"As expected of myself!"
The other me really understood me well!
By now, it was clear that their parallel world wasn't too different from ours. There was no need to be overly suspicious of them, so I decided to be straightforward about my real intentions.
"Actually, it's enough to know that you're willing to help. Adrian is in another interrogation room confirming this with his counterpart. Of course, whether we can solve this problem depends on Reeds..."
Before I could finish, a knock on the door interrupted me.
"The situation has changed! We just got word that there's movement in the space portal again. Looks like someone is trying to come through. We better hurry over and check it out!" Wayne Peng burst in, looking urgent as he glanced at both of us.
So soon? It seems Wayne Peng's prediction came true. I immediately turned to Feliciana for confirmation: "Did your Earth send more people into the portal?"
"I'm not sure about that," Feliciana shrugged. "You know, unlike you, I didn't establish a partnership with Earth's base in our world. Even if they had plans, they wouldn't tell me."
"After questioning, we're pretty sure you folks aren't a problem. But given the special circumstances, if you want to return to your Earth, you'll need to wait here patiently for a while," Wayne Peng explained hurriedly to the other Feliciana before leading me out of the interrogation room.
When we arrived at the space portal, Adrian, Reed, and others were already there, having been notified earlier.
"Can we tell who it is?" I asked, feeling oddly excited. My gut told me it was probably someone familiar. Could it be the parallel world's Wayne Peng?
"Can't see clearly from outside, but they're about to come out. No need to rush," Adrian shook his head, pointing at the shadowy figures emerging from the portal.
Surprisingly, the first person to step out was Cyra!
"Is this the other side?" The parallel world Cyra looked around, then spotted me and Adrian. She ran over, looking confused. "Strange, you two were behind me. How did you get here first? Can you overtake in the space portal?"
"Huh?" Everyone present was bewildered. Our world's Cyra wasn't here due to a purification mission, but didn't the other Feliciana say their Cyra decided to stay on Earth? So why was she here? And what did she mean by saying Adrian and I were behind her?
Before I could voice my questions, more people emerged from the portal.
"Finally arrived! I accidentally opened my eyes midway and got dizzy from the high-dimensional space scenery in the portal. Really can't stand that feeling..." It was that familiar voice again, but this time with a hint of complaint, turning coquettishly toward someone behind. "Adrian, I feel so sick. Why aren't you coming to help me? I'm about to throw up!"
"Pfft—" I was the one about to throw up! The sight nearly made me spit blood.
Everyone sees. Following Cyra were Feliciana, Adrian, and Reed - familiar faces, but clearly from a different parallel world than before!
Notably, this parallel world seemed to have greater differences. This Feliciana's personality was quite different from mine, and their starting point wasn't Earth, but the Eldoria Continent.
It was clear that Reed's worries were justified. The dark element's anomaly had involved multiple parallel universes, no longer a simple one-to-one situation.
"Looks like you might need to receive guests from multiple parallel worlds," our Reed spoke to Wayne Peng, expressionless.
"...Are you sure this space portal can be fixed?" Wayne Peng responded with a bitter smile. He seemed at a loss for words, but who could guarantee an answer to his question?
As for handling the newcomers, they were handed over to the H-country military as usual. We could already foresee how frustrating the upcoming interrogations would be.
Things didn't improve. As Reed predicted, more groups from parallel worlds kept arriving through the space portal.
While there were some unfamiliar faces, most were versions of me, Adrian, Reed, Cyra, and occasionally even Nicola. However, those worlds were so far from our timeline that we couldn't get much useful information from them.
As numbers grew, General Lee tried forcing newcomers back into the portal. But they'd immediately reappear, showing the portal had become one-way - exit only!
The base's space portal had become a crossroads for multiple parallel worlds. All General Lee could do was restrict everyone to the base and hope Reed would find a solution quickly.
Luckily, most visitors were cooperative once they understood the situation, joining efforts to solve the portal problem. Others who couldn't help wandered the base in small groups, chatting and exchanging experiences from their worlds.
As for me, facing so many versions of myself from parallel worlds, my initial discomfort had long since faded.
To be honest, every Feliciana I passed felt like a stranger, unless I happened to notice the numbered tag they wore.
These tags were made by base personnel to distinguish us from different worlds, with numbers indicating which wave they arrived in. As a "native," my tag number was 0.
By now, if I hadn't miscounted, about nineteen groups of parallel world visitors had arrived on Earth, with more likely to come.
Walking briskly through the base, I was looking for Cyra when I noticed two people huddled in a corner. One looked like our world's Adrian from his clothes.
Wasn't Adrian supposed to be in the security team Wayne Peng formed? Curious, I quietly approached them...
What I saw made my blood pressure spike!
A Feliciana from some world was passionately kissing Adrian. If I'd arrived a moment later, who knows what else I might have seen.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" I shouted, thinking Adrian might be taking advantage of the situation with different versions of me.
But when they turned around, startled, I realized my mistake. Though dressed identically, this Adrian's tag number was 12 - I'd accused the wrong person!
"Sorry, carry on!" I apologized awkwardly, turning to leave.
"What's your problem? If you're jealous, go find your own Adrian!" the other Feliciana complained, annoyed at the interruption. But then I noticed her tag number wasn't 12, but 7!
"Wait! You're not from the same world?" I asked incredulously, pointing at the Feliciana from world 7. What was going on? Feliciana and Adrian from different worlds getting together?
I vaguely remembered that when this Feliciana 7 first arrived, she was with an Adrian from her world. So why was she now with Adrian 12?
"Adrian and I are legitimately a couple." Feliciana 7 replied dismissively, wiping her mouth. "They're all Adrian, does it matter which world they're from?"