Global Collapse

Chapter 217 seems likely to be released around midnight.
[Time: 9:25 PM]

She suddenly stood up and grabbed Hanshan: "What are you waiting for!"

The 'Time Escape' train emitted a sound.

The story ends abruptly, without even a period.

Don't doubt it, it really isn't finished.

The pen didn't finish writing the rest of the content, but the information given so far was more than enough.

Gu Mian looked at the notebook in her hand and stroked her chin: "I know the key right now is the contents of this notebook, but I'm still curious... what's that pen in your hand?"

Han Shan didn't say much, but took a pen out of his pocket and threw it at Gu Mian.

Gu Mian caught it with quick reflexes, preventing the very intelligent little cutie from falling to the ground.

As soon as you catch this little cutie, its introduction panel appears.

Pen-shaped real-time repeater

[Introduction: The essence of humanity is repetition... no, this thing doesn't seem to be human?]

[Function: Repeat, repeat in writing form. Press the button on the pen to record the surrounding events in real time. The level of detail depends on luck.]

[Usage frequency: Can be used three times a week, each time for about half a minute (time depends on luck)]

It seems the content abruptly ended because the pen had exceeded its usage period.

Han Shan looked at Gu Mian: "This thing is not stable..."

He paused for half a second before continuing, "To give an example, in this scene, if you were to use this pen to record something, you might end up with very brief notes if you're unlucky."

"Without records of time, place, actions, and expressions, what comes out might be rudimentary content like 'one man speaks, another man listens.'"

Gu Mian thought to herself, "They don't necessarily have to be both men."

Han Shan, unaware of Gu Mian's thoughts, continued, "But if you're lucky, it will record very detailed information, including the time, place, and characters involved, and sometimes even more detailed descriptions."

Gu Mian listened and nodded. It seemed that the content recorded by the pen was neither detailed nor rudimentary.

There's no location listed, and the characters are introduced rather briefly; only the timeline is fairly detailed…

As he pondered this, he looked at the first line of text again—[Time: 11:56 PM]

After reading that line, he glanced at the third-to-last line in the notebook—[Time: 9:25 PM]

Based on the time in this copy, the time of 11:56 in the first line should be correct.

But right after the "Time Escape" train roared to life, Han Shan took a big step behind the vendor, and the time inexplicably changed to 9:25.

Han Shan frowned: "Did our time change at that time?"

Is this a time-related copy?

Han Shan pondered, his brows furrowing even deeper: "After the train roared, time changed. Could the change in time be related to the train's roar?"

Gu Mian tossed the pen back towards Han Shan and glanced at the notebook in her hand: "When we were on the platform just now, you heard two booming sounds, right?"

Hanshan nodded.

Gu Mian continued, "The two sounds came from different directions and were definitely not from the same location, but the records show that both roars came from the 'Time Escape' train."

The others were discussing something on their walkie-talkies, but for some reason, a strange static noise kept coming from them. Gu Mian found it noisy and turned off the walkie-talkie. Han Shan's walkie-talkie was still on, so he could hear whatever was happening.

“That’s really strange,” Han Shan said, his glasses reflecting the light. “One of the two sounds came from the direction the vendor was facing away from, and the other came from the direction our train was coming from. They were from completely different directions.”

Hanshan fell into deep thought.

Gu Mian suddenly said, "Moreover, the vendor on the platform just now was very strange. She didn't know who the second conductor was, but she seemed certain that I wasn't the conductor of carriage number two. She found it very strange that I went to pick up the things that the second conductor had reserved."

Han Shan put the pen back in his pocket: "Perhaps it's because she saw you get off from carriage number four?"

"No," Gu Mian shook her head: "You came down from carriage number three, but she thought you might be the second attendant. I guess she didn't distinguish which attendant we were by the carriage number."

Han Shan frowned even more deeply: "Then how did she do it?"

"Perhaps he saw what the second flight attendant looked like with his own eyes?" Gu Mian suddenly laughed.

Han Shan narrowed his eyes: "But the attendant in carriage number two disappeared long before we reached this station. There's absolutely no way she could have seen her unless she had seen her before... wait?"

Have we met before?
The only chance this vendor could have to see the second conductor, Xiaotian, was on the platform at the third stop.

At the third stop, Rongcheng, everyone except Gu Mian and Fang Xiang got off the train.

When Gu Mian went to pick up the goods ordered by the second train attendant, the vendor found it strange because she hadn't seen Gu Mian at all on the Rongcheng City platform.

But she was clearly a vendor at the fourth stop, so why was she at the third stop and even saw Xiaotian?

At that moment, Hanshan suddenly remembered the sound of trains rushing past him every time he passed through the tunnel.

He frowned: "Those people..."

However, before he could finish speaking, a mechanical announcement came from above: "Attention passengers, we are about to enter a tunnel area. Power to the train will be temporarily cut off. Please prepare accordingly."

At the same time, Gu Mian suddenly heard Suo Qingqiu's voice coming through Han Shan's walkie-talkie, her voice very urgent: "Wait!"

Before Gu Mian could figure out what she was trying to say, the entire car was plunged into darkness, and Suo Qingqiu's voice came to an abrupt end.

A few seconds later, the sound of a train approaching from behind came again, and it seemed to be getting closer and closer.
In the darkness, Gu Mian heard Han Shan in front of her move, followed by the sound of a pen tip scratching.

"Did you bring a flashlight?" Gu Mian suddenly asked.

The sound of pen nibs scratching on Hanshan's end didn't stop: "No."

There was no other way then. Gu Mian took out the [Strange Camera] from her pocket. This thing was used to photograph invisible ghosts, but at this moment it could only be used for something else.

In the darkness, Han Shan suddenly heard a sound like a camera shutter being pressed, followed by a burst of white light that exploded before his eyes, but the light disappeared in an instant.

Han Shan asked, "You took pictures?"

At this moment, Gu Mian was looking down at the camera in her hand: "Hmm."

A faint glow emanated from the camera screen, and Hanshan, who wasn't far away, could see the content on the screen.

Gu Mian took the photo by looking out the train window, so naturally, what she captured was the view outside the window.

Just outside the window, on the tracks not far from them, a white train was moving.

Han Shan's pupils contracted as he looked at the camera: "They aren't!"

My internet speed suddenly became incredibly slow today; even typing was laggy.
Thank you Mr. Su Mo and Ling Xiaoye for the generous donations!
Thank you to Lycod, 丧一匹的戏子酱, 迁星饲月, 敲爱陈大锤, 尾号1423, 翎小夜, 呼吸自在, 站街看风景的神经, 单枪匹马闯你心, 譬如北辰, 莫W, and 黑炎之殇 for their generous donations φ(≧ω≦*).

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(End of this chapter)