Chapter 415: Speculation

The dizziness from crossing the spatial rift arrived on schedule, but this time, the strangeness Jie Ming felt was far clearer.

It was not merely a simple “sense of familiarity.”

When the team members behind him asked their question, when he raised his hand to display Altreus’s command document, when the sixth-ring wizard from the guard unit flew over to interrogate…

At every moment, the scene before his eyes overlaid perfectly with some blurred double image in his mind.

He could even “foresee” the exact tone of the other’s next sentence, the faint precursor to shifts in surrounding energy flow, and the precise moment when the insect tide on the distant horizon would begin to stir.

This was not déjà vu. This was memory.

When he saw the two thousand bewildered-looking reinforcement wizards behind him, the realization struck like lightning through fog.

The loop had already repeated many times. This was yet another starting point.

And these increasingly clear, ever-repeating “sensations of familiarity”… were memories from his past selves!

“The adaptive evolution of the body forging technique…” Jie Ming instantly understood.

Deep within the body that had been tempered thousands of times by the Body Forging Method—after enduring physical impacts, energy erosion, mental interference, even time-slow fields—some subtler, deeper form of “adaptation” was awakening.

It no longer merely protected the flesh. It was beginning to anchor his very existence, resisting the total reset that time reversal imposed on the individual called “Jie Ming.”

Though he could not yet retain complete memories, this ever-strengthening “sense of familiarity” was proof in itself.

His consciousness, his soul, was gradually gaining resistance to the law phenomenon known as “time loop.”

He quickly collected himself. While waiting for Frost, he sank his consciousness into the Inner Cave Heaven.

Four metal plaques stood silently: 1, 2, 3, 4.

The plaque for “5” had not yet been made, but behind the first four, the number of recording crystals had grown so large they required zoned storage.

Jie Ming swiftly scanned the information recorded on the fourth plaque and the newly added mountain of crystals behind it.

There lay all the data from the previous loop’s total assault observation, along with the overloaded monitoring instruments he had “rescued” at the very last moment.

The information still existed.

The knowledge still accumulated.

This was the foundation upon which wizards resisted the loop.

The meeting with Frost was efficient to the point of being almost procedural.

Jie Ming handed over the summary crystal containing the key data from the fourth loop. After a rapid scan, Frost reached the exact same conclusion as in the previous loop without the slightest hesitation.

“Slow the offensive. Maintain pressure. Extend the research window.” Frost’s words were concise and forceful, yet his gaze lingered on Jie Ming’s face with deeper scrutiny. “That ‘space’ of yours is operating more stably than anticipated. Three consecutive loops, and the data chain has shown no breaks or confusion.”

“My master’s handiwork is naturally reliable,” Jie Ming replied without changing expression.

“Excellent.” Frost nodded, not pressing further, and immediately began issuing detailed tactical adjustment orders.

The new round of research, built upon the foundation of the previous two loops—especially the massive data haul from the last loop’s total assault—finally began to break through scattered observations and advance toward systematic theory-building.

The predictive accuracy of the “time ripple” models improved significantly. Preliminary frameworks emerged for analyzing the correlation between Sickle-Skull social structure and loop tolerance.

However, the calm routine of research was broken on this day.

Frost personally visited the core laboratory where Jie Ming worked, waving his hand to set up a sound-isolating barrier.

“Advisor Jie Ming,” he said, his gaze calm yet piercingly sharp, “regarding the observation instruments you employed at the end of the previous loop—what is their current condition?”

Jie Ming’s heart stirred slightly, but he answered truthfully: “The instruments themselves are basically intact. Although they underwent overclocking before the time reversal, resulting in minor component wear and energy circuit fatigue, after inspection and recharging, they are fully operational once more.”

Frost nodded and continued: “And the blank crystals that recorded that data? The base materials used to manufacture those instruments and consumables—for example, the ‘Void Induction Alloy’ used in the energy scanning arrays, the ‘Inert Crystal Shells’ encapsulating the pheromone capture cores… do you know their origin?”

The questions grew increasingly specific, their direction increasingly clear.

