After working together for so long, Jiang Ran and Chi Xiaoguo had developed an extrely high level of tacit understanding.
They barely needed to speak. Each moved on instinct, performing their role. In no ti, they carried out the Positron Cannon, positioned it, aligned its direction, and prepared the phone for dialing—
——————
“Let’s begin!”
Standing beside the transforr distribution box, Jiang Ran gave Chi Xiaoguo inside the activity room a hand signal.
“OK! I’m starting the countdown!”
Chi Xiaoguo took a deep breath.
“5! 4! 3! 2! 1! 0!”
Buzz!
Buzz!
Buzz!
With practiced precision, Jiang Ran once again felt the world spin. Dizzy and disoriented, he was pulled into the vortex of spaceti—
and arrived in the year 2045.
“Fang Ze.”
Sitting in the passenger seat, Jiang Ran called out the Killer’s real na.
“We’ve successfully escaped. It’s ti you fulfilled your promise. I have so questions.”
Just like before, starting from the stationary vehicle in the garage, Jiang Ran followed the familiar route, leading everyone through another successful prison break. The transport vehicle sped off into the distance.
Thud.
He placed the electronic clock on the dashboard. The ti read 11:56 AM.
For the next four minutes, the Killer would answer everything truthfully.
“The leader of the Mutual Aid Society of Regrets… should be that old man you call the ‘Priest.’ What exactly is his objective?”
Jiang Ran frowned.
“From what you’ve said before—and from what I’ve learned myself—he should be soone of extrely high status, with imnse power and wealth.”
“In that case… why would soone like him hire killers? Why use your regrets as bargaining chips, have you commit murder for him—what is he trying to achieve?”
“We truly don’t know.”
The Killer kept his eyes forward and answered bluntly.
“It’s not that I’m hiding anything from you. The reason we joined the Mutual Aid Society of Regrets was simple—to make up for our regrets.”
“Our relationship with the Priest is less like employer and subordinate, and more like priest and believers.”
“To be honest, we don’t really care what his purpose is.”
“Because he does fulfill our wishes. He helps us erase our regrets. He always keeps his word.”
“So—to us, that’s enough. He’s worthy of respect. Worthy of loyalty.”
After a pause, he continued:
“Even though we clearly understand that, from both legal and moral perspectives, what we’re doing is wrong.”
“But only by doing this… can we earn the Priest’s attention, and have our regrets fulfilled.”
Jiang Ran looked at him, silent.
People like them—whether the old minister or the Killer—knew very well that what they were doing was wrong. That it was a cri.
But under the pull of desire, and the weight of regret, those urges had long since overshadowed any reverence for law or humanity.
“I don’t even know how to judge what you’re doing.”
Jiang Ran shook his head.
“You willingly beco soone else’s tool. You’re even willing to go to prison, to give up your life for it.”
“And all to secure your own benefit, to fix your own regrets—at the cost of destroying other people’s lives.”
“Isn’t that… shaful?”
“You’ve resolved your regrets—but for the people you killed, their families are left with new ones.”
“They had parents. They had children.”
“So who is going to fix those families’ regrets?”
“Or are they supposed to follow your path too—keep killing for the Priest, for this so-called Mutual Aid Society of Regrets?”
Jiang Ran’s words made the Killer fall silent.
But there was no remorse on his face. Only that sa calm composure Jiang Ran had noticed from the very first eting—accepting the outco of his choices without regret.
“I can’t answer that question.”
The Killer glanced at the electronic clock.
“Human nature is like this, Jiang Ran.”
“A hundred years ago, during tis of famine, many people survived by eating tree bark.”
————
“If you finally found a piece of bark—would you share it with soone else who’s starving?”
“Or would you give it to your own family… your own child?”
“Let’s make it darker.”
“If your child, your parents, were about to starve to death—and so were soone else’s—would you give your piece of bark to them?”
“You’re just making excuses.”
Jiang Ran spoke quietly.
“These are completely different situations. And you’re not just taking bark—you’re killing people.”
“Even if the outco is the sa—soone dies—the nature and intent are entirely different. That cannot justify murder.”
Heh.
The Killer let out a faint, helpless laugh.
“So you went through all this trouble to break out… just to lecture ?”
“I’ve never tried to justify my actions. I accept all consequences and punishnt.”
“This world isn’t black and white. Not every question has an answer.”
“All the rules and structures in daily life—they’re created by people, not by nature. How can there be absolute right and wrong?”
“If you insist on discussing this—then fine, let ask you sothing.”
“Jiang Ran—have you ever had the resolve to sacrifice everything?”
