“Yuan Bin, crouch here and handle that pure black police dog; Killer, hide behind the corner and take care of that prison guard…”
They had reached the right-side corridor again, the familiar ambush point. Jiang Ran assigned tasks.
They had already trial-and-errored this place many tis. As long as nothing outside the plan occurred, the outco would not go wrong.
Whether it was to successfully escape or to reach the execution ground and identify the Magician’s true identity, they had to pass this checkpoint: one prison guard plus three police dogs.
“Hothead, lie in ambush here. Whatever you do, don’t […] jump the gun!”
Jiang Ran played a feint within a feint.
Because Hothead had no brain to speak of—he couldn’t take in what others said, nor could he control his own body.
So the most critical prop was…
“Lu Yu.”
Jiang Ran bent down and set Lu Yu on the ground. Then, like positioning a wind-up doll, he pressed him behind Hothead and wiped the drool from his mouth.
“You just stay here. Don’t move at all… though of course, even if you wanted to, you couldn’t. Other than drooling.”
Hothead turned his head, saw Lu Yu’s vacant, lifeless eyes, and shuddered.
“Damn it, can you put him farther away? Why stick him right behind ?! It’s making my back crawl!”
“That’s part of the plan.”
Jiang Ran replied:
“He won’t move or speak. There’s zero risk of exposure. Just pretend he doesn’t exist.”
Hothead opened his mouth, then closed it again. He awkwardly scooted forward, trying to put so distance between himself and drooling Lu Yu.
But the corner he was hiding in was barely big enough. There was nowhere far to go.
“Disgusting.”
He looked at Lu Yu’s drool with visible revulsion, quickly tucked his shirt hem into his waistband, then shoved Lu Yu backward… but it was useless. This vegetative Lu Yu didn’t have any “compressibility.” He remained exactly as he was—eyes blank, staring straight ahead.
“…Sigh.”
Hothead finally understood what it ant for one thing to counter another. He hadn’t expected the day would co when even he would feel helpless.
Left with no choice, he forced himself to clear his mind, to ignore the drooling, brain-damaged figure crouched behind him, and focus intently on the dim corridor ahead.
“Woof!”
A low bark sounded from afar. The patrol was approaching.
Jiang Ran suddenly rembered sothing. He quietly crept over and leaned close to Killer’s ear.
“Killer, there’s an alarm on that guard’s chest. Keep an eye on it.”
Killer nodded and made an OK gesture.
“Got it.”
Then ca the agonizing wait.
The footsteps of the guard and the dogs grew closer. At the front of the corner, Killer extended five fingers and began a silent countdown.
5,
4,
3,
2,
“YAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!”
As expected, Hothead couldn’t hold back. Tense and impatient, he burst out from the corner with his electric baton!
Jiang Ran thought to himself: The plan worked. The flaw really was in this tiny detail.
“￥H I”
Seeing Hothead jump the gun, Yuan Bin couldn’t think anymore. He raised his electric baton and stood up—
Only for his foot to trip over a wooden crate. His fat body rolled forward like a tumbleweed, straight to the police dog. He dropped to his knees, shaking his head:
“Woof!”
The dog clamped down on Yuan Bin’s neck. Blood gushed out.
On Jiang Ran’s side, everything went smoothly. He struck the police dog’s abdon with the baton, knocking it out.
Then—
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Four gunshots rang out behind him.
The entire corridor fell silent.
Killer tossed aside the guard’s corpse and looked up at Jiang Ran.
“You really are a ti traveler. This isn’t your first ti here.”
“Obviously.”
Jiang Ran had long since grown numb to this exchange.
He glanced at Lu Yu. Still crouched in place, still drooling—completely unresponsive to the life-and-death battle that had just unfolded.
“Damn it!”
Killer flipped over the guard’s body. His expression changed drastically.
“I grabbed his hands imdiately, but this alarm is automatic! It’s linked to a heartbeat monitor!”
From the other end of the corridor, the rapid whir of drones approaching could already be heard.
Tch.
Jiang Ran clicked his tongue.
He had thought that this ti, he could bring Killer along to the execution ground. But that hope had shattered again.
“You need to go.”
Killer walked over and shoved Jiang Ran.
“You’re wearing civilian clothes. As long as you blend into the execution ground, with that massive crowd, they won’t notice you.”
“We’re not getting out. We’ll stay behind and cover you, but…”
He turned back, looking at Jiang Ran with expectation in his eyes.
“[…] You’ll co back… right?”
Jiang Ran t his gaze.
This question—across countless loops—Killer had asked it many tis.
It was precisely because he believed Jiang Ran was a ti traveler that he supported him so firmly, followed him, protected him.
Seeing Jiang Ran’s silence as tacit confirmation—
Killer smiled.
A calm, resolute smile, ready to face death.
“Go. Next ti… take us farther.”
Jiang Ran reached out and patted Killer on the shoulder.
“I will.”
It was the first ti he had given him an answer.
With each repetition in this cycle of death, a kind of revolutionary camaraderie had indeed grown between them.
