The Bone Man, suspected to be a Class A life form, seemed to have already integrated into prison life, lying in a corner, enjoying the outdoors time.

Should I go over and get to know him?

After hesitating, Zhou Yi steeled himself and approached.

Reaching the man's side, he pretended to stretch his arms, "Today… the weather is nice."

The Bone Man paid him no heed.

Zhou Yi clenched his toes a bit.

However.

Zhou Yi noticed a stainless steel quartz watch on the other's wrist, a brand he recognized.

"Do you like Tissot?"

The Bone Man turned his head and slowly sat up, raising his left arm, "You play with these too?"

The password was correct.

Zhou Yi nodded, "I've collected a few as well."

Actually, he didn't understand watches at all; he just remembered some brands from the mall and saw the TISSOT logo on the other's watch face.

The Bone Man said, "I've collected six watches, all from the Divine Era. Among the people I've met, you're the first to get the name right. What brands do you have?"

Zhou Yi recalled some watch brands.

"My collection isn't extensive, just some Casio, Feiya, Longines, and Omega, mainly entry-level and common watches."

"It seems you really understand."

The Bone Man's eyes emitted red light, his emotions suddenly uplifted, "Do you have a Rolex? I need a Rolex."

Zhou Yi felt a bit tense inside.

"I don't, but I can try to find one."

"I'll trade you six watches for it!"

The other party said eagerly.

"If I can find one, I'll gift you one."

Zhou Yi asked curiously, "Do you just like Rolex?"

"I indeed like watches very much."

The Bone Man said, "But I need the Rolex for another reason... It's a long story. My name is Wu Yi. What's yours?"

Zhou Yi introduced himself to Mr. Labor Day.

Wu Yi's dark eye sockets looked at Zhou Yi, "It seems you have investigative abilities."

Zhou Yi candidly admitted, "I didn't expect someone as powerful as you to be trapped here too."

"It's a long story."

The Bone Man lay back down on the ground, "You've been noticed by someone I know; come find me here tomorrow, and we'll talk then."

Zhou Yi saw Qin Xie glancing over in their direction.

He walked over.

"Trying to recruit someone here too?" Qin Xie joked.

Zhou Yi thought to himself that he indeed wanted to recruit this fellow, but the shrine was too small for a deity this big.

He shifted the conversation, "It seems there's no suppression of detainee's abilities here."

"That's not quite right."

Qin Xie was sitting on a step, his gaze sweeping the surroundings, "Those unaffected are people like you and me, our cases are minor, and we'll be released soon."

"I just asked around; detainees sentenced to a year or more get their abilities sealed and cannot use them at all. Those with more serious cases are restricted from leaving, locked up long-term in a room."

Zhou Yi then asked, "Will you still go after the Flying Star after getting out?"

"What do you say?"

"I suggest giving up."

Wu Yi had vanished without a trace by then.

Zhou Yi continued, "The situation here is much more complicated than I expected. If you can break out of here, perhaps you can give it a try."

"Then you're giving me too much credit."

Qin Xie, however, was calm, "Let's go back then. I've had the same feeling; this place doesn't seem like a relic, more like a fully developed city."

"When I first arrived, I had Teddy enter dreams to check the local residents here. Do you know how many people there are?"

He showed fingers, "30,000."

"And that's just the residents of the main island's core area. People also live on the surrounding ring islands, the extended capes, and the smaller islands."

Qin Xie's expression became serious, "Under the rules set by the Aliens, humans and the Guangna Species are collaborating in various active and passive forms."

"There are plantations here, lakes, and rivers, enough to sustain many people, enough for more people to be born. Humans on this side engage in agriculture and settle down, turning the initial relics into populated areas with established basic order."

The young man whispered, "The Guangna Species isn't idle either. Led by the Red Monster, they collect a massive amount of soil from the sea floor and pile it up at the shore, further expanding this archipelago and gradually connecting the small islands… they are engaged in land reclamation."

Although Zhou Yi had been familiar with this strategy, he hadn't expected the Guangna Species to be the ones actively working on this.

He asked, "Why?"

"For living space."

Qin Xie explained, "Although this is a Forbidden Zone for weapons, the Guangna Species also need specific living spaces; too narrow spaces would affect their survival. Since they can't plunder, and they don't want to give up such a completely safe settlement point, all they can do is expand the land."

"The Electromechanical Life is leading this process. Here there's a dredger and a filling ship, they're constructing cofferdams, bringing rocks and sand from other lands to fill the sea… those surrounding small islands are man-made, ultimately to be joined together."

He looked towards the far-off Ferris wheel, "I have a feeling, the general trend here is set, already meeting the security, stability, and premium geographical environment required for a large city... it will definitely be astonishing in the future."

Zhou Yi nodded.

Qin Xie, through a different observation angle, arrived at a conclusion that highly coincided with his own.

"I've also learned something else."

