Chapter 10

Before her, a swirl of light and shadow danced, and she could no longer hear the fragmented words of that mechanical, cold male voice. Instead, a strange emotion surged within her heart, not particularly intense, but resilient and enduring.

What is this if not perversion

"A person's life is a unique trajectory in time," he said, "your trajectory has arrived here, and from now on, it has no connection with what lies beyond."

But she could neither speak nor move, only able to stare with her eyes wide open

She only knows how to spend money recklessly, and living aimlessly is her norm. Even with a fast track, which path can she take? She has neither dreams nor an understanding of where her strengths lie

Jiang Xiaoyuan cried and said: "Stop dreaming, I have none."

Jiang Xiaoyuan: "Wait..."

If they cannot return to their original time and space, it may very well be a dead end—on this point, they are the same.

Jiang Xiaoyuan had not yet come to her senses from the final echoes of her life as a lighthouse assistant, and in a daze, she thought: "Why do I always run into him when I'm having bad luck? What a fateful connection?"

The lighthouse assistant fell silent for a moment and then replied to her: "You will live well in the new space and time."

It was only then that she realized she was already in tears.

He? How arrogant he is, how could he pay attention to an inconspicuous robot? He constantly exploits the temporal and spatial disturbances to search for victims like us, the Lighthouse Assistant said, always using this trick, which has never failed, stealing countless identities. After the previous identity naturally dies, he returns to the lighthouse to find the next victim, regardless of age or gender, but this time it has finally come to an end

Jiang Xiaoyuan suddenly understood why, when she first entered the lighthouse, the lighthouse assistant insisted on sending her back to that terrifying accident scene. If she returned, she still had a glimmer of hope for survival; if she did not return, she would certainly face a fate worse than death

The young boy was crushed by two repelling parallel universes, and the lighthouse keeper successfully replaced him in his original timeline, becoming the young athlete who had been stabbed by a criminal. After being rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment, he fortunately "survived," taking over his life.

Jiang Xiaoyuan felt a surge of courage, and despite the blinding light rendering her unable to see anything, she did not close her eyes. She tightly gripped her phone, which resembled a remote control, silently praying that this no-name device could withstand bullets and crack walnuts like the legendary Nokia of yesteryears, while also preparing herself for a cameo in an action scene

It is uncertain whether it is due to the Lighthouse Assistant directly implanting these memories into her brain, but Jiang Xiaoyuan's experience is particularly immersive. A person who could only pass the middle school physical fitness test by treating teachers to meals is surprisingly able to feel the pure dream of a professional athlete.

Before her blood had the chance to boil, it was swept away by the youth's encounter with an accident

In the next moment, Jiang Xiaoyuan felt herself being gently pushed by someone. She opened her eyes, and her pupils were suddenly dazzled by the light, causing her to immediately shed physiological tears

The young man was forced to sign a contract, and when he arrived in the parallel universe, he was clearly suspicious of Mingguang. At first, he did not respond to any messages from Mingguang, enduring fifty days of immense pain and endless doubt with his disabled body. Starting from the fifty-first day, every day, he would receive a message from Mingguang: "The passage is ready, shall we set off?"

She clearly saw the panic-stricken face of Mingguang, and also noticed the seemingly lifeless eyes of the lighthouse assistant... It was as if he had known she was there all along

Jiang Xiaoyuan suddenly felt something, she raised her head and gazed into the distance. At the end of the world behind the young man, the assistant of the lighthouse seemed to be looking at her with a pair of eyes that were neither sad nor happy.

Qilian

As she watched, Jiang Xiaoyuan discovered that this young table tennis player was actually a member of the national team. Table tennis has always been a strong suit for the Chinese, and one can imagine how fierce the competition is. Aside from his talent, the hardships this child has endured from a young age are beyond the imagination of someone like Jiang Xiaoyuan, who rarely gets up before noon

Jiang Xiaoyuan held back for a while but could no longer contain herself and simply let out a sob: "How could I possibly fulfill your dream? I have to run the 800 meters in over seven minutes, which is even worse than you, who has no legs!"

However, before she could voice any objections, the lighthouse assistant spoke first, saying: "Time's up, we are leaving"

Jiang Xiaoyuan: "He... that Mingguang, does he know you are not a robot?"

Jiang Xiaoyuan detected a rare joy in his voice, but she could not share in the happiness: "What about you? What about me?"

She is well aware that this feeling does not belong to her, but to someone who is much stronger than she is. Yet, she cannot help but be influenced, and with a half-hearted push, she made a resolute decision.

When he slightly hunched his chest, holding the racket in his hand, it was as if he was grasping the hand of the entire world. The small ball darted across the table, its movements resembling a graceful dance, while Jiang Xiaoyuan's dull gaze lost track of it seven or eight times in a minute. Yet, that young man seemed to be in perfect harmony with the ball, mastering every angle, every force, and even the landing point with such precision. He appeared to be in sync with the ball, capturing every angle, every force, and even the landing point with remarkable accuracy.

After a practice session, the sweating youth picked up his sports shirt to wipe his sweat, turned back, and revealed a radiant smile to Jiang Xiaoyuan, vibrant and vivid.

In a moment of anxiety, she suddenly heard someone whispering in her ear: "Don't look anymore, I am here"

With tears in her eyes, she saw a circle of people surrounding her. A somewhat familiar figure crouched in front of her, carefully helping her up: "Are you alright? Just left the hospital and now you have to go back in? Is it low blood sugar or what?"

Jiang Xiaoyuan is quite the opposite; she resembles a precious domesticated pet. Not only does she naturally possess purebred genetic defects, but she has also been accustomed to a life of ease since childhood, entirely lacking the ability for "survival in the wild"

When the knife plunged into the boy's body, Jiang Xiaoyuan was so frightened that she forgot to scream, her mind blank, just like the moment she crashed her car into a tree. Then, she and the young athlete felt the familiar tremor of time and space.

