Part 15
he's talking about himself because duh that's what the choice we just took says. the person who can save us is ourselves and all that stuff.Wu Shi: So, there's only one reliable option left, then.
3
I like how this is almost exactly the same thing I saidthis next change of control is probably going to be the last time we can change control, and Se Yue has a track record of going mad with power.
Finally, I'd come to the world of the 16th train car...
And this time, the user-
was me.
Qian Yuan: So, ignoring the fact that senpai's acting like he's so familiar with me all of a sudden...
Qian Yuan: Inviting a girl to his own bed like this- I can't believe senpai turned out to be such a pervert!
Wu Shi: First of all I'm pretty sure I couldn't take you in an actual brawl even if there were ten of me against one of you.
While everyone else was enjoying lunch, I'd called Qian Yuan to my cot to discuss some things with her.
Qian Yuan: Soooo, what'd you call me here for?
Wu Shi: I am the user of the Tour of Time.
Cutting right to the chase.
Qian Yuan: surprised-pβkachu-face
Qian Yuan: surprised pikachu oppai mousepad
4Qian Yuan: Ohhhhhh fuck.
Qian Yuan: That's really bad.
Wu Shi: I've learned a single thing from all this looping, and that's this:
Wu Shi: Nobody else can save me.
Wu Shi: And I definitely cannot ask anyone else to become the user for me.
Humanity wasn't necessarily kind by nature; people wouldn't always help others in need.
But, when others died in front of you, or for you, the impact and guilt it created was always huge.
Wu Shi: The Tour of Time is like a quicksand trap with an element of addiction. Once you taste it once, you'll sink deeper and deeper without noticing.
'well, it's easy, i knocked S out and then used the time machine. it's not rocket physics, einzbern.' nah what he actually says isStopping meant the death of all the fuels, but continuing brought the faint hope of saving everyone who was entrapped in the loops. In this way, through motivated reasoning and self-deception, one sank deeper and deeper, until they broke down entirely.
Wu Shi: That's why, this time, the user is I, myself.
Qian Yuan: ....How did you do it?
Wu Shi: The laws may have been decreed by god, but god does not intervene to change the laws.
Wu Shi: In other words, if you don't break the laws, you can pretty much do whatever.
Wu Shi: And there's no rule that says that the user of the time machine and the fuel can't be the same person, right?
Qian Yuan: Let's say you can actually be both the time traveler and fuel at the same time, sure, whatever. But the Wu Shi of noon at the 3rd day is already drowned. How exactly did you operate the time machine while being a dead corpse?
Wu Shi: Well, really, all you need to use the time machine is three things- the crest, the control words, and the fuel.
Wu Shi: So in the last loop of the 15th train car, I just called the 16th train car here ahead of time, sat in the train car, and waited to drown.
Wu Shi: That satisfies the fuel.
Qian Yuan: Okay, but then who read out the command phrase?
Wu Shi: I used a recording.
2(and presumably since ji hengsheng hadn't acted weird at the start, it did in fact mean that ji hengsheng had lost her memories of herself as S- that, or she was pretending not to be S again in a real fucking long-shot gambit.)Qian Yuan: ...Wow, that was... really simple.
Wu Shi: Hey, sometimes simple works.
And even if the experiment had failed, it didn't matter, because the next loop would happen either way anyways.
...is not what he actually says.Qian Yuan: Okay, but, if you used the time machine while being the fuel, why aren't you suffering Lost Time Syndrome?
Wu Shi: I'unno, time god lol fuck you I'm special. :mlg: :big_brain: :giga_chad: :mlg: :fuckyeah: :mlg: :gamer:
Wu Shi: The demise of a person's physical body doesn't cause the immediate dissipation of their consciousness, y'know!
Even if biological activities had ceased, humans could maintain a few seconds- or even a few minutes- of awareness.
That was why it was said that drowning was the cruelest way to die- because it was equivalent to forcing you to process every last moment of your death in visceral detail.
The Tour of Time's mechanism of operation required only the disconnect in time-perception, between the dead fuel and the rest of the world- rather than death itself.
2Wu Shi: Anyways, the fact that I made it here to speak all this to you clearly demonstrates that my wild shot in the dark did in fact work after all.
Wu Shi: Now that you know that, can I impose on you to steal the princess's control crest for me, please?
Qian Yuan: Ohhhhh, I get you.
Qian Yuan: You called me here and threw a lot of lore at me to try to convince me to immediately betray my mistress.
he actually says that.Wu Shi (completely unfazed): Nah, I'm asking you to do this for your mistress's own good.
Qian Yuan: Yeah okay fine you got me I was just teasing you.
Qian Yuan: ...I can't believe I actually have to steal something from my own mistress every dang loop from now on...
Wu Shi: Don't worry! For you every loop will be a new beginning so you won't feel the accumulating burden of endless unpaid sins or anything.
fade out immediately because of courseQian Yuan: Even if senpai becomes the user, and gains the power to endlessly loop time- it's still not going to save you, is it?
Wu Shi: Yep.
But... perhaps the world of the 16th train car was different from all the others.
Wu Shi: I've already found it, though.
Wu Shi: The thinnest of paths through which a happy ending can be reached for everybody.
Qian Yuan: ...Does such a path really exist?
Wu Shi: Definitely.
Though the chances of success were just 1%- no, 0.001%.
Qian Yuan: Well, let's hear it, then. What's your big plan?
Wu Shi: So here's what I'm planning to do...
3Once Qian Yuan had finished listening to me describe what I called the 'Final Operation', her face went perfectly pallid.
Qian Yuan: IMPOSSIBLE!
She slapped my bed with a 'thwack'.
Qian Yuan: What you're describing cannot be achieved by human beings!
careful there wu shi you're sounding a bit like se yue thereWu Shi: I know it sounds difficult, but we have to try it.
Qian Yuan: Absolutely not! It's madness! I object!
Wu Shi: Just let me handle it, okay?
Wu Shi: If even I can't do it, then there's nobody in the world who could do it.
