Rail of Mobius: Part 10

2022-02-25 6:44 PM

Zerovirus

mo' rail of mobius!!! how the fuck am i STILL missing seven CGs??? it feels like we're too far into this game to be missing so many CGs! though- some of the CGs seemed missable, one of the very first ones was apparently optional??? which is absolutely fucking wild to me.

i guess maybe if i want to get the golden ending i might have to play this multiple times and hunt for the missing pics?

there is no way we've still got a third of the story left, it feels like we're getting close to the end, we've GOT to be close right

zerovirus: mo' rail of mobius!!! how the fuck am i STILL missing seven CGs??? it feels like we're too far into this game to be missing so many CGs! though- some of the CGs seemed *missable*, one of the very first ones was apparently optional??? which is absolutely fucking wild to me.

avunvain

yu guang is clearly our moirail of mobius

though i guess ji hengsheng could be reasonably described as undergoing red/pale vacillation with wu shi

zerovirus:

Zerovirus

anyways last time we left off... the three musketeers were heading off to outside the VIP cabin to, presumably, waylay Se Yue.

jjjqance

Ooh

Zerovirus

They're sitting around outside between the cars. By the time they arrive, Se Yue is making the standard bonfire announcement- train is coming to a stop, don't panic, this is part of the plan, disembark in an orderly fashion, etc.-

Despite so many people having fallen to Lost Time Syndrome, to assuage everyone's concern, the bonfire party would still be held as usual.
The princess was still trying her best to make sure that everyone has a good time, despite her own complete exhaustion.

wu shi i'm not sure i agree with your assessment here at all

Or maybe she was just sticking to her policy of avoiding unnecessary changes to the timeline.

yeah, see, this makes more sense.

hundred people keel over and she's still going to have the fucking barbecue party

jjjqance

Didn't we find out these were recorded anyway?

Zerovirus

Wu Shi yells through the door that he knows that Se Yue's probably in there, and that if she doesn't come out he's going to go in himself.

jjjqance: Didn't we find out these were recorded anyway?

Zerovirus

we did!

which probably means wu shi's just overthinking things.

Wu Shi counts to three, but Se Yue inside the cabin remains quiet.

i mean at this time you really got to ask how do you know she's actually in there.

Wu Shi: Three-
Se Yue: That door's not so easy to break down as you might like.

oh so she IS in there!

avunvain

i feel like she should look different

Zerovirus

Wu Shi: How do you know I don't have tools?
Se Yue: Rather than do something like that, you might as well go attend the bonfire party.
She sounded as lively as ever.
Se Yue: This time, you can enjoy the party without any problem.

i dunno, i don't think any of us are in the mood for delicious meat at this point

avunvain

...i guess the advantage of time travel is

no matter how deeply fucked up your mental state you keep getting reset to the point when you had enough sleep and food and no obvious trauma symptoms

Zerovirus

Wu Shi asks why she's not trying to get him to hide somewhere safe, and Se Yue answers by saying she's given up. Apparently nowhere is safe for him, and she hasn't been able to find a way to stop the paradox.

Zerovirus

Se Yue: I'm so close. I still haven't stopped thinking

:battler_crying:

and if I had just a litle more time, I might be able to discover a previously undiscovered theorem.

right, that's how science works. you just spend time and discover undiscovered theorems.

this story's hollywood science will never not bother me, frankly

like, lady, what is the exact method by which you are going to 'discover' a theorem

'doing science' is not an actual physical series of actions that a person can take, you have to have a specific plan,

Wu Shi asks if that's why she's holed up in her room like a neet. Se Yue answers in the affirmative.

Se Yue: I've spent this whole loop in my room so I could write down all of my observations over the past 100 loops. Thanks to this, I've noticed some more things.

you're not just writing down a madness mantra are you se yue, please don't just be writing down a madness mantra

jjjqance

wait

she just said she had given up

Zerovirus

given up on saving him in this loop, yeah

jjjqance

then she's like "i'm so close"

Zerovirus

she's doing the whole 'i'm going to burn loops to buy time to Research' thing

which, well, uh

you should have started sooner, lady!!!

jjjqance

Zerovirus

you could have been doing this on loop 3!

not loop one fucking hundred!!

jjjqance

yeah get started on those theorems

Zerovirus

Even though I wanted to break those doors down now and bust in, Se Yue sounded completely normal, and her thoughts were as sharp as always.
Maybe she really was fine?

ha ha absofuckinglutely not, dude, this is the same lady who told you she can't admit to failure, she's just making up something plausible so you'll go away and she can go back to having her mental breakdown

oh, interesting, se yue DOES have something useful to say to us!

avunvain: yu guang is *clearly* our moirail of mobius

nightpool

i have never seen a more wrong opinion in my life.

uh anyway yayyy more rail of mobius!

avunvain

nightpool i will fight you on this

Zerovirus

Se Yue: Wu Shi, I've been recalling what you told me about the world of the 13th train car, and I noticed something odd.
Wu Shi: What'd you notice?
Se Yue: Every loop, someone must be sacrificed, and the first one to be sacrificed is always you.
Wu Shi: Mm-hmm.
Se Yue: How many times did you loop in the 13th train car's world, did you say?
Wu Shi: I remember it was... 48 times.
Se Yue: And how many people died?
Wu Shi: It should be 48 people, right?
Se Yue: That's not right.
Wu Shi: Eh?
Trying to remember the 47th loop...
With the help of the Se family maids, Ji Hengsheng, who'd lost all of her bodily temperature, was brought to the infirmary car.
But I knew that no amount of rescuscitation would have helped. These people had all been used as fuel by S.
Besides Ji Hengsheng, there were 46 other people.
These people had all collapsed on december 3rd, at the start of the day at midnight, losing their body heat and respiratory function simultaneously.

huh. an off-by-one error?

avunvain

also qian yuan c3- (se yue <3< wu shi)

or, oh, right, discord. qian yuan ♣️ (se yue ♠️ wu shi)

Zerovirus

Wu Shi: W-wait, what?
That wasn't right.
In the 46th loop, there were 47 bodies?
There should only be 46.
First someone dies, then the loop is reset by using that dead person for fuel. So the number of loops should be equal to the number of deaths.
Why was there an extra dead person?

Se Yue: That's right. All the way until the 48th loop, there was an extra.

avunvain: nightpool i will fight you on this

nightpool

ji hengsheng is like. the archetypal pale love interest literally how much more clear could it get.

does she have to say one flesh, one end or something

Zerovirus

(there's an extra because ji faked her deaaaaaaath i'm calling it, ji culprit theory will NEVER DIE)

nightpool: does she have to say *one flesh, one end* or something

avunvain

...ok you know what i'll rescind it

ji is very much pale

maybe some very mild vacillation but it's ultimately a pretty stable pale relationship

nightpool

(comment about faked deaths retracted, i got confused)

Zerovirus

Se Yue describes the loop she experienced as well, the last one of the 13th train car. The Se Family Maids had lined up all the bodies neatly so it was easy to count, and besides Wu Shi there were 48 dead people.

So on the 48th loop, there were 49 dead people.

something here CLEARLY doesn't add up, yeah.

nightpool

yessssssssssss

this is GREAT for ji culprit theory

Zerovirus

is it possible that there was 1 additional loop in the 13th train car?

that we didn't know about?

like before all of this?

it wasn't like we were keeping tallies back then, we just thought we were on the second loop because se yue presumed it had to be so

but maybe at that point we were on the third loop?

...but wu shi didn't get any extra memories of dying TWICE back,

so if there was a first-er loop then he didn't die at all the first loop, which throws the whole 'original fuel is blessed by time god to fight the time traveler' theory out the window

but really to tell if it's... like, the extra corpse, if it represents S, can only show up after S fakes their death

avunvain

oh se yue's "just do it again strat"

Zerovirus

so if we could load the game and see if the numbers stop matching around when Yu Guang was shown to have died

avunvain

was actually super vital to gathering information

Zerovirus

or when Ji died at the very end

jjjqance

wait so someone help me make sure i got this right

Zerovirus

then we'd know if Yu Guang or Ji was S

jjjqance

on loop #n there should be n dead people, including Wu Shi

avunvain

couldn't get that info until 48 loops in!

jjjqance

however they discovered there were actually n+1 people on loop n

Zerovirus

yes

jjjqance

that includes the last loop that Se Yue remembers

Zerovirus

and... i think that this is a clue significant enough that if we loaded an earlier save

we could probably look through the death counts

and figure out where the discrepancy is coming from

and thus figure out whose death was actually faked

jjjqance

at the very beginning of the story for small loop #s, the #s worked out, i think

yu guang was an early victim, so it couldn't have been him

i can't remember when Qian Yuan died

but it could easily be Hengsheng

Zerovirus

right, at the very first loop there was no narrative mention of anybody fainting, right?

if someone had fainted then se yue wouldn't have concluded they were on the first loop

she'd have concluded they were on a later loop

so yu guang's death was probably real

which just leaves ji hengsheng

nightpool

the game also literally says "Besides Ji Hengsheng, there were 46 other people."

Zerovirus

Wu Shi: I didn't count wrong. I've been keeping tallies every time.
Se Yue: So if there's an extra victim, then, it can only mean one thing...
SOMEONE FAKED THEIR DEATH
ONE OF THE LOOPS HAD TWO PEOPLE AS FUEL
JUST A BUG

we know which one this is.

jjjqance

just a bug

the game's writers can't count

they fucked up

zerovirus: so yu guang's death was probably real

nightpool

i mean, how early was his death? was it second loop?

