Love, death, and false man

Chapter 20. Historical Timeline
“You’re also a lieutenant’s subordinate… then we’re from the same squadron, all within her dispatch system, but military law forbids us from contacting each other. You seem to be younger than me, but call me whatever you like, my name is Xia Bing.”

Xia Bing put down the steel pipe. He had already dealt with most of the "Void Demons" here, and the pursuing fake man was also seriously injured and unable to fight. He just needed to find him and kill him, but he didn't know where this guy was hiding.

The target identified in this routine investigation was also exposed first, and Xia Bing took the initiative. Under such overwhelming destructive power, he kept running away, completely powerless to fight back.

Fang Yan is twenty years old this year.

Fang Yan felt slightly nervous. Seeing the beautiful woman so captivated, he was actually having second thoughts. It wasn't following the typical hero-saves-the-damsel-in-distress script, even though he didn't know who she had just killed—probably another imposter. But then again, it made sense; ordinary girls clearly didn't have the mental fortitude of a Salvation Army agent.

"I don't understand why you're emphasizing age... It's a nice bike, a CG125, the most durable bike. You've maintained it so well, there aren't any scratches or wear. It's strange... Was it requisitioned?"

Xia Bing kept a watchful eye on her surroundings.

"How did you know?"

"It's not something someone your age would do. The CG125 is a very capable vehicle. With chains attached to the wheels, it can go off-road in the muddiest mountain roads after a heavy rain. Some people even use it specifically for hauling cargo. This model has been discontinued for a long time. The owner probably got one as a collector's item, like the so-called black Santana and white Jetta. There might be a similar emotional attachment to it."

"Is that so?"

Fang Yan then realized that the car was of special significance to its owner. However, he was a man of his word, and even if Xia Bing hadn't said anything, he would have driven it to the designated place to return it to him the next day.

He then noticed that there was another motorcycle parked not far away.

Although Fang Yan couldn't recognize it as a Harley-Davidson Street Fighter, his first impression was that it was the kind of motorcycle that only appeared in American gangster movies, driven by a man with a floral bandana, aviator sunglasses, and a tattooed arm.

"I've mostly taken care of things here, but I don't know where the fake man I'm chasing is hiding. He's seriously injured, but we still need to be on high alert."

Xia Bing reminded Fang Yan that this guy seemed to be on vacation at the Singularity, showing no sense of tension whatsoever.

"I see."

He took out an MP5 submachine gun from his backpack, still Fang Yan's standard equipment, and carried two extra magazines.

"You're not a student, are you?"

"Of course not... I'm at work. This is what I usually use to store my laptop."

"I'm just concerned about your age."

"I already said I'm twenty."

"You don't understand what I mean. The conscription age is actually very strict. If it is lowered, it can only mean that the situation is getting worse. Of course, there are special cases, except for some outstanding people."

"Then it seems I am obviously..."

Fang Yan suddenly realized that sex life was more important, "It's not that great."

Realizing that Xia Bing had strong suspicions, Fang Yan quickly changed the subject.

“I’ve never met any other colleagues before, you’re the first, and I have a lot of questions for you.”

"This is not a good thing. Now that we've made contact, it means we'll be bound together and assigned to extremely dangerous missions. The people we'll be dealing with won't be these fakes who monitor and manipulate civilians, but rather the Soul Master's powerful henchmen and dangerous combat personnel. It's more important to finish things here first. You can ask me questions later."

"Isn't the signal blocked here? I just want to ask you some very important confidential information that we can't discuss outside, so we can only talk about it here."

"You said."

"Do you know that our time flow is the same as the future time flow? It's a multi-layered, nested vector loop with different time directions intersecting. The lieutenant can only send information to me in the present. I want to confirm this."

“This is indeed a rather confidential matter, but this is the first time I’ve heard it from you. I’ve had similar questions. If the future can send information to the past, then it can be sent to me at any point in time. Why is it specifically to me at this moment? I almost went crazy over this and wondered if I was mentally ill. Until one time I worked with a corporal and learned a term called [historical timeline].

"Historical timeline?"

"That's right. Just like this singularity, it is a misaligned and abnormal space caused by the failure of causality and the butterfly effect. At the point where a major historical event occurs, due to the game between multiple forces, the past is changed and the future is rewritten, which produces an extremely terrifying singularity. It may not be called a singularity, but it is something similar to a singularity."

Based on these singularities, the flow rate in all other time periods is consistent and unique; most of the distortions caused by the butterfly effect converge within these singularities. As for the conditions within these singularities and the reasons for their formation, these can only be found in historical timelines; they are top secret within the Salvation Army and the other two factions.

"I'm so fucked out."

At this point, Fang Yan's loopholes were completely patched by the [historical timeline] update package provided by Xia Bing, and everything made sense now. These singularities were the intersections of all time vector directions.

"Is that corporal also in Binhai City?"

"They're enjoying themselves in heaven."

Xia Bing spoke calmly.

Fang Yan had nothing to say.

Xia Bing doesn't seem to be a person who sticks to the rules.

Want to hear even more exciting news?

"Of course I want to! How exciting is it?"

"It was that corporal who overheard a sergeant bragging about it during a major operation. This sergeant had been demoted and didn't know what rank he had before. It was just bragging, and neither of them probably knew if it was true, let alone me."

What news is it?

"Let's clean up this mess first before I tell you. We don't know where that fake person is hiding, so we can only use the process of elimination and do a thorough search."

"Perhaps not... I have a way to find him."

Fang Yan suddenly remembered his Bloodhound EXE file. This thing had an extremely long range and the ability to cruise and search for enemies. Although his Soulfire's real-time intensity fluctuation was not high, it still managed to split off one.

If I hadn't taken the initiative and made preemptive moves, and if it weren't for the intelligence sent by the liaison officer, I might have been killed by Bai Zhe.

"That was a huge help. This place looks big, but its diameter is probably only about five kilometers. Once it goes beyond five kilometers, it will return to the starting point. Have you ever seen 'Inception'? Singularities are mazes like this. They seem to have no boundaries and are an independent world, but once you go beyond the limit, they will circle back. They do have boundaries, and they are similar to the dream world in the movie."

Xia Bing lifted the steel pipe and hoisted it onto her shoulder. She had arrived here in the morning and hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch, so she was feeling tired and hungry.

"I see. Since that fake man is seriously injured, he's already trapped in a cage at this range."

Fang Yan released the safety on his MP5 submachine gun.

After half an hour.

The CG125 and the Harley Street Fighter travel together on a completely black-and-white silent film highway at low speed. Xia Bing's bright red hair and Fang Yan's fluorescent blue scar leave gradually fading color residue under the strange physical rules.

Behind the two motorcycles followed a jet-black hunting dog, seemingly unaffected by space; its black, sea-like fur shimmered with kaleidoscopic markings.
Upon arriving at a Khrushchev-style tenement building, the hounds stopped, opened their blood-red mouths, and began to tear and howl.

"Perhaps this is the place."

Fang Yan stopped the car.

Xia Bing was confident in his abilities. He shut off the engine, kicked off the kickstand, and pulled out an unused steel pipe from the storage box attached to the side of the Harley Street Fighter.

Even tank materials will experience metal fatigue fracture after repeated use; a single steel pipe cannot withstand too many explosions.

"That's my business. You just stay outside."

“No, my mission is to support you. Besides, without a hound to lead the way, who knows where he’s hiding in the building? We’ll follow the hound and let it go first.”

"He's really reliable."

Xia Bing loaded the homemade shotgun shells into the steel pipe, and the two followed the hunting dog into the old Khrushchev building.

(End of this chapter)