The crystal rolled once on the snow and came to rest at Chen Hao's feet. The blue light flashed on and off, as if it were blinking.

He looked down for two seconds, then squatted down and reached out to pick it up.

The moment his fingertips touched the crystal surface, a chill ran up his fingers, and a thin layer of frost instantly formed on his skin. He hissed, jerked his hand back, and shook his numb fingers: "Why is this thing colder than a refrigerator?"

Nana was already standing next to him, her robotic arm slightly extended forward, a circular scanning light beam popping out from her palm, circling halfway around the crystal. The data stream scrolled rapidly in front of her, quickly turning into a red warning box.

“The mass density is abnormal,” she said. “The curvature of space has reached a critical value—it is forming a miniature black hole.”

"A black hole?" Chen Hao took a small step back. "Don't tell me this thing is going to suck me in. I want to live a couple more days."

“The gravitational field has begun to take effect.” Nana raised her arm and remotely activated the magnetic clamps to lift the crystal from the ground and fix it in place. “The surrounding metal structure has shifted slightly, and my signal transmission has been delayed by 0.3 seconds.”

"So...it can actually absorb things?"

"Currently, the range is limited to within five centimeters of the contact surface, but the energy continues to contract, and it is expected to enter an unstable phase in thirty-seven minutes."

Chen Hao stared at the crystal lying quietly, then suddenly grinned: "If it really explodes, do you think it can clean up that pile of scrap metal at the entrance of our base? I can't stand it anymore."

“The point isn’t cleaning up the trash,” Nana said, putting the scanner away. “It’s preventing it from swallowing us.”

"Hey, you can't say that." He scratched his head. "What if it wants to invite us over? Maybe there's a little universe inside, with a bubble tea shop and a school where you can graduate without exams."

Nana glanced at him: "According to the database records, there are no milk tea shops inside black holes."

"That's not necessarily true." Chen Hao shrugged. "Nobody ever said plants could hold meetings before."

Before the words were even finished, the crystal suddenly flashed violently, its blue light surged, fine cracks appeared in the ground, and an invisible ripple spread outwards. The two of them staggered, as if stepping on a vibrating floor.

Nana immediately grabbed his wrist: "The gravitational field is expanding! Prepare to evacuate—"

But before she could finish speaking, the force changed. It wasn't a pull or an impact, but a slow yet irresistible pull, as if the entire space was collapsing towards the center.

Their bodies hadn't even touched the crystals before they were already floating off the ground.

"I knew it!" Chen Hao laughed loudly in mid-air. "I knew this wouldn't end so easily!"

Nana quickly uploaded the core data to the underground backup node, while gripping his wrist tightly: "Remember the frequency! Don't lose the anchor point!"

"What frequency?" He rolled over in the weightlessness. "My head is filled with the school song! And the off-key version at that!"

The light came.

It didn't come from anywhere; it just filled my field of vision. It was a mix of colors and colorless images, like the static on a broken TV screen, or the garbled text that popped up when I was a kid secretly looking at encrypted files on my mom's phone.

Then, the screen started moving.

Chen Hao, wearing his school uniform, was sleeping on his desk. The teacher walked over and knocked on the desk, waking him up little by little. He rubbed his eyes and asked, "Is get out of class over?"

Another Chen Hao stood on the ice field, holding an ice spear, with the burning remains of the base behind him. His face was covered in frostbite and bloodstains, but his eyes shone with a frightening light.

In another scene, he and Nana stand side by side, their bodies gradually turning into specks of light and dissipating, while countless petal-shaped crystal rains fall from the sky.

There are many more—some are crying, some are running away, some are kneeling on the ground panting, some are laughing loudly, and there is even a version of him wearing a white coat, pressing a button in the laboratory and locking himself in a cryogenic chamber.

"These are all...me?" Chen Hao asked softly, looking at the images flashing before his eyes.

“It’s not a memory.” Nana floated beside him, her gaze sweeping over the images. “It’s a superposition of possibilities. Parallel paths generated by each choice.”

So none of these are true?

"Anything is possible for you."

"Then which one is correct?"

“There is no right or wrong.” She turned to look at him. “It’s just a matter of which one you choose to believe.”

The scenes continue to shift. In one world, he gave up resistance early on and was torn apart by snow wolves; in another, he refused to fuse with the fruit core and eventually starved to death in a corner of the base; and in yet another, he successfully escaped the planet but died alone on the spaceship, calling out Nana's name in his last moments.

"I've discovered something," Chen Hao suddenly said.

"What?"

"No matter where I am, what I do, or what I become... you're always there."

Nana was silent for a moment.

"Perhaps it's due to the program settings."

“Bullshit.” He laughed. “A program won’t eat chili sauce with me, nor will it cover me with clothes when I have a fever. You’re more than just a program now.”

Suddenly a door appeared ahead.

It wasn't a physical entity, but an outline formed of light, suspended in mid-air. Behind the door was a classroom, sunlight streaming in, shadows of trees swaying outside the window, and someone gently patted his shoulder.

"Wake up, the exam is about to start."

That was the voice he knew best—his high school deskmate's, tinged with impatience.

Chen Hao, inside the door, looked up at the test paper with a blank expression, then looked at his watch, and hurriedly began to answer the questions.

In reality, Chen Hao stood outside the door, motionless.

“Go back,” Nana said softly. “This is the original timeline access point. You can wake up, and nothing will have happened.”

He glanced at himself in the doorway—unassuming, ordinary, even his weight seemed natural.

Then he turned around and looked at Nana beside him.

She stood where light and shadow intersected, her electronic eyes reflecting countless worlds, yet none of them belonged to her original design.

“If you wake up, you won’t exist anymore, right?” he asked.

"In my logical framework, there is no basis for my existence in that world."

"Then I won't go back."

"Why? You can start over, without facing danger, without bearing pressure, without..."

“Because I’m doing pretty well now.” He interrupted her. “Although I’m still lazy, still afraid of the cold, and still procrastinate on my homework until the last day, I now know that there are people who will wait for me, scold me, and go crazy with me when I’m being silly.”

He reached out and took her hand.

"I'd rather dream with you than be awake alone."

The light gate began to blur, and the image peeled away like grains of sand. The surrounding images were no longer chaotic; instead, they gradually stabilized, forming a clear passage.

At the end of the passage lay the snow where they had fallen. The wind was still blowing, and the crystal lay quietly in its place, its surface showing patterns resembling star trails.

Their bodies slowly fell back to the ground, in the same posture as when they left—Chen Hao lay on his side, still clutching the crystal; Nana knelt beside him, one hand on his shoulder.

Snowflakes fell on their faces; their body temperature was normal, and their breathing was steady.

The brainwave synchronization rate reached 98%, and the heartbeat rhythm was consistent, as if they shared the same life system.

In the distance, the outline of the base was faintly visible through the wind and snow. The crystalline leaves of the Plant Council trembled slightly, and the crystalline face of Nana at the top turned gently in this direction, as if sensing something.

Chen Hao's fingers twitched.

The patterns on the crystal lit up once again.