13 Mink Street

Richard’s abnormal behavior immediately drew the attention of both Karon and Memphis. Karon instantly reached out to grab Richard, while Memphis simply appeared in front of him in an instant.

Yet Karon’s hand passed straight through Richard, and a moment later, Richard slipped through Memphis’s body as well.

At that moment, Richard was like a transparent figure. He kept shouting, “Slow down, Karon, I’m coming!”

Their first interception failed, and by the time Karon and Memphis were prepared to try a second time, Richard suddenly vanished.

Did he enter another segment of time? That thought instinctively arose in Karon’s mind, because Richard had clearly been shouting for him while running off. It was as though some other version of Karon in another layer of time had been calling Richard over.

Yet almost immediately, Karon rejected that thought from his own mind. No, this wasn’t time.

Both the captain and Memphis had already said that temporal holy relics simply did not exist. Everything strange that they were encountering was much more likely a deception, and the purpose of the deception was to make them believe that time was being cut apart in this place.

But what exactly was the point of doing that?

Memphis placed a hand on Karon’s shoulder. He felt a slight flicker of doubt. While they were both wearing masks, their eyes were still visible, and Karon could not see the concern in Memphis’s that a father should have for his son.

“This is a deception,” Memphis stated. “The purpose lies in deception.”

With that, Memphis took the initiative to walk towards Nio.

The other squad members had also noticed what had happened. Quite a few of them had even witnessed the entire process of Richard’s disappearance.

Earlier, when they had jumped off the train, two members from the other squads had vanished in an instant. But this time, it was one of their own squad members who had disappeared. If even this could happen, then who would be the next to disappear? How were they supposed to guard against this? How were they supposed to resist this?

Even members of the Hunting Hounds, when faced with this situation, became sensitive and wary. In a direct fight to the death, no matter how powerful their opponent, they would never feel this way.

Nio walked up to Memphis, and Memphis repeated what he had said before, “This is a deception.”

“Yes, this is a deception.” Nio nodded. After saying that, he also looked toward Karon, who was standing nearby, and the captain reached up to touch his own mask.

“Look, isn’t that Richard?” Fannie pointed to the nearby hillside as she shouted. Everyone looked over and saw that there really was someone standing on the crest of the hill. Judging by their clothing and build, it looked very much like Richard, who had just disappeared.

Richard began sprinting down the hill. As he ran, he kept waving his arms. It was plain to see that he was terrified, but at the same time, excited. He was running and crying at once, like someone who had narrowly escaped death.

Everyone gathered together, all of them waiting for Richard to come closer, yet no one took the initiative to move forward and meet him.

Karon glanced at Memphis beside him and realized that between his son’s disappearance and reappearance, this uncle of his had remained far too calm.

Perhaps sensing Karon’s gaze, Memphis turned his head and looked at him. “They took the wrong one.”

“What?”

Memphis shook his head. He seemed to be drawing in a deep breath, or perhaps making some kind of preparation.

Richard drew closer and closer, and everyone’s expressions grew more and more solemn. Inwardly, they had all already prepared themselves for Richard to run over and simply pass through their bodies, just as he had when disappearing earlier.

And yet, events unfolded in a way that seemed to veer away from what everyone anticipated.

“You scared me to death, Karon! You really scared me to death, Karon!” Richard shouted. As though he were a runner finally reaching the finish line, he hurled himself at Karon and wrapped him in an embrace.

Karon felt the solid contact of a real body. Richard did not vanish; he had become real, very real. Barring any unseen accident, the real Richard had most likely returned to them.

The others nearby were somewhat flabbergasted. None of them had yet recovered from the bizarreness of Richard’s disappearance, only for him to run back to them on his own in such a manner?

At that moment, many of the squad members walked over and began touching Richard.

“What are you doing, what are you doing? Hey, hey, don’t touch there! Ah!” Richard screamed as he was touched by more than a dozen hands. While two of those pairs of hands belonged to women—Paige and Fannie—the rest were all men’s hands, and the discomfort was beyond what he could tolerate.

“Where did you just go?” Karon asked.

“Me? I just saw you wave at me and tell me that the captain and everyone had already moved on, and that I should hurry and catch up. So I ran after you.”

“And then?”

“And then... as I ran, you suddenly disappeared. I immediately knew that something was wrong, that I’d been hit by it, so I climbed the hill over there to get a look at the surroundings. Then I saw all of you here, so I ran straight back.”

“Nothing else changed?” Fannie asked.

“No. It was a very short stretch of time. Right, how much time has passed now?” Richard quickly asked. “A few hours?”

“Judging by the duration you described, we were talking about the same amount of time,” Fannie answered.

“Hm, where’s the newcomer?”

“Where’s Memphis?”

“Where did he go?”

Karon’s eyes also started to dart about, only to confirm that Memphis, who had been standing beside him just moments ago, was gone.

“So this time it’s the newcomer who vanished?” Fannie said.

“Will he also come back soon?” Paige asked.

Karon suddenly remembered what Memphis had said before vanishing: “They took the wrong one.”

