From the end of the world

Chapter 492 Time Island
I looked at this old-fashioned kerosene lamp.

It looked like a clean iron lantern, but the light inside was extraordinary. It was a flame emitting pure white light. If you looked closely, you would find that it was not even a flame, but a white light that was condensed to look like a flame.

Before, even when he was unscrewing the nearby steel pipe, the cartographer never put down the lantern. At most, he hung it on his cloak, and it was always with him. It can be seen that he attaches great importance to this lantern.

I could feel a strange and faint wave emanating from the lantern. It was different from the fluctuation of the demon hunter's magic power, and more like the rhythm of nature. It was rare to feel this kind of fluctuation in this land where nature had died.

"What is this?" I asked.

"This is the 'blessing,'" the cartographer said.

"Blessing..." I said, "Is it the 'blessing' of the blessed monk?"

Is this lantern emitting white light related to the source of the blessed monk's power?
"I don't know, I just remember it's called blessing, and other people call it that too." The cartographer said, "Blessing refers to the white light inside this lantern, and there is also a blessing light in my safe house.

"Blessings attract each other. In other words, as long as we hold this lantern, even if we don't know where to turn back, as long as we keep walking, we will be lucky enough to return to the safe house. This is also the only way for us to return.

"Once we lose this blessing, we will be lost in the chaos of space."

"So... what about time?" I asked. "According to my unclear memory, the time after the apocalypse should also be chaotic. It is possible that you walked outside for a few hours, and when you returned, several years had passed in the safe house..."

As I said this, I took a look at his back. He was carrying a large dark yellow backpack, which was now flat and didn't seem to hold much.

"You left the safe house to go outside to collect supplies, right?" I continued. "Even if you hurry to collect supplies, your companions waiting for you in the safe house may not be able to wait for you to return. When you see them again, they will have starved to death or even turned into bones... This is also a completely possible outcome, right?
"You mentioned before that the time we arrived at the safe house had nothing to do with the time we passed on the road. Is this what you are referring to?"

"That's half right. Chaotic time is also the biggest enemy of us survivors." The cartographer answered patiently, "Sometimes, someone you met not long ago may be very old when you meet him/her again; or someone you meet for the first time may have met you many times and act very familiar with you.

“If you lose contact with your partner, they may not recognize you the next time you meet them. This may not be because they have forgotten you, but because you have met someone you knew before.

"Even in rare cases, you might meet your past self or your future self... Although I don't remember encountering such a thing myself, I heard that other people have encountered it."

I had only mentioned my own understanding of the apocalyptic era, but I didn't expect the cartographer to bring up so many possibilities that I hadn't thought of before, and each one sounded so incredible.

In other words, even if I found Xiaowan in the doomsday era, the other party might not recognize me, "Number Three" at all... Is it even possible that I would meet Xiaowan when he was still in the team with Ma Zao?

Is it possible that even though Ma Zao has traveled to the modern world, I may still meet Ma Zao in the apocalyptic era?
Thinking in a bad way, whether I can find Xiaowan before she dies does not seem to depend on how fast I act, but on luck and fate... But when it comes to luck and fate, Xiaowan and I both have them, so in this case, there is no need to worry so much...

All kinds of possibilities blossomed in my mind, giving me a new understanding of the incredibleness of the doomsday era.

"If you see a living person who looks like you, I suggest you don't get close to him. Not to mention that it might be a mimic of you by a strange creature, even if it is really you in a different time, it may not get along with you in a friendly way." The cartographer said in a warning tone, "The doomsday will lead everything to madness and destruction. Even the past that has been determined will become uncertain under its influence and then distorted into a morbid shape, not to mention the future with countless possibilities.

"You at different times may try to destroy everything you have now, or you may pretend to cooperate, but actually intend to lead you to destruction and twist you into a personality as sick as yourself... It's better to just treat it as some kind of weirdness."

