Chapter 996: Exit of the Labyrinth

Chapter 996: The Exit of the Maze

In the medical bay of the Orion-class missile cruiser, Jiang Xuezhou lay quietly on a medical bed, her body wrapped in bandages, while the intensive care equipment beside her emitted soft beeping sounds.

She was alive.

But she had not woken up.

Facing the calm electrocardiogram waves on the holographic screen, Luo Yi, who had already removed his power armor, furrowed his brow slightly and looked at the doctor beside him.

“Still not awake?”

Before the doctor could speak, a nurse nearby couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

“How could it be that fast? It’s a miracle this kid is even alive, you know.”

Luo Yi gave a wry smile and said.

“I didn’t mean to rush…”

He might have been a bit impatient.

After all, given the situation at hand, everyone was completely in the dark.

It wasn’t just him—many wanted to quickly figure out what had happened.

And where exactly the problem lay.

Staring at the vital signs monitor screen, Lin Youyou, who had been silent in thought for a long time, suddenly lifted her head.

“Come to think of it, there’s something strange.”

Luo Yi looked at her and asked.

“What’s strange?”

Resting her chin on her knuckles, Lin Youyou pondered as she spoke.

“After we used the tissue repair gel, her wounds did heal, but her metabolic rate and heart rate haven’t changed at all…”

As she said this, something seemed to occur to her, and she blurted out another sentence.

“It was the same before, I think.”

Luo Yi asked.

“Before?”

“That kid named Ye Shi,” Lin Youyou recalled the situation at the time and said truthfully, “We healed his injuries and repaired his prosthetic, but his metabolic rate and heart rate showed no signs of recovery… and his body temperature too—it wasn’t normal at all. I kept worrying he might collapse.”

Luo Yi’s brow furrowed deeper.

Just then, a message from the Eighth Division staff suddenly popped up on the communication channel.

Without a second thought, he immediately pressed the connect button.

“Hello?”

“Are you free now?”

“I’m free anytime. Just tell me what’s up.”

The other side didn’t waste words and spoke at once.

“Come to the storage warehouse on the lower deck… the emergency supplies warehouse. We’ve found a new lead.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Luo Yi nodded, hung up the call, and quickly left the medical bay, heading to the warehouse his Eighth Division colleague had mentioned on the phone.

That warehouse wasn’t far from the room where he was on duty, but it was a bit of a distance from the medical bay.

It took him about five minutes to reach the destination, where he saw a security officer from the Eighth Division standing by an open cabinet door, with a warehouse staff member who had reported the incident beside him.

“What happened?”

The security officer who had called him earlier raised a hand in greeting, then walked over to him with a tablet.

“We just received a report from the emergency supplies warehouse staff that a hibernation pod was missing from the storage, and the lock on the storage cabinet had been forcibly broken.”

Luo Yi asked.

“Was it just discovered?”

The security officer nodded and said.

“That’s right. It was fine during yesterday’s inspection, but when we checked today, it was gone. The strange thing is, the security system malfunctioned—doesn’t that seem familiar?”

Luo Yi frowned.

“Could it be that the warehouse staff made a mistake?”

This was a hyperspace corridor—no one could get out. The missing hibernation pod had to still be on the starship.

And more importantly, he couldn’t figure out who would steal it.

The security officer shook his head.

“I don’t think so… because we’ve already found the missing hibernation pod.”

Luo Yi was stunned, staring at him in bewilderment.

“…Then what’s the problem?”

The security officer looked at him with a peculiar expression and continued.

“The problem is… that missing hibernation pod was found at the ‘accident scene.’”

…

In the security office on the lower deck, the main participants of the “Dawn” project stood expressionless.

Including Captain Zhao Tianhe, Executive Officer Wu Mengke, and Dr. Wu from the Fifth Division, among others.

Their plan had been perfect.

But for some reason, it had still failed in the end.

Staring at the sleeping girl on the screen, Zhao Tianhe pinched his weary brow with his thumb and forefinger, letting out a slow sigh.

“It seems the universe is far crueler than we imagined…”

Wu Mengke looked at him, crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes tinged with worry.

“So… have we failed?”

Zhao Tianhe did not answer.

What they were experiencing now was more complex than any battle he had ever faced.

His experience was of no use here.

“No, not yet…”

Just then, Dr. Wu, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke.

