Invincibility Begins with a Super Fairy Manny

Chapter 2896: Chapter 2897: Time Loop

"You could say that at the time, this turbulence of time and space basically didn’t pose much of a barrier to us. In just the span of a single day, we had already gone deep inside and finally reached the entrance to the treasure."

But when he got to this point, Jin Shanquan could no longer go on. The teacup in his hands rattled nonstop as his whole body trembled.

And just as he was once again teetering on the edge of collapse, a hand gently pressed down on his shoulder.

A force filled with authority yet not domineering surged into Jin Shanquan’s body, quickly stabilizing his boiling blood and qi.

Jin Shanquan lifted his head and happened to meet Xue An’s calm gaze.

"Feeling better?"

Jin Shanquan nodded.

"Since you’re better, then keep going."

Jin Shanquan took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "At the start, everything went smoothly. We very quickly broke through the Defense Formation at the treasure’s entrance and successfully entered inside!"

"What greeted us was a vast space. That wasn’t surprising, because treasures of this level usually come with folded space."

"We weren’t in a hurry. We advanced step by step, and soon ran into Guardian Spirits attacking us!"

"These Guardian Spirits usually remain in a dormant state. Once someone invades, they awaken in an instant and slaughter all intruders."

"Admittedly, these Guardian Spirits were quite powerful, but they couldn’t stump us, who had prepared thoroughly beforehand. So with just a bit more effort, we wiped them all out!"

"Isn’t that perfectly normal?" Shu Jingchu asked.

Jin Shanquan gave a bitter smile. "Yes, up to that point everything was still perfectly normal. Even someone as cautious as me thought this mission was in the bag, that nothing else could possibly go wrong."

"After all, with the Guardian Spirits gone, this treasure had already flung its doors wide open to us!"

"But right when we were chatting and joking, discussing how we’d celebrate properly once we got out, something strange happened."

"It was as if we’d stepped through an invisible barrier. The scenery before our eyes shifted ever so slightly, and after carefully checking, we realized that in that brief instant, we had been sent right back to the entrance!"

"That doesn’t sound like much! Just some tricks of time and space, right?" Shu Jingchu said.

"That’s what we thought at first as well, so we weren’t scared at all—in fact, our interest was piqued. Based on past experience, once the Guardian Spirits are destroyed, the treasure shouldn’t have any means of defense left!"

"This abnormality actually got us excited. We felt this mission was turning out to be rather interesting, so we once again walked forward, chatting and laughing. But who would have thought that we hadn’t gone far before another large group of Guardian Spirits showed up ahead!"

"Was it a different wave of Guardian Spirits?" Shu Jingchu asked.

"That’s what we figured at the time. So we didn’t waste words and simply cut them down cleanly again. But after we walked on for a while, the same thing happened again!"

"We were sent back to the starting point. This time, none of us could laugh anymore, because even the brother on our team most skilled in creating Formations couldn’t detect the slightest fluctuation of any Formation at all!"

"The feeling was like watching a perfectly spliced, seamless segment of footage! One second we were far inside, the next second we were back at the entrance!"

"Did the Guardian Spirits show up again this time?" Shu Jingchu asked.

"Of course they did! Not only did they show up, we also discovered a terrifying truth—these Guardian Spirits weren’t some new batch at all. They were the exact same batch we’d encountered when we first came in!"

Shu Jingchu’s mouth fell open. "How is that possible?"

"Exactly. That’s what we thought too, that it was impossible. These Guardian Spirits aren’t even human, and they aren’t intelligent beings either. They’re just puppets generated by the operation of the Formation. Once you destroy their foundations, they shouldn’t be able to reappear ever again!"

"Could it be that when you made your move, you didn’t pay enough attention and didn’t completely destroy the foundation?"

"Heh, that’s what we thought as well. So during the third assault, we dropped our earlier casual attitude and went all out, unleashing a devastating attack on these Guardian Spirits!"

"This time we not only annihilated them, we pulverized the foundations they relied on, not even leaving dust behind!"

"And beyond that, as we advanced, we were cautious to the extreme, practically moving inch by inch, terrified that things would repeat like the previous two times."

"Did it work?"

Jin Shanquan shook his head with a bitter smile. "If it worked, would I be in this sorry state now? No matter how careful we were, the result was the same. We would once more appear at the entrance, once more face the Guardian Spirits that were supposed to have been wiped out clean, and then..."

"Once more appear at the entrance!"

Jin Shanquan’s face turned deathly pale.

Shu Jingchu fell silent as well. After a long moment, she finally said, "Then... didn’t you ever think of trying to escape?"

"Of course we did. In fact, after the fourth reset, I already sensed something was very wrong and immediately ordered my men to turn around and retreat, attempting to break out from the treasure’s entrance!"

"But it was all in vain. Whether we went forward or went back, we couldn’t change even the slightest thing. Once the time was up, we’d be sent back to the entrance and forced to go through everything again!"

"A time loop?" Shu Jingchu muttered.

Jin Shanquan nodded. "Yes, a time loop. Because aside from that explanation, you can’t find any other reason!"

"You can’t imagine that kind of fear. Inside a script whose ending you already know, you keep acting through the same scenes over and over. Disgust turns into fear, fear turns into despair. In the end, every one of us went numb!"

"We just sat there like machines, waiting for time to reset again and again!"

"Then how... did you get out?" Shu Jingchu was so shaken by the picture Jin Shanquan painted that goosebumps rose all over her body.

Jin Shanquan stared at Shu Jingchu with a distant look and did not directly answer her question.

"Do you know how much we gave, just to break free from that horrifying loop?"

"In order to chase that tiny sliver of hope, we tried everything we could think of—like not killing the Guardian Spirits, but running instead; or no longer acting as a group, and instead splitting up, each person looking for their own way out. But every attempt ended in failure!"

"The existence that set up this time-loop killing game behind the scenes clearly wields power beyond comprehension. In front of it, our previous confidence and pride seemed ridiculously laughable!"

"So how long did you stay trapped in that time loop?"

"Seventeen thousand four hundred and twenty-one times!"