Liang Yu was silent for a long time. Finally, he said, “Dr. Zhang, I don’t know if you’re crazy, or I am. I’ll try to believe you, but first, tell me: why me? Why tell all this to a freshman?”
“Because of your detachment,” Dr. Zhang said. “A figure in a painting can’t talk to the painter unless it leaves the canvas. You’re not the only one who feels detached, but you’re the most extreme case I’ve ever seen.”
“That’s… wild. But what can I do?”
“Remember what I told you? Time is a circle. Your job is to find that circle—and break it!”
Liang Yu was stunned. Is Dr. Zhang the real villain here, trying to destroy the world?
“You must make the circle incomplete,” Dr. Zhang explained. “Only in an incomplete time can humanity truly have a future.”
Liang Yu scratched his head. “I think you’ve got the wrong guy. Sure, I feel detached sometimes, but that doesn’t mean I can cross into another world… As for breaking time, shouldn’t that be a job for a professional?”
Dr. Zhang was momentarily taken aback. “A professional?”
Liang Yu muttered, “Like, a dimensional weaver or something…”
Dr. Zhang rubbed his temples, exasperated. “Fine, fine. ‘Breaking time’ is just a dramatic way to put it. I thought someone your age would appreciate the flair. The point is, you need to knock time off its track—find the possibility where the world isn’t destroyed, where humanity survives.”
“Sounds about as hard as breaking time…”
“Well, now that you know, it’s up to you. Liang Yu, this is humanity’s only way out.”
Liang Yu was dumbfounded. “What? Wait—”
“Operation codename: Sky Thief!” Dr. Zhang declared, hitting the switch again before Liang Yu could protest.
Liang Yu found himself in a shop.
At least, it looked like a shop: two rows of shelves lined with round packages that looked like ceiling lights. So, a lighting store? Liang Yu couldn’t remember how he’d gotten there, or why. His thoughts moved sluggishly, as if he was half-awake, half-dreaming.
Then he saw a woman. He couldn’t describe her face or guess her age. She was a newborn, a young girl, an old woman—all at once. Time had taken shape, coalescing into a circle around her, with her different forms moving through the circle’s light and shadow.
Liang Yu thought: This must be the Time Circle. Who had told him that? He couldn’t remember. It was both flowing and still, each instant infinitely variable, its overall path unchanging.
He saw the Time Circle embrace endless possibilities, but not one bit of deviation. Inside the circle was inclusion, a riot of possibilities, billions of outcomes happening at once. Outside the circle was nothingness—an endless void, the Creator’s eternal mockery of false freedom.
Liang Yu felt a crushing sadness. Even time was imprisoned in this circle, cycling endlessly between birth and destruction, never able to escape. What hope was there for humanity, bound by time? What hope was there for him?
He saw the woman, and the woman saw him. The world shattered, like a game crashing from a fatal bug. He didn’t even have time to speak before the scene receded like a tide.
Dr. Zhang turned off the device.
Liang Yu’s first reaction was anger. “Why did you wake me up so soon?!”
He’d had a chance to speak with the woman—just a little more time…
“It’s already been a long time.”
Liang Yu didn’t believe it. Dr. Zhang handed him a tissue, gesturing for him to wipe his face. Liang Yu touched his cheek, surprised to find it wet with tears.
“Whether it’s a second, a minute, an hour, a day, a year, or a century—for you, it was just an instant. Because in that moment, you left time behind.”
Liang Yu stood in a daze for a long while, then finally slumped onto the couch and gulped down his coffee. It was cold, but he didn’t care.
“I failed,” he said wearily. “Do I get a second chance?”
“No,” Dr. Zhang replied. “We’ve already planted the seed of success.
The End
Chapter 05
*