A pair of eyes turned to him.

Including Zhao Tianhe, including his cousin Wu Mengke, and the navigator, along with many other senior officers, as well as Sergeant Luo Yi, who was standing at the door about to report the situation…

He turned his gaze to the monitoring terminal, staring at the unconscious girl on the holographic screen, and swallowed hard.

"We succeeded, but the final outcome was different from what we had imagined..."

Zhao Tianhe frowned.

"What do you mean?"

Wu Xinghuan shifted his gaze from the holographic screen and fixed his eyes on the captain.

"You judged that after confirming our refusal to execute the order, the Gemini would definitely launch neutron torpedoes... right?"

Zhao Tianhe nodded, speaking in an unquestioning tone.

"Based on my understanding of Gemini's captain, Song Yuchuan, he would definitely do that."

Wu Xinghuan pressed on.

"What kind of person is he?"

Zhao Tianhe answered without hesitation.

"That guy is a wolf—ruthless to others, even more ruthless to himself. If there are ten radical activists among a hundred civilians on a ship, he would silently consider the other ninety innocents as necessary sacrifices."

Wu Xinghuan pressed further.

"So you opened fire without hesitation."

Zhao Tianhe didn't evade the question and nodded bluntly.

"Yes. There's no other way to deal with a beast. In that situation, it's either you or me... Do we need to discuss this right now?"

"We must discuss this, because it's the key to our current predicament."

Wu Xinghuan stared at him intently and continued in a serious tone.

"Now, imagine you are the captain of the Gemini, or rather, you are Song Yuchuan himself... Before you stands someone who knows you inside out. That person won't show mercy; they'll abandon all illusions at the first moment and make the worst choice... If you were him, what would you choose?"

Zhao Tianhe's pupils dilated slightly.

The answer came almost without thought, automatically appearing in his mind.

"...I would strike first."

Wu Xinghuan stared at him and pressed on.

"You would definitely strike first. You know your opponent knows you're a beast. You know your opponent would kill you without hesitation or guilt... So, how would you do it?"

The air in the security office fell silent. All eyes were fixed on the two.

No one spoke.

Zhao Tianhe was silent for a long time, then shifted his gaze to one side.

"I would hide a neutron bomb in the landing craft..."

Wu Mengke widened her eyes in shock, staring at Captain Zhao in disbelief.

The other officers nearby were similarly stunned, their faces showing expressions of surprise.

What surprised them wasn't their commander's choice.

It was the most likely judgment their commander had made by putting himself in the enemy's shoes.

At that time, the landing craft might have been empty from the start...

But Wu Xinghuan wasn't satisfied with this answer. He pressed on relentlessly.

"Is that all? A mutual destruction with your opponent? You still have unfinished missions. Your ruthlessness shouldn't only be directed at others, but also at yourself..."

This time, Zhao Tianhe was silent for a long time.

But in the end, he still spoke the final measure.

"...I would upload the consciousness of all crew members to the ship's server. Before the neutron torpedo the enemy is about to launch hits us, I would kill myself first, ensuring we are invincible from the start and guaranteeing that the Lagrange Point space station's orders are executed correctly even after our deaths."

In short.

They weren't fighting for profit, but for their own different beliefs.

They weren't enemies.

Even after everything was over, he would consider atoning for what he had done—

For example, using the backup files and data on the server to resurrect the teammates he had personally killed.

There was no need to continue the deduction. They had already understood the whole story, and the truth was far more brutal than they had imagined.

Zhao Tianhe's Adam's apple moved.

In that instant, he seemed to have aged a dozen years.

"...I'm sorry, comrades. I still underestimated their resolve."

"You don't need to apologize. This is something that has already happened... We just didn't know because we were in a superposition state."

Wu Xinghuan shook his head gently, then turned his gaze back to the girl on the holographic screen, murmuring to himself.

"To be honest... the moment I saw her, I understood everything."

"We are all in a superposition state, but two different superposition states, coming from two completely parallel timelines, α and β. Our entanglement has two intersection points: one is the starting point, and the other is the end point."

"That young man named Ye Shi is our starting point, and that girl named Jiang Xuezhou is our end point. In their own loop, everything is reversed: that girl named Jiang Xuezhou is the starting point of everything, and that young man is the end point."

"And we... are already dead."

He had finally discovered new physics.

The transmission of information could not only exceed the speed of light but also traverse time and space.

