“Starting at 16:00 this afternoon, due to abnormal activity on the surface of the sun, the whole globe experienced varying degrees of impact from a magnetic storm. Communications were cut off for a time. It is reported that they were restored two hours ago…” 

General Zhong nodded expressionlessly and turned off the news. Five or six of the base’s technicians surrounded the already quiet big boiler, getting up to their tricks…no, they were very seriously and earnestly examining and repairing it. 

General Zhong asked, “How is it? Can the communication equipment connect to Dr. Kou?” 

A technician with a goatee shook his head. “No, the instrument’s communication channel has been broken. We have no way to determine their position.” 

General Zhong said, “How could it break?” 

“According to Dr. Kou’s initial design, after entering the projection space, the controller will be held by a person who has been screened off. The system will automatically believe that this person is the ‘principal figure.’ Even if some unexpected harm comes to the controller, he can still find the backup controller by following the system’s hints. If none of the consciousnesses that enter have been screened off, however, a principal needs to be set before entering the space and given controller privileges. Now I’m afraid that the principal privileges have been canceled.” 

This fellow’s tone was very unique. He was like a robot, detailed and methodical, spitting out one word after another, as though he couldn’t express his accuracy if he didn’t speak this way. 

General Zhong looked at him with a pained expression. 

The goatee raised his head to look at his colleagues, climbing up ladders and scrambling, opening one circuit board after another. He calmly said to General Zhong, “Per my personal conjecture, Dr. Kou would have screened off his own consciousness and entered as the principal. And owing to the disturbance in the magnetic field this afternoon, the instrument malfunctioned. According to the record, seven random consciousnesses have been pulled into the projection space that before belonged to one person, including Dr. Kou himself. Therefore the system automatically stripped away his principal privileges.” 

General Zhong nodded. “Very good. You mean that Kou Tong can’t get out because he can’t find the controller inside?” 

The goatee pushed up his glasses as though this matter was of no concern to him. “According to the design manual, if the principal is divested of privileges, and no secondary principal was set in advance, they must now be in a condition of having no principal.” 

General Zhong’s head swelled hearing this. He rubbed his forehead and took a deep breath. “Fine, whatever. Think of a way to get them out, then we’ll talk. I don’t understand a thing about this. Have Kou Tong himself come repair it.” 

The goatee, still speaking evenly, said, “I’m afraid that won’t work, either.” 

General Zhong sincerely felt that a time like this, the only thing he could do was roll his eyes. 

The goatee continued: “According to the theory of the multi-frequency space overlap, when a space is composed of two or more individuals’s overlapping consciousnesses, owing to all kinds of conflicts, it will be very unstable. In our tests, a three-person one could just hold out, but a four-person overlap will collapse within thirty seconds. But due to the problem of the magnetic irregularity, after the system’s temporary disorder, seven people we have no way to identify were drawn in for reasons unknown, so that inside the projection space now…” 

General Zhong’s eyes lit up. “So when the space collapses, they’ll be able to get out?” 

The goatee paused. “No. Up to the present, they’ve already been inside for over four hours, and the space remains very stable. This shows that some as yet unknown closed loop has manifested inside the Projector. Put plainly, we currently have no way to determine Dr. Kou’s spatial dimension, and we have no way to disintegrate their space from the outside. They may have fallen into some unknown coordinates. There is a 86.7% possibility that the projection rules are no longer in operation.” 

General Zhong nodded blankly. “Oh, I see. So what you’re saying is, that bastard Kou Tong is in arrears on his gaming card?” 

The goatee thought about it, then gravely said, “You could understand it that way, sir.” 

“So if they want to get out now, they have to find a backup controller that’s hidden in some unknown place…” General Zhong repeated to himself. 

The goatee seemed determined to break off each shred of hope for him. He dully responded, “The location of the controller is totally random. In a projection world with altered rules, it may be at the bottom of the sea, at the peak of a snow-capped mountain, at the mouth of an erupting volcano, or in the belly of some prehistoric carnivorous animal…” 

General Zhong couldn’t take it anymore. “Wu Xiangxiang, shut up!” 

The goatee’s flapping lips, as though voice-operated, tightly shut at once. 

General Zhong went around the big boiler twice, like a donkey pulling a millstone. “So what do we do now?” 

No one paid attention to him. General Zhong said angrily, “Wu Xiangxiang!” 

“Reporting! You told me to shut up, sir.” 

“And now I’m telling you to talk!” 

“Plan One, as soon as possible, break through the technological barriers of all spatial dimensions, use the communicator to contact Dr. Kou, and notify him of the backup controller’s location.” 

General Zhong nodded. This sounded pretty good. 

Wu Xiangxiang continued: “Estimated time of completion is eight to ten years.” 

General Zhong: “…” 

“Plan Two, as soon as possible, repair the Projector equipment, upgrade its system processes, locate the position of their space, remove the projection, and bring them back. Estimated…” 

“Fuck your estimates!” General Zhong smacked Wu Xiangxiang’s head with a thick folder, like a sitcom dad. “You have thirty days, no more!” 

Wu Xiangxiang, his expression still blank, finished his sentence: “…estimated time of completion is within thirty days.” 

Kou Tong and the others weren’t buried by the mountain. The mountain and the shooting wall that had been hot on their tails suddenly disappeared, as if into thin air. Then, like cotton, the three of them slowly floated down from midair…at a uniform speed. 

Even the ever-restless acceleration of gravity had gone on strike. 

