life copy game

Chapter 1676 Still Time (Long Chapter, Requesting Monthly Tickets)
Willens

In the somewhat empty and quiet hall, Denon and his group passed through the illusory gate floating in the center and entered the hall.

"Why is it so quiet around here?" The young man, covered in blood, looked up at his surroundings.

The entire hall seemed to fall into an eerie silence at this moment. There were no pedestrians in the hall, only a few figures sitting in front of the information desk not far away.

Denor watched this scene and was slightly taken aback.

This is the headquarters of the Anomaly Association. Although most of the staff should have already gone home by now, the silence is still a bit eerie.

The young man, covered in blood, turned around and headed toward the guidance platform.

Just then, Denon raised his hand and stopped him.

Then Denon stepped forward, past the young man, and walked to the platform.

The guides on the first floor were two young girls, one blonde and one brown.

At this moment, the brown-haired girl was looking down at the computer in front of her, while the blonde girl reached for the tablet next to her.

But neither of them made any further moves.

The two people's bodies were frozen in that one moment, like a movie that had been paused. All their movements, even their micro-expressions, were frozen in that instant.

The blonde girl ultimately failed to touch the tablet; her slender fingers were merely raised slightly in mid-air, just short of reaching it.

"What happened?" The others quickly came over and looked at the two girls behind the guidance platform, saying in shock.

"Aren't we out of the anomaly yet?" someone asked, rubbing their eyes in confusion.

"Hey, wake up!" A man went around to the back of the guidance platform, shouted, and reached out to gently poke the girl's shoulder, trying to wake her up.

But neither girl reacted.

"President, look at that outside..."

At that moment, a somewhat confused voice suddenly came from behind Denon.

Denor turned his head and looked behind him.

The lobby has a very high floor, and most of its exterior walls are glass curtain walls, offering a great view of the towering buildings outside.

Is the scene outside any different?

A figure stood beside the young man, looking at the towering buildings outside with a puzzled expression. "Isn't this the same as before?"

“The one in the middle,” another figure said hesitantly, looking at the buildings outside, “the one next to the Star Tower, that building used to be… not there?”

“That building does look a bit old,” another figure walked over, frowning slightly as he looked at the tall building in the scene. “But that building doesn’t look that tall, how come it’s as tall as the Star Tower?”

“That’s the Future Building,” Denorn’s calm yet hoarse voice rang in everyone’s ears, “the old Future Building.”

Everyone's expression froze for a moment.

boom--

Just then, the glass doors of the hall were suddenly pushed open, and several slender young women dressed like idols appeared outside.

They were about to rush into the building when they saw the group of people standing in the lobby and paused for a moment.

At this moment, Denon also turned his gaze to the group of beautiful girls, his eyes narrowing slightly. "The Witch's Church?"

-

In a narrow, long corridor, He Ao slowly stood up and looked around.

"Big guy, the world has turned black and white!" Siwei, nestled in his arms, opened her eyes slightly, leaned behind his arm, and looked at the silent corridor, saying with some surprise.

"It's not turned into black and white, it's just been filtered with some kind of grayscale." He Ao quietly observed everything in the corridor and said slowly.

He could still see the colors of the objects around him, but these colors were now more grayish and not immediately recognizable.

He looked up at the long, narrow corridor in front of him.

One side of the corridor is by the window, and the other side is a simple sheet metal wall. The floor is very dirty, covered with thick ash and soot stains. The side by the window is piled with all sorts of odds and ends, and clothes are hung densely on the inside of the window, almost completely obscuring the entire window.

He Ao parted the clothes and looked at the window behind them, only to see a thin mist, indistinct and barely visible.

He reached for the window latch, only to find it sealed shut and impossible to open. The entire window was also made of some kind of special, irregularly shaped interface, and even with his strength, he couldn't bend the small metal plate.

He withdrew his gaze and looked forward.

"Big guy, where is this?" Siwei looked around the corridor in a daze, climbed onto He Ao's shoulder, and asked hesitantly.

“Future Building,” He Ao said softly.

"Huh?" Siwei was slightly taken aback, looking at the long, narrow corridor. "Didn't we go to the Future Building? This doesn't look quite like it—"

She paused mid-sentence, lowered her head, gripped He Ao's clothes tightly on his shoulder, looked at him, and asked nervously, "Is this the Future Building of the past?"

"Mm." He Ao nodded gently.

Siwei suddenly fell silent.

He Ao lowered his head and picked up the photo.

Now, the blurry photo has revealed a clear outline.

At this moment, He Ao was finally able to see clearly what the photo was actually about.

Those were figures standing in front of the orphanage. They gathered together and took this group photo in front of the orphanage's gate.

However, these figures were not children from the orphanage, but their parents.

They all stood there, looking calmly at the doorway, as if they themselves had sent their children to the orphanage.

It appears both eerie and bizarre.

He quickly found Siwei's parents inside, but did not find 'Loren's' parents.

Clearly, only the parents of the deceased child would appear in this photo.

He Ao raised his eyes and looked at the surrounding buildings.

"Big guy, where are we going now?" Siwei, who was sitting on his shoulder, woke up from her silence and asked cautiously.

“Look around,” He Ao said slowly.

This is an anomaly that no one has ever explored before, and all the dangers are lurking in the shadows.

He walked slowly forward, and encountered nothing until he had crossed a long section of the corridor.

Soon, he came to a fork in the road.

It was then that he realized that this floor was not just a corridor, but was divided into areas by narrow corridors, and each area was surrounded by iron walls to form a room.

He walked slowly down the quiet corridor, and vaguely felt that the 'scene' around him looked somewhat familiar.