Human hearts were made of flesh, after all. And after being protected by this man’s life so many tis, Jiang Ran couldn’t help but feel moved.
“One day, I’ll get you all out.”
He promised:
“Tell your na, Killer. We’ve t so many tis… but I still don’t know it.”
Bang! Bang!
Killer fired two shots, knocking down the first two drones rounding the corner.
Red lights flared from the turn. Countless drones were approaching.
Killer turned around and forcefully shoved Jiang Ran toward the rear corridor.
“[…] Fang Yang.”
He smiled faintly.
“Next ti, call by my na. I’ll trust you more. Now go!”
Then he leapt forward, raising his gun, charging toward the swarm of drones!
Jiang Ran heard the na.
He froze for a brief mont.
But there was no ti to think. He turned and ran deeper into the corridor.
Behind him, the gunshots gradually ceased. The buzzing of drone rotors grew closer.
Ahead, light spilled from the double doors at the end. Outside, deafening roars shook the air.
He reached the end.
Pressed down the handle.
Pushed hard—
“Kill! Kill! Kill! The Magician! Kill! Kill! Kill!”
“Behead him! Behead him! Behead him! Behead him! Behead him!”
A frenzied crowd. A sea of people venting their rage.
Fast!
This ti, he had to be faster!
With the experience of forcing his way through the crowd last ti, Jiang Ran was confident he could optimize his path—reach the execution platform before the Magician was beheaded.
That way…
When the hood covering the Magician’s face was torn off, he could finally see clearly, from the front—
Who the universally condemned Magician truly was!
“Kill! Kill! Kill!”
“Magician! Magician! Magician!”
Everyone craned their necks and shouted. n flushed red with rage, won’s eyes brimd with tears.
Jiang Ran, unable to empathize, stood among them like an emotional anomaly.
His eyes were locked on the execution platform.
On the figure kneeling there.
Closer.
Closer!
The formally dressed official reading out the Magician’s cris seed to be reaching the end of their script, their gestures growing more intense.
Finally—
Through relentless effort and utterly shaless shoving, Jiang Ran forced his way to the very front railing—only one ter from the platform!
At that mont—
The official finished reading, folded the script, turned, and yanked off the coarse hood covering the Magician’s face—
Thud.
Like a single drop falling into a still lake.
Silent—
Yet sending waves towering to the heavens.
Jiang Ran inhaled sharply and held his breath.
That was—
A man in his forties.
Long, unkempt hair. A filthy, overgrown beard. Clearly unwashed for a long ti.
But his brows, his eyes, the contours of his face—
Jiang Ran recognized him at a glance.
Qin Feng…
It really was the Qin Feng he knew!
Even aged, even worn by ti—after spending so many days together, how could he possibly mistake him?
The boiling crowd nearly made the air explode.
But Jiang Ran still drew a deep breath and shouted with all his strength toward the platform:
“Qin Feng!!!!!!!!!!”
Perhaps because no one else in the entire execution ground was calling that na—
The middle-aged man on the platform froze.
Then turned his head toward him.
That was a gaze spanning twenty years;
A crossing of two worldlines;
A collision between knowing and not knowing, between confusion and shock.
Looking at this familiar yet distant old friend—
Standing just a ter away—
Jiang Ran suddenly found himself speechless.
He didn’t know what to say.
Or what to do.
“42!!!!!!!!!!”
On the platform, bound and kneeling, middle-aged Qin Feng suddenly roared:
“Follow 42!!!!!!!!!!”
No one understood what was happening!
After long silence, the Magician—who had already submitted to fate—suddenly struggled like a man possessed!
“Execute him now!”
The suited official turned pale and shouted at the executioner:
“Don’t let him speak! Do it early!”
The massive execution blade rose high!
Its edge tore through the blazing sun, bearing the might of heaven itself!
“42 is correct!!!!!!!!!!”
Qin Feng stared straight at Jiang Ran.
“42 is—”
Slash!!!
Blood burst forth like a fountain from the severed neck, spraying into the air like a rain of crimson.
The surrounding crowd scread and recoiled, instantly clearing a wide space to avoid the falling blood.
As if…
The Magician’s blood carried so deadly poison.
That was their fear. They only dared howl in rage from below—never to face the Magician directly.
Only Jiang Ran did not move.
He stood in the space carved out by the retreating crowd, drenched in the warm rain of blood.
His spotless white clothes turned into a crimson cloak, fluttering in the wind.
His face, his hair, his entire field of vision—
All red.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The severed head rolled across the execution platform, spinning, then stopping upright at the edge.
At this mont—
Perhaps the closest Jiang Ran had ever been to Qin Feng on Worldline No. 1.
Only one ter separated their line of sight.
But…
Qin Feng’s eyes rolled upward.
His eyelids twitched—
Then closed.
Buzz!
Buzz!
Buzz!
Dizziness. Vertigo. The world spinning.
Jiang Ran’s senses vanished once more as he fell into an endless vortex of darkness.
Two seconds later—
The rising sun. The sumr breeze unchanged.
Jiang Ran—
Opened his eyes.
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