Chapter 37: Different Times 03

Chapter 37: Different Times 03

Explain?

Yu Bai froze for a moment and reflexively asked back, "What explanation?"

He looked into those gray-blue eyes that resembled winter, inexplicably feeling nervous.

This tone and this sentence made him feel as if he had been caught red-handed after trying to escape from a mistake he had made.

It was just like the legendary fire...

Xie Wufang said, "You said earlier that you would explain later."

...It's fine now.

"Ahh, about that."

Yu Bai sighed in relief, finally remembering the phrase he used to temporarily placate the non-human when Zhang Yunjiang had mentioned learning chess from Xie Wufang.

"In one of the loops, I called you out to play. When we passed Sun Park, you developed an interest in Go and learned it on the spot, even defeating Uncle Yuan... That's how I got to know Uncle Yuan and Uncle Zhang in this loop."

Yu Bai succinctly summarized the background for Xie Wufang.

"Uncle Yuan was so excited that he needed an ambulance, but he was still eager to learn from you. So, he asked Uncle Zhang to find you. There was a thief among the onlookers who got caught, leading someone to call the police. We all went to the police station to give statements. Then, you presented your ID... You should be familiar with what happened after that."

He narrated the main events truthfully but skillfully omitted unnecessary details.

Like how he had made a flimsy pretext for the phone scam, how he went to the park to test Xie Wufang's learning capacity, how Xie Wufang noticed Go due to the abundance of white stones on the board, or how, after winning a game, Xie Wufang silently requested chips with his striking eyes, and how Yu Bai had made Xie Wufang imagine what kind of return gift he would give...

It was merely a trivial matter, anyway.

After he finished, Xie Wufang fell into a thoughtful silence.

"I'm interested in Go?" He paused, asking in a detached tone, "What is Go?"

"..." Yu Bai made an earnest attempt to deflect the question, "It's a board game that people enjoy. I'll explain it to you in detail later when we have time."

Employing his delaying tactics once more, Yu Bai managed to steer the conversation away from the topic of Go, and Xie Wufang did not pursue it further.

The man turned and said, "You seemed quite nervous just now... when I asked you to explain."

"Why?"

Yu Bai was taken aback again.

He knew that this non-human creature before him was simply curious and had innocently posed the question, just as it had in many previous conversations where every word spoken held only its literal meaning.

But why did it now carry an inexplicable undertone of a crematorium? !

Yu Bai covered his face, speaking with a hint of pain, "It's nothing, I just recalled a terrible pun."

"Terrible pun?"

"As the name suggests, it's a terrible joke. There's no need to know about it... wait, let me answer my phone!"

His phone, still held tightly in his palm, suddenly rang. Yu Bai seized the opportunity to pause his conversation with Xie Wufang in relief.

He had just given Zhang Yunjiang his phone number. Surely, the elderly man couldn't have encountered trouble so soon, could he?

Yu Bai peered down at the screen with concern, but froze upon seeing the caller's name displayed.

It was... no, not Mother Cliché, but Yan Jing's mother.

Surprised, Yu Bai answered the call.

Instantly, an agitated voice echoed from the other end of the line.

"Little Bai! Are you home? Are you free right now?" Mrs. Yan spoke rapidly, "Could you come over to our place?"

Without hesitation, Yu Bai replied, "I'll be there soon, Aunt. Don't worry, what happened?"

"Great! We'll be waiting for you." Mrs. Yan fretted, "There's something wrong with Yan Jing!"

As Yu Bai reached out to hail a taxi, a chill ran down his spine. "What's wrong with him?"

Could it be that Yan Jing's transition through time and space hadn't gone as smoothly as his and Xie Wufang's, resulting in an accident?

Through the phone, faintly, came Yan Jing's voice intertwined with Mr. Yan's in a commotion.

Mrs. Yan responded in panic, "He rushed back from the gym, claiming that he's been reincarnated!"

"He said he went back seven days in time and is now fixated on the lottery numbers that will be drawn tomorrow. I have no idea what he's muttering about!"

...

Yu Bai exerted self-control to prevent himself from bursting into laughter at an inappropriate moment.

Forgive him, as a third-rate writer who contributed to popular magazines, he shouldn't have casually fed his best friend such fictional concepts.

Not only did it harm his friend, but it also backfired on the master of clichéd plots himself.

...And it was actually nine days ago, not seven!

With such poor math skills and memory, how could he recall lottery numbers he hadn't even paid attention to before?

"Don't worry, Auntie," Yu Bai reassured her. "He'll be fine. I'll be there in about twenty minutes."

"Okay, okay, we'll feel much better with you here!"

