Chapter 252 - Loop (2/2)

Before long, a door—one that looked identical to the one we saw just now, with two glowing lamps perched on either side—loomed before us. Even the flickers of the luminescence radiating from inside looked the same from before. Lin Feng threw a look at me and I returned an approving nod and I went forth to twist the knob and opened the door.

A blast of cold wind whistled through the door as it opened and we found ourselves outside once again. “Oh, dear! So here we are all over again!” Lin Feng grumbled. But I however had made our single most shocking discovery. “No, wait! Lin Feng, check your time!” Lin Feng immediately rummaged in his pocket and took out his phone. Lo and behold, he drew a long breath incredulously, unable to believe what he had just seen. The time on our cell phones was still showing half past midnight!

My eyes narrowed as I raked my mind for ideas even though I could not quite make out what was happening. I thought the time was still passing like normal and I did not notice anything wrong when I checked the time earlier. Although it was not quite so; no matter how long time passed inside, it would be reset back to half-past midnight when we came back out.

When did the time turn back? Was it when we walked out the door? It could be. That would explain how we had to knock on the door again to replay the loop.

With my ruminations still ongoing, I walked to the door and knocked again. Three times. Nothing. Another three times and the door opened, just like before and there was Cao Xuedong all over again. I kept the conversation to the same, only this time, Lin Feng did not say a word. He merely looked on quietly. We waited until Cao Xuedong disappeared into the darkness of the house and he asked, “Why are you keeping to the same script, Shiyan? Maybe you can try changing it. Something different might yield…”

“No,” I cut him off, shaking my head and said, “The contents of what we’re saying won’t matter much. The conclusion would be the same even if I try to say something else. We would still be walking into whatever dimension that now constitutes the inside of the villa.” “I see. So what if we refuse to go in?”

It was something I had not thought of. I was stunned for a moment. Indeed, the thought had not occurred to me in the slightest. My gaze wandered to Lin Feng. Whatever enchantment or spell is this, the infinite time loop has kept us trapped; not only physically, but mentally too! What if we turn now? I wondered. What would happen? Would the spell be broken just like that?

I signaled a nod at Lin Feng and I walked out of the compound of Unit 104, heading across the road to Unit 105. But as soon as I stepped on the tarmac, I felt a strange sensation, stirring and yet inexplicable, running down me for an instant and it was until I stepped onto the strip of green verge in front of Unit 105 only I realized why.

The gates of the villa in front of me was ajar, I noticed. But instead of seeing Unit 105, the number on the plaque at the gate was showing “104”! So that was the indescribable feeling! Unit 105 and Unit 104 were facing each other with the road in between, the former on the east and the latter on the west. So instead of walking towards east back to Unit 105, I had been walking westbound and back to Unit 104!

Gods in Heaven, I grimaced, The enchantment of this infinite bounded field is no simple feat! Whoever is behind this, how did they pull off a trick like this!?

I looked at Lin Feng. His forehead was peppered with cold beads of perspiration. He craned his back and groaned. “D*mmit! Can’t we even walk out of this compound!” I took out my cell and peered at the time. Thirty-five past midnight. Five minutes had passed. Somehow, unlike the dimension inside the house, any movements here would not alter the time. Still, the problem remained: no matter what we do, we cannot extricate ourselves from this infinite loop.

The door of Unit 104 was left open since Cao Xuedong had walked in and inside was an unknown pocket dimension that looked eerily similar to a black hole; a deep black pit that seemed to swallow any light. “So, go in now?” Lin Feng croaked. Pausing a beat to think, I replied, “In.”