SOP CH17: Asamkhyeya Kalpa

A week had passed in the blink of an eye since the duel to the death concluded.

Rusted iron bars jutted sideways into the fractured ground like gnawed bones. With cages shattered and pillars broken, Clepsydra rebel members moved up and down through the ruins of the Blood Arena, busy salvaging the legacy left behind by the Time Entropy Group.

Holding a cup of coptis tea, Quicksand gnawed on a straw as he wandered aimlessly through the wreckage. The stands had once been packed with spectators roaring like wild beasts, but now only the mournful, wailing sound of wind sweeping over the seats remained.

Two Clepsydra members were whispering in the corridor. Seeing Quicksand approach, they bowed respectfully. The young man’s crisp martial prowess during the duel to the death had earned him universal respect among the rebels.

“Mr. Invincible Newcomer, you’re here?”

Pleased with the title, Quicksand nodded. “What are you looking at?”

The Clepsydra members stepped aside. At the end of the 2030 Branch’s snow-white corridor, Quicksand saw a titanium alloy door stamped with the Penrose stairs. Heavy and massive, a dry, cold wind seemed to seep from the gap of the door.

“This should be…” a rebel member hesitated for a moment, saying, “…the entrance to the time labyrinth controlled by the Time Entropy Group.”

“Time labyrinth?”

“Diamonds should have explained the gist of it to you, right?”

Quicksand coldly cut off the rebel’s words. “Do not call him ‘Diamonds.’ Call him ‘Cruel Black-Hearted Boss.'”

“Alright. The ‘Cruel Black-Hearted Boss’ should have told you that the Time Entropy Group maintains a prison specifically to lock up rebels and anyone else they find displeasing. That is the time labyrinth ‘Penrose Stairs,’ also known as the ‘Stairs of Paradox.'”

“What does that mean? Don’t make it too complicated. My infant-like brain cannot understand.”

“You can understand it as a very special prison. Those locked inside by the Group feel as if they are running along an endless staircase. It is pitch-black with no flow of time, leaving prisoners to experience eternal loneliness and agony.”

The Clepsydra member pointed at the diagram on the door, explaining:

“You see, the ‘Penrose Stairs’ is a paradoxical figure. Walking upon it, there is no end. Ascending is descending, and moving forward is moving backward. It is a simple yet excruciatingly agonizing time labyrinth. Once you enter, you can never escape.”

Staring at the emblem, fragmented images suddenly flashed through Quicksand’s mind, like static snow dancing on a screen with no signal. Memories regarding this place seemed hidden in a corner of his brain. He asked, “Many innocent people must be imprisoned here. Can’t we save them by destroying the door?”

“You cannot.”

A voice drifted over suddenly. Every word sounded buoyant and light, like soap bubbles dancing on the breeze. Turning around, Quicksand saw a young man in a white suit leaning against the wall, his platinum-blonde hair neat and sleek. Smiling playfully with an elegant posture as though posing for a print advertisement, it was none other than the fraudster Diamonds.

Ever since the battle with the 2030 Branch concluded, Diamonds had been nowhere to be seen. Madam Spades told Quicksand he was out fooling around, digging for intelligence through the sewer-like alleys of the lower tier. Seeing him now, Quicksand felt as if a lifetime had passed.

Diamonds strolled over, casually casting a glance at Quicksand. “Black-hearted employee, why aren’t you working at the bar? What are you doing here?”

“What about you? It’s broad daylight, aren’t you slacking off too?”

“I am conducting an asset evaluation for the Time Entropy Group.” Diamonds stroked his chin. “I overheard a few words of your conversation just now. You’re curious about this time labyrinth, aren’t you?”

Quicksand was annoyed, but his curiosity won out in the end, so he obediently held his tongue and played the student.

Diamonds suddenly asked, “Do you know what an ‘Asamkhyeya Kalpa’ is?”

It was an abrupt term that seemed completely unrelated to their discussion. Quicksand had no idea, yet puffed himself up to save face. “A Buddhist term.”

