Free Web NovelChapter 42: Chapter 42: The Future
In the nano-world within the urn, the passenger on the bus was less than one percent the size of a normal human. At such a small scale, it was difficult to make out his face.
But from the passenger’s clothes and the outline of his face, Gao Tian felt a strong sense of familiarity—he wasn’t so oblivious that he couldn’t recognize himself.
There was no mistake. On the bus projected by the urn, the passenger sitting behind the desiccated corpse was "Gao Tian" himself.
’What’s going on? How did my projection end up inside the urn? What is this thing trying to show me?’
The desiccated corpse in the front seat wore a dilapidated black leather jacket and a pair of sunglasses. His attire was modern. For some reason, he had died on this bus.
Judging by the corpse’s state of decay, no one on the bus—not the driver, nor the passengers in front or behind—paid it any mind, acting as if it simply wasn’t there.
The male corpse still gripped a rusty longsword. The blade had long lost its cold gleam and luster, leaving only pitted patches of rust. Because the body had been decomposing for so long, the wrist had turned to a thick sludge, fusing with a portion of the hilt.
One thing was certain: the urn’s ability wasn’t simply replaying a fragment of the past. Gao Tian was positive that he had never sat behind a corpse on a bus before.
In fact, Gao Tian usually took the subway when he went out; he hadn’t been on a bus in years. And he certainly wouldn’t have chosen to sit behind a corpse if he had seen one.
If something that horrifying had ever happened, there was no way he would have forgotten it.
’If it didn’t happen in the past, then there’s only one other possibility...’
’Is this something that will happen in the future?’
’Is the urn showing me a prophecy through this projection?’
It was just a guess. Gao Tian wasn’t certain, so he could only keep watching to see what other tricks this mirage created by the urn would pull.
If he were outside, he wouldn’t have dared to risk watching any longer. Who knew if this was some kind of curse? For instance, if the Gao Tian inside the urn were to die, would the real Gao Tian suffer the same injury?
But now, inside the Living Human Apartment, while not one-hundred-percent safe, it was certainly a great deal safer than outside.
As Gao Tian watched, the bus inside the urn drove endlessly down a dark road into the distance. In the darkness beyond the light, strange silhouettes of varying sizes would occasionally flash by, but the bus never stopped, leaving them far behind.
Inside the bus, the four passengers, including Gao Tian, sat motionless in their seats, their muscles tensed. They looked... extremely nervous, as if they were anticipating something, and at the same time, dreading it.
In the unbearable silence, Gao Tian suddenly moved—that is, the passenger Gao Tian on the miniature bus. He abruptly pulled a sharp weapon from inside his jacket. It was the Ghost Transformation Spear. He aimed it at the rotting corpse in front of him and plunged it into the back of its head.
The spear tip sank several inches into the corpse, but even then, "Gao Tian" didn’t seem satisfied. He stabbed the male corpse once in the left shoulder, once in the right shoulder, and once in the back. Then he retracted the Ghost Transformation Spear, faced the body now riddled with four new holes, and pressed his palms together in a brief prayer.
After completing this bizarre series of actions, "Gao Tian" slowly rose from his seat and did something even more outrageous.
He slowly reached for the seat in front, extending his arm over the desiccated corpse’s shoulder. He placed his hand on the rusty longsword, apparently trying to wrench it from the corpse’s grip.
"Gao Tian" strained several times. It was clear he was sweating profusely, as if trying to snatch food from a tiger’s mouth.
After the fifth attempt, the rusty longsword still hadn’t budged. Just when the real Gao Tian thought his counterpart inside the urn would have to give up, on the sixth try, the rotting corpse’s hand actually began to loosen, allowing the passenger to take the longsword.
Like its former owner, the blade was thoroughly rusted.
After taking the longsword, "Gao Tian" immediately sat back down, wiping away cold sweat. He looked overjoyed, fondling the blade as if it were a priceless treasure he couldn’t bear to put down.
The real Gao Tian, watching from outside the urn, couldn’t see what was so special about a rusty blade snatched from a corpse that would warrant such joy.
Just then, the "Gao Tian" on the bus laid the longsword across his knees and, without warning, glanced upward—in the direction of the world outside the urn.
It was a look laden with meaning.
For a brief moment, the gazes of the "Gao Tian" inside the urn and the Gao Tian outside it met.
Gao Tian shuddered. ’Could the "Gao Tian" inside the urn have sensed me watching him?’
All this time, he had been watching the events inside the urn as if they were a documentary. But Gao Tian had never considered the possibility that the "Gao Tian" inside was a living, breathing person with his own consciousness, thoughts, and independence. freēwebnovel.com
’What in the world is going on?’
