The black cat's tail drew ripples through the "fragments of daily life." Those shimmering fragments of memory suddenly began to swirl, weaving a translucent curtain of time between the two. Lin Yue saw Xia Zichen shield her from the radiation when they first met three years ago. The cracked star pattern on his brow unexpectedly formed a closed loop with the pattern on his wristband now—it turned out that all this instinctive protection was genetically encoded from the moment they met.

"These fragments aren't random." Xia Zichen's fingertips brushed against the floating "Courage Candy" wrapper, and the corner suddenly unfolded into a holographic map, marking the detours he took to buy candy for her during each patrol. Lin Yue's Wind Pocket automatically exuded lavender mist, blending with the scent of the amulet in his scabbard, revealing countless overlapping dawns and dusks on the curtains: he adjusted her equipment until three in the morning, she secretly placed hand warmers under his coffee cup, each movement precisely hitting the gaps in her biological clock.

The ground of the trial area suddenly cracked, a spiderweb of light emanating from it, pulling them into a vortex of "Memory Folds." Lin Yue's wind barrier instinctively enveloped them, only to discover that Xia Zichen's star-patterned light threads were entwined around its edges—much like the safety net he had woven with his sword tassels during the starship crash three months earlier. At the center of the vortex emerged a twelve-year-old Xia Zichen, hiding in the ruins, clutching the broken tip of his sword. Simultaneously, a scene appeared showing Lin Yue, the same age, gathering the fragments of the sword tassel scattered by the wind.

"So our instincts met long ago, in a rift in time." Lin Yue's voice was shattered by the turbulence of space and time. She saw herself reflected in the distant airship in the eyes of the young Xia Zichen. The silver jewelry she once treasured was made from the broken sword he had found on the old battlefield. A black cat crouched at the top of the folds, its tail flickering, spelling out Lao Zhang's handwriting: "You didn't meet three years ago. It's your instincts that anchor each other in time and space."

A "Trust Scale" suddenly descended from the dome of the emotional instinct zone, its twelve beams capturing fragments of their memories. Lin Yue's wind rhythm wove Xia Zichen's battle spectrum onto the scale, while his Star-patterned Sword automatically disintegrated into particles of light, filling every gap in her wind barrier. As the final fragment of the "peace amulet" landed on the scale, the instrument erupted in a rainbow-colored aurora, revealing the endings of various parallel universes: in some universes, they were separated by war, in others, they swore an oath of sword to protect each other. But in every ending, his sword's momentum was always aimed at her blind spot, and her wind always supported his exhausted body.

"These endings..." Xia Zichen's voice trembled. He saw in a poet's universe the final lines of his own poem, written before his death, which perfectly rhymed with the rhythm of Lin Yue's pocket of wind. Meanwhile, in a pirate universe, Lin Yue discovered that what he had hidden in the compass was not a treasure map, but the words "Waiting for Your Return" carved into the hilt of Xia Zichen's sword.

The black cat suddenly jumped onto the weighing machine and smashed the projection of the "parallel universe" with its claws: "Meow~ Now it's time to face the trial of the 'reality paradox'!" Two cocoons of light rose from the ground, reflecting the future they feared most: in Lin Yue's cocoon of light, Xia Zichen's star pattern collapsed due to overuse, turned into dust and dissipated in her wind; in Xia Zichen's cocoon of light, Lin Yue's wind power was swallowed by darkness, and the last wisp of wind turned into a broken thread on his sword tassel.

"Don't touch—" They both reached out to touch each other's cocoons, only to find that the moment their fingertips passed through the membrane, their own star patterns and wind runes began to spread into the other's cocoon. Lin Yue's wind barrier spun a protective layer around Xia Zichen's cocoon, while his star pattern threads repaired the cracks in hers. When the two cocoons finally shattered, they discovered symmetrical patterns on the backs of each other's hands: her wind rune embedded with fragments of his star pattern, and his star pattern traces were entwined with the rhythm of her wind.

Old Zhang's pocket watch fell through the folds of time, the words on the inside of the cover dissolving and reorganizing: "Time is not a linear river, but a Möbius strip woven by your instincts." Lin Yue then noticed that their clasped hands had been adorned with a ring composed of star patterns and wind runes. The patterns on the ring perfectly matched the "Instinct Resonance Platform" at the center of the Trial Stones.

A third door appeared at the end of the emotional instinct zone. It bore no markings, only a film of light floating like water. Xia Zichen subconsciously rubbed her palm with his thumb, triggering a reaction in the film—their heartbeats appeared on it. When the two waves overlapped completely, the door slowly opened, revealing an endless starry sky beyond. Each star was a crystallization of the moments they had shared.

"Want to see it together?" Xia Zichen's voice was as gentle as the wind, yet more resolute than ever. Lin Yue looked up at him and saw that the starlight reflected in his eyes was brighter than any galaxy in any parallel universe. Her wind pocket automatically unfolded into a bond, gently binding their wrists together, while his star-patterned sword transformed into a stream of light, laying a stairway to the starry sky at their feet.

The black cat squatted leisurely at the starting point of the stairs, its black fur looking particularly smooth under the faint starlight. It gently wagged its tail, as if mocking everything in front of it, while also revealing the cunning unique to cats.

At the same moment the black cat uttered that "meow~," the entire starry sky suddenly rippled, as if startled. Like ripples on the surface of water, these ripples quickly spread out, enveloping the entire starry sky.

At the center of these ripples, a mysterious force seemed to stir the water, forming a vortex. As the vortex spun, a faint entrance to a parallel universe gradually emerged. This entrance, like a massive black hole, devoured everything around it, leaving one in awe.

Through that door, one could see another world. The sky there was a strange hue, completely different from our own. And beneath that sky, "they" were approaching. They looked somewhat similar to us, yet subtly different. Their clothing, hairstyle, even the way they walked revealed a unique style.

These "them" are like reflections in a mirror, identical to them at this moment, both in appearance and temperament. Yet, deep in their eyes, a tacit understanding and tenderness, as bright as the stars, glitters across time and space.

(End of Chapter 44)