“Don’t, don’t pack it, don’t pack it. I am really very close to the organization!”
Zhang Daniu said anxiously, “Of course, I will cooperate. However, if I really go to the ‘Apocalyptic Organization’ and meet our ‘Prophet’, he won’t cut me into pieces and dissect me, will he?”
“You worry too much, Master Niu.”
The hunter continued, “Firstly, the ability of the ‘Prophet’ is not as simple as a layer-by-layer scanning by the polymers. If he wants to retrieve information from the depths of your soul, he does not need to cut you into pieces so brutally.
“Secondly, you will soon understand that it is not a big deal to be dissected and studied in the world of reincarnation.
“No—”
Zhang Daniu screamed, “What do you mean ‘being dissected for research is no big deal’? I don’t understand!”
“Don’t be hasty. In order to make you cooperate, I have been granted certain permissions to tell you the truth about the world.
The hunter pondered for a moment and said, “The mice and bugs of the Ark Foundation are not here yet anyway. I can give you a brief introduction to the ‘World of Reincarnation’.”
Li Yao was eavesdropping below the bridge. He was greatly refreshed when he heard that.
As it turned out, the hunter had foreseen that the members of the Ark Foundation would find the place. The place was probably a trap that he had set up on purpose. Zhang Daniu was indeed the bait to catch all the ten ‘Deep Perceivers’ and the two ‘Ultimate Perceivers’ of the Ark Foundation.
On the other hand, the hunter brought up the brand-new concept of ‘reincarnation world’. It sounded like the main point!
“Master Niu, you should be convinced that there are superpowered people in the world—awakened people, right?”
But the hunter said calmly, “Aren’t you curious what the so-called ‘awakened people’ are all about? What is the fundamental contradiction between the ‘Ark’ and the ‘apocalypse’?”
“I—I never thought about it. It’s better not to think about such a dangerous thing.
Zhang Daniu said, “However, I’ve seen some movies about superheroes. The superpowered people in those movies are also divided into two groups. One group insists on helping human beings, controlling their own abilities, and incorporating themselves into the system of the nation and society, while the other group believes that they should be above human beings and everything else and become the masters of the world… I believe that the ‘apocalypse’ and the ‘Ark’ are similar, right?”
“Then you are wrong. Our differences are much more complicated than that.
The hunter said, “As I said just now, it’s true that the ‘Apocalyptic Organization’ has slayed a lot of novelists, cartoonists, movie and game producers, and even physicists and astronomers. In the process, we’ve hurt the innocent and caused hundreds, if not thousands, of casualties. But we still insist that what we did was not ‘immoral’ or ‘moral’. Do you want to know why?”
“Why?”
Zhang Daniu could not help but ask.
It was exactly what Li Yao wanted to ask.
“If you only have one life, and the dead cannot be resurrected, it is indeed an unforgivable sin to deprive other people of their lives.
The hunter continued, “However, think about it. If a person has a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, or even unlimited lives, when the time is up, they can be resurrected no matter how miserable their death is, and they can return to their childhood or even the embryo stage. Then, what’s the big deal about depriving them of one of their unlimited lives?”
“Well—”
Zhang Daniu was dazed for a long time before he replied, “I don’t understand. What do you mean by ‘unlimited life’? What do you mean by ‘the dead are resurrected and return to childhood and the embryo phase’?”
“It is a tricky question to answer. It sounds like the ravings of a lunatic. Thankfully, many ‘observers’ sensed the truth from different angles and presented the general picture of the ‘reincarnation world’ in their works.
The hunter said, “Master Niu, I don’t know if you’ve ever read a novel or a movie, in which the protagonist is imprisoned on the same day in the river of time. Assuming that today is April 1st, the protagonist will spend every day on April 1st. He will fall asleep on April 1st and wake up abruptly in the morning of April 1st. Except for himself, everything and everyone around him has happened countless times. The cycle goes on and on. If the key is not found, the reincarnation of time will never be broken. He will live on April 1st forever.”
“Well, I’ve seen it before.”
Zhang Daniu said, “Such a ‘time loop’ is a relatively common theme in science fiction, isn’t it? I remember that there’s a famous science fiction writer in our country named ‘Teacher Liu Wenli’ who wrote a classic work of this type called ‘Prisoner of the Day’. Oh, that’s right. I’ve also seen a movie called ‘The Day of the Mole’. It has similar meanings. Oh, there are also some movies called ‘Borderline Tomorrow’, ‘Source Code’, ‘Horrible Cruise’, ‘Happy Death Day’, and so on. The details are somewhat different, but they are all about the time loop. The protagonist in the movie is like playing a super difficult game that is constantly reloading. If he’s not careful, he will fail. Thankfully, after every failure, he can ‘read the record’ and return to the beginning of time and start all over again.”