Zerovirus

Se Yue: It's clear that there's only one explanation here- someone faked their death.
Se Yue: And the only person who would gain anything from faking their death, here...
Se Yue: Is 《S》.

nightpool: i mean, how early was his death? was it second loop?

Zerovirus

yeah

yu guang dies immediately after wu shi i believe

nightpool

hmmmm

Zerovirus

Se Yue: 《S》is hidden amongst those dead victims.

ji hengsheng culprit theory ji hengsheng culprit theory

jjjqance

~~CHANGGG YOUUUU~~

i wonder how Ji faked her dying

nightpool

i mean, by just faking fainting?

jjjqance

like did she spend those 46 loops practing her faint acting

nightpool

there's no "external" symptoms of Lost Time Syndrome

you just become impossible to rouse

jjjqance

wait really

damn

faking it is super easy then

Zerovirus

Wu Shi: ...How does this help us though?
Wu Shi: Sure, we've narrowed down the candidates, but it's not like I kept a list of the victims.
Wu Shi: And we can't go back to the world of the 13th train car to check exactly anymore.
Wu Shi: And even if we find S...
Wu Shi: It won't help at all.
Wu Shi: S doesn't exist in the world of the 14th train car, after all.

nightpool

well in the real world you'd presume they'd use smelling salts or shine a light into your eye or something

but i doubt they'd have done so here.

Zerovirus

well, there are external symptoms of clamminess

but i mean

you can fake that pretty easily

lots of ways to fake it

jjjqance

also probably nobody checked Ji very closely

nightpool: hmmmm

nightpool

side note: there's actually a really easy way to tell if somebody is S, you can just force them to use the rail of mobius and check which "save file" they load into

Zerovirus

actually se yue suspects that if they let S use the time machine again they'd make a 15th rail car

there's no way to know if they'd 'load' into their old save file or start a new one

nightpool

sidjfaosdjfo wait really

Zerovirus

(in the case where they start a new one though that basically means infinite uses of the time machine so long as you've got a partner)

nightpool

so they literally have infinite time loops without anyone dying

they just have to do it just corecursively.

Zerovirus

the user also has to not die and to be able to initiate the time loop, it's not exactly safe, if something stops you from using the time loop you're stuck with... well, probably, the one single dead person that dies at the start of every loop

jjjqance

we still have no idea what Ji was trying to accomplish, or why faking her death would help

nightpool

right

i mean i'm assuming she has a good reason for this

since that's been her characterization so far

jjjqance

oh definitely

i just want to figureo ut what it is

Zerovirus

anyways, uh. so, Wu Shi starts giving an uplifting inspirational speech to Se Yue about how it's fine, he understands that she's just keeping up a front and he's here for her, she doesn't have to keep roleplaying the invincible flawless Se family heir anymore, there's emotional music playing in the background- the same music as when Ji Hengsheng proposed at the bonfire btw- but before Wu Shi can finish giving his emotionally uplifting speech, Ji Hengsheng interrupts, as though she's punishing us for daring to use HER emotional confession music with a different girl.

Ji Hengsheng: AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!

to be fair it sounds like she's screaming out of legitimate distress.

and not just to fuck with us.

Hengsheng let out a terribly pained scream.

hm. yep! distress!

For some reason, Ji Hengsheng, who'd been at the area designated for the party around the bonfire, suddenly screamed and collapsed, causing a major ruckus.

i, wh.

?????

this isn't the right

time for

lost time syndrome to kick in

if you were going to fake it again you've totally mistimed it

but at the same time uh

what is happening then

jjjqance

let's find out

Zerovirus

Se Yue immediately runs out of her room at the sound, thinking that Ji Hengsheng is in trouble and needed help.

IT'S A TRAP

Yu Guang: Caught you!

jjjqance

oooh

nice!

Zerovirus

Se Yue: Wu Shi...! You tricked me!
Se Yue struggled to break free. She knew martial arts, but Yu Guang had all the advantages of surprise and had gotten her in a firm arm-lock, and in a contest of brute strength Yu Guang was superior.

Zerovirus

Wu Shi... injects her with a tranquilizer. how the turn tables.

Using Hengsheng, Se Yue was successfully lured out, just as I'd planned.
In the world of the 13th train car, S had used this plan against me countless times.
Se Yue had no way to know this.
And I was even able to find some injection syringes filled with tranquilizers in the infirmary car, when I went looking.
Having been injected so many times myself, I was surprised to find how easily I could apply them when it was my turn.

owned

absolutely fucking owned

nightpool

holy shit

jjjqance

get fucked Se Yue

Zerovirus

Wu Shi reassures Se Yue that everything's going to be okay, and that she doesn't need to- worry about the divide between the 'true her' and the 'se princess'. He tells her that both of those are the real her, and that to him, she's the realest her when she's being both to the utmost of her extent. it's a nice-sounding platitude that i'm not sure i, the reader, actually agree with- like, no, your se family princess values are kind of fucked???- but the story's clearly framing this as a positively-valenced thesis so i guess i'll roll with it.

Se Yue: No... I don't want it to end like this....

anyways yeah se yue passes out after that. willpower can't beat pharmacology.

but not before, like, smiling, at wu shi, because what wu shi said to her has helped validate her and stuff.

i still don't actually think i agree with wu shi at all but, i guess me and the story will have to agree to disagree.

Zerovirus

nevermind she's not actually asleep she's just closed her eyes they're still having a conversation

this is one of those...

conversations,

that the story has,

where the story is clearly trying to make it seem emotive and moving,

but it's hindered by the fact that i don't personally feel it at all

and so translating it feels like a burden.

but i suppose i ought to translate it anyways.

marzipanWhale

Reminds me of how I was playing Life is Strange at the end where

marzipanwhale: Reminds me of how I was playing Life is Strange at the end where ||you have to choose between Chloe and the town, and I didn't care for Chloe at all. All the Chloe scenes were a slog. Gimme more Kate!||

jjjqance

omg yeah

Zerovirus

When I said that to her, despite the drowsiness on her face from the injection, it looked like a dark cloud had cleared in her expression.
Wu Shi: Now that's the Se Yue I know.
I wouldn't overestimate myself and imagine that I could solve her internal conflicts myself.
But, as long as she had confidence in herself, I was sure that the princess could solve any problem she was faced with.
Just like how she always helped me.
Wu Shi: It's time to depart this endlessly repeating world.
Se Yue: But I don't... want anyone to die...
Wu Shi: That's not what I want either. But it's the request I must make of the heiress, and I hope she can accept it.
Se Yue: Do... you want to die?
Wu Shi: Of course not. I'd love to live much longer.
Wu Shi: But you once asked me what you would call 'someone who must hurt you to help you, and who thus hurts you endlessly'.
Wu Shi: I've got a question for you now.
Wu Shi: What do you call someone who must give up their life to save you?
I laid her on the floor.
Wu Shi: Good night, young lady. Once you wake up next, everything will be over.
Se Yue: ...Why?

i dunno, because, hundreds of people dying is worse than one person dying???? god, this is why i can't take this conversation seriously, because they're making such a melodramatic mountain out of a very simple molehill

Wu Shi: Because I'm the savior of the Se family heiress.
Wu Shi: So I might as well save you one more time on top of it all!

jjjqance

(also the metaphysics of the situation were super arbitrary and i couldn't really suspend disbelief or really buy into the whole thing as a real choice)

jjjqance: (also the metaphysics of the situation were super arbitrary and i couldn't really suspend disbelief or really buy into the whole thing as a real choice)

Zerovirus

how familiar.

jjjqance

But, as long as she had confidence in herself, I was sure that the princess could solve any problem she was faced with.

wtf

lack of confidence is not her problem

at all

Zerovirus

he's specifically talking about her, like,

self-image problems, 'i don't know if there's a real me under all the things i'm expected to be',

but even then his approach is just

generic platitudes??

supportive platitudes that don't actually say anything?

'she'll figure it out herself'?

come on dude.

jjjqance

ok prediction: wu shi needs someone to "take the controller" to reset the death count (back to just him)

he's going to pick Ji

and it's going to loop back to the 13th car in a circle

and that's how she becomes S

Zerovirus

i hope he picks yu guang and we get the world of the train car where yu guang uses the time machine to brute-force a date with qian yuan

a meta-time-loop WOULD be cool though

like, if that's what all this setup is for, i can understand why the devs put in so much nonsense to justify it

it's the kind of highly charismatic high concept i could see a lot of accomodations being made in the ground-level worldbuilding for

anyways, after that, Yu Guang and Wu Shi drag the heiress to the infirmary car and settle her into one of the beds. where did they get a bed isn't this place filled with like actually one hundred dead people now

Zerovirus

Yu Guang: ...Are you sure this is okay? It's the heiress we're dealing with here, after all.
Yu Guang: I don't even know what exactly you're doing here.
Wu Shi: I don't know either.
Wu Shi: But since it's the thing I chose to do, I have to have faith that it leads to the best of all possible outcomes.

that is not how planning works

Yu Guang: ...Uncommon to see you so serious.
Yu Guang: Anyways, I'll watch her for the rest of the trip, that's what we agreed on in our plan, yeah?

jjjqance

where did they get a bed isn't this place filled with like actually one hundred dead people now

imean have you seen the train

everything is way too extra

there's probably like 1000 beds

Zerovirus

so, Yu Guang and Se Yue are just going to be here in the infirmary car, with Yu Guang making sure Se Yue doesn't wake up before the loop ends. Wu Shi requests that Yu Guang bring Se Yue back to the VIP cabin at 11:30 in the morning tomorrow, though. He says he'll explain why when he does.

