Chapter 123: The Mobius Strip
(T/N: Hello there, everyone. It appears your humble translator accidentally unleashed Chapter 124 before Chapter 123. Oops. So here it is. That makes this your third chapter today—rejoice, you ungrateful mortals, and offer up your stones as tribute.)
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But after thinking about it, the God suddenly felt that a pipe distance of a few thousand meters seemed a bit too short.
Although He had set a trap at the end of the pipe, this bald man was a special existence that transcended rules; one could never be too careful.
Thinking of this, the God exerted power again. The originally several-thousand-meter-long pipe continuously extended, winding and merging from a spatial perspective until it actually turned into a three-dimensional shape similar to '∞'.
A Mobius Strip. In other words, as long as Saitama did not take the initiative to break the pipe, he would loop infinitely within this dark sewer passage.
Immediately afterward, the God's body erupted with chaotic colors. An incomparably powerful force actually extended out from the altar, affecting the space of reality.
In the distant deep space of the Universe, under the influence of the God's power, a one-way spatial tunnel was constructed, enveloping the entire continuously looping pipe.
In this way, as long as Saitama could not stand the infinite loop of the pipe and broke it, he would be immediately teleported into the distant Universe.
Seeing this scene, even though King had considerable confidence in the strength of the Bald Demon King Saitama, he secretly thought things looked bad at this moment.
If it were a head-on contest of strength, Saitama would definitely not lose to anyone, but if it were this kind of underhanded trickery, Saitama would likely fall for it due to his lack of vigilance... Meanwhile, a certain bald man felt extremely confused.
Saitama looked at the seemingly endless dark pipe below him, and his brow couldn't help but furrow.
He had been maintaining a free-falling posture the whole time, his white cape fluttering loudly behind him. That bald head of his even gave off a faint glow in the darkness.
"This isn't right... I've been jumping down for at least ten minutes. Why haven't I hit the ground yet? Are sewers these days built this long?"
"Whatever. Since a city is so big, maybe the sewer system is super developed. A sewer several thousand or even ten thousand meters long isn't impossible. I'll wait a few more minutes."
Saitama thought about whether to just punch through the entire pipe, but in the end, he held back. After all, breaking public facilities meant having to pay compensation.
Another ten minutes passed.
"Is there seriously no end to this?! Who builds a sewer this long!"
Now even Saitama felt something was wrong. Although he had gradually lost his sharp judgment because he was too powerful, he wasn't an idiot.
On the contrary, before losing his hair, Saitama was a university-graduated corporate drone with a decent IQ.
Although so many years had passed that Saitama had basically returned all his physics knowledge to his teachers, he still roughly remembered that after free-falling for 20 minutes, he should be at least tens of thousands of meters down.
How could any sewer be this long!
Screech!
A tooth-gritting sound rang out as Saitama spread his hands, grabbing the iron sheet of the pipe on both sides, bringing himself to a steady stop in the middle.
"This is even longer than any roller coaster I've ever ridden. Could it be some kind of infinite loop pipe?"
Recalling whether there were such plots in the manga he used to read, a slight curve appeared at the corner of Saitama's mouth.
"If that's the case, the manga has already given me the solution."
He stabilized his body by grabbing the edge of the pipe with one hand, while the other hand slowly rose, clenching into a fist:
"When facing something that loops infinitely, just punch it until it explodes and be done with it!"
Boom boom boom!!
An unadorned punch landed on the edge of the pipe. Instantly, power violent to the extreme erupted from that fist wearing a red plastic glove. The pipe didn't even last 0.1 seconds before it directly exploded.
However, after punching the pipe apart, Saitama did not see the actual sewer, but rather a vast expanse of silver-white material filling his vision.
"What is this? Mercury?"
Saitama observed it closely. This large expanse of silver-white material was like semi-solid water, its surface rippling layer by layer, just like the mercury he had seen in science books.
"If I just touch it... I shouldn't have to pay for it, right?"
Saitama instinctively wanted to reach out and touch it, but he withdrew his hand.
"Never mind. In case this is some secret thing and I have to pay after touching it, I'll look for another way out first."
Boom!
Boom boom!
Boom boom boom!!
After punching dozens of large holes in succession, Saitama was a bit dumbfounded. Why was the outside of the pipe entirely filled with this silver-white stuff!
Left with no choice, he had to bite the bullet and reach out, touching the surface of the silver-white ripples with his finger.
And in the next instant, Saitama felt his vision change abruptly. By the time he reacted, his surroundings had completely transformed.
The originally narrow pipe immediately became a vast, boundless starry sky. The silver-white objects in front of him were gone, replaced by the dark Universe.
Eh?
Saitama was even more bewildered. Just as he was about to say something, a massive sensation of oxygen deprivation hit him, making him instinctively reach up to pinch his nose.
"Where the heck did this bring me?"
He scanned the surrounding environment, his smooth face written with great confusion.
"Wait, where's Earth? Where's my big Earth?!"
As far as his eyes could see, there was only darkness, with only the light of stars flickering in the distant depths of the starry sky.
Hiss... where on Earth is this?
Saitama looked around but couldn't find the direction of Earth. Helpless, he could only pick an approximate direction and assume a breaststroke posture.
Zooming out, a bald man wearing a poop-yellow jumpsuit, holding his breath, began to swim aimlessly in the vacuum of space without oxygen.
"Hmm, I feel like this direction is more to my liking. I'll just swim this way; maybe I'll find the Solar System."
Saitama briefly gave up on his super strength and utilized his rare super wisdom, not making Earth his immediate target.
What he needed to do now was find the Sun. As long as he could see the Sun, it would be easy to get back.
[Serious Series: Serious Swim]!
Saitama's expression turned serious. Every stroke of his limbs caused the surrounding space to warp. In the medium-less vacuum, he forcibly kicked off against space itself to move forward.
Most importantly, if one were to zoom out again, they would be surprised to find that the direction Saitama chose was actually correct...