Endless Debt

Second time retrospective.

The dome bulges high, and soft light shines from the top, like the blazing sun in the sky.

Very few people in the Bureau of Order can come here, but everyone who arrives here will have an illusion when they look at this building, mistaking it for a magnificent church.

On the dome, countless sculptures stand, gathering together and surrounding them like angels descending from the world, all the way down to the ground along the surrounding walls.

But if you look closely, you will find that these sculptures are not angels. They look like ordinary human beings, with different faces and movements, as well as age and gender. They are more like some kind of commemorative sculpture group.

What's even more weird is that these sculptures are all upside down on the dome, with their heads facing the earth. They are as numerous as a sea of ​​sand, occupying the entire dome, and seem to be continuing to extend until they spread across the entire sky.

Under the dome is a bottomless well. On the surface of the outer edge of the deep well, there are pipes required for gas flow. The pipes are like steel blood vessels. They run in parallel and finally go straight along the well wall. In the darkness at the bottom of the well.

It was not quiet here, but instead the monotonous mechanical sounds kept coming. In the darkness under the dome, countless figures were tied to the walls.

They are not humans, they just have an appearance similar to humans. The entire head disappears from the mouth up, replaced by an oval metal protective shell, with cables connected to the tail, extending to the darkness above.

These strange beings perform their jobs faithfully, working mechanically without rest or rest.

Some were performing the work of an operator. It put down the red microphone, and all five fingers on its bare palm were broken. As a replacement, the mechanical fingers tapped the typewriter, and soon a piece of paper with fresh ink was taken out.

Roll up the paper, stuff it into the capsule, and place the capsule into a pneumatic pipe. Driven by air pressure, the capsule rushes through the pipe and is transported into a deep well.

In the darkness on the outer edge, countless pipes are intertwined with each other, and huge gears are slowly rotating. They mesh with each other, and the complex machinery rotates endlessly, as if the exterior of this building is controlled by some huge machinery. wrapped.

After a short wait, a neutral and cold voice sounded from the deep well.

"Identity confirmed, Bailey Ietta."

"Application approved."

"The Unshakable has been activated."

"The program is awakening."

The sounds sounded one after another, but it had no impact on the current situation here. Those weird beings continued to work, connecting the phone, printing documents, integrating them together, and sending them down the deep well along the pneumatic pipes, as if something was wrong. None of it happened.

But at a certain moment, the melodious sound of the bell stopped the busy work for a second, and they all stopped what they were doing, as if they were waiting for something.

"Timeline scramble event detected."

The sound rang out from the deep well.

"Prepare for impact."

In the outside world, Oath City Opos, a brilliant white light emerged from the great rift, like a storm of light passing through the streets and buildings, swallowing up all the people in it.

In the blink of an eye, it arrived at Lingna District, and then swallowed up the towering Kenshi. The pure light seemed to be liquefied, turning into a roaring wave and pouring into the Kenshi.

The power of resetting the time axis covered the Garden of Winding Paths and penetrated into the Garden of Shensi, followed by the Garden of Pillars, echoing repeatedly in various departments.

But when it comes to touching this place, it's like a torrent encountering a rock, and the turbulent wave is easily split into two.

The influence from the outside continued until it completely enveloped Oath City Opos. When it expanded to its limit, the light suddenly collapsed and returned to the origin of its detonation.

As it collapses, as if time goes back, things are rapidly turning around until they return to their original point.

The second time retrospective ends.

The third time retrospective begins.

The silence lasted for a few seconds before the neutral voice sounded again.

"The impact is over."

"Turn the hall upside down and start self-examination."

They remained silent, with their heads slightly raised, as if they were listening to the next announcement.

"The self-test is completed and there are no abnormalities in the independent time axis."

Hearing the confirmation of the sound, they became busy again, as if what they had just encountered was just the aftermath of an earthquake, and it was not worth paying too much attention to. The mechanical fingers kept tapping, and in the quiet hall, only this repetition was left. And a monotonous sound.

Under the deep well, in the absolute darkness, there were several voices one after another, talking to each other.

"The program has awakened."

"Retrieve the list of the Unshakable."

The dusty list was recalled, and ancient eyes swept over the rows of names.

"Set the search interval...within the time axis disorder event range..."

Another voice whispered.

"Estimated threat level of the incident... the estimation is over and the search for suitable candidates begins."

"The search is over and the order has been issued."

