Capítulo 17: Pursue the Lost Love(1)
Author: Zhang Xiao
"There are infinite worlds. Some are like ours, while some are not." — Epicurus
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Once again, Yadiel Dixon saw Yolanda Ziegler. The sunlight coming from her side drew a slim shadow on the ground. She extended her arms gently. Her fingers drew up mystical shapes, one after another, like a multitude of incomprehensible symbols. However, her movements were more like a mysterious dance.
As the light intensified, her figure gradually blurred. Yadiel reached out to embrace her, just as he had done for thousands days and nights in the past. Yet, his effort was in vain.
Yolanda had been away from him for four years. This realization hit him like never before. They had long been in different worlds. Dreams were the only place they could meet one another.
Yadiel woke up in the morning light. When he opened his eyes, his face was damp and sticky. There also seemed to be some traces of tears.
For some time, his mind was blank. He could only lie on the bed in a daze. After a while, he began to wonder, "Who am I? Where do I come from? What am I going to do?"
These questions, which philosophers had spent their whole lives discussing, had more practical significance to Yadiel.
He got up and looked out of the window. The steady stream of traffic and various chaotic noises mingled and flooded into his ears, gradually building a blurred image.
"Super membrane structure... Multiverse... Phase shift... Celesto..." He organized his thoughts, bit by bit.
Yadiel suddenly looked up and glanced at the display screen hanging on the wall that read: [March 14, 2055].
The familiar date was like a thunderbolt flashing across his mind, illuminating all the lost memories. He finally remembered where he was and what he needed to do next.
Yadiel entered the familiar streets, where people were rushing around. Countless individuals passed him by. Yet no one had the time to give him a second glance.
This was the city he had lived in for 20 years. Everything seemed so familiar. The buildings were luxurious and congested. Life there was hectic and stressful. The people were exhausted yet optimistic.
However, only Yadiel knew that everything was different from what he saw the day before. For him, it was a new, unknown world full of infinite possibilities. He felt a surge of uncontrollable longing in his veins, which then turned into strong emotions flowing throughout his body.
He repeatedly told himself that this place was the same as the city he grew up in. He knew exactly where to find what he wanted, and everything was under his control.
The Third District's setting was exceptionally familiar, with many omniscient black market stores tucked away amid the complex alleys. As long as one was willing to pay, the people there could locate some not-so-legal gadgets that could solve certain pressing issues.
A dozen minutes later, Yadiel came out of an inconspicuous temperature-controlled house carrying a black tarpaulin bag. He then wove through the complex alleys and entered a café. After sitting down at the table closest to the door, he took out what was in the tarpaulin bag, a personal terminal that did not require authentication. He connected it to the Internet and quickly typed "Wildefield Plane Crash on March 14, 2051" into the search engine before waiting with bated breath.
Never in his entire life had he been more eager for a piece of information than he was right now.
"No, no, no..." Yadiel mumbled to himself while scrolling through the long list of names displayed on the virtual screen repeatedly.
After confirming it for what felt like countless times, he stood up shakily and found a sheen of moisture coating his eyes.
He did not find Yolanda's name on the list of people reported missing in that plane crash.
"I've succeeded. In this parallel universe, I'll surely be able to see Yolanda again," he thought.
1
One of Yolanda's paintings left the deepest impression on Yadiel among the others. Given his limited artistic skills, he could only vaguely discern that it seemed to utilize abstract techniques to depict a yew tree beneath the night sky, the place where a legendary deity had gained deep awareness. That did not, however, stop him from being profoundly moved when he first saw it. He could still vividly remember every detail of the painting. It was as if it contained a mysterious, distant spirit that could traverse time and space, cross an infinite number of stars, and hit people in the very depths of their souls.
Yadiel stared at the screen in a daze until it naturally dimmed.
The world had changed, and this realization hit his nerves like never before. "I've left the universe I'm familiar with and am in a similar but different parallel universe. Yolanda must still be waiting for me somewhere in this world, or perhaps, she has fallen in love with the Yadiel in this universe and is now living a happy life. But at the very least, I can see her again," he thought.
He had made innumerable attempts to erase her from his memories, only to find that he missed her even more each time. It became the root of all his pain in the past four years.
This deep-seated longing and pain urged him to activate the magical machine called Celesto.
The faint smell of electronic cigarettes wafting from beside Yadiel brought his thoughts back to the present world. "For me, the most important thing now is to determine where Yolanda is in this parallel universe," he thought.
With a sharp beep, the originally dark screen suddenly lit up. An ordinary dialog box jumped into the center of the screen, which read: [Welcome, Visitor from the parallel world.]
Yadiel rubbed his eyes vigorously, thinking that he was hallucinating.
However, the black letters were particularly clear on the white background of the screen. Another line of words appeared, stating: [You won't find her in this world.]
Yadiel stood up abruptly and looked around. His actions drew glares from customers surfing the Internet quietly around him. However, he could not care less about it anymore, merely staring outside the café.
A white smiling face greeted him. It was a man in a mask, his body completely covered in a black trench coat. The pale mask and twisted smile seemed to be viciously mocking Yadiel. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see more men in black entering the cybercafé and approaching him. They moved like the killing machines from classic films: slowly but powerfully, with expressionless faces.
