"Today isn’t that day, is it?" Gu Mian glanced at a box beside the table following the numbers. The big box was open, revealing its contents—a neat stack of stone digits, unused ones inside.
"Is it December 9 now?" He turned his gaze back to that string of numbers, staring at "12" and "10" for half a second.
Slaughter ca to the table and swiftly dug into the box, retrieving four numbers: 1, 2, 9, and arranged them below 12 and 10 to form 12/9. Gu Mian guessed he was recording the rollback ti.
"Yes, today should be New Calendar Year 974 December 9, but half an hour ago I found the date set here was the 10th. Every ti I set the date, I confirm repeatedly, it wouldn’t be wrong. So when I noticed it was the 10th here, I realized the world might have rolled back."
After arranging the numbers 12 and 9, Slaughter turned to Gu Mian: "After realizing the date was wrong, I imdiately placed today’s date underneath and was about to confirm in the cave at the bottom, but saw Fatty as soon as I went downstairs...
"Seeing Fatty, I realized sothing might have happened here before the rollback, rushing to see the statue’s changes below, I even forgot to bring this."
Slaughter gestured towards the bed, Gu Mian turned his head, and there lay a round helt.
"I’ve answered your question, now it’s my turn." Slaughter shifted slightly to face Gu Mian directly, having a bunch of questions, "Yesterday... no, last ti, how did you co here? How did we et?"
When asking, he glanced at the clock on the wall.
Due to sensitivity to ti issues, there was no shortage of clocks in Slaughter’s room, four at a glance: two hung on the wall, one on the table, and one placed on the bed.
This ti, Gu Mian didn’t let him draft a declaration, but vividly depicted how he ca across here while delivering parcels, how the hospitable Slaughter invited him in and enthusiastically showed him the remains of Evil God statue, the two becoming fast friends.
But good tis didn’t last, the evil earth envious of their friendship, forcefully rolling back five tis to tear them apart. Seeing Slaughter who no longer recognized him, Gu Mian’s heart ached as if pierced, deciding to na this Chapter "Amnesia" if ever turned into a novel.
As the nonsense wrapped up, Gu Mian also made a symbolic display of false expressions, feigning grief for two seconds.
Listening more made Slaughter’s brow furrow tighter, the scar across half of his face wrinkling along, visibly wanting to throttle the person before him.
Finally, Slaughter relied on Gu Mian’s story to deduce a hint of reality: "I probably recognized you because of the brooch you wore. I have the sa one..."
As he spoke, Slaughter pointed to his collar’s green brooch, then felt the gesture unnecessary, Gu Mian probably had looked closely at it before the rollback.
"It was left by Xu Xingcheng next to the statue, like a token, or a ssage. After the circus accident, Mr. Slaughter ca looking for , saying the notable No.9 in the Slaughter Ga wasn’t dead and had colluded with Carnival and Circus leader Lu Yi..."
Mr. Slaughter shared a similar na with Slaughter, but their appearances were worlds apart.
Gu Mian recalled the pale little guy, seeing Slaughter tossed down by Lu Yi during the circus audience blast, never expecting his survival, spreading reports everywhere.
"At that ti, one of his hands was in plaster, using the other to gesture at my collar’s leaf brooch, saying No.9 in the Slaughter Ga also wore a brooch identical to mine. I was a bit surprised, thinking Xu Xingcheng returned."
Slaughter glanced down at the green brooch on his collar: "Later, from people from other worlds I found out the person Slaughter talked about wasn’t Xu Xingcheng, but you, Gu Mian;
"Frankly, I’d heard of you already then, the infamous ga bug. The ga company launched many items related to you, associations about you existed across worlds. I never thought you’d have this leaf brooch, or be connected to Xu Xingcheng."
Gu Mian reached out to stroke the brooch pinned on his white coat, its surface smooth, as if touching a gem, Evil God’s craftsmanship and taste were indeed exquisite: "It was given to during my first visit to this world."
"He left this brooch by the statue for , later giving you an identical one on your first entry into this world, seems he planned our eting long before."
Listening to Slaughter, Gu Mian couldn’t help suspecting his ninety-nine delivery tasks were also orchestrated by Evil God.
After all, he ca to the Secret Forest to deliver parcels; he wondered if the delivery bike rode from Bird Bandit Express still existed.
With that in mind, Gu Mian glanced down at the chanical dog squatting by his feet, since it hadn’t disappeared with the rollback, the delivery bike outside might still remain.
"He probably wanted to lead you to the underground statue, looks like I did it." Slaughter, having lost mories from the last round, glanced back at the foldable door to the underground, expression complex.
Though he forgot pre-rollback events, now it appeared he’s done Xu Xingcheng’s bidding.
"You indeed led to the statue, even telling a motivational tale of a hero overthrowing feudalism." But the story’s ending wasn’t quite successful, the underground statue fractured along with this less successful conclusion.
Yet Xu Xingcheng painstakingly lured him here, was it simply to tell a story, and see how his statue cracked?
Gu Mian felt this trip seed rather fruitless.
Then ca the sound "Are you happy?" from near his feet.
He looked down at the machine dog making the noise.
Well, not entirely fruitless; at least he’s got a dog.
Gu Mian shifted his gaze from the dog to Slaughter’s face: "Did he leave anything else behind, like ’Evil God’s Gift’?"
Slaughter remained silent for a few seconds, seriously recalling if Xu Xingcheng left anything else, finally shaking his head and taking off the leaf brooch from his clothing: "He only left this, handing it to you."
Gu Mian accepted the leaf brooch he handed over, seemingly just a regular brooch, receiving no special item notification, no unusual occurrences.
"Perhaps you’ve received sothing unseen." Slaughter suddenly said from the side.
Gu Mian remained silent for half a second, the words felt like Xu Xingcheng painted a big picture, perhaps what he received was his high expectations?
Slaughter looked again at the stone date on the table: "I think you should leave, the Upper Class People must have known about the rollback, likely rushing here."
After all, the pivotal Evil God statue is here.
Gu Mian’s renown in this world is considerable, being the most popular guest of two top reality shows.
If recognized by those Upper Class People, they’d certainly chase him for autographs.
But with a tight schedule, he had to hurry to join Lu Yi in the next trial show, only able to evade these fervent fans first.
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