As Yu Bai ended the call, he happened to flag down an empty taxi. Ready to set off, he casually mentioned to the person beside him, "Yan Jing definitely doesn't realize he's entered another timeline. He thinks he's simply gone back in time. I'll have to find a way to explain this to his parents later, or they'll surely think he's lost his mind." It wasn't until Yu Bai finished speaking and the open car door remained empty that he realized something. Turning his head, he saw the man with black hair and blue eyes still standing where he was, seemingly with no intention of getting in the car. His gaze was fixed on Yu Bai, listening quietly, but showing no interest in what Yu Bai had to say about Yan Jing. Yu Bai instinctively recalled the same expression the man had worn when he had seen the resurrected Elder Zhang earlier. A fleeting thought crossed his mind, but he didn't grasp it in time. Instead, he asked instinctively, "Aren't you coming with me?" It was as if he was asking a long-time friend who would always join him in everything he did. Upon hearing this, Xie Wufang's stationary footsteps moved towards him. "I'll go with you," he said.

The car door shut, and the scenery outside the window rushed backward in a blur.

The driver, seated behind the wheel, occasionally glanced at the rearview mirror, curiously assessing the two passengers in the backseat.

Blond-haired, blue-eyed foreigners were a common sight, but Eurasian hybrids with a blend of Eastern and Western features were not so typical.

Moreover, encountering two such handsome ones was even more uncommon.

However... there seemed to be an odd vibe in the back.

Yu Bai's brow was slightly furrowed; he didn't initiate conversation with the man beside him, instead concentrating on retracing the fleeting thought that had just escaped him.

He sensed that this Xie Wufang, in this moment, seemed different from the countless iterations he had encountered in the loop.

On the surface, their personalities were still similar:

Mostly quiet, silently observing the world around them.

Polite, often apologizing proactively, and endeavoring to abide by the rules of society, albeit sometimes in his own peculiar interpretation.

Possessing an uncanny memory, he neither forgot what he saw nor heard, especially when it concerned matters that piqued his interest or concern.

When encountering something he didn't understand or wished to know more about, he would typically ask outright.

He didn't lie and seldom concealed his emotions.

Except for the initial deception about being human to Yu Bai, and the subsequent claim that he didn't dislike white – those were the only two instances.

But...

As Yu Bai pondered, he couldn't shake off the scene where the non-human had stood rooted to the spot, seemingly uninterested in boarding the vehicle.

In the loop, every time Yu Bai approached Xie Wufang with bizarre excuses to drag him into some mischievous adventure or perilous escapade, Xie Wufang would always agree.

It was an unconditional and instantaneous agreement, with at most a mild curiosity about how Yu Bai knew his name or phone number.

So why was his initial response rejection this time?

Yet, after Yu Bai posed the question, the other party unexpectedly consented.

Moreover, it wasn't an agreement made out of obligation.

Yu Bai couldn't wrap his head around it.

Leaning against the half-open car window, he fell into a daze.

The summer breeze blew, and the brilliant sunlight of the approaching dusk poured through the transparent glass, flooding over his slightly furrowed, exquisite brows. It tinged the light brown strands of hair falling across his forehead with a soft golden glow.

A voice, infused with curiosity, suddenly sounded from close by, "Are you unhappy?"

"Hmm?"

Yu Bai snapped back to reality, gazing blankly ahead, only to find himself locked in the gaze of those hazel-blue eyes watching him intently.

"I'm not unhappy," he said instinctively. "I just..."

He was merely observing and studying non-humans in the same discreet manner as that non-human who silently watched over humans.

Yu Bai didn't voice it out.

Suddenly, he found the situation rather amusing.

Unconsciously, the corners of his pale lips lifted, and his gaze swiftly shifted to the fleeting scenery outside the window, artfully diverting the topic.

"Look, that building is surrounded by barriers. They must be renovating it, right? It wasn't like that the last time we passed by."

"..." Xie Wufang indeed followed his gaze and looked over.

After a moment's thought, he said, "The last time we passed by, it was also surrounded."

Yu Bai immediately looked at him in surprise, about to ask, "How did you kno—"

Halfway through his sentence, he remembered.

They had driven down this road just yesterday, when he took them home from the funeral parlor in his car.

That was both the yesterday that had passed and the several days yet to come.

...This guy's memory was simply too remarkable.

Is he a camera, capturing every scene impartially along the way?

"It's the road to the funeral home," Little Xie, the cameraman, said. "You were focused on driving yesterday, so you didn't notice."

At this, Yu Bai happened to catch the driver in the rearview mirror eavesdropping on their conversation with a furtive glance.

"Of course, one should focus on driving," Yu Bai drawled, then continued, "Yan Jing's place is just a five-minute drive from the funeral home. I used to visit often."

The taxi driver ahead cleared his throat softly and shifted his gaze back to the road as if nothing had happened.

Beside him, the man asked, "You visited often to play?"

"Mm-hm, he's my best friend," Yu Bai replied. "We've been friends since primary school, and even now, his parents are very kind to me."

Xie Wufang followed up with, "Then why 'used to'?"

"..." Yu Bai looked at him in disbelief.

For a moment, he couldn't tell if the non-human had stumbled upon the answer by chance or had keenly grasped the essence of the matter.

Yu Bai smiled and said, "Because I've grown up. From ten to eighteen, and now at twenty-two, so many years have passed. I'm no longer a child who needs constant care."

