“Xi Shengnan, who is still alive.”
This sentence completely surprised everyone.
“Shengnan?!” The strongest reaction ca from Lu Heng. “Isn’t this photo of events that will happen 16 hours later? Shengnan had… an accident last night. Why would her image appear 16 hours later?!”
Lu Heng was so excited that he kept shaking Cao Youning who was next to him.
“I don’t understand,” Cao Youning said. “Boss Mu said it seems to be another tiline.”
“But… the other tiline has no discernible pattern, it’s simply too chaotic!” Lu Heng looked around the dark corners of the room, which appeared even darker due to the glow of the fluorite.
“Just now, Dr. Qin examined Mai Peng’s tonsils and concluded that Mai Peng’s cold progressed in a reversed sequence.” Shao Ling analyzed from the side. “If our tiline is the one in reverse, then the other tiline would be going forward, right? In the other tiline, Xi Shengnan is still alive? But here’s the problem: in our tiline’s yesterday, Xi Shengnan was also alive. Are the living Xi Shengnans in these two tilines the sa person?”
“If they are the sa person, then our tiline’s Xi Shengnan seems to have never been in the state shown in the photo: lying on the bed in the dark with a man sitting on the bed nearby.”
“So, if they are not the sa person, then who is the other Xi Shengnan?”
“In the photo we saw just now of several days ago, Wei Dong, Luo Bu, Mu and Haowen were all in it. But who are they? Do they all have another physical body and another soul?”
Shao Ling finished his questions, but the faint glimrs he glimpsed in his confusion were not enough to illuminate the answers.
“There are no two Xi Shengnans, nor are there two Wei Dongs. No matter how the tilines twist and turn, these people are still themselves,” Fang Fei suddenly spoke up.
Koharu lay beside Fang Fei, staring at her with its bright eyes, seemingly captivated by her words.
“The symbol of the Shaman, apart from the mask, is a bracelet. Today, I heard that young Shaman girl say: the bracelet is round, and nothing can escape this circle. So, I believe that the so-called tilines are probably circular as well,” Fang Fei said, gently touching the clay bracelet on her wrist as she slowly spoke.
Shao Ling drew a circle in the void, seeming to grasp sothing yet also appearing more perplexed. “The concept of ‘twin-born’ that Fang Fei ntioned today and the idea of ‘seeing another self after death’ ntioned by Luo Bu, are similar. There are two tilines in this world, each with its own protagonist. Although they cannot see each other, the actions they take in their lives can have an impact on their other self.”
“I think it makes sense. This could explain my cold. The ‘’ from the other tiline caught a cold for so reason, which then affected in this tiline. But because our tiline is moving in reverse, my cold is exhibiting this strange reversed sequence.” Mai Peng also tried to analyze.
Fang Fei added, “Today, the young Shaman girl from the Fluorite Inn ntioned the topic of lifespan. It seems that on the day when a Shaman truly becos a Shaman, they are told their lifespan, and it appears that Shamans have very long lifespans. The young Shaman girl said, ‘from the birth of the white fish to the extinction of the earth’s core.’ Although I didn’t fully understand it, it feels like a trendously long period of ti.”
“White fish? Could it be related to the white fish the fat uncle gave ?” Luo Bu interjected.
Mu Yiran looked at Fang Fei, “Could you briefly paraphrase what the Shaman girl said? ‘White fish’ and ‘earth’s core’, although I don’t fully understand, they seem to be crucial words.”
Today’s ti was short, and after Fang Fei returned, she only briefly ntioned a few things before everyone started looking at the developed negatives on the wall, leaving little ti for in-depth discussions.
Fang Fei recalled the girl’s words, “She said her lifespan is very long, from the birth of the white fish to the extinction of the earth’s core. She also ntioned that the other her must have gone through many hardships to secure the carefree life she has today. Unfortunately, she will never be able to see her other self in her eternal life.”
Upon hearing these words, Mu Yiran fell into contemplation.
Cao Youning couldn’t help but yawn and said, “I’m so tired that I can barely keep my eyes open. Shall we continue this conversation on the bed?”
Du Lingyu replied, “Every ti I see the bed, I’m reminded of the scenes captured in the photos. I’m even a bit hesitant to sleep on them.”
“It’s too cold, we can’t possibly sleep on the floor,” Wei Dong thought for a mont, “How about this? The photo just now captured us all huddling together, and for so reason, there seed to be an empty space near where Lu Heng was. Since this made people feel uneasy, I suggest we break that pattern now. Let’s not sleep in the sa order as the photo!”
“But we can’t even see clearly who is next to whom in the photo, so how do we change the order?” Du Lingyu objected.
“Easy. In the photo, everyone huddled together tightly, so let’s not stick together. After all, the bed is big enough. We’ll intentionally leave so space between each of us and deliberately not follow the sequence of future events!” Wei Dong now harbored a deep hatred for paintings.
However, Du Lingyu shook her head. “I think that no matter how we try to avoid it, we cannot influence the other tiline. But it seems that tiline is precisely what determines our life and death.”