Their meeting across time and space was the best proof.

Whether this memory was ultimately interpreted as a dream, déjà vu, or some psychological effect... they had left evidence of their existence on each other's timelines.

He wanted to name this astonishing discovery, but after thinking about it, he gave up.

Let future generations summarize it...

This special field of mutual entanglement between pieces of information.

The room was silent for a long time.

It was Wu Mengke, the executive officer—or second-in-command—of this starship, who finally broke the silence.

"...I don't know why, but after hearing you say we are already dead, I suddenly felt relieved."

She smiled bitterly, her eyes complex as she looked at the monitoring terminal screen and continued.

"At least... their existence proves that our choice was not wrong."

Zhao Tianhe glanced at her, a hint of surprise in his eyes.

"In what way?"

"In every way."

Wu Mengke thought for a moment, then added.

"The young man we saw earlier was a shelter resident... This child should be a wasteland wanderer, right?"

Zhao Tianhe nodded.

"Perhaps."

Wu Mengke looked at him, and a gentle smile suddenly appeared on her usually stern face.

"Actually... isn't it kind of nice? Even though they're clearly different from us, I still see in them many of the things we once celebrated—like love and courage... and so much else I don't know how to describe."

Luo Yi understood what the Executive Officer was thinking. After a moment of contemplation, he said,

"What you mean is... hope?"

Wu Mengke smiled and nodded.

"Something like that. Anyway, I think it's fine to leave the future to them."

They hadn't turned into beasts.

They were still human.

And if that was the case, there was nothing to fear.

As for death.

That was simply an inevitability.

At that moment, she seemed like a kind old grandmother.

Though she wasn't that old—only middle-aged.

"Maybe you're right." Zhao Tianhe was silent for a while before speaking slowly.

According to Dr. Wu's theory, the Gemini's landing craft had never carried people from the start—only a full load of neutron warheads, and perhaps even androids or intelligent programs sent to take over the starship.

In other words, it wasn't them and the Gemini that formed the superposition state—it was themselves.

And whether they died at the entrance or the exit of the hyperspace corridor, their deaths were already predetermined.

If that was the case, the "Dawn" plan had been doomed from the start.

And they were fated never to reach the future two hundred years from now, never to fulfill the promise made to that child.

After a pause, Zhao Tianhe turned to Dr. Wu Xinghuan.

"So, according to your theory, there's nothing we can do... is that right?"

Wu Xinghuan shook his head.

"No. Even if our deaths are predetermined... there are still things we can do."

Seeing all eyes on him, he took a deep breath and continued.

"Like I said just now... right now, we're in a superposition state. Even if our superposition has already collapsed in the future, in this remaining sliver of non-existent time, there are still things we can accomplish."

Zhao Tianhe asked in a low voice.

"And what is that?"

"Our exit." Wu Xinghuan stared at him intently, speaking with absolute certainty. "We can decide which future we go to..."

Everyone looked at him.

Their expressions ranged from surprise to gravity, from astonishment to disbelief...

Zhao Tianhe pressed on.

"...Can you elaborate?"

At this moment, Wu Xinghuan was calmer than ever before. The tangled threads of confusion had been unraveled and woven together.

"...We did receive information from the future, didn't we? Because of the quantum entanglement of the superposition state, because of some field we don't yet understand. In short, we really did see them."

"We share this common memory, even if it never appeared on our timeline. We know that in two hundred years, an organization called the Alliance will emerge. Filled with ideals and passion, they will end the Wasteland Era, sweep everything from the old age into the grave, and lead our children into a new epoch!"

"That shared memory is their coordinate. That's where we need to go—to the future where those two children exist!"

It sounded like a fantasy born on the brink of death, but that shared memory wasn't entirely fabricated. It was a memory that truly existed in their minds.

And it was a memory that resonated unanimously among all of them!

It was precisely because of that resonance with the future that they hadn't given up even now.

Zhao Tianhe looked at him seriously.

"How do we get there?"

"Simple... and not simple. We have to form a closed loop with their timeline!"

Seeing the serious expressions on everyone's faces, Wu Xinghuan turned his gaze to Luo Yi, who stood by the door.

"I remember you did a count. There were 227 people who heard the explosion... right?"

Luo Yi nodded and spoke.

"Yes... and there's one more thing I need to report. The hibernation pods we found in the landing craft are the ones we lost."

