Chapter 322 - 319: Variable Speed

Chapter 322: Chapter 319: Variable Speed

"It’s wrong! Still not right!"

"Variable-Speed Bicycle, accelerate to 1,000x speed!"

Time was accelerated a thousandfold. During this period, Xiaozhang relentlessly adjusted the details of the sand sculpture. He had even memorized the entire external outline of the Quicksand Monitoring Station.

But it still wasn’t right.

The sand sculpture showed no reaction at all.

With no other choice, Xiaozhang could only knock it down and start over.

He followed the procedure step by step and rebuilt the sand sculpture, but just like before, it had no effect.

He started over again and again. Xiaozhang kept accelerating time, repeating the process countless times, but no matter what he did, no matter how meticulously he built it, the sculpture remained as unresponsive as the ordinary yellow sand outside.

Xiaozhang did a quick mental calculation. All this back and forth had already taken him several full days, and the acceleration multiplier was steadily increasing.

’Was it three days, or five?’

By now, Xiaozhang couldn’t tell. The shifting flow rate had dulled his perception of time, forcing him to frequently check the bright red countdown timer in the main hall and constantly adjust the acceleration.

"Variable-Speed Bicycle, accelerate to 1,500x speed!"

He forced himself to calm down. He couldn’t keep wasting his efforts like this. He had to figure out what was wrong and find the right solution for the problem.

’I need to find the experiment logs for this sand sculpture relic.’

He had finally found a breakthrough. He quickly rode his bicycle to the lab.

As luck would have it—perhaps because the station chief had requested it—the researchers had left the information on this relic right on a table.

"Sand Sculpture Replication Experiment Log."

’This is it.’

He immediately began to flip through it:

...

"Replication Target: Water Cup."

"Replication Method: Replicate external contour. Interior of the cup to be filled completely with sand. Exterior to be perfectly replicated."

"Experiment Result: Ineffective."

...

"Replication Target: Water Cup."

"Replication Method: Full replication. Cup walls replicated according to original thickness. External shape perfectly replicated."

"Experiment Result: Effective."

...

Seeing this, Xiaozhang immediately understood why his sand sculpture hadn’t worked.

’I only built an external shell! The interior is just filled with sand. Of course that wouldn’t have any effect!’

It was a moment of sudden enlightenment. He returned to the main hall and knocked over the sand sculpture he had worked so hard to build.

’If I have to do a full replication, it’ll take even longer. Looks like I’ll have to adjust the acceleration multiplier again...’

...

And so, Xiaozhang lost track of how much time had passed.

He rode his bicycle back and forth through the Quicksand Monitoring Station, memorizing every single room.

He took equipment to measure the thickness of every wall, and he had to find the keys to open the hidden rooms.

The Quicksand Monitoring Station’s internal structure was a chaotic mess, a result of constant expansions, but Xiaozhang still committed the entire station to memory, piece by piece.

All the while, he never stopped building the sand sculpture.

He no longer felt any pain over the toppled sculptures. For him, time was infinite, and the bright red countdown in the main hall hadn’t ticked in what felt like forever.

’How long has it been? What’s the acceleration multiplier at now?’

Xiaozhang often asked himself this, but he could never remember the answer.

Looking at the others, still standing motionless in the distance, Xiaozhang never once thought of giving up.

Everyone was staring hopefully at the sand table in the main hall, where a sculpture had been built and knocked down more times than anyone could count.

The hope in their eyes never wavered.

Their expectations weighed on Xiaozhang, and for their sake, he pedaled with all his might, never feeling tired.

Time and drifting yellow sand flowed past him, drawing a long, yellow line in his wake. In the already solidified air, he left a trail that belonged only to him.

In the silent Quicksand Monitoring Station, one machine that would never stop was constantly overloading, running at an ever-accelerating pace.

The bicycle’s chainring spun with a WHIRRING CLACK, its teeth grinding nonstop. The stopwatch’s tourbillon spun round and round.

"I’ll definitely finish it. Don’t worry," he said earnestly, looking at the others.

The sculpture toppled, and he began to build it again...

Until one day, Xiaozhang found a white hair on the sand table.

’When did this get here? Whatever...’

He picked up the white hair and casually tossed it, letting it merge with the yellow sand behind him.

...

"Just one last piece. I adjusted the support structure this time, so it shouldn’t collapse so easily. Making a perfect replica is such a hassle; you even have to think about load-bearing..."

Xiaozhang glanced at the station chief standing to the side and said self-deprecatingly, "I probably know the Quicksand Monitoring Station better than the station chief himself now, huh? Does that mean I can be the station chief?"

He didn’t know when he had developed the habit of talking to himself. Sometimes he would even speak to the unmoving people around him; it helped to slightly ease his loneliness.

’I don’t know how long it’s been... but it’s almost over.’

Xiaozhang placed the last bit of sand.

He was incredibly calm. Having failed so many times, he was already prepared for it to happen again. At worst, he would just knock it down and start over. He had the entire station memorized by now, and he had become an expert at building the sculpture.

But this time, something was different.

All the grains of sand on the table seemed to lock into place in an instant. Having built the sculpture so many times, Xiaozhang immediately realized something was wrong.

He glanced at the time and nervously spoke to the bicycle beneath him, "Variable-Speed Bicycle, adjust to 5x speed."

As his words fell, his surroundings began to change for the first time in a long while.

Time began to flow slowly, and the bright red countdown timer started ticking again.

But Xiaozhang paid no attention to that; his eyes were glued to the sand sculpture on the table.

Every grain of sand had locked together, fusing into a single, solid object. The sand sculpture slowly began to levitate.

"Success! It worked!"

He watched the sand sculpture float into the air, and a rush of blood went to his head.

It was immediately followed by a wave of dizziness.

Before he lost consciousness, he whispered to the bicycle:

"Variable-Speed Bicycle, return to normal speed..."

The words had barely left his lips when his body suddenly felt incredibly light. He felt as if he were floating in the clouds, surrounded by impossible softness.

The stagnant air began to move, and a gentle breeze brushed against him.

His body was gently pushed by the wind, and he fell to the ground.

In a daze, he saw the yellow sand behind him tumble to the floor.

The hard grains of sand struck the stone tiles of the hall with a TAP-TAP-TAPPING sound. For a moment, he couldn’t tell if it was the sound of the sand or the ticking of a clock.

A single white hair slowly drifted down, landing in front of him.

He reached out and caught it.

It was light, yet impossibly strong.