hsntnovel Chapter 1, First Time
Chapter 1, First Time
Urgent Notice:
At 21:42 PM today, the fifth collective "time reversal" phenomenon occurred in multiple locations around the world. Preliminary verification indicates that all residents within my country experienced the same event—the physical world reverted to 24 hours prior, while their memories remained continuous. The cause of this phenomenon is currently unclear, and the international community is urgently communicating…
Inside apartment 2103 of building 7 in the Fanhuali residential complex, the room was dimly lit, with only a dusty television set that suddenly turned on by itself.
The light scattered across the coffee table opposite, illuminating the leftover food and takeout containers scattered on the table, and also illuminating an adult man lying on the sofa opposite.
The man's name was Jiang Ning. He was of medium build and had striking, handsome features, but at that moment he had a greasy, messy hairstyle, a stubble beard, and exuded a sickly aura as if he hadn't seen the sun in a long time.
He seemed unsurprised by the sudden turn on the television; he simply rolled over on the sofa, turned his back to the TV, and continued to hide in the darkness.
"Hello everyone, I am Chen Xiao, the highest-ranking official of the National Emergency Center. In view of the global catastrophic events caused by the three phenomena of world regression, matter reset, and memory continuity..."
When the sound came from the television, Jiang Ning's eyelids twitched.
He turned around and, through the gaps in the clutter on the coffee table, saw an elderly man with a resolute face and half-gray hair appear on the television screen:
"Our country has activated its fifth emergency response, and the specific arrangements are as follows... Please trust our country. In the past century, we have encountered countless setbacks, but they have all been overcome one by one. I believe in this unknown event as well... I also appeal to everyone once again..."
"This is……"
Jiang Ning slowly stood up, quite surprised.
Since his wife Lin Wei passed away unexpectedly a year ago, he resigned from his job at the sleep research institute. For the past year, he has been staying at home all day, depressed, and has lost interest in everything, living in a daze.
Even so, I live in a big city, not in some remote mountain forest. How come I didn't know anything about such a major news event?
Is it a TV program?
"Ding ding ding..."
Suddenly, a text message notification sounded inside the room.
Jiang Ning pricked up his ears and looked around the living room. It was a mess. The coffee table was piled with clutter, there was a trash can full of leftover food by the door, and various clothes for all seasons were scattered on the wooden floor.
As the phone notification sounded several more times, Jiang Ning lifted a yellowish-white T-shirt and found the phone in the corner of the sofa.
打开手机，屏保上方显示：「2047年3月16日，20点52分。」
As soon as I unlocked the phone, more than a dozen unread messages popped up, each marked with the words "Urgent Notice" in bright red at the beginning.
Jiang Ning clicked on each message out of curiosity and found that the content was almost identical to what had just been broadcast on TV, the only difference being that it emphasized not to go out.
"World regression? Matter resetting? Memory continuity?"
Jiang Ning scratched his head, not understanding what the three words in the text message meant. After scratching his head, he felt the smoothness between his fingers and casually rubbed his stomach against his T-shirt.
Suddenly, he frowned, sensing something was amiss, and quickly rubbed his eyes.
"March 16th..."
This day marked the first anniversary of his deceased wife's passing. Jiang Ning remembered that he had just visited her grave a few days earlier and had eaten some food on the way back.
"But why is today still March 16th?"
"Is your phone broken?"
"Or is this what they call a regression in the world?"
"Beep, battery level is below 5%, please charge promptly."
Upon seeing the notification on his phone, Jiang Ning suppressed his shock and quickly turned to look at the television screen that was still playing.
The old man who was speaking on TV is no longer there; another old man is speaking in his place.
Fellow compatriots:
I know what you're thinking right now!
You might be thinking: Am I dreaming? Am I going crazy? Will I never wake up again?
The answer is: You're not crazy, you're not dreaming! You will wake up! But when you wake up, you'll find that today is still yesterday.
This is not a crisis for one country, nor a disaster for one region; it is a problem facing all of humanity. In the past 96 hours, we have shared data and information with all countries, and I can tell you with certainty:
We are not facing weapons, diseases, or aliens! We are facing a bizarre phenomenon—time will suddenly reverse, we will return to yesterday, food eaten yesterday will reappear in the refrigerator, travelers will return to their starting point yesterday, and even the dead will come back to life…”
Hearing this, Jiang Ning thought to himself that it was truly absurd, like watching a science fiction movie.
But the last sentence stirred something deep within him.
Just like when I first heard that the world could go backwards, even though I knew it was absurd, I still wanted to take a look.
Jiang Ning slowly sat back on the sofa and looked intently at the TV. What she saw made her eyes widen rapidly.
"this……"
A minute later, Jiang Ning suddenly stood up, and with a "thud," his knee hit the coffee table, causing the water glass on the table to overturn.
When he rushed toward the kitchen door, his face darkened.
A large bag of unprocessed food was carelessly tossed in the kitchen aisle...
These were the supplies he replenished after returning from paying respects to Lin Wei on March 16, as he remembered it.
But I clearly remember putting it in the refrigerator and eating half of it.
"The world has really regressed..."
"Or am I going crazy..."
