Chapter 163
Chapter 163
Everyone froze at Jian Fan’s actions.
“What’s wrong? No, why did you lock the door again?” Qin Nan thought he understood Jian Fan fairly well, but right now, he couldn’t make sense of what Jian Fan was doing at all.
Jian Fan put away the key and looked at Qin Nan. Then his gaze swept over the others as he said, “The time is wrong.”
“What’s wrong with the time?” Qin Nan asked, baffled.
Jian Fan smiled. “In an Overlapping Time-Space, how can we be sure the point in time we’re in right now is the correct one?”
Everyone went still.
“Why are there no traces of Fire damage on the sixth floor?” Jian Fan asked Qin Nan.
Only then did Qin Nan begin to understand.
When they had watched the video, they hadn’t known how intense the Fire had been at the time, so it could still be explained as the Fire having been contained to a single dorm room, which was why the other dorm rooms showed no traces of Fire damage. But he and Jian Fan had personally made that trip back, and it had confirmed one thing beyond doubt.
Back then, when Zhao Yingguo chose to take the others down with her, the Fire had spread across the entire sixth floor-and even to the fifth.
In that case, it was impossible for the sixth floor to have no traces of Fire damage.
At the correct point in time, the sixth floor should have been an abandoned dormitory building after a Fire. The point in time they were currently in was a time-space that didn’t fit any factual logic at all.
A dormitory building still in use could not be abandoned. And an abandoned dormitory building would inevitably bear the marks left by the Fire.
“The space we’re in doesn’t exist at any point in time,” Qin Nan said, sucking in a cold breath.
If Jian Fan hadn’t realized this, what would have been waiting for them if they had opened the door and walked out?
A single word quickly surfaced in Qin Nan’s mind.
Death.
If they stepped through that door, death would be waiting for them.
Jian Fan continued, “There were six newspapers in 6103, and six dates on them. I’ve been thinking this whole time about what those six dates are for. Now, I think the six points in time on the newspapers are the six time-spaces we can return to.”
The point Jian Fan and Qin Nan had gone back to was February 27, 2014, while the one Qin Weiyi and Lu Jing had gone back to was an even earlier date. They should still have four more points in time they could cross into.
Among those four points in time, there had to be more clues they needed.
Those clues should allow them to complete the entire backstory and reveal the true mastermind behind everything.
As for which point in time was the real one, and when they would be able to leave, Jian Fan didn’t need to say it. The same date surfaced in everyone’s minds.
“October 21, 2021,” Yellow Hair said.
The point in time on the bathroom mirror had found its meaning as well.
That point in time was the true real-world time after Zhao Yingguo’s death, after the dormitory building had been abandoned, and after the Game Player group had accidentally become trapped and needed to find a way out.
As for where they were now, it shouldn’t belong to any point in time. It was more like an independent Parallel Space. And this Parallel Space overlapped with the time-spaces of the past, allowing them to return to past points in time and see what had happened. But the real escape room they needed to solve should be in the Real-World Time-Space, not the Parallel Time-Space they were currently in.
“Then what do we do next?” Lin Junruo asked timidly.
Jian Fan, Qin Weiyi, and the others already had an idea of what they needed to do next. Lin Junruo had actually guessed it too, but she still didn’t dare be sure.
“We pass through every Time-Overlap Space,” Jian Fan said, giving the answer.
They and Qin Weiyi had all exited through that opening on the fifth floor, but the points in time they crossed into had been different. That meant the other four points in time should also be at that boundary.
As for the boundary with the real world, they would probably have to put in more effort to find it.
The eight of them headed to the fifth floor again.
When they reached the entrance to the Stairs, Lin Junruo felt a little nervous.
And she was not the only one. Yellow Hair, Mu Xin, and Shi Chen were all feeling it too.
Jian Fan was much calmer. He reached a hand out to Qin Nan, and Qin Nan immediately understood. He took Jian Fan’s hand, then reached out to the next person.
Beside Qin Nan was Qin Weiyi. After that, Qin Weiyi held Lu Jing’s hand. Next to Lu Jing stood Shi Chen, followed by Yellow Hair. After Yellow Hair took Shi Chen’s hand, he turned and smiled.
“Miss, come on.” Yellow Hair held his hand out to Lin Junruo.
They were all in the Realm of Death. At this point, no one cared about a little physical contact like holding hands.
Lin Junruo took Yellow Hair’s hand without hesitation, then took Mu Xin’s hand beside her.
Lin Junruo did not have any other thoughts, but with one person on each side, Mu Xin’s small hand on her right and Yellow Hair’s palm, much broader and larger than hers, on her left…
It did feel rather safe, Lin Junruo thought.
Once the eight of them were holding hands, they stepped together onto that boundary point.
Because all eight of them were together, no one disappeared outright. For a moment, their surroundings did not seem to change, so they could not be sure whether they had entered another time and space.
Qin Nan already had experience with this.
He looked toward the paper posted at the dormitory entrance.
How old or new the paper looked ought to be able to explain a few things.
Jian Fan glanced at it as well, then headed straight up to the sixth floor.
It was not very convenient for eight people to keep walking hand in hand, so in the end, they became pairs walking side by side, with the pairs holding hands one after another.
Before long, the group arrived on the sixth floor.
The iron gate on the sixth floor was open at the moment, and the eight of them stepped through it directly.
The instant they entered the area beyond the iron gate, the entire sixth floor seemed to come alive, and movement quickly stirred around them.
Right now, the corridor on the sixth floor was especially lively.
Quite a few people had gathered around the entrance to one dormitory. Those farther away had not crowded in, but they were all poking their heads out from their own dorm rooms to watch the commotion outside.
And that dorm room surrounded by everyone… Although they could not see the room number from here, judging by its position, why did it look like 6103?
While Qin Nan was still puzzled, someone happened to push a suitcase out of the dorm room. The people around began making way for them.
Qin Nan saw a familiar face.
It was that only girl who had not died, the girl Qin Weiyi had said was named Li Xiting.
She pushed a suitcase out in front of her. As soon as she left the room, two girls at the door stepped forward to help. Then the two girls carried Li Xiting’s luggage into the neighboring dormitory, which should have been 6105.
This matched what they had learned earlier.
Li Xiting had indeed been someone from Dormitory 6103, but for some unknown reason, before the incident happened, she had already moved to 6105. And it was not just her. The other two girls from Dormitory 6103 had also come out with their luggage now. They had to move farther away, but one thing was certain: all of them had moved out of Dormitory 6103.
Jian Fan was the first to walk forward.
Although there was a crowd gathered at the door, the space they occupied did not conflict with the others.
Jian Fan quickly passed through the crowd and stopped at the entrance to Dormitory 6103.
At that moment, nearly all the luggage inside the dorm room had already been moved out, and one person was standing in the doorway.
Zhao Yingguo.