Free Web NovelChapter 111: Chapter 29: Yu Sheng’s Room
Wang Wenbo smoothed over the few remaining strands of his bangs, a gesture that invariably highlighted his status as a top-tier master:
"The original poster is very strange. He wrote the original text in Sanskrit and encrypted it using the irreversibility of a one-way hash algorithm. Even with an AI tool trying to brute-force it, all we’ve gotten so far is a pile of meaningless garbled code. The only valuable information we’ve confirmed so far are two short passages."
’I can’t believe Xu Yuan was so knowledgeable. He knew Sanskrit and even understood cryptography.’
Gao Tian:
"How long will it take your AI tool to decipher the entire post?"
Wang Wenbo glanced at the time:
"Seven or eight hours."
There wasn’t enough time.
By then, they would already be on the bus, entering the Inner World.
Gao Tian:
"For now, just tell us the two passages you’ve managed to decrypt."
Wang Wenbo:
"First passage."
"There might be a living person on the sixth floor."
"I’ve never been up there. I don’t know anything."
"Second passage."
"Some stars that shouldn’t exist have appeared in the night sky."
That was it.
Abrupt and baffling.
Perhaps the rest of Xu Yuan’s post would have explained these two sentences, but their four-person team didn’t have time to wait.
Gao Tian stood up: "Let’s head upstairs first, find Yu Sheng’s room, and see what surprises he’s left for us."
Wang Wenbo remained on the sofa, his fingers flying across the keyboard. He was clearly trying to decipher as much of the bizarre post as possible before they had to leave.
He had no interest whatsoever in Yu Sheng’s room upstairs.
The remaining three walked to the third-floor corridor. Room 321, where Yu Sheng once lived. The code for the electronic lock was four fours. Since he had agreed to let Gao Tian open the door, Gao Tian didn’t hesitate.
With a CLICK, the door swung open.
Jiang Yang stepped inside first, followed by Gao Tian.
The first impression of the Monk’s room was one of extreme simplicity. Any non-essential furniture had been done away with; aside from the necessities, there wasn’t a single superfluous item.
A bed, a table, and a few gray monk’s robes for changing. Beyond that, there were just piles and piles of physical books stacked on the floor, on the bookshelf, and under the bed.
Upon arriving, Jiang Yang’s first thought was that he had seen a similar scene in Lin Nan’an’s room on the fourth floor.
They had both been poring over a certain type of book, as if trying to find the truth of this world before they died.
Gao Tian crouched down and casually flipped through some of them.
Besides the essential Buddhist classics, the books Yu Sheng collected fell into only two categories.
Astronomy and physics.
He seemed particularly interested in the starry sky above.
As for physics, Yu Sheng didn’t just read anything; he was especially interested in one specific field.
Time.
His collection ranged from the most basic popular science book, *A Brief History of Time*, to the all-English *Quantum Gravity and the Arrow of Time*.
Every book had been read to tatters. Many passages were underlined, with handwritten notes and annotations from Yu Sheng.
Just as Jiang Yang and Gao Tian were searching everywhere, a cry of surprise came from Lan Chu in the next room:
"Ah! I found a piece of paper under the little monk’s bed."
"It looks really tasty. I’m hungry, so I think I’ll just eat it."
Startled, Jiang Yang immediately stopped what he was doing. He and Gao Tian rushed to the adjacent bedroom at top speed, saving Yu Sheng’s note from Lan Chu’s mouth in the nick of time.
Lan Chu giggled. Of course, she wouldn’t have actually eaten the note; she was just trying to get their attention.
Unfolding the note revealed the same lean handwriting as the notes in the books. It was definitely written by Yu Sheng:
I shouldn’t have looked up at the stars.
The stars in the Inner World seem to be getting fewer and fewer.
...
(The words "Inner World" had been crossed out.)
(The black line from the crossing out was then erased.)
(Then a new black line was drawn over it.)
(It had been altered back and forth repeatedly.)
...
This note left by the strange Monk seemed to be interacting in some bizarre way with the post Xu Yuan had published thirteen years ago.
They both mentioned the keyword: "stars."
However, their attitudes toward the night sky were completely different.
