The next morning, Yi Shi knocked on the bedroom door. Lin Zhizhi, dressed neatly, sat on the edge of the bed, still holding the yellowed A4 paper and lost in thought. She looked unwell, her face pale; the sleepless night had been entirely spent studying the table Lin Heyu had left behind, which contained the only information about him.
“Most of the handwriting is blurred and faded. I can only recognize a few parts; L and Y represent my brother and you, right?”
“Yes.”
Due to the cautious mindset of the police, they intentionally avoided key information while creating this table. Some terms were still internal jargon, making it difficult for anyone who found the paper to decipher its contents.
“I can’t really understand the information below the date; I can only see when you were together,” Lin Zhizhi pointed to the column labeled “12/11.” “Today is only the 9th. Is this referring to December 11th, twenty years ago?”
Yi Shi nodded again. Lin Zhizhi sighed softly: “Then it must be right. I remember that day; my brother accompanied me to Nanyi to look at houses. We were supposed to go for hot pot at noon, but he said he had an urgent task and separated from me… If you met him that day, he must have come here, right?”
There was a hint of resentment in her tone: “If he came here, why didn’t he meet me? Didn’t he know how much I missed him all these years?”
“The fewer people involved in this sort of matter, the better. If it creates a butterfly effect, the consequences could be disastrous.”
He didn’t even use words like “perhaps” or “maybe,” which indicated the severity of the issue. The stories that sounded absurd to others were ones they kept experiencing; no theoretical reasoning could be more persuasive than the experiences of those who had lived through it.
“So now you telling me all this, is it okay?” Lin Zhizhi was muddled about physics, but she had watched plenty of sci-fi movies and sensed an underlying worry. “As an outsider, will knowing so much have any impact on you?”
Yi Shi sat down next to her and took the paper: “It will.”
“What will happen?”
“I don’t know.” The smile on Yi Shi’s face was calm. “From the moment I told you, you’re no longer an outsider. I never wanted to involve you, but some unexpected events forced my hand.”
Lin Zhizhi asked what kind of “unexpected events” he was referring to, but Yi Shi was unwilling to reveal them. Considering the time, they needed to head to the train station. Having raised Yi Shi himself, Lin Zhizhi understood his temperament well; if he didn’t want to say something, no one could pry it out of him. He was tighter-lipped than a clam, and if he were thrown into an interrogation room, he would surely be the toughest nut to crack for the interrogators.
Therefore, she had no choice but to set off on her way home with a belly full of questions. At the community entrance, Lin Zhizhi urged Yi Shi to return to the station early; she had walked the route to the train station for decades and could navigate it even with her eyes closed.
“I’ll see you off.”
“No need. If you return late to the station, it will delay your work, and your boss will scold you. Although Yu Zhang is covering for you, this isn’t Nanyi. I heard from your dad that Haijing’s situation is quite complicated…”
Yi Shi smiled without saying a word. As Lin Zhizhi looked at his calm expression, a strange feeling rose in her heart. She recalled seeing Lin Heyu before her friend’s wedding and tightly grasped his sleeve: “Xiao Yi, are you… are you…?”
She didn’t know how to express it. Was the Yi Shi in front of her not there to solve a case? Or perhaps he wasn’t the Yi Shi she was familiar with at all?
The taxi arrived, and they both got in. Lin Zhizhi seemed to admire the scenery outside, but her fingers kept fiddling with the tassels of her scarf, expressing her tangled and confused feelings.
As the largest high-speed railway station in Haijing City, it had a constant flow of passengers throughout the year, with no distinction between weekdays and weekends. The difference between the tourist peak and off-peak seasons was merely one of crowdedness versus more crowdedness. Not far from the entrance, Lin Zhizhi stopped, looked up at Yi Shi, and said, “You’re so smart; you must know what I’m about to ask.”
Yi Shi held his long, beautiful finger to his lips, communicating everything without words. Lin Zhizhi suddenly understood; it seemed her guess was correct. He had also experienced the future like her brother, which was why he knew so much.
There might be another Yi Shi in the municipal office, but Lin Zhizhi no longer wanted to verify this. She tiptoed and gently rubbed his black hair: “This isn’t an ordinary case. You must be careful, okay? And about my brother, I can’t meet him, so please remind him to protect himself.”
Yi Shi nodded. “You too, take care of yourself. No matter what happens, you’re the most important person to both me and Lin Heyu.”
After entering the station, Lin Zhizhi turned around, and Yi Shi was still standing there, his slender, tall body wrapped in a black coat. His exquisitely beautiful face was easy to spot even in a crowd. He first put on a black mask and then took out a baseball cap, pressing it down to cover half of his face. As he turned around, a familiar image flashed through Lin Zhizhi’s mind.