He answered Xie Wufang's question with an unusual sincerity.

Yu Bai thought that the other party wouldn't understand these words, nor would they comprehend the intricacies of human emotions.

So it didn't matter if he shared them.

Sure enough, there was no change in Xie Wufang's expression.

He gazed sidelong at the brown-haired young man laughing beside him. After a brief silence, he suddenly said, "Twenty-two years is short."

Yu Bai was taken aback, his eyes blinking in confusion. "What?"

"It's a very brief period," the man replied. "…Not enough to fully grow up."

The warm glow of the setting sun momentarily drenched Yu Bai's startled gaze.

Then, he laughed again.

This time, it was much more sincere.

He had no idea where this guy got his bizarre sense of time that was so unlike a human's.

But... he strangely rather liked that notion.

It was as if it was encouraging him to remain a child.

With a hint of amusement in his shallow eyes, he turned to gaze at the increasingly familiar landscape outside the window.

"We're almost there," he said softly.

As Yu Bai and Xie Wufang entered Yan Jing's home, they were met with a crescendo of excited voices.

The door stood ajar, clearly left open early for Yu Bai's arrival.

At the entrance, Mrs. Yan was the first to spot Yu Bai. "Little Bai, you're finally here! Quick, quick, quick. How did this child mess up his mind at work? Oh, is this your friend?"

With an expression that read 'I'm not crazy,' Yan Jing's eyes lit up instantly. "Little Bai! Brother Xie! Let me tell you guys, I really have reincarnated! But my parents just won't believe it! If only I had remembered the lottery numbers a few days ago..."

Yu Bai signaled to the anxious Yan couple with a subtle nod, urging them to calm down. He then casually beckoned Yan Jing over. "Come here."

Yan Jing immediately walked obediently over while urgently stating, "Little Bai, you'll believe me, right? Before I reincarnated, we were even taking the elevator together!"

"I do believe you," Yu Bai replied, confusion tingeing his voice. "But why couldn't I get through to your phone?"

"I knew you'd believe me! Why wouldn't you? I rushed home from work as soon as possible just to tell you all!"

Yan Jing shot a resentful glance at his parents before answering Yu Bai's question. "Because when I reincarnated, I happened to be slacking off in the toilet. I got so excited that I—"

Yu Bai promptly interrupted him. "Alright, I can guess the rest. No need to continue."

Lowering his voice, he whispered to Yan Jing, who was now on the verge of giving him a bear hug out of gratitude. "You saw two different timelines in that golden elevator, didn't you? And then you were reborn."

"Holy sh*t!" Yan Jing exclaimed in shock. "How did you know?!"

"Because we took the elevator together, remember?"

Yu Bai's tone was gentle, yet his gaze conveyed a hint of condescension, as if he were looking at someone slow-witted.

"This is the timeline where I met Uncle Yuan. You didn't reincarnate; you entered another dimension, just like us."

"..." Yan Jing gasped in shock. "What? Then my five million—!"

"What five million?" Yu Bai replied impatiently. "You didn't even remember the winning lottery numbers to begin with!"

"Go clarify things with your parents and ease their worries. We still need to find the others later."

Yan Jing glanced dazedly at his parents, who were already researching the best psychiatric hospitals in Stellar City. He sought help. "How do I explain this...?"

Without any empathy, Yu Bai shoved him forward. "I don't care. Figure something out yourself."

He didn't want to hear any more explanations today.

It was time to toughen up this foolish friend who only knew how to build muscles but not brains.

As Yan Jing mustered the courage to concoct a story for his parents, Yu Bai, now idle, turned his head and, as expected, saw Xie Wufang standing by, silently observing the unfolding scene.

He stood quietly beside Yu Bai, seemingly content with being an observer, not wanting to interfere.

His eyes were still that same grayish-blue, like an icy lake frozen in a winter forest.

Bathed in the soft evening light, Yu Bai recalled the old man's earnest hope earlier, and couldn't help but ask his companion, "In this timeline, Uncle Zhang wants to learn Go from you. I've seen how quickly you picked it up and how much better you are than them... Would you be willing to teach him?"

The silent man shook his head gently, as honest as ever.

After his contemplation in the taxi, this response didn't come as too much of a surprise to Yu Bai.

On a sudden whim, he asked, "If it was me who wanted to learn, would you teach me?"

The moment the question left his lips, Yu Bai felt a twinge of regret, but it was too late to take it back.

He could only wait, curiosity and a touch of unease mingling within him, for the other's response.

As dusk settled, their silent gazes intertwining, Xie Wufang softly repeated, "If?"

"..."

Yu Bai, who had been holding his breath, nearly suffocated.

The emphasis was on the second part, wasn't it?

His mistake for forgetting that this non-human wasn't skilled in imagination.

"Not 'if'."

Yu Bai promptly revised his question, posing it anew.

"I want to learn Go. Would you be willing to teach me?"

As his inquisitive tone faded into the orange-red sunset, a sincere reply surged forth like overlapping waves, gently enveloping the moment.

"Willingly."