As Du Lingyu disappeared, the blizzard outside intensified, threatening to bury the tiny lantern-lit village at any moment.
"Woof woof woof—" Xin Chun's barking came from outside the window, seemingly urging everyone to continue.
"Let's go, hurry up," Zhu Haowen said.
Fang Fei climbed onto the windowsill again: "Follow me, jump down!"
Fang Fei's figure quickly disappeared from the window, and her voice came from outside: "Come down, everyone!"
No more wasting time, everyone jumped down from the window one after another, until they landed steadily on Xin Chun's back, their hearts finally settling down.
Luo Cheng lay on Xin Chun's furry back, feeling the familiar warmth: "Xin Chun, take it easy, don't tire yourself out!"
"Woof woof..." Xin Chun responded to its owner, its breath particularly noticeable in the snowy night, like steam billowing from a train engine.
"Why is one person missing?!" Ke Xun counted the people, "There should be ten people, why are there only nine?"
Everyone was stunned, quickly confirming their presence, and soon realized that Mai Peng was missing.
"What happened? Where's Mai Peng?" Ke Xun's gaze swept across the members, somewhat unable to believe that such a grown man had simply vanished. "I was the last one to jump down. I clearly saw Mai Peng jump down too. He was right behind Qin Ci, in front of Cao Youning."
Cao Youning was completely stunned. He had shed many tears because of his companion Du Lingyu's departure, and now, with the cold wind blowing, the tear stains had completely frozen, and his entire expression was stiff: "Mai Peng? Mai Peng clearly jumped down! He jumped down right in front of me! I saw him jump with my own eyes!"
Cao Youning's voice was frantic.
Fang Fei's snow-white mask stood out starkly in the night. She glanced back at the window: "We've completely entered the tunnel, and the tunnel doors are closed. They won't reopen until the next day."
"But...where is Mai Peng?!" Cao Youning cried out anxiously and helplessly. He clumsily crawled towards the edge, trying to find clues below, but unfortunately, it was a bottomless abyss, and with the wind and snow, he couldn't see anything at all.
Mu Yiran's hair was also disheveled by the wind: "It seems that the point of convergence for Mai Peng's death was this time, and there was no escaping it."
Cao Youning turned around, his voice trembling with extreme grief: "I don't understand, everyone who jumped was fine, why was it only Mai Peng... You mean, Mai Peng died at this time?!"
Mu Yiran's voice was low: "We should be entering the third night of our timeline now. It seems that Mai Peng in the other timeline died at the end of the fourth day—this world seems to have chaotic time, but in fact it follows an extremely strict time boundary. In the face of predetermined death, there is no hesitation for even a second."
Cao Youning's voice was faint and weak in the cold wind: "So that means, Mai Peng just... just fell down? Where is his body? Where is he now?"
No one answered this question, and no one could answer it.
...
Mai Peng felt himself gradually sinking. When he jumped out of the window, he never managed to touch solid ground. He just kept falling, without even having a chance to cry for help.
The fall didn't seem that fast; at least Mai Peng could see the coffins hanging below the window. The first coffin contained Xi Shengnan, and the second contained Lu Heng.
He thought back to the night Lu Heng left, when he repeatedly told himself, "Mai Peng, promise me, if something happens to me here, you'll hold my coffin. Promise me."
He had promised him, "Okay, I promise you, if something happens to me, you'll hold my coffin too."
"Okay, it's a promise."
It was a promise.
Mai Peng felt himself sinking for a long time, yet there was still no end in sight.
Until someone opposite him was also falling in the opposite direction. Yes, someone opposite him was also falling, but in the completely opposite direction.
Mai Peng was surprised to find that he wasn't afraid. He opened his eyes wide, trying to see the person opposite him clearly.
In fact, even before he could see clearly, he had already anticipated that person was himself.
That was Mai Peng on the dotted line, the one who had chosen to end his life by jumping out of the window.
The two Mai Pengs stared at each other, both freezing in mid-air. The other Mai Peng said, "I didn't expect to run into you here. Did you help Lu Heng with his coffin?"
Mai Peng heard her own voice echoing in the cold air: "Yes, I helped him with his coffin."
The Mai Peng opposite smiled: "Then we're even. After my accident, Lu Heng helped me with my coffin."
Mai Peng felt a pang of pain: "I'm sorry, I couldn't hurry. If I could have found the autograph a day earlier..."
"There's nothing to apologize for. We're like family." The Mai Peng opposite smiled.
After death, one encounters another version of oneself.
Mai Peng believed this.
...
In another world, unseen by Mai Peng, Xin Chun was speeding towards a place full of hope.
Everyone tried to maintain a safe posture, gripping Xin Chun's back fur tightly to prevent being thrown off in the lightning-fast journey.
Only Cao Youning remained trembling. Ke Xun crawled to his side and patted his shoulder, but it didn't calm him down.