Wu Shi: Remember, absolutely do not be late, and absolutely do not stay in here or in the dormitory cars at that time.
Yu Guang: Why?
Wu Shi: Can't tell you. Just please do as I say.
Yu Guang: Okay, I guess.

jjjqance

also i feel like a meta-loop like this would kinda fit the title

Zerovirus

i would be super impressed if they legit just looped back to the start of the game and let me make different decisions

really let me play the loops out and try to find the way out of this mess

get all the CGs in one run

Zerovirus

Yu Guang: Just, no matter what crazy important stuff you have to do, remember to go check up on Hengsheng sometimes.
Yu Guang: I think she had something she wanted to give you or something??
Wu Shi: I'll make sure to do that, yeah.
I turned to leave, but Yu Guang called out to me before I could exit fully.
Yu Guang: ...I don't know what it is that you need to do,
Yu Guang: But remember, me and Hengsheng will always have your back.
Yu Guang: If there's anything you need help with, make sure you call for us, okay?
Wu Shi: ...I will. Thank you.

jjjqance

but also if we go back to the 13th car instead of the 15th, we won't get to back to the bed scene to rail Ji Hengsheng's mobius

Zerovirus

new timestamp. second day, one hour before midnight, men's dormitory, loop 100

wow. all this and it still isn't midnight?

Wu Shi's lying in bed holding Se Yue's family crest- the one that triggers the time machine.

To use the time machine, two things are needed- the crest, and the password that triggers it.
I had both.
I'd managed to get the password out of Qian Yuan, the second time she'd visited me.

oh DO we have the password, now. exciting!!

Zerovirus

.....Wu Shi decides to stand Ji Hengsheng up at the bonfire and not go accept the wedding ring. He justifies it, again, with, 'I don't want to get more close to her than I need to at this point'. He thinks to himself about how sorry he is that he's leaving her behind, but he's sure Yu Guang will watch over her in his stead. so apparently wu shi believes that his plan involves... him time traveling, but also, him dying.

Zerovirus

After the meeting at 11:30 was over, I planned to tape caution signs and repair warning signs on the outside of the men's dormitory car, and to use some sort of heavy object to jam the doors so that nobody could come in.
To make sure that nothing surprising occurred, I remained vigilant, but absolutely nothing strange happened.

...is his plan to give yu guang the time machine stuff and to die?? or is his plan to use it himself?

he's being annoyingly vague in his internal monologue and i can't tell what his plan is.

Soon, the appointed time arrived.

third day, 30 minutes before noon / certain death, loop 100.

...god you know what would piss me off

jjjqance

is this loop 100 overall? or loop 100 of car 14?

Zerovirus

i will be incredibly pissed off if this game ends with ji turning out to be S and then dying to redeem herself for her evil deeds as S, leaving wu shi and se yue free to hook up together

i will be so fucking mad

jjjqance: is this loop 100 overall? or loop 100 of car 14?

Zerovirus

the latter

jjjqance

that would suck

especially since like

Se Yue did like the same thing

Zerovirus

she did TWO same things!

twice as much of the same thing!!

zerovirus: i will be incredibly pissed off if this game ends with ji turning out to be S and then dying to redeem herself for her evil deeds as S, leaving wu shi and se yue free to hook up together

nightpool

that seems unlikely honestly

I mean, I hope

7 cgs is a lot of CGs

Zerovirus

Alright, so, the appointed time has come, and Yu Guang has brought Se Yue to the front car at 11:30, just as Wu Shi requested. (where the fuck is Ji, did Ji not come?)

Wu Shi hands Yu Guang the control crest.

Wu Shi: What I'm about to say may sound ridiculous, unbelievable, and maybe horrifying, and at the end of it I'm going to make a request of you. I beg that you listen to me without interrupting me until I finish.

Zerovirus

If Ji Hengsheng was my emotional stabilizer,
then you were surely someone to whom I could entrust everything.
As long as you were here, I could be certain I had nothing to worry about.
If you understood where I came from, and the terrible things I was seeking to prevent, no matter how much it hurt, you'd surely support my request, Yu Guang-
- to let me die in the loop of the next universe.

oh, wu shi's plan is to tell yu guang what's about to happen, entrust him with the loop device, and then hope he listens and doesn't loop.

could work!

jjjqance

i guess my theory is already wrong

Zerovirus

But then, just as I was about to explain everything, and to make Yu Guang the next user of the time machine-
A startling turn of events that nobody could have predicted happened.

jjjqance

if my tehory was right but it's Yu Guang instead of Ji i'm gonna be mad

oh we already getting a twist

is S gonna pop out of nowhere

Zerovirus

Yu Guang's portrait shakes with an impact sound, and then slides down off the screen. I wooonder whoooo it iiiiiiiis~

It's S... e Yue!!!!!!!!! I know, I'm disappointed too. I miss that kooky birdbeak mask.

jjjqance

god damn it

man S is like

the freaking Red Robe of mobius rail

Zerovirus

Se Yue somehow managed to knock Yu Guang out despite still being tipsy from the drugs. Also, she's not supposed to be awake yet, but Wu Shi decides she probably has anti-tranquilizer resistance training. (I guess she's taken those tranquilizers before so they're less effective on her, or something? Like an iocane powder resistance thing?)

Anyways, Se Yue's all like, 'noooo. my precious. nobody but me can be trusted with the time machine...' as though she hasn't already killed a hundred people in such a way that the only way to fix this is to give someone else the time machine's controls.

nightpool

now we give it to ji

Zerovirus

Wu Shi: WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU SO OBSESSED WITH THIS FUCKING THING?!
Se Yue: I have to keep looping... I absolutely cannot stop now...

is this fucking time machine addictive or something

nightpool

man it might be

Zerovirus

Wu Shi: HAVE YOU GONE NUTS?!

hard agreement, wu shi

hard agree

nightpool

we haven't considered that possibility actually

Zerovirus

Wu Shi: DO YOU FUCKING KNOW WHAT YOU'RE SAYING?! DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO DIE WITH YOU FOR YOUR SO-CALLED PRIDE?! YOU'VE LOST ALL SENSE OF REASON!

nightpool

maybe the time machine just H̵͑̍U̵̽͗N̷̒͝G̴͒̚Ȇ̸̕R̷͂́S̶̋̅

Zerovirus

wu shi is surprisingly excellent here. guy's always quite excellent when yelling at se yue, actually.

nightpool: maybe the time machine just H̵͑̍U̵̽͗N̷̒͝G̴͒̚Ȇ̸̕R̷͂́S̶̋̅

nightpool

i feel like that would explain a lot

Zerovirus

No.
No, this was wrong.
I stopped myself.
The Se Yue I knew wouldn't do something as irrational as this.
There had to be something else going on here. This wasn't natural.
Wu Shi: ...Do you have... some kind of reason why you have to keep going, no matter what?

jjjqance

hmm

not sure where this is going

nightpool

zero said it!

I unironically believe this

the time machine hungers

Zerovirus

Se Yue: I've... figured out... who the true 《S》is...
Se Yue: So... I have... to... CONTINUEEEEEEE!!!

uh... or you could... tell us... who S is...

Her screaming expression overlapped with my memory of S from the 13th train car's world, in that moment.
Fear overcame me, and I reflexively grabbed the control crest on the floor and fled.

wow okay. se yue has turned into a drug-powered horror monster, by the grace of the TRAIN.

it's five minutes to our doom and now it is time for us to suffer.

where the FUCK is JI?!

nightpool

hiding under our bed obviously

wait no se yue was doing that. hmm

Zerovirus

se yue's announcement over the intercom about pulling into the terminal station again.

we're alone in the men's dormitory.

jjjqance

she proved who S is by a discovered new theorem

Zerovirus

solve for S

jjjqance

S is an anagram

Zerovirus

Wu Shi: Come on... come on, FASTER...
How ironic. I'd once prayed for my death to come as late as it could.
Now I was praying for it to come more quickly.
If she was allowed to go on to the 101st loop, I'd never be able to get my hands on the crest again.
Here, now, in this loop, Ji Hengsheng and Yu Guang were both still alive. Even the genius young lady Se Yue, the only person in the world with a chance of finding a cure to Lost Time Syndrome eventually someday, was still alive.
Plus, all the protective measures Se Yue took means that the casualties- besides me- will probably be limited to the bare minimum.

uh dude there's still the 100 other dead people. i guess you're writing them off, though? kind of makes sense. you can't trust ji with the crest because if she gets the crest she totally turns into S, yu guang's unconscious, you haven't thought about using the time travel machine yourself yet for some reason, and se yue is being a horror movie monster right now.

Zerovirus

It was unfortunate for Qian Yuan and the other 98 fuels. I supposed I'd have to keep them company, after this.
The alternative was that the maddened Se Yue would use everyone on the train and even everyone at terminal station as fuel, before finally collapsing due to her own unbearable sense of guilt.
Wu Shi: ...Be brave.
I clenched my fists.
Not to flee, but to be able to step forward in death.
Not to continue to loop, but to end everything with death.
The train car shook, tremendously. The alarm came on. Se Yue's automated voice came over the intercom, warning the surviving passengers of an emergency. Thank goodness.