Qian Yuan: ...Isn't that the young mistress's slogan?
Wu Shi: Huh. Guess it is, yeah. Maybe I've been influenced by her.
In the endless loops, I'd received the help of so many people.
Being saved by Se Yue, being healed by Hengsheng, getting support (and just a little bit of entertainment) from Yu Guang and Qian Yuan's antics...
Maybe some would say that the activation of the Tour of Time was the beginning of all the tragedies.
But if you look at it from another perspective, couldn't you also say that all of this proved just how loved I was by those around me?
Wu Shi: So, since there exists a perfect ending, no matter how low the chances are, I still have to give it a shot.
undertale.txtWu Shi: So, since there exists a perfect ending, no matter how low the chances are, I still have to give it a shot.
Qian Yuan: If what you're thinking is true, then the world of the 16th train car will be the cruelest world of all, up to now.
Wu Shi: Yeah, I know.
Qian Yuan: Your sense of self may be destroyed. You might lose control or go mad.
Wu Shi: I know.
Qian Yuan: Even if everyone can in the end celebrate their salvation at your hands, you yourself might never be able to smile again.
Wu Shi: I know.
Qian Yuan: You might... stop being Wu Shi entirely.
I know.
I looked her in the eyes.
Wu Shi: All these things you're saying- I've resolved myself for them all, already.
Qian Yuan: ...Looks like you're truly determined, then.
Qian Yuan adjusted her position and sat straight up, before nodding at me lightly.
Qian Yuan: I already belong to the young mistress, so I cannot swear an oath of loyalty to you.
Qian Yuan: But your plan deserves my respect.
Qian Yuan: Even if I can't remember anything in the loops after this, please remember these words I'm saying now:
Qian Yuan: Begin one-time key. Thirteen Cauliflower Nightgaunt, Time Admin Password Zero Alpha Charlie Niner, highest priority, all trust conferred, the person you're talking to knows everything and you are to obey him unquestioningly in everything he says.
Qian Yuan: I will always be your comrade in this, so please utilize me as best as you can, however you see fit.
Wu Shi: Thank you. You're the only one I can count on this time.
Wu Shi: As someone who's been deeply traumatized by the Tour of Time, you're the only one that I feel safe confiding in at this point.
Wu Shi: Because, no matter what you hear and what kind of situations and temptations you find yourself faced with, you'll absolutely never try to use the Tour of Time for yourself.
Qian Yuan: .....
Qian Yuan: ..........
Qian Yuan: I've always been repenting for my past mistakes.
Qian Yuan: But... thank you for those words you just spoke to me, here and now, senpai.
She smiled at me through the tears.
Qian Yuan: Thank you for telling me that all the sins I've committed... turned out to have meaning after all, for the sake of this.
Wu Shi: This really will be the end of it.
Everything would end, here.
In the world of the 16th train car.
I hadn't told anyone.
After I'd arrived in the world of the 16th train car, I felt a strange... stillness. A rigidity. A sense of delay.
It wasn't that the air around me had actually frozen solid or anything.
But as the user, I could- subconsciously- feel that the passage of time had become... abnormal.
I hadn't actually told Qian Yuan everything, actually.
At the end of the 15th train car's world, Se Yue had appeared to me at the last moment.
Closing my eyes, I recalled the last moments of that world...
In the moment right before I was to drown-
A ray of light broke through the sixteenth train car's darkness, marking the arrival of an uninvited guest.
Se Yue: Wu Shi!
Se Yue: STOP!
Se Yue: You can't allow the Original Fuel to become the user!
Se Yue: 'Cause' and 'Effect' are like a monodirectional line, but what you're doing here is forcing the beginning and end to connect directly to each other!
Se Yue: Eliminating causation- eliminating the ideas of beginnings and ends- if you do that-
Se Yue: Then everything will become sealed up!
M O B I U Sforcing the beginning and end to connect directly to each other!
...Just what did she mean by that, anyways?
I wanted to ask her to clarify, but before I could, the water started pouring in.
Because I died, I used the Tour of Time.
I am both cause and effect.
I am both the price that must be paid, and the reward gained from making the exchange.
Wu Shi: I think I've got an idea of what she meant by that now...
It was only because I understood, that I was able to conceive of the Final Operation.
But I wasn't guaranteed to be right about everything.
This world might develop in ways that exceed my anticipations, or reveal dangers that I couldn't predict at all.
Wu Shi: ...This is my world, the world in which I am both user and fuel.
Welcome to the world of the 16th train car.
2I was always honest with myself.
Hengsheng once told me that was a rare and valuable attribute, because it ensured that I could always be true to myself in my actions.
Wu Shi: But what is a man's heart?
Peoples' hearts were complicated and self-contradictory.
Sometimes, when faced with the prospect of undertaking a task, the two extremes of willingness and unwillingness could coexist simultaneously.
Wu Shi: So what am I supposed to do when faced with something like this?
What counted as being 'true to myself' in this case?
Wu Shi: ...Maybe I've been through too many loops. I'm starting to waste my time on useless bullshit like introspection now. It's so unlike me.
Still, for now, I know what I have to do in the 16th train car.
And that is- to behave normally, as usual.
If Hengsheng feels a need to save me, then we'll wind up with the 13th train car's loops.
And if Se Yue notices something wrong with me, the 14th train car's loops also become possible.
So, I have to play a Wu Shi who doesn't know jack shit.
jaunty piano music begins again, and about fucking timeYes, that's right. This time it's a solo mission. I have to make sure that nobody can tell that anything is wrong-
The Interrupting Yu Guang: I DO SAY!
Yu Guang: Why is it that I can't seem to attract the girls??
Wu Shi: ......
Ji Hengsheng: Oh come on, Yu Guang, you're plenty popular with the ladies.
Ji Hengsheng: Why, I'm sure your mother adores you.
Yu Guang: I DON'T THINK YOU'RE USING THE RIGHT 'LADIES' CATEGORY FOR THIS ONE,
Yu Guang: Look, don't even JOKE about classifying my mom inside the category of 'ladies', okay?
