Chapter 129: F*ck the loop.
Ridiculous, that’s what Mark thought of Ramsay’s theory of the events they were going through being a loop. They might share some similarities, but each were distinct enough to be considered separate. If there really were a loop things would have gone differently against King Scorpion, like the others suddenly getting busy which would force him and Lara to fight the Demon until help arrives.
In conclusion, the similarities shared by the events were coincidences and had no special meaning behind them. It was a satisfying conclusion, one Mark saw himself accepting if not for that part of him which insisted that he was the protagonist of a novel.
His mind kept going back to the matter as if trying to see through the plans of the author, and his obsession led him to look at every clue no matter how small.
The main events of the first loop were me getting knocked out by the Whispers, waking up to see Lara, fighting the lizardmen then escaping Malarak. Finally I got saved by Natalie and Passed out again. As for the second loop, its main events were me passing out from bloodloss, fighting Stone Rhinos, fighting the red hoods and getting saved by the members of Squad four and I pass out again.
Mark removed the details and left only what he thought were the main points, quickly arriving at a template for the so called loop. After analyzing it some more, the pattern became clearer, allowing him to note things he overlooked before, which is why he became hesitant to use one if his favorite items: the stun grenade.
The loop starts with an event involving me and Lara, then I use a grenade against a powerful enemy, which would have an effect but doesn’t help me achieve my my goal. Being saved by a powerful ally would be the third step while the fourth and last is me passing out thanks to the exhaustion caused by the MP drain.
With those points in mind he felt like he had unveiled the third loop, making him fear the forth.
The third loop started with the lap pillow in my bedroom, after which I was kicked into the ceiling. The second point would be fighting the zombies during which I used a stun grenade against Ramsay, a powerful enemy. He himself was the powerful ally who saved me in that fight. And lastly...
Since he hadn’t passed out right after, and with the battle against King Scorpion and its spawn following, Mark dismissed the loop, thinking that, even if he was inside one, it was already broken. That’s until a certain thought crossed his mind.
I barely played a role in the battle against King Scorpion...
He realized that the events didn’t revolve around him since his squadmates handled it entirely on their own. If he dismissed it as just another random event that happened between the main events of the loop, that would make him sleeping in the truck the last step, which would mean the fourth loop had already started.