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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter Three: Retrograde Fiction
The sand table in the diagnostic room was bleeding.
Lu Chuan tore the diagnosis report into snowflakes, but before the paper scraps hit the ground, they formed new Russian sentences: "Treatment Record No. 43: The subject exhibits retrograde fictitious symptoms, firmly believing they are a doctor." Suddenly, his scalpel pierced through the back of his hand, and silver blood splattered onto the Rorschach inkblot test, staining the abstract pattern into the Orion Nebula.
"This is true exposure therapy." He twisted the handle of the knife, and nano-fiber tendrils extended from the wound. "We met at Moscow Medical University, Lin Xia." As he spoke, he suddenly recited a string of numbers in Russian: ЖД-43-07.
Shen Mo's pocket watch face shattered suddenly, and fragments floated in the air to form a model of the Kuiper Belt. When he tried to grasp one of the pieces, his skin immediately froze with nitrogen ice. "This is solar wind data from March 17, 1992!" Before he could finish speaking, a thunderous collapse echoed from the East Annex, and through the dust and haze rose the silhouette of a Dodecahedron Metal Capsule.
Lin Xia's hairpin flew automatically towards the Omega District Iron Gate, bursting with blue-white arcs at the keyhole. The moment the door opened, a cold wave of Superfluid Helium surged out, freezing her hair tips into crystal forms. In the absolute zero cold light, she saw countless transparent tubes hanging from the ceiling, each connected to a brain floating in quantum foam.
"Welcome home." The holographic projection of Dean Zhou suddenly appeared, holding an Iris Projector that played childhood footage of Lin Xia: in 1987's Omega Zone, five-year-old her was strapped to a neural interaction chair with twelve pairs of electrodes inserted into her nape.
Su Li's Spirit Response Plate suddenly adhered to the central control panel, and a Brass Pointer vibrated at Quantum Fluctuation frequencies. When Lin Xia touched the control panel, all surrounding screens lit up simultaneously, revealing a suffocating truth:
Time Loop: The date they were in—September 17, 2023—was actually a memory projection from March 17, 1992.
Identity Replacement: The entire documentary team consisted of the 43rd batch of experimental subjects; what was termed as filming was actually a memory implantation program.
Ultimate Goal: Utilizing the Gamma Ray Burst from Betelgeuse's explosion to upload human consciousness to the Large Magellanic Cloud.
"Memory dialysis completion rate: 97%." The synthesized voice of a Mechanical Nurse came from the ventilation duct. "Please have experimental subjects enter Ziolkovsky-7 capsule."
Shen Mo suddenly screamed as the watch chain dug deeply into his neck. The holographic blueprint revealed that his father, Shen Huai Jin, was not an architect but a Quantum Physicist in the KGB's 7th Scientific Division. The design from 1985 marked the East Annex as the "Consciousness Ascension Tower," with the Dodecahedron Capsule at its foundation serving as an Interstellar Transmission Device.
"Do not trust memories from after 1992." Lu Chuan tore open his facial skin, revealing mechanical bones beneath. "I am a Third Generation Guide Robot, tasked with leading you to..." His Electronic Eye suddenly sparked, and the blaring Russian alarms mixed with medical broadcasts into a cacophony.
Su Li's camera automatically uploaded footage, and the YouTube live stream interface showed viewer numbers skyrocketing. The comments section was frantically refreshing with the same message: "I am at Qinglan Mountain Psychiatric Hospital on September 17, 2023!" Each IP address corresponded to a clone number of the experimental subjects.
"We are becoming a tumor in the collective consciousness of humanity." Lin Xia discovered her Iris was displaying others' memories: Shen Mo watched as his father underwent Quantumization, Su Li was subjected to brainwave resonance experiments in her childhood, and she herself... was stabbing Director Zhou's throat with a Hairpin in front of the dome mural.
The Metal Capsule suddenly activated, and twelve screens simultaneously played images from different timelines: the fire in 1992, the demolition project in 2015, and the ongoing Quantum Resonance. Chen Dong's corpse abruptly stood up, and the diagnosis report in his hand ignited into a navigational star map: "Betelgeuse explosion countdown: 17 minutes and 32 seconds."
As Lin Xia inserted the Hairpin into the console, the entire Ω zone began Quantum Tunneling. The walls became transparent, revealing countless parallel versions of themselves repeating the same actions: tearing up diagnosis reports, activating the Metal Capsule, stabbing the Iris Projector. Each choice spawned new branches of reality that collapsed upon observation.
"Memory is a cage." Director Zhou's projection suddenly materialized, inserting a Nerve Conduit into Lin Xia's neck. "Let us begin the final dialysis."
Su Li leaped into the quantum bubble, her body experiencing Bell State Entanglement upon contact. Her left half appeared at the fire scene in 1992 while her right half remained in the control room of 2023, her vocal cords vibrating to create cross-temporal interference: "Find the Golden Ratio Point at Moscow University!"
Shen Mo used shards of his watch to cut open his wrist, blood forming a Tokamak Device model in zero gravity. When he pressed the model into the console, all screens began playing KGB's Top Secret Footage: on April 12, 1987, experimental subject ЖД-7 (Director Zhou himself) returned with an Alien Crystal during quantum transmission.
Lin Xia's Iris Projector automatically activated, focusing Betelgeuse's gamma rays on the Metal Capsule. In the intense light, she saw her DNA Chain resonating with the Alien Crystal as memories flowed backward like iron sand in an hourglass. The camera recorded this paradoxical moment: while she destroyed the Metal Capsule, she also assisted Director Zhou in activating it back in 1992.
"To be or not to be?" Lu Chuan's Mechanical Arm suddenly tightened around Director Zhou's neck. "This is a question humanity has pondered for thirty thousand years." His chest split open to reveal a glowing blue Quantum Chip etched with the complete list of Experiment Group No. 43—each name corresponding to a Clone number present.
As the countdown reached zero, Betelgeuse's explosive pulse arrived as expected. Lin Xia simultaneously experienced three lives in that blinding light: a psychiatric patient, a Documentary director, and a vessel for interstellar transmission. Her Hairpin traced a Klein Bottle trajectory through time and space before ultimately piercing her own Iris.
As the morning light pierced through the ruins, Lin Xia awoke in the outpatient hall. The camera lay intact beside her, and the storage card displayed the last recorded time: September 18, 2023, at 6:00 AM. When she replayed the footage, the image remained frozen at the moment she stepped into the hospital, with only the audio capturing Dean Zhou's whisper:
"Congratulations on passing the 43rd personality iteration. Now please proceed to the New World to sow humanity."
Shen Mo's pocket watch quietly rested among the rubble, its face showing March 17, 1992. Su Li's tape echoed with the laughter of children, and upon closer listening, one could hear Russian counting: "42...43..." Lu Chuan's scalpel was embedded in the East Annex wreckage, its handle tied to a pristine diagnosis report: the patient’s name field was blank, and the diagnosis conclusion read "Quantum Immortality Indication."
As Lin Xia stepped out of the ruins, her hairpin suddenly vibrated with a gravitational wave frequency. She looked up to see Betelgeuse clearly visible in daylight, its starlight revealing the outline of the Big Dipper. Her phone automatically received an email, with an attachment titled "Eternal Dawn," and the first frame displayed her smiling face at five years old in Zone Ω.
In the distance, a Mechanical Crow suddenly spoke: "Welcome to March 18, 1992." Its pupils flashed with blue light from an Iris Projector, and from beneath its wings fell delicate blue snow.
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