Amidst the blue-white glare of a time-space leap, Lin Yue's Wind Pocket suddenly unleashed a deluge of memory fragments—the drizzle of New Tokyo three years ago, the hum of vending machines, and the heartbeat of a familiar yet unfamiliar self. Xia Zichen's star-patterned wristband burned intensely. Three red dots overlapped on the holographic map: "Current coordinates: 3 Central Lane, New Tokyo, 2:03 PM, September 17, 2022."

"It's the three of us?" Lin Yue clenched the coffee beans in her hand. Frost flakes formed on the anchor crystal at a visible rate. Black Cat had donned his gear-shaped glasses at some point, his claws slicing data streams through the air. "The quantum superposition state is materializing. The most dangerous thing isn't meeting yourself, it's—" Before he could finish his words, the starship's emergency brake system suddenly activated, throwing everyone toward the window.

Outside the window, three figures stood at the entrance of the alley in the heavy rain:

- Xia Zichen on the left is wearing an old-style star-patterned wrist guard, and the scabbard does not have the "Waiting for Your Return" engraving. He is staring at the gunman opposite with vigilance;

- Lin Yuefeng's pocket in the middle is embroidered with irises, the magic academy badge is pinned to her hair, and a translucent wind blade is suspended in her palm;

- The two people in the "fusion state" on the right share the same skin with star patterns and wind runes interwoven. Their shadows drag the shape of a Möbius strip on the ground, and they hold the melting resonance core in their hands.

"That's a fusion from the collapsed universe!" Lao Zhang's voice was filled with noise, and his wrench suddenly turned into liquid metal, seeping into the starship floor: "They want to implant a core at the node of 'first encounter', so that all of us in time and space will become--" The alarm swallowed up the second half of the sentence, and the palm of the fusion pressed on the starship's protective shield, and the glass surface was instantly covered with dark tide patterns of the sea of ​​consciousness.

Xia Zichen dragged Lin Yue into the teleportation chamber, only to discover the same inscription on the inside of the hatch as on the hilt: "Waiting for Your Return." A black cat leaped onto his shoulder, and the gears of his pocket watch dripped fluorescent liquid: "The entropy-increasing virus is multiplying within them. We must use symbiotic energy to create an isolation field!" Lin Yue's wind rune lit up, but the moment it touched the fusion form, she saw countless universes' BE endings—in a steampunk world, she wept while embracing the mechanical remains of Xia Zichen, while the gears in his chest oozed dark currents.

"We can't let history fork!" Xia Zichen's Star-Embossed Sword slashed through the shield, only to discover that the "self" on his left was aiming a gun at the "Lin Yue" in the center. In that time and space, he hadn't yet awakened his Star-Embossed form, and his only focus was on the mission objective: "Wind-Type Ability User, Number 072, you have been designated a source of space-time turbulence pollution." Meanwhile, Lin Yue in the center smiled gently, and the wind blade transformed into a paper boat, floating towards the gunman: "So, in this universe, we're enemies."

The fusion suddenly spoke, and the voice was the harmony of countless "they": "Do you think that by stopping us, you can save all the universes? But in the 127th time and space, Xia Zichen's Star Pattern Sword has pierced Lin Yue's heart." Lin Yue's Wind Pocket vibrated violently, and the yellowed candy wrapper fell out, and blood words suddenly appeared on the back: "In your "present", Lao Zhang's consciousness has been swallowed by fragments."

In reality, Old Zhang turned around, holding the console. His pupils turned the dark blue of his sea of ​​consciousness, and the wrench turned into a core key and pointed at them: "Give the symbiotic energy to the fusion form. This is the only way to survive." At this moment, Xia Zichen's star-patterned wristband resonated with the old wristband of "himself" on the left. He saw that his memory from three years ago had been tampered with - the real first encounter was when he was rescued by Lin Yue from the future when he was on the verge of death, and she left behind this coffee bean anchor.

"Black Cat! Insert the pocket watch gears into the resonator!" Lin Yue's wind swept up three versions of himself in time and space, weaving a triple trust barrier at the alley entrance. When the dark tide of the fusion body touched the edge of the barrier, the pocket watch gears suddenly rang out with the voice of the first-generation creator: "My child, use the star pattern blood to activate the reversal matrix." Xia Zichen then saw clearly that Lao Zhang's star pattern and his own were mirror images—the "lock and key" implanted by the first generation of researchers for themselves and their son to prevent the core from going berserk.

Xia Zichen, on the left, suddenly lowered his gun. A message from Lao Zhang, written three years ago, appeared on his old wristband: "Number 072 is not an enemy, but your future symbiote." Lin Yue, in the center, handed a paper boat to his real self. Written on the bottom in magical ink: "Lavender scent is the preservative of the spacetime anchor." The fused form gradually disintegrated within the barrier, shattering into countless fragments of consciousness. In one fragment, "they" of the Collapsed Universe smiled and waved: "Go rewrite that BE ending. This time, it's our turn to guard the anchor."

As the starship's self-destruct sequence was about to activate, Black Cat suddenly bent the hands of his pocket watch into the shape of ∞, and the torrential rain across all time and space ceased simultaneously. True courage candies overflowed from Lin Yue's pocket of wind. Their sweet scent mingled with the astral blood, condensing into a new space-time anchor in the resonance device. Old Zhang's fragmented consciousness flickered with a final glimmer of clarity amidst the dark tide. He carved into the wall with a wrench: "The nursery in the core is planted with the tears you shed every time you meet."

In the final moments of the space-time jump, three "selves" simultaneously gazed out the starship's porthole. Xia Zichen, on the left, picked up coffee beans from the ground, his old wristband flashing with a blue light; Lin Yue, in the center, caught falling lavender petals, his wind blade transformed into a bookmark; and the fused form transformed into a double helix of light dust, seeping into the symbiotic patterns of reality.

Back on the starship deck, a half-opened pocket watch lay in the morning light, its dial stopped at 2:03 PM. A note tucked between the gears read: "The entropy virus has been diluted by your tears. You now have three minutes to see yourselves three years ago—but don't speak, or the world line will crumble like a cookie." Lin Yue gazed at the soft glow on Xia Zichen's brow and suddenly understood the genetic curse of the original creators: they were destined to meet in every time and space, yet also destined to fight to protect each other.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!