The starry staircase shattered into a luminescent glow beneath his feet. Lin Yue's wind bond suddenly tightened, pulling Xia Zichen to his left. Where there should have been nothingness, it transformed into a mirror upon contact, reflecting "them" from another universe. In the mirrored image, Lin Yue pressed a wind blade against Xia Zichen's throat, his Star-Embroidered Sword hanging at his side, a dark undercurrent swirling in his eyes.

"Be careful! Their resonance frequency is in reverse!" Xia Zichen's star-patterned wristband suddenly glowed red, creating a sharp contrast with the dark tide in his own reflection. Lin Yue's wind rune suddenly stung. She was shocked to see shadows oozing from her wind pocket in the mirror image. These shadows were exactly the same dark energy fluctuations that had eroded Xia Zichen three years ago.

A black cat suddenly leaped from the mirror, half a pocket watch gear in its mouth. "Meow! You from parallel universes are competing for the 'Instinct Resonance Core!'" The surface of the gear was intricately etched with timelines, one of which, a crimson thread, twisted madly towards Lin Yue's wind rune. The moment Xia Zichen swung his sword to sever the red thread, all the mirror images spoke simultaneously, their voices overlapping into Lao Zhang's sigh: "When emotional instinct becomes the anchor of the universe, your choices will determine the survival of countless worlds."

From the depths of the starry sky emanated the roar of turning gears. Twelve Trial Stones suddenly hovered around the mirrored space, each reflecting the crisis of a different universe: in the steampunk universe, "Xia Zichen's" mechanical heart was detonating the entire Gear City; in the Magic Academy universe, "Lin Yue's" wind magic went haywire, transforming the library into a hurricane-like black hole. In the mirrored image, Xia Zichen, dressed in black, suddenly smiled wryly. His Star-Embroidered Sword pierced his own heart, but a dark current flowed along the blade toward Lin Yue's reflection.

"No!" Lin Yue's wind instinctively enveloped all the mirror images, only to find her power being assimilated by the shadows. Xia Zichen's star-patterned threads of light suddenly pierced her barrier, weaving a "trust barrier" within each mirror space. "Remember the scale in the emotional instinct zone? Our weaknesses have always been each other's fulcrums." He bit his fingertip, and star-patterned blood beads flew toward each crisis scene, unexpectedly transforming into coolant in the Steam Gear City and condensing into wind bookshelves in the Magic Library.

Lin Yue suddenly realized that her Wind Rhythm had transformed into a protective barrier for Xia Zichen in the mirror universe, while his Star-Embroidered Sword followed the same trajectory throughout all time and space—permanently blocking her blind spot. As the black-clad Xia Zichen was about to be swallowed by the dark tide, Lin Yue's Wind Pocket suddenly overflowed with lavender mist, which merged with the aura of Xia Zichen's amulet in her memory, weaving a vast "symbiotic cocoon" in the mirror space.

"We are not saving the parallel universe," Xia Zichen's voice sounded from all the cocoons at the same time, "we are recalling those instincts alienated by fear." As the cocoons shattered, the dark tide in Xia Zichen's eyes in black receded, revealing the same amber pupils as the original; Lin Yue's mirror image, with the wind blade against his throat, loosened his fingers, and the long-melted courage candy fell out of the pocket of wind.

Black Cat placed the complete pocket watch gear on the resonance table. Twelve beams of light suddenly descended from the starry sky, condensing the power of all the mirrored "them" into crystal fragments. Lin Yue's wind rune absorbed the light element, while Xia Zichen's star pattern transformed the shadow into a protective force. When the two energies converged on the resonance table to form a yin-yang fish pattern, the light film of the third door finally revealed the true trial question:

"When all 'you' in the universe become each other's salvation, may I ask - is the 'you' at this moment unique or infinite?"

Xia Zichen looked down at his folded wrists. Star patterns and wind runes were automatically weaving into a Möbius strip. Lin Yue's wind lifted all the crystal fragments, and the fragments no longer reflected parallel universes, but different moments in the same time and space: when they first met, he shielded her from the radiation; she kept coffee for him in her daily life; he repaired her light cocoon during the trial. These moments intertwined like star tracks, eventually converging into a double-helix crystal core.

"We are the only infinity." Lin Yue inserted the crystal core into the resonance platform, and the starry sky suddenly collapsed into the street corner where they first met—only this time, Xia Zichen's star-patterned wristband and her wind pocket illuminated simultaneously, outlining the symbol of a contract that spanned time and space in the air. A black cat crouched in the center of the contract, its tail sweeping across the pocket watch's dial. The time hand on the dial began to rotate counterclockwise, but suddenly stopped when it reached "three years ago," breaking into countless flickering points of light.

Lao Zhang's voice came from the light spot: "The ultimate test of emotional instinct is never to choose 'who to save', but to admit that 'we have already saved each other in countless time and space'." As the words fell, the third door slowly opened. Behind the door was no longer the starry sky, but the exit of the trial area in the real world. The sunlight was shining through the clouds onto their sweaty hair.

Xia Zichen subconsciously checked Lin Yue's Wind Pocket and found a candy he had never seen before. The wrapping paper was printed with strange yet familiar words: "To all of us in time and space - courage is not about being fearless, it is about holding your hand even though you know there is fear." Lin Yue looked up at him and found that the star pattern on his brow bone was emitting a soft light, which was completely different from the burning light when he blocked the radiation for her three years ago.

"Time to go," she whispered, but the Wind Bond remained lingering. Xia Zichen suddenly chuckled, his fingertips tracing the symbiotic lines on the back of her hand. "Perhaps... we should first discuss why, in every universe, I like to carve 'Waiting for Your Return' on the hilt of my sword?"

The black cat scurried to the exit and patted the Trial Stone in the real world with its paw. A new inscription appeared on the stone's surface: "Those who pass the Emotional Instinct Zone Trial will receive the privilege of the 'Space-Time Anchor Point' - May every encounter between you be a reunion after a long separation."

The moment they stepped out of the trial area, an emergency alarm beeped in the distance. A holographic projection of Lao Zhang popped up on Xia Zichen's communicator. The old man's expression had never been more serious: "Children, the starship has detected multiple vital signs of 'you' in the space-time turbulence... And even stranger, the source of these vital signs appears to be the 'Emotional Instinct Resonance Core' that should have been destroyed three years ago."

Lin Yue and Xia Zichen exchanged glances, each recalling the double-helix crystal in the mirror universe. Her Wind Pocket suddenly vibrated violently, and half a yellowed candy wrapper fell out. The writing on it was slowly changing—the original "Courage Candy" gradually transformed into "Memory Candy," and the date engraved in star patterns on the back was exactly three days before their "first meeting."

The black cat licked its paws, its eyes narrowed into cunning crescents: "Meow~ The real adventure has just begun..."

——End of Chapter 45——

Foreshadowing for the next chapter:

1. The "Emotional Instinct Resonance Core" of the real world was not destroyed, but was hidden by Lao Zhang in the bottom of the starship. The core actually contains fragments of the consciousness of "them" in all parallel universes.

2. Lin Yue's Wind Pocket has the ability to store things across time and space. The newly appeared "memory candy" may come from a future self trying to pass on information.

3. The unusually soft glow of Xia Zichen's brow bone star pattern suggests a genetic connection between him and the creator of the original Resonance Core.

4. Among the vital signs of "them" in the turbulent space-time, one group showed a "complete fusion state," seemingly having broken through the boundaries of the parallel universe.