Chapter 081: Beauty 01

Chapter 081: Beauty 01

In the fleeting moment when time and space intersected, people with startled expressions suddenly found themselves traversing two worlds that were strikingly similar yet fundamentally different, as if vast star rivers flowed, fine snow cascaded like waterfalls, and wildernesses stretched far and wide.

The world was as silent as an exquisitely beautiful void.

When one walked through that faintly present door separating different times and spaces...

What would the disoriented traveler see?

The overwhelming darkness receded like the tide, revealing a splendid and abundant sea of gold.

And the subtle pressure on his high nose bridge, long missed.

Yubai opened his eyes in a daze, first seeing the transparent, thin glass pane before him, then the real world beyond it.

He still wore those large, clumsy black-rimmed glasses.

He still stood in the opulent golden elevator.

On the bright, new walls of the elevator car, the display screen continued to play the soothing and lively morning news.

At the top and bottom of the screen, beneath the news footage, two clocks ticked away in unison.

07:05:13

07:05:14

The clock calmly moved to the next second.

The dream hidden within the crevices of time had ended.

The brown-haired youth, who had been staring blankly, blinked his eyes. Immediately after, countless thoughts fluttered across his clear, pale irises.

The muscular man, who had been scratching his head in confusion, blinked his eyes. His expression suddenly turned to horror, then lingered in a state of absentminded yearning as he muttered, "I saw..."

The elementary school girl, who had been huddled in the corner, blinked her eyes. Her childish gaze held surprise that came too suddenly, and the deepest, richest sense of cherishment.

She almost blurted out, "So many stars!"

When she had wandered in the pitch-black walls, she often heard sounds from other people's homes coming from outside.

Those lively sounds wove into stars through the wall, hazy and indistinct, so close yet so far.

Stars passed by her side, but not a single one belonged to her.

But in the instant that a similar darkness surged forth, amidst the dizziness that swept over everything, He Xi actually saw countless dazzling stars.

Stars that shone brilliantly in the pure blackness of the world.

Stars that docked beside her in the golden elevator.

Just as the child's voice faded, another voice, lost in thought, alternated with hers: "No, they weren't stars."

"I saw heavy snow drifting in the darkness," he said hesitantly. "And a paper airplane flying very high and far away."

As Yan Jing spoke, he instinctively looked up, only to see the brilliant golden ceiling of the elevator car.

This was the new elevator that Brother Tian had arranged for Xiao Bai overnight, after being away for several days, in the real world.

He gradually regained his wandering thoughts, yawned, and asked in surprise, "How did I suddenly come back?... I seemed to be in bed dreaming just now, did I oversleep and the time is up?"

As he said this, his gaze shifted slightly. Yu Bai and He Xi also subconsciously looked over, both revealing shocked expressions almost simultaneously.

The little boy with flushed cheeks was gone.

In his place was the old man they hadn't seen for several days, his figure hunched over.

His clothes were no longer the children's wear that Yu Bai had helped him buy, but a solemn, well-fitted set of black clothing.

It was identical to what he had worn at the funeral home yesterday.

His time seemed to have returned to the moment before he inexplicably reverted to childhood.

But what he held in his hand was no longer the black and white Go stones that he had angrily hurled at the family of the bastard. Instead, it was a piece of paper folded neatly into a square.

With the sudden shift in time and space, Yuan Yuheng had just recovered from his shock and hurriedly looked down at the paper in his hand.

His aged, withered fingers trembled lightly as he carefully unfolded the paper.

Under the soft light of the elevator, the A4 paper, crisscrossed with clear creases, was covered with writing on both sides.

One side was filled with the four possibilities he had racked his brains to write down while playing the spirit board game with the blue orb.

The other side was densely packed with words, written in a powerful and vigorous hand, full of character.

These were two styles of handwriting that were quite similar yet had their differences.

They were clearly written by two different hands.