"Did they come to arrest me?" Yadiel wondered as the idea crossed his mind. It soon transformed into a form of willpower. "I can't just resign myself to death!" he thought. After resolutely lifting the screen in front of him and throwing it at the men in black, he dipped his head and dashed for the café's back door. He raced outside and into those inconspicuous alleys. He was very familiar with the area in his universe.
Despite the commotion behind him, the footsteps of the men in black that were continually behind him gradually grew quieter as he fled. Taking advantage of the area's layout, Yadiel believed that he could get away from them. However, he was still plagued by a terrible sense of unease that persisted. "Who are they? Why would they know where I come from?" he wondered.
Yadiel did not stop running, but he felt like his heart had been thrown into a freezing, dark cellar.
This trip to the parallel universe seemed far more complicated than he had expected.
2
What was the universe?
In a higher-dimensional view, was the shape of the universe very different from what we knew?
After evading the men in black, Yadiel arrived at the university area in the heart of the city via public transportation.
The university area was managed relatively strict, especially the dance academy where Yolanda worked, which was off-limits to outsiders. However, Yadiel had his ways. The terminal was not the only item he obtained from the black market.
Relying on the simulated identity card, he strode confidently into the art academy. He could not stop his thoughts from racing as he stared at the white, egg-shaped structure in front of him.
This was where Yolanda once worked and where they met and got to know each other. Yadiel had never set foot there ever since she left. To him, it was a place full of memories that were both familiar and strange.
"If everything was still following the established life trajectory, Yolanda would be here now, right? And the Yadiel in this universe should be here, too. Did they also fall in love?" he wondered.
The answer could never be obtained by imagination. What was more, the message in the mysterious dialog box that Yadiel saw in the café hung like a dark cloud over his heart.
[You won't find her in this world.]
Regarding the origin of those men in black, Yadiel had two theories. The first was that they possibly originated from the same universe as him and entered this parallel universe right after him. Hence, they knew who he was and wanted to capture and bring him back.
He made this assumption because he was well aware that the relevant government agencies had been actively monitoring his research on parallel universes. "Perhaps they could quickly associate something from my demise in the universe I originated in. Theoretically, however, they can't catch up with me so quickly because I destroyed the relevant data in Celesto before transmigrating here," he reasoned inwardly.
The second possibility was that in this parallel universe, the study of the multiverse was far ahead of that of the universe he lived in. "They can monitor the changes in time and space, thus discovering me. Of course, this answer doesn't make enough sense, either. For example, how did they know that I came to look for Yolanda?" he thought. However, this speculation was more likely and also scared Yadiel even more.
Based on his observations after transmigrating there, the universe he was currently in was very similar to the one he originated from, so he was extremely confident in finding Yolanda again.
However, any minor changes would cause the world to move in an entirely different direction, and the multiverse was born from those countless subtle changes. The more dissimilar this parallel universe was from Yadiel's, the less likely he would be able to find her.
Whenever that possibility crossed his mind, his hole-filled heart seemed to rip apart once more. The pain that tore deep into his soul burnt him, just as it had for thousands of days and nights before.
Since it was the school holidays, Yadiel entered the teaching department almost unhindered. He occasionally encountered one or two staff members curiously glancing at him, but he ignored them and headed straight to the server room.
He was eager to obtain any information pertaining to Yolanda to prove that his beloved was still alive in this world. In that highly information-oriented society, everything was recorded. So, as long as her information could be found through the school's human resources system, he naturally could quickly determine her current situation.
The school's defense system was not a problem for Yadiel, a scholar who had received the highest level of technical subsidy from the country. Using the terminal to connect to the system, he quickly located Yolanda's Department of Fine Arts, followed by her team, then... Yadiel saw her name.
Yolanda Ziegler. Those two simple words stood out to him like the brightest stars in the night sky.
Yadiel trembled as he clicked on the name, but he was dumbfounded by the information page that popped up the next moment.
A wave of intense dizziness swept through his brain as he stared at the strange woman in the hologram.
"Yolanda's name and department are correct, but... who is this woman? This is certainly not my wife," he thought.
He blanched and rapidly skimmed the rest of "Yolanda's" information. Everything about her was the same as the Yolanda he knew, including her birthdate, place of birth, and family members.
All the information was correct, but the person was wrong.
Yadiel cradled his head in agony. He sensed that someone was somehow manipulating everything. "This evil mastermind seems to be deliberately playing tricks on me. Yolanda became a completely different person in this parallel universe. Perhaps her life has already deviated from the established trajectory. If so, is she still the woman I love?" he wondered.
He had no answer in mind. Since the appearance of those men in black, his incredible journey through time and space had been full of uncertainties.
He suddenly lost his strength and fell to the ground, making a loud thump.
"Who are you?" A crisp voice rang out.
Yadiel turned his head. He saw a strange yet familiar face under the light. Just a moment ago, he was still browsing her files.
In this universe, her name was Yolanda.
This was the woman who replaced his wife.
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