With their belongings packed and everyone having consumed the prepared warding-off-the-cold potion, they pushed open the door and entered the corridor. The lights were still as vibrant as in the dreamlike film. As they silently passed through the corridor, they couldn't help but turn back to look at the seven vertical lines on the wall.
"The first three lines are drawn exceptionally straight and strong; I think they're from the same handwriting..." Wei Dong's words were cut short by the sound of "Lights out—" from the corridor. Soon, the lights throughout the floors went out one by one, and everything returned to the familiar darkness.
Everyone tacitly turned on their phones, carrying the fluorite with them—because there wasn't enough time to greet the shaman who provided it, they had left all their valuables with him.
Using the fluorite's light, they successfully reached the top floor.
"The thought of leaving through the window where Sister Xi and Lu Heng were buried makes me uncomfortable..." Mai Peng's emotions were complex, a mixture of joy at finding a way out and a vague sense of loss.
"There's nothing we can do, they didn't give themselves enough time." Zhu Haowen knew his words were somewhat harsh, but he had to say them. "Some decisions are made in a split second, but like the butterfly effect, they can lead to drastic changes."
Mai Peng remained silent. Some decisions are made within a short period of time. If they had gritted their teeth and persevered a little longer, they might have changed their entire lives.
The darkness on the top floor was thinner, perhaps due to the reflection from the surrounding glass windows. Outside the windows, a snowy world was unfolding.
Everyone silently moved closer to that familiar window. Ke Xun opened the window, and a strong gust of wind blew in, carrying snowflakes and ice beads. The sudden cold made it hard to breathe.
"I didn't expect the weather outside to be so bad. Is it a blizzard?" Cao Youning shrank his neck. Although he had taken a cold-resistant potion, he wasn't completely immune to the cold; it was just that the cold had been reduced to a tolerable level.
Du Lingyu stood at the back, her expression somewhat timid.
Fang Fei, still wearing her white mask, stood at the window for a moment. "The passage is right here, very clear. The blizzard might even help us reach the Cold Night Journey faster."
Fang Fei turned to Du Lingyu. "On the day of Xi Shengnan's funeral, did you stick your head out of the window?"
"I don't remember if I stuck it all the way out, but I definitely peeked out the window, and I even hallucinated..." Du Lingyu moved step by step to the window. "Actually, it wasn't a hallucination. The twelve coffins I saw weren't hallucinations at all."
Those twelve coffins contained the remains of members who had sacrificed themselves in another timeline.
Thinking of this, everyone felt a pang of sadness.
They were to be reborn in the place where "they" were buried—a truly ironic choice to live towards death. This passage to life was a bridge made of another version of themselves!
Fang Fei's voice remained calm. "I brought incense. I want to offer a prayer here before continuing our journey."
Everyone agreed silently, watching Fang Fei light the incense and place the sticks in the hard snow by the window.
Everyone clasped their hands together, comforting the spirits of their other selves in heaven.
The strong wind outside caused the incense to burn quickly, and it was finished in just a few minutes.
"Xin Chun, get ready." Fang Fei patted Xin Chun's head, and Xin Chun nodded seriously with its bright eyes.
Luo Tan had a sudden urge to pick Xin Chun up again: "How do we get ready? What is Xin Chun going to do?"
"Xin Chun has the instincts of a spirit dog; it knows what it should do."
Suddenly, Xin Chun leaped up, like a white light drawing a beautiful arc, and jumped out of the window.
"Xin Chun—my Xin Chun—" Luo Tan clung to the window like a madman; if Wei Dong and the others hadn't held him back, he probably would have fallen out.
"Can you see Xin Chun?" Wei Dong was also worried.
"Why does it seem like the ground has risen? There's a snowfield outside the window!" Luo Tan looked at the scene outside, "Where is Xin Chun? Where did Xin Chun go!"
"That snowfield is Xin Chun's back," Fang Fei said.
"Wh-what? What did you say? What about Xin Chun?"
"Xin Chun's back."
"Woof woof woof—" A bark echoed through the air.
Luo Cheng felt dizzy and weakly grabbed Wei Dong's hand, his voice slightly choked: "Really, Brother Dong, even if my son gets into Tsinghua University, I won't be this excited... Really, my Xin Chun... I've never felt so proud in my life..."
"I understand, I understand." Wei Dong said from the side.
"Woof woof woof—" Xin Chun seemed to be playing happily in response to Luo Cheng.
"That's strange, why is Xin Chun suddenly barking?" Qin Ci asked.
Fang Fei: "Because the tunnel is outside the Fourth Brigade, the time is normal."
Upon hearing this, Luo Cheng hurriedly stuck his phone out the window: "I've got it, I've got time! 10:40, it's 10:40 now!"
Everyone felt a little incredulous, and the next step was to fasten their bags and prepare to enter the tunnel.
Fang Fei walked towards Du Lingyu and extended her right hand: "Hold my hand tightly, I'll try to get you through the window."
"Through the window?" Du Lingyu was afraid.
Fang Fei's voice was very serious: "Because your twin phenomenon occurred within the Light Journey, I'm afraid you'll be trapped within it and unable to escape."
Everyone's heart sank. Hearing this, Du Lingyu felt a surge of courage. This was her last gamble; if she could break through, she might still have hope.
Fang Fei and Du Lingyu's hands clasped tightly together, their hair whipped black by the blizzard. Fang Fei pulled Du Lingyu forward: "Come with me!"