Jie Ming vaguely guessed what was coming, yet he maintained his composure: “Most of the equipment was manufactured or modified from strategic material reserves carried by our wizard expeditionary force. A small portion of specialized materials was synthesized from local resources collected in occupied zones. Commander, has something gone wrong?”

Frost gazed at him for several seconds before speaking slowly: “During the latest round of logistics material allocation, the rear echelon discovered tiny but inexplicable discrepancies in inventory records. After tracing and comparison, the types and quantities of missing materials perfectly match the list of instruments and consumables you reported using in the previous loop—especially those you ‘emergency recovered’ at the very end.”

He paused, his tone neutral: “Originally, after time reversal, all consumed materials should have been restored. But the items you stored inside that ‘recording space’… did not return. They have ‘disappeared’ from this loop’s timeline.”

As expected.

Jie Ming immediately understood.

His Inner Cave Heaven existed outside the time flow of this plane. Items stored within it were effectively excised from the current loop’s “time.”

When time reversal reset everything, the items inside the Cave Heaven—existing in an independent spacetime—were preserved.

But their “existence” in the original timeline was thereby erased, resulting in the inventory anomaly.

“I understand, Commander. This was my oversight. I failed to anticipate this in advance.” Jie Ming admitted candidly. “In subsequent records and reports, I will list this portion of ‘consumption’ separately to avoid confusion in logistics statistics.”

“No, I am not assigning blame.” Frost shook his head. A trace of intrigue flickered in his eyes. “I am confirming a phenomenon. It now appears that your ‘space’ is not merely an information vault… it has become a unique ‘time paradox generator.’ This is very interesting.”

After seeing Frost off, Jie Ming fell into deep thought.

The Cave Heaven could preserve external items—this was now confirmed.

So what if the preserved items were materials inherent to this plane itself?

A far bolder idea began to take shape in his mind.

Returning to the research group, Jie Ming did not conceal anything. He shared Frost’s discovery and his own line of thinking with the core members.

“You mean,” Allison’s eyes lit up as she instantly grasped the key point, “your space is a ‘safe house’ independent of the Reincarnation Plane’s timeline. Items placed inside it will not be reset.”

“But if they are native materials of this plane… in theory, after time reversal, they should ‘revert’ to their original state in nature or within some organism. Yet now they exist inside your space, in a state of having been ‘removed.’ What would that cause?”

“A spacetime continuity paradox.” The elderly wizard specializing in time-law theory pushed up his glasses, his voice trembling slightly with excitement. “An object cannot simultaneously exist in two states. If time reversal forcibly demands it ‘reset,’ while your space prohibits it from ‘disappearing’… contradiction arises. The previous disappearance of your black giants was the manifestation of precisely this conflict—they were ‘canceled’ by the paradox.”

“In that case, the number of experiments we can design is quite considerable.” Another young wizard excitedly proposed. “For example, in this loop, we cut a small, insignificant piece of tissue from a Sickle-Skull and immediately store it in Jie Ming’s space. Then in the next loop, we observe whether that Sickle-Skull has an ‘unhealable wound,’ or whether the tissue simply vanishes from our storage and returns to its body?”

“Going further,” someone’s thinking grew even more divergent, “if in this loop we store a native item in the space, then retrieve and use it in the next loop, and time reverses again… will that item appear in our hands? Or because it was already stored in this loop, will it not appear at all? Or will it be directly erased by the time paradox?”

The laboratory atmosphere instantly turned feverish.

For a group of wizards who pursued knowledge to their very core, there could be no more captivating challenge.

…

…

Once the concepts in the laboratory were clear, action proceeded swiftly.

As the holder of this special space, Jie Ming became the most crucial “executor.”

Under the guidance of the wizards, he began a series of “marking” and “sampling” operations using the unique property of his Inner Cave Heaven—its independence from the time loop.

First came tests on matter.

He went to the edge of the battlefield, excavated large chunks of native plane ore in their entirety, and stored them in the Cave Heaven. He then carefully sliced out and collected sections of marked energy-patterned soil, complete with overlying vegetation.

Next came energy.

With the assistance of several wizards expert in elemental and spiritual energy conversion, they forcibly stripped and sealed a stable mass of “core vein pulse energy” from an active earth-vein node, which Jie Ming likewise stored in the Cave Heaven.

