Abnormal Doomsday Records

Chapter 114 47. In short, you'd better behave yourself when the mysterious old man with white beard appears

"Ah! I know that when something is going smoothly in front of me, it means that an emergency is on the way."

Zhou Ke looked at the tactical glove in his right hand with a painful look on his face.

These are Moni's gloves.

Obviously, when he was enveloped by the sudden halo of light just now, he was unable to really grab Moni's hand. It was all because of that idiot who insisted on "erasing traces" and said that he would not leave any fingerprints.

All right.

Now there are indeed no fingerprints left, but the person is gone too.

"So, what's going on?"

Next to Zhou Ke, D-4 pounded his head with a look of pain on his face and said to his boss:
"Where are we? I feel that the location beacon has not changed, but my thought circuit seems to be shut down, as if someone hit me hard on the head with a stick. It even affects the performance of my body, and some programs cannot be started.

Are we being attacked?"

"No, it doesn't. It's just that the timestamps have suffered external distortions."

Wu Neng explained:
"Reset your timestamp code, D-4. Change it from a fixed to a random beacon. Based on my experience with this unit being down for eight thousand hours before it restarted, that should solve most of your problems.

To put it simply, there is a mismatch between your built-in time counter and the external time stream.

This also explains our current situation. We have been swept into a special time stream, a miniature time maze. It is probably a special method set up by the Flash Organization to protect this time beast. "

“But we’re still underground at Parnis Eco Park.”

Zhou Ke looked at the unreal environment around him, which seemed to have been filtered through a special "filter" like an old faded photo, and said:

"It only changed the time, not the direction. It seems that the time maze is not as dangerous as I thought."

"That's because you haven't seen the true meaning of a time maze, Joker. This is just a security measure. The Flash Organization wouldn't be so crazy as to build a real time chaos zone in the city-state area.

According to the information about the time maze that this machine had previously collected, the uncontrollable randomness of this thing was its greatest source of danger.

Don't touch anything you see, lest you be drawn into a deeper time stream."

Wu Neng reminded:
"The super-dimensional radar of this machine is scanning this complex structure. It is a multi-layered three-dimensional structure. We are now on the surface and may still be able to find an exit to leave. If we are sucked into a deeper layer, we will have no choice but to stay here and wait for the people from the Flash Organization to arrive and kill us.

Well, considering they've been trying to catch you, does this count as walking into a trap?"

"No! I was implicated."

Zhou Ke complained:
"Afu is obviously a psychic sublimator, who knew she would trigger this trap so easily! The people of Jiubang are really unreliable! Damn it, if I had known earlier, I would have gone to catch that time beast."

"She said that time psionics is very difficult to master. It obviously requires a special talent. Perhaps for psionicists, the complexity of this knowledge is much more profound than what ordinary people can understand."

Wu Neng laughed regretfully as if he was seeing someone in trouble, and said:
"Okay, put on your time mask and put on your resurrection armor. That thing is related to time. It might be strengthened in this place, and it might allow you to see things that the naked eye cannot see. Then take D-4 around and see if you can find the exit of this harmless time maze.

Oh, by the way, because we are in a chaotic time flow, everything you see here is in the 'past tense'.

Don't try to change it, of course in most cases you can't change it.

History is a given.”

"It's so nagging."

Zhou Ke took out the Time Mask and put on the Resurrection Armor himself, then helped D-4, who was resetting the timestamp, to get up. The two were still in front of the breeding cabinet of the Time Beast, but it was empty.

They walked out along the same path they came from. After a moment, Zhou Ke and D-4 both heard sounds coming from the front.

They looked at each other in surprise and immediately hid in the shadow of the cultivation cabinet next to them.

This poor response left Wu Neng speechless. He said:

"I've already told you that you are in a chaotic time stream. You are outsiders who have intervened in this period of time. People in the past can't see you. Don't hide. Just eavesdrop openly."

"Is eavesdropping still allowed? I really need to find a time to discuss your damned robot's word choice with you."

Zhou Ke stood up and saw several people wearing the uniforms of researchers from the Flash Organization pushing a special biological box towards them. They were accompanied by a senior executive from the Panis Group.

Zhou Ke has seen this guy!
Just now at the opening ceremony of the dinner, this guy was among the crowd welcoming little Acholi. He should be the general manager of Panis Ecological Park.

"This time beast is one of the last few specimens we rescued from the ruins. Commander Roger is rebuilding the breeding room, but it will take a while to complete the adjustment. During this period, this surviving young beast will be fostered in this area with a perfect environment."