“Huh? Did the newcomer disappear?” Richard also started looking around. “He should do the same thing I did, find a high spot and confirm his location.”

Karon pursed his lips as he looked at Richard.

Even after everyone finished setting up camp and ate some of the field rations they carried with them, Memphis still did not return.

There were no tents in their camp, just some blankets and a simple makeshift cover set up around them. Following their usual habits, the squad arranged three defensive layers: an outer ring, a middle ring, and an inner ring, all arranged in orderly fashion.

Yet whether those defenses would actually have any effect, no one felt certain.

“Why hasn’t the newcomer come back yet...” Richard kept muttering to himself while continually glancing around in every direction. Perhaps this was what people meant by blood ties between father and son. Even though Richard knew nothing of Memphis’s identity, he instinctively worried about the man. “Karon, why do you think I’ve already come back, but the newcomer still hasn’t?”

Karon shook his head. He felt that he likely knew the reason, but had no convenient way to say it aloud.

Just then, Wynn gave a startled cry. “Where’s the captain?”

“Where’s the captain?”

“Where’s the captain!”

For the squad members now, having the newcomer vanish was one thing, if their captain vanished too, the blow to morale would be enormous. Everyone had long since grown used to obeying their captain’s orders curing their missions.

“I went ahead to check the situation and found someone as well.” Black mist appeared, and Nio stepped out of it. Then, a second person emerged: Marlow.

“Marlow, you’re back?”

“Hey, Marlow! I thought something had happened to you!”

“I’d already worked out how much condolence money I should bring to your funeral. Good thing you saved me that expense.”

Nio continued, “I found a certain pattern. I left just now to verify that pattern, and then used it to locate Marlow.

“In fact, Marlow was left in the same place the entire time, and was with Kassel and Anthony’s squads all along. It was because we were in different time segments that even when our positions overlapped, we still couldn’t see each other.”

“Captain, you mean...” Gray asked.

“Yes.” Nio nodded. “It may sound absurd to you, but I still have to tell everyone what I have observed and confirmed. What we have encountered is... temporal segmentation.”

The moment he heard that final phrase, Karon’s head snapped up to stare at his masked captain.

Marlow also spoke, “In my time segment, I set up several communication ritual arrays, not for immediate transmission, but for delayed transmission. I configured them to activate after half an hour, one hour, one and a half hours, and two hours.

“Then I successfully contacted Captain and established communication with him. Captain then pulled me back into his own segment, which is the one all of you are currently in.”

“I... don’t understand...” Kensey voiced what many of them were currently feeling.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand. The important thing is that I’ve already found a way out of here.” Nio pointed in the direction of Arles Castle. “The exit is actually right at the gate of the castle, because the gate is the point where it all began. It’s the starting point of this temporal segmentation journey. We have to start from there, and then walk out from there. Only then can we break free of temporal segmentation and get out successfully.

“Marlow will lead at the front, while I will take the rear. Now, all of you are to throw away your watches, and none of you are allowed to look up at the stars. You cannot have the slightest concept of time. You must understand that time itself has no concept. What we refer to as time is merely something we have assigned to ourselves. During our march, you are to focus on your senses, the sense of water flowing past your bodies.

“If you suddenly realize that the person in front of you has disappeared, do not panic, because your squad mates are still right beside you. You only need to use your heart to sense the flow of time. Like adjusting the receiving rod of a radio, you will then be able to see them again.

“There is not much time left now. It will not be long before the next temporal regularization occurs. Our supplies are limited, so we must take this chance to get out successfully. Some of you may fail, but do not lose heart. Return to the starting point on your own and try to ‘swim’ out again. And more importantly, have faith. Be certain that some of your teammates will make it out. Then reinforcements from the Church will certainly arrive.

“The God of Order will bless us! Let’s go!”

“So it really is temporal segmentation... Karon, do you know what we’ve encountered?” Richard asked excitedly while taking off his watch and throwing it to the ground. “If this thing, or this existence, is discovered by us, then once we get out and report it, the church will definitely give us an enormous reward! Our names might even be written into the church’s chronicles!”

Karon glanced at Richard. So this is probably why you were taken and then released?

After that, Marlow took the lead at the very front, the captain took the rear, and the rest of the squad formed a single file line as they advanced toward Arles Castle.

Karon deliberately hung near the back of the line, staying ahead of only the captain. When Richard noticed that, he deliberately hung back to move to the rear as well so he could remain with Karon, taking the position directly in front of him.

After they had advanced some distance, they arrived at the bottom of the slope where they had first hidden themselves, but this time, they followed the road around the hill, and the gate of Arles Castle lay directly ahead of them.

Marlow stopped at the castle gate. He did not choose to push the gate open and go in, but instead turned around and waved, signaling for everyone to follow him. Like children lining up in a queue, they all passed through the gate, turned around, and then continued following the line onward.

Karon clearly saw that the expressions of his teammates who had already turned at the gate changed. Excitement appeared on their faces.

Richard turned around right in front of Karon. He froze for a moment, and then his face broke into an expression of wild delight as he hurried on after the rest of the squad ahead of him.

