Time seemed to stretch for a century, yet the clock had only ticked by half an hour. Gradually, Xiao Lin calmed down.
He began to feel that this matter was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.
If he had truly been missing for many years as the notebook claimed, and the institute had been destroyed by Yang Qi, then this place should be a ruin.
But now, the institute was exactly as it was when he left, as if he had only been gone for a brief moment.
Just then, he caught sight of the desktop telephone on the desk. It was Yue Taizhou's office line; the power and network signal lights were currently glowing.
A thought suddenly intruded into his mind—should he... make a call to Yue Taizhou?
Few people knew the Professor's private number, but coincidentally, he was one of them.
Though he didn't know if it would work, it was better than doing nothing! He pressed the speakerphone button and quickly dialed the number. A long, rhythmic series of beeps came from the receiver, with no response.
Xiao Lin let out a soft sigh, not particularly disappointed.
Because from the start, he had held no expectation that the call would connect. In such a bizarre place, it would have been stranger if the phone had worked.
He leaned back slowly in the chair, which emitted a heavy creak. Just then, a slightly distorted yet familiar voice suddenly rang out: "Hello? Who is this? Didn't I say not to touch the phone in my office?"
Xiao Lin trembled all over; tears nearly sprang to his eyes. It was Yue Taizhou's voice. He recognized it!!
"Professor Yue, it's Xiao Lin. Where are you right now?" Xiao Lin said hurriedly.
"Xiao Lin? Aren't we in a meeting? What's wrong? Is something the matter?"
Hearing this question, the fear, confusion, and terrible loneliness that had been suppressed for so long suddenly surged forth, making Xiao Lin desperately want to vent them all.
But he clenched his fists, forcing himself to calm down.
He didn't know if this telephone connection was stable or how long it would last, so the top priority was to transmit the intelligence efficiently.
Struggling to restrain his negative emotions, he spoke calmly and sternly: "Professor Yue, you must believe what I am about to say."
"I have come out of the Stone Gate and traveled decades into the future. I found a diary containing three critical time nodes."
He quickly flipped open the brittle, yellowed notebook and read aloud:
"July 2028, Transcendents gain power in the real world."
"January 2033, Transcendents are thrown into the battlefield; the Third World War erupts."
"July 2035, the Institute is destroyed by the second-generation Transcendent, Yang Qi."
"Wait, Xiao Lin, why are you telling me this? What exactly is wrong with you?" Yue Taizhou's voice was anxious.
Xiao Lin took a deep breath: "Professor, I don't know if I can return alive, but I swear everything I say is the truth. You must prepare!"
"Also, regarding that Stone Gate, please do everything in your power to close it. Beyond the Gate lies the burial site of a god; that world has been corrupted!"
"Xiao Lin, where are you? I will come find you immediately. Don't run around!"
Zzzt!
A sharp current of noise erupted. Xiao Lin felt as if a nail gun had been fired into his brain at point-blank range. Instinctively, he pulled the receiver away, his entire body curling up.
By the time he recovered, there was only a hollow busy signal on the line.
Pressing one hand on the desk, Xiao Lin brutally redialed, but after several attempts, the phone never connected again.
Xiao Lin felt a sense of relief that he hadn't vented his emotions during that brief window of dialogue, but had instead made the correct decision.
But immediately after, a chill surged through his heart.
He realized that his final connection to the past was severed.
The office was silent as death; Xiao Lin seemed to hear the slow, wriggling sounds of fear and loneliness. He felt as if an invisible hand were clutching his heart; his breathing became rapid, and his face slowly turned pale.
No, I must remain calm! Xiao Lin forced himself to think.
Perhaps the span of his time travel wasn't that great. Perhaps the world hadn't changed much. Maybe someone still recognized him.
He needed to relax his mind first, to get some air.
Xiao Lin stood up and walked to the window, reaching out to pull the cord of the blinds.
With a soft whoosh, the slats turned, revealing the scenery outside.
When he saw the view clearly, confusion
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engulfed him like a tidal wave.
The sky outside the window presented a dark red, like congealed blood.
Beneath the sky, the city that once was had become a decayed ruin, covered in black filth. Dark red, fleshy threads intertwined haphazardly across the city, entangling vast amounts of cars and architectural debris, resembling a colossal nest.
A hundred-meter-long warship, wrapped in silk like a cocoon, hung suspended in the sky, swaying gently.
And amidst this apocalyptic scene, there was a terrifying object that Xiao Lin found hard to believe.
It was the molted exoskeleton of an arachnid creature, hundreds of meters in size, standing silently amidst the ruins.