Zerovirus

Wu Shi: I'm not going to let Yu Guang be selected as fuel again.
Wu Shi: I'm not going to let Hengsheng die painfully again.

Wu Shi: And I'm not going to let the young lady have to bear everything by herself anymore, again!

The window had finally cracked, on schedule. The water began pouring in.
Wu Shi: Come!
Wu Shi: Let's end everything here with me!

jjjqance

i don't understand what his plan is

ohh

he's got the crest

Zerovirus

The water flooded in, same as it had previously.
I swam out of the train, the same I'd done when saving Se Yue at the final loop of the 13th train car.
But this time, instead of swimming up, to the light and the life-saving air...
I swam down.
Ignoring my straining lungs, I swam down as far as I could, to the place where the undersea tunnel had broken and allowed water to rush in,
and threw the Crest out, into the sea, as far as I could.

Seeing the crest sink slowly into the deep sea, my willpower snapped like an overly-tense string, and I sank into endless darkness.

jjjqance

hm.

Zerovirus

well, you gotta hand it to him, he's trying. but the problem i feel here is that- the pressure is from the outside to the inside. the water probably pushed the crest back into the undersea tunnel.

jjjqance

oops

Zerovirus

after all, se yue said that attempting to get rid of the crest usually failed due to bullshit time fate nonsense.

but, hey, let's see where this goes.

oh dear.

after several seconds of nothing but ellipses and darkness,

the time is being rewound loop special effect plays onscreen again.

guess time doesn't love being fucked with!!

leaving us at... an unknown point in time and space.

jjjqance

bed scene bed scene bed scene bed scene

jjjqance: bed scene bed scene bed scene bed scene

Zerovirus

...how did you guess?

no, actually, seriously, how did you guess?????

it's the bed scene. it's the bed scene where wu shi and ji hengsheng slept in the same bed overnight.

how did you guess????????

jjjqance

er, cause i figured that was 36 hours earlier

Zerovirus

how did you guess?

god.

okay well

every meta-loop increments going-back-in-time by 12 hours

so in order to go back a full year

they just have to

meta-loop...

730 times.

is the immediate natural implications of what's happening here.

but, yep. it's ji and wu shi in a bed together, the scene.

zerovirus: oh wow yeah we are going into totally different territory at this point, wow. though this is around where the demo ends so everything from here on should be totally new even to me anyways, > Ji Hengsheng: So what were you doing while you disappeared for this whole day? > Wu Shi: ...... > Ji Hengsheng: Something I can't *be allowed to know*, huh? Yes! Literally that! That is literally what it is!

Zerovirus

starting around this scene.

Ji Hengsheng: So what were you doing while you disappeared for this whole day?
I was going to answer her,
But,

sudden flash of red followed by rapid flashbacks to past loops, indicating loop memory has been regained music moves from silence to dramatic ominous

oh god this is the loop where we find out ji hengsheng is S and we're going to wake up in bed with S at the start of each of the loops in this chapter isn't it oh god oh fuck

But,
My head felt like someone'd slammed a cleaver into it.
Massive amounts of information flooded into my brain, and I felt as though my skull were about to explode.

We flash back to drowning, being chased by S, saving Se Yue, being chased by Se Yue, and finally deciding to end everything at the end of the 100th loop of the 14th train car's world.

Zerovirus

oh we are screaming our heads off. Ji Hengsheng is worried.

Ji Hengsheng: Shi-chan! Shi-chan!
She looked so concerned for me.
Wu Shi: Wh- why?!
I punched the bed with all the force I had.
Wu Shi: WHY HASN'T IT ALL ENDED YET?!?

oh boy if the game says something about quantum immortality i will scream and punch a table

nightpool

not a very normal way to greet your loved one!

hmm that word looks wrong both ways

oh well

Zerovirus

this is why we have the word, 'platonic childhood friend of opposite gender'

Ji Hengsheng: Shi-chan! Where are you going?!
I'd pushed myself off the bed and was now scrambling to find something- anything- that could tell me the time.

yep, start of the second day, 12 hours before qian yuan invites us to se yue's room at the front of the train

nothing surprising!

why act so glum, chum?

zerovirus: oh boy if the game says something about quantum immortality i will scream and punch a table

jjjqance

i love quantum immortality

Zerovirus

Time had reversed again?
And this time it'd reversed thirty-six hours?
This I was familiar with.
Ignoring Ji Hengsheng shouting at me from behind, I turned to the Tour of Time's tail end.
Though everything was how I'd expected, I still couldn't easily accept what I was looking at.

it's a fifteenth car!!

nightpool

did he even say the words or

Zerovirus

Wu Shi: NOT EVEN THAT STOPPED HER?!

oh no wu shi's being a moron

he's still under the impression se yue is behind it

which if he thinks for one fucking second can't be the case

because we know that new cars only appear when the controller changes

nightpool: did he even say the words or

Zerovirus

he did not say the words, so far as i know. which is actually... concerning.

qian yuan died, se yue wasn't telling anybody, how did whomever the user is in this universe learn the command phrase?

jjjqance

good question

Zerovirus

much less get the crest back, though there's easier ways to justify that.

recording devices??? but even then you can't retain the memory between loops and se yue never said it in this loop...

please don't fucking tell me se yue was dumb enough to write it down in- oh god she did

zerovirus: anyways. > Loop 13. > > Twelve people have been afflicted with Lost Time Syndrome. > > With the increase in the number of people who fall over spontaneously, people are losing their interest in enjoying the cruise. Everyone is worried. > > The laws may have been decreed by God, but God does not intervene to break the laws. > > What laws existed that could be used to solve this problem that I had yet to discover? > > To break the binds of causality and escape the limits of the Grandfather Paradox. > > ...Was it really possible? > > It was like killing one's own grandfather and still expecting the father and son to appear. > > If I can't think of something, the corpses being used as fuel will just get stacked up higher and higher. > > In the thirteenth loop, Wu Shi died of being decapitated. i'd ask how, but at this point i think the game has made it adequately clear that time is a vicious motherfucker. > The fuel this time was the Se family maid who'd replaced Qian Yuan to give me my regular morning greetings.

Zerovirus

she fucking wrote it down

nightpool

I mean it's possible that S learned the phrase before the first loop

if this was premeditated

Zerovirus

she didn't make it clear that was the phrase, but she totally fucking wrote the phrase down

it's possible that- let's say it was ji- ji found se yue's diary and just brute-forced the activation

read the whole diary out loud next to the crest hoping at least one of the phrases was right

nightpool: if this was premeditated

Zerovirus

true. that's always a possibility, especially if the 'yu guang is se yue's lost brother' theory still has any merit to it

jjjqance

i dunno, that doesn't really have the right flavor to it

Zerovirus

can't imagine how ji hengsheng would premeditate it though

nightpool

I mean he did in fact almost die due to this machine once

and Wu Shi has apparently been obsessed with it for years

Zerovirus

like really the question of premeditation theory is- why? who gains from it? don't tell me that ji hengsheng committed dozens of murders because she was paid by the CEO of Cesium.

nightpool

oh geeze

that would actually track somewhat

Zerovirus

remember how S murdered Se Yue, like, super brutally

you know what would track? if S knows that Se Yue was responsible for inventing the machine, thereby letting qian yuan use it to cause the fire a year ago that nearly killed Wu Shi

and thus deciding to extract vengeance on her for that reason

nightpool

or even just "you invented the machine and forced me to go through this"

Zerovirus

like, if S is Ji, and Ji knows, se yue has put wu shi through a hundred loops of torment AND she almost killed wu shi a year ago ~~and she's going to steal my man~~

that's a lot of reasons to murder

anyways back to the story:

Wu Shi runs to the front of the train immediately.

Our dumb lovable idiot protagonist is still convinced Se Yue's behind it, so he's... going right to the source, again, apparently!

Zerovirus

Fury, sorrow, disappointment, pain-
Countless vivid emotions warred in my heart, painting the world before me in scarlet.
Qian Yuan: Wu Shi-senpai?

A Qian Yuan appears to block the way!

Zerovirus

Normally I'd be glad to see Qian Yuan resurrected, but the me of now had no emotional capacity for anything like that.
Wu Shi: Move. I need to see Se Yue.
Qian Yuan: It's quite late. The young lady is sleeping now.
Wu Shi: I need to ask her some things.
Qian Yuan: No matter what it is, we must ask that senpai come back tomorrow morning.
Wu Shi: DID YOU NOT HEAR ME?!
Wu Shi: I SAID I WANT TO TALK TO SE YUE! GET OUT OF MY WAY!

oh this is going to end well for you

Zerovirus

Qian Yuan: Senpai, please don't make me get handsy with you.
Wu Shi: NOT EVEN YOU CAN STOP ME FROM-
Just as our argument reached a boiling point, the door to the VIP cabin opened, revealing a slightly disheveled Se Yue.
Se Yue: Just what exactly is causing such a ruckus out here?

...wonder if this is the train car universe where se yue finally gets used as fuel.

Wu Shi walks right up to Se Yue and demands to know why she used the Tour of Time again. Se Yue naturally has no fucking idea what he's talking about. Like, Wu Shi, come on. You know what explains all this, don't make Se Yue bust out the whiteboard of explanatory lectures again.

jjjqance

how come when it asks us a question we gotta get it right or lose a heart

but otherwise wu shi is allowed to be unboundedly stupid

Zerovirus

Se Yue: ...I have no idea what you're talking about.
Se Yue: What do you mean 'use the tour of time'. I have absolutely no idea what the words coming out of your mouth mean.

jjjqance

uhh

that's kinda weird?