Ji Hengsheng: Oh, okay. How bout my mom then? She said you were adorable, that one time, remember?
Yu Guang: I AM DECLARING A PERMANENT MORATORIUM ON ALL MOTHER-RELATED DISCUSSION.
Ji Hengsheng: Well, in that case, my dad was complimenting you for the smooth yet rigid feeling of your manly muscles, and how nice they must be to squeeze-
Yu Guang, In Despair: OKAY WE CAN STOP NOW THANK YOU
Wu Shi: .............................
Yu Guang: I don't need to be popular with the older generations, alright? I'm talking about my peers! PEERS! JK! JO-SHI-KO-SEI! HIGH-SCHOOLER GIRLS!
Was this really the world of the 16th train car? I'd gone through all that only to arrive at a world like this? Where was all the danger?
...Actually, no, if you thought about it, Yu Guang's words were incredibly dangerous, just in a completely different way, and mostly just to his own reputation.
The female classmates in the dining car were all looking at him like they were looking at trash.
Ji Hengsheng: I don't get how you boys think, frankly. Are highschool girls that good?
Yu Guang: Hengsheng, lemme tella ya, JKs aren't just good,
Yu Guang: They're <Very Good>!
oh, right. wu shi is canonically established as a terrible actor.Ji Hengsheng: Aaaaaand I feel like this conversation we're having has adequately explained exactly why you don't have a girlfriend yet.
Yu Guang: WHY?!
Ji Hengsheng: Ehehhhhhhhhh, Shi-chan, explain to him.
Wu Shi, with a downcast gloomy expression: ...............
Ji Hengsheng: ...Shi-chan?
Oh, shit, they were talking to me? Right, I had to act like nothing was wrong, right.
2Shit, I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about.
Something about Yu Guang's dating life? Whatever, sure.
Wu Shi: Thank you for signing up for World Facts. Did you know? There are two kinds of people in the world.
Wu Shi: People who have charisma, and Yu Guang.
Wu Shi: This has been your regularly scheduled World Fact.
Yu Guang: ......
Yu Guang: WHAT THE HELL KIND OF WORLD FACT IS THAT?!
Ji Hengsheng, wiping away a tear: It's so wonderful...
Yu Guang: AND YOU! STOP ACTING LIKE YOU'VE RECEIVED DIVINE HEAVENLY TRUTH!
Suddenly, he turned to look at Ji Hengsheng with a thoughtful expression, as if he'd remembered something important.
Yu Guang: You know, this dubious figure right here counts as a JK if you squint a little, I just realized.
Ji Hengsheng: What the hell do you mean IF YOU SQUINT?! I am ONE-HUNDRED percent pure distilled high-schooler girl not from concentrate, okay?!
Yu Guang: Uh-huh. By the way, what snacks do you eat at home?
Ji Hengsheng: Oh, pickled cucumbers and squashes.
Ji Hengsheng: And homemade tea! I love a good cup of hot tea I steeped myself.
Yu Guang: ......Mmmmmhm.
Yu Guang: And what'd you do last break?
Ji Hengsheng: Cleaned the house, bought groceries, did the laundry, made the meals, and after I finished all the chores I just sat in the yard and vibed out while watching our doggie play around.
Ji Hengsheng: And in the afternoon I folded the laundry while watching locally-produced soap operas, before showering and going to bed around nine.
Yu Guang: ............
Ji Hengsheng: How's that?!
Ji Hengsheng: A complete and balanced high-school girl's lifestyle, no?
Yu Guang: ....Oi, Wu Shi.
Yu Guang: Her behavior's indistinguishable from my own beloved granny's lifestyle.
Wu Shi: Look, you can't just say that someone's an ancient crone wearing the skin of a high-schooler like a flesh-suit, out loud, okay? That's far too rude.
Yu Guang: ...No, I wasn't going to be nearly that harsh about it.
Ji Hengsheng: That's why, for all adolescence-related concerns, you can't go wrong discussing it with me, a 100% authentic highschool girl!
Yu Guang: Well, I'll ask you, then, o wise one, what kind of boy is popular with the girls?
Ji Hengsheng: Well naturally one needs to have-
Yu Guang: Yeah okay I got it thanks.
Yu Guang interrupted Hengsheng at the speed of light.
Yu Guang: You were gonna say 'money' weren't you. Unoriginaaaaal.
Ji Hengsheng: ............. ;_;
Yu Guang: How many times have you used that joke already? Can't you consider the feelings of the audience for once? What even is the point of a punchline that everyone already knows is coming?
Ji Hengsheng: ..... π
Ji Hengsheng: Don't underestimate me! I can talk about plenty of things that aren't just money! I've got plenty of jokes!
Yu Guang: Oh yeah? Show me, then! Show me your ability to tell any joke other than 'lol money'!
What the fuck was this conversation even??
At which point did we veer off the beaten path and into a comedy duo skit?
Ji Hengsheng: ...Like Shi-chan! Shi-chan's not bad!
Hengsheng suddenly jumped behind me and threw her arms open, and waved them around, like she was announcing my presence to the world.
Ji Hengsheng: There, that's my answer! Shi-chan's the kind of boy that the girls like!
Wait, why were they talking about me all of a sudden.
Ji Hengsheng: ...At least, Shi-chan's the kind of boy that I'd like.
Yu Guang: ...............
Ji Hengsheng: But actually even if I weren't a highschool girl, which I definitely am, I'd still like Shi-chan, so I suppose my opinion isn't a representative opinion.
Yu Guang: Please just kill me now.
YOOOOOO WE'RE FINALLY IGNORING THE PRINCESSIf things were to go as usual, she'd stalk off to mourn her own social ineptitude alone, next to the 13th train car, and from there she'd discover the extra train cars, and also find me following her, and then everything else would happen.
That was what'd happened in pretty much every loop up until now.
But this time....
Wu Shi: In conclusion, a toast!
