, so he was also the most troubled.
Wang Yunxiao knew part of the story and didn’t have the full picture but had a general understanding of the situation.
Besides, he had also discovered that his constitution seemed to be special; whether it was injections or tasting the Special Service Bureau’s exclusive lamb offal soup, none had any effect, and the memories in his mind were not altered.
This had led him to a preliminary understanding of the meaning behind the voice that often appeared in his head.
Anchor failure.
Only the living need to eat; the dead do not.
Ships on the sea must drop anchors in the face of storms to fix their position, but the rocks at the bottom of the sea do not need to.
The failure to anchor probably serves as a reminder to me that no matter which dimension I enter, even when there is a change in the space-time dimension, it will not affect my self-awareness.
I do not need to anchor, I am me.
Of course, now is not the time to fuss over the specific meaning of this voice, the most important issue at hand should be—after the change in the timeline, what kind of situation will these participating squads face.
Does this battle even have any meaning?
Or to take a step back, is there a necessity to participate in this battle?
I heard that some squads have suffered significant casualties.
If the timeline has been altered, can the dead come back to life?
If the dead cannot be revived, but the passengers of the Cosmos have survived,
Isn’t that a bit…
unfair?
Wang Yunxiao and Yan Yu’an exchanged a look and saw the worry in each other’s eyes.
“If the timeline has changed but our state has not, what does that imply?”
Yan Yu’an frowned deeply, his pen scribbling on the notebook: “There are basically two possibilities, first, we are within the timeline, and our past will change along with the timeline, but this would create a paradox.
Second, we are outside the timeline, and then a new problem arises, if people from the past live normally to the present, and the people of the present die, then how to resolve…”
“I think you’re looking at the problem from the wrong angle.”
Wang Yunxiao kindly reminded, “Although I know what you mean by the timeline, are you really sure that a timeline is a line?”
Yan Yu’an was suddenly stunned.
“Why are you so fixated on this issue?”
Han Bin, who had been playing the role of listener on the side, suddenly asked, “A space-time tide is a world-class catastrophe.
If there was a real problem, the world would have been destroyed long ago, and it wouldn’t be your turn to worry here.”
Yan Yu’an said in surprise, “You understand what we’re discussing?”
“Nonsense, of course, I understand,”
Han Bin rolled his eyes, “I am still a captain after all, and I have studied the knowledge of space-time tides.
I just don’t understand why you two are so obsessed with this.
If a bowl of mutton soup can solve the problem, what’s the use of thinking so much?
With this time, how about we go out and spar?”
“Crazy, who wants to spar with you!”
Yan Yu’an glared at him and turned his head towards Wang Yunxiao, “Captain Wang, those passengers previously found dead in Nantong District, could you help me keep an eye out for follow-up intelligence when you return?”
Wang Yunxiao shook his head, “I think Captain Han is right, you’re digging too deep.”
Han Bin slapped the table, “See, what did I tell you…”
“But I don’t think there’s any need for a spar either, don’t go bullying a wounded soldier like me.”
The three of them stared at each other with big eyes and small eyes, falling silent for quite a while.
Han Bin snorted coldly, “I see it now, neither of you two is any good, and here I am, full of passion, wanting to befriend you!”
Wang Yunxiao thought to himself how fresh this all is, as if you should look at yourself in the mirror and see your own face, forcefully dragging a disabled, ill junior brother and an all-night immortal cultivation big brother to go out and spar with you in martial arts?
How is that any different from punching the elderly of the Nanshan Nursing Home or kicking around the North Sea Kindergarten?
Definitely one of us three doesn’t give a damn, I won’t say who!