War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 2017 Timeline

With the click of the shutter, the white light reappeared and faded away at an extremely fast speed. Wei Ran, the fake Clara, and Maria Solovyova returned to that peaceful and tranquil pasture.

“Get the data stream running again,” Clara said. “That’s what this is all about.”

"What's the meaning?"

Wei Ran stared at the camera that had vanished from his hand, then looked at Maria Solovyova, who was now hugging him again for comfort, and asked, "What is the meaning of all this?"

“Back when I was involved in exploring this place, we also made guesses about the questions you were curious about.”

Clara said, "We."

"Excuse me for interrupting."

Wei Ran said, "Can you appear as you are? To be honest, it's very offensive to me for you to appear as Clara."

"Feel sorry"

As Clara spoke, her appearance transformed into that of a girl dressed in the uniform of the German League of Girls during World War II, whose figure and looks were stunning enough to be described as gorgeous, but whom Wei Ran had never seen before.

"Has Little Mustache already broken through dimensions and traveled to your era?" Wei Ran made a not-so-funny joke.

"That kind of thing is impossible."

The young woman opposite her said apologetically, "The era I live in is far too far removed from yours, so far that my data stream has broken down. Therefore, I can only appear by borrowing the data stream of your civilization."

This image is a data stream carrier that I chose based on my analysis of your aesthetic preferences, and I hope you like it.

"Thank you so much"

Wei Ran shook his head helplessly, "Let's skip this topic and continue."

"We guess"

The beauty opposite said, "This is just a seed sown, a seed that could be harvested at any time, but it is unknown whether it will be a seed that is forgotten."

"I didn't understand," Wei Ran shook his head.

"Human beings, I mean, whether it is my time, your time, or the time of those civilizations between us."

The girl opposite said, "These human 'data streams' are all valuable resources."

"I still didn't understand."

"Snapped!"

The pretty girl across from them snapped her fingers, and an old man with disheveled hair appeared at the coffee table between them.

"Snapped!"

With the second snap of his fingers, another man appeared at the table, sporting a full head of curly hair, holding a red apple, and seemingly exuding a strong spice scent.

"Click"

The man took a bite of the apple in his hand the moment he appeared, but judging from his absent-minded expression, it was clear that his attention was not on the apple at all.

"I understand."

Having already recognized or guessed who these two were, Wei Ran sighed, "You're right, these human 'data streams' are all valuable resources."

"When technology iterates to a sufficiently advanced level..."

The girl across from me explained, "These data streams might power a 'computer,' and the core processor of that computer is these massive data streams."

"The era you live in"

"not at all"

The girl opposite said, "We've only progressed to matching these data streams with new individual carriers, which is what we call rebirth."

"That sounds tempting."

Despite saying that, Wei Ran immediately changed the subject, "And what about sowing seeds?"

"Here, I mean that this database was not created in my time."

The girl opposite explained, "It was discovered in my time; creation and discovery are two different things."

We explored this database for quite some time, until after my death, a ten-day war broke out over the database I managed.

"Isn't this your goal?" Wei Ran retorted, "To train an excellent soldier."

That was just a self-deprecating remark.

The beautiful girl opposite me shook her head. "My compatriots, in their struggle for this place, foolishly used the data streams here to develop weapons that destroyed our civilization. They ended the battle in just ten days, and in just ten days, they successfully blasted apart the continental plates, and then..."

At this point, the pretty girl's self-deprecating expression deepened, "And then, everyone arrived here via data flow, so no one had to compete anymore, and I went from being a researcher to a manager."

"That sounds like hell."

This place is hell.

The girl across from me smiled. "That was a long, long time ago. After that, new life began to appear on Earth, and strange things started to happen."

"strange things?"

"When new intelligent life begins to appear on Earth, the corresponding data flow here also begins to break down."

Overall, aside from me as the manager, the data flow here has consistently maintained a balanced total volume, which is quite strange, isn't it?

