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Chapter 430 Intersecting Timelines, Different 'Rings of Time' [2-in-1]

Chapter 430 Intersecting Timelines, Different 'Rings of Time' [Two-in-One]

Changsheng Island, County Bank

The old-fashioned ceiling fan still hummed on the ceiling, sunlight filtering through the blades and casting shimmering spots of light on the bulletproof glass.

As soon as Chen Kong stepped into the business hall, he was enveloped by a smell of ink and mildew. Compared to the damp smell of the guesthouse, this place had an inexplicably cold, metallic feel.

The staff behind the counter wore faded blue overalls, their collars stiffened, and their hair neatly combed.

He raised his head, his misty pupils sweeping over the three of them, his voice stiff and strained, like the static of an old radio.

"Hello, what kind of service do you need?"

Similar to when Tiandao opened his savings account, the counter staff in the business hall said almost the exact same thing.

Faced with this question, Chen Kong and Mi Yao subconsciously exchanged a glance and then looked at Vivian in unison.

Of the three, only she had experience handling business here and was familiar with the 'rules'.

Vivian stepped forward and calmly said, "I'd like to handle your savings and currency exchange transactions."

She emphasized the word 'exchange' and took out an oil paper package from her tactical pocket, revealing a corner of the dark red core of the rotten vine corpse inside.

Upon hearing this, the staff member's empty eyes instantly lit up.

The corners of his mouth widened slightly, and he said with a forced smile, "Is that so? Then please fill out the form first."

As he spoke, he pulled out three yellowed application forms from under the counter and handed them out.

"Fill in real information?"

Looking at the contents of the application form, Mi Yao frowned.

"Don't worry, look at the words at the very bottom."

Seeing that Mi Yao seemed to have some concerns, Vivian immediately offered a reminder.

Upon hearing this, Mi Yao and Chen Kong immediately looked at the bottom of the application form.

There was a line of almost illegible writing there.

Those who provide false information will be considered as having no valid equivalent.

With this note, Mi Yao and Chen Kong understood that they had almost no other choice, and immediately began to fill it out.

After filling out these application forms and waiting for the staff to confirm that their information was correct.

The other party immediately processed their exchange.

Dust opened the oil paper package and poured the core of the rotten vine corpse inside onto the counter.

There were five in total, all of ordinary quality, with dried sap still clinging to their surfaces, giving them a dull sheen under the light.

How much can these be exchanged for?

Although the two of them were unable to produce a high-level life core like the Heavenly Dao had done before.

During their perilous escape that night, they also killed quite a few ordinary rotting vine corpses and left behind some of their life cores.

They wouldn't use their own lifespan and memories as an equivalent exchange.

The staff took out a copper scale and carefully placed the weight on it. The 'click' sound of the weight sliding was particularly clear in the quiet hall.

“A common rotten vine corpse core can be exchanged for 10 small bills. Five cores will be worth 50 small bills. Adding the small bills you have already saved, you will have a total of 72 small bills.”

As he spoke, he took out a stack of brand-new small bills from the drawer, each one still smelling of ink.

"Can you issue a check-in receipt for the guesthouse?"

The staff member paused for a moment, then pushed the stack of small bills back.

"The voucher requires two 'big ten' bills in the account, and 72 'small bills' is far from enough."

"But we can only stay in that storage room for one more day. What will we do after that?"

Chen Kong frowned, wondering if he possessed the same strength as Tian Dao Chen Xing and others.

For them, Changsheng County at night was not a safe place.

Without the protection of the guesthouse, they might not be able to survive the night on their own.

Vivian looked at Chen Kong, who was still thinking, and patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry."

Seeing the puzzled look in the eyes of the dust droplet, Vivian calmly said, "We can stay in the storage room for another day. That's enough time for us to figure out how to get enough savings to exchange for check-in vouchers."

At the same time, Vivian also subtly gave Chen Kong a wink.

Upon receiving this information, Chen Kong immediately understood.

If Changsheng County is dangerous at night, does that mean the bank in Changsheng County isn't dangerous?

This place is also not suitable for staying for long.

Thinking of this, Chen Kong turned to the staff and said, "Then please continue processing our savings first, and we can talk about other things later."