Du Lingyu followed Fang Fei onto the windowsill, closed her eyes, and jumped out with her.
With a piercing scream, everyone watched as Du Lingyu was bounced back by an unseen force, flying a great distance.
Even more astonishingly, Du Lingyu was no longer alone, but two.
Lying on the ground were two Du Lingyus, completely identical Du Lingyus.
The only difference was that one Du Lingyu looked much the same as usual, while the other was covered in blood.
Fang Fei climbed back up the windowsill, still wearing that cold, hard white mask, but one could almost feel her disappointment through it.
Everyone present was shocked, but the most shocked was Du Lingyu herself.
The two Du Lingyu stared at each other in utter astonishment. One of them said to the blood-covered Du Lingyu, "You are...you are the other me? The me from that fictitious timeline?"
The blood-covered Du Lingyu began to cry mournfully, her cries filled with boundless regret: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry...I didn't have the courage to die. I had no faith in anything that happened. I thought I was the real me, not some fictitious character...I didn't want to die, and I didn't dare to die...I'm sorry."
Du Lingyu stood up, slowly walked over, and hugged her blood-soaked counterpart: "You are me, and I am you. No one understands you better than me... What you dare not do, I dare not do either. This is our nature, and our destiny."
The other Du Lingyu wiped her blood-stained face, tears quickly washing away the stains: "Actually, I made a huge decision in the end. After killing Xia Yu, I finished drawing the seventh line on the wall. I was preparing to jump from the ninth floor... The corridor was very dark at the time. I was only using the faint light from my phone, groping my way to climb the railing. Suddenly, someone slapped my head hard, and then I knew nothing more."
Du Lingyu herself was crying, while wiping away the other's tears: "At that time, we were drawn together, and we became twins. The passing shaman merged us into one person."
"Why did you kill Xia Yu?" Shao Ling couldn't help but ask.
Another Du Lingyu tried to compose herself and prevent herself from choking up: "She traveled with everyone and learned too many secrets, but her ultimate goal was different from ours. She wanted to find the Gate of Immortality."
"The Gate of Immortality? Is there really a Gate of Immortality here, like the one described in the book?" Du Lingyu asked.
"Fang Fei said that once the gate to immortality is opened, everything in this world will stop. Time will no longer be chaotic or orderly, but will stand still forever. We will never be able to find the signature again." Another Du Lingyu said with a bleak look in her eyes, "Only in the last two days did we discover her purpose. Originally, Sister Xi planned to go with me to deal with her, but Sister Xi still ate the poison that Lu Heng had hidden and left."
"The poison that Lu Heng hid? What exactly happened?"
"After everyone left one by one, Lu Heng and Sister Xi agreed to die together. Lu Heng prepared the poison according to the recipe in the medical book. Sister Xi didn't dare to kill herself, so she asked Lu Heng to find a way to kill her, preferably without letting her know the method. So after Lu Heng poisoned himself, he secretly put the remaining poison in the chili sauce that Sister Xi usually ate…
"Before Sister Xi died, she gave me her knife and told me to do everything I could to stop Xia Yu. If Xia Yu succeeded, all our efforts would be in vain." "The other Du Lingyu spoke with unwavering resolve, "So I secretly followed Xia Yu until she was about to open the hidden door behind the artificial waterfall on the second floor... I didn't know what to do, so I killed her... I stabbed her many times, but she didn't die..." Du Lingyu smiled wryly, "I'm usually very brave at killing people... so why can't I kill myself..."
Ke Xun grew anxious and asked Fang Fei, "Is Xiao Du really going to be unable to leave? Is she going to stay in the Lantern Inn forever?!"
Fang Fei's voice was heavy with sorrow: "I'm afraid she can't stay in the Lantern Inn either. She... she's already seen her."
"What do you mean?"
"The living Du Lingyu has seen another living Du Lingyu. This is the most taboo thing for twins." Fang Fei sighed, "The final result will probably be eternal disappearance."
The two Du Lingyus, their faces streaked with tears, looked up at the same time, their voices identical: "Eternal disappearance?" "Disappear forever..."
The two bodies slowly faded into nothingness before their very eyes. Fang Fei stepped forward and pressed their skulls together: "This might hold out a little longer..."
Du Lingyu, now reunited, had a strange peace in her eyes amidst despair, as if she had seen through everything after utter despair: "I never thought I would leave like this... Oh, right, there's something important I haven't told you yet. The signature is on the white fish. At the end of the water source in the Cold Night Journey, there's an exit. The white fish there are different from those elsewhere. The signature is on the white fish there—we marked them all. You'll know once you get there."
Ke Xun felt his vision blur. Although he had only spent two days with Du Lingyu, she had communicated with him the most.
Ke Xun stepped forward and helped the now semi-transparent Du Lingyu up: "Tell me if there's anything you haven't finished."
"No." Du Lingyu smiled slightly, a smile as light as a feather. "Ke Xun, if I had met you sooner, I would have trusted you without hesitation. You are someone worthy of trust and reliance."
Ke Xun watched as his hands slowly passed through Du Lingyu's body, as powerless as melting snow in the spring sunshine.
Du Lingyu smiled again, this smile even lighter, like a bubble that could burst at any moment: "I smell it, I smell the fragrance, it's my 'Thief Rose,' it smells so good—I once saw a movie called 'Echoes of the Rainbow,' ha, time really is like a thief."