Zerovirus

Wu Shi: You don't... remember... any of it at all anymore?

Sad piano music starts playing.

Se Yue: Have I forgotten something?
Wu Shi: Those 100 loops-
Se Yue: ?

and then Wu Shi finally has the realization that Se Yue isn't the culprit this time because if she were we'd still be in the 14th train car.

took you long enough!

jjjqance

👏 👏 👏 👏 👏

Zerovirus

That the 15th train car appeared means only one thing:
Se Yue became fuel in the last loop
The user has been swapped out
I ultimately didn't die in the previous loop

another gimme question.

jjjqance

i guess the first can't be true cause if it was, she would have keeled over by now

(right?)

Zerovirus

of course, yeah. the answer's the second. we've got a new looper in town.

The game controller had been passed to a new user.
And this time I had no idea who it could be.
It couldn't have been Yu Guang, I hadn't gotten the chance to tell him the activation phrase yet.
Se Yue: ...I'd like to ask YOU, where did you learn all of this from, anyways? Explain to me just how much you know.
...
The Se Yue with whom I'd fought countless times in the 14th train car's loops suddenly felt like a completely foreign person.

Se Yue: Answer me, classmate.
Wu Shi: Don't call me that...
Se Yue: Eh?
Wu Shi: I said, DON'T CALL ME THAT!

Wu Shi flees from them without explaining jack nor shit.

jjjqance

she lost all her character growth

Zerovirus

Nice, time to have a breakdown again.

i mean, not like she was character-growth-ing in the right direction anyways.

jjjqance

not a big loss

Zerovirus

getting crazier and crazier, really.

jjjqance

maybe this is even for the best

Zerovirus

I wandered the train aimlessly.
Even though it was late, many of the students who hadn't yet tired of playing around were still hanging around the various train cars.
Everyone was smiling so happily, as though all the things that'd happened before were just illusions.
So, was I the only one who remembered, now?
The 13th train car and the terrifying S.
The 14th train car, and the Se Yue who was willing to spend a hundred loops at the barest chance of success.
None of it would be remembered?

creepy reversed music starts playing.

Zerovirus

I could tell I was beginning to fall into a panic.
Fake.
The classmates around me all felt...
Fake.
The expressions they had plastered on-
Fake.
Even though I stood in the midst of people, I felt like I was the only one there.
Fake.
Fake.
Fake.
Everything seemed fake.
Wu Shi: ...No...
I looked at my shaking hands.
I was the one who was fake.
I was the anomaly in this world.

rest of background fades away, leaving only exit door.

wu shi's having a real bad day.

and his dissociative disorder's flaring up again seriously now.

Qian Yuan (flashback): Death isn't fearsome. What is fearsome is endless recurrence without recourse.

Wu Shi freaks out, thinking to himself about how he's completely alone now, how nobody else shares the same reference frame of time as him. Somehow during all this he finds his way back to his bed.

jjjqance

maybe he should ask his platonic girlfriend if she's a looper

Zerovirus

So... all there was to do now was to wait to die?
Maybe if I just waited, the new user would have no intention of resetting the world again, and I would be able to be the only one to die?
Or would there be more loops, again? How many? Ten? A hundred?

he hyperventilates.

Wu Shi: Huuuhhh, haaaahhhh- huuuh, haaah, huuuuuhhhh-

but then, as all hope is lost, SURPRISE PLATONIC CHILDHOOD FRIEND OF OPPOSITE GENDER HIDING IN BED STRIKES AGAIN

Ji Hengsheng: Shi-chan?

what a gorgeous illustration haha

she looks positively angelic.

jjjqance

that's so cuuute

omg

THIS is our best girl

avunvain

this is the kind of CG that is going to immediately lead into True Despair somehow. i can just taste it

Zerovirus

Breaking through everything.
The one real thing in my universe appeared before me.
Ji Hengsheng: It's okay.
Hengsheng held me tightly.
Ji Hengsheng: Nothing's wrong, Shi-chan.

avunvain: this is the kind of CG that is going to *immediately* lead into True Despair somehow. i can just *taste* it

Zerovirus

ohhhh yeah like i see wu shi describe her as 'the one real thing in a sea of falsehoods' and all my alarm flags spike immediately

he's going to fucking break when it turns out ji hengsheng has been S this whole time

jjjqance

😦

Zerovirus

the CG does not lead into True Despair though. instead she just hugs us to sleep and we feel a lot better knowing that, no matter what, ji hengsheng's with us, and as long as she's with us then everything can be okay. fast forward! it's noon of the second day! we're in the dining car! are we FINALLY going to get one of those food gag scenes again??

jjjqance

Ji Hengsheng: Nothing's wrong, Shi-chan

"because I, S, have everything under control."

avunvain

"y-you're S?" "...i'm what? did you give me a cute pet name while i wasn't paying attention, or...?"

Zerovirus

Ji Hengsheng: MEAT!
Ji Hengsheng was holding a pair of barbecue tongs.
Ji Hengsheng: When you're feeling like you're beat, that's when it's time to have some meat!
There was a small mountain of meat piled up on my plate.
Yu Guang: Yeah, when you're feeling tired you need to eat lots of protein.
Yu Guang's chopsticks moved with incredible swiftness through the air, and stole the meat off my plate with insatiable urgency.

Ji Hengsheng: YU GUANG!
Ji Hengsheng clamped Yu Guang's chopsticks with her tongs, stopping their movements.
Ji Hengsheng: I barbecued that for Shi-chan! You can't touch it!

jjjqance

Ji wants the meat

Zerovirus

Yu Guang: Your bias is showing! Not to toot my own horn, but who said I can't be out of it as well right now?
Yu Guang: I spent all of last night unable to sleep because I was thinking of Qian Yuan, you know! Do you understand what it's like to be lovesick like this?
Ji Hengsheng: I understand.
Ji Hengsheng: It's the same feeling as when I'm waiting for the end-of-month sale at the supermarket, right?
Yu Guang: ...I don't think these things are comparable, no.

the best scenes in this game are when yu guang and ji hengsheng are shitposting with wu shi

jjjqance

god look at her hands

those are the hands of as schemer

nobody else makes that pose

Ji = S confirmed

Zerovirus

Ji Hengsheng: Please, eat up, Yu Guang, you must be terribly tired from your breakup.
Yu Guang: Wait, why are you acting like I've already been dumped,
Ji Hengsheng: Ah, I'm sorry, it is indeed true that you haven't been dumped yet.
Yu Guang: STOP ACTING LIKE IT'S DESTINED TO END WITH ME BEING DUMPED!
Ji Hengsheng: It's better to free yourself early though, isn't it? I just can't bear to see my good friend trapped in the throes of one-sided longing for such a long time.
Yu Guang: What about my potential for success?!
Ji Hengsheng: You're right! Success comes in many potential forms, and varies from person to person.
Ji Hengsheng: For example, if you redefine defeat as success, I'm sure your potential for success will skyrocket.

Ji's words seemed to have bluescreened Yu Guang, who went into a semi-stunned state.

Zerovirus

Taking the opportunity, Ji Hengsheng raised her can of cola. She grabbed my hand and lifted my can of cola too.
Ji Hengsheng: To Yu Guang's romantic conquests- a toast!
Yu Guang: I, uh, sure! A toast!
Hengsheng gave me- who still hadn't opened his mouth to say a single thing- an inscrutable look.
...Well, fine, then.
Wu Shi: ...A toast.
She knew that this kind of banter was the best way to make me relax.

nightpool

she cares about us so much .... I hope.

Zerovirus

Ji Hengsheng: Come, young Wu Shi.
Ji Hengsheng: Wash away your troubles with drink!
Wu Shi: ...You're using the standard phrases for serving wine, but you're pouring cola.
Yu Guang: If you try hard enough, even cola can get you drunk!
Wu Shi: I don't think this is a question of trying.
Yu Guang: Bring out your sense of presence! PRESENCE!
Wu Shi: NOT EVERYONE THINKS WITH A BASKETBALL INSTEAD OF A BRAIN, MAN.

avunvain

wu shi focuses hard and turns his cola into wine

time god indeed

Zerovirus

(and then they made a pun involving the word 'cheese' which i do not know how to translate, and for that i am very apologetic.)

(untranslatable chinese cheese idiom.)

(if i knew why the punchline was supposed to be funny i could try to translate a tonal equivalent, but i can't even figure out why the punchline is a punchline in this case.)

jjjqance

i'll make something up

Yu Guang: yeah but you got CHEESEBALL for a head

this is my contribution

Zerovirus

Ji Hengsheng: So, Shi-chan, what's got you down in the dumps anyways?
Wu Shi: Well, uh.
Y'know, dying a hundred forty-eight times, endlessly repeating this end-of-year trip. The usual.
Yeah, like anybody would believe me if I spoke up about it.
Yu Guang: You got rejected by princess Se Yue, didn't you.

Zerovirus

...Ah, right.
This was the second day, and before that, I'd... been invited to the VIP cabin and been told to keep everything about the 13th train car a secret.
So that was why Qian Yuan had been so cold to me. Our relationship was still in the 'I just finished telling Se Yue off about how horrible and haughty she is as a person' phase.
Wu Shi: Nah, you're way off.
...The things that had happened in the 14th train car's world weren't exactly happy things,
but at least there, I had companions who were helping me fight against the loops.
It's so incredible that just that alone could make me feel less awful, and less alone.