“Mr. Newcomer is not only invincible, but truly omniscient. You are correct. Imagine this: what would happen if you hadn’t come wandering here today, but stayed at Poker Bar instead, or if you hadn’t drunk coptis tea and bought a cup of coffee instead?”

Quicksand found it bizarre, keeping a deadpan expression. “Nothing would happen.”

“Right. Those choices seem trivial, yet worlds diverge over such minuscule decisions, splitting into worlds where ‘you are helping at the bar,’ ‘you came to the branch ruins,’ ‘you are drinking coptis tea,’ ‘you are drinking coffee,’ and so forth. The total number of these worlds is innumerable. If we were to measure them with a unit, it would be an ‘Asamkhyeya.'”

“‘Asamkhyeya’ in Buddhism means countless or immeasurable. In ancient times, an Asamkhyeya was a number even greater than the grains of sand in the Ganges, roughly 10 to the power of 140. Buddhism speaks of minor kalpas, intermediate kalpas, and great kalpas. A great kalpa is a full cycle of a world’s creation, existence, destruction, and void, spanning billions of years.”

Diamonds explained with great eloquence, while Quicksand swayed his head listening, bobbing like a tumbler toy. The Clepsydra member nearby looked as if he were listening to advanced mathematics and had long retreated to a safe distance. Diamonds added, “Therefore, a ‘kalpa’ counted in ‘Asamkhyeya’ means countless great kalpas. A bodhisattva must endure Asamkhyeya Kalpas to achieve Buddhahood, so this term represents endless, infinite time.”

Quicksand took a sip of coptis tea, expressionless. “Even with you pontificating like this, I still don’t grasp how huge that number is. There is no real sense of it.”

“You can imagine it like this: all the atoms in the entire universe added together don’t even reach a single Asamkhyeya. Under microscopic divergences, the number of worlds reaches such a terrifying magnitude.”

“So? What does that have to do with the time labyrinth and this locked room?”

Diamonds smiled, his gaze settling on the door. “The reason this place is called a time labyrinth and why prisoners cannot escape is precisely because once you enter, you behold time fragments counted in units of Asamkhyeya. These fragments come not only from our present world, but from countless parallel worlds.”

“Imagine if you held a grain of sand in your palm, and it accidentally fell into a vast desert. Could you ever find it again? Trying to return to your original world after entering the time labyrinth is far more difficult than that.”

Hearing this, Quicksand could not help feeling a chill in his heart. He suddenly recalled that recurring dream he had experienced: running endlessly along a long staircase, his vision filled with fragmented drift ice, an infinite sea of ice reflecting kaleidoscopic scenes upon its frozen facets. Only now did he realize with hindsight that the scenes in that dream were strikingly identical to the time labyrinth Diamonds described.

Could he have entered this time labyrinth in the past?

Seeing him lost in thought, Diamonds asked, “Well? Did you understand?”

“I grasp the gist of it. But where did this time labyrinth come from in the first place?”

The Clepsydra member nearby yelled, “Pah! It’s a garbage dump created by the Time Entropy Group! Though they mastered temporal tech, it was far from mature. They disturbed far too many timelines during their time jumps and couldn’t resolve them, so dumping them in one place created the time labyrinth!”

Quicksand rested his chin in his hand. “According to the Black-Hearted Boss, there are countless time fragments inside. If you can’t find your own time, couldn’t you just pick a similar time fragment and step in? A world where ‘I drink coptis tea’ versus ‘I drink coffee’ shouldn’t differ by much, right?”

“That’s impossible! Time rejects foreign entities, just like a human immune system treats transplanted organs as foreign bodies. Once you wander into the wrong one, you gradually dissolve and vanish, just like melting ice, haha!” The rebel laughed boisterously, completely failing to notice Diamonds trembling slightly.

“Then can the people trapped on this time labyrinth, the Penrose Stairs, truly never return home?” Quicksand asked, feeling inexplicably melancholic.

