41: Chapter 41 Rest and Breakthrough

Chen Mo rested in the Farmhouse for five days.

He called it resting, but in truth, he wasn't idle for a single day.

On the first day, he cleaned his wounds and changed his dressings.

The wounds on his back, pierced by tentacles, had begun to scab over, but any large movement still caused pain.

While Lin Wei helped him change the dressings, she looked at the crisscrossing scars on his back and remained silent for a long time.

"Does it hurt?"

"I forgot long ago."

On the second day, he organized the Materials. He had brought back quite a few things from the outskirts of the Source of the Sequence—Zhang Lie's Transformed One Fragments, the Splitter's Splitting Core, and over a dozen ordinary fragments. He categorized these items and recorded their quantities.

On the third day, he studied the map given to him by Old Zhou.

The map was more detailed than he had imagined. Every ruin was labeled with its name and danger Rank, and every path was marked with its passage requirements. The most prominent feature was the location of that door in the Source of the Sequence, surrounded by dense, tiny handwriting—

"There are three paths behind the door: the left path leads to the Time Corridor, the middle path leads to the Memory Abyss, and the right path leads to the core of the sequence."

"Only those with the Pupil of the Sequence can see the true path."

"Of those who enter, only one in ten returns."

Chen Mo stared at those few lines for a long time.

"One in ten returns."

He remembered what Old Li had said—the last person with the Pupil of the Sequence died at the hands of 'one of their own.'

That 'one of their own' might just be those three paths behind the door.

On the fourth day, he began researching the b-grade stabilizer.

He already had the recipe and the Materials were all ready—the c-grade ghost shadow blood came from the Splitter, and the Time Fragments and stabilizing matrix were on hand. But he wasn't in a rush to refine it.

Because the success rate was only 60%.

He needed a higher degree of certainty.

On the fifth day, he made a decision.

"I'm going into the Memory Corridor."

Lin Wei was stunned.

"You just came out of there."

"It's different," Chen Mo said. "Last time was a trial; this time is for farming Materials."

He opened the System interface and pulled up the description for the Memory Corridor.

[Memory Corridor: Deep Level]

[Repeatable Entry]

[Each entry consumes 10 f-grade fragments]

[Killing Ghost Shadows yields additional fragments and special Materials]

[Danger Rank: E-Rank to C-Rank]

After Lin Wei finished reading, she fell silent.

"Are you sure?"

Chen Mo nodded.

"I need Time Fragments. There are more Time-type Ghost Shadows in the deep level."

Lin Wei didn't try to persuade him further.

She simply stood up and checked her twin pistols.

"I'm going with you."

Chen Mo looked at her.

"Aren't you afraid?"

Lin Wei smiled.

"I am. But the life I owe you must be repaid."

Chen Mo didn't say anything.

He simply turned and walked toward the Basement door.

Lin Wei followed behind him.

The moment the two of them stepped into the Memory Corridor, everything around them changed.

It wasn't the Orphanage corridor, but an unfamiliar street.

Old residential buildings, mottled walls, and trash scattered on the ground. The sky was gray, and the sun was nowhere to be seen.

Chen Mo recognized this place.

The street where he had lived as a child.

Before he was sent to the Orphanage.

"Where is this?" Lin Wei asked.

"The place where I lived as a child," Chen Mo said. "Before I was six."

He walked forward.

The buildings on both sides of the street were empty, their dark windows like pairs of eyes. Occasionally, a door would be open, but inside was pitch black, and nothing could be seen.

After walking for about five minutes, a figure appeared ahead.

It was a child.

About five or six years old, wearing ragged clothes, squatting on the ground playing with mud.

Chen Mo stopped in his tracks.

The child looked up.

It was his own face.

Him at age six.

"Chen Mo," the child spoke, "you're back."

Chen Mo didn't say anything.

He looked at that face, those eyes, and that thin, small body.

That was himself.

But also not.

"What are you here for?" the child asked.

"To borrow something from you."

The child was momentarily stunned.

"Borrow what?"

"Time Fragments," Chen Mo said. "You have them."

The child's expression changed.

Something was surging within those eyes.

Then he smiled.

That smile was eerie—it didn't look like a child's smile, but more like... an adult's smile.

"How did you know?"

"Because I have them too," Chen Mo said. "We are both Time-type."

The child stood up.

His body began to change—from a five or six-year-old child to a teenager, then to a young man in his twenties, finally settling on Chen Mo's current appearance.

But those eyes remained the same.

Pure black, with no whites.

"You guessed right," that "Chen Mo" said. "I am your shadow left behind in time."

He took a step forward.

"You want Time Fragments? Fine. But you have to trade something for them."

"What thing?"

"Your memories," that "Chen Mo" said. "Your memories from before you were six."

Chen Mo fell silent.

Before age six.

That was the time before he was sent to the Orphanage.

He had always wanted to recover those memories.

But he could never remember.

"What is in those memories?"

"The truth," that "Chen Mo" said. "About your parents, and about why you were abandoned."

He reached out his hand.

"Give them to me, and I'll give you the Time Fragments."

Chen Mo looked at that hand.

It was exactly like his own.

Then he spoke.

"No deal."

That "Chen Mo" was stunned.

"Why?"

"Because those memories are mine," Chen Mo said. "They are not for trading."

He raised his cleaver.

"The fragments, I'll take them myself."

He charged forward.

That "Chen Mo" took a step back, and the surrounding air instantly froze.

Time stopped.

Chen Mo's body froze in mid-air.

That "Chen Mo" walked up to him and looked at him.

"You can't kill me," he said. "Because I am you."

Chen Mo didn't say anything.

But he was smiling.

That "Chen Mo" was momentarily taken aback.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Laughing at how foolish you are."

Chen Mo's body suddenly moved.

Seven seconds of Prediction was enough for him to see this moment.

The instant he charged, he had already activated Infiltrator.

What stood in place now was only an afterimage.

The real him was behind that "Chen Mo."

He swung his blade down.

That "Chen Mo" couldn't dodge in time and was struck in the shoulder.

Golden liquid gushed out.

He screamed in pain and turned to flee.

But Lin Wei had already blocked his path, twin pistols in hand.

"Don't move."

That "Chen Mo" looked at her, then at Chen Mo.

Then he smiled.

That smile was complex—it seemed like an admission of defeat, yet also like relief.

"You win."

His body began to disintegrate, turning into countless golden fragments.

Those fragments drifted in the air, finally condensing into three transparent crystals.

[Obtained: Time Fragment ×3]

Chen Mo collected the three fragments.

Then he turned and continued walking forward.

At the end of the street, a light appeared.

That was the exit.

The two of them stepped out of the Memory Corridor and returned to the Farmhouse Basement.

Chen Mo sat on the floor, gasping for air.

Lin Wei was beside him, also panting.

"Are you okay?"

Chen Mo shook his head.

He took out the three Time Fragments and put them with his own.

Now he had six.

Enough to refine the b-grade stabilizer twice.

He stood up and walked toward the Workbench.

Lin Wei didn't disturb him.

She just sat nearby, watching his back.

Outside the window, the sky gradually darkened.

Ghost Night was coming again.

But the light in the Basement remained on.