Countdown: Humanity's struggle to survive against yesterday

Chapter 23 remains unchanged.

Jiang Ning opened his eyes!

The light was so bright and dazzling that it made it difficult to see one's surroundings.

Once his eyes adjusted to the light, Jiang Ning saw the lake surface shimmering in the sunlight, with rays of light reflected off the lake and into his eyes.

"I...didn't go back to the bustling neighborhood!"

Jiang Ning stood up in surprise, glanced down at her clothes, which were still the same ones from "yesterday," and held her phone in her hand.

However, the campfire in front of him and the two empty cigarette packs were gone, as was the large bag of unfinished food beside him.

"I was actually able to stay still and not roll backward with the world."

"No, it's my clothes, and my phone..."

Jiang Ning took another careful look at herself. Her clothes, her phone, and her keys were all still there.

"What's the reason?"

Is it the environment? Is it the distance? Or...?

Jiang Ning quickly went through all the reference points he could think of in his mind, and finally focused his thoughts on the "mysterious space".

"Yes, it must be God... It's the change caused by that magical space like the sleep monitoring station!"

He suddenly felt he couldn't bring himself to say the words "mysterious space," as if they felt out of place and were too abstract.

It's acceptable to define it this way before observation, but to call it that way after observation seems like a self-denial.

Jiang Ning immediately sat down cross-legged with his eyes closed. Under the afternoon sun, he first quickly focused his attention through meditation. Once his mind was free of distractions, he immediately began to contemplate the mysterious entity that was happening to him.

In an instant, he felt himself being pulled in.

When I opened my eyes, I was already in a space that looked a lot like a "sleep monitoring station". There was still nothing around me, and everything was foggy.

Jiang Ning waved his hand, repeating the action he had taken during his previous observation. He first drove all the gray fog several thousand meters above his head, then waved his hand again, separating the gray and grayish-white areas to the sides.

Jiang Ning looked up and saw that the sky above was almost entirely grayish-white, with only a small amount of gray. The proportions on both sides were like a lone cloud facing a vast expanse of white clouds on a cloudy day.

Jiang Ning pulled over a gray dot, which grew to the size of an egg in his hand. He looked closely and saw that it contained a sleeping person.

Jiang Ning pulled over another grayish-white dot, and when zoomed in, it revealed a conscious person inside.

Both of them were women, and Jiang Ning didn't recognize either of them.

Jiang Ning observed carefully for a while and discovered that the sleeping woman's perspective was fixed; no matter how he tried to rotate the bead, the perspective remained unchanged. However, the conscious woman within the grayish-white bead had a shifting perspective; as he shook the bead, he could even see a small area of ​​the scenery around her.

However, these views were very blurry, and you could only see the general outline, as if they were covered by a thin mist.

At this moment, the conscious woman seemed to be taking a bath. Jiang Ning only glanced at her two full breasts before quickly looking away.

After placing the two beads back into the clouds, Jiang Ning tried to recall which one belonged to him, based on his previous observation experience.

As soon as he thought this, the clouds above his head changed again. Just like last time, all the beads began to resonate and then formed a river of clouds once more.

A red bead rests quietly in the canal.

Jiang Ning reached out his hand, and the red bead trembled slightly before naturally slipping into his palm.

Jiang Ning looked down and saw a person in the mirror who looked exactly like him also looking up at him.

"call……"

Seeing this scene again still deeply moved Jiang Ning.

He had looked in the mirror many times, but this was not a mirror; it was something unknown to him. Holding it in his hands now, he didn't know whether it was a blessing or a curse.

However, Jiang Ning quickly composed himself. Whether it was a blessing or a curse, things were as they were now, and he could only accept it.

He stared at the red bead that represented him, lost in thought:

"The biggest variable that prevented me from returning to the bustling city this time was the appearance of this bead!"

"This red bead was originally hidden in the canal, just like the other beads. Now that I have it in my hands, it means that I have actively changed its original state."

"No, it was when I accidentally crushed it last time that I changed its original state."

"After changing the original state, I soon experienced a new round of world regression."

"After that, I stopped following the world back to the state of the previous day."

"So..." Jiang Ning reasoned backward, feeling as if he had found a way to unlock this anomaly within himself. "As long as I take the bead representing myself out of the Cloud River and crush it, I can freeze myself."

The word "定" (dìng)!

Jiang Ning thought it was a very apt analogy, like a ship dropping anchor; once the anchor is lowered, the ship will no longer drift with the current.

As Jiang Ning thought this to himself, he looked down at the red bead he was holding in his hands again. He really wanted to crush it again right now, but after thinking about it, he decided not to do it.

There's no food left at Dingshan Lake. If I were to "break down" here, wouldn't I just be asking for trouble?

I should try somewhere else!

Ideally, it should be near a hospital!

This way, we can eliminate more variables and also take the opportunity to verify that we won't revert to our original state after being injured, just like the world regresses.

Thinking it over, Jiang Ning closed his eyes and silently recited the words "leave."

Perhaps it was because of the first time that things went smoothly the second time, but when Jiang Ning opened his eyes, he found himself back in the outside world.

"This place is perfect for camping!"

Jiang Ning stood up and looked at Dingshan Lake in front of him. The lake was vast and calm, and the afternoon sun made it shimmer with golden light. It was surrounded by trees, and the air was very pleasant.

Just then, a pair of mandarin ducks landed in the center of the lake, and the two birds pecked at each other's feathers.

Jiang Ning watched this scene quietly, thinking to herself, "I wonder if I could freeze time with someone else, so that I could travel freely with Lin Wei without a care in the world..."

……

"Dad, what brings you here?"

Jiang Ning noticed that his father was wearing an apron around his neck that he only wore when delivering vegetables. He knew that his father must have been sent back to the county town to deliver vegetables. Nevertheless, he asked about it.

Jiang Hua didn't respond to his son's words at first. He first looked around at the students who were walking happily out of the school gate, and then silently tucked the cigarette behind his ear.

"Xiao Yuan, why do all these kids look so happy?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuan looked at his father in surprise. His father was still the same father, unchanged, but his expression seemed to hold a hint of melancholy.

Is that all?

Jiang Yuan scratched his head, really not knowing how to answer.

I can't exactly tell Dad that everyone wants a holiday.

Fortunately, Jiang Hua didn't seem to expect his son to answer the question. After asking, he looked away from the crowd, glanced at his son, and seeing that he was unharmed, said, "Are you coming home today? If not, I'll leave by myself..."

"Forehead……"

Jiang Yuan felt a pang of sadness and didn't know how to respond.

You finally managed to come to the school to see me, and it just so happened that the world had regressed and you were stuck in the county town, and all you did was ask yourself this.

"I'm going back; I can discuss something with you on the way!"

"What is it?" Jiang Hua's face darkened, and he looked at his second son with a playful expression, as if to say, "Have you gotten into trouble again?"

Seeing this, Jiang Yuan looked completely innocent. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to voice a thought that had popped into his head while he was daydreaming in the classroom:

"Dad, since I can't go to school anymore, how about we go to Shanghai to visit my brother?"