“Gone again…”

  Kane sat up in bed and shook his throbbing head.

  Mercenaries， gunfights， aerospace bases， spaceships， doomsday…

  Same script.

  But the good news was， he had gotten further than ever before.

  He raised his hand. The silver-white bracelet on his wrist was slightly warm. The number on it was 2.

  This was the key to his“resurrections.”

  A month ago， he had received the bracelet and first entered that“future world.”

  Back then， he thought he would travel between worlds， smuggle goods， and climb to the top.

  He quickly learned otherwise.

  Every time he entered that world， he was on his way to assault a civilian aerospace base.

  And every time， he only had one final hour.

  If he didn’t escape on the rocket within that hour， the world ended in a proper apocalypse.

  Blinding light， radiation， explosions…

  It wasn’t like a dream， where falling jolted you awake.

  He felt every bit of the near-death experience.

  Burning pain， organ decay， suffocation， vertigo…

  Every time he left， he was tortured horribly.

  It hurt like hell!

  Many times， when hope was lost， Kane just grabbed a gun from the masked man and shot himself.

  At least that way， it didn’t hurt as much.

  Still— what exactly was that apocalyptic flash?

  Nuclear blast was out of the question. Kane had once skipped the base and fled the city at nearly 300 km/h.

  No matter how far he ran， the flash covered every inch of land.

  What nuke had that kind of range?

  The Tsar Bomba had a total lethal radius of less than 150 kilometers.

  Maybe a cosmic ray burst?

  But if that was the case， what good would escaping on a ship do?

  Without the atmosphere， he would die even faster in space.

  Kane didn’t fully understand his own motives in that other world. But from what he’d seen， the“hijack the rocket and escape” plan was carefully thought out.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  He had assembled a professional， well-trained team. His target was carefully chosen.

  Not an official base— a civilian commercial one.

  Not a cargo ship— a tourist vessel.

  A plan this precise couldn’t just be a joke even if he succeeded… right?

  That would be too absurd.

  Kane picked up a glass of water by the bed and drank， massaging his swollen head.

  This was the aftereffect of entering the other world.

  No physical exhaustion， but the mental drain was brutal.

  That was probably why the bracelet had a number.

  When it hit zero， he couldn’t enter again for a while.

  He had to recover before enduring more suffering.

  The number was still 2， but Kane had no intention of going back yet.

  He needed a late-night snack.

  He grabbed his phone to order delivery when a message popped up.

  It was from his team leader in the company’s R&D department.

  Stella (Test Craft Flight Control Team Leader): Dude， why haven’t you updated your part of the code yet?

  Kane checked the time.

  10:32 PM.

  The message had arrived two minutes ago.

  Talk about overworking…

  He thought for a moment and typed back.

  Can’t update it right now. The PID control algorithm is the problem.

  The old code has a lot of issues— servo jitter， overcorrection， stuff like that.

  The test board we’re using isn’t powerful enough for the servo output. To fix it， we need incremental PID.

  But I tested it， and the increment can cause unexpected servo lockups and crash the program.

  I haven’t found a fix yet， so I can’t update.

  Kane sighed.

  The company he worked for was Aether Technologies， a private rocket company— the exact one he raided in the bracelet world.

  The company would thrive in 20 years.

  But right now?

  It was a mess.

  In 2025， it was technically a unicorn nationwide， but that didn’t fix its weak technology and research capabilities.

  They claimed to build civilian rockets， but none had ever left the stratosphere.

  A fresh graduate like him was already a core developer. Stella was only two years older and already the team leader.

  That showed how desperate they were for talent.

  Anyone decent got snatched up by the national programs. Only the leftovers stayed.

  People like him， skilled but not joining the state sector， had their own reasons.

  Kane was just in it for the money.

  A fresh graduate earning hundreds of thousands a year? The national team couldn’t match that.

  His thoughts drifted. Then Stella called.

  She got straight to the point.“Could the crash be because the PID increment is too fast?”

  “Probably not，” Kane shook his head instinctively.

  “If it was just overflow from speed， a simple limit would fix it.

  I tried that. It didn’t work.”

  “We either debug step by step or start over.”

  Stella sounded anxious.

  “You have to fix it soon.

  The deadline is the day after tomorrow. We have to present to the boss.”

  “We can’t show up with a half-finished product! If the boss is mad， we lose our yearly bonus.”

  “I want the bonus too，” Kane sighed.

  “But c’mon， is my workload even reasonable?”

  “I was only supposed to handle servos. Now I’m stuck with parachute control too. How am I supposed to keep up?”

  “I know…” Stella sighed on the other end.

  “I’m swamped too. I still have to write the attitude adjustment algorithm. You have no idea how complicated the needle valve control is… Never mind.”

  “Just hold on. I’ll split my bonus with you.”

  “...I’ll see what I can do.”

  Kane scratched his head. Stella noticed his exhaustion and softened.

  “Work’s like this， kid. You get used to it.”

  “Wanna go get a late-night snack? Talking it out might help.”

  “No. I’m afraid you’re not really hungry for snacks.”

  Kane refused.“I’ll order in， eat， and get back to coding— you owe me a meal reimbursement.”

  “You bastard… Fine. Sleep if you’re too tired. Maybe you’ll dream up the answer.”

  “Thanks for the encouragement.”

  Kane hung up and turned on his computer. Then a thought struck him.

  Dream up the answer?

  Wait.

  If the bracelet world was 20 years in the future…

  Then the problem he couldn’t solve now would already be fixed， right?

  No.

  In that world， Aether Technologies definitely had a complete， mature flight control system.

  What if he just copied the code?

  He couldn’t bring physical objects back…

  But the information in his head? Who could take that away?

  Kane lit up.

  Was this the bracelet’s real purpose?

  He ended the call and lifted his left hand.

  The bracelet’s charge was slowly refilling. The number was still 2— meaning he could enter twice more within 24 hours.

  More than enough.

  Kane focused. His consciousness was pulled away.

  The next moment， he was back in the other world.