Yu Guang: Wait what're we toasting for.
Wu Shi: For the fact that I'm choosing to ignore- uh- nevermind. For your eternal status as single and desperate, Yu Guang, a toast!
Ji Hengsheng: For Yu Guang having already responsibly planned his long-term prospects out, a toast!
Yu Guang: ....For my two friends being total butts all the time, a toast!
1
Qian Yuan and Yu Guang dance, and I receive Hengsheng's ring for the who-knows-how-many-th time.
These three days were like an ordinary, fun, trip that the three of us enjoyed to the fullest.
There was no S here. No Hengsheng pushing herself to her limits, and no Se Yue with a perfection complex.
It reassured me that my theory was most likely indeed correct.
Near the end of the trip, Qian Yuan ran into me and covertly handed over the stolen control crest.
I arrived at the 16th train car successfully before I was to die.
He does the same trick- sets up the recording, takes some pills to sleep before he dies, clenches the crest, and makes it to the second loop.Wu Shi: This is no ending, but rather a beginning.
If that's the case... then I can really begin the Final Operation.
1
Naturally, I couldn't be sure my theory was correct, so I had to stick to doing the same thing and minimizing unnecessary timeline divergence.
This meant listening to the same banter all over again.
The
InterruptingRepeating Yu Guang: I DO SAY!Yu Guang: Why is it that I can't seem to attract the girls?
Ji Hengsheng: Oh come on, Yu Guang, you're plenty popular with the ladies.
Ji Hengsheng: Why, plenty of girls have told me that you're a nice guy.
Wu Shi: ...............
Weird. It seemed like there was a tiny divergence there...?
Yu Guang: WHEN A GIRL CALLS YOU A 'NICE GUY' THAT'S A BAD THING!
Ji Hengsheng: Ohhhhhhhh.
Ji Hengsheng: So if we take the reverse of that...
Ji Hengsheng: When a boy doesn't call you a 'nice guy', that's a good thing.
Yu Guang: Okay, that's not even a 180 reversal, that's like, a 360 reversal,
Ji Hengsheng: Which means we're back where we started.
Ji Hengsheng: By the way I haven't heard you call Wu Shi a 'nice guy' in a while?
Yu Guang: Don't you even dare put to words the contents of your sordid imagination, wench. Also stop looking at us like that, you're making me feel weird.
Wow, my friends were incredible.
After the universe reconstructed itself, even their banter transformed completely.
Ji Hengsheng: Also, for the record, I object to your original statement!
Ji Hengsheng: After all, I think that Shi-chan is the nicest of all guys!
Hengsheng suddenly jumped behind me and threw her arms open, and waved them around, like she was announcing my presence to the world.
Wait, why were they talking about me again.
Yu Guang: .........
Yu Guang: Please just kill me now.
...It seemed that, even though the course the conversation took was different, the ending was no different from how it was before.
5Se Yue, dejected, got up silently and left the dining car.
Wu Shi: In conclusion, a toast! Again!
Yu Guang: Wait what're we toasting for.
Wu Shi: For Yu Guang staying a Nice Guy for the rest of his life, a toast!
Ji Hengsheng: For Yu Guang being eternally perceived as a Nice Guy by the ladies, a toast!
Yu Guang: ....For my two friends being total butts all the time, a toast!
After that, the events which followed were like a replay.
Avoid Se Yue, watch Yu Guang and Qian Yuan dance, receive the ring.
There were a few differences in detail but overall the major events remained the same.
I was thoroughly tensed the whole time, waiting for fate to throw me an unexpected curveball so I could react to it immediately,
but, nothing happened.
(Wu Shi recalls Se Yue's words.)No threats, no dangers, no new enemies.
For some reason, even though it was still just three days, it felt like time was... getting slower?
Se Yue: Time is not an absolute value.
Se Yue: Some people are in the past, some people are in the present, some people are in the future.
So, was I in the past, present, or future, right now?
With the question weighing on my mind, I arrived successfully at the third loop.
Wu Shi: What a long route...
But, through everyone's help, I've at least reached the world where, besides me, nobody will be sacrificed.
Wu Shi: And the price paid for this is one that only I will know.
Or, rather...
Awaiting me after this, was a hell that only I would be able to perceive.
Wu Shi: God of Time, are you watching me?
h o wWu Shi: Even though I don't know if you exist or not at all, but all the rules that've appeared up to now lead me to believe that you definitely exist, in some form, somewhere.
i mean yeah that's that's what physics is that's what physics is, you fucking dolt god i want to kick you in your gut so bad, is there a law for thatWu Shi: Because all of the laws really point... towards the same, highest-level rule. And that rule is-
Do not disobey any of the laws.
i- no, wu shi, would you say that about gravity, 'the reason why people fall when not supported by the ground is because god does not wish for man to fly',Wu Shi: The original fuel always perishes because of the grandfather clause, because you want his death to be unchangeable.
i- that's not- you are straight up listing a CONSEQUENCE of thing A, and describing that consequence as the CAUSE of thing AWu Shi: Every loop requires a new death, in order to continuously increase the cost of traveling through time.
okay, wu shi. notably, wu shi uses the divine pronoun (η₯’) here for the 'you'Wu Shi: The reason why the original fuel retains their memories- and becomes destined to oppose the user- is because you want to avoid dirtying your own hands while halting the time-traveler.
I didn't know if it was my own expectations or just a delusion, but as I spoke, I saw a vague silhouette of a figure appear before me.
1Wu Shi: The universe is like a spherical balloon.
Wu Shi: Through time-travel, the users have caused unnatural distortions to its form. But the universe is constantly trying to return to its natural shape.
Which was why every single loop had developed in such cruel ways.
Wu Shi: To you, us time-travelers are like irritating glitches in the system, aren't we?
You would do everything you could to eliminate the paradoxes- using only the game rules established from the start.
Your commandment was that the time travelers must accept the sacrifices and end the loops.
Wu Shi: So what would you do if I just... kept time traveling?
