Chapter 9: Möbius Strip

Lin Ye hastily took a step back, but Jesse had already vanished, leaving no trace behind—just like that monster.

"...Damn it!"

Lin Ye immediately turned around and started retracing his steps. If that D-Class personnel hadn't lied to him or gone insane, then this tunnel's anomaly was likely related to time.

Lin Ye had never encountered anything that could alter time before, but just imagining it made his head hurt.

'No, I can't jump to conclusions yet. It might not be a time anomaly—there could be other possibilities.'

Lin Ye kept walking back, unsure how long he'd been moving, but it was definitely far longer than the time he'd spent going in. Yet the tunnel ahead remained endless, with no sign of the entrance.

'Well, shit. Am I trapped here for good?'

Lin Ye tore off strips of his clothing and dropped them as markers, continuing forward toward where the entrance should be. After a while, everything suddenly went dark.

Having experienced this twice already, Lin Ye knew what to expect—something was probably passing by ahead.

It was the other D-Class personnel.

"Why'd you turn back?" Reynolds eyed Lin Ye warily, sensing something off about him.

"Which number are you? How long have you been in here?"

Lin Ye ignored the question and fired back with his own.

"I'm No. 3—third one in, obviously. As for how long... maybe a few hours? No watch, so I can't tell."

Reynolds grew more guarded, his instincts screaming that something was wrong with Lin Ye.

Without another word, Lin Ye pushed past him and kept walking.

"Wait! Are you stuck too? I tried changing directions multiple times, but I can't get out! The markers I left earlier disappeared too. And why did the lights go out just now? Do you know how to escape?"

Despite his dislike for Lin Ye, Reynolds didn't want to die trapped in this godforsaken tunnel—Lin Ye was the first living person he'd seen in here.

Lin Ye ignored him and kept walking. The darkness swallowed everything again, and Reynolds vanished.

"Heh. Knew it."

Lin Ye quickened his pace. He had no idea if moving forward would help, but suicide or waiting for death weren't options. Even if given another chance, he wouldn't know what to do.

Time blurred as Lin Ye marched mechanically onward. Strangely, he felt no fatigue, hunger, or thirst.

"What's going on? I actually feel... kinda good?"

Lin Ye muttered to himself in the empty tunnel, his pace growing faster and faster. After what felt like an eternity, the tunnel darkened again.

This time, Lin Ye didn't hesitate. The darkness passed instantly, and when he looked diagonally ahead—he froze.

He saw himself.

Though the figure wore a helmet, the build, skin tone, and familiar orange prison jumpsuit left no doubt—it was him.

The other Lin Ye immediately turned and ran. Lin Ye gave chase, shouting for him to stop, but darkness fell again, and his doppelgänger disappeared.

Lin Ye stood stunned. This scenario felt eerily familiar.

He frantically checked his own body—writhing flesh tendrils, elongated limbs, bony spikes protruding from his waist... At some point, he'd become the monster.

The creature he'd seen earlier was himself.

'Abyssal Egg... When did it affect me? I didn't notice at all...'

'Truly an Abyss artifact. Just carrying it causes this.'

Surprisingly, Lin Ye felt no panic about his monstrous transformation. This was just a simulation, after all. The priority was figuring out how to escape—nothing else mattered.

'A time loop? But how exactly does it work? Is it direction-based? Does the number of people matter? Would killing those two D-Class personnel collapse this place? Should I just suicide and report this to the Captain directly?'

He immediately dismissed that last thought. Unless his simulation attempts ran out, he wouldn't risk reporting prematurely.

First, his innate ability was the D-Rank Personnel Simulator—if he didn't resolve the anomaly, he might never return.

Moreover, Lin Ye deeply distrusted "the Organization." This was a group that constantly used human lives to handle anomalies. He couldn't fathom their methods—if they took interest in him, the consequences were unpredictable.

Worst case, the Organization might trap him in simulations indefinitely, preventing his return to the Shelter.

He still didn't understand his physical body's current state. If he was just lying on a Shelter bed, he'd die of thirst within days.

So he had to solve this tunnel anomaly himself.

As he pondered, Lin Ye kept walking. His monstrous form granted terrifying physical prowess—no fatigue whatsoever.

Before he could decipher the loop's mechanics, the tunnel darkened again.

"Why so soon this time?"

Lin Ye stepped forward. The lights returned, revealing a monster standing diagonally across the tunnel.

This one was bulkier than his current form, covered in twisted mutation organs—far more horrifying.

Lin Ye didn't flee. He knew—this monster was his future self from the next cycle.

The two monsters approached each other. Lin Ye tried to speak, but only managed an eerie screech.

His future self had anticipated this. Tearing off a flesh strip, he spilled dark red blood onto the floor.

Then, using the strip as a crude brush, the future Lin Ye began writing. His distorted fingers could only awkwardly scrawl deformed characters:

KILL ME

LAST CHANCE

CAN'T HOLD ON

MISS THIS

NO NEXT SIM

After barely finishing, the future Lin Ye violently ripped open his own chest, exposing vital organs.

Without hesitation, Lin Ye drove his forelimbs into the other's torso, thoroughly shredding "his" vitals.

He trusted himself. Plus, the mention of "simulation" confirmed that killing this version would trigger the next attempt.

Lin Ye delivered several more blows, ensuring complete termination before stepping back.

As he prepared to move on, Lin Ye noticed scars on the corpse's skin. Though the monster's healing had sealed them, faint marks remained.

They formed three mathematical infinity symbols interlocked in a bizarre configuration.

At first, Lin Ye didn't understand—was "he" saying this tunnel was endless?

One infinity symbol would've been depressing enough—why three?

Then it hit him.

Not infinity symbols.

Three Möbius strips.