Zerovirus

Ji Hengsheng: Ohhhhh, Shi-chan got rejected by the princess. No wonder he's in such a foul mood!
Hengsheng nodded sagely and patted my back.
Wu Shi: Hey, don't start sympathizing with me without my express permission. I never said I got rejected by her?
Yu Guang: I got it, man. Don't worry, I get it. Out there as a man, your pride's all you've got. Even if you got rejected, for the sake of your own face, you've got to say that it was you who rejected them.
Ji Hengsheng: I see! Well, then-
Ji Hengsheng raised her can of cola again and shouted loudly.
Ji Hengsheng: To Shi-chan dumping the Se heiress- a toast!

Yu Guang: A toast!

Wu Shi: I feel toasted.

Zerovirus

Ji Hengsheng: In the name of Shi-chan dumping the princess who begged for the privilege of having him as a lover- another toast!
Yu Guang: TOAST!
Wu Shi: Stop! Stop stop stop! Everyone's staring at us!
Se Yue (considering using the time machine with Wu Shi as fuel): ...........

Zerovirus

I felt a presence behind me, but I couldn't turn around now.
Yu Guang: This is it! PRESENCE, Wu Shi!
Ji Hengsheng: You got it, Wu Shi!
Wu Shi: Yeah! I got this!
Wu Shi: In honor of me unceremoniously dumping the young mistress of the Se family- a toast!
Ji Hengsheng: YEAH!
Yu Guang: That's how a man does things!

Zerovirus

Wu Shi: Always acting like she's so much better than us, but in the end she forgot everything anyways! There's nothing special about her!
Se Yue: ....................
Wu Shi: Someone like that deserves to get dumped by me, frankly!

jjjqance

this scene is great

Zerovirus

Wu Shi: EVERYONE LISTEN UP!
I stood up on my chair with one foot.
Wu Shi: SOMEONE LIKE SE YUE, THAT'S THE KIND OF PERSON THAT I'M DESTINED TO DUMP EVERY TIME!
...Suddenly I noticed that the whole dining car had gone deathly silent.

music stops.

Ah. So that was the source of the killing intent breathing down my back, then.

jjjqance

wait

is she ... smiling?

Zerovirus

Se Yue: Who was it you were talking about dumping again, classmate?
Wu Shi: .......
Wu Shi: Please listen to my humble explanation. All of this has been a truly unfortunate coincidence-
Se Yue: Oh? What kind of coincidence? The kind that leads to you declaring such slandrous things like that you've dumped me?
Wu Shi: I was merely egged on by my friends of poor character-
Yu Guang: Don't joke with me, I haven't said a word, okay?
Ji Hengsheng: ShichanI'mgonnaheadoutsotakecarebye!!!
....These two...
Se Yue: Do you have anything to say for yourself?

jjjqance: is she ... smiling?

Zerovirus

she's probably happy about it, yeah, her big problem is she has nobody willing to talk to her as an equal

this probably legitimately makes her happy, she's never been insulted like this in a joking way before and she's totally enjoying it

Se Yue was advancing towards me, emanating a killing intent even stronger than that of S. I had to run immediately!

scene change, music starts up again

avunvain

we've entered the "antics" phase of the loop

Zerovirus

After leaving a trail of biscuit straws with which to divert attention and buy time, I finally managed to escape Se Yue's relentless pursuit.
The Se family princess was still quite surprisingly easy to deal with.
Don't underestimate someone that's looped so many times! Your weaknesses are all completely known to me now!
...Actually, when I thought about it, that was kind of sad.
A hundred and forty-eight loops, and all the growth I'd shown was in mastering the art of tricking Se Yue with biscuit straws.
Well, at least after all those antics from Yu Guang and Ji Hengsheng, I was back in a normal state of mind again.

Time to analyze the situation and figure out a next step.

avunvain: we've entered the "antics" phase of the loop

Zerovirus

we've exited the "antics" phase of the loop

avunvain

alas

Zerovirus

In the 13th train car, the looper was S.
In the 14th train car, the looper was Se Yue.
In the 15th train car, the looper is unknown.
I had no clue who was looping here, so all I had to work on were my own efforts.
I probably shouldn't involve Yu Guang or Ji Hengsheng too early here- it might result in them being selected for fuel again.
I also shouldn't get Se Yue involved. Last time, that led to her overworking herself into mania.
Wu Shi: This time, I have to confront the looper on my own merits, for real.
And it was the first loop- which meant that all the victims of Lost Time Syndrome had been resurrected.
Which was to say, things could still be fixed.
Wu Shi: I didn't properly appreciate how valuable the 'first loop' was, until now.
Using the time machines was like dominoes. Once the first one was pushed down, the rest would follow in a chain reaction.
Wu Shi: If I want to stop that, I need to end it in the very first loop.

alright, well

how're you gonna do that

stop the looper from getting their hands on the family crest??

find the looper despite having NO information to work off of whatsoever?

That was why I needed weapons.
I knew I could find tranquilizer syringes in the infirmary car. If I could find the looper and inject them, it would all be over and I would be the only casualty.

jjjqance

what if the password was whatever Wu Shi yelled when he threw the crest

"let's end it here now!!" or whatever

Zerovirus

heyo, we goin' homura

hitting the equipment armories first thing in the loop

jjjqance: what if the password was whatever Wu Shi yelled when he threw the crest

Zerovirus

we know the password. it's that one tagline that goes 'god established the laws but does not intervene to change them' or whatever.

jjjqance

yeah yeah

maybe there are TWO passwords

Zerovirus

seems inelegant as a solution but i suppose it's theoretically possible?

y'know, now that we've established that, by meta-looping the users of the time machine you can achieve near-indefinite long-distance time travel

jjjqance

i don't really think this is it lol

Zerovirus

maybe the culprits are two tag-team partners working from the future

reaching back in time like, ten years, or some shit like that

you need two people to make an infinite daisy chain of cars at the minimum so maybe all of this bullshit is justified by S learning the password in the future

jjjqance

hm wouldn't there be more cars though?

Zerovirus

and having an accomplice would make a lot of things easier. anyways: Wu Shi goes to grab the tranquilizers from where he found them last loop. he doesn't find any. this freaks him out.

is it time... for the grand return... of S?

creepy music starts playing!!

jjjqance

ohh shit

Zerovirus

...Perhaps the maids took them for some medical purpose or other?
Nah, I didn't feel a bit better after I said that.

there's a single syringe left, though.

he might as well take it.

there used to be dozens but there's only one now.

nightpool

ji has noticed that Wu Shi is freaked out and has decided it's time to Kill

probably starting with the princess

Zerovirus

The uneasiness made me regard my environments with more suspicion, and because of that,
I saw, in a corner, the flash of someone's shadow disappear.
I wouldn't have noticed that normally, but I was in a state of hypervigilance right now.
And after having looped so many times, the shadow seemed... familiar, to me, somehow.

~~tell me it's Ji without telling me it's Ji~~

Wu Shi: What is happening?

Zerovirus

I couldn't rely on Se Yue to explain things to me anymore. I had to figure out the answers myself.
This was the first loop of the world of the fifteenth train car.
...Y'know, maybe even the looper didn't know what was going on either?
He probably didn't understand the principles of the Tour of Time very well. Maybe he didn't even know about the fact that the original fuel would retain their memories.
...Did this mean I had the initiative, for once?

Wielding the memories of the past, perhaps I was the one in control of this scenario?

After a moment's thought, I snuck after the mysterious shadow.

zerovirus: this is why we have the word, 'platonic childhood friend of opposite gender'

nightpool

will note for the record that 1) we already have a word for that 2) i was talking about "greet" because i was having a minor stroke and was convinced it should be spelled "great"

Zerovirus

greatings

meat and great

following suspicious folks! heading to the top of the train! only good things happen up here! it's not like we've died, like, three or four times up here!

actually now that i think about it we've ONLY been up here and gotten back down safely, a single time.

nightpool

you would think he'd be more traumatized about that

Zerovirus

Wu Shi: Back HERE again, of all places?!

Even our man is tired of this bullshit.

nightpool

i guess death is cheap compared to the horror of eternity

Zerovirus

Wu Shi was worried he'd be noticed from the sounds he made while climbing up the side of the train, but the sound of the wind rushing by up here is so loud that so long as the mysterious person doesn't look back, there's no chance of him being detected.

Wu Shi creeps closer and closer, until he's just seven steps away from the mysterious figure.

There was nothing to hide behind at the top of the train. If he turned around, I'd be seen immediately.
As I got closer and closer, my heart pounded harder and harder.

nightpool

oh no...........

Zerovirus

A heartbeat sound effect starts playing in the background.

nightpool

😭 it's going to be ji

jjjqance

this was tell-tale heart fanfic the whole time

Zerovirus

Six, five, four...
I'm so close I can see his shadow.
Wu Shi: Eh?

