"What ti is it now."
Lu Li’s calm voice rang out as he opened the wooden box containing eyeballs.
The people in the cabin exchanged glances. Locke said, "I don’t know, it should be very late?"
They realized sothing unusual: they entered the first round of the championship in the morning, then entered the Mysterious Dense Forest near noon one after another. Given the ti elapsed, it should still be noon, not nightfall.
"4:40 PM." The rchant brought back bad news.
"Where were you last summoned before entering the Mysterious Dense Forest?"
"Swamp."
This part still matched.
"How long has it been since then?"
"...28 hours and 15 minutes." After a brief pause for calculation, rchant Anthony said.
"That’s impossible..."
A murmur of astonishnt echoed around the cabin.
No one could recall the lost day. Ti had been distorted, or... they had lost part of their ti.
"We’ve lost many mories, including the experience of the second round." Lu Li pondered and calmly whispered.
So the note in the cabin marked the third round, because they had lost the mory of the second round; so Lu Li felt separated from the world by a thin mist, he had lost many mories.
"Maybe that’s the ’aning’ of the third round." Verilete Marvin slowly explained at that mont: "The cabins in the Mysterious Dense Forest store the mories we’ve lost."
"You have three days to escape from this prison. If ti runs out and you haven’t left... you’ll stay here forever.’" Recalling the hint on the note, Orey Lorenzo mused: "The championship wouldn’t reasonably leave us here forever... so this hint might be understood as if we don’t retrieve our mories within three days, the lost mories will disappear completely."
This extended new questions: the path ahead held four more cabins, once all are reached will all mories be restored?
A few minutes later, rchant Anthony brought many notebooks and pens, distributing them to each companion, including Lute.
It suspected its clumsy human language was related to the loss of mory.
Whether losing mory or restoring it is hard to detect—mory is the impression existing in the mind. They are interconnected like a web, occasionally converging into nodes due to connections. mories arise unconsciously, extending to nearby mories along the web. Ti wears down mories, making the connecting strands finer or even vanish, leaving only unforgettable nodes.
So what they need to record are these nodes.
For Lu Li, he needed to write down every event he experienced and the people he interacted with.
Oliver, Jojo... Mother of the Marsh, Tesla... Keanu Aite, Fudote... Professor Hagrid, Claire...
While recording mory nodes, Lu Li recalled Mildred Hampri telling him to read useless knowledge before setting off—had he foreseen this scene?
Recalling Claire still seeking the exit in the first round, Lu Li took out [Linda’s Alchemical Notes] to write down information on the second round.
That was one of the items given by Claire’s mother, Instructor Kris, Vice Dean of Giant Tree Academy and Professor of Alchemy.
[I’ll be mindful, you haven’t lost any mory, right?]
The reply quickly appeared, Lu Li wrote: "Lost part of it, searching in the third round."
[What bad luck, I’ll co help you!]
Putting away the notes, Lu Li checked the notebook recording nas and events, making supplents.
In the cabin beyond, void darkness surged. The wooden door was open so any sounds outside could be detected imdiately.
No matter what, only Lu Li could walk through the night in the Mysterious Dense Forest. They could only rest here for the night, awaiting to embark again the next dawn to retrieve mories.
The fireplace burned in the darkness, releasing light and warmth. Leaning against the corner, the people quietly rested, occasionally whispering softly.
The two contestants acquainted from Giant Tree Academy recounted each other’s stories, trying to piece together lost mory fragnts.
As stories continued, the topic inevitably fell on Lu Li, considering he was affected by mory loss the least—everyone knew Lu Li’s story, Lu Li’s experiences, which had beco part of history.
Only Orey Lorenzo felt differently.
mory is rembered because of the emotions it carries. When emotions cease, mory becos as pale as the text in biographical stories.
...
The forest cabin was a safe haven.
After a peaceful night, when the silent darkness faded, everyone in the cabin gradually awoke from light slumber.
Orey Lorenzo was preparing a lavish al. Having passed the first two rounds, they were already in the final round and the end was in sight, there was no need to conserve resources.
Despite the shadow of lost mories still engulfing them, the hopeful morning and the aroma of food gradually ward the atmosphere, easing faction boundaries considerably.
For instance, Lu Li saw the shadow of dog at devoured ravenously by Lute.
After the hearty breakfast, they extinguished the fireplace and left the cabin they stayed overnight, continuing north under Lu Li’s protection.
Twenty minutes later, they entered an unmanned fourth-to-last cabin, then eagerly took out their notebooks to compare.
So recovered mories not written in the notebook, so hadn’t realized mories had returned—Lu Li belonged to the latter.
After a short pause, they continued onward, reaching the third-to-last cabin half an hour later. Here, Lu Li recovered mories about Claire’s mother, Professor Chris.
Lute recovered more: fluent human language was the proof. And no longer held weak hostility or vigilance—they had lost mories of friendly coexistence with humans.
Two cabins remained ahead.
Because of Lu Li, their "journey to retrieve mories" was smooth and calm. When they reached the last cabin, they could already glimpse the bright clearing symbolizing hope and light beyond the Mysterious Dense Forest between terrifying giant tree gaps.
Contradictory feelings surfaced within them, composed of longing for the exit and worry about unresolved mories.
It was certain their mories weren’t fully restored: the second round’s mories.
But none wanted to return to the oppressive, despairing Mysterious Dense Forest behind them.
Confird important mories were not lost—family, love, friendship, hatred still existed deep in their minds, there was no need to risk for so trivial mories.
And Lu Li hadn’t recovered vital mories: about Anna.
"Many of your stories are recorded in your biography, including those love stories with you as the protagonist..."
They comforted Lu Li, approaching the exit. Then they stopped and looked at Lu Li who hadn’t left with them.
"You go out."
Lu Li turned back to gaze at the serene and silent Gloomy Forest. In the depths of terrifying giant trees, a figure in a white dress seed to stand quietly, waiting for him.
"I need to retrieve the remaining mories."
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