The light ahead grew brighter, the snow as pure and white as moonlight.
Xin Chun finally stopped on a large, protruding ice rock. Fang Fei surveyed the location: "We've arrived at the Cold Night Brigade."
Everyone dismounted from Xin Chun's back. Before they could even get a clear look at the giant dog, it had already returned to its small form, whimpering and jumping into Luo Yu's arms.
Qin Ci looked at his phone: "The time function has disappeared again."
Shao Ling: "We can use the phone's functions to determine if we're still within the Fourth Brigade. After all, the exit with the signature is outside the Fourth Brigade."
Wei Dong agreed: "So, once our phones regain their time function, it means we've found the exit?"
Shao Ling: "That makes sense. Xin Chun was very fast just now. I checked my watch when we were almost at our destination; it only took less than an hour."
They were currently on a platform covered in ice, and ahead appeared to be a large glacier with ice caves.
Every time they spoke, white breaths would exhale. Ke Xun looked around: "Those photos of the white fish were taken in a very dark place, and the fish were in water. I think we can go into this ice cave and take a look."
Everyone agreed, so they went into the nearest ice cave.
Cao Youning couldn't stop trembling: "Is death really unpredictable and unpredictable? Once our time comes, no matter how safe the place is, we'll still die?"
Zhu Haowen: "Unless you're outside the frame."
Cao Youning's expression was extremely painful. There were five of them when they came, and now he was the only one left.
Wei Dong tried to encourage him, "We have to hurry! Once we find the signature, we won't be controlled by the timeline anymore! Let's hurry, let's find it quickly, don't waste a second!"
Cao Youning's eyes were vacant, his voice trembling, "I think I saw it, I saw that knife..."
"What knife?" Wei Dong asked, puzzled.
"The knife used for cutting wrists, I saw it, I used that knife to cut my wrists..." Cao Youning was like a mentally unstable person, his soul gone, only a walking corpse remained.
"Don't scare me, are you hallucinating from the cold?" Wei Dong patted his shoulder, then looked at Fang Fei, "Master Wu, pat him?"
Fang Fei walked over, her white mask staring at Cao Youning for a moment, then shook her head without speaking.
"Let's keep going, we can't delay." Shao Ling sensed something, but didn't say it, only urging everyone to speed up.
As they went deeper into the cave, the light grew dimmer, and the air gradually warmed up; deep inside the cave, there wasn't even much ice and snow.
As the ice cones above the cave melted, they began to fall one by one.
Wei Dong was hit on the head by an ice cone and felt a sharp pain: "Everyone be careful, wear your hats, these things hurt terribly when they hit you..."
Before Wei Dong could finish speaking, Cao Youning's scream suddenly came from beside him: "Ah—no—"
Everyone rushed over and saw Cao Youning clutching his left wrist, where blood was gushing out continuously, and on the ground lay a broken ice cone.
"An ice cone?" Shao Ling asked incredulously.
"An ice hammer is like a knife... it severed my artery..." Cao Youning himself couldn't believe it either, "Help me, I don't want to die."
"First aid! Bandage it quickly!" Qin Ci took off the medical kit from his back and began to quickly prepare tools.
But blood began to gush from Cao Youning's wrist like a fountain, and even bandaging was useless.
"No! No!" Cao Youning's voice gradually weakened, and just when Qin Ci thought he had finally controlled the bleeding from this wound, suddenly another wound opened up near the first one, and blood gushed out again... unstoppable.
"It's fate, death caused by the intersection of timelines." Fang Fei's voice was helpless.
Ke Xun began performing CPR on Cao Youning. As long as his teammate had a glimmer of hope, he couldn't let him die like this.
Cao Youning's eyes gradually lost their light: "I think I've seen another version of myself… You shouldn't have hesitated, you should have made a decision sooner. If it had been a day earlier, even a few hours earlier, maybe we would have gotten out of here…"
"I don't believe you died in an instant in another timeline. Slitting your wrists always has a slow process," Ke Xun tried to bring him back to his senses. "You won't die that quickly, pull yourself together!"
"There's no time, hurry up and find an autograph," Zhu Haowen turned his face away, trying to keep his voice ruthless. "There's water ahead, the white fish must be in the water."
Ke Xun simply carried Cao Youning on his back: "Let's go, let's go!"
They could only move forward, racing against time to find an autograph.
Ahead was a stretch of water, which appeared black in the cave's light.
Fish were swimming in the water, the same white fish as in the photograph.
"These fish are alive, completely unlike the stiff look in the photos," Zhu Haowen observed the fish in the water.
"Continue walking along the water's edge, paying attention to every corner around you," Mu Yiran told everyone, her eyes scanning the surroundings. "Watch your phone; once the time appears, stop immediately."
Author's Note:
Death is the cruelest aspect of the infinite flow genre. Xingyue is very reluctant to part with Mai Shen. Alas, there are other plans for the next chapter; she has to make choices.