After Jiang Xiaoyuan realized she had nothing to fear, she quickly raised her head to look at the lighthouse assistant, only to find that he had already lowered his head, and the lights on the exposed sensors, which she did not know the purpose of, had all gone out

There is no suspense left; the hope for a lucky outcome will never be fulfilled

Jiang Xiaoyuan: "What about my original time and space? Is it stuck at the moment I was hit by the car?"

You can understand it as a kind of virus, similar to a computer Trojan," the lighthouse assistant said淡淡地, "You will no longer be deceived. He has set it up to this point and has no time to look for the next victim. He has repeatedly exploited loopholes in the laws of time and space, and now he is just waiting to be purged by the laws.

Lighthouse Assistant: "I know, I did not allow you to fulfill my dreams; you have your own. I merely provided you with the legs to reach there... Mingguang chose us because he felt we were all very fragile and needed something to rely on to survive. In truth, that is not the case; even the most fragile individuals possess a strong side, do they not?"

At that moment, her old, scruffy phone suddenly emitted a soft white light, gradually expanding around her like a soap bubble enveloping her within. Looking out from the "bubble," the intense light sweeping in seemed to have been dimmed a few degrees, becoming less glaring.

The moment the bright light swept over her, Jiang Xiaoyuan's fear, aided by guilt, reached its peak and then rapidly declined.

She decided to go all out, steeling her heart, thinking: "Since I can't escape anyway, I might as well confront that effeminate person; perhaps I can even rescue someone in the process"

The assistant of the lighthouse chuckled: "I have explained this to you before. When you stand at a crossroads, each direction represents a parallel space. The moment you collide is like a crossroads; in the next second, countless parallel spaces diverge from this point. In some spaces, you have died, while in others, you have been saved. The entire world, except for you, along with the books, will continue to move along different timelines in an orderly manner—only you come to an end here"

Jiang Xiaoyuan thought: "I will live well in this world"

Jiang Xiaoyuan was startled and thought, "He can't be dead, can he?"

Jiang Xiaoyuan saw a young athlete, who was a table tennis player

As her memory gradually faded, Jiang Xiaoyuan saw Mingguang pouncing towards her, his astonishingly beautiful face twisted by ferocity, and the protective barrier enveloping her rebounded outward.

As for the young man himself, he was quite fortunate. Just as his brainwaves were about to dissipate, a robot in the lighthouse happened to malfunction, allowing him to seize the opportunity and cling to life by residing within that robot, becoming a lighthouse assistant who at times resembled a human and at other times did not.

At first, it is a text message; if he turns off his phone, the information will be sent to his computer, television... even to the billboard at his doorstep, like a relentless curse that is ever-present around him. As long as there is a hint of relaxation or vulnerability in his heart, it will immediately take advantage of the opportunity, enticing him to choose that fatal "yes".

Jiang Xiaoyuan inexplicably felt that her act of smuggling was somewhat tragic

It is precisely the kind of voice that is plain and somewhat mechanical, like that of a lighthouse assistant

Mingguang, that pretty boy, actually intends to pull a Li Dai Tao Jiang for her. For the sake of a so-called 'legal status', this big man is willing to spend three hours every day on grooming and dressing up, to focus on updating fashion information once every season, and to constantly think about the days of bringing back limited edition Christmas blush and sanitary pads from abroad

Is this child you

Jiang Xiaoyuan felt increasingly cold as she observed how this time-space transformation selected its victims—though they varied in age, gender, and identity, they all found it impossible to sever their ties to their original lives in that time and space

Jiang Xiaoyuan searched all around but saw no one, feeling as if the sound lingered by her side, seemingly omnipresent

The transformation of time and space turned Jiang Xiaoyuan from a wealthy young lady who spent money lavishly into a destitute working girl, and also changed that young man from a promising professional athlete into a disabled person sitting in a wheelchair

I will send you off," said the lighthouse assistant, "I also want to give you my memories and dreams, so you must live on with my share as well.

This tug-of-war lasted for a full three months. During this time, the young man attempted countless times to create miracles with his disabled body, but after failing time and again, one day, reality drained his perseverance, and he surrendered to Mingguang with a sense of luck.

Do not cry

Even if it can never be returned to.

"It was my cheating that brought you here," said the lighthouse assistant, "while you have not yet mutually accepted that spacetime, otherwise even Mingguang would not be able to do it."

Professional athletes are like eagles with broken wings; without their legs, their lives are shattered along with their dreams, and they do not live long

Jiang Xiaoyuan: "What does 'reached the end' mean? What exactly is Mingguang?"

In an instant, Jiang Xiaoyuan had a sense of illusion, as if she were truly about to become invincible, capable of reaching any shore.

It turns out that he, like her, had come to this lighthouse where time and space overlap, had heard the same set of rhetoric, had made the same choice between life and death, and ultimately signed the same unequal treaty, heading to another parallel space for refuge, waiting for the so-called "passage" to be completed

Wrapped in her bubble, the water suddenly rippled like waves, and Jiang Xiaoyuan felt as if she were surrounded by a splash of cold water. Her ears were filled with a chaotic murmur, as if a thousand people were simultaneously reciting a spell in her ear. She could not move at all, and a sharp pain suddenly pierced her brain, as if a cone had directly penetrated through her temple, with a tide of unfamiliar memories flooding into her mind in intricate detail.

A half-grown child, after all, lacks a bit of maturity. One day, while sneaking out with his teammates in the middle of the night to find a late-night snack, he encountered a knife-wielding intruder in a narrow alley with few passersby, the blade still stained with the blood of a recent victim.