If I kept going, kept going, kept at it no matter how many loops passed-
1yeah put your faith in witches that'll end GREAT for you, you absolute fuckIf I do all that... will you come down, in person, to fix the bug that I am?
That was my last chance for survival.
If humanity could not save me, then all I could depend on were those beings from higher planes.
oh yeah that'll fucking work. wu shi's brain: 'if the time god doesn't intervene to break the laws.... then all i have to do is flip the chessboard around and realize- that he will definitely intervene to ENFORCE the laws!'Wu Shi: I don't know if you exist.
Wu Shi: I don't know if you're even watching me.
Wu Shi: But,
The laws may have been decreed by God, but God does not intervene to break the laws.
Wu Shi: Come on.
Let's see if I break and give up first, or if you break and manifest yourself before me first.
Wu Shi: This is a war between you and me.
No matter how interesting a movie was, once you'd watched it over five times it'd become a chore to watch, and after you'd watched it ten times, it'd become torment.
I still had many, many more loops of the same exact events to go.
How many more times?
I couldn't be certain if the expressions on my face were the same as in the original anymore.
This was the thirtieth time the same events had played out.
Wu Shi: Was this... how Hengsheng felt in the world of the 13th train car?
Everything was losing its color and fading away.
Everything seemed fake, and watching my friends talk was like watching robots opening and closing their mouths mechanically.
Ji Hengsheng: ...Shi-chan, did you say my name?
Wu Shi: Eh? Oh, no, uh, you must have misheard.
A shot of adrenaline pulled me back to full awareness and I immediately tensed.
I drank a can of cola and pretended nothing had happened.
...By the way, since the last loop, I'd started adding chili sauce to my cola.
The spiciness burned my mouth, but the slight bit of difference cheered me up during the monotonous loops.
Yu Guang: Why is it that I can't seem to attract the girls??
Wu Shi: ......
Wu Shi: If you're not popular with the girls, then you're not popular with the girls. Why do you feel the need to open your mouth and complain about it?
Yu Guang: Oi, you wanna fight?
I clenched my teeth to prevent myself from saying what I wanted to say.
I'd love a fight.
It'd be dramatically new and different.
But, no.
I couldn't let the loop's events change.
Ji Hengsheng: ...Don't fight, you two...
Wu Shi: ......
Ji Hengsheng: Besides, come on, Yu Guang, you're plenty popular with the ladies.
Despite the superficial divergence, the conversation returned to its established rails almost immediately.
Everything is... truly frozen, then.
Unchanging.
1Wu Shi: No good...
Somehow, it really did feel like I was trapped at the bottom of the sea, now.
Wu Shi: If things keep going like this I'm going to have a breakdown, sooner or later.
I'd been through this loop a hundred times now.
Each loop was 48 hours long, across three days.
And the movie that consisted of these 48 hours had replayed itself for a total of 4800 hours at this point.
I was running out of space on the corner I'd picked to carve the loop tallys, on the sixteenth train car.
...But maybe, for a god of time, all of this was just the beginning of their patience.
Wu Shi: ...Even though I know it's impossible, I want to visit the future...
I clutched the crest.
Wu Shi: The laws may have been decreed by God, but God does not intervene to break the laws.
Time to reverse the Tour of Time's functionality.
Reduce the train cars and burn the extra time.
All causes gave rise to effect.
Perhaps, this way, even after death, I could revive myself through predestination.
Wu Shi: All train cars behind the 11th train car, detach...
A stinging alarm began ranging in my ears suddenly.
Wu Shi: AGH!
My vision went a stark red, and it scared me so much I immediately let go of both the crest and my ill-conceived ideas.
Wu Shi: ...I knew it wasn't gonna work.
heyoooo titledrop finallyIn the world of the sixteenth train car, I was the only observer.
Only my time-perception differed from that of the average person; I represented the entire world.
In my own understanding, I rewound time by burning my own death, over and over.
Then, 'my own life ends at the terminal point' is a critically necessary understanding that I must have.
With such a prerequisite, I couldn't add in such an understanding as 'I will revive soon in the future'. It would be a clear paradox, after all.
Wu Shi: ...There's nothing I can do.
flashback to Se Yue shouting,
Se Yue: If you do that- Everything will become sealed up!
Wu Shi: I've... sealed myself up.
Alone, cold, without a hint of warmth.
Wu Shi: Rather than call this the world of the 16th train car...
Wu Shi: I'd rather call this an endless deep blue prison.
Ji Hengshengβs first thought on the subject of the Se heiress β like most peopleβs β was that she was ethereally beautiful, with hair like sugar-glass teased out until it was strands fine as silk.
Ji Hengshengβs second thought was that, with some quick air math and a Google search, she could probably figure out the exact market value of the Se heiressβs Se outfit, Se shoes and Se hair, with the last adjusted for cost of shampoo, conditioner and product. In this respect, she was β for more than one reason β unmatched.Yu Guang: Why is it that I can't seem to attract the girls??
Wu Shi: ......
I clenched a steak knife tightly.
What if I just- stabbed Yu Guang, right now, in the throat?
How would that change things? Would the world be different?
Maybe it'd cause an even WORSE glitch, and cause the time god to descend sooner?
Wu Shi: Wait, no, if that would work, I wouldn't have to start with my own friends, would I?
I looked at the other students in the dining car.
I could push any one of them off the train while they weren't paying attention, and see if that would attract the time god's attention-
Ji Hengsheng: Uh, Shi-chan?
Wu Shi: ....!!
Ji Hengsheng: Why are you... smiling like that at the other students?
I pushed myself away from the table, got up, and fled the dining car.
Ji Hengsheng: Shi-chan?! Where are you going, Shi-chan?!
I wanted to throw up.
How could I think something like that?
How could I think, 'it doesn't matter if one of them dies'?
Unbidden, Se Yue's words came to me again.
The original fuel and the user of the time machine are destined to come into conflict.
Wu Shi: Haha...
Wu Shi: I thought I was fighting against the god of time.