The most complex were the living organism experiments.

They selected several representative native plane lifeforms: from the lowest-tier Sickle-Skull “worker drone larvae” to various adult Sickle-Skull variants.

Some were sealed whole and alive before storage; others had only portions of tissue carefully excised and stored—designed to observe the reactions of different organisms under different conditions after time reversal.

Every sample was meticulously chosen to ensure the wizards could immediately verify the results after the next loop.

The wizards needed to know: after time reversal, what would happen to these parts “excised” from the current timeline?

The foundational preparation work was complete, but the most important experimental subjects remained unavailable.

“We need high-tier Sickle-Skull samples—preferably eighth-tier.” In the tactical conference room, Jie Ming presented the research group’s request to Frost and explained in detail the comparative experimental design of “whole-body storage” versus “partial storage.”

“Alive or dead makes no difference. In fact, considering capture difficulty and subsequent handling convenience, two complete eighth-tier corpses would be ideal.”

Frost stood with hands behind his back before the tactical map displaying the overall battlefield situation.

He understood the necessity of these experiments, yet at this moment, a rare trace of helplessness appeared on his resolute face.

“I understand your needs, Wizard Jie Ming. High-tier samples—especially eighth-tier individuals—provide data critical to unraveling the loop mechanism.” Frost’s voice remained steady, but carried the truth. “The problem is… in this loop, it will be very difficult for us to obtain such samples.”

He turned around, his gaze sweeping across Jie Ming and the two sixth-tier logistics wizards who had accompanied him.

“In the previous loop, I succeeded in luring and capturing two eighth-tier Sickle-Skull leaders by exploiting their initial unfamiliarity with our ‘maximum pressure’ tactical pattern, as well as their own overconfidence in predicting the loop’s critical point. I set a targeted law trap and caught them completely off guard.”

“But clearly,” Frost pointed to large shaded areas on the star map labeled “Sickle-Skull activity silence zones,” “they have learned from that failure. Not only the eighth-tier individuals—in this loop, the activity patterns of all high-tier entities have undergone a fundamental change.”

“They have completely abandoned direct confrontation with me on frontal or preset battlefields. They no longer easily reveal their whereabouts. The frequency and concealment of their command center transfers have far surpassed previous levels. They… are hiding from me—or rather, hiding from any risk that could lead to capture or death.”

One of the research wizards frowned. “They’ve realized the danger of being captured and studied alive? But time will reverse…”

“That is precisely the key.” Frost interrupted him. “Time reversal can restore matter, but it cannot completely erase ‘cognition’ for the Sickle-Skull. Especially for eighth-tier existences, they likely retain far more ‘lessons’ across loops. The current them are conducting an extremely conservative survival game, with the highest priority being ‘avoid triggering the loop’ and ‘avoid suffering major losses to themselves.’”

A brief silence fell over the conference room.

“Is there really no way?” Another wizard asked unwillingly. “Concentrate forces and forcibly sweep several suspected nests?”

“The cost is too high, and success cannot be guaranteed.” Frost shook his head. “An eighth-tier existence determined to hide—in a plane they have controlled for who knows how many loops—leaves us with far too many unmonitorable blind spots. Large-scale forced clearing would only disrupt our overall strategy of ‘extending the research window’ and might even force them into unpredictable extreme actions ahead of schedule.”

He looked at Jie Ming. “The matter of samples can only be postponed. We need to wait for the right moment—or create a new one. Perhaps when the war advances to a certain stage and they are forced to make a choice. For now, you may continue refining paradox experiments at other tiers and accumulating data.”

Jie Ming nodded, indicating understanding.

The ideals of scientific research encountering the barriers of reality—this was commonplace in any world.

“I understand, Commander. We will first focus on monitoring already-acquired samples and refine experimental plans for high-tier specimens.” He paused, then proposed a compromise. “Additionally, could we increase efforts to capture heavily wounded or dying sixth- or even seventh-tier Sickle-Skull individuals on the battlefield? Though their tier is insufficient, we may still observe certain paradox effects and accumulate experience for future experiments.”

“That can be done.” Frost agreed. “I will notify frontline combat units to be on the lookout and allocate some rapid-response teams to assist you.”