[10/29, 21:56, Pingju Square, Nanyi City]
The car stopped at Pingju Square, and Lin Heyu sat by the fountain. Behind him, the giant diamond sparkled dazzlingly, the multi-faceted glass constantly refracting light, illuminating the surrounding area as if it were daylight. The mall was nearing closing time, and pedestrians gradually dwindled. Two or three children were playing around the fountain, accidentally stepped on Lin Heyu, apologized, and hurried away.
Sheng Guoning came out of the 7-11 across the street, carrying two bottles of mineral water. He handed one to Lin Heyu and said, “Look, the whole street is closing up. Let’s just make do here. The mall is already closed, and soon there will be no one around.”
“Yeah, I know. I met Yi Shi here.” Lin Heyu was slightly worried, as Yi Shi hadn’t shown up yet. He wondered if something unexpected had happened.
“Here? Wasn’t it at that café over there?” Sheng Guoning pointed in the direction of “Time Flies.” “Your two apprentices said you and your partner met there.”
“Yeah, the café is kind of special. Every time we met there, things went smoothly.”
“Indeed, like a wormhole—you two could meet even after twenty years.” Sheng Guoning marveled, “No wonder Xiao Shitou and that colleague from Haijing disappeared when they walked in—it’s like they walked into a sci-fi movie.”
After the mall lights went out, only the staff trickled out one by one, all heading toward the brightly lit crossroads. Few people passed by the fountain to the dark pedestrian street. Lin Heyu gave Sheng Guoning a look, and Sheng Guoning cleared his throat before continuing.
“We still have to start from when you disappeared. I married Zhizhi and adopted Xiao Shitou. Life was moving along normally. But at the exchange meeting the next year, I didn’t see Yuan Maoqiu or your other colleagues anymore. At first, I thought it was because of your disappearance that the criminal investigation team fell apart and was replaced by fresh blood. A couple of years later, while I was running errands in Haijing, I realized something was seriously wrong.”
“The city of Haijing was very strange. Yuan Kang, who used to be the deputy director, had become a young rookie even younger than me. Liu Chenyu was still working as an officer in his hometown police station. As for Yuan Maoqiu and others, they couldn’t be found anywhere. And that once high-profile kidnapping case left almost no substantial trace. There were only a few exaggerated speculations from some self-media outlets. When I came back, I looked for Xiao Shao and Shen Ruirui. Their memories of the whole case were also vague. When I mentioned the captain of Haijing, they were certain it was Captain Yuan and even attributed the things you had done to him, completely mixing things up.”
Sheng Guoning glanced at Lin Heyu and continued, “This situation was too bizarre. I kept verifying with people who had contact with you, and I found that Zhizhi, who was closest to you, had complete memories of you. Every moment of your interactions, from childhood to adulthood, was clear in her mind. But aside from that, like everyone else, she had inconsistencies in her recognition of the staff in the Haijing Bureau. Xiao Shitou, on the other hand, didn’t know anything—silent as a still pool of water.”
“In order to get more accurate results, I spent a whole year investigating. I visited Linjia Village several times and even visited the families of the kidnapping victims. As firsthand witnesses, when they mentioned the kidnapping case, it was like they had amnesia. They stammered and couldn’t remember anything. The only exception was a child named Jiang Dongliang. He had a picture of you and remembered that it was Officer Lin who rescued him. Besides him, no one else in all of Haijing remembered you.”
“I know. I wasn’t supposed to exist during that time,” Lin Heyu sighed softly, almost imperceptibly. “My household registration was erased during that time too?”
“It wasn’t me who erased it; it just disappeared on its own. When you first disappeared, your household registration was still normal. But after two years, when I checked again, it was gone—your police record too.” Sheng Guoning scratched the back of his head. “I was afraid Zhizhi would worry, so I didn’t let her know about any of this. Luckily, she was busy taking care of the two kids at home and didn’t have time to ask too many questions.”
“For the past twenty years, Zhizhi has always held out hope of finding you. I didn’t want to break her heart, so I published missing person notices in the newspaper every year. Whenever I had the time, I accompanied her to Haijing to visit graves and tidy up the house. Have you gone back to visit? It’s exactly the same as when you left. Even your clothes and personal items are still well-preserved.”
Lin Heyu nodded. “I stayed there for a while.”
“Alone?”
Lin Heyu gave him a knowing look, and Sheng Guoning covered his forehead. “…I still can’t quite wrap my head around the idea of my son and my brother-in-law being together. Give me some time to process it.”
