Those who travel back in time

Chapter 52 The Letter Sender

"Uncle Li, have you found any clues?" Chen Qing asked impatiently as soon as they arrived at the Qilin Building.

Li Qilin, who had been standing in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the city, turned around after hearing Chen Qing's words: "Don't you remember we installed a surveillance camera on the old locust tree at Shuguang Hospital three years ago?"

"Did you capture a picture of the person who 'sent' the letter to Dr. Fang?"

"Got it." Li Qilin clicked the mouse repeatedly to play a video. The video showed a figure wearing an orange overall vest digging under an old locust tree.

"This person's clothes..." Chen Qing pointed to the figure in the video.

The work vest even had reflective strips, exactly the same one he wore three years ago when he impersonated a construction worker.

Three years ago, in order to have a plausible excuse, he dug at Shuguang Hospital, posing as a construction worker for landscape renovation.

Unexpectedly, three years later, this identity was used by the person who sent the letter.

“That’s right, these clothes are the same ones you wore three years ago,” Li Qilin said. “Obviously, he knows we went to that hospital.”

"How did he know?" Li Mengfei leaned over. "It's just a hospital landscaping upgrade, nothing big."

"He even knows about Dr. Fang, who is in the future. I'm not surprised that he knows anything," Li Qilin said.

"Who exactly is he, and is he connected to the people at Tuibeilou?"

"We don't know yet."

"This is surveillance video from three days ago." Chen Qing bent down and looked at the time on the video.

"This is my fault," Li Qilin said. "Three years ago, I specifically assigned someone to keep an eye on this surveillance camera, but three years have passed and there has been no activity from it. The person keeping watch on it stopped taking it seriously. I never thought to check it regularly either."

"As long as I can get a picture, it doesn't matter to me whether he appears today or three days ago," Chen Qing said. He could go back to three days ago.

"Chen Qing, has the serum from Tianhai Hospital been destroyed?" Fang Xiande asked as soon as he returned to 2044.

"It's destroyed."

"You stayed there for a relatively long time this time, and the process probably didn't go very smoothly?"

"Dr. Fang, the word 'unsuccessful' simply cannot describe the hardships I've faced in the past. I almost didn't make it back."

"You're injured again?" Fang Xiande's gaze swept over Chen Qing. "But the time machine didn't give any warning."

「不是受伤，是陷入了时间循环……」陈卿把自己在2025年6月30日9:17和10：43之间不断往复的经历说了一遍。

"This must be a malfunction in the time machine." Fang Xiande took out his glasses from his pocket, put them on, and ran to the time machine's control panel to check them. "How did you escape the loop?"

"I went to see my past self, which triggered a time paradox and broke the cycle."

"Chen Qing, this is too risky." Fang Xiande stopped what he was doing. "Remember, never try to use time paradoxes again. If you make even the slightest mistake, you will disappear completely."

"But at the time, there was no other way but to do it this way."

"There really isn't any other way."

"Dr. Fang, is this a recursive stack overflow problem?"

"How did you know?" Fang Xiande turned to look at Chen Qing, a look of surprise on his face.

Chen Qing even knows this?

Shouldn't he not even know this term?

"You went to see my past self." Soon, Fang Xiande understood what was going on, and then gave another round of instructions: "Chen Qing, this time it was out of necessity. Remember, never go to see my past self again."

While Fang Xiande was repairing the time machine, Chen Qing recounted how they found the sender, how the serum was destroyed at Tuibeilou, and so on.

"Who exactly is this person who 'sent' me a letter?" Fang Xiande pondered.

"I have two guesses. First, this person is someone on our side, someone from the future me who had someone from the past buried inside so that I could successfully enter the time machine."

"Is it possible that you could be from the future?"

"Although he was wearing a mask so I couldn't see his face, judging from his height and build, it couldn't be me."

"And the second one?"

"Secondly, he's from the Tuibeilou gang. Since he wrote to you, he must know the future. Besides us, it can only be Yuan Tiangang."

"But if it's Yuan Tiangang, what is his purpose? We now know he created zombies and orchestrated the apocalypse. And you, you are there to stop the apocalypse, to stop him. Why would he call you back?"

"Dr. Fang, is Tuibeilou really pushing for the end of the world? When I went back this time, I found that their purpose in taking the serum was not to create zombies, but to destroy them. They are doing the same thing as us."

"He's definitely not one of us. So far, you've contacted three members of the Tuibeilou gang—Zhao Dezhu, and two from Tianhai Hospital—all ruthless criminals who treat human life like dirt. How can such an organization be an organization that saves the world?"

"But if he's the one orchestrating the end of the world, why did he 'call me back'?"

"There's no point in making such guesses now. Let's go back and find the sender of the letter and figure out whether he's a friend or foe."

Although the time machine transmitted the wrong time and place during the first time, there were errors.

But only the first two times; afterwards, the time and location transmitted by the time machine were accurate without any errors.

So this time, the return to 2025 wasn't several days earlier, but rather on July 17th.

Because he didn't know whether the person was friend or foe, he went alone instead of with Li Qilin or Li Mengfei.

The experience of Li Qilin being killed in the Tianhai Hospital loop served as a wake-up call for him, and he should try to avoid having them directly involved in missions in the future.

At the entrance of Shuguang Hospital, Chen Qing stood in front of the bus stop, keeping a close eye on his surroundings.

At 12:08, a figure wearing a work vest and a safety helmet came into view.

This person is on the heavier side and looks to be in their forties or fifties.

It's him!

Chen Qing left the bus stop and stopped the man.

"You have two choices," the sender said before Chen Qing could say anything.

"What choice?"

"My first option is to answer your question here, and I will answer everything I know. I will tell you anything you want to know."

"What's the second option?"

"You're the one who collects Li Mengfei's body."

"Dare to touch her, and I'll make sure you die a horrible death." Chen Qing's tone turned icy.

"This threat is meaningless. If I were afraid, I wouldn't have said it," the sender said calmly. "I've already sent assassins; they're on their way to find Li Mengfei. Either you turn around and leave, and I'll withdraw the kill order against Li Mengfei, or I'll answer your questions, but the kill order cannot be withdrawn."

"Are you trying to scare me? I'm with Mengfei in three days, and she hasn't mentioned anything about assassins to me. If she encountered an assassin today, wouldn't she tell me?"

"Chen Qing, you call yourself a time traveler, yet your way of thinking is so simplistic. Who said the assassin I sent is from this timeline? Maybe a week later, maybe a month later, who knows when the assassin will 'visit' her."