Chapter 71: Following the Current, You Don’t Have Only One Path to Follow…
The subway doors opened, and Wen Yi was "pushed" into Yunhu Bridge Station with the surging crowd. She stood in the center of the crowd, and gradually her feet could no longer touch the ground. It was as if she was being carried by the crowd. She looked down, unable to see either her feet or the platform floor.
Did she go to the wrong set? This is not a subway station, it's clearly a doomsday escape scene.
She looked around in confusion. Where was the old station on the map?
Just as I was thinking about it, a deliberately low voice came from behind me: "Follow me."
Wen Yi was startled and turned around. A man wearing a hat and a mask was looking down at her. Even with the mask covering his face, she recognized him immediately—the swelling at the corner of his eye was too noticeable.
Who else could it be but Guo Qingyu?
She almost laughed out loud at his expression. But she was too embarrassed to tell him she recognized him by his wounds. She lowered her head to hide her smile and silently followed him out.
Guo Qingyu led her through an unassuming iron door that served as a staff passage and down a narrow iron staircase. Their footsteps echoed in the hidden corner.
The further down you go, the heavier the atmosphere becomes, as if you have entered an unknown underground castle.
Pushing open the final iron door, a discreet yet efficient underground laboratory emerged. An old subway control room had been converted into the laboratory's core. The walls were covered in whiteboards of varying sizes, covered in a vast array of mathematical formulas and calculation frameworks. Several electronic screens displayed complex mathematical models and forecasts. In one corner, neatly arranged server racks glowed with a constant throb of blue light.
"Welcome to my new lab." Guo Qingyu tried to smile triumphantly, but his cheek twitched, causing him to hiss softly in pain. He could only rub his face helplessly. He gave her a look that said, "You know what I'm talking about."
Wen Yi pursed her lips, her gaze sweeping across the lab, landing on two women working at their computers. Hearing the noise, they turned to look at her.
"Xiao Yishan and Lu Zhiyu," Guo Qingyu introduced, "are the core members of our lab responsible for mathematical modeling."
They all looked very young, with focused and calm expressions. After nodding at Wen Yi, they quickly turned back to continue working.
Wen Yi, still in shock, blurted out, "This is too sci-fi... Building an underground digital fortress in an abandoned subway station? I've never heard of it!"
Guo Qingyu took her into a renovated office and took out two cans of Coke from the freezer: "Want some?"
He handed her the Coke and they sat across the table from each other.
Wen Yi looked at his bruised cheeks after he took off the mask and couldn't help laughing, then quickly lowered her head to cover it up.
"Laugh! You can still laugh!" He took a big gulp of Coke and put the cold can against his face. "Why is Gu Yifeng getting more and more crazy? It's all happened again. He doesn't need to be more careful, but only grows muscles! What's the use of him!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't expect him to misunderstand." She whispered guiltily.
"Misunderstanding?" Guo Qingyu scoffed. "I think he's been waiting for this opportunity to strike."
He took another sip of Coke. "I went to look for you a few times in the early years, wanting to confirm whether you also remembered the original timeline, but I found that Gu Yifeng was keeping a close eye on you. I thought he also retained his memory like me, but after several attempts, he seemed not to remember. If I had known this, I really shouldn't have wasted my time talking to him."
Wen Yi picked up the Coke, opened it with a "pop", took a sip, and suddenly said seriously: "So... you are the only one who retains the memory of the original timeline?"
She looked up, her eyes filled with confusion. "I still don't understand why, after waking up, even Gu Yifeng doesn't remember the original timeline, but you remember it all?"
Guo Qingyu sighed, shook his head and smiled bitterly, "What a debt... who made me owe you this?"
He rarely put away his nonchalant look and explained seriously, "I suspect it's because of 'quantum entanglement' that we can share memories and perceptions across timelines."
"What do you mean?" She frowned.
"Simply put, there's a long-range connection between particles. No matter how far apart they are, as long as the state of one changes, the other will immediately respond." He looked into her eyes. "We're like two originally unrelated particles, but at a certain moment, we became entangled. Since then, I've never been able to erase you from my timeline. And you are that variable."
She frowned and murmured, "So... you remember me because I influenced you?"
"You guessed right." He nodded, "My ability awakened this time, and it's also because of you."
"Ahem—" Wen Yi almost choked on the Coke in her hand and looked at him in surprise, "Why is it because of me again?"
Guo Qingyu snorted lightly, his tone sinking slightly: "On this timeline, the first time I saw you was at the crime scene 15 years ago."
Wen Yi was stunned, thought for a moment, then opened her eyes wide: "You mean... Could it be that I used the Time Anchor to go back 15 years ago and ended up landing at the scene of a rape, becoming a suspect?"
"Yes, it was that time." Guo Qingyu crushed the can in his hand, a hint of coldness between his brows. "The real murderer is Geng Jun, a gangster near our school. I saw him take the victim away with my own eyes, and I reported the case to the police, but for some reason, his DNA didn't match that of the man who raped the woman, so he was eventually released due to insufficient evidence."
He tried hard to suppress his anger: "I followed him that day, intending to catch him in the act. Unexpectedly, I saw you falling from the sky at the crime scene."
After talking for a while, Guo Qingyu opened a can of Coke and gulped down a few mouthfuls. "And the energy fluctuations you brought with you on that time travel caused the blood in my body to resonate, awakening my abilities."
"So..." she said in disbelief, "You awakened twice because of me?"
"Yes." He nodded. "Your appearance was like some kind of disturbance, activating the dormant powers within me. Because of you, I remember both timelines, and I also remember you."
