Seeking the skin of a tiger
The wooden house creaked and groaned in the aftershocks, and the shattered scenery outside the window was like a distorted, overturned palette of colors.
The white light that had been forcibly reversed trembled violently in Officer Zhou's palm, and the uniform on his entire arm shattered inch by inch, revealing the metal skeleton beneath which data flowed. For the first time, his usually calm and composed eyes surged with disbelief, shock, and anger.
"You... dare to tamper with the underlying commands..." His voice was filled with electronic noise, clearly indicating that the time reversal had caused him some kind of systemic shock.
Inside the cabin, Yunxi leaned against Shixu's chest, her breathing still somewhat rapid, the bloodstains on her lips like red plum blossoms blooming in the snow. She looked out the window at Officer Zhou's rare loss of composure, a very faint smile curving her lips.
"He seems...really angry."
"You succeeded." Shi Xu looked down at her, his arms tightening unconsciously. The weight of the girl in his arms was so real that it made his heart pound. In the fifty-one cycles of reincarnation, he had never imagined that someone would defy the rules of the entire world for him, in such a nearly self-destructive way.
"It's not over yet." Yunxi gently pushed him away and straightened up. Although her face was still pale, her eyes were clear and bright. "This only makes him hesitant to act rashly for now. We need to find a way to resolve this completely while we have the chance."
Her gaze shifted to the other figures in the room. After their combined attack, their figures had faded somewhat, the younger ones almost transparent, yet they still managed to force encouraging smiles at her.
"Key and lock..." Calm and composed murmured, "Since you can influence those who are imprisoned, perhaps you can also truly open the cage?"
"The risk is too great," the alert sequence immediately objected. "Releasing an entity of that level would have unimaginable consequences."
While playing with the copper coin, the author suddenly flicked it into the air. The ancient coin did not fall, but hovered in mid-air, emitting a faint blue light.
"Release isn't always necessary." He looked at the gap in the clouds. "Perhaps... we could negotiate a condition?"
The proposal plunged the entire cabin into silence. Negotiating with an ancient being imprisoned for countless years, a being powerful enough to shake the very rules of time? This was even more insane than the previous plan.
Yunxi seemed lost in thought. She could sense that when she forcefully pried open the chains of time just now, that dormant consciousness seemed... to have awakened slightly. Not anger, not violence, but a curious gaze.
"We can give it a try," she said softly.
"It's too dangerous!" Several voices simultaneously voiced their opposition.
"There is no more dangerous choice than sitting and waiting to die." Yunxi walked to the center of the wooden house and closed his eyes.
This time, she didn't forcefully pull on the connecting wires, but instead slowly sank her consciousness into them, like a pebble thrown into a lake, carrying a tentative greeting.
--Hello?
There was no response. Only an endless, cold silence, like being in the deep sea.
Undeterred, she continued to transmit her thoughts. It wasn't a plea, nor a threat, but a form of equal communication.
—We share a common problem. Perhaps we could... cooperate?
This time, the silence was broken.
An ancient, weary, yet strangely rhythmic voice resonated deep within her consciousness, like the tolling of an ancient bell:
"Key...you've finally learned how to knock."
Yunxi suddenly opened his eyes and met Shixu's worried gaze.
"It responded," she said.
Just then, the entire "Lost Garden" suddenly stopped shaking. It wasn't a return to calm, but an eerie, absolute stillness. The distorted scenery outside the window froze, falling leaves hung in mid-air, and even sound disappeared.
There was a gentle knock on the door of the wooden house.
It wasn't the formulaic knocking of Officer Zhou, but rather three polite, tentative knocks.
Boom, boom, boom.
All timelines instantly went on high alert, protecting the cloud gap in the center.
Yunxi gently pushed them aside and walked to the door. She could sense that it wasn't Officer Zhou outside.
She took a deep breath and opened the wooden door.
Standing outside the door was a man dressed in an old-fashioned long gown. He looked to be around thirty years old, with an ordinary face, but his eyes were so deep they seemed to hold the weight of the ancient starry sky.
He nodded slightly to Yunxi, his gaze sweeping over the thirty-seven time periods in the room before finally settling on Yunxi.
"I heard," he said gently, yet with an undeniable authority, "that someone wants to negotiate with me?"
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