Chapter 76 What is the truth? Sometimes the truth is what you don’t want to believe...

"How do I try it?" Wen Yi asked curiously, her fingertips gently stroking the cool outer shell of the device. She looked at the small time-sniffing device in her hand, unable to believe that it could hold such a grand promise of changing history.

Guo Qingyu took the time-peek device and patiently explained it to her: "A time-peek device, as the name suggests, is an instrument for observing time. It works by exploiting the correlation between quantum states, pairing particles in the present with particles at a certain moment in the past, thereby establishing an information channel."

His eyes fell on her. "But this passage won't open on its own. It will only truly open when you activate it with your own abilities."

"The Timescope is like a telescope, and you are the one who can actually see the stars. With it, your vision is magnified, allowing you to see farther and clearer, allowing you to observe the past for a long time and with great precision."

He looked at her. "You're the one who made this machine meaningful."

Guo Qingyu gently lifted the instrument and showed her the various angles of the time-scope.

"Look, it's made up of three parts: the neural sensing patch is responsible for reading your brainwave activity and activating observation mode; the brainwave resonance ring is used to stabilize the consciousness channel to prevent you from getting lost in the process; and this gravitational perturbation interface—" He nodded at the metal component beside his ear, "is the key to our plan."

Wen Yi raised an eyebrow: "How did you do that?"

"When your consciousness enters higher-dimensional spacetime, it creates an extremely weak gravitational disturbance between you and your past. Of course, this is only a microscopic gravitational fluctuation, not enough to change macroscopic history, but it's enough to influence certain local events. For example, it could trigger a device, leave a signal... or even send a message to your past self."

Wen Yi looked at him thoughtfully. "Why do I feel that the function of this time telescope is very similar to my own ability? It involves observing the past in high-dimensional spacetime and perturbing low-dimensional space through gravity."

Guo Qingyu smiled slightly: "You are right, and you are not right."

He handed the instrument to her, lowered his eyes and looked at her with a smile. After a long look, he said, "The Time Peeping Device was indeed developed based on your special ability. In other words, you are the source of my inspiration."

"The difference between you is that the past you see is a reflection of your inner self, tinged with subjective emotions, memories, and even subconscious projections. But the past transmitted back through the Timescope is different. It is completely objective. It records every detail of the past—the posture of every blade of grass and tree, the angle of light falling through the shadows, the rustling of leaves in the wind, the weight of the observed person's every footstep, even every change in their breathing. It does not interpret or judge, but simply presents it without omission."

His tone was gentle but firm. "It will tell you the facts, but they themselves are not the truth."

She frowned: "Aren't facts and truth the same thing?"

He adjusted his glasses and said, "Facts are objective information, but the truth... different people may come to different conclusions based on the same facts."

He looked away and began to set the parameters of the instrument. "For example, I got inspiration from you to develop the Time Peeping Device."

“That’s the truth.”

He paused for a moment, his voice softening, "What's the point of me doing this? Is it for profit? Or is there an ending I want to change?"

He smiled lightly, the smile not reaching his eyes, "Or perhaps, the unspoken part is the truth."

"If not for profit, what else could it be?" Wen Yi smiled and said teasingly, "Don't you always say you're a businessman?"

He was stunned for a moment, but did not explain. He finished his words lightly, "Sometimes, the truth is what you don't want to believe."

Wen Yi was silent for a while. Guo Qingyu finally sighed and changed the subject. He gestured for her to follow him. "Are you ready? I can help you put it on."

The circular control console in the center of the laboratory has been turned on, and the constantly flashing light spots are moving like stars. He led her to a special experimental chair. Behind the chair are many sophisticated interfaces connected to the neural sensors of the time-penetrating device, each of which is tailor-made for this plan.

After she sat down, Guo Qingyu stood behind her and skillfully and gently connected the time-scanning device's neural sensor interfaces one by one. The system began to operate.

"Once your ability activates the time telescope, the system will be able to lock the time node you are going back to and establish a temporary consciousness channel." He said, pressing a few command keys on the console.

In an instant, the holographic projections around lit up.

"In the past, you could revisit the events on your own, but others couldn't share your perspective," he explained as he adjusted the parameters. "But now, with the VR synchronization device and external display, we can observe historical scenes together as a team. We can even divide the work to record and annotate key information, and analyze the data in real time."

After that, he walked around to her, leaned close to her and said solemnly, "You are no longer alone in facing the past."

Wen Yi was stunned, frowned slightly, lowered her head and said nothing.

"Going back to the past alone...are you scared?" He reached out to touch her, hesitated for a moment, and finally gently placed his hand on her shoulder, patting it soothingly.

He could feel his men trembling slightly, like butterflies flapping their wings nervously.

"Okay, let's start?" Guo Qingyu stared at her.

Wen Yi took a deep breath and nodded: "Okay, let's start."

He stood up and walked to the control console, pressing the start button. The time monitor glowed slightly, and the neural patch automatically adhered to her temples. After a few seconds, the data stream began to synchronize, and the system entered standby mode.

"Concentrate your consciousness." His voice came through the headset, "Go back to the past time point."

She closed her eyes, and the ice cream truck appeared in her mind... Wen Yi broke out in a cold sweat, and her lower abdomen began to ache again.