Jiang Ning couldn't help but turn his gaze to a small altar in the corner of the restaurant. The altar was very clean, with incense burners and candlesticks on it, and at this moment, wisps of smoke were rising from it.
Jiang Ning took a deep breath, quickly took out his phone, and opened it. He found that the interface was very clean, with no other apps except for the pre-installed software that he couldn't uninstall.
Jiang Ning then remembered that, in order to have some peace and quiet, he had already blocked his friends and family in his contacts and even uninstalled various commonly used apps.
Jiang Ning gave a helpless wry smile and quickly re-downloaded the app.
After installing several popular apps, Jiang Ning first opened a news app.
As soon as I entered, I saw a sea of bright red news headlines:
[Breaking News] A global "regression" phenomenon has emerged, with several countries declaring a state of emergency. Experts say they are verifying the situation...
CNN: Breaking News "I remember yesterday," but the world is experiencing its fifth "world regression"...
NHK: [Breaking News] Is the "world regressing" phenomenon a bizarre event or a physical law...?
Jiang Ning watched for a while, then quickly switched to another currently popular social media app, where he was also greeted by a sea of red:
1. #Global Collective World Regression# Explosion
2. #It's regressed again# (explosive)
3. #Who is controlling time?# Explosion
10. #My WeChat Moments disappeared# (This is a trending topic)
……
Jiang Ning glanced at it briefly before clicking on the first trending topic, where the comments scrolled rapidly:
"I checked the server logs, and all the data has reverted to the early morning of the 16th. This isn't a phone problem; the entire system has been reset."
"The patient who was resuscitated last night was brought in again today, with the exact same wounds and bleeding. This is no coincidence."
"After rewinding, my whole family appeared right in front of the dining table. The braised pork that my mom cooked yesterday was exactly the same on the table. I'm a little scared now."
……
Jiang Ning looked at it for a while longer and found the information to be trivial, so he quickly switched to another popular live streaming app. As soon as he entered, he saw that an emergency live stream was in progress.
A middle-aged man quickly spoke into the camera: "The phenomenon of 'the world regressing' has occurred again. The country has established an emergency command center. Please remain calm and do not panic..."
Jiang Ning scrolled down and found a NASA news live channel, where a blonde woman was stammering, "Statement regarding the global anomaly of world regression: We are coordinating with international partners, and there is currently no evidence that this is caused by astronomical reasons..."
Jiang Ning scrolled down further and found a well-known international scientific organization broadcasting live. An elderly scholar wearing glasses, with a somber expression, said: "Preliminary investigations have ruled out known natural phenomena such as solar activity and geomagnetic reversal, but we cannot rule out unknown physical mechanisms..."
……
Jiang Ning scrolled down through the live streams one by one, becoming increasingly shocked. Many large organizations that he had only heard of before but had never seen were now broadcasting live. Among them, the most numerous were live streams initiated in the name of the country, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Japan, etc., each with one to three corresponding live streams.
Jiang Ning continued scrolling down, and when she came across a small live stream, she listened to just a few words, but her eyes were glued to it.
"Hello everyone, my name is Li Dawei. I can't believe I'm still alive, no, I've been resurrected."
My family told me I was dead tonight, that they had cremated my body and buried my ashes, and even held a funeral for me. But I'm alive again. How did this happen?
Jiang Ning stared intently at the screen on his phone.
The middle-aged man named Li Dawei had an oxygen tube in his nose, sunken eyes, and a deathly, sickly look on his face. The scene behind him was a hospital ward.
After he finished speaking, he seemed to have difficulty breathing and looked very pained. A woman and a child sitting next to him quickly and carefully laid him down. During this time, the woman's eyes were filled with fear.
After a while, as Li Dawei's breathing gradually became smoother and he closed his eyes, seemingly falling into a deep sleep or unconsciousness, the woman took over the live broadcast.
Facing the camera, the middle-aged woman, looking haggard, had a complex expression.
"I don't know what to say, it's just so sudden, I don't even know how I got through these past few days..."
"My son and I went through two burials of my husband, two trips to the crematorium, and two late-night vigils. Relatives and friends argued with each other, and my child's grandmother fainted several times..."
"Just yesterday, when we were facing Dawei's body and didn't know what to do with it, everything went black. I don't know how much time passed, but when I opened my eyes again, all my relatives were gone, and my son and I were back in the hospital..."
"My mind is a mess right now. I don't even know if yesterday still counts as yesterday. I'm both overjoyed that David is back to life and terrified that he'll leave again tonight..."
The eleven or twelve-year-old boy standing nearby, upon hearing his mother say those last words, very sensibly stepped forward and hugged his mother, his lips tightly pursed and his eyes lifeless.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Ning collapsed to the ground with a thud, his phone slipping from his hand. His face was almost bloodless, as white as a sheet of paper.
But then, his face flushed, and he slowly turned his head to look at the black and white photo hanging in the corner of the restaurant.
He suddenly burst into laughter, and then in the blink of an eye, tears streamed down his face.
Only after his phone screen went black did Jiang Ning stand up, pale-faced, staring at the portrait and saying, "Lin Wei, the world has regressed, and we can meet again!"