Strictly speaking, both of them were Zhizhi’s brothers, and their later adoptive relationship only added to the confusion. Lin Heyu had wanted to tell him the truth, but on second thought, he decided to continue testing him to see how much of Sheng Guoning’s “whole truth” he actually knew.
Sheng Guoning twisted open the bottle of mineral water, took a sip, wiped his mouth, and continued, as the story skipped forward to twenty years later.
“Yi Shi joined the city bureau, and later the criminal investigation team. Zhizhi was really pleased, feeling like he was carrying on your legacy. She didn’t have high expectations for An’an, but she always hoped Yi Shi would become a dragon among men. Every time he earned a commendation, she hoped he would keep pushing forward, and ideally become captain just like you. I watched Yi Shi grow up. His strengths are obvious, but so are his weaknesses—you know what I mean. But times are different now. Despite his cold and introverted personality, he somehow attracts a lot of admirers. Some of the girls in the bureau are crazy about him, always finding excuses to wander around the criminal investigation office… Ahem, I’m getting off-topic.”
Sheng Guoning coughed awkwardly, noticing the increasingly curious look in Lin Heyu’s eyes. He hurriedly shifted back to the main point: “Nothing major happened for twenty years, until the explosion at the Nanyi Machinery Factory. When I saw the familiar names like Zhao Chenghu again, I broke into a cold sweat. Back then, Sun Gui and the others disappeared just like you, with no follow-up to the case. After the explosion, I checked their household records again—it was like seeing ghosts! Everything was exactly the same as it was twenty years ago! All the information was identical to back then, but I’m the only one who knows this. The household registration officer even argued with me, pulling out Pang Daozi’s old records to prove that twenty years ago he was just a small-time street thug.”
Lin Heyu patted him on the arm to show his understanding. Their twisted fates had always revolved around these cases, from the explosion to the kidnapping, and from the kidnapping back to the explosion. It was all part of a timeline connecting two worlds. The key figures at the center of this timeline wouldn’t change—the only ones subjected to the whims and tests of fate were people like them.
“Both city bureaus investigated for over a month, and Yi Shi’s overall performance was outstanding. Then he went undercover and disappeared under mysterious circumstances, just like a reenactment of your disappearance. The kidnapping didn’t happen, the kids were safe and sound, but he vanished. Haijing kept everything under tight wraps, while rumors spread like wildfire in Nanyi, claiming all the officers on the case had died, taking the criminals with them. It wasn’t until the police team returned that the rumors were put to rest. The hostages were found within days, and the criminal investigation team combed through Cheng’an Mountain, but there was still no trace of Yi Shi. Most people have come to terms with the idea that Yi Shi died in the line of duty, but Yu Xue is adamant that he’s still alive.”
From this, it was clear that Sheng Guoning had been through everything that needed to be experienced, but what position did he hold in the current timeline? Had he, like them, been separated and become an independent entity?
“So, where does your memory cut off?”
“March 1st. I remember that day clearly. The night before, there was a Ministry of Public Security meeting, and I came home so exhausted I fell asleep immediately. But when I woke up, it was National Day!”
It really was March 1st—the endpoint of all the cases—and the moment of clarity also coincided with Yi Shi’s. Lin Heyu studied Sheng Guoning carefully. “Did Zhizhi go back to Haijing alone? Or was she with another version of you?”
“Another version of me?”
“I mean, not the current you, but the future you.”
Sheng Guoning looked completely confused. “…Brother-in-law, do you even hear yourself right now?”
Lin Heyu understood. Sheng Guoning was just a simple witness to the case, the only person who hadn’t forgotten and retained a complete memory.
He possessed memories of what happened afterward, which explained why he was so unfazed by Lin Heyu’s return and could easily accept the bizarre reason for his disappearance. However, none of this explained Sheng Guoning’s puzzling behavior, such as going to a meeting at the city bureau, only to have his plans easily derailed by a simple comment downstairs, as if the meeting didn’t matter—or perhaps there never was a meeting in the first place.
“What time is it? Aren’t you tired?” Sheng Guoning stood up and stretched, rubbing his back. “I’m getting old. Normally, I’d be asleep by now. I don’t have your energy.”
Lin Heyu looked up and stared directly at him. “You never intended to stop the explosion, did you?”
“Huh? What are you talking about? Of course, I didn’t want it to happen…”
“You didn’t contact the provincial department or the city bureau. You didn’t set up a meeting. You just found an excuse to make me follow you.”