Wu Xinghuan snapped his fingers, his spirits high as he looked around the room.

"The timeline has already shifted—that's the most direct evidence! And it happened the moment we sent that child away!"

"That's why I said earlier that our 'Dawn' plan didn't fail—it just turned out differently than we expected!"

"Back then, we didn't know we were already dead. We thought the landing craft would be full of armed soldiers, until we found nothing there and realized we were wrong. Our enemy was more cruel and tenacious than we imagined!"

Zhao Tianhe was beginning to grasp his meaning.

"The timeline made its first crossover... and it needs a second to form a closed loop, is that what you mean?"

"Exactly!" Wu Xinghuan's eyes blazed as he looked at him, then swept across everyone present. "We've successfully received information from the future. We know we're going to die. We even know how many will survive and how many will perish."

"Two hundred and twenty-seven people heard the explosion... The speed of neutron radiation is far faster than sound waves. Under what circumstances could someone hear a neutron bomb detonate?"

"...This might sound like a pointless question, but I still have to say it: only the living can hear a neutron bomb explode."

Luo Yi's eyes widened in that instant, as did many of those standing there.

He had had this vague feeling long ago, but it had been buried under a pile of trivial clues and overlooked.

Zhao Tianhe stared at Wu Xinghuan, then suddenly burst into laughter.

"So it seems I'm the ghost."

Not just him.

Almost all the senior officers who had been on the bridge at the time hadn't heard the explosion, nor the alarm it triggered.

It wasn't until someone ran up to report that they realized something had happened on the lower decks.

Now, he finally understood why.

The equipment hadn't malfunctioned.

They simply hadn't lived to hear the alarm sound in the "next second."

But here, in this hyperspace corridor where time stood still, they had still managed to exchange information through some unknown field.

In other words.

They weren't just exchanging information with the future—they themselves were connected by some kind of resonance field.

Composing his expression, his face remained unreadable as he looked at Wu Xinghuan, continuing fearlessly.

"Go on, tell us... what can we, the doomed, still do for the new era two hundred years from now?"

"There is only one thing you can do—and that is to return to the exact moment we entered the hyperspace lane, stay where you were then... and wait for death."

Looking at his cousin, Wu Xinghuan forced out the words through his pain, then turned his gaze toward Luo Yi, who stood by the door.

"And as for the rest of you... including myself, and all two hundred and twenty-seven who heard the blast, we are survivors of neutron radiation. Though fortunate enough not to be killed instantly, death is merely a matter of time."

"Even so, there is still some time before we die of asphyxiation or starvation... In this remaining window, we must complete the time loop, guide the girl lying on the treatment bed to our location, and prepare weapons for them to help them defeat the enemies we failed to conquer."

"It seems what we ought to leave behind isn't the 'Celestials,'" Wu Mengke joked, "but something else."

Luo Yi raised his hand and spoke earnestly to the group.

"I'll take responsibility for the stasis pod... The emergency equipment warehouse is right next to my office. I heard the explosion, so I will open the warehouse immediately and drag that stasis pod to the landing craft of that moment."

Koala fell silent for a moment, then raised his hand as well.

"Leave the guidance to me... I heard they crashed into the lower deck, and my repair shop is nearby. I'll construct a holographic guidance device to lead the girl... uh, to the room where the stasis pod is located?"

"That's not enough." Zhao Tianhe shook his head, looking at Wu Xinghuan, who seemed about to speak. "She must activate this ship's warp drive, correct?"

"Precisely, and it goes beyond that," Wu Xinghuan nodded, continuing calmly. "Two hundred years from now, the Celestials will occupy our starship and seize its controls... at least most of the equipment, including the weapons systems. We must help her and her friend reclaim control of this vessel."

Koala spoke as sweat drenched his brow.

"This... this is asking a bit too much of me."

He did not even know how long he would survive once they exited the hyperspace lane.

"Haha, don't worry about it, brother," the artificial intelligence expert from Department Ten threw an arm over his shoulder, slapping it with a laugh. "You've got us! You handle designing the navigation system to help her find the warp drive switch, and we'll make sure to leave a little surprise on the engine for those tomb raiders."

Koala breathed a sigh of relief, offering a weak smile.

"That's a relief... I'm really no good at hacking, especially when the opposition consists of masters too."