The endless words that had successively solidified on the paper faced each other quietly.

The moment the elder saw the handwriting on the other side, he suddenly let out a sigh of relief, and his eyes instantly welled up with redness.

No longer a child, he struggled to hold back his tears. Looking up at Yu Bai beside him, he quivered, "Brought it back, really brought it back... It really happened, it wasn't a dream."

He had brought back the will written by Zhang Yunjiang himself.

The old friend, who had fallen into a coma without leaving a word and passed away, could finally attain the peaceful blue serenity.

And when Yu Bai heard his choked whisper, he softly replied, "It's not a dream; we've all seen Uncle Zhang."

"Yes, I saw him too." Yuan Yuxing hung his head, his hunched figure trembling slightly. "...He really had unfinished business."

Seeing the old man suddenly return to normal, Yu Bai also realized this.

Recalling the sobbing he heard outside the chess room earlier and the snatches of conversation carried by the wind, he could vaguely guess what Zhang Yunjiang's unfulfilled wish was.

It was a regret and desire that couldn't be mentioned to strangers met by chance, a regret and desire buried deep in his heart for years.

A regret and desire related to another person.

After the regret was resolved, the travelers from other worlds left that time and space that shouldn't have existed and returned to reality.

So, was it because time had reached that split second, or was it because the old man's wish was fulfilled and the shackles were lifted?

In that moment of darkness, Yu Bai, who hadn't noticed the time, couldn't be sure.

But it didn't matter anymore.

At this moment, suddenly back in the elevator, he had only one small thought.

The golden color was so bright, so brilliant.

Bright enough to make one want to cry.

Yu Bai thought that he seemed to like this gaudily shaped gold elevator a little bit.

Because in this gold elevator, he had unexpectedly become a hero in someone else's life.

He used to think that saving the world was a grand and difficult thing, never imagining that it would only require quietly accompanying an unexpectedly met elder through a short yet eternal winter day.

So insignificant, so simple.

Like deciding to change direction while riding an electric scooter on the road.

The luxurious, golden elevator slowly descended and stopped at a certain floor.

In the busy morning hours, the golden doors opened to the sides, and the residents who entered hurriedly, then swept their rather surprised gazes over the few people in the elevator.

The expressions of the unfamiliar passengers were complex and indiscernible, clearly just taking the elevator downstairs as usual, but as if they had experienced a very long and distant journey.

A journey unknown to others.

The muscular man, with a robust build, leaned against the wall of the car in a daze, recalling the beautiful snowy day that seemed still within sight, then glanced at the time displayed on the screen and said softly, "...I'm going to take another day off to recover."

Having suddenly experienced such a strange event, how could he possibly be in the mood to work today.

The little girl, no longer timid, thought for a moment and asked, "Can I take a day off too?"

Thinking that she would never see the kind Grandpa Zhang again, she felt sad and upset, not wanting to go to school.

Nor did she want to leave the people around her at this moment.

The brown-haired young man standing in the center smiled. "Do you know your teacher's phone number? I'll call in sick for you."

The old man, somewhat hunched over, wiped his red eyes and smiled. "Xiaobai, now that I see you wearing glasses again, I'm a little unaccustomed to it."

Yuan Yuxing's gaze swept over Yu Bai, who had returned to his otaku appearance, then looked at Xie Wufang, who was often mistaken for a half-breed by his side.

His tone was full of emotion. "That day, I was really bold to insist on competing with you."

"But it's a good thing I did."

The old man let out a deep sigh, then his eyes filled with genuine admiration. "Your game of chess was truly excellent, really amazing... I will never forget that game for the rest of my life."

Especially with the departed old friend standing by to watch.

Hearing this, the man who had been particularly quiet since returning to this time and space looked up at him without saying a word, which was already a response.

As if they all possessed the memory of that experience in the alternate time and space.

Wait!

Upon hearing these words, Yu Bai's smile suddenly froze.