’Is this "Gao Tian" inside the urn me from some point in the future, or is he a replica created by the urn?’
Fortunately, the "Gao Tian" inside didn’t seem to notice. He glanced outside the urn, apparently saw nothing, and looked away. It was clear his attention was now almost entirely focused on the rusty longsword he had risked life and limb to snatch from the corpse.
The more Gao Tian watched, the less his questions were answered. The mystery only deepened.
The bus occasionally stopped at stations to let passengers on and off. Whenever it did, the darkness of the urn-world would swarm forward like a tide of maggots, completely obscuring whatever was boarding.
Gradually, the bus’s once-translucent shell turned solid, making it impossible to see inside. Gao Tian could no longer be sure if the "Gao Tian" who had taken the longsword was still alive.
The story in the urn-world ended as abruptly as it began.
The bus came to a stop at a station. Though the nameless black fog shrouded most of the scenery, the corner of a school building was visible. The sign at the school gate bore three golden words: "Pagoda Primary School."
As the doors opened, "Gao Tian" limped off the bus. His clothes were covered in bloodstains, and he still clutched the rusty blade he’d taken from the corpse.
It was impossible to know what had happened on the bus during its journey.
A female passenger followed him off. Her clothes were tidy, and she appeared to be largely unharmed.
’This female passenger... is it Su Jiu?’
Gao Tian’s attention had been focused entirely on his double, so he hadn’t paid much attention to the other miniature figures. Now that only two people were getting off, he took a quick look and felt that the woman’s clothes and hairstyle seemed a bit like Su Jiu’s.
Su Jiu was the new girl from the second green-text mission. She didn’t have much of a presence but was quite obedient. Whatever seniors like Jiang Yang or Xia Ta told her to do, she did.
The miniature figure in the urn wasn’t very clear, so Gao Tian could only make an educated guess based on her silhouette and clothes. He couldn’t be one-hundred-percent certain it was Su Jiu.
Just as he leaned closer to the urn’s mouth to get a better look, all the projected illusions within vanished like smoke. The scene reverted to the grotto and skeleton from before.
The urn’s prophecy had vanished.
Gao Tian slowly stood up, his thoughts returning to the room he was in.
He was now about seventy percent certain that the scene in the urn was a snippet of a future event.
He would never get on a bus with a corpse on it, and Su Jiu wouldn’t be on that bus with him. There was only one scenario in which both could happen simultaneously: they were on a green-text mission.
And if it was a green-text mission, then everything his double had done on the bus would make sense.
If the urn’s ability really was to "predict the future," that would also explain why Xu Yuan had valued it so highly, even after becoming a ghost.
’Developing the urn’s abilities, learning how to prophesize, how to more accurately predict a desired future, how to interpret the scenes in the visions... If I can deepen my understanding of this urn, maybe I really can rely on it to survive the ten apartment missions.’
Gao Tian had a nagging feeling that the urn’s true power might be even greater than that.
Master Yunshan sought cultivation, but he must have failed in the end. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have perished, his path extinguished, only to be turned into a figurine and put on display here. In the ages that followed, the supernatural wasn’t suppressed; on the contrary, it grew ever more rampant.
Just as he was lost in thought, his phone vibrated again. He had received two messages at once.
He opened his phone. One message was from Xia Ta, and the other was from the Jialan Society chat group.
Gao Tian hesitated for a moment before tapping on the Jialan Society’s message. After confirming that someone had just sent another "black packet" and that nothing else of importance was happening, he switched to his chat with Xia Ta.
[Rabbit King]:
Gao Tian, are you in your room right now?
[Gao Tian]:
I’m on the third floor.
[Rabbit King]:
Please come downstairs. Your third green-text mission has appeared.
The time between missions has been short, I know, but the sooner you complete this third one, the sooner you can get back and join our upstairs team. freёwebnoѵel.com
[Gao Tian]:
Hold on, I’ll change my shoes and be right down.
...
Gao Tian’s heart leaped. The mission had come at just the right time.
He would soon find out if the scene in the urn was truly a prophecy.
...
’If I complete this mission, I can join the upstairs team. But what if I don’t?’
Xia Ta hadn’t said, and Gao Tian didn’t ask.
In this apartment, everyone was struggling for their lives. If a mere third mission was enough to kill Gao Tian, it would only mean that Xia Ta had misjudged him. He would be deemed incapable of investigating the fourth floor with the other administrators, just a burden who would drag them down.
Completing at least three missions was the test of his abilities, set by Zhao Zhenjia and the others.