“Yi Shi!”
Lin Zhizhi ran to the railing and shouted. Yi Shi turned back, pulling down his mask as if waiting for her words.
That profile overlapped with the man who had once “held her hostage” in her memory. Lin Zhizhi’s hands clenched the railing, her heart racing with anxiety, tension, and disbelief.
[I’m so glad to see you now.]
[Even the most precise arrangements won’t help; the accidents caused by time are unavoidable.]
[We will meet often in the future; I hope you can still remember me.]
Although they were complete strangers, the man had treated her with such care and tenderness, and his gaze was more like that of a long-lost relative. At that time, Lin Zhizhi had only guessed if they had met somewhere, never imagining he would become a close family member she would spend every day with in the future.
That day was really you, wasn’t it? It was truly you.
Yi Shi patiently waited until Lin Zhizhi waved goodbye, her brows and eyes curving up: “You must be safe! Mom is waiting for you to come home!”
As the high-speed train started, Lin Zhizhi leaned against the window, and the speed of the passing scenery could not match the whirlwind of thoughts in her mind.
It turned out that this was all not a dream. Twenty years ago, she had met the current Yi Shi and Lin Heyu. They were such special beings, having crossed long spans of time to know each other, traversing back and forth between two worlds—something an outsider could hardly imagine.
Lin Zhizhi’s fingers gently touched the pale face reflected in the glass, lost in thought: If she could take her current memories back to twenty years ago, she would do her utmost to prevent Lin Heyu’s disappearance, ensuring he wouldn’t become a regret in her memory.
———
[12/10, 09:12, Haijing City Botanical Garden]
Yi Shi waited near the parking lot of the botanical garden until Zhang Rui drove in with the big-nosed school bus and parked it in the designated spot.
According to the original plan, at this time, the kindergarten’s big class children should have already entered the park with Teacher Shi, Teacher Guan, and two other co-teachers. The reason he was waiting here was to avoid running into his disguised self, preventing any unexpected accidents.
On October 15th, he had seen his present self through a glass, which resulted in him losing his memories of the 15th. However, they hadn’t truly met; it was merely a crossing of glances, and the outside version of himself entering was not the café they were in.
Moreover, with Lin Heyu’s mysterious disappearance on the mountain, it was enough to prove that two identical entities couldn’t meet; only by properly avoiding each other could accidents be prevented.
Zhang Rui locked the school bus, exchanged a confirming glance with his colleagues in plain clothes to check the surroundings, and then entered the park to meet up with the main group. Yi Shi did not follow him but instead found Yu Xue’s position. Just as Yu Xue turned around, the two of them gazed at each other across a rose garden, surprise fully suppressed in Yu Xue’s eyes.
Yi Shi used the simplest gesture to convey his message: [Don’t worry.]
Yu Xue pushed up his glasses, smiled, and gently nodded.
As time passed, the sun moved overhead, and Yi Shi finally set off for the outdoor square. The surging crowd and flocks of white doves intermingled. From a distance, he spotted a familiar figure: Teacher Shi, wearing a little skirt, was mingling with the children. It had to be said that Yu Xue’s idea was correct; the loose jacket diminished his visual height, and standing together with Teacher Guan, who was wearing high-heeled boots, made their height difference seem negligible.
But it was just a momentary observation. A large flock of doves flew by, and the surroundings suddenly fell silent, as if an invisible hand had pressed mute. Yi Shi blinked, and in the next second, sounds came rushing in from all directions, as if the earlier silence had merely been his illusion.
The more serious problem was—Teacher Shi had disappeared.
Yi Shi quickly walked toward the fountain, searching for his figure. Soon, he realized that it wasn’t Teacher Shi who had vanished, but himself.
The children and teachers of the Aitemei Kindergarten were all gone, including the plainclothes colleagues scattered in various corners; everyone had vanished. The tourists nearby were bustling about, and the botanical garden was still filled with laughter and joy. Yi Shi felt like an outsider, standing numbly in the center of the square. Clearly, people were coming and going, yet not a single one cast him a strange glance.
He swiftly pulled out a coin; the text and pattern were both correct. What was going on? He was clearly still in his own world, yet it felt as though he were trapped in a bizarre painting.
Sitting idle was not Yi Shi’s style. He walked along the little path from his memory, but the result was disappointing. The end of the path was a wall; there was no zoo at all.
Yi Shi lowered his head in thought. Was this the paradox of not being able to coexist? Even with the previous loop, he couldn’t join in. This indicated that he couldn’t assist in the earlier stages of the kidnapping case. The only one who could successfully intervene was… Lin Heyu.
