Split Zone 13

Volume 4

246 Eyes That Traveled Back in Time

If that really was the truth, this meant that Gaoqin Jiuye had known me for quite a while. He had known me from the very moment I met Gao Qi…

How could this be possible though? If that was the case, wouldn’t that mean…

I couldn’t remember anything that involved Gaoqin Jiuye, and all the memories I lost just so happened to be related to him in some way… Isn’t this too much of a coincidence…

Wait, I had to really think about this.

When I met Gao Qi, it was Gaoqin Jiuye’s consciousness which took over Gao Qi’s body. According to him, it’s not often that he did that. This ended up in both of them sharing one body. And then what?

I stared blankly at Gaoqin Jiuye, who was in front of me.

He pointed at the ring I just caught. “What are you waiting for? Put it on. Haven’t I told you this already, that I brought this ring over from the Split Zone? It’s a treasure. You can summon me here through it. It’ll protect you as well.”

I realized I wore the ring obediently on my left hand.

“That’s it. Can you feel it now?”

A sharp pain shot through my brain as another scene played out in front of me.

***

Gao Qi pulled me with him to the rooftop as he held the novel, Faust, in his hands. Looking down, our schoolmates looked just like tiny ants on the ground.

His eyes seemed to be full of mockery as he said. “Ah Shen, don’t you think it’s tiring for them to live like this? Mephisto the demon once said that the world was a torturous place. Why do they want to torture themselves like this?”

My brows furrowed. “Senior, you seem a little different recently. You keep talking about depressing things.”

Gao Qi looked at me with soft eyes. “Didn’t you say that you’ll accept me however I am?”

“That’s not what I meant. I mean… Senior? What’s wrong, senior?”

Gao Qi passed out again. It happened so suddenly that I was at a loss of what to do.

But from past experience, this could just be a sign that ‘he’ was coming.

For some reason, I was expectant of his arrival.

I could hear nothing but my own heartbeat on the roof.

Gao Qi opened his eyes after a couple of seconds.

A charming smile hung on his lips as his gaze felt full of malice. He sat up and glanced at me. “Been a long time.”

I looked at him. “Yes. I still can’t quite believe it yet. How did you come over? Are you really from another dimension? Are you an alien of some sort? You don’t happen to be Gao Qi’s second personality, are you?”

Gaoqin Jiuye’s malicious smile widened. “Do you think everyone else has an identity disorder like you? That causes a body of consciousness to split into two, but he and I are originally two separate bodies of consciousness. I’m just taking over his body temporarily.”

“Where did you come from? Why do you have to take over his body? What did you mean when you said you did it all for me the last time?”

“I come from this place called the Split Zone, but I’m not able to explain everything to you in such a short time. The reason I’m here is because you summoned me, and you’ve always been in my dreams.”

“What.” I deadpanned.

Gaoqin Jiuye leaned back as he placed his palms on the ground behind him. “It’s like this. Where I come from, we don’t dream. We end up dreaming only if a body of consciousness in your world resonates with a body of consciousness in our world. If that happens, we’ll be able to see all that happens in this world.

“Put simply, I’m able to see whatever happens to you here because your consciousness resonated with mine. Basically, it works just like a camera. I became interested after seeing you, and this is why I thought of a way to come look for you. And, the only way to do that is through my doppelganger in this world, who happens to be your senior, Gao Qi. It’s only through him that I can arrive here. This is why I’m here after I took that opportunity.”

“You mean, in order to come look for me, whom you saw in your dreams, you have to look for a body here in this dimension, and that vessel is Senior Gao Qi?”

“Yes. Gao Qi and I are doppelgangers, and it’s only through such a connection that I’m able to come here. It just so happens that my doppelganger knows you as well, and that he’s also your senior. These are mere coincidences. The relationship between us and my connection with him are two separate matters. As for the fact that the both of you know each other, it has nothing to do with me as well. It’s purely something between the two of you in this world.”

Though I was slightly confused, I was still able to understand the majority of what he said.

“But why did you come looking for me? I’m just a person who happened to appear in your dream.”

Gaoqin Jiuye sat up and scooted over. “I’m curious about you. This is why I had to come and take a look.”