Sheng Guoning fell silent. Lin Heyu frowned, stood up, and grabbed his arm. “Why? This case has a crucial impact on both me and Yi Shi. Setting that aside, as a police officer, isn’t it your duty to protect the lives and property of the public and do everything you can to prevent this from happening?”
Faced with Lin Heyu’s questions, Sheng Guoning forced a difficult smile. “…Brother-in-law, do you really think I could stop it?”
“How would you know if you don’t try?”
“There’s no need to try. Whatever is meant to happen will happen. Both you and Yi Shi understand this, so why not just let things unfold naturally?” Sheng Guoning sighed and brushed off Lin Heyu’s hand. “Whether it’s Yi Shi or you, the two of you are bound to meet and be together. Isn’t that a good thing? What if the explosion never happened, and your lives never intersected? What would you do then?”
He lowered his head and smiled bitterly. “How painful would it be for two people in love to never meet?”
Lin Heyu had thought about this—many times, in fact. If they returned to the original timeline, he and Yi Shi might never have had the relationship they do now. In a normal situation, if Lin Zhizhi had adopted the little boy, Lin Heyu, as his uncle, would have watched him grow up from an adult’s perspective. With Lin Heyu’s upright nature, such familial love could never evolve into romantic love, and there would be no ethical concerns.
Even though there was no legal familial connection, the age difference between him and the boy would have been too much for Lin Heyu to get past. After much contemplation, the only scenario he could accept was if they grew up together and developed feelings when they were equals in all aspects. Only then might he feel an unusual affection for Yi Shi.
Given Lin Heyu’s strict and principled nature, the conditions for him and Yi Shi to end up together were extremely harsh. From the current situation, it seemed that achieving a satisfactory outcome was highly unlikely.
Because it was so difficult, he didn’t want to miss any chance to change things. Yi Shi felt the same way. Even knowing that it might all be in vain, they still pressed on. They worked so hard to free themselves from the control of fate, all for the possibility of a life where they could both choose each other.
“You don’t understand what it’s like to watch each other go through disappearances and death. If we can’t change the key points of the case, Yi Shi and I will keep meeting and parting in an endless cycle. Is that what you want?” Lin Heyu sneered. “I suppose it is. You even drugged the boy, planning to quietly send him to Nanyi Machinery Factory. The injuries on him are entirely your doing. Don’t you feel guilty at all? You hurt him, then acted like a father to him afterward. Sheng Guoning, what exactly are you thinking?”
“What… what am I thinking…” Sheng Guoning slowly covered his forehead, his voice weak and drained. “I just wanted to do everything I could… that’s all…”
The middle part of his sentence was drowned out by the wind, as Sheng Guoning suddenly lunged at Lin Heyu, shoving him into the fountain and pressing him down into the water with all his might.
Lin Heyu was utterly shocked. In his imagination, Sheng Guoning was more likely to pull out a gun, not engage in hand-to-hand combat like this.
“You can cross over, right? I saw it that time…”
Even though it was just a shallow fountain, Lin Heyu felt as though he had fallen into a vast ocean. Below him was a light, and when he looked down, he saw another circular fountain beneath him. The light was coming from a giant upside-down diamond. There was no need to ask; it was the entrance to the other world. Yi Shi had crossed over this way once before.
No, he couldn’t go back yet. He still hadn’t figured out Sheng Guoning’s motives, and Yi Shi didn’t know any of this. Sheng Guoning had too many secrets, and such a dangerous man couldn’t be left by Zhizhi’s side.
Lin Heyu struggled to move his arms, trying to swim to the surface. But there was a mysterious force pulling him toward the fountain’s opening below. Crossing through water was the most disorienting way to travel between worlds. The exits of the two worlds were inverted, and during the process, Lin Heyu’s body spun uncontrollably, his organs churning within him. Water filled his lungs, and his breathing became labored.
Moments later, the pull ceased, and the water level dropped until it barely reached Lin Heyu’s legs. He coughed several times, and when he opened his eyes, he found himself sitting in the fountain. The streets around him were eerily quiet, and Sheng Guoning was nowhere to be seen.
Lin Heyu hastily wiped the water from his face and stepped out of the fountain. As he surveyed the surrounding buildings and scenery, he realized he was back in his world—in Nanyi City. His face instantly darkened, looking as though water might drip from it, matching the beads of water still clinging to his chin.
What was going on? What was Sheng Guoning, that madman, thinking? What did he stand to gain from this?
—–
Author’s Note:
Almost to the last painful plot point, phew.
nooooo how can our Uncle Sheng be a bad guy!!!
not thisss aghhhhhhhh