…

The man stood in front of the coffee machine and made himself a cup of hot coffee. In the past, his assistant would do this kind of thing, but he woke up too early every day. When he had the first cup of coffee in the morning, his The assistant is often not up yet.

There is nothing that can be done about it. You can't ask your assistant to get up early because of your own problems. This man still understands this very well.

After blowing on the hot coffee, the man was about to enjoy a sip and start a new busy day, but then the lights behind him began to flicker.

The man turned his head suspiciously, and then the flashes began to accelerate. After each flash, the man's environment began to change rapidly.

First, he was in the corner of the coffee machine. After a flash, he was in the corridor, then the office, the hall, the sublimation furnace core, the crow's nest...

It wasn't that the surrounding environment was changing, but that the man's position was moving with every flash and flash, until the last flash and flash, his surroundings fell into absolute darkness without any light.

The man didn't panic at all, his expression remained calm, and he even took a sip of coffee.

"Emergency 09."

The man was not surprised when the voice reached his ears. He knew very well the operating mechanism of the behemoth Bureau of Order. These mysterious beings hidden in the decision-making room rarely contacted the staff directly, but every time they contacted directly, they were accompanied by extremely important event.

Either say nothing or declare disaster.

For this reason, men always have some strange emotions about the decision-making room.

"Number 09?"

The man quickly remembered the corresponding matter, the timeline disorder event.

As the largest extraordinary organization in the Rhine League, the Bureau of Order has faced countless dangers since its establishment. Many of these dangerous incidents are too special to be dealt with by conventional means.

For example, the Eternal Corruption caused by the Orang Rot Sect, the plague of decay caused by the Truth Monks, and so on.

The Order Bureau classifies and numbers these special events and prepares corresponding response measures to be activated when necessary.

Another example is the time-travel event we are encountering now.

The man considered himself an energetic person who could work from morning to night without feeling tired the next day. But just like psychological comfort, he couldn't help but drink a few more sips of coffee to try to restore his condition to its maximum. good.

These emergencies are only the official names within the Bureau of Order, and field staff like men prefer to use another term to name it.

Extraordinary disaster.

Recalling the last time he dealt with such an extraordinary disaster, the always calm man's arms were shaking slightly, as if yesterday's extraordinary disaster was right in front of him.

"Why am I the only one?"

The man looked around, and then he realized that he was the only one reporting. Do he have to deal with it alone?

Men are not dissatisfied if there is no response. This is the case in the decision-making room. Even if you are face to face, they rarely respond to your questions. More often, they are like machines, constantly giving orders to you without any doubts.

Similarly, the man also understands one thing. The instructions of the decision-making room have always been absolutely correct. He only activated himself, which means that for this extraordinary disaster, he alone is enough.

The man did not feel relaxed because of this, and the pressure was still lingering in his heart. After all, this was an extraordinary disaster, and taking it lightly would only lead to the wrong ending.

Suddenly, there was a burning pain on the back of the man's hand. Under the severe pain, he held the cup steadily and saw a mark on the back of his hand, with a staff and sword representing power and force engraved on it.

"Temporary authority delivered."

Before he finished speaking, another stinging pain came, and outside the mark of the staff and sword, another barrier burned out. It blocked everything and refused anyone's interference.

"The authority of the Unshakable has been delivered."

The man looked at the familiar brand mark on the back of his hand and was filled with emotion for a moment. He never thought that one day he would face the timeline chaos event again. After all, it was different from other extraordinary disasters. This kind of extraordinary disaster was too rare, and only Such an extraordinary disaster requires an unshakable person.

"The Immovable Ones are being transported in armor."

The neutral and cold voice suddenly became distorted, as if a monster was hunting down the owner of the voice and biting off the throat from which he spoke.

After the sticky and weird noise, a familiar hoarse voice sounded.

"Lebius Lovisa."

Lebius felt a chill in his heart. He knew who was talking to him at this moment, and his spirit became tense involuntarily.

The voice whispered in his ear.

"I saw the shadows of the devil and the king's shield guard..."

Lebius was silent for a long time, turned the back of his hand over, and the brand of the staff and sword came into his eyes.

"I understand," he replied.

Before he finished speaking, the darkness collapsed. After countless flashes, when the surrounding vision became clear, Lebius had returned to the coffee corner.

Everything just seemed to be an illusion, but the brand on the back of the hand was clearly visible.