Is it possible that a person like me who has partial transcendence of time and space could be twisted into a morbid and crazy form at different times? Although it is not easy to imagine, I will reserve my opinion on this for the time being and keep it in mind for the time being.

"Don't be so nervous. As long as we have the guidance of the blessing, we won't get lost in the chaos of time, and relatively speaking, we won't be so likely to encounter that kind of absurd time confusion phenomenon." The cartographer said, holding the lantern, "The problem you just raised can also be solved by the blessing of the light. As long as we have this lantern, we can return to the safe house at the right time."

I thought about it and asked, "You mean... the blessing of this lantern can be connected to the blessing of the safe house, so that the flow of time on both sides can be stable and synchronized?"

“The speed at which time flows... isn't like that.” The cartographer seemed to be weighing his words. “No matter how much time we spend outside, when we return to the safe house, our companions inside will definitely not have starved to death.” “It sounds like a virtual game.” I tried to understand this time narrative in my own way.

"Virtual game?" the cartographer wondered.

In most virtual games, when players receive a main mission like "rescue hostages from kidnappers", no matter how much time they waste on the road or how many irrelevant side missions they do, the kidnappers will not kill the hostages. Only when the player advances the main mission to the next stage will the kidnappers enter the stage where they intend to kill the hostages, and at this time the player already has sufficient opportunity to rescue the hostages.

I used to think that the speed of time flow in the doomsday era was different in each area, but in fact, maybe there is no such thing as "flow" in the doomsday era, but time has become fragmented and isolated.

The survivors can move from one time fragment to another, and this movement is random and uncontrollable, which is why there is a messy phenomenon of sometimes entering the past and sometimes entering the future.

Only with the guidance of blessings and the connection between blessings can one jump to the right island in the endless ocean of time fragments.

However, these are just my subjective speculations. Maybe the chaos of the doomsday era will be even greater than this "time island theory" that I came up with on the spur of the moment.

The more I thought about it, the more I felt inspired. It was as if I had entered a magical realm that was beyond everything in the past and truly unpredictable.

While communicating, the cartographer is also taking the lead in exploring the abandoned amusement park.

He seemed to be able to determine the direction he should move by observing the swaying trend of the blessing lights, just like a Taoist priest who used a compass to determine the Feng Shui situation. On the road, he could see some restaurants and hotels opened inside abandoned amusement parks, and at this time, the cartographer would go in and search for supplies to see if there were any ingredients and canned goods that had not expired or spoiled.

Food and water are a matter of life and death for the survivors, so I certainly wouldn't ask him to skip even this little bit of time. Although I didn't need food and water, I helped to scavenge for supplies. The cartographer hadn't completely given up his scrutiny and suspicion of me yet, so I kept a basic safe distance from him tacitly, and took advantage of this time to communicate with him and supplement his common sense in the apocalyptic era. It was quite a meaningful time.

After searching and moving for a while, we came to the pirate ship amusement facility. Just like me before, the cartographer also noticed that the bloodstains around were mixed with fresh blood, and also found the shoe print.

"Did anyone pass by here not long ago?" the cartographer pondered.

"Are you planning on getting another person to join the team?" I asked.

"Of course, even with you joining, there are only four of us in the safe house, and a healthy team should have five people at best," said the cartographer.

I just wanted to get some clues about Xiaowan from his companions, and I didn't really intend to join their team.

"Have you any way of tracking down the owner of those prints? As far as I can see they seem to have disappeared," I said.

"We need to try our luck." The cartographer muttered to himself, "In this direction..."

His voice became softer and his eyes slowly closed as if he was entering a meditative state.

At the same time, he lifted the lantern and placed it very close to his face, as if he wanted to let the blessed white light penetrate his eyelids and enter his meditation.

I didn't disturb him. After a moment, the cartographer opened his eyes and said firmly, "Go in this direction."

He took a step forward, and I followed closely. As we moved, the scene around us changed strangely again.

(End of this chapter)