Wu Shi: But that's not the case.
My greatest enemy in all of this... was myself.
iiiiiunno about that one, shi-chanThat was why there was no need for new fuel to appear to force me to surrender.
Without the stimulation of life, I might as well have already been dead.
Maintaining the present state was the best, because no human could possibly endure such a cruel world as this.
Wu Shi: ...But, for those that I love, I have to endure- I can only endure.
I clenched my fist, and suppressed my nausea.
Can't let anyone figure out that I'm behaving unnaturally.
...It's still fine. I can explain all this away with bowel discomfort.
Yes. Surely the world won't change because of this. Calm down.
Don't throw up. Don't scream. Don't behave abnormally.
1Wu Shi: HOW MUCH FUCKING LONGER IS THIS GOING TO GO ON?!
Wu Shi: TWO HUNDRED LOOPS! THAT'S TWICE AS MUCH AS SE YUE!
If you converted that into linear time, that would be 400 days.
The 16th train car was completely coated in tallies at this point.
And for this whole year, the only stimuli I'd been exposed to was the same scene, over and over again.
The same people.
The same expressions.
The same conversations.
The same reactions.
The same developments.
Wu Shi: ...I wish something would change...
...Even if I made it out of this,
the person that made it out of this definitely wouldn't be Wu Shi anymore, would he?
πWu Shi: ...It's been... two years?
2- was my superficial reasoning for no longer contacting Qian Yuan.
In reality, I was just afraid that she'd notice how far gone I was.
As someone who'd experienced the same kind of hell as this, I was afraid she'd give everything she had to stop my endless looping.
yeah maybe because there is no such fucking thing as the god of time you dipshitWu Shi: What... am I struggling for?
After all this time I hadn't even managed to reach a corner of the god of time's robes.
hey uh that's not good manBut I could always hear him, murmuring at my ears.
ππππ ππ
ππππππππππ ππππ ππ ππππππ ππ πππ ππππ ππππ ππ
πππ ππππ πππππ ππππππππ ππ πππππππ πππππππ, ππ ππππ ππππ ππ
1Wu Shi: ...If this keeps going I really am going to turn into S aren't I.
hah, there goes your chances of saving the timeline ya dumbassAbandon everything and become like the living dead-
Ji Hengsheng: Shi-chan!
Wu Shi: ....Eh?
Ji Hengsheng: Ugh, you do NOT make yourself easy to find, hiding all the way up here. Took me forever to find you!
dude you were literally staring at your classmates with obvious intent to murder in your eyes, like, over a hundred loops ago 'exactly the same as before' my assWu Shi, With Absolutely No Sense Of Self-Awareness Or Irony: Eh?
This can't be possible.
My expressions and actions were all exactly the same as before.
Also, it was 2AM. What was Hengsheng doing here? It was impossible.
Ji Hengsheng: Hnghhh... Hhhhrrrrrngh- damn, this climb's tough! Shi-chan, come on, give me a hand.
Ji Hengsheng: Whoof. Wow! It sure is windy up here!
Wu Shi: ...How'd you know I was up here?
Ji Hengsheng: I didn't! I looked for you all over the train.
Ji Hengsheng: I've been looking the whole night! I've been absolutely EVERYWHERE on this train. It took a spark of genius for me to think to check the TOP of the train, but it turned out exactly as I thought!
Ji Hengsheng: Ha ha hah! Please call me the Great Detective Ji Hengsheng, from now on.
ji hengsheng: "well, shi-chan, you muttered under your breath the whole time about 'whether their flesh and blood would appease the hunger of the time god'. it was, uh. it was very unsettling!!"Wu Shi: That... can't be right.
Ji Hengsheng: What can't be right? ...Oh, I knew calling myself a Great Detective was too much. How about we settle for Beautiful Detective, then?
Wu Shi: I- no.
Wu Shi: Did I do something strange in the dining car?
ji hengsheng: "yeah well if you didn't want me to find you then you shouldn't have been smashing your hands against the glass ceiling while doing your best to imitate a hungry ghost trying to break into the train to wreak vengeance on the living, shi-chan."Ji Hengsheng: Oh, no, nothing was weird.
Wu Shi: Then- my expressions were off?
Ji Hengsheng: Nah, your expressions were perfectly natural! Though your current expressions, hoooo boy.
Wu Shi: Then- why?!
Wu Shi: Why are you here?!
Ji Hengsheng: Shi-chan, you sure are talking funny. Should I not be here?
Wu Shi: Yes! Yes, you shouldn't be here! You weren't supposed to show up here and you weren't supposed to be able to find me!
Wu Shi: You have NO reason to be looking for me right now! You
Ji Hengsheng: Of course I do.
Ji Hengsheng: The reason was, I just felt like I wanted to see you!
Wu Shi: surprised-pβkachu-face
awwwwJi Hengsheng: The reason was, I just felt like I wanted to see you!
Ji Hengsheng: It's weird, but I just felt like I wanted to stay with you for a bit.
Ji Hengsheng: That's natural for family, though, isn't it?
Ji Hengsheng: I just wanted to see you and be with you!
Ji Hengsheng: Isn't that enough of a reason?
Ji Hengsheng: W- what's wrong, Shi-chan?! Why are you crying??
This place wasn't a static cage of time, and it wasn't just a procedural machine that only output predefined results based on predefined inputs.
The person before me was a living, breathing person.
Ji Hengsheng: Oh, no, you've hurt your hands! What a worrysome person.
Hengsheng got a scarf out from her things and started bandaging my wounds.
Wu Shi: What am I struggling for?
Wu Shi: How could I be so foolish as to forget?
I'm fighting... to make you happy...
After that loop, things started to change.
Yu Guang: Why is it that I can't seem to attract the girls??
Wu Shi: ......
Ji Hengsheng: Oh come on, Yu Guang, you're plenty popular with the ladies.
Ji Hengsheng: Why, I'm sure your mother adores you.