The person was-

jjjqance

chang you

nightpool

okay wait before we go any farther i'm calling it now: ji got herself roped into being an assassin-for-hire for some rich corporation

jjjqance

that would be kind of funny

nightpool

either the Se clan or their rivals

jjjqance

i'd dig it

nightpool

i'm thinking rivals

that's why it's so important for her to find out how time travel works

so she can deliver that information to her employer

is there any justification in support of this belief? almost none whatsoever.

jjjqance

yeah 😦

Zerovirus

Wu Shi: 《S》?
In my surprise, I accidentally made a loud step on the train, and S turned his head immediately
S: -!

hah, you thought it was going to be a face reveal but it's just me, bird beak

nightpool

who did you THINK it was going to be asshole!

come on! that's not a surprise at all!

boooooo

jjjqance

"sup i found this sick costume"

nightpool

voice reveal maybe?

Zerovirus

S turned to face me. Our eyes locked.
Now what?
Now what did I do?
The memories of the past flooded into me in an instant.
I had to stop him, or the 48 loops of the 13th train car would reenact themselves.
The helpless hell of being endlessly attacked by S.
Wu Shi: HEAAAAAAAAAAGH!
My body moved before my brain! I stood up and rushed S.

WE'RE BERSERKING THIS ONE

LET'S GO

nightpool

so my question here is. what happened differently in all 100 of the 14th train car loops?

was Se Yue just too aggressive with making too many changes right away?

Zerovirus

se yue just sort of made incremental changes it felt like

things like changing where wu shi stayed or how she dosed him or whatever

nightpool

hmm that's true

Zerovirus

none of it good enough to prevent bullshit mandated fatedeath

nightpool

i meant right away at the start of each loop though

something that would tip S off

jjjqance

you're wondering why S didn't make any appearances in 14th car phase?

nightpool

right

sorry i thought i said that whoops

i guess "wu shi disappeared and i didn't do it" is not the least distracting thing for any of our potential culprits

jjjqance

yeah im wondering that too

Zerovirus

it's possible S made an appearance but only after Wu Shi died, and by that time Se Yue was already in control and actively looping

idk, honestly

nightpool

Se yue said that they didn't though right?

Zerovirus

my ji culprit theory that says that ji's doing this to save wu shi

says also that ji only starts up dressing as S

after she discovers she needs to loop to save wu shi

so maybe she just never had any reason to dress up in the 14th car

nightpool

I seem to remember something along the lines of "neither hide nor tail of S" from se yue's diary

Zerovirus

since she never got a chance to loop

jjjqance

it could be that S regained some memories when the 15th car started

Zerovirus

yeah S never showed up in the 14th car

i still can't fucking believe they didn't ask where qian yuan found the S costume

jjjqance

but if they didn't have any memories in the 14th car ... what woud lhave caused them to start looping again and doing the same thing?

Zerovirus

i think that S not showing up, and Wu Shi being locked up the whole time, are intimately related- Ji's not dressing up as S because she doesn't need to scare Wu Shi into backing off, she needs to save Wu Shi from Se Yue's clutches

zerovirus: since she never got a chance to loop

nightpool

ohhhh that actually makes sense

jjjqance: but if they didn't have any memories in the 14th car ... what woud lhave caused them to start looping again and doing the same thing?

Zerovirus

ji, in this theory, is the final user in the final loop in the 14th train car, at the very end, she wrests control from se yue, she has to or else she couldn't initiate the new train car

presumably she goes looking for wu shi, swims for his body, and finds the crest

nightpool

timeline goes: 1. wu shi dies unexpectedly 2. se yue and/or qian yuan are shocked 3. se yue recruits Ji Hengsheng to go back in time 4. ??? 5. profit?

Zerovirus

and... somehow... finds out how to make it work

nightpool: timeline goes: 1. wu shi dies unexpectedly 2. se yue and/or qian yuan are shocked 3. se yue recruits Ji Hengsheng to go back in time 4. ??? 5. profit?

Zerovirus

oh, that also makes sense, se yue recruits ji

that works better than what i was imagining, and it makes sense for se yue to entrust ji with it

nightpool

but in the 14th car timeline that couldn't really have happened since Se Yue didn't want to give up control no matter what, she already has the memories of 100 loops

in the 13th car timeline i think that makes sense though

Zerovirus

so probably ji knocked se yue out and stole the control system yeah.

maybe she learned se yue was responsible for the lost time syndrome somehow, possibly from her notes?

avunvain

(i'll be honest seeing the phrase "xth timeline" makes me think of orv)

nightpool

god

put yjh in this story he'd fucking crush it.

jjjqance

i can buy the story for the 13th car phase

but then how does ji know what's going on in the final loop of the 14th car

Zerovirus

I rushed S.
The power of time travel was like a drug that you built resistance up to after taking a lot of it.
If you could see what happens in this loop, next loop you have the power to predict what will happen.
In this loop I followed him and gained the initiative.
If I missed this chance, I might never get a chance like this again.
Even though we were both time-travelers, he knew who I was while I knew nothing about him.
So, this loop was my only chance.
S raised the familiar iron pipe, as though to meet me with a counterstrike.
But, looking at the iron pipe in his hand, for some reason he faltered.
Wu Shi: (I've got a chance!)

jjjqance: but then how does ji know what's going on in the final loop of the 14th car

Zerovirus

i have no idea. maybe she read the notes?

but come on.

look at this.

S hesitating to hit Wu Shi.

it's totally ji come on.

jjjqance

i mean

yeah

of course

it's the howdunnit & the whydunnit i'm concerned with

Zerovirus

poor ji, it's her first loop and she doesn't have the resolve to brutally murder her platonic childhood friend of opposite gender just yet.

jjjqance: but then how does ji know what's going on in the final loop of the 14th car

nightpool

gets a look at Se Yue's diary after she gets knocked out.

like Zero said

jjjqance

hmm

oh yeah

that makes sense

cause she has a diary with all these notes about the loops

and then she knows that se yue has been knocking out wu shi a bunch

so she'd be pissed at her

uhh i mean, even though she's capable of the same

zerovirus: > I rushed S. > The power of time travel was like a drug that you built resistance up to after taking a lot of it. > If you could see what happens in this loop, next loop you have the power to predict what will happen. > In this loop I followed him and gained the initiative. > If I missed this chance, I might never get a chance like this again. > Even though we were both time-travelers, he knew who I was while I knew nothing about him. > So, this loop was my only chance. > S raised the familiar iron pipe, as though to meet me with a counterstrike. > But, looking at the iron pipe in his hand, for some reason he faltered. > Wu Shi: (I've got a chance!)

nightpool

hey wait her cloak is already bloodstained here.

what's up with that

Zerovirus

I rushed him down, seized the iron pipe, and tossed it aside.
The pipe smacked into the tunnels and let out a deafening sound.

oh god please don't tell me the pipe makes a fracture in the wall that makes everyone die early because that would suck far far too much

Even though it was S, because of the way the controller of the time machine had been swapped twice, he remembered nothing about the events of the 13th train car.
This is S's first loop! His movements aren't anything as decisive as what I remembered seeing before!
Wu Shi: WHO ARE YOU?!

nightpool: what's up with that

jjjqance

is that just they only have one sprite for her ... ?

nightpool: what's up with that

Zerovirus

i'unno. maybe the artists just didn't make a clean version lol

Holding him down under me, I prepared to pry his mask off by force.

jjjqance

ji reveal!!

Zerovirus

He struggled against me, and pulled a syringe of tranquilizer from under his cloak.

Wu Shi: Don't even THINK about it!
I slapped the tranquilizer away as well!

jjjqance

next time wu shi should go straight for the tranquilizier

beat S to it

zerovirus: i'unno. maybe the artists just didn't make a clean version lol

nightpool

just put it on another layerrrrrrr arghhh

Zerovirus

S is getting absolutely fucking clowned on

nightpool

yesssss

jjjqance

maybe they made a layer for it but forgot to select it

then they were too lazy to fix it

avunvain

why r u being so mean 2 s ;_;

Zerovirus

Wu Shi: I know everything you're about to do!
If it weren't for your activation of the time machine, I wouldn't have experienced those 48 loops, and I wouldn't have seen my own friend become a corpse.
Wu Shi: If it weren't for you- if it weren't for you!
To wipe you out, Se Yue forced herself to endure a hundred loops and took up the weight of countless sins!
Wu Shi: If it weren't for you! Then so many people wouldn't have fallen into suffering!
And I wouldn't have fallen into this world of loneliness.
Wu Shi: THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!

wu shi you are going to have a hell of a time backpedaling when it turns out to be ji

jjjqance

S just wants to tranquilize & save her platonic friend of the opposite gender

Zerovirus

With my eyes stained red by fury, I ripped the mask off of S's face!

jjjqance

JI REVEAL JI REVEAL JI REVEAL

Zerovirus

...
......
............
Wu Shi: Eh?

Zerovirus

This was the greatest shock I'd experienced yet.
Even to the point of nearly causing me to lose consciousness.
Wu Shi: How... can it...
Up to now, I'd experienced so many painful repetitions.
Died many terrible times, and seen my closest friends become corpses.
I'd even witnessed a hell where almost all of my classmates had perished.
But none of that compared to S's face.

dramatic tragic music- last time this played was when yu guang died

Wu Shi: Why... is it you...?
I hugged my head with my hands. I'd lost the ability to even think rationally.