The leading researcher said seriously to the director of the ecological park next to him:
"The Time Beast has a very strong ability to adapt. It does not require special food preparation for daily care. It likes to eat fresh leaves and needs a gallon of spiritual salt water as a drink every day.

You don't have to worry about this, we will prepare it in advance.

It should be noted that the Time Beast is very timid. You must not let it be in a state of mental tension, which may cause it to escape into the time stream. Once it is observed to disappear in the biological cabinet, you must immediately contact us and seal off the entire underground area.

It can only travel through time, not through the fabric of space."

"Well, it sounds like taking care of it isn't difficult. Please rest assured, my employees here are the most experienced breeders in the Badlands Era. We will definitely be able to take good care of this baby."

The executive said confidently:
"However, I heard that your organization's biological laboratory was also destroyed in an accident. Do you need the assistance of the Parnis Group to complete the re-cultivation of the Time Beast? We are not bragging, but in the field of biotechnology, there is no one in the Badlands who is more professional than us."

"The cultivation of the Time Beast needs to be carried out in a special time environment created by the benchmark. No matter how outstanding your biotechnology is, it cannot meet the conditions for its birth."

The researcher from the Flash Organization shook his head and said:
"Whether to cooperate in the future depends on Commander Roger's decision. This is not something we can interfere with."

"Well, that's a shame."

Executive Panis sighed, and after the group placed the Time Beast in the biological cabinet, he whispered:

"Uh, I have a question that I shouldn't ask."

"You know you shouldn't ask so just shut up!"

The members of the Flash Organization said rudely:
"Now everyone in the entire city-state who has some connections wants to learn from us the truth about the appearance of Time Maze No. 11, but that is not something that can be discussed publicly!"

"But my niece was in your lab when the incident happened!"

The Panis executive couldn't help but emphasize his tone and said:
"I watched her grow up! Just like my daughter, I can't just let her disappear without a clear reason. I at least need to know what happened in your No. 1 Research Institute? Why did the valley in the institute become a dangerous time maze overnight!"

The middle-aged man's scolding silenced several researchers.

Although in the past images, these people's bodies were covered with a strange faded filter, Zhou Ke, who was peeking at the side, could still see the complex expressions on their faces.

After a few seconds, one of them explained to the tearful middle-aged man:
"The answer is that we don't know, and I'm not kidding, Your Excellency.

Institute No. 1 is a research area headed by Chief Takahashi Santao. It belongs to a different system from Institute No. 2 where we are. Even Chief Roger didn't understand what happened. The collapse of Institute No. 1 was sudden.

It triggered a chain reaction without even issuing a warning or evacuating in time.

Time Maze No. 11 appeared where it was without any warning, and the researchers and everything in it were caught in the chaotic time flow.

We can't be sure whether our companions are safe, but you can have good expectations.

This kind of thing has happened before. Experienced researchers will not die immediately when they fall into the disordered time. If they are lucky enough, they can even leave the disordered time maze and return to the normal timeline on their own.

Since your niece is a senior researcher, her chances of survival are much greater than others."

"Hehe, you don't have to comfort me like this."

The middle-aged executive wiped his eyes and sighed:

"Alas, I was born in this damn era. This is fate."

As he sighed, the image from the past disappeared before Zhou Ke's eyes without any warning, just like the collapse of quicksand.

Zhou Ke stood there with a frown on his face.

He said to D-4 beside him:
"The place where Time Labyrinth No. 11 is located was once the No. Research Institute of the Flash Organization?

From what they said, there was a problem inside the laboratory that directly led to the emergence of Time Maze No. 11. Well, this is really shocking news. No wonder those rebellious machines and Professor Qiao Sina reminded us that it is related to the "truth".

It turns out that these guys had brought this upon themselves!
Takahashi Santaifu, one of the leaders of the Shunguang Organization, also died in such an accident, which made me even more curious about Time Maze No. 11."

“It was an instant disaster.”

D-4 added:
"It was as if some force had destroyed the time system in an instant, and they themselves had no time to evacuate, so they could only find the time beast in the ruins. So, this conversation just now took place more than a year ago, when Time Maze No. 11 had just appeared."

"Look again to see if there is anything else worthy of attention."

Zhou Ke continued to walk out with D-4. He said:

"Now I finally understand how the Flash Organization located us. If they can manipulate the flow of time like this time maze, then nothing that happened in the past can be hidden from their eyes.

