Chapter 3
Jiang Xiaoyuan looked up at him in disbelief, her eyes like glass orbs: "I had a car accident! Can't you see? Are you blind? The front windshield is shattered like that, and I wasn't even wearing a seatbelt; I could die! Are you crazy?"
He no longer resembles a human; he is like a soulless container in human form
Jiang Xiaoyuan's legs were desperately running forward, yet her body kept retreating backward. The more she ran, the closer the illuminated platform and the terrifying cockpit seemed to her, as if a black hole were chasing her from behind, an omnipresent gravitational field continuously devouring her.
"Do not be afraid," he said, "it is just the beam of the lighthouse, come up."
She remained still, and the man in black, who called himself the lighthouse assistant, surprisingly did not wait for her. He walked forward in silence, stepping to a peculiar yet fixed rhythm, his movements stiff yet precise
"No..." Jiang Xiaoyuan kept retreating, as if the further she was from that high platform, the safer she felt. She spoke incoherently, saying, "You, you, you can't send me back, I can't go back!"
However, in Jiang Xiaoyuan's mind, there was a buzzing sound—she saw that on the stage were a chair and a steering wheel, clearly the cockpit of a vehicle
The deployment speed of the airbag is approximately 300 kilometers per hour, and in the absence of a seatbelt, it is not uncommon for it to be fatal to someone like Lu Zhishen.
Jiang Xiaoyuan involuntarily stepped forward, ascending the stairs. Halfway up, she could not help but glance back; the path behind her was shrouded in darkness, and apart from the faint light source on the collar of the lighthouse assistant ahead, she had no other support.
A cold hand grasped her arm just before she fell to her knees, and at that moment, Jiang Xiaoyuan clearly saw the person in front of her—the man in black from the café who resembled a mannequin
The lighthouse assistant said: "That means you were originally supposed to die at this point in time in this space-time. Is there anything wrong with that?"
Jiang Xiaoyuan raised her head at his words, and the whole person was stunned
The lighthouse assistant gave a signal, and suddenly the lights on stage brightened, illuminating a stage focused by light, where Jiang Xiaoyuan was the clown about to make her entrance.
However, after a sharp screech of brakes, the anticipated excruciating pain did not arrive as expected, and Jiang Xiaoyuan suddenly found herself in darkness
Jiang Xiaoyuan has never passed her math and physics classes since childhood, feeling as if she is in a fog, always sensing that she seems to have forgotten something. However, her emotions are in turmoil, and her mind is overloaded, making it difficult for her to sort out her thoughts.
Suddenly, a light cough came from beside her, causing all the hairs on Jiang Xiaoyuan's body to stand on end. Instinctively, she took half a step to the side, and her 8-centimeter stiletto heel predictably twisted her ankle.
She has the illusion that she is walking alone, and an inexplicable fear rushes into her heart
Jiang Xiaoyuan involuntarily took a step back
I am the lighthouse assistant, the man in black replied in a flat tone, and then repeated, Please follow me
The lighthouse is filled with a myriad of lights, which at first glance seem to overlap, yet in reality, they do not interfere with one another, resembling a complex three-dimensional chessboard
At that moment, a strong light suddenly pierced Jiang Xiaoyuan's eyes
"Each lighthouse governs a certain range of parallel spaces," the lighthouse assistant said, "The lighthouse has detected that the space-time you are in will experience a space-time disturbance... just like an earthquake— I am the monitor for this disturbance. Since you happened to be at the epicenter when the space-time disturbance occurred, you are now temporarily displaced from your original space-time. This is my fault; I failed to address it in time, and I apologize."
What is going on
The speeding vehicles, the bumpy streets, the tall trees, the panicked pedestrians... Suddenly, everything vanished before her eyes, and she felt an abrupt loss of weight, as if some mysterious force had detached her from the horrifying scene of the car crashing into the tree
Jiang Xiaoyuan could not help but ask: "Can you send me back to my time... anywhere will do? For example, can I go back to my childhood?"
At the end of the steps stands a colossal tower, as if it were about to break through the universe
Jiang Xiaoyuan saw those eyes and couldn't help but exclaim: "You... are you a person?"
Robot? Zombie?
The lighthouse assistant's expression remained unchanged, as the light cast a porcelain-like glow around his face
Is this person a pervert? Jiang Xiaoyuan felt the blood vessels on her neck thumping wildly and thought, This perverse place, these perverse people, I can't stay, I must run.
Jiang Xiaoyuan, who appeared fierce but was actually timid, finally exhausted all her courage, and she was on the verge of being overwhelmed by fear: "Wait! Please, I can't die... Help! I'm only twenty-five years old, and my parents have only me as their daughter. I can't die! I still have... Yes, I still have work, and I have so many things left to do. I can't die in such a senseless place! Help!" Yes, I still have work, and I have so many things left to do. I can't die in such a senseless place! Help!
Jiang Xiaoyuan's mind was occupied by a single thought: "I can't possibly die like this, can I?"
In the moment of life and death, all quarrels, jealousy, and disputes become trivial matters of no significance.
But how could she possibly have such an absurd dream in her mind, which is occupied by "eating, drinking, and having fun" and "buying, buying, buying"
Jiang Xiaoyuan swallowed hard, following the lighthouse assistant into the tower, resembling Dante traversing through hell, as she moved towards the incredible
Jiang Xiaoyuan was diligently recalling the flashy yet impractical techniques taught by the instructor, assessing her chances of taking down the person in front of her
Pale, devoid of color.