“Siwei,” He Ao lowered his head and asked slowly, “Do you remember which room your parents lived in?”

“1821.” The puppet sitting on He Ao’s shoulder gripped He Ao’s collar tightly and whispered.

He Ao looked up at the room number in front of him.

1851
This is the 18th floor.

He lowered his head and ran quickly, following the room number and the signs in the corridor.

After crossing a corridor and turning a corner, room 1825 came into view.

The little doll sitting on his shoulder clung tightly to his clothes.

1824
1821
He stopped in front of the door.

He could vaguely feel Siwei sitting on his shoulder, her body stiff, her small hands gripping his collar tightly, deforming it.

He Ao reached out, grasped the doorknob, and pushed open the door.

A narrow room came into view.

The room was only about five square meters in size, and it barely fit a double iron-framed bed, a wardrobe, a simple small refrigerator, and a storage cabinet on top of the refrigerator.

On the wall directly opposite the door, next to the iron bunk bed, is a small aluminum alloy inner window that offers a view of the corridor.

At this moment, two figures were sitting in the room: a thin middle-aged man and a haggard-looking woman.

The woman was holding a brand-new, expensive-looking doll close to her chest, while the man embraced her, shielding her head with his hand as if protecting her from a falling rock.

On a small plastic cabinet by the bedside, there was a family photo of the three of them. The little girl in the white dress stood in the center of the photo, looking at the camera with a slightly reserved smile.

However, at this moment, everything in the room is still, just like the gray and white tones that permeate the entire area. Time seems to have been paused, and everything is frozen in this moment.

The movements of the two people in the room were frozen at this moment.

"Mom and Dad!" Upon seeing this, Siwei, who was sitting on He's shoulders, instinctively jumped down.

Her body fell through the air, but He Ao quickly grabbed her by the collar and placed her safely on the ground.

She ran forward quickly, her whole body changing rapidly with her movements, growing taller and becoming the normal little girl in the white dress.

The girl threw herself into her parents' arms, hugged them tightly, and cried silently.

He Ao quietly observed all of this, then slowly backed away and left the room.

When he left the house, he told Siwei that he would help her find her parents.

Now, he has found it.

He Ao turned his gaze to the narrow corridor beside him.

The corridor was eerily quiet, like a deathly stillness.

He lowered his head and slowly walked forward along the corridor.

Loren's parents never told him where he lived or which room he lived in.

But when making phone calls or video calls, certain scenarios will always be shown.

These scenes were permanently etched into Loren's memory.

He Ao continued forward along the narrow corridor. The surrounding scenery was so familiar that he felt as if he had traveled through time and space back to nine years ago, overlapping with the figures of that middle-aged couple as they walked together through this dilapidated and dirty corridor.

Finally, after passing through several rooms, he stopped in front of room 1812.

He reached out and, after a brief moment of hesitation, grasped the doorknob.

click -

With a crisp sound, the gray door was slowly pushed open.

He Ao raised his head and looked at the scene in his line of sight.

Every room in this building has a similar design, but each room also retains the traces of its residents.

The small refrigerator in room 1812 was covered with a dustproof curtain. The storage cabinet had been moved aside, making room for a small dining table. One side of the table was against the bed, and a small storage stool was placed underneath the other side.

At this moment, a middle-aged man with a square face was squatting beside the dining table, one hand holding the table above his head, his body leaning forward to protect the thin woman in his arms, and his other hand tightly gripping a long, rectangular biscuit box, supporting himself on the ground.

The woman in his arms was holding an old bracelet and tapping the screen, seemingly making a phone call.

But time seemed to freeze at that moment, and the call ultimately failed to go through.

He Ao slowly walked to the two of them and squatted down in front of them.

He gently reached out, took the cookie tin from the man's hand, and opened the lid.

Inside was a stack of crumpled small-denomination banknotes, and on top of the banknotes was a photo of a young boy.

On the other side, there are two physical airship tickets.

I bought an early bird discount ticket a month in advance from Wellens to Silo.

The departure time is March 13th.

The Future Tower collapsed on March 5th, the first week of spring.

In a few more days, they will be going home.

He Ao quietly looked at the cookie box in her hand, then carefully closed the lid and placed it back in the man's hand.

He looked down at the bracelet in the woman's hand; the bracelet had no power and was completely black.

But Heo knew who they needed to call right now.

A week after spring, Loren never received another call from Willens.

He Ao slowly straightened up, looked at the two somewhat thin figures in front of him, and reached out to embrace them.

Like a child in memory, gently embraced by their parents.

After a brief pause, he released his grip and slowly backed up.

Then he raised his eyes, turned around, walked out of the room, and gently closed the door.

In the narrow corridor, the girl in the white dress was already standing there, quietly watching him.

She looked at He Ao's face, gently sniffed, and lifted her moist cheeks. "Big guy—"

He walked up to her, wiped away the tears on her cheeks with his fingers, and said softly, "Siwei, I need your help."

Siwei looked up at He Ao.

He Ao raised his eyes, glanced at room 1821, then at room 1812 behind him, and whispered, "Please help me protect them, okay?"

Siwei was slightly taken aback, staring wide-eyed at He Ao, and invisible tears slid down her cheeks again.

After a brief pause, she slowly and heavily lowered her head. "Okay."

"Thank you." He Ao raised his hand and gave her a gentle hug.

Then he slowly released his embrace, turned around, his back to the girl, and walked down the corridor into the deepest part of darkness.

The little girl in the white dress stood there quietly, watching the young man's departing figure, her nose twitching slightly.

Crystalline tears slid down her cheeks.