Chapter 415: Lin Xians Answer

The path ahead stretched onward.

The Blue-Eyed Village Chief continued clearing the way ahead while Lin Xian followed in silence. Neither of them spoke again.

Lin Xian had come with her to hunt this time.

He originally intended to gather some information from her... even if she had lost her memory, perhaps emotions could still be a way in.

But things didn’t go as planned.

The more he tried to gather information, the blurrier things became.

This woman, the Blue-Eyed Chief, was someone Lin Xian had met before—back when she was only seventeen or eighteen.

He could feel it.

She really did like the name Yan Qiao Qiao.

Just like in that photo. She had said it herself—she didn’t care who those three people in the foreground were. She didn’t care at all. What mattered to her... was the name Yan Qiao Qiao, written on the back. Was it really hers?

Lin Xian couldn’t quite figure it out.

If this Blue-Eyed Chief before him was indeed the Lin Yu Xi who had killed him on July 7th, triggering the second rejection of time-space...

Why had so many of her thoughts changed?

No, that’s not it.

Lin Xian suddenly realized.

It seemed he’d been overlooking something all along.

He’d always thought of Yan Qiao Qiao as one single person.

Although, biologically speaking, they were indeed the same person.

But...

Could the same body, living different lives, with different memories, still be considered the same person?

That question—

Lin Xian had pondered it long ago, but he had never come to a definite answer.

Take the Blue-Eyed Chief in front of him—she was certainly very different from the Yan Qiao Qiao of 2024.

But what if... she was compared to Lin Yu Xi from before?

Suddenly, similarities started to emerge.

So, the real question was—

If one day Yan Qiao Qiao regained her memories and reverted back to the Blue-Eyed Girl, would she lose all the memories of being Yan Qiao Qiao once she gained all of Lin Yu Xi’s memories?

If Yan Qiao Qiao’s memories were lost, she’d completely become the time-space assassin Lin Yu Xi. She’d hunt him down without any emotion—maybe even... kill him.

Lin Xian remembered the arrest video Lin Yu Xi had recorded before.

She had the authority to kill him.

Of course, the best option was to arrest him, put him in hibernation, and send him to the Time-Space Court for trial.

But now there was no Time-Space Court anymore, nor was there any Time-Space Police. Was it possible that Lin Yu Xi might simply sentence him to death and execute it on the spot?

Now, there were only twenty days left until July 7th.

Yan Qiao Qiao still showed no sign of regaining her memories. There were no indications that the entangled time-space particles were regaining energy either.

Lin Xian really couldn’t see what could make Yan Qiao Qiao regain her memories.

“Could it be some other law of time-space?”

It had been a long time since he’d grasped any new time-space laws.

It felt as if everything around him had gotten mysteriously stuck.

“I hope once I join the Genius Club, I’ll find some way to break through all this.”

Snap.

Lin Xian cut away a branch blocking the path and quickened his steps to catch up to the Blue-Eyed Chief.

He had to admit...

Finding a bear in the deep forest wasn’t easy.

He relied entirely on the chief’s incredible vision and keen sense of smell. She could spot bear tracks and paw prints and even sniff out bear droppings. She really was a natural-born hunter.

Lin Xian had no doubt about the strength of these “terminators.”

He’d been hunted before.

He’d experienced life from the perspective of a bear.

Naturally, he knew just how formidable the Blue-Eyed Chief was.

Swish!

The Blue-Eyed Chief suddenly extended her arm, stopping Lin Xian in his tracks.

“Found it.”

Lin Xian perked up, looking around.

“Where?”

“Over there.”

The Blue-Eyed Chief pointed straight ahead.

Lin Xian squinted, trying to see farther into the distance...

Sure enough!

The last rays of the setting sun were just about to disappear, casting everything into darkness. And in that final bit of light, Lin Xian barely made out the silhouette of a bear—very far away.

“So, what’s our next move?” Lin Xian looked left, then right at the surroundings. “Are we going to—huh? Where did she go?”

He blinked.

He’d only turned his head to the left for a second, and now the chief to his right had vanished.

Suddenly, realization struck him.

He quickly stood up, looking ahead.

All he saw was...

A dark figure charging straight at the grizzly bear!

Simple, direct, full-on attack!