“Well, you never know. We may only see their influence on us, but perhaps we also have an influence on them!” Wei Dong wasn’t convinced. “Anyway, tonight I plan to stay away from Ke Er and keep my distance from Radish too!”
Luo Bu also yawned. “Are we going to look at other photos later? We didn’t enlarge and look at those white fish photos.”
A snoring sound filled the air. Cao Youning unexpectedly fell asleep on the bed.
Qin Ci checked the burning incense. “If we consider lantern-lighting to be at zero o’clock, it’s already six o’clock now, and we have half an hour left until the event of the first photo at 6:30.”
The display on the wall beca increasingly blurry, and the colors faded.
“Strange, why isn’t this piece of fluorite as bright anymore?” Wei Dong was puzzled.
“Perhaps this stone is like Koharu’s eyes. It absorbs light during the day to illuminate at night. It probably can only last for two to three hours, and as ti goes on, the light will gradually weaken.” Qin Ci analyzed.
“If only we had taken the ti to finish looking at these films earlier, now we can’t see them clearly,” Wei Dong expressed disappointnt.
Luo Bu yawned again. “I can hardly stay awake. How about we go to sleep?”
Since the projector was temporarily useless, Wei Dong put it back in the communal cabinet. He was about to encourage everyone to hold on a little longer, hoping to stay awake until 6:30.
Suddenly, footsteps could be heard outside the door, and the familiar voice of the lantern-lighter accompanied the steps: “Guests, go to sleep. If there’s anything to do, do them after the lanterns are lit—”
These words seed to possess so magical hypnotic power. Wei Dong couldn’t help but yawn several tis. He climbed onto the bed and fell asleep, ultimately wasn’t able to hold out until 6:30.
Mai Peng was also very tired, but the pain in his tonsils made it difficult for him to fall asleep quickly. Just as he was about to get up in the dark for so water, he suddenly heard his companion, Lu Heng, in the darkness, “Say, is Shengnan still in this world?”
Mai Peng sighed. “Lu Heng, don’t think too much. We saw Sister Xi’s coffin hanging outside with our own eyes.”
Lu Heng stopped talking and fell silent for a long ti before slowly speaking again, “Back in my hotown, when we hold funerals, there’s always soone to carry the coffin. Usually, it’s the deceased’s closest family or best friend. Actually, I wanted to carry Shengnan’s coffin today, but I was afraid of breaking the rules of this world, and at that mont, I lost the courage to… I truly regret it.”
“It’s all in the past. Sister Xi won’t bla you,” Mai Peng said, although he was overwheld by sleepiness, he still persisted in comforting Lu Heng.
“But she’s out there alone, in the freezing cold and snow,” Lu Heng added.
Mai Peng thought of the crystal coffin hanging outside the Inn and was a little scared by Lu Heng’s words, so he stopped talking.
“Mai Peng, promise , if sothing happens to here, you’ll carry my coffin. Promise ,” Lu Heng repeated in the dark.
Mai Peng felt a bit frightened, but more than anything, he felt uncomfortable at heart. “Okay, I promise you. If sothing happens to , you’ll carry my coffin too.”
“Yes, it’s a deal.”
Before falling asleep, Mai Peng wanted to take another look at the burning incense, but he was so sleepy as if he was about to faint, and soon he fell into a deep sleep.
That night felt exceptionally long and tiring.
Once again, it gave people the illusion that the world had changed dramatically, that even seas had turned into lands.
Du Lingyu struggled to wake herself up. Like the previous night, it felt as if she had been pulled back from another world, undergoing a painful detachnt of her entire body and mind.
Du Lingyu gazed at a corner of the room’s ceiling. Though her mood was not entirely composed, it was not as distraught and helpless as the morning before.
She turned her head to look at Fang Fei and saw she had just woken up as well. When Fang Fei’s gaze swept over her, it felt unfamiliar, even carrying a certain awe-inspiring aura that made Du Lingyu involuntarily shiver.
After a few seconds, Fang Fei seed to truly wake up. She looked at Du Lingyu and sat up, “I can’t believe that we actually fell asleep according to the positions in the photos.”
Du Lingyu also sat up and noticed that so of them were still asleep while others had already woken up, but most of them remained in the sa positions.
Originally it was Xi Shengnan on Du Lingyu’s other side, and now that the spot was naturally vacant. On the other side of Xi Shengnan was Lu Heng, and that spot was also empty now.
Lu Heng’s spot was exactly the empty spot in the photo.
“Where’s Lu Heng?” Du Lingyu asked instinctively.
This question startled Mai Peng awake. He sat up abruptly. “Where is Lu Heng? Where is he?”
Shao Ling’s voice ca from the side of the wooden table, “Sothing happened to Lu Heng.”
Mai Peng’s gaze shifted towards the wooden table, where he noticed several veteran mbers standing by, and Lu Heng was lying face down on the table, as if he was extrely tired and had fallen asleep on it.
It was just like back in high school during evening’s self-study sessions, where Lu Heng would sit in front of him, and when he felt tired, he would nap on the desk for a while and then wake up soon.
“He-he’s sleeping?” Mai Peng heard himself ask.
Qin Ci sighed: “He was poisoned, with exactly the sa poison that Xi Shengnan had consud.”
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