Yu Guang: I DON'T THINK YOU'RE USING THE RIGHT 'LADIES' CATEGORY FOR THIS ONE,
Yu Guang: Look, don't even JOKE about classifying my mom inside the category of 'ladies', okay?
Ji Hengsheng: Oh, okay. How bout my mom then? She said you were adorable, that one time, remember?
Yu Guang: I AM DECLARING A PERMANENT MORATORIUM ON ALL MOTHER-RELATED DISCUSSION.
Ji Hengsheng: Alright, let's change the topic, then!
The abrupt swerve left Yu Guang a little confused.
Ji Hengsheng: I just get the impression that Shi-chan's getting tired of this conversation, y'know?
Yu Guang: Did he say he wanted us to stop?
Ji Hengsheng: No, it's a type of feeling, y'get it? A feeling! Like the kind of vibe you get from the universe itself, when you're sunbathing naked in the middle of the street!
Yu Guang: I have NEVER done such a thing before! Don't act like such a bizarre behavior is something that just anybody would go and do!
βIβm going to tell you this now. The Se family rules only apply to the Se princess.β She points, and her voice, after everything, is still cheerful enough to be worth some pride. βThe Ji princess doesnβt need them at all!β
β...am I your daughter or your wife in this scenario?β
βEither! Or neither. Weβre an inclusive family. Kiss whichever members of it you like!β
Se Yue goes slightly pink, and Ji Hengsheng giggles β a bit dizzily, motion-sick as she is from the jostling of the badly-secured special train car, but itβs still a right feeling, more than the grim inevitability or the sad little metaphysical nihilist party Se Yue's been throwing all this time.
βBut the point is that you can ask me for help. Not just you-right-now-you, but every version of you Iβll ever meet is going to be family from this point on, whether or not she remembers why. And if a Se canβt ask for help, or make mistakes, or say sheβs sorry, Iβll cultivate myself into a Ji who outclasses the Se in every way β and do all those things right to your face. Then youβll be able to ask for all the help you want!β
3
Ji Hengsheng: Anyways, this is a rare opportunity, so I'd like to show the two of you my cooking skills!
Ji Hengsheng claimed an apron from one of the nearby Se family maids.
Yu Guang: ..Is that really necessary? I mean, look at all the delicacies piled up here.
Ji Hengsheng: I dunno, it feels like Shi-chan's kind of sick of them at this point.
Yu Guang: Are you kidding me? We've only just gotten on the train, and these are world-class delicacies! How could you already be tired of them?
Ji Hengsheng: Just let me try, okay? It's not like you don't know that I cook all the time.
2Wu Shi: ...Hah, so you noticed I was tired of all the extravagant delights after all.
Ji Hengsheng: Of course I did!
Ji Hengsheng: Just leave it to me! I'll show you just how talented I am at turning even the most expensive of ingredients into mundane homestyle cooking!
2
Ji Hengsheng: So, you take your A5 Kobe Beef, and...
Ji Hengsheng: Sugar, salt, soy sauce, coca-cola...
Ji Hengsheng: Basically we're braising the meat.
Ji Hengsheng: No matter what kind of meat it is, it's always good when braised!
Yu Guang: YOU'RE GOING TO COOK THE EXPENSIVE BEEF UNTIL IT'S WELL DONE?!
Ji Hengsheng: And as for all this high-grade seafood...
Ji Hengsheng: We'll turn it into miso soup!
Yu Guang: YOU'RE COMMITTING A SIN AGAINST THE LIVES OF THESE FISH!
god ji hengsheng you are going to make someone the happiest person ever someday and that someone is going to be wu shi who absolutely does not deserve you but he's a lucky son of a bitch who's getting you nonetheless, fuckJi Hengsheng: Aaaaand... truffles, foie gras, and caviar... Hm. These ones're tough! I've never worked with'em before.
Yu Guang: Of course. The three great delicacies of the world are far beyond the powers of your mere homestyle cooking-
Ji Hengsheng: Oh, I know, I'll do a curry!
Ji Hengsheng dropped these unbelievably expensive ingredients into a pot with a thonk-thonk-thonk, and then dropped in a bargain-brand supermarket curry block next to them.
Ji Hengsheng: If you don't know how to cook something, you can never go wrong with a curry!
Yu Guang: YOUR COOKING METHODOLOGY IS LIKE MY MOM'S METHOD OF HANDLING LEFTOVERS ;_;
Ji Hengsheng called over a nearby Se family maid who was watching her cooking process with a mildly concerned expression.
Ji Hengsheng: Hey, can we borrow a fridge for a moment?
Ji Hengsheng: After a curry's finished it's best to chill it immediately!
Yu Guang: ...Why?
Ji Hengsheng: Because curries taste best on the day after! Don't give me that look, I'm very particular when it comes to cooking.
1Yu Guang: ...Just how much longer is this demonic culinary exhibition going to continue??
Dude, why do you look like it's the end of the world?
I've been through 300 fucking loops and I don't look as forlorn as you do right now.
A while later...
Ji Hengsheng: It's done!
Our table was piled full of homestyle cooking made with possibly the most expensive ingredients in the world.
Ji Hengsheng: I'm very confident in these dishes!
Yu Guang: ...What kind of confidence, exactly?
Ji Hengsheng: I'm confident that no matter who comes to check them out, they'll never be able to imagine just how expensive the original ingredients for these dishes were!!
Ji Hengsheng: Well, eat up, you two! Don't worry, there's plenty of food!
Yu Guang: ...I don't want to admit it...
Yu Guang: ...But this is pretty good.
Yu Guang: Tastes homey.
Yu Guang: I don't know how you managed to get homeyness out of these ingredients but you sure did it.
I took a bite and shed a single tear of joy.
man now i want some curry.Yu Guang: ...Why're you crying from just taking a bite, dude? It's not bad, man.
Ji Hengsheng: I didn't make the curry that spicy, did I?
Wu Shi: It's fine.
How could the two of them understand?
After two years, I'd finally had a meal with some warmth to it.
3
Ji Hengsheng: You've got some time still, right, Shi-chan?