Suddenly, someone raised a hand.

"I have a question. Can't we design it during the stagnant time? Or even... let the dead participate in programming the system?"

An extra pair of hands was always welcome.

Besides, there was plenty of talent on this starship, not just the programmers of Department Ten.

Yet Dr. Wu shook his head, dismissing their attempt to exploit a loophole.

"It's useless. Every alteration we make within the hyperspace lane will be erased. Aside from memories, which have proven capable of persisting... nothing can be left behind."

But seeing the disappointed look on everyone's faces, his tone suddenly shifted.

"However, practicing it a few times is perfectly fine... as many times as you like, in fact. After all, information can be preserved through the resonance field; that doesn't violate the rules we've uncovered."

Watching everyone brainstorm and conjure more and more solutions, a faint smile inexplicably surfaced on Zhao Tianhe's usually stern face as he offered a rare jest.

"I never imagined the dead could accomplish so much."

Wu Mengke said with a smile.

"After all, we don't die until the 'next second.' We aren't dead just yet."

Zhao Tianhe remained silent for a moment, his expression a mix of release and melancholy.

"Still, thinking about it, there are some regrets. I actually made plans with someone I met online... to vacation together in Shilong City once the war ended."

I suppose that place will be called French Fry Harbor two hundred years from now.

I hear the scenery there is quite beautiful.

Wu Mengke stared at her usually grim commander in astonishment, as if looking at some alien mutant on the wasteland.

Sensing that peculiar gaze, Zhao Tianhe looked back at her with a strange expression.

"Is there a problem?"

"No..." Wu Mengke shook her head blankly. "It's just that I've never heard you mention this before."

Zhao Tianhe said with a chuckle.

"Hahaha, why would I talk about such things at work? It would only make you all think I'm an unprofessional sort of fellow."

Well.

Truth be told, he wasn't particularly solemn by nature; he was just an ordinary human being.

Away from his colleagues' sight, he had his own life, and his virtual machine still contained a few files he wanted to delete but probably wouldn't have time to.

The reason he always maintained a stern, unsmiling countenance was simply a requirement of the job.

Knowing he would soon die, the burden on his shoulders had lifted instead, allowing his true self to emerge.

"I'm already beginning to think so..." Wu Mengke pressed her forefinger against her temple, looking utterly overwhelmed. "You should have taken this secret to your grave, thank you very much."

"Don't mention it! Just pretend I was talking nonsense just now, haha."

Zhao Tianhe smiled and turned his gaze to the terminal screen. The warmth in his expression suddenly deepened, and his earlier melancholy dissolved entirely.

"But coming back to it, after talking with you like this, my regrets have suddenly vanished."

Wu Mengke sighed.

"...What do you mean?"

Zhao Tianhe replied with a smile.

"Don't you think that girl... and that young man, are a bit like our own children?"

Wu Mengke paused, her eyebrows arching slightly.

"Is this the kind of smooth talk you used when you were looking for partners online?"

Zhao Tianhe coughed.

"Alright... I'm being serious."

Wu Mengke directed her gaze toward the holographic screen, watching the girl resting on the treatment bed, and spoke softly.

"I've always thought so... If I had a granddaughter, or a great-great-great-granddaughter, she would probably be just as brave and resilient as her."

"Then it seems I was the dull one," Zhao Tianhe smiled, "but now I finally understand. There's really no need for us to travel two hundred years into the future; they are our continuation... The world we cannot see, they will see it for us."

Wu Mengke teased.

"If only everyone could be as free-thinking as we are."

"That is impossible."

Banishing his gentle smile, a hardened resolve returned to the sharp, chiseled features of Zhao Tianhe's face.

At this moment, he seemed to transform back into that stern, unyielding captain.

Determination was not a trait reserved solely for beasts.

Yet the beasts always seemed to misunderstand time and time again, believing that as long as they were crueler than humans, possessed fewer moral boundaries, and gave the upright a good scare, they could eventually lock humanity in a cage.

He would let that fellow on the Gemini and the madmen at the Lagrange point know precisely how utterly wrong they were, and how laughable their dreams truly were.

"A pack of undying relics trying to usurp the nest, fantasizing about replacing us when it's all over... let them dream their damn dreams."

"Whether it be two hundred years or two thousand, even if both my feet are already sunk into the grave, I will drag them into the coffin with me! We shall lie together!"