Chapter 1 Glitch

Buzz buzz buzz buzz...

The surveillance drones in the distance were approaching along their patrol route.

Based on the calculation, the blank period in the surveillance blind spot would soon end.

Before scaling the wall, Lin Xian had already noticed that the girl wearing the Ultraman mask was not Li Ningning, based on the change in fragrance.

He recalled.

On the way running through the woods, Li Ningning had fallen behind for a while and then quickly caught up.

But with Li Ningning's agility, how could she have fallen behind?

Or if her shoelaces had really come undone or she had something to take care of, she would have told Da Lian Mao (Big Cat) and the others in advance. She would never have fallen behind without saying a word.

She didn't seem like such an unorganized and undisciplined person.

Then...

There was only one possibility!

Li Ningning had been ambushed in the woods, and the woman who ambushed her had put on Li Ningning's mask, disguising herself as her!

This familiar routine was exactly the same as when he had disguised himself as Da Lian Mao.

But the woman who ambushed Li Ningning had clearly come prepared.

She and Li Ningning were very similar in figure, slender and thin, and about the same height. Plus, they were both wearing black tights and had their hair up... it was really easy to disguise themselves.

What's more, there was also the Ultraman mask to cover their faces. In such a dim environment, it was impossible to notice without careful observation.

And the person who ambushed her was very careful.

She didn't speak, nor did she run to the front of the team. She stayed in the back.

At that time, Da Lian Mao and the others were all focused on looking at their watches and the drone's route, and they didn't notice that Li Ningning had changed without them realizing it.

Based on this series of "coming prepared"...

This woman impersonating Li Ningning, her purpose was very simple—

It was to use Da Lian Mao and the others as a human shield, taking the opportunity to climb into this garbage disposal plant.

Lin Xian had witnessed this familiar plot and routine countless times in the "First Dream."

Combining that with the familiar figure and skills, there was a high probability that the woman who ambushed and impersonated Li Ningning...

Was very likely to be CC!

Therefore.

Urged by Da Lian Mao, Lin Xian didn't hesitate any longer.

He directly sprinted, climbed, and flipped over the wall.

It was still necessary to verify this answer.

The worst that could happen was death.

In his infinitely looping dream, the thing that was worth the least was life.

...

However.

The moment he jumped down from the wall, the woman behind him pressed a gun to the back of his head.

Obviously, she had heard his questioning shout when she was climbing the wall and realized that her identity had been exposed.

Even if she was CC.

In his eyes, CC was indeed a very familiar acquaintance, someone he had cooperated with countless times, even a "friend" he had once leaned against a safe with and chatted with.

But for CC, it wasn't like that.

To her, Lin Xian was a complete stranger, and also an accomplice of Li Ningning. Now that Lin Xian had discovered that her identity was exposed, she was in a very dangerous situation.

Perhaps...

She could pull the trigger at any time.

"Don't be nervous," Lin Xian said friendly:

"I—"

Swish————

Before he could finish speaking, the person behind him retracted her gun and jumped away like a rabbit. When Lin Xian turned his head... she had disappeared without a trace.

Buzz buzz buzz buzz!!

The sound of the drone's propellers overhead grew louder and louder, approaching rapidly.

Da Lian Mao had said that all the robots and equipment vehicles in this garbage disposal plant were blind and would only work according to the program.

But the drones had monitoring and alarm functions. Their patrol range was about 20 meters inside and outside the wall, so they must not be discovered by them.

The person behind him was obviously very familiar with the patrol drones.

Lin Xian also quickly ran into the garbage disposal plant, jumping and rolling several times to hide under an overturned sofa, successfully avoiding the patrol drone's detection.

He looked at his watch.

00:05

There were still 12 minutes until the agreed-upon evacuation time with Da Lian Mao.

He certainly cared about whether the "switched woman" was CC, but right now... there were many things he cared about more.

"Introduction to the Cosmic Constant"
"Historical Data of Company X"
"President's Information of Company X in the Newspaper"

Although finding this information in the garbage disposal plant was like looking for a needle in a haystack, since he couldn't see the possibility of infiltrating Xindonghai City in the short term, he still had to try.

Lin Xian aimed at the position of the drone and ran a few more steps forward.

Successfully escaping the monitoring area 20 meters from the high wall.

He turned his head to look at the monitoring room in the middle of the garbage disposal plant...

It was empty. The regulator in uniform from just now probably went to change shifts. The new regulator would arrive at 00:20, so he had to cherish this short time.

Even if he didn't want his life, not considering climbing over the wall, the time left for him to search in the garbage dump was only 20 minutes.

Although the regulator might not have a weapon on him, Da Lian Mao had said that the weapons on the drones were enough to kill people, not to mention the special security robots on standby at any time.

"Let's go."

Walking out of the monitoring blind spot, the regulator wasn't there, so he could act freely without worry.

Several robots and vehicles brushed past Lin Xian, busily working.

Sure enough, they were all blind.

The garbage plant was very large, but the speed of processing garbage was very fast, so the amount of garbage piled up was not much. Lin Xian immediately climbed onto the garbage and began to search.

There was all kinds of garbage...