His steps, which had been following the crowd out of the elevator, also paused.

In the first-floor waiting hall bustling with footsteps in the morning, Yu Bai stared at the old man with a wistful expression and blurted out, "What did you just say?!"

"Huh?" Yuan Yuxing was taken aback for a moment before realizing, "Oh, I was talking about my game of chess with Teacher Xie Xia."

"I don't know why, but the moment I got back into the elevator, a memory popped into my head... a memory different from this world, probably what you're talking about, what happened that day in the loop."

From a certain time that afternoon until he met Yu Bai and Xie Wufang, everything was exactly the same as in the real world.

But after meeting them, things became completely different.

Playing chess with the blue-eyed young man learning the game for the first time, getting so excited that he fainted on the spot, and waking up in the hospital to see the window mysteriously turned into a mirror-like lake, which quickly returned to normal.

Hearing this, Yan Jing was shocked. "Huh? You remembered what happened in the loop?! But why don't I?"

He Xi followed with a puzzled expression. "I don't have any extra memories either."

Yuan Yuxing said, "Maybe it's because your day wasn't changed by Xiaobai. Even if you gained this memory, it wouldn't be any different from the real world!"

He Xi immediately said, "I remember there was a sky anomaly that day. Although Brother Xiaobai said it was brief, there wasn't one in the real world that day."

As she spoke, she quickly realized the problem. "...I was in the wall at that moment, so I wouldn't have seen it."

Then it's indeed identical to the real world.

Yan Jing understood, thumping his chest and lamenting, "I was slacking off in the gym's restroom back then... Little Bai, why didn't you invite me to stroll through the park? Damn it, I ended up working an extra day for nothing."

As they chatted animatedly, a thunderous alarm sounded in Yu Bai's heart.

In disbelief, he looked at Xie Wufang, who had remained silent until now, harboring a faint glimmer of hope as he nervously asked, "...Have you remembered too?"

"Mm."

The god with black hair and blue eyes nodded gently, delivering a more crushing blow in a matter-of-fact tone.

"The dissipation of surplus dimensions will have some impact on this world."

For instance, it allows travelers who personally visited that dimension to retrieve memories that were originally lost in the loop.

Yu Bai felt his scalp tingle as he took a deep breath and hurriedly asked him, "If we get caught up in other dimensions stored in the endgame in the future, will we also recall them like this after coming out?"

"Yes."

After Xie Wufang's response, the people around him froze, their eyes suddenly fixated on the black box holding the small ball in their hands, as if staring at the most troublesome predicament.

Thus, a faint confusion spread across those unique gray-blue eyes.

He said softly, "You seem very tense."

"..." Yu Bai chuckled dryly, shaking his head unconvincingly, "I'm not nervous, not at all."

He wasn't nervous about the additional memory Xie Wufang had gained at this moment.

Because in this dimension, apart from the slightly shameful act of making sales calls to non-humans, everything else was normal.

After all, the most outrageous thing he did—dragging Xie Wufang away from the police station—he had already told the other party about right from the start.

What Yu Bai was nervous about were the dimensions he hadn't yet visited, which he could be unexpectedly drawn into at any time.

Those dimensions where he acted recklessly, relying on others' lack of memory.

Like the dimension where he locked Xie Wufang in the kitchen to cook for him all day.

Or the dimension where, suddenly feeling overwhelmed and lonely, he dragged Xie Wufang to drown together in a river.

Or the dimension where he got Xie Wufang involved in underground turmoil, and...

"What are you thinking about?"

Xie Wufang watched the person in front of him, who claimed not to be nervous but whose expressions kept changing, and asked thoughtfully.

"I was thinking..." Yu Bai's voice suddenly caught, turning abruptly, "Ah, I'm really hungry, I want, want to have breakfast."

He wanted to run away with the ball right now!!

No, better to perish along with the ball, for a truly final resolution.

Because this time, it was really over.

...

🙂