"Reincarnation?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"I think it should be a formatting reset of the data stream, but this formatting only occurs during the transition of civilizations, so it is very different from reincarnation."

The girl opposite said, "After spending enough time with these data streams, I have a vague feeling that each data stream may be encrypted."

In other words, each data stream may have already stored enough knowledge as civilization has iterated over time. Don't you think that's a bit contrived?

"Waiting to be unlocked, then operating at full efficiency?"

"Maybe"

The girl opposite said, "This is just my guess. Although I have lived here for a long time and even fell in love with a certain data stream, there are still many secrets here, but my time is running out."

"Are you going to collapse too?"

"I should have collapsed a long time ago. This place is about to undergo an update, an update to the storage system. Of course, this is still explained in a way you can understand."

The girl opposite said, "You will take over here as the operating system adapted to the new storage system."

"Like successfully upgrading from XP to Windows 10?"

"It's more like a switch between Apple OS and Android."

The girl opposite me said, "With your appearance and repeated interactions with the data streams, I am gradually losing my ability to manage these data streams."

Ultimately, I too will disintegrate and reappear as a completely new data stream, something I've been anticipating for a very, very long time.

"How should I address you?" Wei Ran asked.

My name is Luo.

The girl opposite said, "Of course, it's just a similar pronunciation. Our civilization has disappeared, or rather, it has been sealed away."

"Alright, I've explained enough. Now let's get down to business." "Business?" Wei Ran subconsciously tensed up.

"Before you die for any reason and take over this place, you gain the authority to observe using the spacetime anchor."

The girl, who identified herself as Luo, said, "There will be no missions, no rank restrictions, no item rewards, and of course, no punishments or danger to your life."

"You mean, I was in mortal danger the whole time?"

"certainly"

Luo nodded. "If you die in a spacetime fragment, your data stream will be erased and become my energy replenishment. Otherwise, how do you think I've managed to hold on until now without collapsing?"

"That sounds disgusting."

"The data stream is still quite delicious; you can taste everything he experienced while he was alive, like an immersive movie."

"Let's stop this cannibalistic talk," Wei Ran said wearily, shaking his head.

"Once you enter the spacetime corresponding to the anchor, the data streams that appear in the form of life will no longer interact with you actively; you can only observe, record, and conduct proactive interviews."

"Records? Interviews?"

"That's right"

Luo nodded. "You are even free to choose whether to use film or a portable hard drive, as long as you can handle the trouble that these things might cause in your world after they are leaked."

"Continue," Wei Ran said after a moment of silence.

"Your assessment is over. All the recording devices from the previous item rewards can now be used across time and space."

Before Luo finished speaking, the tattoo on Wei Ran's left hand had already disintegrated and disappeared, and the data streams of the two invited scientists also disappeared.

However, the metal quill pen floated up and appeared in front of the two of them. It flattened and stretched at a speed visible to the naked eye, eventually becoming a red and blue timeline with finely marked lines.

"The observation point is the day you were born."

Luo smiled and explained, "You can use the anchor to observe the data stream from 100 years ago, and you can stop, rewind, and fast forward at any time."

"What happens next?"

"From now on, we can only take over this place after you die."

Luo chuckled and teased, "We'll still use a method you can understand. Perhaps this is the anti-addiction mechanism here."

"So I don't get any reward this time?"

"If you hadn't been so tempted to do those experiments, you might have gotten a little boy, but right now, I'm letting you pass the level, so you should be grateful."

"All right"

Wei Ran doesn't insist on it; nowadays, those rewards are more of a memento.

"And then it's here."

Luo snapped his fingers, and Clara, still busy at work, reappeared in the wooden house not far away, surrounded by the various props and rewards that Wei Ran had obtained over the years.

These items, ranging from a small pen to a large DT30 transport truck, were all neatly arranged on the lawn in front of the door, like a stall.

That's the real Clara.

