Chapter 1428: The Anomaly in the Memory — 220 |
"The first time I noticed something was off, it was before your father ran into Li Wufang — the glitch in that red light felt jarringly abrupt.
My curiosity was piqued. I rewound the past and used Memory's methods to view every recorded moment at that intersection. And what I found was that the red light hadn't malfunctioned at all.
It had been working normally the entire time. The only difference was that the red-light duration had been stretched — stretched to an unthinkable length:
220 seconds.
Granted, when setting traffic-light timings, engineers do account for intersection traffic and tilt the green phase toward the heavier lanes. But no red light should ever be this long. Nearly four minutes of standstill would only cripple traffic flow.
Besides, that intersection didn't carry enough volume to justify such a design.
Once I caught that anomaly, I began scrutinizing this memory far more closely.
I'm not particularly sensitive to numbers. Fortunately, this wasn't just a number — it was a span of time. Since Memory and Time both belong to Existence, inheriting Memory's Authority gave me at least some sense of Time.
And so I discovered that your father's memory is riddled with a recurring duration!
And when the man in sunglasses sized him up at the village chief's gambling den — the length of the game little Jia played in was also 220 seconds!"
"!!??"
By now, shock was stamped across Cheng Shi's face. He was almost unnerved.
Li Jingming's eyes glinted. He wasn't done:
"There's more. The length of time Old Jia stood at the casino entrance, studying Aunt Sun. The length of his conversation with Nangong's grandfather outside the casino. The span from spotting Tao Yi to opening his mouth and speaking to her. The time he spent crouching in an urban village, waiting for little you to 'run away from home.' Even the duration of a chat he had one day with An Mingyu's uncle — right before you came home...
Every single one — 220 seconds!"
'Wait, wait, wait — An Mingyu's uncle? When did I ever meet the Fate Chosen's uncle?'
Cheng Shi's brain could barely keep up.
The Dragon King didn't give him time to think. "One is an accident. Two is coincidence. When the third, fourth, and fifth appearances stacked up, I knew this duration was anything but random.
At first glance, it looks like one of Deceit's pranks. But even Deceit couldn't possibly hide precise alterations from Memory inside His own hall.
In fact, every time He tampered with a Collection piece, Memory selected the alteration itself as a new Collection. That includes the past of a certain Chaos Envoy named Ultraman."
"..."
On any other day, Cheng Shi would have seized on that remark for a round of banter to mask his embarrassment. Today, his brain was overloaded. He couldn't care less about trivialities.
He kept turning it over: what could 220 seconds possibly mean?
The Dragon King was a sharp mind. Even lacking the full scope of Fixed Destiny's secrets, his limited information was enough to form ideas:
"Ruling out Memory and Deceit, the number of deities who could have touched Memory's Collections is extremely small."
He glanced meaningfully at Cheng Shi, then quickly changed tack. "Setting that aside — Zhen Xin learned from Qin Xin about the future Wei Mu described. When I turned my attention in that direction, I found myself wondering: could this time measurement be connected to the world's future?
Did Deceit — or any other deity — ever mention something similar to you?"
Cheng Shi racked his brain for a long time, then shook his head:
"The only thing related to time that comes to mind is the span of the era itself. From the moment Void descended and Fate fell, the era's length was locked in.
Could this 220 be tied to the era's duration?"
"?"
Li Jingming went blank for a second. "Fate fell? When was this?"
"...A very, very long time ago." Cheng Shi sighed, a flicker of nostalgia in his eyes. "It no longer matters. The past is past.
If Time were still here, there'd be someone to consult. But He too...
Wait!"
Cheng Shi froze. A thought struck him: "Time was ceaselessly busy, never once having time. I always assumed He was synchronizing the Universe's time so it wouldn't cause an accident inside the Creator's experiment.
But before Existence descended, how was the Universe's time synchronized?"
Li Jingming blinked, then quickly offered: "I've viewed memories from previous eras. Back then, They may not have known the Universe was an experiment."
Cheng Shi nodded, then shook his head:
"You're right. Time's constant synchronization may well be because this era has too many gods who stir up trouble. Deceit was never one to sit still — They were all probing outward.
But here's the thing: no matter how 'lively' Deceit was, He couldn't have been jumping in and out of the Real Universe constantly. So why was Time perpetually without time?"
"..." The question stumped Li Jingming. The Collection Hall held no memories of Time. He had no idea what Time had been doing all along.
And at that moment, Cheng Shi's gaze sharpened: "Before He left, He summoned the Doctor."
"The Doctor?!" Li Jingming's brow furrowed. He, too, couldn't understand it. The Doctor had essentially no connection to Time.
"Exactly!
The Doctor represents Truth. He's our candidate for Truth's Divine Throne.
Could Time's summoning of the Doctor be a message to us — that whatever He had been doing was related to Truth?
But that scope is far too broad. Truth has done countless things. Which aspect could it be?"
"Experiments?" Li Jingming offered. "Isn't Truth most famous for experiments?
What experiment would be both connected to Time and also the most representative?"
The Dragon King's words jolted Cheng Shi awake. His pupils contracted:
"The Faith Resonance Experiment!
Truth once used that very method to reconstruct the world — searching the Real Universe for a slice identical to Himself!"
"???"
Li Jingming was lost:
"When did this happen?
Why isn't it in Memory's Collection Hall?
No — wait. There might be something. There's one piece in the Hall that's been heavily tampered with by Time. Could that be it?"
Cheng Shi nodded firmly:
"Exactly — that was it. The reason Memory lost His memory of it was because Deceit used Origin's power to reset the world. So apart from the Fear Faction members He handpicked to retain their memories, no other deity knew.
Truth conducted that experiment in pursuit of truth. If Time's hidden message really points to this, can we conclude that Time never had time because He had been conducting a secret experiment the Universe knew nothing about?
And the purpose of that experiment was also the pursuit of truth?"
Hearing this, Li Jingming's brow arched: "The only truth worthy of Time's pursuit would be... the road to the future?"
Cheng Shi nodded rapidly:
"Exactly. A perfectly reasonable deduction.
Ever since Wei Mu spoke of that future, I've been wondering: even if I can replace Origin's gaze, how could They deceive Origin?
Those are two entirely different directions — and presumably, their division of labor.
What Deceit needed to accomplish was completing my impersonation of Origin. That's why He culled the non-Fear Faction gods, consolidated voting rights, cooperated with Justice, and ensured I inherited the Pact's Proxy.
Meanwhile, Time must have been ceaselessly running His 'experiment' — searching for a method to deceive Origin.
He must have found it. Otherwise He wouldn't have left.
So what is this method He discovered?
Was it He who altered the timestamps inside the Collection Hall? Between Memory's departure and your succession, you controlled the Hall but hadn't yet become a deity. If He tampered with the Collections during that window, is it possible?
It seems so. But wouldn't such methods still count as contaminating will?
And could those 220 seconds be the clue He left behind?"
Watching Cheng Shi sink into contemplation once more, Li Jingming pondered briefly, then offered a suggestion:
"After inheriting Memory, I gained many insights that are unique to the divine dimension. So perhaps if someone succeeds to Time's Divine Throne, we could find more precise hints and clues from Time's insights?
Cheng Shi — have you thought about who should ascend to Time's Throne?"
Cheng Shi paused. A name flashed through his mind — no, a figure:
'Under the gaze of every god, a Singer stepped forward.'
"Nice to see you again, old friends..."
Cheng Shi's eyelid twitched violently. He hurried to shut down the memory.
'That mad genius...'
'Who knows if old Meng has realized that his "old friends" are now all gone.'
...