One thought more stars had appeared, while the other thought they were disappearing.
...
The search of Yu Sheng’s room went on for three hours.
Other than a huge pile of books and academic manuscripts that no one could understand, they found nothing else.
...
In the fourth hour, Jiang Yang was still sifting through Yu Sheng’s ocean of books, hoping to find some useful item or piece of information.
Gao Tian had already left Yu Sheng’s room and returned to his own.
Before they departed, he had something more important to do.
Check the Future Jar and inspect the future of this mission.
After entering the Mirror World and picking up the Future Jar, he saw that the figure of Master Yunshan inside had completely risen from the rock and walked to the center of the jar.
The skeletal figurine seemed to have taken on a life of its own. But Gao Tian had no time to worry about it now; he could only hope the gray mist that showed the future would emerge quickly.
Countless gray clouds did indeed gather in the jar. But the future it then revealed was intermittent and fragmented:
On the stone floor of a temple, "Gao Tian" sat cross-legged, spattered with blood. His expression was one of utter exhaustion. His face was ashen, and he was completely still.
The others who had entered Longshu Temple with Gao Tian were all gone. In this moment, "Gao Tian" seemed to have crumpled, all his fighting spirit lost.
There wasn’t a shadow of an enemy around him, not even a ghost.
...
’What kind of future is this?’
Gao Tian couldn’t make sense of it.
The amount of useful information that could be extracted from this fragment was close to zero.
Just as Gao Tian was about to close the Future Jar and leave the Mirror World, the gray clouds inside suddenly churned. The previous vision of the future was wiped away like filth, and a new fragment of the future began to form in the jar:
"Gao Tian" lay flat on the cold floor, his body severed at the waist. Blood and viscera spilled from his upper torso. He was motionless, as if he had been dead for a long time.
He didn’t resurrect. It seemed this future "Gao Tian" had used up his last Ghost Card.
...
The same scene, another "Gao Tian," was holding an empty Luck Jar. He had exhausted all his stored ghost luck, his eyes filled with utter despair. Without hesitation, he drew the Terror Blade and plunged it viciously into his own chest.
...
"Gao Tian" was walking slowly down the central path of Longshu Temple, oblivious to the fact that his eyes were streaming with blood, the sockets pitch-black.
This future "Gao Tian" had become a ghost.
...
Beneath the blood-red trees lining the path, "Gao Tian" had found a rope from somewhere, looped it around his neck, and was now using his own corpse to swing from a branch.
The ground beneath him was littered with dead crows.
...
...
One future after another unfolded before Gao Tian’s eyes.
’What in the world is going on?’
His scalp tingling with dread, Gao Tian gritted his teeth and watched the last future play out. He watched until the gray mist dissipated and Master Yunshan’s skeleton reappeared at the bottom of the Future Jar.
Nothing like this had ever happened before.
Gao Tian could accept dying in some vengeful ghost incident. What he couldn’t understand was why a single incident at Longshu Temple would cause him to die so many times, in such a rich variety of ways.
’Just what kind of terrifying place is Longshu Temple?’
Or perhaps the Future Jar itself, like an imprecise machine, had been interfered with and was malfunctioning.
Gao Tian racked his brain but couldn’t find a reasonable explanation.
But he had already been in the Mirror World for long enough. He could hear Jiang Yang and the others coming upstairs to look for him.
Regardless of whether the prophecies were auspicious or ominous.
It was time to set out.
...
...
The old man in the military coat blew out his pipe, pushed open the glass door before him, and walked into the Apartment of the Living.
Awaiting him was an empty first floor and a laptop sitting on the living room table.
An AI program was still running on it, seemingly cracking some kind of encrypted text.
The old man didn’t understand any of this trendy stuff. He gave a dry chuckle, found a sofa, and sat down with the practiced ease of someone returning to their own home.
’Looks like my luck isn’t so good tonight.’
He had arrived at the apartment less than half an hour after the group in the main hall had left.
"I wonder if Lin Nan’an is still alive."
The old man relit his pipe. He puffed on it, his eyes scanning the empty first floor as he pondered,
"Ah, forget it. Seven years have passed. He’s surely been dead for a long time."