Next thing he knew—

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Before the bear could even react, it was twisted into a bundle and tied up tightly with ropes.

“Gah?”

The grizzly looked stunned, its big, round face frozen in disbelief.

However, there was no time for it to make a second sound. The Blue-Eyed Chief swiftly tied its mouth shut as well, leaving it unable to make any sound except a muffled whimper.

By the time Lin Xian reached the bear, it was already completely immobilized, tied up like a dumpling.

The Blue-Eyed Chief patted the dust off her hands, smiled slightly, and said, “Done. Let’s give this to Lord Li as a gift. What do you think?”

“...”

Lin Xian had mixed feelings, unsure of how to respond.

Somehow, he felt a strange connection to this bear.

But there was no choice.

They needed the grizzly as their ticket into Donghai City. Lin Xian stepped forward, gently patting the bear’s head in comfort.

“Don’t worry... I won’t eat your eyes tonight.”

The bear’s eyes went wide, looking at Lin Xian in terror.

Just as Lin Xian was wondering how they were going to carry a half-ton bear down the mountain, the Blue-Eyed Chief simply turned around, grabbed the bear, and slung it over her back like it weighed nothing. She glanced back at Lin Xian.

“Keep up.”

Then, with light and effortless strides, she began her descent.

“...”

At that moment, Lin Xian truly understood the level of monsters he’d faced back in America.

And there had been two of them.

By comparison, the fight between the real and fake Lin Yu Xi seemed almost civilized. Maybe it was modern warfare’s rules that held them back, making them stick to conventional weapons and tactics.

If the Blue-Eyed Chief fought them now, Lin Xian was sure anything that could be thrown would be thrown, and there’d be no sense of decorum.

The entire way down, Lin Xian followed her, listening to the bear’s muffled cries, already planning where to hide on July 7th.

If he couldn’t stop Yan Qiao Qiao from regaining her memories by then, well... if he couldn’t win, he could still run.

He’d contact the National Security Bureau himself and ask them to protect him.

As for what would happen to Yan Qiao Qiao...

That was a problem for the future.

“She’ll have to deal with her own fate.”

Facing a daughter who would kill her father to achieve her own goals, Lin Xian felt utterly helpless.

...

Not long after, the Blue-Eyed Chief carried the bear back to Big Cat’s Village.

After a moment, she said slowly, “Honestly, if you were to ask me that question, I wouldn’t overthink it.”

She leaned back on the edge of the flowerbed, swinging her legs.

“I’d probably just tell you straight—”

“A future with a tomorrow is the best future. It’s the only future that matters.”

Lin Xian sat up. “What do you mean?”

CC tilted her head.

“It’s just the literal meaning of tomorrow, nothing complicated.”

“Look, you’ve told me, and you’ve proven it to me multiple times—all worlds are destroyed by a mysterious white light at 00:42 on August 29th, 2624.

“If the world ends and humanity is destined to perish on that day... then discussing the future is pointless, because humanity has no future.”

“Take this world, for example. It may seem like everyone is happy, but Li Ning Ning’s baby will never grow up; Big Cat Face’s daughter will never get to attend school in Donghai City; President Gao Wen’s heating system will never bring hot water.

“It’s not their fault—it’s that the world ends. They never get the chance to see tomorrow, so everything is doomed to be in vain.”

“Also...”

CC smiled a little.

“I do have a bit of a selfish reason—August 29th is my birthday. I really hope the world doesn’t end on my birthday. Even if it gets postponed just one day... I’d really love to have my twentieth birthday.”

She looked up at Lin Xian, her eyes reflecting the moonlight.

“Do you think that’s too greedy?”

Lin Xian met her gaze, not saying anything.

He didn’t think it was greedy.

It was just a simple, ordinary wish.

Yet, for those like CC, the Millennium Stakes, they could never reach their twentieth birthday.

CC, Chu An Qing, Zhang Yu Qian—

For hundreds of years, dozens of Millennium Stakes had been the same.

They could live to nineteen, but never cross into twenty.

“Twenty,” Lin Xian whispered. “Twenty is such a meaningful age. Especially for you... I suppose turning twenty is the hardest birthday to reach.”

CC nodded.

“Now that you mention it, I see it too. In none of my memory fragments am I ever over nineteen.