Only Lin Heyu could dispel the darkness beneath the cloud.
[12/13, 07:25, Southern Cheng’an Mountain]
Lin Heyu carried a small bag containing a few changes of clothes, a compressed down sleeping bag, cold medicine, and other items. He opened the form he had browsed countless times and noted that he would meet Yi Shi at the ancestral hall tonight.
According to Yi Shi’s description, he had been in terrible shape at that time. He couldn’t pinpoint the exact time but remembered that it had been raining heavily, and the world was engulfed in darkness, with the fine rain curtain pouring down like a galaxy in reverse. Such weather wasn’t common in the northern winter.
Upon careful reflection, he realized that every time he had met Yi Shi, it had been rainy. This suggested that water was an important medium for their mutual contact and traversal of the mirrored world.
The old ancestral hall was still on the previous hill. Lin Heyu climbed for another twenty minutes. Glancing up casually, he suddenly noticed a change in the sky above— the clear blue sky had been bizarrely torn into two states. His area was bathed in the rising sun, while the area ahead was filled with lightning and thunder, rolling black clouds gradually swallowing large patches of white clouds.
He had arrived.
Yi Shi had already encountered Chen Heyu, and the two worlds were on the verge of merging. Lin Heyu quickened his pace. By the time he reached the ancestral hall, dark clouds had completely covered the sky above him. He took out a coin to glance at it and then pushed open the dilapidated wooden door to enter.
He placed everything in the empty room behind the ancestral hall and began tidying up the space. A loud thunder cracked, and the torrential rain came pouring down. Before long, he found the drenched Yi Shi in the downpour, his face pale and shining in the night, exhausted and worn.
In the previously empty dilapidated ancestral hall, a fire ignited as Lin Heyu carried Yi Shi inside. He immediately recognized that his teenage self had also hidden from the rain here.
“I’ll take him to the back.” Lin Heyu greeted as he held Yi Shi and carried him to the prepared room. First, he removed all his wet clothes and dried his drenched body as much as possible with a towel before wrapping him in the sleeping bag.
Despite all the fuss, Yi Shi didn’t wake up, clearly exhausted. Lin Heyu smiled gently and bent down to kiss his forehead.
As midnight approached, the rain finally stopped. The bonfire in the front hall burned brightly, and Chen Heyu curled up on a haystack, fast asleep. Lin Heyu quietly closed the wooden door and descended the muddy mountain road. In the stillness of the deep night, Linjia Village was silent. He walked to a roadside phone booth and called Yu Xue.
After several rings, the call was answered. “Hello?”
“It’s Lin Heyu.”
Yu Xue suddenly woke up, sitting up abruptly. “Lin Heyu?!”
“Mm, no need to be surprised. Yi Shi is fine now, and he’s very safe.”
Upon hearing this, Yu Xue’s tense nerves relaxed suddenly, his shoulders slumping as he let out a long breath.
Hearing the sound of relief, Lin Heyu found it strange. “Didn’t Yi Shi contact you earlier? With his personality, he would definitely have arranged everything.”
“He did, and he also mentioned he would go missing and told me not to worry. But I can’t rest easy until I get a confirmation of his safety.” Yu Xue raked his short hair, his tone becoming irritable. “And dealing with the higher-ups is even more difficult; if I can’t get any news, I’ll be tormented to death.”
So Lin Heyu’s call was like a timely help; Yu Xue turned on the bedside lamp and took out paper and pen to record the specific time and location he provided. “Mm, no problem; I’ll definitely arrive on time. What happens after we find him? Where do we send him?”
“To my house.” Lin Heyu looked ahead. “I’ll leave the key in the carpenter’s mailbox at the village entrance; you can come and pick it up.”
“…The mailbox?” Yu Xue felt something was off. “Isn’t it at a carpenter’s house? What if it gets lost?”
“It won’t. His mailbox isn’t locked, and he doesn’t open it once in a few years. If you come, you’ll definitely find it.” Lin Heyu added, “Also, call Qi Wenyu.”
“Him?” Yu Xue’s tone became tense. “Is Yi Shi hurt?”
“Mm, gunshot wound.”
“…” Yu Xue grew more irritable, continuously pinching his brow. “I know you didn’t mean to not protect him; it’s just that you can’t go against fate. I’ll have Qi Wenyu come over, don’t worry; that guy is still somewhat useful, and he’ll definitely be able to handle Yi Shi’s injury.”
“Thank you.”
Upon hearing this, Yu Xue sighed lightly. “No need to thank me. Don’t forget, it was your words back then that made me choose him. As the captain, taking care of him is also my responsibility.”
