Chapter Nineteen: An Increasing Number of Replicas

After sending Corey away, Natasha shared all the information she had obtained in advance with Scarlett.

“Tomorrow, follow the same procedure as last time,” Natasha instructed. “Pay close attention to see if anything changes.” The human skin mask was useless once removed, so she had no choice but to be herself again.

“Wait, did you kill a steward when you boarded the ship?” Scarlett asked.

“No,” Natasha replied. “My guess is that after four in the morning, that steward probably comes back to life.” She added, “By the way, you mentioned there’s something under the ship. What is it?”

“A group of strange creatures,” Scarlett described. “I’ve never seen anything like them before, but they certainly don’t look herbivorous.” She gave a brief depiction of the blue-pouched fish.

“So, we’re completely trapped on the ship now,” Natasha said with a worried frown. This crisis might be the most severe one they had ever faced.

Late at night, neither Scarlett nor Natasha slept. They sat together in the room, eyes fixed on the large bed.

At precisely four in the morning, the same sensation swept over them, and suddenly, a person clutching her chest appeared on the bed—another Scarlett.

“As expected… the first day’s events repeat every eight hours at the corresponding time,” Natasha murmured, her theory confirmed by the scene before her.

The Scarlett who had just awakened from the bed was tense for a few seconds, then quickly caught on and readily started exchanging information with the other two.

Yang Qiu, observing their cooperation, was very pleased. At least for now, he was sure he wasn’t falling behind. It was time to begin the next act.

Act Two: Endless Reincarnation

In the morning, Scarlett followed Natasha’s plan, donning an identical outfit to prepare to leave.

Natasha and the Black Widow stood behind her. For ease of identification, the three gave themselves different names.

Once Scarlett left, Natasha slipped out the window. Scarlett would operate in the open, while Natasha would move in the shadows. This time, they intended to search the entire ship.

As for the Black Widow, with no new information to work on, she had no choice but to stay in the room. Two “Scarletts” appearing at once might cause an unpredictable bug.

Around eleven fifty, Scarlett covertly returned to her room, while Natasha hid in a corner, watching that particular spot.

The moment the clock struck noon, Natasha’s eyes glittered. Sure enough, another version of herself appeared at that spot.

The entire cruise ship seemed to refresh at that exact moment, but only Natasha herself remained unchanged, which led to multiple Natashas coexisting.

As time ticked by, by that night, there were five Natashas in the room, all staring at each other in amazement.

“I’ll go first,” said one. “Every eight hours, everything resets. Only we remain. I’ve tested it—any traces we leave on the ship are also wiped away with each reset. As for those strange fish, we don’t have enough information to determine if they reset as well.”

“I’ve stayed in the room all day,” the Black Widow added. “I can confirm that no one else entered, apart from us.”

“Nothing changed before noon; at least, I didn’t notice anything,” Scarlett reported.

“I get the gist,” said Natasha number three, who had appeared last that day. “But now there’s a question: how are we going to distinguish ourselves by name?”

“I can’t believe I’m worrying about names at a time like this,” Natasha said, surprised at herself. “It doesn’t really matter. If this keeps up, there’ll be so many of us that no number of names will suffice. Let’s just use numbers as our code names.”

“I have no objection,” chimed in Natasha Two. “Let’s divide the work. The only time slot we haven’t gathered information on is the early morning hours. But what exactly is our objective?”

“It might be another anomalous item or person,” Natasha speculated. “If we really can’t find it, we may have to consider blowing up the whole ship, or…”

Everyone fell silent. They all understood the unspoken alternative: one of them would have to kill another “self” to see what happened. Some systems run on bugs; perhaps eliminating the bug would crash the entire program.

Of course, that was a last resort. Having more people was inconvenient, but their strength also multiplied. Natasha estimated that, at this rate, the mission Nick Fury had assigned could be completed in no time.

As all the Natashas began gathering information on the ship, Yang Qiu covered his face in exasperation. Were these Black Widows really elite agents? How could they miss such an obvious clue?

The chime! The chime! No matter where they were, the bell chimed on the hour as a reminder. Wasn’t that obvious enough?

Still, Yang Qiu realized he’d made a mistake: outsiders and those inside the scenario think differently. The Natashas were overanalyzing, suspecting even the location of a trash can could be a vital clue. With such an overload of information, it was only natural to overlook some things.

Meanwhile, Natasha’s disappearance had drawn Nick Fury’s attention. The stealth jet had already searched along the route more than once.

If this continued, outside interference would increase and eventually might seriously affect the evolution of the scenario.

“No, I have to add a guide!” Yang Qiu slapped his own face.

Adding a guide without introducing a new character, and ensuring the guide was obedient—this was no easy task.

“Meow~” An called out at that moment.

Yang Qiu spun around to look at the cat. Startled, An tilted its head as if to ask, “Master, what’s wrong?”

A sly grin spread across Yang Qiu’s face as he scooped An into his arms.

“Meow!” An sensed something was wrong. Was disaster looming?

“An, I’ve got a task for you, a little assignment,” Yang Qiu said, stroking the cat’s fur.

“Meow…” (Will there be fish snacks on this assignment?)

“No problem! Whatever you want, I’ll make sure you get it. Not just fish snacks—I’ll even pick out a stunted blue-pouched fish and make you a special dish!” Yang Qiu replied with a laugh.

“Meow!” (Deal!)

In the next instant, An vanished, darting into the shadows and racing toward the cruise ship.

“Hey, wait! I was only joking!” Yang Qiu shouted as An disappeared.

“Meow?” (Are you sure?) An poked half its head out from the shadowy portal, peering at Yang Qiu.

“I mean… I’ll pick a bigger one…” Yang Qiu felt a little guilty—it was low to trick even a cat. A person shouldn’t be so underhanded.

Once An vanished again, Yang Qiu looked at the school of blue-pouched fish from afar. Well, what’s said is said, like water poured onto the ground—it can’t be taken back.