After a moment of dazed confusion, Chu Bamboo’s consciousness gradually returned as a familiar humming sound reached his ears.

He was still in the underground base.

On the screen, Three-Body 3 was still playing.

"Nuwa No. 17, tell me the current time!" Chu Bamboo rubbed his temples. He had technically pulled an all-nighter in the Dream World, but because he had entered the Real World before this reset, he felt completely refreshed—as if he’d had a full night’s sleep to rest and recharge.

"It is now Yanjing time, 7:08."

"So it’s this time, huh? But why did it change to Yanjing time?" Chu Bamboo paused, startled, then gave a noncommittal shake of his head.

Most of the time, he revived after death at six in the morning, but that time wasn’t absolute.

There were times like this when it was seven o’clock or even later... However, the reset time could never be earlier than six! Six o’clock was the starting point of the random twenty-four-hour reset window. In gaming terms, it was the load point.

This was the fundamental reason why he hadn’t repeatedly killed himself to run more experiments after seeing Zhou Ze die and determining he wouldn’t make it in time.

"If all goes well, Uncle Li should be here soon!" Chu Bamboo yawned. "Nuwa No. 17, change the movie! Put on a domestic sci-fi blockbuster, one of the really intense ones!"

And so...

He watched until 7:47.

’Something’s not right!’ Chu Bamboo shot to his feet. ’Li Kang usually enters the base by 7:30 at the latest, right?’

Why hadn’t he arrived by 7:47?

Besides, he’d just been sitting here quietly watching a movie this time; he hadn’t gone out or done anything. Logically, even the butterfly effect shouldn’t have been enough to stop Li Kang from coming to the base.

"Nuwa No. 17." Chu Bamboo’s brow furrowed as he gave the usual order, "Clear the background data, restore your interface to normal, and open the base’s main gate."

However, the moment he stepped outside, his breath hitched.

"...What the hell is this?!"

The exit wasn’t a women’s restroom!

Before him was a stretch of ruins—or was it the wilderness?

Countless vines, grasses, and green shoots blanketed everything in sight. He could faintly make out the skeletons of skyscrapers, but covered as they were in vegetation, the scene looked more like the ancient nuclear facility ruins he had seen before.

"Fuck!" Chu Bamboo rarely cursed, but countless bits of information were colliding in his mind as he tried to make sense of it all. ’It’s because I communicated with the government.’

’That’s the only possibility!’

He had only wanted to test the consequences of the butterfly effect and hadn’t actually decided to hand everything over to the government, but the result of his experiment... was so absurd that Chu Bamboo was left speechless.

’A prosperous future civilization—I could understand that. I’d even be happy if the Divine Continent had somehow survived for all these countless years, even with changes in dynasty... In fact, it might have made it easier to research past history.’

’Maintaining the previous status quo would also be understandable. History has a certain inertia... That’s perfectly normal!’

’But this...’

"No, no, no, calm down!" he told himself. ’It’s possible the butterfly effect from what I did caused a massive war at Jinghai City’s original location, leading to its abandonment! Maybe human civilization just built cities somewhere else.’

Chu Bamboo forced himself to calm down further. ’And besides, even if that decision really did cause the extinction of human civilization... then I just won’t contact the government when I get back! That way, the next reset should be back to normal... No big deal.’

Just as Chu Bamboo was about to turn back into the underground base, his ear twitched. He thought he heard the rustling of leaves. ’Was that the wind?’

Chu Bamboo turned his head in confusion, his pupils abruptly widening. ’What... is that?’

The dense mass of vines had been stealthily creeping closer the entire time! The instant Chu Bamboo noticed, the vines snapped taut, transforming into a volley of spears that shot violently toward him.

"Holy crap!" Chu Bamboo did a backflip to evade the attack, then kicked away three more vine spikes that swerved to stab at him. He sidestepped again and quickly retreated into the underground base.

"Nuwa No. 17, close the gate!"

CRASH!

Green sap splattered out. The vine spikes that had been hot on his heels were sliced in half. They writhed on the ground for a moment like living earthworms before gradually going limp, turning into what looked like ordinary vines.

’This is a huge problem...’

Chu Bamboo closed his eyes, then got up and pressed his ear against the base’s alloy door. With his keen hearing, he could hear scraping and bumping sounds.

’They’re still attacking out there!’

He picked up a severed vine and rubbed it gently, soon noticing something was off. ’This isn’t a branch! The texture... it’s more like flesh?’

After a moment’s hesitation, he tore a scrap of cloth from his sleeve, gently dabbed it in the sap on the floor, and raised it to his nose. "Just as I thought," he murmured. "It has the foul, coppery smell of blood. This isn’t a plant—or rather, it’s not just a plant."

"Nuwa No. 17," Chu Bamboo said, turning and striding back into the main hall, his face a mask. "Explain how I entered the base this time."

"Searching for intel. Initiating deep thought... The Authority entered yesterday, activating standby #@*%$. This unit has been rebooted."

"?" Chu Bamboo fell into deep thought. ’In other words, in this timeline, the Captain’s Office doesn’t exist... No, taking a darker view, the existence of human civilization—or even humanity itself—is now a question mark!’

’My arrival triggered Nuwa No. 17’s first-ever activation! This is too ridiculous...’

"I finally understand why it announced the time in Yanjing," Chu Bamboo said with a long sigh. ’The Imperial Capital? In this timeline, the Imperial Capital is probably long gone.’

He continued to ask, "Nuwa No. 17, are there still humans in this world?"

"Initiating deep thought: They exist!"

"Yesterday, four individuals were present in Fireseed Base No. 17 along with the Authority."

’So that’s the base’s full name.’ "Wait, four people?" Chu Bamboo reacted. "Project images of those four people!"

Then, as Chu Bamboo looked at the four familiar faces, he fell into a long silence.

Li Kang, Ning Linglong, Guan Fei, Wall Announcements...

’They’re still alive? I see.’

’In other words, even though the timeline changed... I was still in the underground base with them yesterday. But this must also be their first time entering the Fireseed Base... So, does that mean that even though many things have changed, some things are immutable?’

"Rebuttal: According to yesterday’s communication logs, the four individuals have been long-term residents of the Fireseed Base, which had not completed a system reboot... It was the leader among the four who brought the Authority into the base, after which the Authority completed the reboot of the base’s intelligent system."

Chu Bamboo: "..."

’Well, never mind then!’