The young ship captain looked at the distant Guangna Species prisoners, "The life forms imprisoned here, each one can be a labor force. Especially those held for a long term, the Forbidden Weapon Alien assigns them selectable tasks, completion of which can reduce their imprisonment duration, allowing them to get out sooner."

"Currently, their tasks are relatively simple, including moving mountains, transporting stones, reclaiming land with sand, and during extreme weather conditions, finding distressed natives and bringing them to safety. But think about it, if an external enemy attacks in the future, all these would be seasoned elite warriors."

He said softly, "I always feel there's an invisible hand manipulating everything here. Everywhere, there are traces of artificial planning, yet specific clues are nowhere to be found. It's possible there is a Skywalker behind this."

Zhou Yi's impression of the young man rose a notch.

Qin Xie became a ship captain at a young age; his background was certainly important, but his insight and big-picture view were also very strong.

...

The next day, during the airing time, Qin Xie was indeed nowhere to be seen.

Zhou Yi went to a corner and found Bone Man Wu Yi already lying there again.

"You're here."

"I'm here."

Bone Man Wu Yi sat up, "Place your hand on me, and transmit voice and information through bone conduction, so that our conversation won't be heard by the outside."

Zhou Yi did as instructed.

He wasn't afraid, either; he had Mech No. 2 and the mic master, even if there were psychic attacks, he had countermeasures.

"Do you know about 'Clock Head'?"

The other's voice vibrated.

Zhou Yi said he didn't know.

"No wonder, it's a rare special life form."

Wu Yi explained, "The head of a Clock Head looks like a clock face with pointers moving, and its body is human-like."

"It has a special ability. If you encounter a Clock Head, and it's willing to help you, it can reverse your time, allowing you to return to any node of your conscious memory and start over."

Zhou Yi found it hard to believe, "Time reset?"

"No, not that exaggerated, just a rerun from that node to now, more like replaying the past. Because under normal circumstances, no one can precisely reproduce the past, but it can."

Zhou Yi breathed a sigh of relief.

So, it was rewinding.

Wu Yi produced a slightly heavy bone-shaking sound, "For some reason, I must revisit what exactly happened in the past, I need its ability to help me return to a past node. But to get Clock Head's help, I also need to fulfill its demands."

"It requires me to collect the clocks it designated, and then hand them over to it."

"I've found and given it other four watches—Casio, Seiko, Tissot, and Girard-Perregaux, only a Rolex is missing."

Zhou Yi puzzled, "That hard to find?"

"Not really. I found three."

Wu Yi's voice also carried some frustration, "But after I handed them to Clock Head, all were deemed counterfeits…"

Zhou Yi understood.

In his era, high-quality replicas were rampant; it's said that a two or three thousand yuan counterfeit Rolex could pass off as real.

It might be impossible for people from the Wasteland Era to distinguish these watches' authenticity, especially without ever touching a genuine one, just looking at the fakes doesn't reveal any issues.

Perhaps only finding an authorized retailer would likely yield a genuine timepiece.

"So, I've been stressed about this."

Wu Yi sighed, "Last time, a merchant tricked me, saying it was genuine. I spent a lot of Light Seeds, took it to Clock Head, got rejected, and in frustration, I killed him."

"Lying is wrong, especially on something this important. True is true, false is false."

Zhou Yi agreed, "Indeed."

"But I still have to stay here nearly 100 years, without Alien permission or a special significant task to reduce time, it's difficult to get out."

Bone Man said, "If you find a Rolex, remember to keep one for me. This place allows visits, just come in through a silver door outside, and I can summon Clock Head."

Zhou Yi promised, "If I find one, I'll have someone bring it to you."

"Good."

Bone Man continued, "You came here looking for that Flying Star, right?"

"Not looking anymore."

Zhou Yi waved his hand.

That satellite had become part of Kunming Station.

Bone Man sat cross-legged on the ground, pondering for a while, "Well then, I'll teach you how to utilize this environment to break through in combat species, you could use that. That's how I trained from an ordinary Bone Man to the current level, barely an A-Class life, barely being enough, not easily bullied now."

That was indeed more than enough.

Zhou Yi's suspicion was confirmed; the other really was leveling up here through hard training.

"It's actually quite simple."

Wu Yi explained, "The key is to extend the time under pressure, making sure the time and intensity against your limit are long and strong enough, even to the point where you feel death's presence would be ideal."

"Normally, there are only three such confrontations per day. But there's a way to make these confrontations unlimited, and to make time slow down, enough to make one day feel like a year. This method is of no more use to me, but you can still benefit from it."

"Remember, you need to convert energy collision into consciousness collision. Just complete the consciousness connection with that mirror image, and you can endlessly battle it in an unrestricted mental space, it's also appropriate to utilize Alien abilities to split oneself for intensified training."

"Just that achieving consciousness connection takes long practice, reaching a level where both sides move hands and feet in sync is enough… If you can stay here for a year or two, you should be able to achieve it."

Zhou Yi thought.

That's my area of expertise.

Time to start training!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.