Transforming Succubus: Almost Doomsday

Continuing until late into the night before sleep, there was nothing that left a particularly deep impression on Zhou Baiyu.

He just strolled the streets, investigated, or searched for strange stories on forums to ensure that Linyang City had not been contaminated recently.

The entire day, apart from the job interview and the traffic jam in the morning, did not seem to have anything abnormal.

Of course, Zhou Baiyu habitually reviewed the day's events and felt that... there were a few things from the morning that were very memorable.

He still remembered the license plate number of the taxi he took in the morning. And he still remembered, the lottery numbers read out by a customer in the welfare lottery shop on Minfu Lane's pedestrian street.

Similarly, he also remembered the content of the video the clerical receptionist was watching, as well as some family matters of the interviewer.

Of course, Zhou Baiyu always had a good memory, but what concerned him was—

Today, he seemed to always recall the events of the morning. And these events, rather than memories, were accompanied by a sense of déjà vu.

It was as if these things he noted had already happened before.

But this "discomfort" or so-called "déjà vu," in the end, even if noticed, was hard to assume that some preposterous event had already occurred.

Zhou Baiyu eventually fell asleep; it wasn't that he didn't overthink, but rather he couldn't think of any outcomes.

After all, life had to go on, and time would keep turning.

...

...

The location, the real world of Linyang City, time unknown.

Zhou Baiyu woke up again.

He checked the time, found it was still early, quickly got up to wash up, and prepared to hail a taxi.

He was going to attend a job interview today.

When he arrived at the taxi stand, Zhou Baiyu opened the ride-hailing app, and this time he didn't experience any déjà vu.

It wasn't until the car arrived, he got in, and chatted with the driver for a while, that he faintly felt...

Could the overpass be very congested?

As expected, the overpass was extremely congested. Zhou Baiyu and the driver lamented that they should have taken the third bridge.

Next, Zhou Baiyu chose to walk from Minfu Lane's pedestrian street toward the interview location.

As he passed by the welfare lottery shop, he heard "19,31,7,5,12,22,26. Guaranteed win."

But this time, Zhou Baiyu did not feel any déjà vu.

He didn't even pay particular attention; if not for the nostalgia of his childhood, he would not have passed by this shop now turned into a lottery store.

Upon arriving at the Dimension Transformation Building, where the interview company was located, Zhou Baiyu noticed that the receptionist girl was watching a commentary on a bizarre detective story.

He had no impression of this story at all.

He directly inquired with the receptionist and was then arranged to meet the interviewer.

Whilst the interviewer was talking about his family, Zhou Baiyu seemed to experience a slight sense of déjà vu, always feeling as if he had been through this scene when the other party mentioned which middle school his daughter attended.

But it was only for a very brief moment.

Everything was as usual.

The day also went smoothly, and at night, Zhou Baiyu felt that the events of the morning seemed to have made a deeper impression on him.

But that was all; this time, he thought even less about it.

...

...

The next day, Zhou Baiyu woke up.

When the white BYD Qin Plus with the license plate number Linyang A1346 arrived, Zhou Baiyu no longer had any feelings of discomfort.

His conversation with the driver felt somewhat familiar, but that sense of familiarity was so brief it hardly qualified as "déjà vu."

As usual, Zhou Baiyu encountered a traffic jam on the overpass.

As usual, he headed to Minfu Lane's pedestrian street.

At the lottery numbers, he suddenly felt a bit of familiarity again. However, it was still insufficient to notice anything.

Upon reaching the twelfth floor of the Dimension Transformation Building, what the reception girl was playing on her phone inadvertently made Zhou Baiyu think of breasts.

He faintly felt that he had heard this video before.

But then, in the conversation with the interviewer, Zhou Baiyu indeed felt as if he was speaking with the interviewer for the first time...

The entire process did not evoke a single feeling of déjà vu in Zhou Baiyu.

It was as if he was hearing about the middle school his daughter was going to attend for the first time, the first time hearing about some arrangements of his wife.

Another day passed.

Certain things he strived to capture were gradually fading away and difficult to emerge in any pattern.