“There are exceptions,” Diamonds suddenly spoke up. “If one possesses a temporal ‘anchor,’ they can locate their original time fragment.”

“What is that?”

“Imagine having a unique treasure. While navigating an ocean of time fragments measured in Asamkhyeya, you could use it as an ‘anchor’ to identify your way home.” Diamonds shrugged. “Except judging from the state of this door, even if an anchor exists, no one has ever found the exit to this labyrinth.”

After touring the branch ruins, the two returned to Poker Bar in the taxi.

With Quicksand driving, thoughts regarding the time labyrinth Penrose Stairs lingered in his mind the entire way. His memory was clouded, yet he sensed this matter was tied to his past. He stole a few glances at Diamonds, who sat with folded arms leaning against the seat back, his head tilted as though asleep. Neon light brushed across his cheek, leaving behind a rosy tint.

Arriving in front of the bar, Quicksand poked him. “Dead boss, we’re here.”

Diamonds did not react. Showing no mercy, Quicksand shoved him hard, intending to bump the car door open. Yet Diamonds did not wake, his face pale, his forehead burning hot like coals to the touch. Quicksand froze for a moment, wondering whether he should divert to the Super Cheap Clinic, when Diamonds suddenly opened his eyes to glare at him. “Are you crazy? Can’t you wake someone up normally?”

“Gentle wake-up services require an extra fee.”

Diamonds got out of the cab. “Deduct it from your wages.” Seeing him move without hindrance, Quicksand doubted the temperature he had just felt, asking, “Is your health alright?” Diamonds brushed it aside casually. “What could be wrong?”

“Are you sick?”

“You’re the one who’s sick. Who asks people like that?” Diamonds cast a sidelong glance at him.

After parking the car, Quicksand walked into the bar. Diamonds was already slumped over the counter. Madam Spades forbade him from drinking alcohol, pouring a thick medicinal brew into a goblet and setting it by his hand. Smelling the bitter stench shooting straight to his skull, Diamonds scrunched his features together.

“Madam, if you serve this stuff, the patrons will flee the moment they catch the scent,” he bargained with Madam Spades. “Can I skip drinking it?”

Madam Spades asked, “Why don’t you ask your own body if you can skip living?”

Diamonds took a sip, an expression of profound misery spreading across his face. Before long, he began coughing, clutching a dinosaur-egg trash can and vomiting. The expelled fluid was not black, but tinged with crimson blood. Seeing this, Hearts grew anxious, but Madam Spades waved her hand, passing a handkerchief to Diamonds. “What this brat is throwing up is a Bloody Mary. He downed a giant glass of it earlier.”

Quicksand asked, “What medicine is this?”

“Strengthening medicine. Can’t you see this boy is as frail as a weeping willow, skipping work twenty days a month?”

Pale-faced, Diamonds took the handkerchief. “I fear a single swallow will blast my soul to heaven and make me skip a full thirty days of work.” Embroidered on a corner of the handkerchief was a family crest featuring nested spades of different sizes, the stitching dense and exquisite. Wiping the corners of his mouth, he said without an ounce of remorse, “Pardon me, Madam, I dirtied your handkerchief.”

“Keep it. Once something falls into your hands, I never expect to get it back anyway,” Madam Spades chuckled softly.

Diamonds offered a warm smile. “Madam comes from a distinguished family after all, so parting with a handkerchief or two should be nothing. Judging by the crest embroidered on your cloth, you must hail from nobility?”

“What nobility? We were just a humble household. My father made his fortune concocting pharmaceuticals, and I was merely an apprentice under an apothecary.” Madam Spades leisurely stirred ice and gin in a glass with a bar spoon.

Diamonds paused. “Is that so? Seeing how meticulous you are with food, clothing, and lifestyle, I assumed you came from substantial wealth.”

The color on his face drained away bit by bit like melting wax. Sitting before the counter for a while, he could no longer hold out and ascended the wooden stairs.