Wen Yi sighed, a look of regret in her eyes: "It's a pity...Gu Yifeng doesn't remember our past."
"I don't think so." Guo Qingyu's tone suddenly became deep. "I know he has been looking for you."
Wen Yi was stunned and her hand unconsciously clenched the Coke.
"I suspect he's also aware of the fact that people with special abilities can travel through time and space," he said slowly, "and may even have started tracking you down before I did."
Her eyes flickered and her heart skipped a beat—it was because of the earphones she had left behind when she traveled through time.
"He hasn't been idle these past few years. You know the Tenth Bureau of the Investigation Bureau, right?" Guo Qingyu continued. "He realized fifteen years ago that someone was manipulating time and changing reality, so he began investigating the existence of time travelers. After years of planning, he finally established the Tenth Bureau."
He paused, "His goal is very clear, to control the use of superpowers, eliminate the conflict between ordinary people and those with superpowers, and allow the two to coexist peacefully."
She nodded. "That sounds... quite idealistic."
He glanced at her, his tone becoming more complex. "But I think he wants to do more than that now. Compared to the previous timeline, the current Gu Yifeng is obviously more ambitious and capable. In just over a decade, he has become the director. I learned that he is promoting a new social structure of 'superpower autonomous region'. Centralizing the management of superpowers, implementing autonomy in specific areas, and supervised by the Tenth Bureau. On the surface, it's protection, but what about the reality?"
Wen Yi felt her heart tighten when she heard this.
Guo Qingyu looked at her: "What if he has bigger plans in the future, such as completely controlling the inheritance and development of supernatural powers, or even... reshaping the structure of human society?"
Wen Yi looked at him in disbelief. Was this still the Gu Yifeng she knew? Did he really do all this just for her?
She suddenly felt a little tired, rubbing her brow lightly and said, "I originally thought that only the events had changed, but I didn't expect that it was the people who had changed. He changed... We all changed."
Silence slowly enveloped the room.
After a long while, Guo Qingyu finally spoke: "Actually, you haven't changed, you just left your original track." His eyes fell on her face, and the corners of his mouth curled up in a smile. "You don't have only one track to follow."
She looked up at him, her eyes a little confused.
He said jokingly, "Actually, you can also regard the change in the timeline as an opportunity to make a new choice. You can choose to save the world, or you can choose to just be yourself. If you think Gu Yifeng has changed..." He changed his tone and said jokingly, "You don't have to go back."
He paused, then spoke each word seriously, "Choose a brand new life. You have the right to choose."
Wen Yi blinked, slowly chewing on the meaning of his words, secretly admiring that Guo Qingyu had poached the girl beautifully, and anyone who came would have to say he was awesome.
She didn't say anything, just looked down at the can of Coke in her hand.
Guo Qingyu put aside his joking thoughts and asked her in a different tone: "Did you enter this timeline recently?"
Wen Yi hummed softly, her eyes a little unfocused. "It's been a few days since I came back, but sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and still don't feel a sense of belonging. I always feel like... I'm still floating alone in a higher dimension of space and time."
Guo Qingyu was silent for a few seconds, then asked in a low voice, "How long... have you been there?"
"I don't know." Her voice suddenly became hoarse, "But when I woke up, I found that the whole world had changed."
She looked down at the Coke in front of her. Strings of bubbles rose from the bottom of the cup and floated to the surface. She blinked, and the bubbles burst silently. "It was clearly my past, but it was completely erased, as if a part of me had disappeared from this world.
She paused, a trace of emptiness in her eyes: "I can't recognize the person I used to love. The past between us no longer exists, just like a real dream, and it's empty when I wake up."
She forced a wry smile and said, "This world may not be beautiful, but I still long to return to my past."
Guo Qingyu didn't say anything, just looked at her quietly, with a hint of complicated emotions in his eyes: "You know, it's impossible to go back. None of us can go back."
She looked up at him, a trace of struggle in her eyes. "You're probably the only one who can understand what I'm saying. I'm so confused right now. Was the decision I made back then the right one? Even now, I've sacrificed so many lives and even my past, but the outcome hasn't changed. The crisis remains. Everything... is still lingering."
"Actually, it's not like I'm still wandering around here." Guo Qingyu said slowly.
Wen Yi turned to look at him, a hint of doubt in her eyes.
He gently put down the can in his hand, raised a confident smile at the corner of his mouth, and successfully involved the wound: "Hiss!"
He frowned slightly, then continued slowly, "The laboratory you see now is called 'Tracing Micro'. We are studying how to use mathematical models to calculate the variable nodes of the time loop, and use your abilities to intervene in these time nodes, ultimately finding a way to correct history. And now..."
He smiled with determination, "The Micro-Tracing Laboratory is gradually replacing the Zero Laboratory."
"What did you say?" Wen Yi asked in disbelief. "You mean... you're currently working on the unfinished work of the Zero Plan?"
"Not exactly." He shook his head, his tone dismissive. "Project Zero simply and crudely erased history, but we didn't. One thing is certain—Project Zero failed, and we will do better than they did."
He paused and lowered his voice: "So it's not surprising that we have their support."
"Their support?"
"Yes." He nodded. "Guess who's the financial backer behind this lab?"
She shook her head.
"You know what?" he continued. "The nuclear power plant crisis wasn't a simple technical problem, nor was it a natural disaster. It was a man-made disaster covered up. Who on earth would be so eager to erase this event from history?"
“Who is most afraid of the truth being revealed?”
Wen Yi's heart was shocked, and she almost blurted out: "It's the person who is really responsible for it."
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The author has something to say: The male lead will appear in the next episode~~
Thank you for your support! [Rose][Rose][Rose]
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