So what exactly is this pitch-black ... ? ... what is it really?
On his collar, there was a button the size of a coin, emitting a soft white light that vaguely illuminated a face that seemed to be computer-generated
Jiang Xiaoyuan shrugged her shoulders, suddenly pulling out her arm, and warily scrutinized the person in front of her— but is he really a human being
The assistant of the lighthouse nonchalantly explained: "There are countless spacetime dimensions existing in parallel with your current spacetime, and they will never intersect... To put it simply, imagine you are at a crossroads; you can turn in any direction. The you who goes straight, the you who turns left, the you who turns right, and even the you who goes backward will, from this moment on, trigger a series of completely different events, resulting in four parallel spaces, each containing a version of you."
Jiang Xiaoyuan walked while moving her wrists. She had participated in a Taekwondo club abroad for half a year—Taekwondo itself, as a sport, has largely devolved into mere showy moves, not to mention that she had joined with the initial intention of being close to handsome men, making the learning effect essentially equivalent to having done a few more sets of radio calisthenics than others
Jiang Xiaoyuan's hands trembled violently under the cloak. Suddenly, she lunged forward unexpectedly, forcefully knocking the lighthouse assistant aside with her shoulder. To her surprise, the lighthouse assistant, despite appearing tall, was as light as a piece of paper, and was easily pushed aside. Jiang Xiaoyuan did not expect it to go so smoothly and was momentarily taken aback. However, at this critical moment, she surprisingly showed some decisiveness, quickly regaining her composure and sprinting away.
This is the monitoring station for all parallel spaces in Area 3," the lighthouse assistant seemed not to have heard her question, and said condescendingly, "You know what a 'parallel space' is, right?
A familiar pendant hangs from the rearview mirror, the seatbelt quietly drapes to one side, the airbag is partially deployed, and shards of glass are suspended in mid-air, as if capturing a precise snapshot of a specific moment in time and place
She stood frozen in place for nearly half a minute, her hands and feet cold, drenched in a cold sweat, before finally regaining her composure with a look of uncertainty.
She saw a bridge floating in the darkness, faintly spanning the depths of infinite shadows, as if connecting to another world. The steps appeared to float in the air, stacking up layers of uncertain futures.
The lighthouse assistant finally spoke human words again
The lighthouse assistant: "You cannot stay here forever, swept away by the temporal storm; you will eventually be sent back to your original temporal coordinates."
"Please follow me." The man in black seemed oblivious to Jiang Xiaoyuan's wariness and continued to walk ahead on his own.
His speech sounds like an automated answering machine, articulate and precise, yet insincere and feigned; in short, it does not resemble that of a living being
A layer of cold sweat broke out on her back, and after hesitating for a moment, she reluctantly quickened her pace to catch up.
However, she could not move far when suddenly, it seemed as if she was grasped by an invisible hand
Jiang Xiaoyuan gently pinched the back of her hand, doubting whether this was a dream
Jiang Xiaoyuan's honorary diploma was marked only by a flattened ashtray, and upon hearing this, Wen Yan's eyes bulged like a frog's.
The two individuals walked all the way to the base of the tower, where they were greeted by a small platform resembling a podium used by a middle school teacher, with various incomprehensible coordinate numbers floating beside it
Jiang Xiaoyuan was brought to an unfamiliar scene, where there was no sound and no light, only the frantic pounding of her own heart and arteries could be heard
One more step
Jiang Xiaoyuan instinctively raised her hands to shield her eyes as the beam of light crushed past her and continued to surge towards an unknown direction
Jiang Xiaoyuan held her breath, allowing her imagination to run wild for a moment, almost seeing the black-clad man turn around the next instant, revealing a mouth full of green fangs.
The lighthouse assistant approached her: "The transmission is about to begin, please come over a bit to avoid any deviation in the transmission..."
Jiang Xiaoyuan has always been skilled only in applying makeup and has never had any connection with sports. At this moment, her adrenaline surged, and all her potential was unleashed, as if she had suddenly mastered the art of lightness in movement
The lighthouse assistant stood on the two-tiered floating platform, slightly turned to the side, extending a hand towards her. In his slightly brownish eyes, there were layers of patterns resembling flowing light and colors.
Jiang Xiaoyuan crossed her arms in front of her chest, remaining motionless, and thought to herself: "Why should I go with you?"
What is this place? Jiang Xiaoyuan suppressed her panic and questioned with a fierce yet weak demeanor, "What is going on with you? Who are you?"
Jiang Xiaoyuan was dumbfounded
She saw a straight beam of light sweeping through the vast darkness, as if it were conjured from nothingness. It was long and straight, sharp and bright, seemingly sweeping in from the ends of the earth, effortlessly breaking through the boundless darkness, and in the blink of an eye, it had arrived before her.
Jiang Xiaoyuan's mind was a blank slate; for a brief moment, she even felt as if she saw the airbag rushing towards her.
Suddenly confronted with her own three heads and six arms, Jiang Xiaoyuan, who had unexpectedly gained four separate bodies, was momentarily at a loss for words
The lighthouse assistant did not express any opinion on her foolishness, but dutifully replied: "You may not have fully understood earlier; if you were to return to your childhood, it would become another parallel space-time, no longer the original one."
She shivered violently, realizing that as the lighthouse assistant turned away, the only source of light also receded from her. Jiang Xiaoyuan had never had a history of being afraid of the dark, yet at this moment, she suddenly felt a chill rising from her heart. The darkness here seemed to possess a life of its own, gaping wide as if waiting to swallow her whole.
Where is this