It seemed like a warning, alerting Xiao Lin that this world was already completely different from his cognition.
The final sentence of the notebook surfaced in Xiao Lin's mind.
I curse this world... to perish in madness.
A piercing alarm suddenly rang out, interrupting Xiao Lin's thoughts and making his heart tighten.
He knew what this meant—something had invaded the institute!
Was it a human? Or something else?
Xiao Lin didn't panic for long, but immediately made a decision to head toward the security room.
That was the security hub of the Tianyan Research Institute. It not only had a complete surveillance system but also lethal weapons for extreme situations. Entering the password, the security door slid open before him. Directly facing the door, an entire wall was a surveillance array composed of hundreds of screens.
The image of the intruder appeared on the array. It wasn't a monster, but humans.
Four men and one woman, wearing uniform black trench coats. They carried weapons but weren't holding them in their hands.
They wandered through the institute at will, appearing to conduct an aimless search. Xiao Lin took a deep breath. He needed a method, a way to ensure the rapid elimination of these five people.
He turned his head and looked at the weapon cabinet. A row of automatic shotguns lay there quietly; these were the weapons used by the stationed security personnel.
Magazine capacity: 12 rounds, capable of high-speed rapid fire. As for the recoil, the protective suit Xiao Lin wore was state-of-the-art, with internal exoskeleton support and materials with powerful shock absorption effects. He grabbed a gun, checked the ammo, attached a choke to suppress pellet spread, and compared the monitor feed with the institute map.
Currently, the five of them showed no intention of splitting up. He needed to find a corridor with sufficient depth to ambush them at the end.
Corridor No. 3. This was usually the area with the highest foot traffic, so the probability of them passing through was highest. This corridor was about thirty meters long, sufficient depth. 12 rounds of high-speed rapid fire were enough to shred any organism on that corridor into mincemeat.
Xiao Lin hesitated no longer, quickly moving to the corner at the end of Corridor No. 3, leaning his back against the wall and holding his breath, waiting there.
At this moment, he suddenly found it somewhat amusing. Just a moment ago, he had desperately craved human interaction.
But now that people had appeared, he might have to kill them.
Everything happened exactly as he had anticipated. Not long after, clear footsteps and voices came from Corridor No. 3.
However, Xiao Lin didn't rush to reveal himself but continued to wait, letting them go deeper to ensure they couldn't retreat quickly.
"This is ridiculous. Not only has the building's exterior restored itself, but the internal facilities are starting to operate, and there's actually electricity!" the girl in the group said.
"It's like it suddenly resurrected overnight. I've never seen this phenomenon before," the team leader at the front replied.
"What I didn't expect even more is that this building has such advanced facilities. What was this place used for originally?" someone behind said.
The position should be about right, Xiao Lin thought.
He suddenly dashed out from the corner, tilting the shotgun upward and pulling the trigger.
Boom!
The massive shockwave made the entire corridor roar; fragments of the ceiling rained down.
This was Xiao Lin's opening statement. Before the five of them could react, he aimed the muzzle at them, silently confronting them.
The first to speak was the girl. She shrank back behind the captain: "It's a humanoid monster, and it can use firearms. So scary, my McGurk effect is about to trigger!
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She had permed hair, wore thick glasses, and hugged a large book in her arms, looking a bit dazed.
Xiao Lin remained silent for a moment and said, "I am a human, not a monster."
"It can even speak human language!" The girl was even more terrified.
"I said I'm not a monster!" Xiao Lin pushed open the visor of his protective suit, revealing his face.
"It looks exactly like a human!!" The girl's face turned pale with fright.
Xiao Lin had black lines all over his face. He looked at the captain and found the captain also had black lines all over his face.
He suddenly felt that at this moment, he and the gentlemen present had reached a subtle tacit understanding. That understanding was called speechlessness.
The captain turned back to the girl: "Student Lin Niannian, may I ask, if a creature is like a human, can use tools, speaks human language, and looks exactly like a human, then what is that creature?"
Lin Niannian tilted her head: "A human?"
"Then is it possible that the person in front of us is a human?" The captain sighed helplessly.
"Ah... that... that makes sense..." Lin Niannian nodded.
The captain then spoke to Xiao Lin, "Hello. We are the enforcement team from Satellite Town. We accepted the Mayor's order to investigate this building that suddenly resurrected."
"We do not intend to conflict with you. If you don't mind, could you tell us who you are?"
Xiao Lin looked at them seriously. Only after a moment did he speak: "You may have heard of me. My name is Xiao Lin."