Before long, the staff helped the two of them complete the savings account and handed them a passbook with a red cover that was as hard as a wooden board.

When Chen Kong took the passbook, his fingers accidentally touched the staff member's hand.

Those hands were as cold as if they had just been taken out of a freezer, devoid of any human warmth.

"Let's go."

Chen Kong stuffed the passbook into his pocket and walked out with Mi Yao, who had also finished his business.

Vivian followed at the back, glancing back before leaving. She happened to see the staff stuffing the five cores of the rotten vine corpse into an iron box, the lock clicking shut, exactly the same as when Tiandao came last time.

It felt strangely familiar.

As soon as the three of them stepped out of the bank, they squinted because of the midday sun.

Mi Yao counted the small bills in his hand, frowning as he said, "Two large bills are 200 small bills, and we're still 128 short... We can't possibly go and chop down another 13 rotting vine corpses, can we?"

Chen Kong didn't reply. He stared at the bank's glass door and suddenly said, "When you were filling out the form just now, did you feel the light flicker?"

In response, Mi narrowed his eyes and said meaningfully, "You noticed that too?"

Chen Kong nodded.

If it were just a simple flashing of lights, Chen Kong wouldn't think much of it.

But while in that bank, Chen Kong always felt inexplicably uncomfortable.

"It shouldn't be your imagination."

Just as Chen Kong was pondering the reason behind this, Vivian suddenly spoke up.

"Did you find something?"

Vivian nodded. As a smart machine envoy, she would naturally investigate and gather information about her surroundings.

However, since there are no more clues at the moment, Vivian did not rush to reveal her guess, but kept it a secret.

"Let's go. The most important thing right now is to get you a check-in voucher for the guesthouse."

"I suspect that if we hadn't stayed overnight at the guesthouse, it would have caused a lot of unnecessary trouble."

Unnecessary trouble...

Chen Kong pondered for a moment, then turned to look at the timetable on the bank's door.

It seems they were trying to glean something from it.

Meanwhile, in the county bank lobby

Liu Ma rubbed his numb wrist and stuffed the stack of small bills he had just exchanged into his pocket.

Behind him, Isabel was fixing her hair in front of the mirror, her pale blue strands gleaming coldly under the light: "I really don't understand why they have to use such disgusting cores to make money."

Her boots were still covered in the slime of the rotting vine corpse, leaving sticky footprints on the floor.

The staff member behind the counter was the same person Chen Kong and his group had encountered, but now he was giving Liu Ma a 'friendly' smile.

"Your life core levels are not low. In addition to the small change, I can also give you a temporary voucher for the guesthouse."

"Temporary? How long will it last?"

Liu Ma frowned.

"Three days."

A staff member handed over a piece of stiff cardstock with a portrait of Liu Ma on it, the strokes rough yet precise. "These three days should be enough for you to find what you're looking for."

Isabel took the voucher and suddenly noticed the reflection on the counter glass.

Although the hall was empty, three familiar figures were reflected in the glass. One of them, wearing tactical clothing, looked exactly like Chen Kong, whom she had seen when she landed on the island.

She was immediately surprised and turned around abruptly, but the scene that came into view left her stunned.

Outside the hall, there were no familiar faces, only swaying sunlight, and not a single person in sight.

When she turned back again, the three familiar figures on the glass had disappeared, leaving only her own blurry face.

"what happened?"

Noticing Isabel's unusual behavior, Liu Ma followed her gaze and saw only clean glass. He asked her curiously.

"Is this place driving me to hallucinations?"

"may be."

Isabel rubbed her temples, stuffed the voucher into her pocket, and a sense of unease crept into her mind.

Those three figures from behind looked so real; it couldn't have been an illusion.

So, is this an illusion, or...?
Isabel wasn't sure which one it was, and finally shook her head helplessly to brush it off.

"It's nothing, maybe I'm just seeing things. Don't worry about it."

"???"

Looking at Isabel, who was frowning in thought, Liu Ma had a feeling that she had discovered something, but he wasn't sure.

But since she doesn't want to talk about it, there's no need for me to ask any further.

So the two of them soon walked out of the county bank together.

The two, who were only five minutes apart from Chen Kong and his group, did not encounter Chen Kong and his group until they left the bank.

