time

Shi Youchen didn't feel that 07 was blackmailing him. He knew full well that Morrill had chosen to join Mo Lian, Yan Zhiyuan had pledged his loyalty to Lin Zhouze, and Xiaowei was repaying the favor of saving his life. They were all motivated by selfish reasons, so they couldn't be considered bargaining chips in the game between 07 and him.

As for myself...

After leaving the restaurant, Shi Youchen took the initiative to invite 07. At this moment, the two were at the home of 07 Maintenance Bureau.

Shi Youchen's appearance made Kong feel extremely threatened, and in his excitement, his energy went out of control, destroying a seemingly expensive instrument. Shi Youchen followed 07 into the room, looking awkwardly at the debris on the ground after the disintegration, and then he noticed a boy next to him staring at him fiercely.

"..." Shi Youchen thought that he had probably never seen him before, and silently looked away.

07 looked expressionlessly at his young disciple, who was standing there with clenched fists, clearly furious, and said, "Clean it up and get a new one. I need it tomorrow morning." Then he turned around and seemed to explain to Shi Youchen specifically, "This is my disciple, Kong. As for his abilities..."

"Just think of it as 'positioning movement' for now."

Kong responded to 07 respectfully, but when he turned and stared at Shi Youchen, his eyes instantly turned hostile. Even though Shi Youchen didn't meet his gaze, he continued to stare until he left.

07 gestured to Youchen to sit anywhere, leaned against the wall and snapped his fingers. All the fluorite on the surface of the building that was as straight as a mast and reached the sky dimmed. From the outside, it looked like it had completely disappeared in this space.

"Tell me, what do you want to know?" 07 had no expression on his face, but Shi Youchen felt that he seemed to be in a good mood when he listened.

Shi Youchen picked a seat and sat down. A cup of coffee floated over to him. "I don't want that, thank you." 07 flicked his finger, and the coffee turned into tea.

"You saved me because I'm valuable to you, and you'll tell me this value sooner or later, so I'm not curious now." Shi Youchen took the cup, and the tea aroma penetrated his nostrils, making his thoughts clearer. "I want to confirm something with you."

The coffee that Shi Youchen had rejected appeared in 07's hands. He took a sip and said, "You've experienced it yourself, haven't you?"

——

On November 3, 173rd year of the new calendar, after rejecting Ying Yungui's proposal to return early, Shi Youchen once again confirmed his recent strange behavior through the video, and then accidentally discovered clues that might link the recent events in Districts 4, 7, and 9.

That night, Shi Youchen suddenly became still and dazed again. Unlike before, this time he did not forget the memory.

On the contrary, the scenes during that period were clearly engraved in his mind.

In the few minutes that seemed dazed to the outside world, Shi Youchen witnessed the scene of Ying Yungui and Kulin meeting in a forest. He saw them fleeing the scene after failing to break the domain, and saw Labairel's temporary joining the scene. He also saw the shattering of the Hun Tian Lock, the rampage of unknown energy, the three people's retreat eastward, and finally Labairel's desertion, leaving Ying Yungui and Kulin in a desperate situation...

At the end of these scenes, Kulin used all his life energy on infinite super-dimensional perception, and was madly attacked by the cursed energy. In the countdown before his death, he told Ying Yungui the key to solving this energy problem -

"Whatever energy 'it' absorbs, it will become the kind of barrier space it is, so you can't use offensive energy to forcibly fight it. As long as..."

Time went forward, Shi Youchen returned to the cave with the stone platform with inscriptions, and now he finally knew how he got back to the house where he lived.

The wind and rain continued, but with time, they stopped, pausing between heaven and earth. All sounds vanished, not a single ripple on the lake, and the dead trees no longer wailed at the passing wind.

In the vast mountains, only Shi Youchen's figure was seen walking slowly towards where he came from.

After the figure completely disappeared in the hazy atmosphere of the Jiangnan water town, the raindrops continued to fall, the wind howled again, and all the sounds lingered in the mountains again.

Memories that had been shattered into fragments crowded into his mind, pieced together into a complete, coherent picture. When Shi Youchen regained consciousness, he was sitting on the edge of the thin single bed, facing the endless green outside the window.

Time...is embodied in him.

After realizing this, he had repeatedly tried and controlled it. The result of his attempts was that he appeared in front of Ying Yungui and the other two a week later. After seeing Labire's face clearly, he knew that it was all true.

This time, I really have to say goodbye to Ying Yungui.

——

"Time stands still, foresight." Shi Youchen loosened his fingers, and the cup of tea stopped in the air. The originally rising hot steam turned into fine wisps of white mist, blocking one of his eyes.