Very smelly, very sticky, very disgusting.

But he couldn't care about that now.

He searched left and right, but it was all household garbage, food, construction waste, and other useless items.

He didn't see a single newspaper or book.

"Sigh..."

Lin Xian sighed.

Perhaps, as he had guessed, the people of Xindonghai City no longer read books or bought newspapers. They must have more advanced ways of reading.

He changed to another garbage mountain to search.

While searching, he also looked in the direction where the woman in black had disappeared, but he didn't see any signs of activity.

It seems...

Her target wasn't garbage.

She entered this garbage plant for another purpose!

What could it be?

Lin Xian felt that after entering this new dream, he was in a state of "information explosion," and he would have to sort it out carefully later.

"Found a book."

Lin Xian was very excited. Although the surroundings were dirty and smelly, the joy of digging for treasure was so simple and unadorned.

He opened it and looked...

It was a cookbook.

He continued to flip through it.

Lin Xian didn't consider looking for other valuable things, including the electronic products that Da Lian Mao asked him to find. He did see them, but he didn't care.

The world was going to be destroyed at 00:42 anyway, so it was meaningless to throw them out to Da Lian Mao and the others.

Shoo————Shoo————

Outside the wall, there was a sudden rapid bird call. Lin Xian heard it clearly. It was the whistle that Da Lian Mao had given him before.

But... wasn't it too early?

Lin Xian looked down at his watch. It was only 00:13 now.

There were still 4 minutes until the agreed-upon escape time.

He recalled what Da Lian Mao had said:

"Remember, no matter when you hear this sound, retreat immediately, climb over the wall, don't care about anything, just run, run to this mountain to gather. Don't hesitate!"

It seems...

There was an emergency outside.

Perhaps there was danger.

Perhaps... the real Li Ningning had run over, and Da Lian Mao and the others had discovered that Li Ningning had been impersonated, reminding Lin Xian that there was danger and to retreat as soon as possible!

Lin Xian picked up the whistle and blew a long note as well.

Representing that he had received it, and telling them to retreat first.

He didn't plan to retreat now. The white light that would destroy the world was about to arrive, so he might as well search here for a while longer.

He flipped through a few more garbage piles, but still had no results.

Indeed.

To try his luck and find the information he wanted in the garbage dump was really too unrealistic.

It seems...

The only way was to break into Xindonghai City to find the information he wanted in bookstores or other novel equipment, find the history of Company X and the name of the current president, and find Da Lian Mao's father's book, "Introduction to the Cosmic Constant."

On the other side.

A uniformed regulator yawned as he walked over, sat in the monitoring room, and began to stare blankly ahead, occasionally laughing.

Lin Xian noticed that he was wearing something like a Bluetooth headset on his ear... and his eyes were erratic, as if he was looking at the air about a few tens of centimeters in front of him.

It should be some high-tech gadget, like a holographic projection? Anyway, this guy was definitely not concentrating on his work.

Boom————

On the side of the steel high wall, a huge steel gate rose up, and the sound of the rumble was deafening. One after another, trucks loaded with garbage drove out of the gate, tilting the garbage one by one in different areas.

Boom————

The steel gate rumbled and fell.

Lin Xian looked over there.

Those garbage trucks were transporting the garbage from the garbage transfer stations in Xindonghai City to the garbage disposal plant outside the city for processing.

Lin Xian watched those garbage trucks unloading, pouring out all kinds of garbage that was no different from the garbage piles in front of him. There was everything.

Even—

"Huh?"

Lin Xian saw a pile of extremely familiar things.

Square, silver and shiny, thick and solid, as if they had just been manufactured...

They were the safes with names written on them from the bank warehouse in the First Dream!

"Why are they on the garbage truck?"

Lin Xian was very surprised.

He was too familiar with these safes.

He had tried countless times to crack the password in the First Dream, but he had never succeeded. And later, when he was preparing to forcibly cut them open, he lifted a stone and smashed his own foot due to uncontrollable time and space changes, turning the material of these steel safes into the super aviation material of invincible hardness—new hafnium alloy.

He ran carefully and quickly, changed cover, and continued to watch.

Unlike other garbage trucks... the garbage truck that was dumping a large pile of hafnium alloy safes had very little other household garbage. Basically, all that was being dumped were hafnium alloy safes.

Going a little closer...

Lin Xian could see more clearly.

His previous guess was correct!

Those hafnium alloy safes all had eight combination wheels! You could vaguely see names engraved on them!

"I've searched high and low..."

Lin Xian seized the opportunity, and with another bow and quick run, ran behind the cover closest to the garbage truck and the pile of unloaded safes—

Click.

A small handgun stretched out from behind the cover and pressed tightly against Lin Xian's forehead!

Familiar camellia fragrance, familiar Ultraman mask, familiar dark brown hair, familiar lithe figure in black tights, and... a familiar voice:

"Don't move."

A sweet voice like a wren came from behind the mask.

A slender, smooth hand lifted the Rhine Cat mask on Lin Xian's chin and lifted it directly...

"Heh."

The woman behind the Ultraman mask chuckled:

"It really is you!"