Luo began, “She didn’t actually realize she was dead. What led her to shoot herself was the Edelweiss that collapsed on the Beirut battlefield.”

"Split personality?"

"Maybe"

Luo said, "I want to make it clear that in order to prevent my data stream from being tormented by you every day in the future, I did not impersonate her, nor did I eavesdrop or watch you telling her stories here."

“You’ve already let it slip,” Wei Ran said with a smile, shaking his head.

"Have it?"

Luo didn't seem to have any intention of admitting it. "You can still come here. She, like other data streams that have interacted with you, still retains her memory of you."

I cherish my days in the mortal world even more.

Without hesitation, Wei Ran said, "Clara and I fought together at the gates of hell. Now that she's here, she's continuing her life without war."

I think maybe I shouldn't bother her so often. We're friends, so she shouldn't be my emotional dumping ground. Otherwise, what was the point of that Edelweiss in Beirut choosing to commit suicide?

"so."

"Let's talk about it after I die for this or that reason," Wei Ran said nonchalantly.

"up to you"

Luo seemed indifferent. "This will serve as your observation office from now on. Well, that's all I wanted to say. We might meet again in the future."

"In the form of data stream?" Wei Ran asked with great interest, looking at the pretty girl in front of him.

"Who knows?" Luo said, but before she could finish, she suddenly opened her arms and hugged Wei Ran.

In that instant, everything before Wei Ran's eyes was filled with white light, and he vaguely "observed" Claire and Arthur's later lives in the overwhelming white light.

The gift in the baby bottle, along with the old house they sold, became the discovery of another homeowner, and then changed hands many times before finally being sold to a collector.

The collector even visited the elderly Morris, and then the items were encapsulated in plexiglass tubes.

When the white light faded, Wei Ran found himself back in his hotel suite.

He subconsciously looked at the web of his left hand, where the tattoo that had been with him for several years had disappeared.

He tried to take out the metal notebook, but what appeared was a timeline shaped like a quill pen. He could even drag the timeline forward or backward, and see the data stream corresponding to the scale lines.

That includes Maria Solovyova, Clara, Cheng Guanyin, Cousin Meixiang, Squad Leader Dao, Squad Leader Liang, Little Lama, Zhang Zhengqi, Zhang Taichuan, Lin Qiaoan, Su Shengnan, Dong Weixin, and so on.

Whenever his fingertips touched those scale lines, he could clearly sense which data stream corresponded to that scale line.

However, even though the metal notebook is gone, those parts that were once sealed by time, those data streams, have responded in a more vivid and realistic way—but we can't say yet.

These familiar people, and his comrades who had fought alongside him, were all in the upper half of this red and blue feather-shaped timeline, while their enemies, who were on the opposite side, were in the lower half of the timeline, and their tick marks were all blue.

It was precisely because of this that he easily found far too many enemies he had once wished he could tear alive—such as Mr. Ueda, who assisted him in performing shadow puppetry.

"You can stay nailed here forever."

Wei Ran fixed the other party's timeline at the moment of torture, and then began to sort out the people he met in the first instance.

After a long while, with a click of the door opening, Sui Sui walked out of the bedroom, still sleepy, shattering the feather-shaped timeline that only Wei Ran could see. She then skillfully climbed onto his lap and snuggled into his arms. "Why aren't you asleep yet?"

"I'm having some trouble sleeping," Wei Ran said, hugging the girl in his arms.

"Then I'll accompany you."

After Sui Sui finished speaking, she snuggled against Wei Ran's neck, found a comfortable position, and fell asleep again a few seconds later.

Looking at the feather-shaped timeline that had returned to its original state in the air, Wei Ran's mood suddenly improved a lot. Then, with a bright smile, he picked up the girl who was clinging to him, got up, and went into the bedroom.

Only the two old-fashioned kettles, still holding their secrets, remained on the table.

After holding back for four years, four months, and eight days, I finally wrote down this scene I'd been wanting to write for so long. I was so frustrated!