After an initial adjustment, Huang Jinchen, with his unique coarse nerves, began to amuse himself, pulling all kinds of stunts as he fell slowly through the air, now somersaulting, now performing martial arts gestures, having the time of his life. 

Yao Shuo, stiffly maintaining an upright position, turned his head away disdainfully. 

Kou Tong knew that matters were grave. He quickly checked all the equipment he was carrying. 

Huang Jinchen only then found that under Dr. Kou’s human exterior were hidden countless electronic products—a wire here, a wire there. He couldn’t resist pointing and saying, “Wow! A Teletubby!” 

Kou Tong grimaced, his expression a little stiff. 

“What’s wrong?” Huang Jinchen “swam” over in a freestyle stroke. 

“All the equipment has gone out of commission, and our link to the outside world has broken off,” Kou Tong said. “Also, I’ve suddenly been divested of principal privileges by the system.” 

“In other words…” 

“In other words, we can’t find the controller now and have no way to get out.” Kou Tong grabbed his hair twice, turning it into a mess. “This wouldn’t happen normally, unless the Projector met inference from external physics…” 

“How could the system divest you of your privileges?” Yao Shuo at last deigned to speak. 

“While we were in the tree just now, I noticed that the number of consciousnesses in the projection space suddenly increased. In other words, the space we’re in now is a very complex overlapping space, likely made of the overlap of seven people.” Kou Tong frowned, seeming unable to understand why it hadn’t collapsed yet. “Of course, it may be even more…since when the number display reached seven, my privileges disappeared. As I understand it, this is because the screening on my own consciousness vanished.” 

“The two of us have also been drawn in?” Huang Jinchen’s brow furrowed tightly. “So…that one, the monster we had our way with last time, will it come back looking for revenge?” 

Kou Tong smiled dismally. “If only…” 

Just then, they finally landed. The amazing thing was, the ground was unexpectedly soft, light pink in appearance, as though the three of them were standing on a big piece of gelatin. Kou Tong stamped on the ground and found that it was also rather elastic. They had returned to the outermost layer of Lao Yao’s consciousness space—the busy street, with people around them coming and going. The people didn’t limp as they walked on the soft ground, keeping their balance rather well; even the cars were moving normally. 

And the unusual coffee shop they had been to before was by the road, with a tall streetlamp standing up at the door with a very non-mainstream lamp in the shape of a childish five-pointed star on it, letting off a soft milky white light. 

Kou Tong unconsciously put his hand on the lamppost and suddenly felt that the sensation wasn’t right. He scratched it gently, and a layer of chocolate-colored fragments appeared under his nail. He licked it, and his eyes instantly opened wide. “This lamppost is made of chocolate!” 

Huang Jinchen said, “What?” 

Then he very boldly broke off a part of the lamppost, stuck it into his mouth, chewed, and judged: “Yeah, milk chocolate, pretty good—hey, the lamp up there looks like a piece of candy, do you think…” 

Before he could finish, Kou Tong grabbed him by the collar and dragged him into the coffee shop. 

“What are you trying to do? Eating a lamppost in the middle of a crowd?” Kou Tong kept his voice low, asking this strange question in a strange tone of voice. 

Yao Shuo laughed coldly. He seemed to have already confirmed the fact that his two companions were a little mentally deficient. 

The things inside the coffee shop weren’t very different from the last time they had come, but the deep-rooted darkness was gone. This time, Kou Tong didn’t have Lao Yao act alone. They occupied a small table by the window and sat down. 

“This is very strange now.” Kou Tong glanced at the street. He lowered his voice and said to the other two, “I don’t know what actually happened outside, but reasonably speaking, a multi-person overlapping space is very fragile. Even if it doesn’t collapse, there definitely can’t be people inside it.” 

Yao Shuo considered. “The first time I came, for some reason, it was like I understood that I needed to go into this coffee shop. But just now, I didn’t feel that at the door.” 

“Because this isn’t your sole territory,” Huang Jinchen said, beaming. Then he turned and asked Kou Tong, “There are many people here. What does that mean?” 

“I took part in inventing this machine.” Kou Tong sighed. He absent-mindedly picked up a cup and drank, not noticing that it contained the coffee he had not long ago judged as “flavored like medicine dregs.” “So I understand that, reasonably speaking, this can’t happen. Some malfunction I haven’t encountered before must have happened in the Projector. The technicians are likely to have a very hard time doing rush repairs.” 

“That doesn’t sound good.” Huang Jinchen wasn’t smiling anymore. 

Yao Shuo frowned. For a moment, they all thought that he was going to say something unpleasant, but he only stretched his legs, leaning back relaxed in his chair. He picked up his drink and slowly drank, turning his head to look out the window. 

He seemed to have breathed a sigh of relief. 

Kou Tong also became silent, joining him in looking outside. Suddenly, his phone rang. The three of them froze simultaneously. Huang Jinchen asked, “Didn’t you just confirm that all the communicators had gone out of commission?” 

Kou Tong fished around for ages before finally turning up his phone. When he took it out, he took one look at the incoming caller display and seemed to have been struck by lightning. 

“Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?” Huang Jinchen asked. “Who is it?” 

“My…my mom?” There was actually a faint tremor in Kou Tong’s voice. 

Huang Jinchen blinked. “What’s wrong with that?” 

Kou Tong suddenly raised his head. “My mom…passed away fifteen years ago.” 

…Shit! He really had seen a ghost!