Life was trapped under carbon paper, each day a fading carbon copy of the last.

When Zhou Baiyu woke once more, he embarked on a new cycle.

He had been stuck in this repetitive cycle for many days.

Even he didn't know which day it was anymore.

Even with the ability of a sixth-sense player, facing such repetition, no loopholes seemed apparent.

Intuition provided Zhou Baiyu with a sense of oddity, but the peculiarity wasn't enough for him to pinpoint any issues.

Initially, Zhou Baiyu had realized the seriousness of the problem.

In the first few days, Zhou Baiyu had noticed, realizing he might be trapped in some sort of loop—

But once midnight passed, Zhou Baiyu entered a new cycle, and the memories of what he had experienced were wiped clean.

However, thanks to his powerful intuition, Zhou Baiyu realized for the second time that he had entered a loop.

And it was likely not the first time he had done so, but many times over.

Therefore, he thought he should fortify impressions at certain moments in time so that the "him" of tomorrow would realize the problem...

So during the morning interview process, whether it was the license plate number, the conversation with the driver, the route taken after getting stuck in traffic, the gossip heard in the lottery shop, dealings at the Dimension Transformation Building...

He remembered them all very clearly.

Zhou Baiyu was sure that the intense sense of déjà vu would bring him to his senses.

That's what he thought, but his adversary this time seemed far more formidable than he had anticipated.

As the cycles deepened, Zhou Baiyu's "resistance" grew weaker and weaker.

He had thought that with each loop, the impressions would become etched deeper.

But each cycle was actually adding to the severity of the "pollution."

In other words, the more he looped, the harder it became to break out of it.

Now, with intuition as strong as Zhou Baiyu's, he had completely "acclimated."

The emergence of his feelings of déjà vu became shorter and shorter, so brief they were no longer enough to alert him to an anomaly.

When Zhou Baiyu's eyes opened once again, it seemed everything was set in stone.

But soon, a voice in his mind broke the cycle of the past.

"My friend, following your command, I have done as you said and will appear promptly if you're unable to resist."

Mark's voice emerged.

This sudden voice startled Zhou Baiyu as he waited for the white BYD car.

"Don't be nervous, you may not remember your previous arrangement, but you need to understand something. Without your consent, I cannot speak to you."

"So you must understand, my appearance here is authorized by you yourself."

Zhou Baiyu's mind worked quickly.

What Mark said was true; at this stage, without his bidding, Mark couldn't communicate with him.

So either Mark could talk to him because the power of the Divine Secrets had weakened, or—it was all part of his contingency plan.

Zhou Baiyu took a moment to consider. The former was unlikely. The Divine Secrets wouldn't weaken unless he summoned Mark.

So the only conclusion was—

He had arranged for this conversation with Mark.

"I see. So, it seems I've encountered something like a 'memory maze,' and it's trouble my intuition can't solve."

Zhou Baiyu quickly deduced the current situation and circumstances based on the events at hand.

Mark acknowledged:

"Yes, you're smart. Thank goodness you had a backup plan; otherwise... Oh, I dare not imagine what would happen if a bunch of pioneers were trapped in a loop. Of course, to be exact, the current situation is much more serious than a 'memory maze.'"

"Simply put, you're caught in a loop. The more you loop, the less likely you are to realize that you're looping."

"Our conversation today you'll forget by tomorrow."

"I exist within your dreams, in the depths of consciousness, so I can resist this kind of invasion, but... I can't say for certain that as the loops strengthen, there won't come a day when even I can't remind you."

"My friend, Zhou, you'd better find the source of pollution of the looping power. Otherwise... all your efforts up to now will come crashing down."

What seemed like just a typical morning, where he was about to go for an interview, now appeared to be...

A situation that, even if not the third defensive mode, was potentially more lethal than the first two defensive modes.

Zhou Baiyu said:

"I need more information; I hope you can answer me truthfully. After all, me being stuck in a loop is no good for you either, right?"

Mark replied with a smile:

"Of course, I'm always your friend, and I will do my utmost to fulfill your needs."