But just when consciousness was about to come back, the picture suddenly collapsed, like a TV screen with the signal disconnected, and everything went dark.

[Channel establishment failed] The system voice sounded.

She opened her eyes suddenly and frowned.

"What's going on?" she whispered to herself.

"Let's try again." Guo Qingyu showed no disappointment, his tone remaining steady. "Maybe it's because it's the first time I'm using it, so the instrument needs some adjustment."

She caught her breath and closed her eyes again.

This time, she chose another clearer memory fragment, she had just escaped from the underground laboratory...

But just as he was about to access that time and space, the system disconnected again.

Channel establishment failed

She opened her eyes, looked at Guo Qingyu helplessly, and murmured, "I'm sorry, I don't know what's going on."

Guo Qingyu looked at the curve on the monitor screen, raised his eyebrows and said jokingly: "Well, it seems that our 'Time Observer' is not in good condition today."

"I'll try again!" She glared at him unconvinced.

He smiled and shook his head, then recalibrated the system and said, "Let's try it one last time."

The third attempt began.

Her consciousness sank into the higher-dimensional space and time again, like a drop of water falling into the boundless sea of ​​stars.

In the darkness, countless fragments of memory flashed before her eyes like fleeting glints of light - the road she took here, the people she had met, the unfinished business... She thought of her experience when she returned to the past alone, and of Xu Xiaoyi's look back before he disappeared.

The crisis of Qingluan Mountain has not been resolved, and she has not fulfilled her promise to him!

With a thought, she penetrated the barrier of time and headed straight for the place she most wanted to return to.

But just when she was about to successfully connect to the past, a slight dizziness came over her. Just when she thought she would fail again -

【Connection successful】

She opened her eyes—

What I see before me is no longer a laboratory, but Qingluan Mountain under the night sky.

The wind blowing across my cheek is so real.

The moonlight shone through the thick fog into the woods. On the distant hillside, the outlines of two reactors were vague and familiar.

She came to an office in the control center. The door was ajar and she could hear a heated argument coming from inside.

"There's something wrong with the data in this report!" a voice said rapidly and excitedly. "The fault activity index has been abnormal for three consecutive weeks. How could you ignore this risk?"

Her heart skipped a beat.

"The project can't be stopped." Another voice said calmly but perfunctorily, "Besides, this level of vibration will not affect the structure of the nuclear power plant."

Wen Yi held her breath, slipped into the room, and saw the two people in the room clearly.

A young man slapped the documents on the table, his voice trembling slightly: "Look here! The crustal stress value in Area A7 is approaching the critical point. Once the resonance effect is triggered, the entire area will be at risk of collapse!"

"You're exaggerating." The other person shook his head. "We have redundant systems and emergency plans. Even if there's a minor earthquake, we won't lose control."

The room was silent for a few seconds. The young man's eyes dimmed. He spoke slowly, his voice low and hoarse with reluctance, "When we chose the site... there was no such fault activity at all. I remember clearly that we conducted three geological surveys, and the results were all safe."

"Yes. The data from that time was indeed correct." The other person said calmly, not looking up. "But the crust in Area A7 is active now... This shouldn't have happened."

He looked up, a look of confusion in his eyes. "The past is as strange as if it has been tampered with," the man muttered. "And now that the nuclear power plant is built, there's no turning back."

The pen in his hand paused for a moment, and finally he signed the last word of the assessment report.

The moment the pen fell, Wen Yi's chest tightened, as if hit hard by something.

It was not the government's negligence in site selection, nor was it an accidental injury caused by internal strife within the Wen family. It turned out that both the government and the Wen family were to blame.

What is the truth?

Before she could think about it, her lower abdomen suddenly ached and she couldn't help but gasp.

On the holographic screen, the office lights flickered, the picture became blurry and flickered like an image with poor signal.

[Warning: Consciousness Fluctuates and Is Unstable]

【Recommendation: Terminate the connection immediately】

Guo Qingyu stared at the screen, his brows furrowed tighter and tighter.

"Wen Yi!" He left the console and walked quickly to her side. "Don't force yourself. Stop first!"

He gritted his teeth and pressed the emergency interrupt button. The time telescope emitted a low buzzing sound and the connection was terminated.

Wen Yi slowly opened her eyes, her gaze was unfocused, as if she had not yet recovered from the past.

"You look terrible, take a rest first." He helped her stand up.

Just then—

"Bang!"

The door of the laboratory was slammed open.

Gu Yifeng rushed in with several special agents in black uniforms. His cold eyes swept over and finally landed on Wen Yi, who was leaning in Guo Qingyu's arms, her face pale and shaky.

He paused for a moment.

She happened to look up at this moment and met Gu Yifeng's eyes. She saw the emotions surging in his eyes: anger, disappointment, and a hint of pain that she couldn't understand.

The air around was suffocating.

"What are you doing?" I heard his cold voice in a trance.

He is angry, isn't he?

Her heart trembled, and she lowered her head guiltily, twisting the corner of her clothes tightly.

A sudden sharp pain shot through her stomach. She tried to stand, but soon lost her balance and her body tilted to one side.

The warm liquid slid down the side of his legs, spreading a dark red on the ground.

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Author's note: I made some minor revisions the next day. Thanks for your support! I also increased the word count!

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