No matter how we prepare, as long as we cannot erase the time stamp we left in the past, they will always find us. In the face of such tracking methods, all hiding is meaningless.

There are only people they don’t want to catch, but no one they can’t catch.”

"Yes, the threat of these guys has increased further, Boss, you need to be careful, they can manipulate time, which means they can go back in time and assassinate you or anyone in the team."

D-4 said seriously:

"We still don't understand why they want to capture you, but in the next operation, we must put the threat of the Flash Organization first, but we have no idea how to deal with this crisis."

"Perhaps little Acholi has a solution. After all, he dares to confront the Flash Organization head-on. No one would believe that he doesn't have the means to curb 'time exploration'. The value of our potential partner is really increasing." Zhou Ke shook his head.

As he and D-4 walked out of the hallway, images from the past appeared before his eyes again, but this time they were not as valuable as the last time.

They saw two keepers hiding in the corridor having a tryst. They were both tired of hearing those cheesy love words, so they quickened their pace and moved forward. They saw a group of guys being led on a tour of this "zoo".

They were all rich or noble, and there was an old man with a white beard and a postmodern artistic look, standing in front of the elephant enclosure, staring in a trance.

The conversation between these guys was also very boring, which made Zhou Ke fully aware of the uncontrollable nature of time.

He and D-4 circled the circular corridor and found nothing valuable, and they were unable to leave the lower level area. The elevator leading to the upper level mysteriously disappeared, as if it had never been part of this time maze.

The exit is obviously not here.

"So, can you use your awesome extra-dimensional radar to tell us where we should go to get out of this vicious circle?"

Zhou Ke looked at Wu Neng and said:

"If the two sides don't agree on the same time, this mission will fail if we continue to waste time."

"You ask this machine, who should I ask?"

Wuneng highlighted a person who relied on strength to lie flat, and he retorted:
"The extra-dimensional radar component of this machine is incomplete! You guys, I'm already very good at helping you identify the traps that have fallen into the deep maze. You have to find the exit yourself. Who knows what it will touch here and send you out.

But this maze is man-made, Joker, and you have to realize that they must have hidden the exit somewhere they knew."

"Depend on!"

Zhou Ke stamped his feet, followed the "illusion of time" of the group of rich and powerful people who were being taken on a tour, and said:

"When can I find the way? Can't a powerful guy drop down from the sky to show me the way?"

"Over there! Walk straight for seventeen steps, first grab the handle of the fennec fox's closet, then kick the tortoise's cage."

The white-bearded old man who was watching the elephant nearby said something casually, just like the old men strolling on the streets of Tianjin who were very friendly and gave directions to confused outsiders.

Zhou Ke didn't react for a moment, but the D-4 next to him immediately raised his hand and prepared the palm cannon to fire.

"Boss, him! He's talking to us!"

D-4's voice was shaking.

To be honest, it's rare to see such a look of fear on a robot.

Zhou Ke also looked at this guy with a weird expression. The white-bearded old man, who was dressed in a very unique style with a sense of the combination of barbarism and the future, also had the same faded halo on his body as the other images, as if he was no different from the other time illusions.

But when Zhou Ke looked at him, he also turned his head and looked at Zhou Ke.

At this moment, Zhou Ke's vision was strangely distorted, making it difficult for him to see the appearance of the person in front of him.

"Hey, it's you, Lan."

The other party greeted me very friendly and said:

"It seems that time has once again brought me to where I should be. Unfortunately, it is just as unwilling to give me too much time as before. The eternal punishment has not yet ended. What a pity. I have a lot of things I want to ask you, but this is not the place to talk.

Go ahead.

We'll have a long chat next time we meet."

The opponent's figure spread from his feet to his body like a quicksand avalanche. He was about to "disappear". In the last moments, Zhou Ke asked:

"You are the second person to call me 'Lan'. You must know a lot. What should I call you? Your Excellency."

"Name? No, it's not mine anymore."

The other party sighed:
"But the important thing is to find the right way, Lan. Only you can find that way home. Please help them."

"Fuck, I'm really fed up with you stupid riddlers. If you have time to say the last sentence, can you pick something fucking important to say?"

Zhou Ke watched the white-bearded old man, whose style was different from other illusions, disappear in front of his eyes. He jumped on the spot and cursed.

But he was very concerned about the fact that the other party called him "Lan", because the last person who called him that was the mysterious manager of Rust Castle.