“Wait, what do you mean? Are you saying that the novels and movies are not made up but refracting the truth of our world to some extent?”
“It’s great that you understand that.
The hunter said unhurriedly, “Then, if I tell you that our world, the blue planet below our feet, and the ‘spirits of all living creatures’ living on the planet are like the protagonists in the works you mentioned just now, trapped in a certain part of the timeline and miserable prisoners in an endless prison of time, you will not be surprised, will you?”
“What?”
Zhang Daniu blurted out, “That’s impossible!”
Below the bridge, Li Yao was dumbfounded, too, and did not come back to himself for a long time.
However, the bouncing waves deep inside his brain unlocked more memory pieces and displayed the scenes of his previous life, the previous life, and even the previous life clearly in front of him.
The world was a maze of reincarnation and a cage of time.
They were all misfits in the labyrinth and prisoners on death row.
“I can understand your reaction, Master Niu. It is indeed a hundred times more difficult to accept that the lovely Earth below our feet is an infinite prison of time than to accept ‘ordinary’ superpowers such as fireballs and electric arcs. Believe it or not, I am merely carrying out the command of the ‘prophecy’ and telling you everything simply.”
The hunter said casually, “Of course, it is different from the time-reversal sci-fi novels and movies. The protagonists of the works are often trapped on the same day and can only go on a cycle for one to two months at best. But in our Earth, from the end of the twentieth century to the middle of the twenty-first century, between fifty to sixty years, sixty to seventy years, and no more than a hundred years, endless cycles are taking place. The specific duration depends on the performance of all the earthlings in the ‘reversal’.
“For the sake of ease of understanding, you can simply imagine that the ‘starting point of time’ in our world is 1980. All the initial conditions are inputted in 1980 and run according to certain logic and rules. After roughly fifty to a hundred years, a large number of logic traps, rule errors, and data overflow gradually. In the end, when the error of information exceeds the critical range, ‘bang’, the entire world will experience a ‘reboot’. Of course, it can also be called ‘reincarnation’. It will return to 1980 and repeat everything.”
Zhang Daniu was dazed.
Li Yao squatted below the bridge, too. He was so shocked that he couldn’t breathe for a long time.
“Although it sounds hard to believe, you should have noticed some traces, right? Did the college student named Li Yao not tell you about some strange dreams, or did he grasp some skill that is absolutely impossible to grasp in this life?”
The hunter continued, “Including the entire network, there are a lot of ‘awakened people’ who don’t know what is going on. They are talking about the weird things that have happened to them and the ‘bug’ of the world. Now that you and Li Yao are talking about the ‘Ark Foundation’, it’s impossible that you don’t know anything about the rumors, right?
“Why do people feel that they are extremely familiar when they come to a strange place? Why do people suddenly speak a foreign language that they have never learned before after a car accident? Why do people really remember that something has happened, but it has never happened in their ‘life’? Why do people have a sense of familiarity when they first learn a skill or course and become a ‘genius’ in a certain field?
“The answer to all of this is the cycle of time and endless reincarnation. Every one of us has been reincarnated a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times in this endless prison. We have played various different roles in countless reincarnations. We have experienced a variety of colorful and varied lives. Of course, we have also learned different languages and skills. In most cases, when a ‘reboot’ or ‘reincarnation’ begins, we should forget everything that happened in our previous life. But there are always loopholes and mistakes. There will always be someone who will vaguely remember something from their previous life or even… something from a long, long time ago, something that was not very pleasant.”
“But… Huhu… I… I don’t know whether or not I should believe it. But let’s put the truth aside for now. Why?”
Zhang Daniu shouted, “Why is there such a thing as ‘infinite cycles of time’? What’s the point of repeating such nonsense and being trapped for decades or even centuries?
“In the ancient Greek legends, Sisyphus offended the gods. In order to punish him, the gods demanded that he push a giant rock to the top of the mountain. Since the rock was so heavy that it rolled down the mountain before it reached the top, all his previous endeavors were wasted. Therefore, he did the same thing over and over again.
The hunter asked back, “What’s the significance of Sisyphus’ giant rock?”
—
This chapter is dedicated to Master Liu Wenyang, a science fiction writer who died young. His work ‘One Day in Jail’ was one of the inspirations of the old bull, no, the young bull. I sincerely recommend it to everyone. His work and the ‘Science Fiction World’ of his era really brought endless fun and fantasy to the young bull in his youth. It’s a pity that the heavens are jealous of the talented!
How he wished that there was reincarnation in the world so that Master Liu could continue to show his talents and persist in his passion in a new, brilliant, and unbelievable world!