This strange place was immediately noticed by the viewers from the God's-eye view.

'Strange, why didn't Liu Ma and his group encounter Lao Kong and the others?'

Did you just miss it?

'It doesn't seem like it; it looks more like some kind of foreshadowing.'

After the two left, the bank teller used tweezers to pick up a new application form and neatly placed it on the counter, as if the two groups of customers had never been there.

The ceiling fan continued its humming, the sunlight still cast the same dappled patterns, and the entire hall returned to its timeless silence.

[Changsheng County, Guesthouse]

"Has the Heavenly Dao not returned yet?"

Jing Liuli wiped her wet hair, and water droplets from the ends of her hair dripped onto the floor, spreading out small watermarks.

She looked at Caroline in the living room, who was standing in front of the only calendar in the room, her brows furrowed, and she didn't even hear her question.

With a touch of curiosity, Jing Liuli walked over and discovered that Caroline was marking up the calendar with a red pen.

The dates circled in red were all June 15th, and there were still a few faint circles on the edge of the calendar, obviously drawn and then erased before.

"Caroline, what are you looking at? This calendar is so old that the pages are falling off."

This time, Caroline finally came to her senses.

She looked at Jing Liuli, pondered for a moment, and said, "Liuli, do you remember when we arrived on the island?"

"July 15th, Sunday, I remember it."

Jing Liuli pointed to her head, indicating that she had a good memory.

"Look at this."

Caroline pushed the calendar towards her. The bottom month of the calendar showed June, and next to June 15th, which was circled in red, there was a small rose symbol.

Upon seeing this, Jing Liuli instantly understood.

"You mean we're a month ago now?"

Caroline nodded: "Not only that, but also..."

"And what?"

Do you really think our time is 'moving forward'?

Time advances
In a normal setting, Jing Liuli would find Caroline's words very abnormal.

After all, what else can time do if it doesn't move forward?
Stagnation or regression?

Caroline didn't offer much explanation, simply stating her own judgment.

"If I'm not mistaken, this entire island is like a giant tree trunk, and each day on the island is like a tree ring."

"Unless we can find a way to the next level, we'll be stuck in the same day."

"That's why we haven't met anyone else besides ourselves in the almost two days we've been here."

"It's not because they got lost, but because they and we are not in the same time and space."

Caroline's words were like a thunderclap, instantly exploding in Jing Liuli's mind.

"How was that determined?"

After thinking for a moment, Caroline said, "We'll know at a glance."

She walked to the window, pushed it open a crack, and the sunlight outside shone directly onto the food stalls across the street.

The stall owner was still the same old man with a goatee, serving the plain noodles to a villager wearing a blue cloth jacket, just like yesterday.

After showing Jing Liuli all of this, Caroline closed the window and drew the curtains to block out the glaring sunlight.

"If I'm not mistaken, the Heavenly Dao must have gone to find a way to break the cycle yesterday."

"What we need to do now is to identify the pattern of this cycle."

Before she could finish speaking, she was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Jing Liuli ran to open the door, but there was no one outside. There was only a piece of paper folded into a triangle, lying on the threshold.

The handwriting on the note was vigorous and powerful, the work of Heaven.

[We've found the right time; let's go to the bank in the county seat.]

Jing Liuli and Caroline exchanged a glance, both seeing the decision in each other's eyes.

They packed their belongings and quickly left the guesthouse.

Across the street, at a food stall, an old man with a goatee was serving a bowl of plain noodles to a villager wearing a blue cloth jacket, his movements exactly the same as what Caroline had seen yesterday.

Before long, the two arrived at the county bank they had visited the day before.

To their surprise, they had assumed that Heaven would be waiting for them at the door.

But there was no one at the bank entrance at that moment.

"How to do?"

When asked by Jing Liuli, Caroline thought for a moment and then said, "Wait."

"When?"

"night."

"why?"

"Because if I'm not mistaken, the night is the key 'passage'."

"If I'm not mistaken, everything we encountered today, except for us, is exactly the same as yesterday."

Upon hearing this, Jing Liuli instantly perked up.

Then, remembering that Tiandao hadn't returned since leaving last night, she asked, "Was Tiandao's departure last night related to your guess?"