When Karon turned around, he found that a stretch of white mist had appeared in his field of vision. The mist was not high, only reaching about waist level, but it was very clear that it was flowing, like a stream of white fog. As they walked, they were clearly moving upstream.

This kind of visible sense of progress instantly granted people tremendous encouragement. It was almost like openly telling them that they were on the right path, that they were not far from getting out. It was no wonder that every squad member who had turned around at the gate suddenly looked reinvigorated.

Yet Karon could not bring himself to feel excitement. As he continued forward, he kept tilting his head slightly, trying to sense the captain walking at the very rear of the line.

At last, after moving forward a little farther, Karon spoke, “Captain, wearing a mask for too long is uncomfortable. I want to take mine off.”

Nio replied, “Silence. Focus on walking.”

“Yes, Captain.” As Karon nodded, he drew his Sawa-7 pistol.

***

“How’s the situation?”

“Under my arrangements and design, Anthony’s squad and Kassel’s squad, from their captains down to all of the members, have all already accepted that they’ve entered a temporal break. They are now responding to the changes in time of their own initiative.

“But Nio’s squad...”

“What about Nio’s squad?”

“See for yourself.”

“Hm? Isn’t it going rather well? No, wait, why were so many extra elements added? And why were two of them isolated?”

“I had no choice. That squad is clearly of a much higher caliber than Anthony’s or Kassel’s. From the very beginning, their captain told them all that this has nothing to do with time.

“And there’s another man in the squad who seems to have noticed something as well. He kept repeating ‘it’s all a deception, it’s all a deception.’

“That captain wields too much authority, and his people genuinely listen to him. They don’t question him, so from the outset, he had already fixed the tone of the entire group.

“And he kept refusing to enter the castle. From the start, he chose a passive approach and never gave me the chance to deepen the suggestion across the whole squad. Out in the open, there are too few environmental variables for me to work with. Most of my arrangements are inside the castle. Ah, what a pity.”

“And then?”

“I separated Nio to be on his own, and I separated the one who kept talking about it all being a deception as well. There was a small hiccup in the middle; I marked him to be removed from the start, but for some reason, when I first tried to isolate the target I marked, the one who was pulled away was someone else entirely, another man who firmly believed the whole time that it’s segmented time. I had no choice but to let him go, then mark and isolate the right one a second time.”

“They’re related?”

“Probably. It’s not exactly rare for family members to be in the same Whip of Order squad.”

“But that mistake of yours really shouldn’t have happened. It seriously damages their immersion.”

“There was nothing I could do. The squad member who was isolated believed very firmly in the temporal fault.

“Besides, I already did my best to salvage things. For that, I even had their captain immediately reappear and again instill the concept of the temporal fault into them. Only then did things finally get back onto the proper track. They trust their captain too much.

“Sigh. If I’d known, I would have isolated the captain right from the start.”

“You’re the one who insisted on this. Of the three Whip squads, you said you didn’t want all of them to be mediocre, and that you wanted one truly excellent team. It seems the department arranging the mission really took your request seriously. The quality of Nio’s squad really is much higher.”

“It’s only the captain and that one squad member who are truly exceptional.”

“You can’t consider it that way. If a squad has a sufficiently outstanding captain, it’s hard for the entire squad not to be good, and this time it isn’t even just the captain.”

“Still, I really don’t understand why the Temple chose to restart this project again, though I do think the one who designed it was absolutely a genius.”

“How could an existence capable of becoming a heretical god be described by something as meager as the word ‘genius’?”

“True, I suppose it’s the kind of thinking only a heretical god could have. The great High Gods sought the power of time in the world and found nothing, yet he managed to open an entirely new road.

“Do you remember that line in the project file? It’s said to be one of the insights he left behind:

“‘Time does not exist at all. You cannot search for something in reality when that thing does not exist in the first place. And something that does not exist can only be sought in a place where it also does not exist, for example... in human consciousness.’

“There’s one thing I’ve always been curious about. Back then, did he succeed?”

“He definitely failed. There’s no doubt about that.”

“Then did he achieve anything at all? Even the slightest result?”

“I think he did.”

“You think he did?”

“Because he was suppressed.”

“So you’re saying... makes a great deal of sense.”

“By the way, how much longer will this internal preliminary test last?”

“Ten days. Calculated according to the five-hour consciousness cycle we set, it should be forty-eight cycles for them.”

“Oh? Then they really will be working hard.”

“Don’t worry. When the test is over, the church will give them a very generous mission reward.”

“Oh, right, I heard the project is named after the heretical god?”

“Yes, The Rhanedar Project.”

“Oh, heavens! This is bad! It looks like Nio’s squad is going to end this test ahead of schedule.”

“What happened?”

“See for yourself.”

***

“Hey! Everyone!” Everyone ahead of him in the line turned back to look at Karon at the very rear.

At the same moment Karon turned around, pulling out his Sawa-7 pistol. He aimed it directly at Captain Nio’s forehead and pulled the trigger without the slightest hesitation.

BANG!!!

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