“That means, in every world, I die at nineteen—on the last day of nineteen.”

“Honestly... it sounds easy when I say it, but when I think about it, it’s heavy. I’m still young. Nineteen years is a short life. If I could... of course, I’d want to live past twenty, to see more of this world.

“And to get another birthday gift.”

Hearing this, Lin Xian laughed unexpectedly, playing along.

“If you could celebrate your twentieth birthday, what would you want most as a gift?”

He thought CC might take a moment to think.

But she answered immediately.

“Fireworks.” Her eyes brightened at the word. “I’d love to receive... a firework show just for me.”

“Huh?” Lin Xian was surprised.

He hadn’t expected that answer.

How to put it... in his mind, it seemed a bit cliché.

It was just fireworks.

They weren’t anything rare—not in any era. Even in the seventh dream, fireworks were pretty common... just a variation of gunpowder and rockets, nothing difficult.

It was hard for him to imagine that what CC most wished for was simply a firework show.

“Why fireworks?” Lin Xian asked, puzzled. “It’s not even hard to make. Why are you so set on fireworks?”

“I’m not sure,” CC shook her head. “But I’ve always had this obsession in my mind.”

Obsession.

Lin Xian had heard that word before.

He suddenly realized.

Everyone who’d lost their memory seemed to have an inexplicable obsession.

Yan Qiao Qiao was obsessed with the feeling of her parents.

Wei Sheng Jin was obsessed with his past self.

Angelica was obsessed with revenge.

Zheng Xiang Yue was obsessed with Rhine Cat.

The Blue-Eyed Chief was obsessed with her name.

CC had never lost her memory, of course.

But...

If obsessions were somehow passed on—

Did it mean that Chu An Qing, Zhang Yu Qian, and all the other Millennium Stakes carried these kinds of obsessions too?

Where was the origin?

To be honest, Lin Xian didn’t understand how fireworks could make a girl so happy.

But, he’d once set off fireworks for Zhao Ying Jun, and for Li Ning Ning—they’d both been delighted.

But as for Chu An Qing...

Suddenly, Lin Xian’s heart sank.

He remembered what Ji Lin had said:

“You need to do something big and romantic, right? Like setting off fireworks that fill the sky for Chu An Qing? Lighting up the night sky in Donghai City? You know she’d be happy, but you just don’t do it.”

He remembered what the super AI, VV, had said:

“Let’s set off fireworks to light up the sky for Chu An Qing! Girls love fireworks—they’re so romantic! Someone like Chu An Qing, still a teenage girl, who wouldn’t be thrilled by fireworks lighting up the whole sky?”

Two people had wanted him to set off fireworks for Chu An Qing.

But he’d refused, choosing other gifts instead.

Sometimes, there were things that were already too late once you realized them.

Lin Xian let out a long breath, pushing himself off the flowerbed and standing on the stone tiles, looking at CC.

“Thank you, CC. I think I know what kind of future is the best future now.”

“Seriously?” CC chuckled lightly. “I was just talking. You don’t have to take it so seriously.”

“No.”

Lin Xian shook his head.

“You’re right. If we want to think about humanity’s future, first, humanity must have a tomorrow—a future. If there’s no tomorrow, what’s the point of discussion?”

“Like your twentieth birthday—if you can never reach twenty, you’ll never get that twentieth birthday gift. No matter how well you plan, how prepared you are, it’s all useless.”

“It’s the same for humanity’s future—all the pretty words and beautiful plans mean nothing if time doesn’t keep flowing, if people don’t see the sun rise on August 29th, 2624.”

He suddenly felt a sense of relief, clarity washing over him.

He glanced at his wristwatch.

It read...

00:41.

The time was almost up.

But Lin Xian had gotten his answer.

He looked up at CC.

“If one day, the end of the world becomes not an end... ”

Lin Xian smiled and pointed up at the sky.

“I’ll give you the most spectacular fireworks display. And at the first second of 00:42, I’ll tell you...”

“Happy birthday.”

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

The dazzling white light appeared on schedule, not a second more, not a second less—not giving the world even one more moment, nor giving CC her twentieth birthday.

Not even for a second.

...

...

...

In a corner of his bedroom, Lin Xian opened his eyes.

“This is my answer,” he whispered.

“Genius Club, here I come.”