Perhaps I'd long since already realized the truth.
In this instant, the events up till now flashed through my mind. (Hints for S's True Identity)

so!

folks, what'll it be

do we want to answer the question immediately

nightpool

yesss

Zerovirus

or do we want the game to drip-feed us

nightpool

no we know the answer

Wu Shi gets to be right for once

i mean make a save point, obviously, just so we can get all the content

jjjqance

what are the choices?

nightpool

right now the choices seem to be: - guess immediately - get some hints first

avunvain

"I know who it is" and "Give me some hints"

jjjqance

ohhh

Zerovirus

Wu Shi: Perhaps... I'd long since realized the truth.
But I didn't want to acknowledge such a truth.
Wu Shi: No... I won't believe it...
Stepping backwards, I was so stunned that I wasn't even paying attention to what was behind me.
One of my steps found nothing but empty air.
Just like that, I plummeted down to the abyss beneath the train.

WAIT WHAT?! WHAT THE FUCK?! WHERE'S MY I'D LIKE TO SOLVE OPTION WE'RE JUST DYING?! IT HASN'T EVEN SHOWN US ANYTHING YET

nightpool

BOOOOOO

Zerovirus

OH OH! S RUNS OVER WITHOUT HESITATION AND GRABS US BY THE HAND SO THAT WE DON'T FALL OFF AND DIE.

jjjqance

we're getting trolled

nightpool

we have been. trolled.

avunvain

after all this it's going to be goddamn yu guang

Zerovirus

From the roof of the train, he clutched onto my hands with his life, as though he wanted to save me even at the expense of his own life.
Wu Shi: Why...
Why did S have to be you...?

Yu Guang...
Qian Yuan...
Hengsheng...
Se Yue...
Wu Shi...

here it is

the BIG one

nightpool

Hengsheng.

From the roof of the train, he clutched onto my hands with his life, as though he wanted to save me even at the expense of his own life.

i can't believe they gave us a gendered pronoun even here

avunvain

hengsheng

Zerovirus

yeah they really did

they wanted to keep the true identity up for grabs even to the end, despite yu guang and wu shi being the only guys in the story

jjjqance

it's gotta be hengsheng

avunvain

[clapping hands without rhythm] cute! girl! culprit! theory!

Zerovirus

AND THE TRUTH IS...

jjjqance

AWWWWW YEAHHAHAHHH

nightpool

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

avunvain

yaaaaaaay!

Zerovirus

A RESOUNDING VICTORY FOR YOUR FAVORITE MURDER MYSTERY VISUAL NOVEL CULPRIT HEURISTIC

Ji Hengsheng: Shi-chan, hold on!
Wu Shi: Hengsheng...
To my question, Hengsheng just gave me a weak smile.

Zerovirus

She was putting everything she had into holding onto me. She didn't even have the energy left to answer me.
At this moment, the 13th train car's doors suddenly opened.
I didn't know if it was because me and Hengsheng had some kind of mutual understanding, or if it was an act of the God of Time.
But, either way, everything Hengsheng had done in the world of the 13th train car poured into my brain at that moment.

jjjqance

... what?

they're psychic now?

Zerovirus

WORLD OF THE THIRTEENTH TRAIN CAR
HENGSHENG'S PERSPECTIVE

i mean, narratively

it makes sense

they do have to give us an explanation of what happened

and it's not like ji hengSheng is going to explain everything right the fuck now

jjjqance

ok but like

there has not been any in-universe mechanism hinted at for psychic infodumps

JaxThePyro

I do wonder what the hints they would have given us were

jjjqance

"who has not been in-onscreen with S at the same time"

jjjqance: there has not been any in-universe mechanism hinted at for psychic infodumps

Zerovirus

look at this fucking point apparently 'original fuel is special' is actually a fact of the universe and maybe time gods are real so

i mean, like, i'm ready to accept bullshit magic answers

jjjqance: there has not been any in-universe mechanism hinted at for psychic infodumps

nightpool

uh, duh, it's right there:

or if it was an act of the God of Time.

Zerovirus

maybe there's a hidden rule saying 'if the user wants they can share their memories with the original fuel'

since apparently original fuels are exceptions to every fucking thing else

jjjqance: there has not been any in-universe mechanism hinted at for psychic infodumps

nightpool

although that said, technically the way the game's been treating it, time travel really does seem to work via psychic infodumps

Zerovirus

okay before i proceed i'm gonna check out the hints

jjjqance

....

good point

yeah maybe there's a cool hint we missed

Zerovirus

hints time!

Zerovirus

In the 13th train car's world, who did I tell about the looping?
In the 13th train car's world, who was always by my side?
In the 13th train car's world, who always knew exactly what my next step would be?
Perhaps, I'd long since realized the truth...

okay yeah that's all there is to the hints

come on that's weak

weak hints

there was way stronger evidence

JaxThePyro

Lol that’s terrible

Zerovirus

i'm glad we took the cool kids' route of going right for solving

jjjqance

didn't he meet S before telling Ji about the looping?

JaxThePyro

Admittedly we don’t actually know anything about her motive

Zerovirus

well, presumably, in the 'original' timeline, there was no S, just Ji who was really sad we'd died, and then maybe the rich badguys found her and were like 'hey if you go back in time with this snazzy bird costume we'll give you a ton of money AND you can save your boyfriend'

remember at the start of the game, it begins with where we die, and THEN it cuts to us looping back

so at that point ji already knew we were destined to die

since it wasn't the 'original 'timeline but rather the start of the loops

jjjqance

so why does the hint imply it's important that we told Ji about the looping?

jjjqance: didn't he meet S before telling Ji about the looping?

nightpool

no he just hallucinated S i'm pretty sure.

Zerovirus

...that by itself is bizarre though yeah

like,

how

why

jjjqance

yeah like

Zerovirus

how could we have hallucinated S before learning a single thing about S

jjjqance

how'd he do that if he hadn't met S yet

JaxThePyro

God of Time

jjjqance: so why does the hint imply it's important that we told Ji about the looping?

nightpool

because she believed us right away with no hesitation

jjjqance

more time travelling psychic time gods?

nightpool: no he just hallucinated S i'm pretty sure.

nightpool

hmm actually wait i'm not sure about this, he only told hengsheng about the looping a few loops in, i think

avunvain

time

jjjqance

i hope the time god turns out to be einstein

Zerovirus

anyways! i am going to call it a night on this one.

after a reveal that big i think it's only reasonable to continue with the culprit's perspective later.

nightpool

good night!

jjjqance

seems like a good stopping point

Zerovirus

oooooo, check out this snazzy title screen

nightpool

i'm very curious to see where it goes rom here.

Zerovirus

oh man it's so late

nightpool

yesssssssss

jjjqance

thanks for translating

Zerovirus

i didn't even realize i ran so late on this one lol

JaxThePyro

I wonder how much of the game is left

Zerovirus

there's only five CGs left

nightpool

i bet a bunch

Zerovirus

and i'm sure at least one of those CGs has to be a True Ending CG, so... at most, four more CGs left for the Plot?

avunvain

ty for your hard work

on time gods

nightpool

i guess in terms of narrative structure, this seems like the start of act 3 of 4 acts

Zerovirus

yeah

nightpool

or i guess maybe the start of the last act depending on how you think about it

jjjqance

it seems plausible that we might go back another 12 hours

to when the train ride starts

nightpool

it seems entirely plausible that we get a full infinite hand-stretching loop back to the original fire last year

now that we've figured out that exploit

Zerovirus

yeah, we now know that even if the same person takes the controller multiple times, we just get new train cars instead of reopening the same save-file

which is so fucking busted, like, forget about the kids' personal drama, if geopolitical forces learned that was how the time machine worked, we would start seeing time wars over this thing

this is essentially unlimited time travel so long as you have two people who can cooperate

maybe three if you count the one single fuel you need to keep looping the system

nightpool

and it only requires one (1) single human sacrifice.

Zerovirus

se yue better fucking destroy this device immediately or i fully expect to see, like, nanobot swarms pour out from the year 3000 or whatever

...or, well, no, i guess we're limited by a single human's continuous lifespan

so unless we invent physical immortality we aren't getting super far future bullshit tech like that

zerovirus: ...or, well, no, i guess we're limited by a single human's continuous lifespan

nightpool

how?

Zerovirus

and it's all psychic time travel so more like someone shows up with the power to build nanobots given the right laboratories.

nightpool

just because they provide the lost time needed?

also you can keep notes in the train car right?

Zerovirus

no because- the time travel is all psychic and i don't see a way to go back before your own birth

that's what i mean by that limit

you can't travel a longer distance than you yourself have been alive is what i'm thinking

nightpool

hmm

right

yeah that makes sense

leads to a fun question of like

we've actually already broken the past

Se Yue should have seen three cars on the first day

but she only saw one

so what did Se Yue see in this timeline, if we asked her?

Zerovirus

right, yeah, that's why the grandfather paradox is complete bullshit in this context

presumably in this timeline we definitely saw three cars!

JaxThePyro

Mandela effect

jjjqance

it still might turn out that you can't go back farther than the beginning of the train journey

Zerovirus

might turn out you can't go back farther than when the train was built in the first place, too, which would be narratively convenient if it was 'right before the fire happened due to qian yuan's time traveling'

neatly precludes, idk, using the train to assassinate hitler

jjjqance

i mean theoretically the time travel only works because of the ~~catbox~~ isolated environment

even though we've already heard of htat being broken

2022-02-26 12:57 AM

nightpool

Link to the beginning of tonight's Rail of Mobius LP, in case people don't want to have to scroll through the backlog: https://discord.com/channels/855042557922377738/898208020834705418/946915581729325076

2022-02-26 1:42 AM

Deleted User

thx