"Why do I have these two abilities?"

"What exactly is superpower?"

07 stretched his legs and stood up from the wall he was leaning against. The wall behind him instantly became transparent, revealing the dark blue outside. Several aircraft passed by one after another. Shi Youchen tilted his head and saw Kong standing on one of the aircraft, looking inside through the transparent wall.

07 asked him: "Do you know what my special ability is?"

Shi Youchen immediately replied, "Collapse." On that night at the border of Districts 9 and 10, he had personally witnessed the fight between 07 and Frovitch.

Unexpectedly, 07 shook his head, walked to Shi Youchen, and pointed his finger at the cup that was covered with white mist.

Countless tiny cracks instantly appeared on the cup, and then, along with the tea inside, it turned into powder and disappeared. But 07 didn't withdraw his hand, his fingertips still hovering in front of Shi Youchen's eyes.

Shi Youchen didn't blink. He saw that the powder that should have completely dissipated actually quickly gathered together and formed a cup again. The tea in the cup was still steaming, exactly the same as when it first appeared.

"Now, do you still think it's collapsed?" 07 withdrew his hand, calmly took a sip of coffee, and asked Shi Youchen, "What exactly is superpower? Do you know what this question represents?"

"Living beings are divided into high and low. Talents vary in strength. But ever since the emergence of superpowers, there has never been anyone like a school teacher to teach others how to grow and become stronger."

"Why."

"Throughout the history of the Association, there have always been only so many high-level psychics. However, some low-level psychics are clearly incredibly talented, but aside from those with wealthy family backgrounds, no one is willing to invest resources in them."

"Why again?"

07 reached out his hand towards Shi Youchen: "Because they don't want to."

Shi Youchen looked at him and put his hand on him.

"They don't want to let the powerful talents truly grow, because if they do, the superior talents will discover the secrets and replace the inferior ones."

"What secret?"

07 took Shi Youchen by the hand and brought him to the wall where he could see the entire scene outside.

As 07 finished speaking, Shi Youchen saw Kong, who was about to turn around and leave, stopped moving. The pedestrians in the corridor outside also stopped, as did the flying birds, swimming fish, and even the ripples on the water above their heads.

"Because superpowers are never a fixed ability, but a direction."

07 suddenly pulled Shi Youchen and ran along the wall. The scene in front of them was still, but the scene behind them started moving again as the two of them passed by.

"The more powerful the psychic, the easier it is to find the right direction. If you follow that path, you will find that the psychic power is growing with you." 07 took Shi Youchen all the way to the end of the wall, then passed through the wall and stood in the dark corridor outside.

"Let go of the teacher!" Kong's angry voice came from behind. Shi Youchen turned around and then raised his hand that was being held tightly.

"I do want to." He shook a few times, 07's hand still stuck to his wrist. Kong's face turned purple, and he snorted and ran away on the aircraft.

"I understand, let me go."

07 narrowed his eyes after hearing this: "What do you know?"

Shi Youchen retracted his hand into his robe: "I know your special ability." 07 motioned for him to continue.

"Your ability is essentially 'time'." Shi Youchen paused and continued, "My ability is also 'time'."

"So you saved me because my abilities had grown to this point and you thought it would be a pity if I died, right?"

07 chuckled softly, looked Shi Youchen up and down, and said, "I really wasn't wrong about you. You're quite smart, and you've become somewhat aware now. How about joining me? I'm not like those timid old guys in the association, so I can teach you a lot."

Shi Youchen asked back, "Aren't you worried that I'm pretending to be loyal to you, but in reality I'm still loyal to the Association? You know, there are my friends and people I like in the Association."

07 glanced at the purple robe he was wearing and said with a hint of sarcasm, "Friend? Someone you like? Okay, then we'll wait and see if I picked the wrong person, or if you're really that loyal."

...

...

...

Shi Youchen settled down in the Maintenance Bureau's base. He didn't ask how to leave this alien space, nor did he try to escape. As he had said to Yan Zhiyuan before, until he understood everything, he would only stand on his side.

Shi Youchen knew his "death" would definitely affect Ying Yungui and Lin Zhouze, but impulsiveness was not his nature. Furthermore, according to current time, he had been "dead" for over a year, so any sadness should be diluted by time.

In addition, after confirming that Yan Zhiyuan was still alive and had been trying to find a way to restore Lin Zhouze, who had become an "inferior", Shi Youchen felt more at ease.

As for what the outside world had become like, Shi Youchen didn't really care. His primary goal was to utilize the resources here to become stronger.