Quicksand returned to the room with him. The moment they entered, Diamonds flopped into the cardboard box; today was his turn to sleep in the box. Unable to bear the sight, Quicksand folded the bedding and said:

“Go sleep on the bed.”

Diamonds did not move. Quicksand gave him a nudge, and only then did he rasp hoarsely, “Call me for work tomorrow.”

“I am doing all the work anyway. What work do you have to do?”

Diamonds mumbled, sounding as if he were chewing sticky rice. “So many things… Did you think the Group has only… one branch? Our next enemy is the 2035 Branch… and there’s the time labyrinth… I still need to plan things out… with Brother Hearts.” Watching him, Quicksand felt this person grew more enigmatic by the day. His origins, martial skill, and the cause of his bizarre ailment remained shrouded in fog, preventing anyone from seeing his true face.

Suddenly, Diamonds began coughing violently. Quicksand helped him up, pouring water under his direction as colorful pills tumbled into his mouth like heavy bait thrown to fish. Quicksand repeated, “Go sleep on the bed.”

Diamonds shook his head. Quicksand added, “I didn’t realize you were someone who kept promises so strictly.”

“I’m worried you’ll… get leverage over me,” Diamonds coughed. “Speak up, do you want a raise or a day off?”

“I want both. But that requires you having the stamina to give me a raise and a day off.”

Diamonds was finally dragged onto the bed by Quicksand, lying down obediently. Even so, he tossed and turned like a pancake on a griddle. Eventually sitting up, he complained, “Too narrow.” With two people sleeping on a single bed, he couldn’t manage to be a friendly neighbor with Quicksand. Quicksand said, “Strive hard, Boss. When you live in a luxury mansion, I’ll be able to sleep on an eight-hundred-square-meter bed too.”

In the end, they squeezed together like mortise and tenon joints to sleep. Once the lights were switched off, the neon glow outside spilled inside, rippling across the ceiling like the surface of water viewed from the bottom of a fish tank. In the dark room, Quicksand felt like a piece of luggage crammed tight inside a cargo hold, the other’s heartbeat transmitting through, pressing into his own chest.

Amidst the silence, Quicksand asked, “Black-hearted boss, are you asleep?”

After a long silence, Diamonds mumbled indistinctly as if holding a plum in his mouth: “Asleep.”

“I’m thinking about the time labyrinth,” Quicksand said. “I feel like I’ve dreamed of being there. My past seems connected to it.”

Diamonds murmured, “What could your identity before amnesia have to do with it? A time cleaner or an imprisoned convict, pick one.”

Quicksand’s mouth seemed sewn shut. After a while, he asked, “Then why are you so familiar with it?”

“Because it’s common knowledge in the lower tier.”

“Liar. The rebel members stammered without being able to string two sentences together, while you gave a whole lecture.”

“Because I am an escaped prisoner from inside it.”

Quicksand’s heart suddenly seemed to skip a beat, as if someone had stolen that split-second pulse away. He grabbed Diamonds’s shoulder. “Really?”

“…Because I am a time cleaner who specializes in capturing people and tossing them into the time labyrinth.”

Quicksand was speechless, glaring coldly at Diamonds as he began detecting the scent of pure fabrication.

Diamonds’s eyelids felt glued shut as he shrank into the covers. “One of the things I said was a lie. Go guess, stupid employee.”

“I guess every single word you say is a lie.”

Diamonds did not answer again. Quicksand asked once more: “Who are you? Why were you able to brawl with that monster in the arena? What kind of illness are you suffering from right now? Why did you bring me here?” Looking toward the mirror in the room, blurred and shrouded in mist, he whispered softly, “And who am I?”

There was no response, like a pebble dropped into a swamp, unable to stir a single splash. Clinging tightly together on the bed, they were destined to share the same bed while dreaming disparate dreams. Quicksand suddenly felt everything since arriving at Poker Bar was like an illusion, uncertain whether waking would bring a beautiful ending or cruel reality.

Glancing down, he saw Diamonds’s chest rising and falling gently, neon reflections rippling across the room. He had fallen asleep.