Uncle Guo took a look at the seven buckets full of fish by Ma Lu's feet and then glanced at the fish bait he had brought.
While everyone went to help catch catfish, he sneakily dumped out half of his bait.
His fish bait was homade, composed of soybeans, cracked corn, shrimp shells, wheat bran, and the like, all ground up and mixed together. Although it wasn't lethal, it could definitely make you choke with its consistency.
When the group had successfully brought the catfish to shore, Guo Zhengtao looked at Uncle Guo's half-empty bait packet and got the fright of his life.
"No way, Uncle, you actually ate it?"
Initially, Uncle Guo had just been taking precautions, worried that soone might rember his previously boasted grand statents. But when his nephew called out like that, everyone noticed the fish bait was half gone and thought he had already eaten it.
Guo Zhengtao, without further discussion, grabbed the remaining half packet of fish bait, both annoyed and amused, "Ah, everyone knows that was just a joke, Uncle. Why did you take it seriously? And you didn't even say anything, just secretly scoffed down half the packet."
Uncle Guo looked embarrassed and wanted to explain that he had actually poured it out, but he couldn't say it; eventually, he had to go along with Guo Zhengtao's explanation, adding another legend to the fishing community.
...
After exercising by the river, Ma Lu went ho to take a bath and had a short nap. When he woke up again, he was fully rejuvenated.
Yeah, life is like a train, with people getting on and off at every station. You can't stop anyone from getting off; you can only enjoy each part of the journey.
This also had been Ma Lu's life philosophy: control what you can control, and don't be saddened by what you cannot.
Considering he might soon be in contact with a Ti Traveler, and might even conflict with one, Ma Lu decided to use the remaining ti to prepare in advance.
But then again, what preparations should one make against a Ti Traveler?
Logically, the person who should know the answer to this question best was Youyou, since she herself was a Ti Traveler. However, every ti Ma Lu brought up the topic of Ti Travel with her, she would quickly divert the conversation.
According to Youyou, Ti Travel was a very dangerous matter. Most Ti Travelers could only go back to the past, not the future, and even a small change in the past could create a new tiline.
These tilines entwined like balls of yarn, forming the concept of ti as seen by Ti Travelers.
The tiline Youyou ca from and the one Ma Lu was currently in were both connected and different.
Worried about impacting Ma Lu's tiline, Youyou only disclosed so information when they t to prove her identity as a future visitor. After that, no matter how much Ma Lu prodded for more information, she would no longer talk about things from the other tiline.
Especially the trends of stocks and cryptocurrencies that Ma Lu was most curious about.
Facing another potential Ti Traveler now, she was just as unhelpful, feigning ignorance at each question.
Ma Lu could only rely on himself and made a post online:
—How to defeat a Ti Traveler.
Perhaps because they were tired of the daily debates over whether Zhuge Liang with two hundred tyrannosaurs could succeed in a northern expedition, a response soon arrived below his post.
—You can't defeat a Ti Traveler, because even if you do, he can always go back to the past and figure out a way to win against you.
—"OP is dumb, just asking these stupid questions all day, the forum's beyond saving."
—Sure, just kill him, then he won't go back to find you.
Another person comnted, and after 10 minutes, seeing the post quickly sinking, they popped up again, adding another comnt at the fourth floor.
—Did you kill him yet?
Ma Lu typed:
—Not yet, is there a more civilized way? We live in a society governed by the rule of law.
—Then hand him over to the state. But theoretically, he could still escape by traveling back to the past.
—Don't listen to their nonsense. Even if ti travel is real, it can't change the outco; otherwise, it would create a paradox. So theoretically, if you've defeated him once, no matter how many tis he travels back or what he attempts, he can't defeat you.
Soone else offered a new perspective.
—Why are people still hung up on ti travel? Didn't Hawking have a party in 2009 and invite Ti Travelers? He sent out the invitations after the party had ended and announced the ti and location. If there were any Ti Travelers, they could have attended that evening. Guess what, not a single person showed up.
—To the poster above, is it possible that Ti Travelers didn't want to attend a party thrown by a lolicon cripple?
—Exactly, if I were a Ti Traveler, I definitely wouldn't want others to know I am one.
—If I were a Ti Traveler, I'd kill Columbus.
—Dude, why do you want to kill Columbus?
—It's the fastest way to bring peace to the world.
—Then I'd kill Zhang He.
—What did Zhang He do to you?
—That way, even without tyrannosaurs, Zhuge Liang could succeed in his northern expeditions.
The post quickly went off-topic, and users below started to argue whether Zhuge Liang could succeed after the death of Zhang He.
Ma Lu tried twice to steer the conversation back but gave up when he couldn't. By the next day when he opened the thread again, more than four hundred floor comnts piled up, mostly contributed by two stubborn arguers.
When evenly matched, the two of them had a back-and-forth for two hundred floors, contributing nearly half of the replies until both were silenced by being banned.
Ma Lu skimd through the following replies and found that people were primarily divided into two camps: one believed that Ti Travelers are unkillable, because as long as they can see the future, they can alter it.
The other camp believed that Ti Travelers couldn't do anything besides observe, because no matter how hard they tried, there would always be a force that made everything return to its original outco.
Ma Lu felt there was reason in both argunts, and as for which was true, he wasn't sure. But the good news was that, so far, Qi Yu hadn't co looking for him.
This ant that either Qi Yu couldn't change history, or the conversation that evening went well, and Qi Yu helped Youyou return to her tiline.
Soon enough, the last dish was sold, and Ma Lu checked the ti—it was only just past three in the afternoon.
He had been waiting in the restaurant all day, wearing Bruce Lee flip-flops and a protective scarf from the Female Sorceress.
Yet, up until 5:10 pm, nothing happened.
Then, Ma Lu received a ssage from Qi Yu saying he was on his way to the restaurant, expected to arrive in about half an hour.
Ma Lu breathed a sigh of relief; it seed the plan was going smoothly. He glanced at Youyou next to him and noticed she was nervously biting her nails.
Reviews
All reviews (0)