My heart began to race.

I could see a light in those dark brown eyes of his. His face was literally right in front of me now.

He waved the ring on his right hand. “I’ve brought this ring here, and I’ll put it on him. He wouldn’t take it off. Just tell him that you bought it for him as some kind of a protective amulet. Take the ring off if you wish to see me in future. I’ll appear then. Do that too if you’re in danger.”

His voice seemed to float farther and farther away.

***

I regained my senses as I felt another pain shooting through my chest.

Back in the laboratory, I realized that I had taken off the ring I just put on moments ago. Gaoqin Jiuye was still smiling casually in front of me. “Remember it now? I’ve told you this before, just take the ring off when you’re in danger and I’ll appear. Why didn’t you do that even when he had already pounced on you? It’s lucky that I was dreaming of you at the same time. I forced my way through once I saw that.”

My heart sank as I finally understood what was happening.

I was merely reliving the memories that I’ve lost.

Gaoqin Jiuye was simply narrating whatever happened in the past, and those images were like fragments of memory within my memories. It was like a dream within a dream.

Right now, I had to face Gaoqin Jiuye, whom I had forgotten. Should I continue pretending, or should I treat him as I do now?

I momentarily forgot that he won’t be able to hear me even if I spoke. Since this was simply a reenactment, everything would go according to what had actually happened before.

As expected, he spoke as if I had responded. “It’s good that you remember. Right, I’m actually here to settle some serious matters. Where’s that bottle? Oh I see it, it’s there.”

My eyes widened. Yes, this might just be the opportunity I’m waiting for.

He stood up quickly. Walking over to the glass bottle, he picked it up before he returned and sat beside me. “My friend, Du Yue, got me to retrieve this. I don’t know why Du Yue would send me on an errand here in this world. Who does this belong to? Who did Gao Qi gouge it out from? Isn’t it illegal to gouge someone’s eyes out in your world?”

I shook my head as I answered, “I don’t know.”

Gaoqin Jiuye looked at those eyes which looked so similar to Jiao S’s as he continued, “No matter who it belongs to, I guess it must be of some use, if Du Yue got me to come here in such a secretive manner. I’m taking this. You’ll have to run and leave this place. I’m about to go back, and I can’t stay with you for too long. I’ll need a large amount of MF to bring this item back.

“I have to go soon. Put the ring on and leave before I go. Keep the ring and don’t give it to him anymore. I’ll be able to sense it the very moment you’re in danger. I’ll force my way through again if need be. Go on, quick. Put it on. Stop taking it off.”

I had a feeling that this was my chance to get to the bottom of things. Thus, I put the ring back on obediently and left.

Opening the door, I looked at the dark corridor right in front of me.

Quietly, I leaned against the wall.

I was going to enter the room again after Gaoqin Jiuye leaves.

Though I finally understood all that had happened, what I recalled was simply snippets of memory related to Gaoqin Jiuye. There had to be other snippets. Especially the events that led to my killing of Gao Qi. All I could remember was plunging that knife into his chest, and I couldn’t remember anything that happened before or after it. I had to get those memories back.

In the quiet corridor, I began to think about what Gaoqin Jiuye just said.

Why was this related to Du Yue?

Why would Jiao S’s eyes be here? This was the past, and it was in another dimension. Why would Jiao S’s eyes in the Split Zone end up in the past in the real world?

Was this Du Yue’s ability?

Could I then interpret this as Du Yue sending Jiao S’s eyes to the real world through some spatial transference, and with that, she also made it travel back in time? It didn’t end up in the same timeline, but it ended up in my memories from the past.

She sent it to Gao Qi’s laboratory, which is a place that contains my lost memories. This means that as long as I set out to regain the memories in the laboratory, I’d definitely be able to see that pair of eyes?

Wasn’t this a mechanism that had been put in place much earlier on? It was simply waiting for me to pass through.

Listening to Gaoqin Jiuye speak earlier, I knew it was the old Gaoqin Jiuye I was seeing. He was still on good terms with Du Yue in the past. Did Du Yue already know that this was going to happen from a long time ago? Is this why she contorted time and space and had Gaoqin Jiuye retrieve Jiao S’s eyes from here?