That's not even a nickname!
Zhou Ke could feel that perhaps that was his "original" name.

"Do as he says."

Zhou Ke turned around and gave an order to D-4, and the two of them walked forward seventeen steps in the direction indicated by the old man, grabbed the handle and kicked the breeding cabinet next to them.

The next moment, under Zhou Ke's gaze, the things around him that were covered with faded halos began to dissipate rapidly like "ebb tide".

"This is not the exit!"

Wu Neng screamed:
"He taught you to break the most vulnerable part of this time maze, and with one heavy blow, he directly caused the collapse of the entire maze system! It's like a punch to the nose of a boxing champion, defeating him. So, who is that guy?"

"Must be a powerful Riddler bastard."

Zhou Ke looked back at the collapsed time maze trap behind him. At the last moment, he did not forget to put on the time mask to extract some of the time energy that escaped from the collapsed trap.

And in the flash of broken light that covered everything in front of him, he and D-4 returned to the "entrance" of the maze, right where they had stood before, just in front of the cage of the Time Beast, and Moni and Afu were also sent out.

Both were safe and sound.

But now Moni was standing there like an idiot, wiping his tears. God knows what he saw in the time maze.

Afu's condition was even worse.

She seemed to be terrified, curled up on the ground with her hands around her body. After Zhou Ke tried to help her up, she screamed in fear:

"No! Stay away from me, you stinky man, don't touch me! Save me. Someone save me! Miss Rhine, come and save me! Don't let them get close to me."

"Ok?"

Zhou Ke looked at Afu in surprise, who didn't seem to be pretending to be afraid. He looked at D-4, who whispered:

"It looks like she's having PTSD. Maybe it has something to do with what happened to her in the wrong time stream. Maybe that's why she hates men?"

"Alas, there must be something pitiful about a hateful person."

Zhou Ke shook his head, squatted down, and said to Afu gently:

"Don't be afraid, it's okay. Those bad guys who hurt you have been driven away. Be good, now tell me, who are you?"

"Afu, I'm Afu."

The mentally fragile psychic looked ahead with broken eyes. She said:
"I am Miss Rhine's maid. I grew up with her, escaped from the Garden of Eden together, and came to the evil land to establish the Eagle Nation together. I will protect her, just like she protected me in the past."

"Very good, very good. Tell me, who is Miss Rhine? What is her relationship with little Acholi?"

Zhou Ke narrowed his eyes and continued to ask.

Afu obviously had problems with her perception of the outside world. Facing Zhou Ke's inductive questioning, she replied:

"Miss Rhine is the daughter of Dr. Acholi and the younger sister of Mr. Acholi. She discovered some secrets about her father, so she fled from the Garden of Eden to find the truth in the evil land. Wait! I'm angry!
Zhou Ke, are you still a human being?!
You're trying to trick me into confessing when I'm at my most vulnerable moment?"

After waking up, Afu was like a tigress, holding the dangerous spiritual flames with both hands and ready to burn Zhou Ke to ashes, but Zhou Ke didn't care, just waved his hands and said:

"You put yourself in danger, and you haven't thanked me for saving you from the nightmare of the past. The people of Jiubang are so uncultured! I don't know how Miss Rhine taught you!"

As he spoke, Zhou Ke walked into the cage of the Time Beast.

Since the time maze has been broken, this little guy is naturally easy to catch. However, when Zhou Ke stretched out his hand, the silly time beast tilted its head and looked at him, and after a moment it took the initiative to climb onto his arm and let Zhou Ke hold it in his arms.

"It likes me, haha. I just say that there will always be people or animals who can find the beauty in me."

Zhou Ke whistled quite proudly.

However, Wu Neng has a different understanding of this. He said:

"It doesn't like you, it knows you, Joker! It has seen you or touched you before, remember? Where was this little thing picked up from?"

Zhou Ke's expression immediately became strange.

"Bad news, everyone!"

D-4 spoke:

"The elevator leading upstairs is locked. The enemy has discovered our infiltration. The best outcome is that the guards of the Panis Group will rush down and beat us to a pulp. The worst outcome is that we will face the capture of the Shining Organization."

"You go somewhere else first."

With a murderous look on her face, Afu impatiently took off her mask. She stretched out her hand and grabbed a ball of pink fire between her five fingers, saying:

"I'll stay here to deal with the pursuers. I'm really annoyed right now!"

(End of this chapter)