In the depths of the valley's mysterious forest, a Frozen Storage, its exterior covered with metallic moss, was violently opened from the inside.
Ren Zhong shivered as he crawled out.
Using both hands and feet, he climbed out of the chamber, then clutched tightly onto the wall of the Frozen Storage to avoid falling and landing on a sharp rock below.
The last time he exited the Frozen Storage , he had sat down sideways and had a hard collision between his hip and a sharp stone, causing him great pain.
This time, after learning from his mistake, Ren Zhong instinctively took an extra step to let his feet touch the ground first.
Then he leaned back against the metal chamber panel and slowly slid down to sit on the ground.
He started coughing violently, coughed for a long time, and then took deep, heavy breaths.
He desperately inhaled to confirm that he was still alive.
He pounded his chest repeatedly, trying to calm himself down.
His mind kept replaying the scene from seconds ago where he was shot in the chest and had his brain extracted.
He looked around in fear for a long time.
He saw the same crooked and disordered abandoned Frozen Storages, lush giant trees, rampant vines all over the ground, dense bushes, and patchy moss.
Thank goodness, no Flying Device.
Wait, how did I end up back in the Frozen Storage again?
Ren Zhong pinched his cheek harder to make sure he wasn't dreaming.
He began to have new doubts.
What exactly happened just now?
Or has my brain been extracted and artificially cultivated within some container, and this is a dream being guided by someone?
Ren Zhong thought for a long time but still couldn't come to a conclusion.
He even pinched his thigh hard.
Hiss, it really hurts.
Perhaps it's not a dream, perhaps the dream is just too real.
He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the automatic announcement starting from the Frozen Storage next to him, until he once again heard his parents' last words, snapping him back to reality.
He listened to the last words once more.
Though unable to figure out whether this was real or an illusion, and unsure of the current situation and why the Flying Device would want to kill and extract brains right away, he had to keep moving forward and exploring.
Dad always said to look forward.
He happened to feel thirsty again, so off he went!
Following his memory, Ren Zhong came to the stream again, squatted down to drink water and wash his face.
This time, however, he didn't lie down to ponder life, nor did he pick up stones to skip across the water. After a brief rest, he went in the opposite direction from last time to avoid the unfortunate Flying Device.
After walking a couple of steps, there was a thud behind him.
Surprised, Ren Zhong turned to look.
It was still the same red fruit, smashed to smithereens.
He walked back to examine it carefully, then looked up at the side.
There was a flat stone. If he remembered correctly, last time he had picked up this stone to skip across the water.
Now, the stone's position was exactly the same as last time, not a millimeter off.
Looking at the shattered red fruit, crushed in the middle of a gray and a black palm-sized ground scar once again.
Ren Zhong closed his eyes, recalled for a long time, and showed surprise on his face.
The position where the red fruit fell, the orientation in which it scattered on the ground, the shape and position of the fragments - large or small...
All these details matched his memory exactly, every single one, precisely as if time had reversed and days had reset.
Ren Zhong stood petrified, motionless for a long time.
He already had some incredible guesses in his heart.
About ten minutes passed before the statue-like Ren Zhong suddenly moved, heading straight in the opposite direction of the Flying Device he had previously chosen.
Walking for a while, he suddenly clutched his neck, collapsed to the ground.
After the pain subsided, Ren Zhong slowly got up and silently calculated the time.
He felt more certain in his heart.
The timing, scale, severity, and location of the illness matched last time precisely, down to the second.
That left only two possibilities.
Either this is a dream created by his extracted brain, or... time really reset after dying, and everything returned to the moment he just woke up.
For now, the first scenario seems more likely, while the second is a beautiful vision.
Ren Zhong climbed out of the Frozen Storage once again.
He lay weakly on the ground, his pupils contracted, with an unresolved fear and confusion in his eyes.
He had just "died" again, once more at the hands of the Flying Device.
This time he had chosen a new direction, and after leaving the forest, he was cautiously advancing, but was still detected from afar by the patrolling Flying Device, which moved in swiftly and took him out in one go.