“To bear the sins of the entire world… to sacrifice all of humanity… just to save one person?”
Jiang Ran said nothing.
Because instinctively, he knew he wouldn’t do sothing like that. It didn’t align with his values.
But—
everything he had done so far to save Cheng ngxue, to return to Worldline 0…
could that be considered destroying Worldline 1 entirely?
Sacrificing all its history… all its existence?
He couldn’t answer.
Nor could he deny it with certainty.
“Nothing?”
The Killer chuckled softly at Jiang Ran’s silence.
“That’s normal. But just because you wouldn’t do it… doesn’t an others wouldn’t.”
“Perhaps soday, you’ll et soone like that.”
“[…]”
“Soone who, for your sake, would give up everything—ignore all condemnation and criticism—even sacrifice the entire world, just to bring you back.”
Pink.
…What?
Jiang Ran’s eyes snapped open.
What was that?
What was that just now?!
Why—
why had that vivid image of a pink-haired girl suddenly appeared in his mind, along with that gaze filled with resentnt?
What was this—
why did he think of Nan Xiuxiu at that mont?
Ridiculous.
Jiang Ran almost laughed at himself.
He hadn’t ant to think of her at all.
Nor had he ever believed Nan Xiuxiu was that kind of person.
Then why—
was his mind glitching like this?
“That would be foolish.”
Jiang Ran pressed his hand to his forehead and spoke softly.
“If I were fourteen or fifteen, maybe I’d think sothing like that was cool.”
“But now—if soone said they’d sacrifice the entire world just to save …”
“…I’d rather they didn’t.”
He lifted his head and looked at the clock.
Ti was running out.
There was one more crucial question.
“Killer.”
Jiang Ran picked up a sticky note and pen from the console and began drawing.
“You told before—after killing Zhou Xiong, you took his phone and a gold coin with an engraved design.”
“You said the front of the coin had a relief of a princess lifting her skirt, with the English word ‘PRINCESS’ below it.”
“And on the back… there was a simple Ferris wheel drawing.”
He finished sketching and slid the note toward the Killer.
“What I drew—does the Ferris wheel look like this?”
The drawing was the exact sa pattern Jiang Ran had seen on the wall of Qin Feng’s family castle.
Eight strange gondolas arranged evenly around the outer ring—
and at the center, a massive black eye spanning the inner circle, staring out at the world.
When the Killer had described the Princess Coin earlier, Jiang Ran had already suspected the design might be the sa.
Now, at the final mont of this trip, he had to confirm it.
The Killer’s eyes widened.
He stared at the drawing for a full five seconds, shock filling his gaze.
“That’s it—”
“It’s exactly the sa.”
His voice was filled with confusion.
“Where… where did you see this?”
“What is this?”
Jiang Ran pressed urgently.
“What does this symbol an? What is it?”
“I don’t know.”
The Killer shook his head.
“I really don’t.”
“But—I’ve seen a similar coin before. In the Priest’s hand. He would often play with it.”
Jiang Ran froze.
“There’s another coin? What did that one look like?”
“Almost identical.”
The Killer recalled.
“The back had the sa Ferris wheel pattern you drew.”
“And on the front… there was a bearded king, with the English word beneath it—”
“KING.”
Buzz!
Buzz!
Buzz!
12:00 AM.
Ti was up.
The world spun, and Jiang Ran was pulled back to 2025.
Two seconds later, he opened his eyes.
“King.”
Another codena?
If each codena corresponded to a coin…
“Magician.”
Jiang Ran murmured Qin Feng’s title in 2045.
He frowned.
When—at what point in ti—had Qin Feng beco the Magician?
On Worldline 0, Jiang Ran had been inseparable from him, yet he had never seen any such coin.
“Could it be—”
A dangerous possibility surfaced.
“Could it be… Qin Feng only obtained the coin on Worldline 1—and beca the Magician because of it? Was that the real reason he sent the ti-traveling ssage back then?”
“Jiang Ran?”
Suddenly, a voice called from behind!
Jiang Ran spun around—
and saw a familiar girl standing there, wearing pajamas with a coat thrown over her shoulders.
Moonlight broke through the clouds, illuminating the quiet campus.
It was nearly 11 p.m. The surroundings were silent, the rustling of tree branches in the wind sounding almost deafening.
Cheng ngxue adjusted her collar and looked at Jiang Ran—standing by the transforr distribution box with his phone.
She looked at the brightly lit Film Cara Club room.
At the mysterious device set up on the lab table.
At Chi Xiaoguo, standing frozen as if nothing around her mattered—
Then, still drowsy, she tilted her head.
“What… are you guys doing?”
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