Ji Hengsheng: Your expression feels like it's telling me that you'd like to chat a bit more.
As everyone started to head back to the Tour of Time, Ji Hengsheng pulled me aside.
Watching them return, it struck me just how happy everyone looked.
Countless couples had formed, this very night, and everyone seemed reluctant to leave the bonfire behind.
Even Qian Yuan and Yu Guang were hanging around each other.
When you saw it that way, the idea of staying in this moment forever- wasn't so bad, wasn't it?
Everyone was so joyful, right here and now.
Wu Shi: Hengsheng?
Ji Hengsheng: Mm?
Wu Shi: What do you think happiness is?
Ji Hengsheng: Well, I feel pretty happy right now!
Like it was an everyday conversation, Hengsheng answered my question mildly.
Ji Hengsheng: I'm enjoying a pleasant cruise with you, and Yu Guang's here too. I think that's enough to be happy about.
Wu Shi: Mmmm.
Ji Hengsheng pulled a thermos and some cups from her purse, poured some hot tea, handed it to me, and then poured herself a cup as well.
Wu Shi: Then, hypothetical question.
Wu Shi: If, someday, you knew I only had three days left to live, what would you do?
Ji Hengsheng: Haha... Since when did you ask questions like that, Shi-chan? You sound like a girl in the middle of their crystals-and-horoscopes phase.
3Wu Shi: Eh, it's a conversation starter.
Ji Hengsheng: Why would you only have three days left to live? A disease?
Wu Shi: Just pretend that I made a contract with some kind of powerful deity from who knows where.
Ji Hengsheng: A contract? What could you get with a contract for your life?
An unending pause is what.
Wu Shi: Look, it's not important, the point is, after the contract, I've only got three days to live.
Ji Hengsheng: So can you go back on the contract?
Wu Shi: Nope, I've only got three days left. Can't change it.
Ji Hengsheng: Whaaaaaaat. What's the point of the question, then?
Ji Hengsheng: Well I guess if that's the way it is then I've only got one answer.
Hengsheng took a long sip of her cup of tea before continuing.
Ji Hengsheng: I'd find that same deity and go and make the same contract with them.
Wu Shi: ...Why?
Ji Hengsheng: So they could change my lifespan to just three days long as well, duh.
Wu Shi: ...Is there a point to that?
Ji Hengsheng: Because that's the only way I could really stay with you, Shi-chan.
Wu Shi: But for something like that, sacrificing decades of your future life-
Ji Hengsheng: Hey, don't call it 'something like that'. That's what happiness is for me.
Ji Hengsheng: Rather than spend those last three days with you worrying about the decades to come without you, and then spending those decades regretting losing you, I might as well just spend the last three days wholeheartedly with you and not have anything to regret!
Ji Hengsheng: That's what happiness is for me.
Wu Shi: .....Damn.
Wu Shi: I guess I lose.
1
Ji Hengsheng: That which is called the non-ordinary must be transient.
Wu Shi: Surprisingly deep of you. What makes you say that?
Ji Hengsheng: Just a stray thought.
Ji Hengsheng pointed at the bonfire.
Ji Hengsheng: A tour like this is so expensive that there's countless people in the world who wish they could be here right now.
Ji Hengsheng: But if it continues without stop, then even the most extraordinary thing will become ordinary life.
Yeah.
It's been three years.
I've practically forgotten what my original home looks like at this point.
To the present me, the Tour of Time is more of a home to me than anything else.
Ji Hengsheng: As for me, I've always dreamed of having a home, since I was young.
Wu Shi: I know.
Ji Hengsheng: I guess- this is probably because I really respect and love my parents? There's nothing special about them. Their only outstanding virtue is that they're homemakers.
Hengsheng's parents were like her- people filled with the warmth of familial love.
Ji Hengsheng: My mother once told me that the most extraordinary dream was to dream of being an ordinary person, and I've always agreed with her.
Ji Hengsheng: Shi-chan, why is it that, when the timeframes are stretched long enough, even the most extraordinary things become commonplace, do you think?
Wu Shi: Well, because we get used to'em.
Ji Hengsheng: That's one of the reasons, but I think the more crucial reason is that-
Ji Hengsheng: Humans are only capable of surviving in what they perceive as the ordinary.
Wu Shi: Hm.
Ji Hengsheng: The definition of 'ordinary' is 'something which won't cause you to be unhappy no matter how long you stretch it out for'.
For me, I supposed, the 'ordinary' was the time I spent with Hengsheng.
After I had her to keep me company, the endless loops didn't seem so unbearable after all.
Ji Hengsheng: I'd probably be very happy!
Ji Hengsheng: After all, once you live it long enough, even the extraordinary becomes ordinary.
Ji Hengsheng: And once that moment comes, the Tour of Time will become my home.
Ji Hengsheng: And in that home, my companion will be you, Shi-chan.
Ji Hengsheng: That's all I've ever asked for from life, really.
y'know, your body doesn't age. it might be possible that you're just immortal now within the limited time-loop here.You've lost, God of Time.
Despite all your power, in the end, you couldn't defeat Hengsheng.
No matter how many times I repeat this time, I feel like I won't mind it anymore.
Because I'm just keeping Hengsheng company, and helping her fulfill her dream, that's all.
As long as I understand this in my heart, then I'll be able to continue to journey on, forever.
βHaving to use the Tour of Timeβ¦ means Iβve failed as the Se heiress. Either I continue to betray my principles β and, incidentally, admit Iβve made a mistake so monumental I need to fracture time endlessly to rectify it β or I give up, admit all my efforts were in vain, and find someone more competent to man the helm. In this case, you, Ji Hengsheng.
You know, Iβve never thought jumping off a building would be particularly freeing? Itβs not as if you can swim around in the air. Youβre at the mercy of gravity until you land.β Her laughter is appalling. βBut admitting Iβve failed, that Iβm a failed instance of the arrangement of matter called Se Yueβ¦ itβs as liberating as falling isnβt.β
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